A Heavenly Wolf's Howl, Three Swords Beyond the Mind

The sunlight grew brighter and brighter.

After the drumbeats stopped, it was already close to noon.

The cicadas' chirping grew increasingly noisy in the woods.

Cheng Xin and the others have been discussing matters in the front hall of the palace recently, but they can also hear the sound of cicadas coming from the royal garden.

They had agreed to present a letter of state to the Great Tang in order to seek submission, but they were unsure about the specific format and wording to ensure that the letter would be neither servile nor arrogant, and that it would demonstrate the sincerity of the people's will.

These are things that require slow and meticulous work.

We've been busy from morning till noon, and it's still not completely finished.

Suddenly, someone came to report, "A group of people has entered the city, claiming to be from the Great Tang Inner Guard, and are looking for the merchant group led by Su Xian of Tang People."

"It's finally here."

Cheng Xin looked up at the outside of the hall, told the ministers to continue their work, and stepped out of the hall. He then instructed the guards to invite Su Xian and Li Chenxiang.

The main gate of the palace, although it was damaged some time ago.

However, recently, the giants and strongmen in the homes of disgraced officials have been put to work on repairs, and the repairs have been completed very quickly.

The original solemn and exquisite city gate tower has not yet been rebuilt, but at least the city wall has been repaired and the city gate has been erected.

As soon as Cheng Xin and his group passed through the palace gate, they saw a group of people waiting outside.

The woman in red leading the way had dismounted, holding the reins, smiling. She had a small dimple on her right cheek, making her look bright and approachable.

Two strong, muscular men in light black armor followed her on either side; one had a slightly deep-set face and a short, wiry beard, while the other was slightly plump with rosy cheeks.

There were also dozens of riders, all dressed in black, tight-fitting outfits, with leather armor on their upper bodies and fast boots on their feet, their figures slender and agile.

Cheng Xin came out, his first reaction was to look at the people, and then he couldn't help but look at the horses.

These tan horses were not particularly bulky or large, but their eyes were all clear and bright, their eyelashes were thick and long, and they snorted, twitched their bellies, lifted their hindquarters, and trotted lightly with their hooves.

Each horse made many small movements, seemingly chaotic yet orderly, with heat rising from its body and the mane on its neck rising and falling as if breathing.

They looked like skilled boxers practicing their punches by focusing their abdominal muscles and controlling their pores.

The Nanzhao also had horse training techniques, and there were specially developed boxing manuals that combined human and horse skills.

However, compared to the horses in front of them, even the best horses in Kingdom of Nanzhao could only be considered second-rate.

Although Cheng Xin had met Hai Donglai several times and had even received some instruction from him, this was the first time he had ever seen the elite Inner Guard mobilized in such large numbers.

Just looking at the horses filled him with admiration; they truly lived up to the grandeur of a superior nation.

"When the Nanzhao Kingdom took over the government, Cheng Xin paid homage to the imperial envoy."

"No need for such formalities, General."

The woman in red reached out to help, smiling, "We've inquired about the situation in Nanzhao along the way, and we must thank you all for your assistance to our Great Tang merchant group."

"Nie Hongxian brought her people here for two reasons: first, to pick up the merchant group, and second, to express her gratitude."

Seeing her come to help him, Cheng Xin maintained proper etiquette, straightened up, stepped back half a step, and introduced, "This is Elder Su of the Chang'an Merchant Guild, and this is Prince Bamo of Kingdom of Chenla."

Su and Li exchanged greetings together.

The woman in red stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Your righteous deeds will surely be rewarded by the Great Tang."

She bowed very close, her attitude extremely humble.

Su and Li felt as if they could almost smell a faint scent of ink, like from a book, and quickly reached out to help each other up.

We are ashamed.

Su Xian said, "If it weren't for Senior Chu's help, the things we were escorting would probably have been stolen halfway through."

Cheng Xin smiled and said, "This Senior Chu is my great-uncle in terms of seniority, and he also had a connection with the Red Emperor back then."

"Before, I, Cheng, had written to Chang'an on behalf of my great-uncle, hoping to find out the whereabouts of the Red Emperor and to reunite with an old friend."

The woman in red asked with slight surprise, "Is that so?"

"We set off from Chang'an long ago, but encountered many obstacles and delays along the way, which is why we are a little late. We must have missed the letter from the old general."

"Since we have a long-standing relationship, would you be so kind as to grant me an audience?"

After Hai Donglai advocated for the establishment of official schools, countless people throughout the land learned their skills from those old Inner Guard.

However, this person didn't seem to have much patience for personally teaching apprentices.

Fortunately, he lived long enough that, even without much patience, he still managed to train a group of people, albeit intermittently.

Among them, the most outstanding were Tian Zhu, Yang Jungong, and Nie Hongxian.

Tian Zhu was a minister of the Hall of Political Affairs, Yang Jungong was a general in charge of troops, and Nie Hongxian was the commander of the Inner Guard.

The three were quite different in age, with Nie Hongxian being the youngest, but in terms of seniority, they were all Hai Donglai's prized students.

Therefore, if Nie Hongxian were to meet Chu Tianshu, she could directly address him as "uncle" or "master uncle."

She wanted to visit Chu Tianshu, Cheng Xin was naturally willing to introduce her.

The group immediately headed towards the Imperial Garden, and a short while later, they arrived near West Brightness Pool.

After rounding the pond, the large group of people stood in front of the Fragrant Pavilion.

Cheng Xin announced loudly, "Grand Uncle, Commander Nie of the Great Tang Inner Guard has come to pay a visit."

The main gate of the Fragrant Pavilion opened wide without any wind.

Everyone could see an incense burner in the center of the incense pavilion, with wisps of smoke rising from it.

Chu Tianshu sat on a cushion about ten paces away behind the incense burner, his sword across his knees, his expression relaxed and at ease.

"The Inner Guard is indeed teeming with talent."

He sized up the people outside the incense pavilion and chuckled, "To think that three Plain King are leading the way to meet the merchant corps."

Cheng Xin was slightly startled and turned his head to look.

He had long known that Nie Hongxian was highly skilled, but he hadn't expected that the two deputies following Nie Hongxian were also top-notch martial artists.

The woman in red maintained her smile and was about to reply.

Chu Tianshu's gaze had already fallen on the man with rosy cheeks and a slightly plump figure.

"The essence of this man's boxing style seems somewhat similar to the Divine Drum I've been playing with lately..."

At this point, the amiable, slightly overweight man's left little finger trembled slightly, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Chu Tianshu originally intended to say the second half of his sentence.

Did Hai Donglai spar with Mountain King so many times that he deduced some of the essence of Mountain King's boxing style and passed it on to the Inner Guard?

But the slightly overweight man's reaction suddenly aroused his suspicion.

"You!"

Chu Tianshu raised his eyebrows, his eyes suddenly flashing like lightning, and his voice rose.

"You're Tubo?!"

The slightly overweight man's expression changed completely, and he clenched his fists abruptly.

The woman in red suddenly turned around, looking at the Tubo spy with extreme surprise, which drew everyone's attention to the slightly overweight man at the same time.

Just then, the black-armored man with a slightly dark complexion and a short, wiry beard suddenly swelled up.

The black fish-scale armor he wore was burst open by his swollen chest, the thin ropes snapped, and the armor plates broke.

Not like a giant or a strongman, where the body proportions become larger in a harmonious way.

This deep-eyed man's upper body had swelled dramatically to twice its normal size, with broad shoulders, long arms, and a bulging chest, as he roared out loud.

"Awooo!!!"

In that instant, it seemed as if a silver-white wolf's face overlapped with the man's, its features contorted and bulging, its blood-red maw roaring.

Chu Tianshu felt a giant wolf suddenly pounce on him with incredible speed.

This is a strike purely driven by the spirit of Fist Intent.

Those who cultivate Heart and Blood Martial Dao to a high level constantly hone their will and energy.

In terms of sheer explosive speed, those who only cultivate Mind Power, honing Mind Power spirit through complex and tedious visualizations, cannot match the ferocious strikes of this kind of Fist Intent spirit at all.

However, precisely because they haven't undergone complex refinement, the Fist Intent of people like Zheng Tianchang and Fire Tree Dhuta easily dissipates once released from their bodies.

This was the first time Chu Tianshu had seen this since entering this realm.

Some people can transform their Fist Intent into a complete, godlike giant wolf, pouncing on you with lightning speed!

The giant wolf's shadow crashed into him, only to be shattered by the crimson Sword Intent that flashed in his eyes.

However, it also slightly blurred his vision.

The high-frequency oscillating roar was much slower than the spirit of the Fist Intent, and it was only at this moment that it surged into the incense pavilion.

The howling of wolves caused all the tiles on the roof of the Xiang Pavilion to shatter and fly away with a crash.

All slightly fragile structures, such as doors and windows, were also blown to pieces.

The massive wooden beams and red-lacquered pillars were covered with mottled cracks, and the stone bricks on the ground began to tremble and crumble.

The large incense burner in the very center was shattered into pieces by the concentrated impact of the energy wave.

Amid a series of loud bangs, thick layers of incense ash rapidly spread out.

The entire Fragrant Pavilion now contains residual fluctuations of shattered Fist Intent.

There are also physical-level air waves, sound waves, the sound of objects breaking, and incense ash impurities.

From any perspective of human senses, it is utterly chaotic.

Chu Tianshu suddenly formed a sword finger with his left hand and swung it to the left. The long sword on his knee was pulled and shot into the air, piercing through the left wall and flying to an unknown destination.

At the same time, his right hand, with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, was pinched in front of his heart.

He gripped the tip of a sword that seemed to be nonexistent.

A human silhouette flashed before his eyes, transforming into a hastily written character for "fire".

Those three fingers perfectly embody the meaning of Samadhi.

The crimson light of the Samadhi Divine Fire was about to reach the tip of the sword and spread outwards.

However, the sword suddenly broke off its tip.

There was no process of the sword tip breaking off, no snapping sound.

Because the force was applied so decisively, it looked as if the sword tip and the entire blade were simply joined together, clearly distinct from each other.

The sword tip didn't move, but the sword body suddenly disappeared.

When the sharp angle of the broken sword reappeared, it was already aimed at Chu Tianshu's left eye.

Chu Tianshu's Heavenly Eye on his forehead suddenly tilted to the left, overlapping his left eye.

The sword blade broke off in another section prematurely!!

That fragment still shot towards the left eye.

The broken sword, however, was now aimed at the right eye.

Chu Tianshu's eyebrows were sharp as swords, almost reaching his temples, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Its left eye was a deep, shimmering green, while its right eye was a fiery red, like lava.

Besides the Heavenly Eye being able to project power, Chu Tianshu's own eyes had also been trained to the point where they could project internal energy.

However, the eyes are more vulnerable than the rest of the body, and the internal energy they emit is weak; only the Sword Intent content can be higher.

However, now he possesses the internal energy foundation of the Great Void Sun-Boiling True Exposition), a unique internal energy that, while damaging the physical body, also catalyzes the potential of the soul into vitality.

This allows him to unleash his full inner power through his eyes, releasing an even stronger sword aura.

The fragments and broken sword slowed down simultaneously under the light emanating from his eyes.

The reaction force caused Chu Tianshu's body to shift backward, changing from a sitting to a standing position.

In an instant, he crashed through the back wall of the Fragrant Pavilion, leaving a perfect human-shaped opening, and stood in the garden behind the pavilion.

"Good!!"

A surge of joy welled up in Chu Tianshu's heart, which then spread to his face, revealing a smile.

It's pointless to bully people like Fire Tree Dhuta who barely passed the threshold of Plain King.

Only the person in front of him gave him a slight sense of renewed fighting spirit.

The same principle applies to "Fist Beyond the Mind".

In that brief moment, Zheng Tianchang could only throw one punch.

That swordsman was able to use his skills on the sword, and during the sword strike, he even executed three consecutive changes.

They can maintain this state and unleash three sword strikes, or even more.

The Heavenly Eye suddenly returned to Chu Tianshu's forehead, and the emerald ripples expanded outward abruptly.

Inside the fragrant pavilion, all the dust had vanished.

As the ripples swept across, the entire roof beam frame seemed to be lifted up slightly for a fleeting moment by a powerful force.

The woman in red, holding a broken sword, was exposed in this loosely furnished and clearly defined boudoir.

This woman, who had just been surprised by the Tubo spy, was clearly the mastermind behind the operation.

The deep-eyed man who had roared was still standing outside the main gate. His body had returned to normal, his throat was still making faint sounds, and his eyes were still flashing like wolf eyes, with a hint of surprise.

He hadn't expected that Chu Tianshu would emerge unscathed from such a surprise attack.

"You're not Nie Hongxian, are you?"

Chu Tianshu laughed, "You two are qualified to leave your names."

The woman in red did not answer; her cold, piercing eyes held only a hint of regret.

She originally planned to enter the Fragrant Pavilion, get a closer look at Chu Tianshu, and then make her move with greater confidence.

Unexpectedly, Chu Tianshu only glanced at it from afar, yet this revealed a flaw.

"What a formidable enemy!"

The man with the deep-set eyes responded to Chu Tianshu's words with a loud howl, and an illusion of long silver wolf fur appeared on his body, sometimes visible and sometimes not.

My name is A'ertai!

Outside the incense pavilion, everyone was tense and on guard.

The Tubo man, not to be outdone, shouted, "And me! My name is..."

(End of this chapter)