Chapter 74

Yet the profound force carried by the shattered rocks numbed his right arm with successive tremors.

Without pausing for breath, Jiang Sishui, while the "Flame Blade" incinerated the poisonous powder, grounded his long sword, launched himself without his feet touching the earth, and glided swiftly like a rain swallow, rushing along the ground toward South South Murong Fu.

"Frustrating Sword Form!"

As the words fell, his body, wrapped in sword light, spun rapidly around South South Murong Fu like a top, slashing continuously.

The sword momentum resembled a tidal wave, each surge higher than the last, each fiercer than the one before.

In an instant, South South Murong Fu felt as though trapped inside a churning bucket of blade edges; a chill spread across his entire body, as if a sword edge rested upon every inch of his skin.

The moment those blade edges tore his flesh, he would be sliced to death by a thousand cuts!

South South Murong Fu was terrified.

Previously, Jiang Sishui's sword arts, though superb, had always relied on stillness to counter motion, striking first despite acting second, turning passivity into initiative.

Now, however, he had shifted to active offense, his attacks sharp and swift as a gale and torrential rain, pressing so hard it left one gasping for air.

This sudden change in sword trajectory caught South South Murong Fu completely off guard, leaving him momentarily unable to discern the direction of his opponent's sword arts.

Yet South South Murong Fu was no pushover; battle-hardened through countless fights, he remained composed despite his shock.

"Longcheng Sword Art!"

He immediately unleashed the South South Murong family's ancestral sword art, each move flowing endlessly into the next like drifting clouds and flowing water; in a flash, his entire body became enveloped within a curtain of light.

The sound of "ding-ding" rang out incessantly, the clashing notes merging into a continuous sheet, like rain beating against banana leaves, without a moment's pause.

"Your sword art is not bad, pity you haven't mastered it thoroughly."

Although the "Frustrating Sword Form" failed to pierce South South Murong Fu's sword curtain defense, the immense force on the blade had already split the tiger's mouth of his hand, causing blood to stream continuously from his right palm.

At this moment, Jiumozhi finished incinerating the poisonous powder and leaped forward; seeing South South Murong Fu in dire straits, he launched successive palm strikes.

A full twelve strikes of "Flame Blade" slashed toward Jiang Sishui; having expended so much true qi so suddenly, Jiumozhi's face turned pale.

Those "Flame Blades" merged into a curtain of blades, sealing off every direction and leaving Jiang Sishui no chance to dodge.

Jiang Sishui halted his spin, advanced rather than retreating, and as he lunged at Jiumozhi, he whirled his sword into blossoms of sword flowers.

"Lifting Sword Form!"

One saw the sword tip continuously flick upward; the "Flame Blade qi," now tangible as solid matter, was sliced apart by the long sword, then swiftly extinguished under the ravaging force of Jiang Sishui's profound true qi.

Jiang Sishui's form, agile as a swimming dragon, soared upward, flipped mid-air, and dove headfirst toward the ground.

"Sword-Breaking Form!"

The long sword danced wildly, now twice as fast as before, its sword light enveloping both Jiumozhi and South South Murong Fu, who was furiously chasing after him.

Though Jiumozhi held no weapon, he feared nothing; his ten fingers darted rapidly, tapping out finger qi like rain that poured upward, colliding incessantly with the sword light.

This was the Shaolin supreme skill "Many-Leaved Finger"; its finger qi was rigid and fierce, and in Jiumozhi's hands, it could even pierce through metal!

Had Jiang Sishui's long sword not been infused with true qi, it would have snapped long ago.

This showed that although the "Nine Swords of Senior Senior Dugu" claimed to be unbound by internal energy, it still had realm limitations and could not be applied at all against Grandmasters or above.

For instance, if Zhao Zhao Zhao Qiying replaced Jiang Sishui, with her Grandmaster cultivation, a single finger strike from Jiumozhi would shatter her long sword.

Without a sword, how could she still employ the "Nine Swords of Senior Senior Dugu"?

At that point, facing a Grandmaster, she would possess not the slightest power to resist.

The reason Zhao Zhao Zhao Qiying had previously fought Duan Duan Yanqing to a standstill was twofold: first, Duan Duan Yanqing was inferior to Jiumozhi; second, the "One-Yang Finger" was not a finger art primarily focused on lethal force.

Jiumozhi could directly withstand Jiang Sishui's sword arts, but South South Murong Fu could not.

A streak of sword light flashed across, flicking away his hair ribbon outright; his long hair burst outward in chaos as South South Murong Fu staggered backward, utterly disheveled.

Jiang Sishui did not pursue further; instead, he shifted the battlefield, leveraged his momentum to leap, and charged toward Ding Chunqiu.

Ding Chunqiu's martial arts were originally superior to Suxinghe's, and he also possessed deadly poison skills; in the original story, Suxinghe died from his "Three-Laugh Freedom-Scattering Powder."

Jiang Sishui naturally had no wish to see such an event occur.

At this moment, Ding Chunqiu and Suxinghe were pushing against each other with a pillar of fire, contesting internal energy; seeing Jiang Sishui suddenly charge in from the side, Ding Chunqiu felt not alarm but delight.

"I've been waiting for you!"

Intense excitement danced in Ding Chunqiu's eyes; he aimed his left sleeve at Jiang Sishui and slapped swiftly with his right palm!

The sound of a spring mechanism snapping rang out; simultaneously, twenty-seven silver nails, swift and fierce, shot straight toward Jiang Sishui's face.

"Rain of Pear Blossom Needles! Die, you brat!"

Ding Chunqiu sidestepped the fire pillar slapped over by Suxinghe, unable to suppress his excitement, and roared aloud.

Rain of Pear Blossom Needles?!

Hearing Ding Chunqiu's shout, the crowd of heroes started in shock.

This was a hidden weapon renowned alongside the "Heaven-Earth Bone-Piercing Heart-Transfixing Needle," equally famed for its glorious record of slaying heavenly beings!

Yet since its startling appearance years ago, this hidden weapon had vanished without a trace; no one expected Ding Chunqiu to possess such a sinister and poisonous item.

No wonder he had previously dared face Jiang Sishui with such confidence; it turned out he relied on this major advantage.

Perhaps Ding Chunqiu had been waiting for an opportunity all along?

Once he seized the moment and unleashed the "Rain of Pear Blossom Needles," what did it matter that Jiang Sishui was a late-stage Grandmaster? Even a heavenly being would die!

For the needles had long been tempered with deadly poison by Ding Chunqiu.

Just as the thought flashed through everyone's minds that Jiang Sishui was about to fall into the trap, he dodged in advance.

He evaded nearly twenty of the silver nails; for the few he could not dodge, he neutralized them with the "Arrow-Breaking Form."

The reason he could evade them was not that the "Rain of Pear Blossom Needles" failed to live up to its name, nor that the "Treading on Waves" was too powerful; the key lay in "in advance"!

In fact, while he fought South South Murong Fu and Jiumozhi, his "Cicada Awareness" had continuously sensed Ding Chunqiu's intense malice, far stronger than anyone else's.

At that time, Jiang Sishui had been somewhat puzzled: "It is Suxinghe fighting you, not me; why are you so fixated on me at this moment?"

Once this thought arose, Jiang Sishui recalled Ding Chunqiu's earlier overconfident demeanor and immediately grew wary.

Ding Chunqiu was no fool; knowing the gap in their realms, he still dared to act so brazenly, appearing utterly fearless.

Then he must be relying on something!

Thus, combining this with Ding Chunqiu's modus operandi, Jiang Sishui reached a conclusion: this old schemer wants to ambush me!

Therefore, while Jiang Sishui appeared to arrive with overwhelming momentum, he had in fact made preparations long ago in secret.

Seeing Ding Chunqiu's right hand move to pat his left sleeve cuff, he didn't even think, immediately beginning to retreat.

The reason hidden weapons are called "hidden" is precisely because they can only be used for surprise attacks from the shadows; once displayed openly, or once the target is forewarned, their effectiveness diminishes drastically.

Consequently, Jiang Sishui easily neutralized Ding Chunqiu's long-planned killing move.

This scene undoubtedly greatly exceeded everyone's expectations, leaving all the heroes utterly stunned.

"Good lad, quite clever!" Huang Huang Yaoshi praised without reservation, his eyes full of appreciation.

Putting himself in the other's shoes, he knew he absolutely could not have dodged that strike.

It was precisely because Jiang Sishui accomplished what he himself could not that Huang Huang Yaoshi felt such admiration.

The heart Huang Rong had just raised finally settled back into her stomach.

Watching Jiang Sishui wield a single long sword to fight three great masters in succession, remaining fully at ease and dominating the battle, even avoiding Ding Chunqiu's fatal strike, she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter.

The heroes were bewildered, but Ding Chunqiu himself was even more dumbfounded; reality differed so vastly from his expectations that he inadvertently lost his focus mid-combat.

Jiang Sishui, however, did not stop to give him a chance to recover; his sword light flashed as he accumulated three layers of force, then leaped into the air and swept his sword horizontally!

"Wave Sword Style!"

In an instant, a visible sword qi swept out in a crescent shape, directly enveloping Ding Chunqiu.

A sharp gust of wind rushed toward his face, causing a stinging sensation on Ding Chunqiu's cheeks; while hastily retreating, he waved his feather fan repeatedly to counter this sword strike.

However, after the sword qi struck, it did not dissipate; instead, the two additional layers of sword force hidden within erupted, exploding instantly like a "mushroom cloud" from a past life!

Caught completely off guard, Ding Chunqiu felt as though he were submerged in an ocean of sword qi and could only release his true qi to protect his body.

Even so, his wide robes and large sleeves were torn to shreds, his body covered in bloody scratches, and his silver hair and beard hacked apart like weeds, no longer retaining his previous aura of celestial grace and Daoist bone.

Ding Chunqiu was terrified out of his wits; although his face was covered in blood and his appearance miserable, he no longer hoped to regain his dignity today.

Seeing the arriving Kumoho entangle Jiang Sishui, Ding Chunqiu turned and fled immediately.

As for South South Murong Fu, after Jiang Sishui flicked open his hair ribbon with one sword strike, he had not attacked again, standing stunned in place, staring blankly.

Observing the fight from the sidelines, Tang Tang Tang Bohu saw Ding Chunqiu attempting to escape; his eyes lit up, and he flashed behind Zhu Zhu Zhishan.

"Stay right there! Strike the Ox Across the Mountain!"

Tang Tang Tang Bohu brought his palm down; the palm force crossed over Zhu Zhu Zhishan in the middle and directly blasted Ding Chunqiu flying into the sky!

Shen Lang and the other two, including Zhu Zhu Zhishan, turned their heads in unison to look at Tang Tang Tang Bohu.

Tang Tang Tang Bohu clapped his hands and said with an air of serene confidence: "For a gentleman to seek revenge, ten years is not too late; for a talented scholar to seek revenge, even one night is too troublesome."

And due to this delay, Jiang Sishui had already used the force from clashing palms with Kumoho to fly backward, gathering his qi to leap vertically in front of Ding Chunqiu.