Chapter 114

Hum!!

Chu Tianshu was also slightly startled by the speed of the opponent's move.

But the sword in his hand shook, and it had already changed direction in an instant, the tip pointing toward the opponent's right rib.

A small-scale change, yet it pointed directly to the crux of the matter.

Duan Zhong's right hand wanted to thrust forward, and the right rib was the position most difficult to make a nimble change.

That hand couldn't touch Chu Tianshu yet, but Chu Tianshu's sword could already pierce through his rib first.

However, just as Chu Tianshu's sword appeared, he felt the figure in front of him unfold toward his left side.

Duan Zhong's clothes had many silver embroidered patterns, which looked like the style of a gray monk's robe, but were actually beautiful and luxurious.

Yet as his figure tilted at this moment, all the embroidery, even the gray-white fabric and the right arm that had lost its sleeve, all melted into a moon-white afterimage.

Under the moonlight, this silent scene could only be described as "unfolding."

It suddenly unfolded from Chu Tianshu's front to Chu Tianshu's left side.

It looked like an extreme sprint, yet it could turn so nimbly!

The long sword in Chu Tianshu's hand, within an instant, blocked successively at his left shoulder, back, and right side.

The block on the left had the sword tip pointing downward; the block behind his back had the sword spine pressed against his back.

The block on the right side had the sword body horizontal, the tip pointing backward, blocking the strike Duan Zhong aimed at his right ear.

His action of raising his hand over his head and waving the sword to protect his body was done in one go, one move with three changes.

In this one action, he blocked the thrusts the opponent launched from three directions.

It looked like he had perfectly blocked the opponent's offensive, but it was also the opponent frustrating his intent to counterattack three times in a row.

Originally, Chu Tianshu's action could have turned into a spinning slash at any time.

But in order to block the three attacks from tricky angles, with the force of the collision, Chu Tianshu's body didn't have time to spin, and the long sword couldn't be swung outward.

After the three sword moves, Chu Tianshu's left foot crossed over like a thunderclap, his body's center of gravity had completely shifted to the left, and his right arm, bent close to his body, gained an opportunity to stretch.

Boom!!!

The Three-Seven Divine Sword thrust out straight; the air at the sword tip was blown into a faint ring of air, and the sword body pierced through it.

Who knew that Duan Zhong's figure had already retreated urgently to the right a step ahead of time.

This sword stretched to the limit, but it didn't catch up to Duan Zhong, who had moved first.

He passed between two white-canopied coffins, suddenly arrived at the edge of the square, and pulled up a white banner.

The banner tail was lifted by the wind and was just drooping down.

In Duan Zhong's series of movements just now, the change in the banner cloth was contrasted as extremely slow, and it hadn't drooped to the bottom yet.

But now.

As soon as Duan Zhong grabbed the white banner, the dynamic change of the banner cloth suddenly became violent.

The long shaft moved, and the banner cloth at the top tore through the air and was also torn by the air.

Inch by inch, the fabric disintegrated in the long sky along the trajectory swept by the top of the long shaft.

A cold, dark metallic luster had already spread over the entire long shaft.

As Duan Zhong twisted his waist and turned to thrust his spear, he blocked Chu Tianshu's subsequent pursuit sword.

Clang!!!

The sword tip struck the top of the long shaft.

Although most of the Three-Seven Divine Sword's mental energy was filled within Chu Tianshu's body, the remaining part was enough to maintain the sharpness that could cut iron like mud.

Such a sword, pushed by Chu Tianshu's Inner Sage and Outer King great force, actually didn't pierce through this bamboo pole.

A scarlet light rose in the depths of Duan Zhong's eyes; those eyes appeared even more shocking in his moon-white figure and temperament.

Originally, the longer and wider the object Duan Zhong's Asura Path Soldier Spirit power was applied to, the more dispersed the power became.

Therefore, in previous battles, he always applied it to his own arms and sleeves.

But now, he used the Hell Path to squeeze his potential, and the power of the Soldier Spirit was also stimulating each other in the process, faintly breaking the original barriers and producing fusion and transformation.

In the duel between top experts, besides looking at one's own strength, whether one could occupy a great momentum was also very important.

Now, all six parts of his power were tilting toward the effect of the Asura Path.

The long spear and long sword, after colliding at the tips, immediately crossed, changing into thousands of afterimages.

The sword flower patterns were like wood, and the spear base had bamboo joints.

Now, what the two of them collided out were all heart-stopping steel sparks.

Between the two of them, it was as if one after another golden-red, brilliant fireworks had exploded.

The sword flowers and spear flowers were originally competing in a rush to attack.

But the amplitude of the spear flower's shaking could be far greater than that of the sword flower.

Soon, the long spear was not just attacking head-on.

When the spear flower shook, it almost enveloped Chu Tianshu's entire upper body.

Besides shrinking and thrusting, it could also strike Chu Tianshu's upper body from the left and right sides at any time, or fall from above to strike.

Chu Tianshu's rush to attack had to be mixed with defensive actions.

But his sword light flashed more and more smoothly.

He had not originally studied sword techniques systematically; the sword techniques he used were all means of exerting force on the sword that he learned while studying fist techniques, mixed into the Back-Through and Supreme Ultimate fist manuals.

But honestly, exerting force on external objects, no matter what kind of object it was, was far less comfortable and free than exerting force with his limbs.

Therefore, although he was holding a sword most of the time, he didn't use it like a sword, but like a steel whip or an iron rod.

Now that his sword had a Soldier Spirit, it was as intimate as his own palm.

The more he fought against a strong enemy, the more Chu Tianshu felt as if he had returned to that bamboo forest in the Republic of China world.

When he first started practicing fist techniques, he would smash his still-stiff arms and palms fiercely against those thick moso bamboos.

Using his arms to throw, his elbows to bump, his fists to strike, his palms to slash, and his fingers to grab and claw.

It was in that painful and scorching tempering that he deeply understood what force was!

Clang!!!

When the weapons touched again, the sound of the sword humming drowned out the sound of the collision.

A bright spark was rubbed out on the long spear, leaving a clear sword mark.

The subtle vibration of the long spear was transmitted half a foot in front of Duan Zhong's tiger's mouth before being extinguished.

In this instant, Chu Tianshu lunged forward more than three feet.

Duan Zhong retreated urgently under his feet, shaking the spear to press toward Chu Tianshu's shoulder.

Chu Tianshu swung his sword to sweep; this sword move was the skill of the Taiji whip hand, and also the force of the Shaolin long fist horizontal strike.

But the force of this strike was not exerted on his hand, nor was it used by his hand to lead the sword, and it was not even exerted on the entire sword body.

Instead, it was pressed sharply toward a single side of the sword blade, penetrating to the sword tip.

The remaining mental energy on the sword was also driven, causing the single side of the sword blade to light up with a red glow like a soldering iron.

What Chu Tianshu held in his hand seemed no longer to be a sword with volume and thickness, but a sharp, fiery-red arc.

The weapons crossed, and without making any collision sound, the long spear was already severed.

"Bad!!!"

Chu Tianshu roared in his heart, his hair standing on end.

That spear broke too easily.

Duan Zhong had actively withdrawn the Soldier Spirit power from the tip of the long spear.

Chu Tianshu should have had enough force transmitted to the remaining spear body while severing the long spear.

But with Duan Zhong doing this, the spear broke too easily and too quickly, and the other parts of the spear body were simply not affected at all.

Hateful bamboo spear!

If it were a steel spear, after being blessed, its upper limit might not be higher than a bamboo spear, but when severed, it would definitely be more affected than a bamboo spear.

The tip of the broken bamboo pole instantly pierced toward Chu Tianshu's heart.

Duan Zhong's scarlet gaze was fixed entirely on the tip of the bamboo pole, and he smiled with cracked teeth.

That sharpest point, with its cold, dark steel luster, seemed to be stained with a bit of bloody, life-taking red.

Chu Tianshu's limbs were too late to withdraw, and he almost wanted to use his mouth.

If the opponent were piercing toward his throat, he would really have a chance to try the Taiji fist technique of shrinking his neck and lowering his head to catch it with his teeth.

But this vital point of the heart was too far from his mouth.

In that instant, he only had time to tilt his body slightly and sink half an inch.

It was useless!

Back then, when his body tilted, he could dodge Duan Rusu's sword, but he tilted too little now and couldn't dodge this spear.

Pshhh roar!!!

The broken spear broke through flesh and blood, submerging into his chest, but the sound of flesh and blood being torn suddenly changed tone.

It turned into a violent metallic scraping sound.

The tip of the spear seemed to have scraped across a large steel ball.

It clearly pierced into Chu Tianshu's heart, but it didn't stab into his chest cavity; instead, it slid toward the side.

That sharp point opened a bloody, narrow, and long wound on his body, falling toward his left armpit.

Chu Tianshu's left hand suddenly pulled the broken spear, his figure lunged forward, and his right-hand sword had already swept out.

The moon-white afterimage flashed to the side and left.

This flash took him more than two zhang away.

But half of an arm fell to the ground, following the inertia, and rolled two more times toward Duan Zhong's side.

That was the right arm, and the five finger rings on the right hand were all emitting Soldier Spirit auras.

When Duan Zhong stopped, his face turned pale, his right arm was severed at the elbow, blood sprayed out, and there was also a sword mark under his right rib.

Chu Tianshu's sword sweep, although it failed to cut Duan Zhong's entire person off at the height of his elbow, it also crippled most of his combat power.

But Duan Zhong only dared to stop for an instant before immediately fleeing in shock.

Boom!!!

The sharp bamboo pole was thrown, piercing through his afterimage and inserting deeply into the ground.

Chu Tianshu's figure crossed the position of the bamboo pole the next moment, chasing wildly.

"Hai Donglai."

Seeing that he was already twenty zhang away, Chu Tianshu suddenly shouted and threw the long sword in his right hand backward.

The Three-Seven Divine Sword rotated at high speed, flying toward Hai Donglai.

Hai Donglai reached out and happened to catch the hilt.

He could not control the mental energy in the sword, but when Chu Tianshu threw it, he had already stimulated all the remaining mental energy.

Transparent flames lit up between Hai Donglai's fingers, and a rich, warm aura surged into his body.

This kind of healer's mental energy, which could not treat the root cause, could not cure his illness, but it could curb his injuries.

"A sword, I don't seem to be good at sword techniques."

Hai Donglai whispered to himself, his gaze turning slowly to look at the Maitreya Hall.

Guan Changling's expression in front of the hall changed slightly.

He felt his heart sink the moment he saw Duan Zhong fleeing, but a cornered beast still fights, and there might not be no chance to escape today.

"Hai Donglai, you still want to scare me again?!"

Guan Changling raised his broad-bladed, curved saber, which was over four feet long, and said in a deep voice, "Do you think I'm that easy to scare?"

His Soldier Spirit, Micro-Life Eye, mainly helped him make great progress in poison arts.

But in battle, it could at least give him extraordinary observation ability!

Therefore, he had a set of movement techniques specifically for taking risks; even when fighting experts of the same level, he was confident that he could avoid vital points every time by a hair's breadth while fighting his opponent to the death.

Hai Donglai's half-dead appearance...

He was dead for sure!

Guan Changling's peripheral vision also didn't forget to glance at that blind man.

That blind man suddenly wanted to vomit, his cheeks bulging.

Puff!!

Cheng Xiazi's Listening-Wind Saber quietly brushed past the flint at his cuff, and the strong liquor he sprayed out instantly turned into a ball of raging flames.

The top of the pavilion collapsed by half, broken tiles and dust pouring down all at once.

"Kill!!"

One arrogant, one deep, the tones were completely different, yet they overlapped.

At this time, Duan Zhong's figure had already left the Huguo Temple.

He ran wildly in the wilderness, the only Soldier Spirit remaining in his hand keeping the red light in his eyes from extinguishing, and his speed was still faster than a tiger or leopard.

Defeated, defeated, defeated...

Victory and defeat are common in military affairs; if defeated, then defeated!

At worst, he would completely defect to Tibet and become a general.

Even if he lost five Soldier Spirits, Duan Zhong's cultivation realm was still there; as long as he was given half a year, he could re-split and cultivate the posture of the Six Paths with the one remaining Soldier Spirit.

It's just that by then, wearing six rings on five fingers, he might need to wear one more on his middle finger.

Duan Zhong gritted his teeth and passed through the jungle; the nearby banana leaves, vines, and branches were all snapped by his wild running figure.

Before the emerald green color could land, another figure also rushed over.

The force of the wind brought by Chu Tianshu blew these things away again, and the broken leaves drifted even further.

Duan Zhong was certainly seriously injured, but Chu Tianshu was actually not having an easy time either.

Facing that life-taking spear, Chu Tianshu's action was not a blind struggle.

He had deliberately let his ribs meet that spear.

Human ribs are inherently meant to protect internal organs.

Chu Tianshu's ribs were already as hard as iron and stone, but it was impossible to block the force of that spear head-on.

However, the characteristic of the "Guanyin Bone" is to disperse the force to the entire skeleton the moment it is impacted.

Chu Tianshu's Guanyin Bone was already seventy percent mature, and combined with his use of the natural arc of his ribs and the vibration force of his bones, he made the spear tip slide away, which was why he wasn't injured in his heart and lungs.

He was uncomfortable now precisely because of this sliding.

He might not be unable to endure the pain of broken bones, but the feeling of the spear tip scraping hard across the surface of his bones was truly a bit beyond his expectations.

The more he ran, the more uncomfortable he felt, and the more uncomfortable he felt, the angrier he became.

No matter where Duan Zhong ran today, he would beat this person to death!

The two of them passed through mountain ridges and jungles.

When they passed another mountain ridge, they vaguely saw many campfires to the front right.

There was also a hillside there that didn't grow any large trees.

Cuiyan Slope!

Duan Zhong's target was, of course, not this hillside, but the Green Jade River, which was not far from here.

As long as he jumped into the great water, causing the silt to roll and the muddy currents to surge.

He would have a great chance to shake off Chu Tianshu, dive to another place to land, and escape with his life.

Chu Tianshu had arranged the duel here, so he naturally had an understanding of this place and remembered the Green Jade River in the blink of an eye.

"Don't! Even! Think!"

Chu Tianshu gritted his teeth and spat out two words, using the skill of the Arhat Shaking Foot, mixed with Palm Thunder, to step forward.

Dong dong dong dong!

Most of those waiting under Cuiyan Slope were martial artists; either they hadn't slept yet, or they were light sleepers.

They suddenly heard someone beating a drum on the nearby hillside and stood up one after another.

At the very back of these people, there was also a golden-decorated white-gauze carriage, with hundreds of people guarding the side.

The white gauze was lifted, and Yi Mou-xun also looked toward the hillside.

"Is it someone from the Great Tang, or does someone in the Duan family have a drum to cheer them on?"

Yi Mou-xun also attached great importance to this duel.

In today's world, one who can be a monarch of a country may not be a top expert, but they must certainly have some foundation; otherwise, relying solely on the protection of outsiders, it is truly difficult to sit firmly in that position.

Yi Mou-xun was even a person who had led troops on a personal expedition, was good at sword techniques, and had quite a connection with the Diancang sect; his strength was even above the combined attack of the three Diancang elders.

But it was precisely because his strength was high that he knew how enviable the level of Duan Zhong and the others was.

Touching the true wisdom of the blood-refining method.

In his heart, Yi Mou-xun both hoped that Duan Zhong would not win, yet he also didn't quite hope that Duan Zhong would fail.

Dong dong dong!!

Once the drum sound started, it didn't stop at all, approaching rapidly.

Yi Mou-xun was startled from his complex thoughts and suddenly felt something was wrong.

This area was all mountainous terrain; how could the person beating the drum move so fast?

I'm afraid this is not the sound of a drum.

Only to see a moon-white figure flying out from the neighboring mountain forest.

In just a few breaths, he had already swept across that large mountain hollow and went straight up Cuiyan Slope.

"Duan Zhong!!"

Not only Yi Mou-xun, but there were also quite a few people present with good eyesight who saw that figure clearly.

Someone wanted to shout "Prince Yi" on the spot, but was drowned out by the more intense drum sound.

They were shocked to see that the mountain rocks along the path behind Duan Zhong were exploding one after another, with stone chips flying.

So that "drum sound" was the sound of mountain rocks cracking.

It was as if the shadow of a powerful evil ghost, with flying smoke all the way behind it, accompanied by tremors and broken stones, had already caught up to Duan Zhong.

Boom!!!

Duan Zhong made one last turn to strike.

Everyone saw that the pursuer also unleashed a palm.

The two palms collided, Duan Zhong's figure lost balance, his force was not aligned, and his arm was clearly broken.

The pursuer's momentum was slightly frustrated, but he suddenly grabbed Duan Zhong's head with one hand, and his figure circled around.

Duan Zhong's head was twisted away, blood sprayed from his neck and splashed around.

"Daring to set an ambush for me at Huguo Temple, is this the so-called Prince Yi?!"

That person, covered in blood and carrying Duan Zhong's head, turned and galloped away.

"His head will be placed before the Buddha."

"Tell the world who won this battle!"

The words left by that person echoed between the mountain ridges.

From loud to ethereal, the tail sound seemed to go straight to the clouds.

His head will be placed before the Buddha!

Tell the world who won this battle!!

Everyone under the mountain looked at the headless corpse still standing on the slope, unable to speak for a long time.

They were not even shocked by the meaning of these words, but were horrified by Duan Zhong's defeat and death, and by that person's actions.

When one person was traveling, mountain rocks exploded everywhere.

When he left, the lingering sound had not yet faded, and the person had already completely exceeded their field of vision.

What kind of power is this?

Yi Mou-xun stared at the corpse on the slope and the moon in the sky, and after a long time, sighed heavily.

"The martial arts of the Tang people..."

(End of chapter)