Chu Yunfei's heart sank slightly, and he quickly assessed his opponent's approximate level.
Yan Guining was at the fourth level of the Spirit Martial Realm.
Earlier, a single palm strike from her had sent his blood surging and forced him back seven steps.
Yet this man in dark robes had not truly attacked. His pressure alone already far surpassed Yan Guining's, and was even no weaker than that of the elders in the sect's main hall.
The Heavenly Origin Realm.
At the very least, he was a mid-stage Heavenly Origin Realm expert.
And he looked barely past twenty.
Someone of his age and cultivation could never have come from an ordinary faction.
"Listen carefully."
The dark-robed man looked down at Chu Yunfei, his tone flat, as though giving instructions about something utterly trivial.
"Shuang'er is not someone you can lay a finger on."
"Stay away from her from now on."
Hearing him call her Shuang'er, Situ Shuang'er frowned slightly.
That form of address was far too intimate. She did not like it.
But remembering his identity, she ultimately said nothing, suppressing that trace of displeasure.
Chu Yunfei glanced at her, a cold edge appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"You brought someone to kick down my door just to say that?"
The dark-robed man did not answer.
The next instant, he unleashed his presence in full.
The air in the courtyard abruptly grew heavy.
Dead leaves were pinned firmly against the flagstones, dust sifted down from the courtyard walls, and even the branches and needles of the old pine by the gate stopped swaying.
Wave after wave of crushing pressure fell squarely upon Chu Yunfei.
Chu Yunfei's chest suddenly constricted as an invisible force pinned him down.
His blood churned, his organs were compressed, and even breathing became exceptionally difficult.
The color swiftly drained from his face, veins bulged at his temples, and his robes snapped in the turbulent air.
A crack split the flagstone beneath his feet.
Then a second and a third appeared in succession, spreading across the entire slab in the blink of an eye.
Fragments kept falling into the cracks.
Chu Yunfei's legs trembled slightly, but his knees never bent in the slightest.
Over the ten thousand years of his previous life, he had endured countless life-and-death tribulations.
Slaughter tribulations, lightning tribulations, tribulations of the heart-which had not been more perilous than this paltry pressure?
He wanted me to kneel?
This was nowhere near enough!
The Boundless Creation Scripture circulated rapidly, spiritual power surging out of his dantian and pouring into every limb and bone.
Chu Yunfei planted both feet firmly on the ground and forcibly withstood the pressure.
The dark-robed man finally looked him squarely in the eye.
He had assumed that once his pressure descended, Chu Yunfei would either kneel or stumble backward in disgrace.
Yet now, the flagstone had shattered, while Chu Yunfei had not retreated a single step.
"Your bones are certainly hard."
The dark-robed man spoke indifferently.
"Unfortunately, before absolute strength, even the hardest bones are useless."
As he spoke, he raised his right hand and waved it casually.
The air ahead abruptly collapsed.
An invisible blast of force tore through the air and hurtled toward Chu Yunfei's chest in an instant.
Too fast!
Chu Yunfei's hair stood on end, and he instantly activated the Divine Movement Art.
But his foot had barely shifted half a step sideways when the blast slammed into his chest.
Chu Yunfei's feet left the ground, his entire body flying backward before his back smashed violently into the courtyard wall.
Half the thick earthen wall collapsed on the spot.
Stones and clods of earth scattered everywhere, and billowing dust instantly swallowed his figure.
Situ Shuang'er stood where she was, her hands involuntarily tightening inside her sleeves.
She did not intervene.
Or rather, with her strength, she could not stop the person beside her.
Besides, she had brought him here today precisely to make Chu Yunfei face reality.
The eighth level of Qi Condensation was, in the end, only the eighth level of Qi Condensation.
No matter how quickly Chu Yunfei recovered, he remained unable to withstand a single blow before a true heaven's chosen.
She had not been wrong to break off their engagement.
The sound of tumbling stones suddenly came from the ruins.
A bloodstained hand reached out from beneath the rubble.
Chu Yunfei pushed aside the stones weighing him down and slowly stood, bracing himself against the remaining wall.
Dust covered his clothes, blood stained the corner of his mouth, and every breath sent a dull ache through his chest.
Yet his back remained perfectly straight.
Through the lingering dust, he fixed his gaze on the dark-robed man, his eyes showing neither a plea for mercy nor fear.
The dark-robed man's gaze paused briefly.
He had indeed held back with that blow.
He had only intended to teach Chu Yunfei a lesson, not kill someone outright within the Azure Mystic Sect.
Even so, an ordinary cultivator below the Spirit Martial Realm would have suffered damage to their meridians and been unable to rise for some time after taking it.
Yet Chu Yunfei had only spat out a mouthful of blood.
His body was far stronger than that of an ordinary Qi Condensation Realm cultivator.
"You can still stand?"
The dark-robed man stepped forward.
His boots crossed the shattered flagstones, each step producing a soft, dull thud against the ground.
"What cultivation method do you practice?"
Chu Yunfei wiped the blood from his mouth without answering.
The Boundless Creation Scripture circulated faster within him, spiritual power gathering in his chest and abdomen to steadily dissipate the force lingering among his organs.
But his breathing remained heavy.
That last blow had already injured his internal organs.
The dark-robed man waited two breaths. Seeing no answer, he did not press him further.
"If you don't want to say, forget it."
"A mere Qi Condensation Realm cultivator isn't worth my trouble."
As the final word fell, his figure abruptly vanished.
Chu Yunfei's pupils contracted sharply.
His spiritual sense did not even have time to catch the trajectory of the man's movement.
One moment, the dark-robed man had been several zhang away.
The next, he was already before Chu Yunfei.
There were no footsteps, nor any afterimages.
A palm settled lightly against Chu Yunfei's chest.
"Bone-Shattering Palm."
The dark-robed man calmly uttered the words.
The palm force abruptly erupted.
This time, it was not a head-on impact. Countless fine strands of hidden force penetrated his flesh, burrowed into his meridians, and reached straight into the seams between his bones.
Chu Yunfei's chest caved in sharply, a muffled grunt escaping his throat as his entire body flew backward again.
His back struck the old pine by the gate.
The thick trunk shuddered violently and snapped in the middle, sending masses of pine needles and branches crashing down.
Chu Yunfei hit the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Agony exploded deep within his breastbone.
Every breath brought repeated, piercing pain from between his bones.
He lowered his head and glanced at his chest.
His bones had not shattered.
His flesh, sinews, and bones, tempered by the Boundless Creation Scripture, had forcibly withstood the hidden force of the Bone-Shattering Palm.
The dark-robed man's raised hand paused in midair as he scrutinized Chu Yunfei seriously for the first time.
Although he had still restrained his Bone-Shattering Palm, it was by no means something a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator could withstand head-on.
There truly was something strange about this man's cultivation method.
In that instant of distraction, Chu Yunfei slapped the ground with one hand and abruptly flipped to his feet.
He did not retreat.
With a turn of his right hand, the Abyss-Devouring Sword burst from its sheath.
A sword's ring resounded through the courtyard.
Dark-gold spiritual power surged wildly into the blade. Chu Yunfei shattered the ground beneath one foot and used the recoil to shoot forward.
Divine Movement Art!
Heaven-Severing Slash!
His movement art and sword technique erupted simultaneously.
Chu Yunfei became an afterimage, closing in on the dark-robed man in an instant.
The Abyss-Devouring Sword slashed down toward him.
Dark-gold sword light broke free of the blade, bearing a shrill whistle as it bore down heavily upon the dark-robed man.
Before the blade even fell, a long, narrow sword scar had already split the courtyard ground.
The surrounding rubble shattered in succession, ground into dust by the surging sword force.
Chu Yunfei held nothing back with this strike.
The dark-robed man still did not dodge.
He merely raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and pushed gently forward.
Dense spiritual power poured from his palm, forming a transparent barrier before him.
The dark-gold sword light crashed heavily against the barrier.
Violent waves of air swept across the courtyard, flinging the scattered rubble into the air and sending broken pine branches tumbling everywhere.
The sword light shook violently.
A crack appeared at its tip and swiftly spread across its entire length.
The next instant, the dark-gold sword light shattered outright.
Countless points of light scattered in all directions.
The backlash surged back along the Abyss-Devouring Sword. Chu Yunfei's right arm went numb, and the web of his hand split open on the spot.
Blood swiftly stained the sword's hilt red.
The impact drove him back more than ten steps, each footfall gouging a deep pit in the ground.
Only on the final step, when Chu Yunfei braced his foot against a protruding flagstone, did he barely steady himself.
He looked at the dark-robed man again.
His opponent still stood in the same spot.
Let alone retreating, not even the hem of his robe had stirred.
Chu Yunfei's sword hand trembled uncontrollably. Blood dripped along the hilt, splashing into dark-red blossoms beside his feet.
"Damn it!"
He forced the words through clenched teeth.
The Heaven-Severing Slash at major accomplishment, combined with the Abyss-Devouring Sword and all the spiritual power of the eighth level of Qi Condensation, had only made him raise his hand once?
Against Yan Guining, who was at the fourth level of the Spirit Martial Realm, he could at least take one move head-on.
But the man before him was different.
This was no longer a gap that combat experience or an earth-grade sword technique could bridge.
The dark-robed man watched him and slowly lowered his right hand.
"Do you understand now?"
"What separates us is not a move or two."
Chu Yunfei did not answer.
He merely tightened his grip on the Abyss-Devouring Sword again.
Blood continued seeping between his fingers, yet his eyes were colder than before and filled with killing intent.
A vast gulf in cultivation realms did indeed stand before him.
But it was still nowhere near enough to make him bow his head!