Chapter 540: Panshi Body — Mu Qing

The two fought for another ten or so exchanges, yet the scales of victory and defeat remained untilted.

Zhou Yanran's Sword Technique grew faster and faster, the cyan-white sword light weaving like a shuttle, layering and entangling toward every vital point on Mu Qing's body.

Her Qingyuan Sword Body was a pure sword-attribute Different Body, and the True Qi within her body was naturally compatible with the Martial Dao; the same sword moves, when used by her, were often thirty percent faster and thirty percent more precise than anyone else's.

Looking at Mu Qing, although the force of her gray-black short sword was heavy, every strike consumed a significant amount of energy; if she could not finish the battle quickly, the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for her.

"Mu Qing is about to change her moves," Cheng Feng suddenly said.

Zhou Tieyi was puzzled: "How can you tell?"

"She just retreated four steps, but every step was planted firmly; she wasn't forced back, she was storing up power."

Cheng Feng's gaze landed on the soles of Mu Qing's feet.

Beneath her deep cyan martial attire, the muscles of her calves were taut like bowstrings.

"I have heard that in the Northern Frontier Battlefield Sword Technique, retreating to store power means the next step is..."

Before the words had finished, Mu Qing moved.

She lunged forward with a sudden step, her short sword slashing out like a crumbling rock; the gray-black patterns on the blade suddenly lit up, as if magma were flowing through cracks in stone.

This strike was wrapped in dense, earthy-yellow True Qi, so heavy that it felt as if even the air was being pressed and forced to flee to the sides.

Zhou Yanran's pupils constricted, and she quickly moved the Qingyuan Sword to defend, holding it horizontally before her chest.

The short sword struck the Qingyuan Sword, emitting a muffled "Boom—" sound; it did not sound like metal clashing against metal, but rather like a mountain rock smashing onto solid ice.

Zhou Yanran felt a massive force surge from the sword body; the Qingyuan Sword was pressed into a dangerous arc, and her feet slid backward on the deck, the friction between her soles and the wooden planks emitting a piercing screech.

She slid a full three zhang before barely stabilizing her figure; a wisp of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and her right arm holding the sword trembled uncontrollably.

"The force of this strike..." Zhou Tieyi gasped, "What kind of monstrous strength does this woman have?"

Regarding pure physical strength, Cheng Feng had the most right to speak.

Cheng Feng shook his head: "It is not pure physical strength. The earth-attribute True Qi on her body erupts like a collapsing mountain or a sinking earth. If I am not mistaken, her Different Body also has a significant origin."

Mu Qing did not press her advantage.

She held the sword in one hand with the tip pointing to the ground, her breathing as steady as if she hadn't just unleashed a full-power strike.

Her eyes were fixed on Zhou Yanran, like a hunting wolf on the northern wilderness, calm and filled with immense pressure.

"Miss Mu has great strength," Zhou Yanran said, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth with her fingertip and slowly straightening up.

Her smile had vanished, replaced by a serious solemnity.

The cyan-white luster on the Qingyuan Sword suddenly began to circulate, as if countless tiny sword intents were swimming within it; the air around the sword body faintly emitted a light, thin sword hum, like wind passing through a bamboo forest, or ten thousand swords whispering.

"It seems I can no longer hide my strength; let me see just how capable someone who can be pre-admitted by the Immortal Sect really is," Zhou Yanran said softly.

Regarding the Immortal Sect pre-admitting an Immortal Seed, Zhou Yanran had no objections.

That was the right of the Immortal Sect.

But being challenged, Zhou Yanran did want to see what they were made of.

She raised the Qingyuan Sword with the tip pointing to the sky, formed a sword seal with her left hand, and the aura around her body changed abruptly.

Cyan-white True Qi surged from her body, incomparably sharp, and the air around the sword body was sliced, emitting a "hissing" sound.

"Qingyuan Sword Body, activate."

As soon as the words fell, the entire Qingyuan Sword suddenly became nearly transparent; it seemed as if a thin sword vein was flowing within the blade, emitting a clear, resonant sound.

Zhou Yanran's entire temperament changed along with it; originally gentle as a refined lady, she now possessed a sharp, piercing edge, like an unsheathed cyan blade, with an intimidating Sword Qi.

Mu Qing's expression tightened slightly, and her hand gripping the short sword unconsciously tightened a fraction.

She could feel that the sword-attribute True Qi within Zhou Yanran was more than a notch stronger than before.

After the Qingyuan Sword Body was activated, Zhou Yanran herself seemed to have transformed into a sword; person and sword were one, and the sword intent was shockingly pure. That sword intent was like needles and thorns, stinging her skin even from several feet away.

Zhou Yanran struck.

This strike was faster than all her previous sword moves, so fast that the sword body was almost invisible.

One could only see a streak of cyan-white sword light slicing through the air, the sword intent condensed into a line, stabbing toward Mu Qing's heart.

Mu Qing hurriedly swung her short sword to parry; the moment the gray-black blade collided with the sword light, it was forcibly deflected by an inch.

The Qingyuan sword intent was extremely pure and sharp, penetrating everything; Mu Qing's ten-thousand-jun force was like being split down the middle in the face of that sword intent.

The sword light entered her body.

Mu Qing hurriedly turned her body, and the cyan-white sword light grazed her left shoulder; her deep cyan martial attire was sliced open, and blood quickly soaked the fabric.

She let out a muffled groan, but instead of retreating, she advanced, slashing her short sword horizontally; the gray-black patterns on the blade lit up once more, and earthy-yellow True Qi surged out like a sandstorm, sweeping toward Zhou Yanran's waist and abdomen.

Zhou Yanran drifted backward, the Qingyuan Sword drawing three sword arcs in front of her; three barriers condensed from sword intent appeared out of thin air, blocking Mu Qing's Sword Qi.

The earthy-yellow sandstorm crashed into the sword intent barriers, emitting a dense "clinking" sound, like sand and stone striking an iron wall.

The two pulled a few feet apart, each regulating their breath.

The wound on Mu Qing's left shoulder continued to seep blood, staining half her arm red. But she didn't even glance at it, her gaze locked firmly on Zhou Yanran.

"The Qingyuan Sword Body is truly worthy of its reputation," Mu Qing's voice remained calm, though it was a bit hoarser than before.

"The sword intent is pure and sharp, the force is unstoppable; it is a constitution that naturally counters my style of brute force. You are worthy of being the first place in the Martial Arts Tournament."

Zhou Yanran smiled slightly, though her tone was not relaxed: "Miss Mu is too modest. If your strike just now had been half an inch off, my sword intent would not have been able to stop it."

"Again," Mu Qing said, gritting her teeth.

She suddenly performed an action that no one had expected—she sheathed her short sword.

With both hands empty, Mu Qing slowly clenched her fists; a layer of grayish-brown stone-like luster covered her knuckles, as if she had put on a pair of gauntlets forged from rock.

The bones throughout her body emitted a dull sound, and her entire figure seemed to grow an inch taller out of thin air, the muscle lines on her shoulders and back bulging menacingly beneath her martial attire.

"My Different Body is called the Panshi Body," Mu Qing's voice rolled from her throat, carrying a low rumble like a mountain rock collapsing.

"Indestructible, and no edge can break it."

As her words fell, she charged out like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Without a weapon, without flashy moves, there was only a fist encased in rock, smashing straight toward Zhou Yanran.

This punch was simpler than any of the previous sword strikes, and also more terrifying.

Zhou Yanran's expression changed abruptly.

She wanted to retreat, but the speed Mu Qing erupted with was actually faster than when he held a sword.

She wanted to block, but intuitively felt that the Sword Intent barrier of the Qingyuan Sword could not stop this punch.

The earthy-yellow True Qi on that fist was so thick it was nearly solid, like a mountain crashing over.

In a flash of inspiration, Zhou Yanran held the Qingyuan Sword horizontally before her, and the sword veins within the blade surged, transforming into a half-person-high Sword Qi barrier.

She poured all her True Qi into it; dense sword light flowed across the surface of the barrier, and the air at the outermost layer was sliced white by the Sword Intent.

Mu Qing's fist smashed into the Sword Qi barrier.

There was no expected loud noise, only a long, resonant "Hum—".

The Sword Qi barrier trembled violently, sword light shot wildly from its surface, the entire barrier caved inward from the center, and cracks spread like a spiderweb.

Mu Qing's punch force was continuously divided, sliced, and dissipated by the Sword Qi, yet that fist pushed forward inch by inch, like magma squeezing into rock strata, slow and irreversible.