Chapter 619: Death Struggle

Lady Xu.

A person from Zhao during the Warring States period, a famous sword smith.

Her most famous work is a short dagger called the "Lady Xu Sword." A man from the State of Yan named Jing Ke held this short dagger to assassinate the First Emperor, cutting off the First Emperor's sleeve.

The time she lived was only three hundred years away from the era of the First Ancestor of Martial Arts, Zhuan Zhu. It can be said—Lady Xu was one of the predecessors who opened the path for later martial arts practitioners at the time when martial arts were first emerging.

And unlike Zheng Anqi, who only obtained a Xuanlan secret manual, she was a disciple personally trained by Master Monk... She was far stronger than Zheng Anqi.

As Lady Xu extended her ten fingers, the invisible true energy radiated after being oscillated by 【Hunming】 reached Li Miao's chest in an instant, colliding with the protective true energy condensed by 【Wanxiang】.

*Clang! *

This time, there was finally a sound.

As both were Xuanlan wonders, 【Hunming】 clearly could not defeat 【Wanxiang】 as silently as it had vibrated wood and stone to pieces.

But since the essence of 【Hunming】 was also vibration, it naturally countered protective true energy extremely well; it only delayed for an instant before breaking through the protective true energy and sticking to Li Miao's skin and flesh.

"Got him!"

The old man who had been repelled by Li Miao's gaze flashed.

He had originally expected a fierce battle, especially after Li Miao had used some unknown method to suppress his injuries and slaughter the seven gods he had placed high hopes on. He felt even more that he would probably have to risk his life today to kill Li Miao... but he hadn't expected to win so easily!

He never doubted the destructive power of 【Hunming】.

Except for 【Liangyi】, he had never seen any method capable of resisting the vibration of 【Hunming】... even Lady Xu herself couldn't!

Sure enough, the next instant, huge blood flowers exploded from Li Miao's chest and back! It was clear he had been pierced through!

A flash of joy appeared in the old man's eyes, but he also knew that for someone who had integrated the five paths, piercing the chest would not be immediately fatal, so he flashed forward, raised his saber, and performed a horizontal slash toward Li Miao's neck!

"Fool!"

He heard Lady Xu's scolding from behind.

"Dodge!"

Upon hearing this, the old man's pupils shrank, but he would not question Lady Xu's judgment. He was about to force himself to retract his move and dodge, risking the consequence of torn tendons, but before he could complete the action—his pupils suddenly shrank again, like needle points.

Li Miao, who had been beaten backward and looked like he was about to fall, suddenly straightened his back violently. His left hand grabbed his arm almost instantly. Under the urging of 【Base Strength】, his five fingers drilled directly into his skin and flesh, clamped onto his arm bone, and stopped his retreat.

"Blind?"

He heard Li Miao say with a low laugh, his right fist violently tearing through the air and smashing toward his skull.

"Heart pulse? I lost that thing a long time ago!"

The old man's face turned pale.

How could he have overlooked this point!

But even if Li Miao's heart and lungs were now molded from true energy, being shattered, along with his ribs and most of the skin and flesh on his chest, should have at least delayed him for a moment!

How could he be like nothing had happened!

But no matter how regretful or confused he was, Li Miao's fist had already reached his face; it was too late to dodge or block.

Fortunately... he was not alone.

*Boom! *

A muffled sound, and blood flowers exploded from his right shoulder. A sharp pain arrived. The old man knew it was Lady Xu who had broken his arm, helping him break free from Li Miao's control, and he immediately flashed back in a hurry!

Li Miao naturally would not spare him. He stepped forward to follow, grabbed his severed arm, casually swung an "arm flower," and smashed it toward him!

The old man had no choice but to retreat again.

Li Miao stepped forward to follow again.

The old man gritted his teeth.

"No! Can't retreat!"

"Gamble on it!"

Once his mind was made up, he suddenly stopped his retreat. His remaining left hand waved, and he condensed a true energy katana in front of his chest again, crashing his whole body directly toward Li Miao.

The posture looked tragic, but it was actually a defensive stance.

With his and Li Miao's speed, the collision happened in an instant. Li Miao rushed in front of him with a smile, his arm raised high, gripping his severed arm and smashing it down violently, just like wielding a short hammer, bringing up a trail of afterimages.

*Whoosh! *

The sound of wind breaking whistled from overhead.

The old man gritted his teeth.

Only by truly facing Li Miao could one truly experience what it was like to fight him... No matter how experienced he was in battle, having an enemy swing his own severed arm at his face made him feel a surge of fear in his heart.

Fear... Oh no!

Jizhao Illusion!

A chill ran down the old man's spine.

Li Miao had laid out his inner-heart illusion early on. He and Lady Xu had naturally also cultivated Jizhao, but after all, their realm was a notch lower, making it difficult to expand their own Jizhao illusions. So at this moment, the three were fighting within Li Miao's illusion, and the characteristic of Jizhao was—determined by the heart!

The more one feared, the more one felt the opponent was strong, the easier it was to be influenced by the illusion!

Li Miao's brutal behavior was very likely planting flaws in his state of mind... and he had already fallen for it!

The old man raised his saber to block overhead, while simultaneously biting the tip of his tongue violently, trying to calm his mind.

But before he could bite through the tip of his tongue... his feet suddenly paused.

From the blood on the ground, a white, bone-white hand suddenly reached out, grabbed his ankle, and then pulled violently backward!

"Damn it!"

The old man had already reacted and calmed his mind, and he himself had also cultivated Jizhao, so that hand bone only slightly tilted his figure... but when facing Li Miao, a "slight flaw" was almost equivalent to death.

Li Miao's mouth curled up. The downward swinging momentum of his left hand, which was holding the severed arm, suddenly delayed for a moment, and the true energy katana the old man was blocking overhead was let past by a hair's breadth.

The next instant—*Whoosh! *

The severed arm smashed down again!

The old man wanted to retract his saber to block, but it was already too late.

*Boom! *

The severed arm smashed violently onto his crown.

The old man's neck suddenly disappeared, his mandible broke his collarbone, and the tip of his nose sank into his chest cavity.

He swayed, then fell to the ground with a *thud*.

His hands and feet twitched a few times, and then there was no more sound.

In just three exchanges and a few moves, Li Miao had killed the old man whose realm was similar to Zheng Anqi's. Such a Heaven-Man, who would be enough to run rampant in the current Jianghu, had fallen miserably without even being able to use a decent sword move, and he didn't even have the qualifications to leave his name behind.

The battle situation did not stagnate because of his death.

*Screech! *—

Just as the old man's corpse fell, Lady Xu behind him revealed her figure. Her hands were interlaced and extended forward, and she pointed at Li Miao.

【Hunming】 collided with 【Wanxiang】 again.

【Wanxiang】 bought Li Miao an instant before being broken. Taking advantage of this instant, Li Miao flashed to dodge, and 【Hunming】 grazed past Li Miao's shoulder.

*Splash! *

Blood sprayed.

The severed arm fell.

Li Miao backhanded to pick up his severed left arm, pressed it onto the wound, and 【Wanxiang】 climbed up, temporarily connecting the arm to his body, and then rushed toward Lady Xu without pause, his left arm dangling at his side.

Lady Xu's mouth curled.

"I understand."

"Although you can use true energy to simulate flesh and blood and connect severed limbs, it also takes time... If it is a completely severed limb in the middle, you need at least three breaths to regain control."

While speaking, her hands did not stop.

【Hunming】 kept flying toward Li Miao, constantly delaying Li Miao's speed of approach.

Li Miao's figure turned into afterimages, rushing left and right, constantly turning back. In an instant, he used the essence of footwork such as Wudang's "Ladder Cloud Soar," Ming Sect's "Flying Catkins Light Smoke Art," and the Thief Sect's "Thousand Miles Without Leaving a Trace," dodging all the flying 【Hunming】 true energy.

"I also understand."

Li Miao suddenly stopped sharply. The flat ground in front of him suddenly turned into a deep pit ten feet wide, the pit wall pressing against his toes.

"From the moment we met until now, even when I rushed to your face, you haven't moved once."

"You don't want to move, but you can't, right?"

Li Miao's figure crossed the deep pit again and rushed toward Lady Xu. ===== CHAPTER 620 =====