Chapter 126: Breakthrough, Fourth Level of the Innate Realm!

A clear, cold sword cry, like a crane's call from the nine heavens, tore across the long sky.

Brilliant as a river of stars reversed, vast as Duan Tianhe's bursting dike, the resplendent sword Qi carried a resolve to rival the heavens itself, locking onto Pei Renguang with unerring precision!

Badly wounded, every hair on Pei Renguang's body stood on end; the fatal sense of crisis jolted him awake. As he forcibly twisted his body to move, he looked up in horror.

He saw that Chen Mu's figure had, at some unknown moment, already appeared in midair, holding the Lone Star Sword with starlight flowing along its blade, his gaze cold as ten-thousand-year ice, his aura and sword fused into one, plunging down at great speed!

*Heaven-Battling Sword*!

Its intent battles the heavens; its momentum knows no return.

"How dare a junior launch a sneak attack!"

Pei Renguang, both shocked and furious, howled as he drove his remaining blood-colored true Qi, transforming it into a ferocious blood claw to strike back upward!

Though gravely injured, his desperate strike remained ferociously formidable.

"Cut!"

Chen Mu exhaled and voiced his command, and the pure true Qi cultivated from the *Duan Tianhe Art* within his body poured into the sword without reservation.

He held nothing back, no tricks. Facing this martial arts expert whose demonic might blazed so fiercely, he would temper his own sword edge in the most upright—and most perilous—of ways!

"First sword: Galaxy Flash!"

Sword light like lightning tore through the blood claw's phantom.

"Second sword: Silver River Returning Wave!"

"Third sword: Jade Sky Flying Cascade!"

……

Chen Mu unleashed all eighteen forms of the *Heaven-Battling Sword* to his heart's content!

Every single sword carried the full weight of his spirit, will, and surging true Qi.

The sword's momentum swung wide and grand, like the Duan River in full flood; then turned cunning and strange, like a river of stars winding through the sky; then grew solemn as Rushan, like a river of stars settling into stillness! 【58】 In this life-and-death struggle under extreme pressure, Chen Mu's understanding of the Heaven-Battling Sword had already been elevated!

The Lone Star Sword in his hands seemed to come alive, transforming into streaks of cold star-rivers tearing the night sky, madly weaving their killing web around Pei Renguang.

Pei Renguang was both shocked and furious; he realized he was being completely suppressed by the opponent's sword momentum!

The vast, grand intent contained within that sword Qi subtly countered his bizarre, violent blood-colored true Qi.

What frustrated him even more was that his opponent refused to clash head-on with true Qi, instead using exquisitely subtle, endlessly linked sword moves to constantly strike at the openings exposed by his injuries, draining what little strength he had left!

"Clang~ clang~ clang~!"

The sound of metal striking metal fell as densely as rain.

Blood-colored true Qi and Duan Tianhe sword Qi clashed madly and annihilated each other!

Relying on the fierce defense of his horizontally-tempered body, Chen Mu used the gravely wounded Pei Renguang as a whetstone, immersing himself wholly in the mysteries of the *Heaven-Battling Sword*.

The many obscure, hard-to-penetrate points from past practice suddenly cleared one after another under the pressure of this life-and-death struggle!

The transitions between sword moves grew ever more fluid and natural; his intent and sword Qi grew ever more in tune.

The longer Pei Renguang fought, the more his heart trembled; the longer he fought, the more despair consumed him.

He felt like a moth trapped in a spider's web—the opponent's sword net growing ever denser, ever tighter.

Finally……

When Chen Mu executed the sixteenth sword, "Emperor's Throne Draping Robes," the sword momentum reached a peak; extreme speed and force condensed into a single point, and the Lone Star Sword let out a piercing shriek, instantly piercing through layer upon layer of Pei Renguang's blood barrier.

"Not good!"

Pei Renguang's soul nearly fled his body; he desperately twisted sideways to dodge……

"Seventeenth sword: Returning Ruins Calamity Ash!"

A sharp light exploded from Chen Mu's eyes; seizing the fleeting battle opportunity, he delivered the strongest strike he could currently master within the *Heaven-Battling Sword*.

The sword momentum seemed to encompass all the variations of the previous sixteen swords, finally converging into a single annihilating slash of void and nihility.

Shwa~

Sword light flashed.

As if a river of stars had returned to silence.

"Puchi—"

A pillar of blood shot skyward.

An arm wrapped in tattered martial artist's robes was severed clean at the shoulder and flew into the air.

"Ah—"

Pei Renguang let out an utterly wretched scream.

Yet the sword momentum had not ended!

That sword strike returning to nihility—its terrifying sword momentum, like a bone-burrowing maggot, surged fiercely into Pei Renguang's dantian and Qi sea!

"Boom!"

A muffled explosion rang out from within Pei Renguang's body; the last thin wisp of blood-colored true Qi around him scattered and dissolved completely, like snow meeting a blazing sun!

Pei Renguang collapsed to the ground like soft mud, as if all his essence, energy, and spirit had been drained away; his face was ashen as earth, his eyes unfocused, filled with endless agony and despair.

His dantian shattered; the demonic art he had bitterly cultivated for years was utterly reduced to nothing!

Chen Mu drifted down lightly, using his sword to support his footing; his face was slightly pale, his breathing somewhat disordered.

Having just executed all eighteen forms of the *Heaven-Battling Sword* with exhilarating thoroughness, he had nearly drained every last drop of his true Qi, and the shockwaves from battling Pei Renguang had left him with some minor internal injuries.

But the hand gripping his sword was steady as a boulder, and a sharp, delighted light gleamed in his eyes.

In this life-and-death struggle under极致 pressure, Chen Mu's understanding of the *Heaven-Battling Sword* had already been sublimated!

The eighteen sword forms were no longer isolated individuals, but grasped as a whole, forming an initial cycle; his sword realm naturally stepped into an entirely new level.

He had entered the hall and reached the inner chamber!

Chen Mu felt the clearer, deeper true meaning of the sword art in his mind, and the true Qi within his body, now more condensed and pure by a fraction thanks to the breakthrough. Looking again at Pei Renguang, now a cripple before him, the turmoil in his heart gradually stilled.

The shura arena of Juliu Shanzhuang had finally fallen completely silent.

Golden Sun Gate, the Wang family, the Zhou family — the three allied forces, a team of several hundred people, only a scattered few remained alive.

These people had all suffered heavy injuries at the very start when fighting Juliu Shanzhuang's people, and were currently in a comatose state.

Juliu Shanzhuang's people had likewise nearly all died; only a dozen or so who had hidden away escaped the calamity — these people were concealed in cellars, under beds, inside water vats, holding their breath, not daring to make the slightest sound.

Chen Mu did not go drag them out either.

He quickly checked the cards he had picked up.

Apart from Stamina Cards and Energy Cards, there were twenty-nine Skill Cards, the majority being acquired-stage martial arts.

Eighteen Cultivation Cards, with varying time limits.

Forty-one Power Cards, three Memory Cards.

Seven Qi Cards — the least being four months of Qi, the most being one year and eight months of Qi.

Two hundred and five Internal Force Cards!

The least being three months of internal force, the most being nine months of internal force.

This wave of Internal Force Cards, added to what had been accumulated over the previous few days, was enough to equal three years of Qi!

The total amount of Qi had, shockingly, exceeded ten years!

"Whoosh~" "Whoosh~" "Whoosh~"

Thud thud thud!

Chen Mu condensed his Qi, then suddenly flicked it out, striking Pei Renguang's remaining arm and both legs, breaking them all so he could no longer crawl.

The final burst struck his head, causing Pei Renguang to fall unconscious.

Then, his figure flickered, and he shifted to a nearby patch of empty ground not soaked in fresh blood, sat down cross-legged, took out the Internal Force Cards, used them in great handfuls all at once, drove the circulation of the Duan Tianhe Art, and converted them into his own Qi.

Once all the Internal Force Cards were used up, he took out the Qi Cards, used them one by one, drove the cultivation method to circulate, rapidly converting them into his own Qi, continuously tempering, and charging toward the Fourth Stage of Heaven.

Buzz buzz~

His body trembled.

Wisps of invisible aura, like swords yet like water, hovered around his body, sweeping away all the dust, gravel, tiles, wood, and every other object within several zhang around him.

Until a certain moment…

Shing!

A three-foot-long sword, formed entirely from condensed Qi, vivid and lifelike, floated before Chen Mu.

Qi given form — the Fourth Stage of Heaven!