Chapter 613: Death Struggle

Lady Xu.

A native of Zhao during the Warring States period, a famous sword smith.

Her most famous work is a short dagger known as the "Lady Xu Sword." A man from the State of Yan named Jing Ke used this short dagger to assassinate the First Emperor, severing the First Emperor’s sleeve.

The time she lived was only three hundred years after the era of the first ancestor of martial arts, Zhuan Zhu. It could be said—Lady Xu was one of the predecessors who paved the way for future martial artists when the martial path was first taking root.

And unlike An Qisheng, who only obtained a manual of Profound Observation, she was a disciple personally trained by Master Monk... She was far stronger than An Qisheng.

As Lady Xu extended her ten fingers, the invisible Qi radiated through the [Chaos Nether] vibration instantly reached Li Miao’s chest, colliding with the protective Qi condensed by [Ten Thousand Phenomena].

*Clang!*

This time, there was finally a sound.

As both were Profound Observation divine abilities, [Chaos Nether] clearly could not collapse [Ten Thousand Phenomena] as silently as it had vibrated the wood and stone.

But since the essence of [Chaos Nether] was also vibration, it was naturally extremely effective against protective Qi; it only lagged for an instant before breaking through the protective Qi and pressing against Li Miao’s skin.

"Got him!"

The old man, who had been repelled by Li Miao, saw a flash in his eyes.

He had expected a fierce battle, especially after Li Miao had used some unknown method to suppress his injuries and slaughter the seven deities he had placed such high hopes on. He had felt that today he might have to risk his life to kill Li Miao... yet he hadn't expected to win so easily!

He never doubted the destructive power of [Chaos Nether].

Excluding [Two Rituals], he had never seen any method capable of resisting the vibration of [Chaos Nether]... even Lady Xu herself could not!

Sure enough, the next instant, huge sprays of blood erupted from Li Miao’s chest and back! It was clear he had been pierced through!

A trace of joy appeared in the old man’s eyes, but he also knew that for someone who had unified the five paths, a pierced chest would not be immediately fatal, so he flashed forward, raising his blade for a horizontal slash at 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 a retreat at the cost of tearing his tendons, but before he could complete the movement—his pupils shrank again, like needle points.

Li Miao, who had been knocked backward and looked like he was about to fall, suddenly straightened his waist and back. His left hand grabbed the old man’s arm almost instantly. Driven by [Base Strength], his five fingers drilled directly into the flesh, clamping onto the arm bone and stopping his retreat.

"Blind?"

He heard Li Miao say with a low chuckle, as his right fist sliced through the air, smashing toward his head.

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

The old man’s face turned pale.

How could he have overlooked this!

But even if Li Miao’s heart and lungs were now molded from Qi, being shattered, along with having most of his ribs and chest flesh gone, should have slowed him down at least a little!

How was he acting like nothing had happened!

Yet no matter how much regret or confusion he felt, Li Miao’s fist had already reached his face; it was too late to dodge or block.

Fortunately... he was not alone.

*Bang!*

With a muffled sound, blood exploded from his right shoulder, and intense pain followed. The old man knew Lady Xu had broken his arm, helping him break free from Li Miao’s control, and he immediately flashed away in a rapid retreat!

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

The old man had no choice but to retreat again.

Li Miao stepped forward again to follow.

The old man gritted his teeth.

"No! I can’t get away!"

"Gamble on it!"

With his mind made up, he suddenly stopped his retreat. His remaining left hand waved, condensing a Qi saber in front of his chest, and he threw his whole body directly at 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, clutching the severed arm and smashing it down violently, like wielding a short hammer, creating a blur of afterimages.

*Whoosh!*

The sound of wind breaking whistled from overhead.

The old man gritted his teeth.

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

Fear... oh no!

Silent Illumination Illusion!

A chill ran down the old man’s spine.

Li Miao had laid out his inner heart illusion from the very beginning. He and Lady Xu had naturally also cultivated Silent Illumination, but their realm was a notch lower, making it difficult to expand their own Silent Illumination illusions. Thus, the three of them were fighting within Li Miao’s illusion, and the characteristic of Silent Illumination was—determined by the heart!

The more one feared, the more one felt the opponent was powerful, 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 blade to block overhead, while simultaneously biting the tip of his tongue hard, trying to steady his mind.

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

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

"Oh no!"

The old man had already reacted and steadied his mind, and he himself had cultivated Silent Illumination, so that hand bone only slightly shifted his posture... but when facing Li Miao, a "slight flaw" was almost equivalent to death.

Li Miao’s mouth curled up. The downward swing of his left hand, which was holding the severed arm, suddenly lagged for a moment, and the Qi saber the old man was blocking overhead was bypassed by a hair’s breadth.

The next instant—*Whoosh!*

The severed arm smashed down again!

It was too late for the old man to retract his blade to block.

*Bang!*

The severed arm smashed violently onto his crown.

The old man’s neck suddenly disappeared, his jawbone smashed into his collarbone, and the tip of his nose sank into his chest cavity.

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

His limbs twitched a few times, then there was no more sound.

In just three exchanges and a few moves, Li Miao had killed an old man whose realm was similar to An Qisheng’s. Such a Heaven-Man, who would be enough to run rampant in the current Ordinary Jianghu, had fallen miserably without even being able to use a decent sword move, not even qualifying to leave his name behind.

The battle did not stall because of his death.

*Screech!*—

The moment the old man’s corpse fell, Lady Xu revealed herself from behind him. Her ten fingers were interlaced and extended forward, pointing at Li Miao.

[Chaos Nether] collided with [Ten Thousand Phenomena] again.

[Ten Thousand Phenomena] bought Li Miao an instant before being broken. Taking advantage of this instant, Li Miao flashed to dodge, and [Chaos Nether] grazed Li Miao’s shoulder.

*Splash!*

Blood sprayed.

The severed arm fell.

Li Miao backhanded the severed left arm, pressed it onto the wound, and [Ten Thousand Phenomena] climbed up, temporarily connecting the arm to his body, before rushing toward Lady Xu without a pause, his left arm dangling at his side.

Lady Xu’s mouth curled.

"I understand now."

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

While speaking, her hands did not stop.

[Chaos Nether] kept shooting toward Li Miao, constantly delaying the speed of Li Miao’s approach.

Li Miao’s figure turned into afterimages, charging left and right, constantly doubling back. In an instant, he used the essence of footwork such as Mount Wudang’s "Ladder Cloud Step," Ming Cult’s "Flying Catkin Light Smoke Art," and Thief Sect’s "Thousand Miles Without Leaving a Trace," dodging all the incoming [Chaos Nether] Qi.

"I also understand now."

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

"From the moment we met until now, even when I charged right in front of you, you haven't moved a single time."

"It’s not that you don't want to move, but that you can't, right?"

Li Miao’s figure crossed the deep pit again and rushed toward Lady Xu.