She was not hating now, but rather somewhat provoked. The other party simply would not speak, so what could she do besides strike?
Yu Qing was equally stubborn. “We will only know who lives and who dies once we have tried.”
To Bai Lan, this was simply wild talk. Yet she also vaguely sensed a trace of something unusual, a feeling that came from Yu Qing’s figure standing tall with hand on sword, unmoving, chest out, gripping the hilt. There was a sense of fusion, or rather, a harmony between man and sword.
But she did not think much of it. She knew Yu Qing’s strength from every angle. How could she be intimidated by his posturing? She could endure no longer. With a flash, she lunged forward, a claw strike descending toward Yu Qing’s face. To be safe, the mana erupting between her five fingers arrived first, intending to slow Yu Qing’s movements first.
When she moved, Yu Qing also moved.
She flashed forward, and Yu Qing charged forth as well.
She sent a claw strike through the air, and Yu Qing drew his sword, swinging out a cold gleam to meet it from afar.
In just this single exchange, Bai Lan was suddenly startled. The mana of隔空掌控 erupting between her five fingers was broken, instantly shattered by the other party’s sword strike.
In that instant, she judged the opponent’s cultivation level based on the power of his strike. He had broken through Xuan!
Otherwise, it would be impossible to break her mana so easily with a single sword strike.
What was going on? Had his cultivation not only entered high martial arts two or three years ago? Could he have broken through Xuan in just two or three years? Why was this happening? Had he taken “Guangling Pills”? The problem was, the “Guangling Pills” needed to advance from high martial arts to early Xuan were not something you could obtain with just a few pills. Spiritual pills costing tens of millions each, without hundreds of millions poured in, how could one break through Xuan?
Cultivators seemed to earn a lot, but only compared to ordinary people. In reality, the expenses in the cultivation world were also great. Doing anything casually cost thousands or tens of thousands. Not everyone had a way to earn big money. Those who could spend hundreds of millions at will were still an extreme minority. Most cultivators had to painstakingly save money, and most of what they saved was then invested back into cultivation resources.
If not for this, the couple back then would not have taken such a huge risk for the Niejing Pill.
According to her knowledge, although this Tanhua had made quite a splash in Youjiao Bu, he had always been tight on funds. The iron-masked man had precisely seized upon this point.
Yet the facts were laid bare before her eyes. The other party’s cultivation had indeed broken through Xuan.
A moment of underestimating the enemy, failing to suppress him in time. The two collided, and by the time she reacted, it was too late. The two had already closed in on each other. Rising sword shadows followed like bone-attaching maggots, pursuing souls and claiming lives.
The sword light at times cut across rivers, making it hard to continue an offensive. At times it was like the blazing sun, too bright to look at directly.
The sword momentum at times rose against the heavens, at times burrowed into the earth, at times carried the sword on the back like a spine, at times pressed forward relentlessly, at times the sword struck from the right hand, at times the left hand borrowed the sword to fill gaps. In short, he struck with the fastest speed, giving the opponent no chance to breathe.
The attacks seemed magnificent and vigorous, but to Bai Lan, the sword shadows were like ghosts, appearing and vanishing mysteriously around her.
She felt as if she were being besieged. For a moment, she felt a flash of amazement. It was her first time experiencing the feeling of being besieged by a single person.
Fast, too fast. Like a roaming dragon rapidly circling around her, occasionally baring its claws to strike.
This was also what truly amazed her, amazed by Yu Qing’s movement technique.
She could not tell whether it was the movement technique that drove the sword moves, or the force of the strikes that drove the movement technique. The twisting and shifting figure repeatedly drifted out at inconceivable angles. To be so nimble, varied, and swift even while airborne, this Qi-controlling movement technique truly astonished her. It was truly like a roaming dragon.
What she did not know was that the movement technique and sword art Yu Qing cultivated were a matched set, called the “Roaming Dragon Art.”
What truly filled her with fear was that not only were the opponent’s sword strikes elusive, but more importantly, the speed of his sword was extremely fast.
Facing the lethal sword light, her heart grew tense. She fought back with all her might, pouring out gang Qi in all directions, her figure spinning madly, using hands and feet together, striking back frantically. Her twin claws became twin fists, blasting out with all her cultivation, just wanting to force away the swirling sword light.
The golden net around them seemed to suffer a violent storm, shaking violently and restlessly.
The golden lumps on the ground were constantly struck with clanging sounds, instantly like a large pot frying beans.
Break, break, break. The violent bombardment was either broken apart strike by strike, or dodged by the opponent’s vanishing movement technique.
The two seemed to be competing over who could spin faster.
In order not to affect her reaction speed, the cloak on Bai Lan’s body had already been blasted into flying fragments by her spell.
However, her striking speed was still not as fast as his, and her movement technique was still inferior in speed and variation.
The problem was, the opponent’s strength seemed somewhat reserved at first, but later became faster and faster. To her, this was simply terrifying.
Facing this kind of contest, Bai Lan’s state was driven to hysteria.
The opponent’s sword was so fast that she did not even dare to look for an opportunity to break away and flee, fearing that the slightest pause would result in her being slain by his sword. She was truly sealed beneath his sword shadows.
But later, pain came from her arms, legs, and body. She had no time to look, but she guessed what had happened. A wave of despair and sorrow suddenly welled up in her heart.
The watching Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were both stunned, seeing a dazzling blur that also seemed like a blooming flower.
The rapidly spinning Bai Lan, paired with her fluttering skirt hems, was like a flower in full bloom, while Yu Qing’s figure was like petals surrounding the flower.
Damn it, the two martial brothers truly thought their eyes were playing tricks, seeing several dynamic afterimages of Yu Qing fluttering around Bai Lan, flashing sword light.
Under the might of the battle, it was like a flower in a violent storm, or like something in raging waves, yet still blooming to the extreme, giving a sense of violent beauty.
The two had seen old fifteen’s thirteen swords in one breath outside the Taoyuan in Xiaoyun Jian. They had thought that was already quite fast. Yet compared to what was before them now, thirteen swords in one breath was as slow as anything. It was truly the difference between clouds and mud.
Neither had expected old fifteen’s movement technique and sword art to be this fast. This had exceeded their预判 of Yu Qing’s strength.
Bai Lan felt her movements in her hands and feet growing slower and slower. She knew very well it was due to her injuries.
Suddenly, her hair was swept aside by a cold gleam. Her loosened long hair had no time to drape over her shoulders before her entire body could no longer move. Not by her own will, she had been pinned in place by a sword strike.
She wanted to resist, but dared not move. The person opposite had thrust a sword into the space between her chest and abdomen, the blade tip right before her concealed heart, separated by the slightest margin.
Yu Qing held the sword in hand, mana upon the blade, and could clearly feel the heartbeat before the sword tip. He had not expected this demon to have transformed her fatal weak point to this position.
He could have taken the chance to finish her off with a single sword strike, but he did not do so.
Bai Lan also thought she was done for. Normally she was no match for the opponent, let alone now with her hands and feet injured and her movements slowed. Among the falling draped hair, she had almost already closed her eyes to await death. After a moment, the disheveled her quickly realized something.
What did he want to do? She stared blankly at Yu Qing for a moment, then slowly lowered her head to look at the long sword thrust into her chest and abdomen, then raised her head to stare at Yu Qing, a trace of alarm and doubt in her eyes. She then said angrily, “If you want to kill, then kill. Do not toy with me!”
She thought of Yu Qing’s earlier reserved strength, assuming Yu Qing wanted to play cat and mouse with her.
This thought actually somewhat wronged him. Before acting, Yu Qing knew his sword art must have improved, given his advanced cultivation. Yet he did not know just how much his sword art had risen.
In Youjiao Bu, it was not convenient to wield swords. After leaving Youjiao Bu, he had wanted to try, but had found no opportunity at all. On Mati Island, he had run into trouble, and until recently he had not found a suitable chance to display his skills.
Just now, once he started, he had not expected that the thirty-six forms of the first move of his sword art could actually be completed in one breath by him!
Because it was his first time doing so, he was somewhat unskilled. After a few rounds, his hands grew familiar, and he immediately went all out. In the end, he only delivered nine of the thirty-six swords in one breath before placing Bai Lan’s life beneath his sword.
In truth, the entire process ended quite quickly. The overflowing gang winds gradually subsided, and the golden silk nets around them were still swaying.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie exchanged glances, discovering that old fifteen was incredibly impressive. This female demon was one of the “Black and White Shuangsha” with a reputation in the cultivation world’s jianghu. They had not expected her to fall so easily beneath old fifteen’s sword.
“No wonder he didn’t let us join in. Turns out he had it completely under control.” Nan Zhu said cheerfully to Mu Aotie.
Regarding his current strength, Yu Qing also felt somewhat excited in his heart. Yet with his great revenge unavenged and sorrow in his heart, he truly could not get excited. He stared at Bai Lan. “Toy with you? You think too much. I truly wanted to kill you once and for all, to eliminate future troubles. But I truly do not want to be used as a knife, to be laughed at as a fool.
So there are some things I need to nag about a bit. You can say I killed your husband, and I do not deny it. But the one who truly killed your husband is actually someone else.
If you had been to the scene of the incident, you should know there was another corpse there, your husband’s subordinate. I will say again, with my strength at the time, let alone killing your husband, I normally would not even dare to act. Let alone attacking two people at once, my bow and arrows could not simultaneously kill two people!
When I acted, your husband was more or less already dead. I was just afraid and delivered a finishing blow.
As for your husband’s subordinate, he had also been beaten unconscious by someone. I also just delivered a finishing blow.
The one who truly harmed your husband, the one who truly killed your husband, thought they had done it without anyone knowing, thought no one had seen. But have they not thought about why I would be mistaken by you as the murderer? Because I was hiding at the murder scene at the time and witnessed the entire incident with my own eyes.
What I heard at the time was that the reason those three attackers killed your husband was because they resented your couple for implicating them, so they killed your husband to vent their hatred. If you had been there, you probably would not have escaped either.
Do you think your husband could have lived if I had not delivered the finishing blow? Do you perhaps think those three would have specifically left your husband a thread of life after attacking him?”
Hearing this, Bai Lan’s body trembled slightly from anger, and she asked sorrowfully, “You mean to say, my husband was killed by those three, Gao Yuan and the others?”
Yu Qing: “Whether they killed him or not, what use is it for me to say? You are not a three-year-old child who believes whatever I say. You might as well find a way to confront them yourself.” After speaking, he suddenly pulled the sword from her body, shook off the blood on the blade, and sheathed the long sword.
Bai Lan was stunned. This clearly meant he was letting her go. She asked in alarm and doubt, “What do you mean?”
Yu Qing: “What do you think I mean? Killing you could settle things once and for all, but there are some black pots I do not want to carry. Go confront them yourself. If needed, you can bring them to confront me at any time.”
Disheveled and covered in blood, Bai Lan gritted her teeth, resolutely turned her head, and limped away.
Yu Qing added, “As long as that iron-masked man is still around, I suggest you do not rashly confront them, unless you think your weight alone is greater than the three of them combined. If things become irreconcilable, which is lighter and which is heavier? That iron-masked man would probably decisively sacrifice one side. I spared your life not for you to go die!”