Duel

"Have you achieved Blood and Qi Mastery?"

Li Xian charged toward Blood Eagle first, and that was the first question he asked.

Blood Eagle, his face savage, froze slightly.

But the saber in his hand did not slow in the slightest.

His qi and blood erupted. Empowered by his force, the icy blade became a dazzling rainbow, slashing fiercely at Li Xian.

The saber's light tore through the air, so fast that it seemed to leave a white trail through empty space.

Compared with blood exchange and marrow washing, aside from perfected essence and qi, the greatest advantage of an impervious body was its endlessly circulating qi and blood.

They could unleash a tempest of attacks with the force of thunderbolts, directly scattering their opponent's qi and blood and breaking down their force.

The slash Blood Eagle unleashed now, for instance, used every ounce of his strength!

He maximized his advantage, bringing strength against weakness!

Whoosh!

As he swung his saber, Li Xian immediately thrust his sword.

Yes, a sword.

Compared with the battle saber seized from the prince's residence guard, the treasured sword Daoist Xuantie had carried was of better quality.

And to a martial arts grandmaster who had achieved embracing qi and forming a core in his previous life, sabers, swords, spears, and staffs were all the same in his hands.

An eruption of core force?!

It was not an eruption of core force!

But neither was it the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique!

Nor had he entered the Limit-Breaking State!

This was...

Using qi-and-blood core force to stir the human body's great core, combined with the force-channeling method of the Myriad Forms Limitless Art: Sword Sweeps the Three Thousand Worlds.

Through an exquisitely precise application of his erupting force, the radiance of his thrusting sword vibrated furiously at an extraordinarily fine frequency.

Bang!

The instant sword and saber collided, the vibrating force traveled through the saber, reaching Blood Eagle's right hand with almost none of it dissipated.

At that moment, what he gripped seemed not to be a shock-absorbing saber hilt, but a steel saber forged as a single piece.

And he had swung that one-piece steel saber at an iron pillar with all his strength.

The terrifying recoil stabbed like needles through his entire palm, almost tearing it apart.

"What sword art is this?!"

Blood Eagle's heart jolted.

But before he could recover from his shock, Li Xian's second surge of force erupted, coursing through his longsword as he thrust again with the force of thunderbolts.

Such swift, ferocious swordplay left Blood Eagle no time to think.

"A secret technique of the Blood Jade Art?!"

He roared, his skin suddenly flushing crimson. Surging qi and blood flooded his entire body, and the cavalry saber in his hand almost immediately sprang up, swinging out to intercept the sword thrusting toward his face.

Bang!

Visible sparks flared where sword and saber met.

The palm of Blood Eagle's saber hand visibly split open, spraying blood.

His five fingers trembled violently, almost unable to hold the hilt.

Yet before he could work out how to counter such swordplay, Li Xian unleashed his third eruption of core force...

Or rather, his third round of Sword Sweeps the Three Thousand Worlds, using qi-and-blood core force to stir and build upon the human body's great core, slashing out with vibrating force, followed close behind.

After two successive head-on collisions at full strength, his qi and blood showed not the slightest disorder. Instead, he grew stronger as he fought, his swordplay surging ever more like a rainbow.

This anomaly...

"Primordial unity, an impervious body?! You're in the Leakless realm?!"

Blood Eagle's eyes widened!

He finally saw it. Li Xian's ferocious eruptions of qi and blood were not due to the characteristics of the Blood Jade Art at all. He had already comprehended primordial unity and entered the Body Without Leaks Realm!

Only by freely releasing the qi and blood nurtured in the Body Without Leaks Realm could he maintain steady qi and blood and perfect force throughout their repeated, full-strength clashes.

But...

How was that possible?!

The intelligence had clearly said he had yet to undergo blood exchange and marrow washing, and only possessed comparable combat strength through the Blood Jade Art!

How had he suddenly leaped straight into the Body Without Leaks Realm, the same realm as him?

And an impervious body cultivator practicing the Blood Jade Art, with its extraordinarily powerful bursts of strength, at that?!

He had no time to think it through!

The third sword strike followed like a surging rainbow, forcing him to erupt with qi and blood again and slash his saber across.

Bang!

Sparks flew everywhere!

At that moment, force violent enough to almost shatter his finger bones and palm bones burst through his palm, leaving him unable to hold the Horse Saber any longer. The saber that had accompanied him on campaigns east and west and taken the heads of countless powerful foes was forcibly shaken from his grasp and sent flying more than ten meters away.

Whoosh!

Seeing Li Xian thrust his fourth strike with almost no pause for breath, Blood Eagle no longer dared meet him head-on and immediately pulled back in a violent retreat!

At the same time, his left hand swept swiftly across his waist.

The next moment, he hurled a throwing knife as he retreated.

Clang!

The sword Li Xian was thrusting forward swayed slightly.

The throwing knife shooting straight at his face was easily knocked aside.

Without changing direction, his sword drove straight in, aimed directly between Blood Eagle's brows!

The icy chill made the leader of the Thirteen Eagles of Luoyang open his eyes wide, his gaze fixed on the sword tip rapidly closing in.

"Third!"

He suddenly shouted.

"Boss, catch!"

Third, who had already noticed his leader's predicament, immediately threw out his own saber, which was similar in style to Blood Eagle's Horse Saber.

"Where's that Blood and Qi Force you brought under control?!"

Li Xian's gaze was icy.

This time...

The Blood Jade Art's qi and blood detonated!

The sword tip, already thrusting fiercely forward, suddenly surged farther ahead. Before Blood Eagle could catch the Horse Saber, the sword arrived first despite moving later. With a slight deflection, it knocked the incoming Horse Saber away, sending it flying into the distance.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Tianming had actually given him intelligence this outrageously wrong!

Though they had repeatedly investigated and verified it themselves, and the information had largely matched.

Yet they had never expected that, once the fighting truly began, they would be facing two experts at heavenly cycle without leak!

Especially this Li Xian. His swordsmanship was exceptional, and his use of vibrating force had reached the very pinnacle. With that skill alone, he could probably compete for the title of Sword Saint at the Sacred Martial Tower!

So much so that even the Thunderclap Saber Technique he had practiced for sixteen years could not match him!

"Fourth! Sixth! Get in here and hack him to death!"

He shouted fiercely again.

"Stop him!"

At this moment, Fourth, Vulture, and Sixth, Gray Eagle, had already engaged Zhou Juechen.

Hearing Blood Eagle's shout, they found the scene before them unbelievable.

But the seamless coordination among the thirteen allowed them to reach an understanding almost instantly.

They crossed positions.

As Vulture deflected a blow from Zhou Juechen, Sixth, Gray Eagle, and Third, Sparrowhawk, broke away from the fight almost simultaneously and charged straight at Li Xian.

Zhou Juechen wanted to stop them, but several other martial masters of the Thirteen Eagles of Luoyang at internal organ refinement swarmed him, as though forming a battle formation, swiftly blocking him.

In the end, he could only watch as the two blood exchange and marrow washing experts charged toward Li Xian.

"That's it?"

No other tricks, so you're calling for help?

Li Xian immediately caught the paths of their movements out of the corner of his eye.

"If this really is your limit... then..."

The next moment, Li Xian partially detached his mind, and the instinctive restraints on his physical body instantly unlocked.

Limit-Breaking State!

As Sixth, the mighty eagle, swung his battle saber to intercept the sword thrusting toward Blood Eagle, that already blindingly fast sword suddenly accelerated!

The abrupt change made the mighty eagle's expression shift drastically as he slashed, and he immediately tried to change his move.

But...

He was too late!

The strength beyond his limits granted by the Limit-Breaking State drove the speed of this sword strike far beyond what a blood exchange and marrow washing martial artist could withstand.

Shhk!

The sword was a streak of light, instantly piercing between the brows of Sixth, Gray Eagle, as he lunged in!

Thrust, withdraw!

Under Third, Sparrowhawk's horrified, furious gaze, Li Xian's left hand had already shot out like lightning. With fingers formed into a sword, he struck the descending saber's edge, a move perilous in the extreme yet incomparably precise.

Boom!

Force erupted!

Though it was clearly a collision between flesh and a refined iron saber, it produced a resounding peal like a great bell.

The saber slashing toward Li Xian was knocked directly aside.

Even Sparrowhawk's lunging body seemed to lose its balance from the deflection, forcing him to roll in midair to dissipate the force of the blow.

"Third! Watch out!"

Almost at the very moment he flipped in midair and dissipated the force of that blow, Blood Eagle's shocked, furious voice suddenly rang out.

The next moment, out of the corner of his eye, Sparrowhawk seemed to see a bolt of white silk flash past like a startled swan.

Just as he realized what that bolt of white silk meant, an icy chill pierced his skull, instantly freezing his thoughts.

What a fast sword...

This...

Became his final thought before his mind froze.

"It's already over!"

(End of chapter)