Chapter 15: Unclear

However, in the next instant, the shadow before his eyes abruptly split in two.

A blinding blade-light burst from that shadow, swift to the extreme, streaking straight for his arms with the force of thunder.

Yu Changlu's heart lurched in shock; true qi erupted within his body as he tried to twist aside and dodge.

But at that moment, another streak of blade-light came slashing in at an angle with a sharp whistling sound, locked onto his throat.

An intense premonition of death told him that if he dared to dodge, this blade falling would surely separate his head from his body!

Yu Changlu was seized by a sudden, terrible shock, and in that instant of hesitation, two thin lines of blood already shot up from his arms.

The sudden loss of strength made his arms drop sharply, and the great hammer in his hands crashed to the ground like a rootless log.

Yu Changlu lowered his head; a cold, slender blade-edge rested at the side of his neck, and by now he could no longer feel the slightest sensation in his hanging arms.

"True qi released externally? You're a Wudao Sect Master?"

Yu Changlu jerked his head up in terror, looking at Cang Cang Yin Yue, who stood quietly before him.

At that moment, a mountain breeze blew past Cang Cang Yin Yue's slender figure, and from beneath the gently fluttering veil came a cool, clear voice:

"Still a bit short — it only counts as half a step."

In martial arts cultivation, the Post-Heaven Realm is divided into three minor realms according to how many meridians a martial artist has pierced and opened.

And the Pre-Heaven Realm is likewise divided into three realms.

Piercing the Ren and Du meridians and drawing the true qi of heaven and earth into the body makes one a Pre-Heaven expert — this is the First Realm of Pre-Heaven.

And with the internal rotation of martial true qi as the foundation, releasing true qi externally so that it condenses as if solid, one can be considered to have reached the Second Realm of Pre-Heaven, which the jianghu also calls the Wudao Sect Master Realm.

Any Wudao Sect Master already holds no low a position in the jianghu, and within the Yuxue Alliance is the equivalent of an elder in rank.

The two shadows Cang Cang Yin Yue had just split off were the combination of her puppet shadow-body cultivated from the "Ling Cang Shadow Art" and the condensed form of martial true qi.

Only she had not yet fully achieved true external release of true qi; this could only be considered borrowing momentum by clever means, and could not be sustained for long.

Nevertheless, with this cultivation technique, even when facing a true Wudao Sect Master, she would not be much inferior.

"What does Miss Cang plan to do with them?"

At that moment, Li Musheng's voice rose from behind Cang Cang Yin Yue.

He sat atop a mule, his face thoughtful as he sized up Yu Changlu, whose hand-meridians had already been severed.

Hearing this, Yu Changlu raised his eyes and glanced at him instinctively, then shifted his gaze toward his own subordinates.

But all he saw was his men standing one by one on the mountain path, motionless as statues.

For a moment, a strange feeling rose in Yu Changlu's heart.

When he had fought Cang Cang Yin Yue moments ago, he had actually, in a hurried glance, taken note of the situation of his own subordinates.

Yet from start to finish, he had never seen this young man make a move.

The other party seemed only to have ridden over on that rather shabby-looking mule, and his subordinates had, without any warning, become as they were now.

Cang Cang Yin Yue shared the same feeling as Yu Changlu.

She had never regarded the road-blocking Yu Changlu as worth her attention, so while making her move she had fully had the leisure to observe Li Musheng's situation.

Cang Cang Yin Yue wanted, from the perspective of a bystander, to see with her own eyes exactly what was going on with that acupoint technique that even she found hard to resist.

She even wondered whether she might find a method of breaking it from observing.

Yet to her great astonishment, this time she had not seen the slightest sign of Li Musheng making a move.

But the people of the Yuxue Alliance had still been struck at their acupoints.

"How did you do it?"

Cang Cang Yin Yue answered a question with a question, her sharp gaze fixed on that clear, handsome face tinged with a hint of world-weary nonchalance.

"What do you mean, how did I do it?"

Li Musheng first paused, then caught on, and turned his head to glance behind him:

"You mean them?"

Then he turned back around and said lazily:

"Of course it's the Sunflower Acupoint-Striking Hand — didn't I tell you last time, it's a martial art I created myself."

Cang Cang Yin Yue knit her delicate brows and shook her head:

"But I didn't see you make a move."

Li Musheng gave a light smile:

"Then that can only mean your Wu Gong is still a bit lacking — you'll have to cultivate diligently in the future. To tell the truth, the move I just made was already a slow one."

Hearing this, Cang Cang Yin Yue gave a cold laugh and said bluntly:

"You're putting on an act!"

The implied meaning of the word "act" was something she had picked up from Li Musheng, and using it on him now was perfectly apt.

Li Musheng spread his hands, a little helplessly:

"Then I'll demonstrate it for you one more time — I hope you can watch carefully this time."

At these words, Yu Changlu, who had already lost all power to resist, shifted his gaze, and his eyes immediately fixed intently on Li Musheng.

He too had not seen Li Musheng make a move just now, so he was also very curious — what method had this young man before him used to subdue his subordinates?

Yet what he saw next was extremely strange: after Li Musheng finished speaking, he sat on the horse without the slightest sign of making a move, and instead immediately asked, quite out of the blue:

"Miss Cang, did you watch carefully this time?"

Before Yu Changlu could figure out what was going on, he suddenly heard the woman before him cry out in shock.

"How on earth did you do it?"

At this moment, Cang Cang Yin Yue's eyes were full of astonishment.

Because she discovered that, the moment Li Musheng finished speaking, her body had suddenly been unable to move — the acupoints all over her body had been sealed, and even the true qi within her dantian could not circulate.

And all of this had happened in the span of a single breath; she had not seen Li Musheng make any move at all — he had simply sat there on the horse's back, as if he had never moved.

"It's just a matter of practice making perfect."

At this moment, Li Musheng waved his hand modestly and said with a smile:

"Miss Cang, do not be discouraged. As long as you cultivate diligently, there will surely come a day when you can see clearly."

Having spoken, he flicked his finger, and Cang Cang Yin Yue found she could move freely again.

Her expression shifted for a moment; she looked deeply at Li Musheng, then withdrew the slender, sharp blade resting on Yu Changlu's neck into her sleeve.

"I underestimated you."

Cang Cang Yin Yue exhaled a breath of turbid air lightly and said:

"Wu Gong capable of acupoint sealing from a distance is extremely rare in the Jianghu, and you have obviously practiced this cultivation technique to a state of perfection; it is only natural that I could not discern your technique."

As she spoke, her gaze turned toward Yu Changlu before her, and her eyes grew sharp:

"With such a means of self-protection, even if a grandmaster-level expert from the Jianghu were to strike, they would likely find it difficult to harm you. The possibility of us breaking through on this journey ahead is very high."

At this moment, Yu Changlu had not yet come to his senses, wondering whether the young man and woman before him had truly been playing along with each other, or if it was all real?

At least in his view, Li Musheng had not even moved a hand.

As for whether he had truly sealed Cang Cang Yin Yue's acupoints from a distance and subdued a grandmaster-level expert of the Banbu Sect in an instant, he had no way of knowing and dared not ask too many questions.

However, he could guess Cang Cang Yin Yue's purpose in not killing him.

(End of this chapter)