Wind and thunder raged, and towering waves surged.
On a reef jutting from the storm-tossed sea, two figures were locked in an earth-shaking fight to the death.
Lian Youming had forgotten both himself and the world. His intent rested entirely on those two forces, his sword movements wild and terrifying, his energy raging violently. Like a madman, like a demon, he forgot life and death, with only one thought remaining.
Kill!
The monk Zhikong channeled his strength bare-chested. His attacks came straight and direct, trailing layers of afterimages through the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, too fast for the naked eye to follow. Step by step, he pressed closer, as though he meant to force Lian Youming off the reef and out of this tiny patch of ground.
Lian Youming's moves were equally fierce and swift as he unleashed them freely, venting the two forces within him.
Underfoot, he drew on the crashing waves, channeling the surging power of water into shifts of footwork, rising and falling like a swimming dragon; in his hand, his sword drew down Thunder Force to form the power of his attacks. Ordinarily, power formed from Inner Strength required the intake and release of inner breath.
But Lian Youming was not forming power from himself now. He was borrowing the power of heaven and earth.
The human body was itself an inner heaven and earth.
Now, however, he resonated and trembled with the wind, thunder, and Vast Ocean of the outer world, stirring them to generate power. Thus, his body alone could contain two forces. In other words, the wind, thunder, and Vast Ocean were like the body's inner breath, rising and falling, booming and bursting.
At this very moment, in a certain sense, Lian Youming himself was the embodiment of this vast power of