Chapter 141

The person before him looked like a sturdy man in his thirties; Bai Lang rubbed his chin where he had been stabbed and asked, "May I ask your honored age?" He said, sizing up Liu Yihan. Liu Yihan was not only old‑looking; his whole brows and eyes bore a listless air, making him unpleasant to look at. Yet the sword he held flowed with sword‑light, and his skill seemed to surpass Ma Cangfeng's.

Faced with Bai Lang's question, this guy under 1.8 meters gave a bitter laugh and did not answer that he was only in his twenties. It seems he too is clear‑sighted about his own appearance.

Without further words, after the referee's command Bai Lang launched an attack, while Liu Yihan seemed to be jerked back by a thread. "He flies back while pointing his sword‑light forward? What kind of logic is that?" Bai Lang grabbed and scattered the sword‑light before him, but failed to catch the actual blade. After distancing himself, Liu Yihan renewed his assault, vowing to bring the rhythm into his own habit.

From Bai Lang's fight footage it was clear this person had already watched it and knew that a head‑on clash with Bai Lang would end badly.

The match took place in a certain arena inside the Guangzhou Gymnasium; the audience wasn't huge, a few hundred at most—all professionals nonetheless. What set it apart was that the bout actually had background music! Having BGM isn't odd, but the trouble was that it started half a beat late—by the time the fight began, the music had just begun. As Bai Lang prepared to lunge forcefully into the opponent's sword circle, he sang, "Laughing at me for wasting my schemes in vain, loving to chase the beauty of mirrored flowers…"

When the music started, Bai Lang twitched; simply put, he was startled. "Chief Xiao! Where are you? Is that the Eighteen Dragon‑Subduing Palms?" He really froze for a moment, knowing this world had no Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber, no rag‑novel. Bai Lang even thought many familiar songs had disappeared—he'd been busy training and never bothered to check. In that stunned pause his movement halted, and the result was being engulfed by a rain of swords.

The Emei sword technique was as dense as the mist on Mount Emei, instantly enveloping Bai Lang's whole body; yet among them a few swords took the sense of the Golden Summit Buddha lamp, a single strike breaking through the clouds and shining in all directions. "This isn't a Buddha lamp—it's basically a blazing sun. Where is the Buddha?" Bai Lang had a moment to scoff; to him this sword meant nothing except that his clothes were torn to rags and might fall off, while his flesh only bore a few white marks.

It did hurt, but his flesh was unharmed; even if his clothes tore and exposed him, he wasn't afraid—he wore a metal groin guard. Normally a sword shouldn't easily slice through it. This wasn't a life‑or‑death struggle, so everyone pulled their punches. Bai Lang was no exception; although he couldn't exert his full strength, with the BGM backing him his fighting spirit soared, his internal force surged like a sea tide, and the timing of his fists, palms and claws turning into each other was especially exquisite.

It was truly as if a war god had possessed him: a palm slapped apart the sword‑light, a claw gathered away the sword‑rain, a fist shattered the sword‑circle, and in the blink of an eye, as Liu Yihan lunged at the center, a huge beast pressed its face against his. The beast's murderous aura filled his breath; a single exhalation seized his heart and soul, and the next second a fist came.

The BGM was playing the line "With these two eyes, neither a hundred arms nor a thousand hands can defend!" when, mid‑phrase, his fist turned into a palm that slammed straight into Liu Yihan's chest and abdomen. The sword‑light could not block it; it was shattered outright by that palm, and a great force hurled Liu Yihan far away.

Just then, suddenly, heavenly thunder struck. This was clearly indoors, and there was no knowing where this dry‑sky thunder came from. The lightning left an endless net in people's retinas, and the center of that net was Bai Lang…

This person didn't even have time to utter a single "Damn!" before being slapped into a black hole by the suddenly enlarged Yu Yu's tail.

Bai Lang bounced up from the ground, shouting "Damn it!" He immediately cursed, and the Yu Yu, now like a fine piece of jade carved into a jewel, hung permanently around his neck—no longer darting within three steps as before. Bai Lang thought of crushing the Yu Yu, but after thinking it over he decided against it… Suddenly he recalled that his numb self might still be in danger! Bai Lang remembered that after the Yu Yu brought him through the crossing, time seemed to have frozen or to be crawling along.

He now recalled that he had crossed over while being hunted by sword‑qi, and upon returning there was no doubt he still had to face that innate swordsman. "I think his name was Dugu Feng?" Bai Lang had already moved about a great deal; if he were to be exposed, it would have happened by now. "Good grief, old sir, I've also attained the innate realm, but I haven't yet had a chance to enjoy its benefits here!" Bai Lang could sense a trickle of heavenly‑earth qi seeping into his Yongquan palace and Baihui point; he hadn't yet managed to open the heavenly‑earth gate.

The innate true qi in his dantian was surging, spontaneously flowing along the qi‑circuit route; each time it passed an acupoint it grew a little stronger, but his meridians were still injured. This surging innate true qi, while healing his wounds, also slammed his meridians, which could in time cultivate tough, broad meridians—but doing this now, if he ever had to fight, would be a huge complication.

It now seemed certain that a fight was unavoidable. After attaining the innate realm, Bai Lang naturally sensed the qi and locked onto the still‑standing Dugu Feng on the rooftop—the sword‑qi that had wounded him, which Bai Lang naturally knew well. Dugu Feng should also have sensed Bai Lang; with their qi clashing, his eyes lowered and a vast white sword‑qi descended. Bai Lang had no time to feel other Changlehua helpers; he directly invoked the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill and bore the brunt of Dugu Feng's sword‑qi.

The strong qi flowed and condensed into a great bell more than a foot outside Bai Lang's body, its patterns ancient and simple, the tiger‑devouring motif now thicker. The sword‑qi struck the bell heavily, and its resonant toll rang out far away. Cracks appeared on the bell's surface, yet the sword‑qi simply reversed direction and rebounded. This is the recoil force of the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill, but Dugu Feng's swordsmanship is evidently superb—the rebounded sword‑qi merely trembled before being controlled by this master and dissipated into nothing.

Dugu Feng also let out a surprised "Oh" and began to scrutinize Bai Lang carefully.

Bai Lang faced the gaze of that Innate Expert swordsman, also staring at him, while he himself took long breaths, harmonizing the surging and tumultuous Internal Force within his body, striving to convert it all into innate true qi as quickly as possible. Only when it had all been converted into innate true qi and was circulating in his dantian could Bai Lang be said to be a true Innate Expert. That casual strike from Dugu Feng just now had already nearly shattered Bai Lang's Golden Bell Shield again, and the gap between Innate Experts was also Ming laid out.

Bai Lang even felt that his Black Tiger Fist would likely pose little threat to his opponent; sure, he could adapt in the heat of battle, but the ceiling of the Black Tiger Fist is set—break it and rebuild to achieve a divine skill—such martial wisdom is at least beyond Bai Lang's present capacity, for to "watch a thousand swords and recognize the weapon" one must first have stored away various martial arts in the mind…