The silent forest was occasionally punctuated by the roars of beasts.
Pale moonlight bathed the two figures.
Combat was imminent.
Luo Feng wasted no more words.
His blood surged, and he instantly lunged at Xu Chuan, infusing his palm with primal energy. He struck fiercely towards Xu Chuan's head.
He didn't use his full strength in this palm strike.
He didn't want to kill Xu Chuan instantly; that would be no fun.
He wanted to torment him slowly, breaking his bones inch by inch, then severing all his meridians, and finally destroying his Qi Sea.
He would let him endure endless agony before dying in pain!
Only then would he understand the suffering that awaited anyone who dared to cripple his cousin.
He already envisioned Xu Chuan's tragic state of wishing for death but being unable to find it, a perverted smile spreading across his face.
Years of hiding in the shadows had left him with some psychological issues.
Facing this palm strike,
Xu Chuan remained unfazed.
Just as his palm was about to connect with Xu Chuan,
*Zheng!*
A flash of blade light, followed by a swift, chilling gleam, instantly blocked Luo Feng's attacking palm.
"Hmph!?"
Luo Feng was forced back by the blade, a rare look of shock on his face.
Such a fast blade!
Not only that, but Luo Feng found Xu Chuan's strength to be terrifying as well.
The palm he had just used was instantly gushed with blood.
"You deserve to die!"
The pain in his hand made Luo Feng's expression even more contorted.
A martial artist at the sixth level of Qi Condensation fighting a trash at the third level, not only failed to gain an advantage but was also injured.
How could Luo Feng, an inner disciple, accept this?
Enraged, he ceased holding back. His figure flickered, and an exact replica of himself appeared. This clone erupted with primal energy, carrying immense force, and a fist shot towards Xu Chuan.
The other Luo Feng instantly vanished, gripping his short sword tightly, like a venomous snake preparing to strike.
This move was called "Feint East, Attack West," his signature technique. Countless martial artists had met their end beneath it.
He had even, with this move, killed an enemy at the fourth level of Qi Condensation while only at the second level himself.
Now, at the sixth level of Qi Condensation, it would only be stronger!
With such a proud track record, Luo Feng was extremely confident in this strike.
Xu Chuan would be utterly incapable of withstanding it.
He looked at Xu Chuan as if he were already a corpse.
However, facing the aggressive Luo Feng, Xu Chuan felt little pressure.
From their brief exchange just now, he had already gauged Luo Feng's strength.
Although Luo Feng was at the sixth level of Qi Condensation, his foundation was shaky, as if his cultivation had been forcibly elevated.
His true strength was, at most, the fifth level of Qi Condensation.
And he himself possessed the strength to kill a sixth-level Qi Condensation practitioner in an instant.
It was time to end this duel!
With this thought,
He stopped holding back, directly channeling his Great Sun Primal Energy and simultaneously activating the second stage of the Scarlet Blood Saber Art, "Wrathful Blood."
He swung his saber, unleashing a terrifying saber energy that surged like angry waves, one after another.
Just as one of Luo Feng's fists was about to strike Xu Chuan, and the short sword of the other Luo Feng was aimed at Xu Chuan's heart,
*Zheng!*
A clang of metal against metal echoed.
At the moment of contact, Xu Chuan's saber shattered the clone's fist, destroyed the clone, and then, with a swift turn of the blade, blocked Luo Feng's short sword.
Not only that, but Luo Feng was sent flying backward by a massive phản chấn force, only stopping when he slammed into a tree.
Xu Chuan, however, remained rooted to the spot, unmoved.
"This is impossible! How could you possibly block my move!?"
Luo Feng, far away, stared at Xu Chuan, who stood holding his saber, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He could never have imagined that his proud "Feint East, Attack West" would be so easily countered.
This had never happened before; only someone with a significantly higher cultivation could have done it.
But Xu Chuan was clearly only a third-level Qi Condensation martial artist?
At this moment, he began to feel fear.
Xu Chuan's strength was not what he had imagined, easily killable.
Even after unleashing his strongest killing move, he had gained no advantage; in fact, he was outmatched.
Conversely, Xu Chuan
showed no signs of weakening.
That figure standing proudly not far away exerted immense pressure on him.
As he was momentarily distracted, Xu Chuan gave him no further opportunity.
He displayed the Scarlet Blood Saber Art to its fullest.
The saber, carrying terrifying saber energy, instantly arrived before Luo Feng.
Luo Feng intended to resist, but in just one exchange, his arm was severed by Xu Chuan's saber.
Then, Xu Chuan's saber, with undiminished momentum, swept across Luo Feng's neck.
"Puff!"
With a sound, Luo Feng's head flew into the air and landed on the ground. Hot blood spurted from the severed neck, splashing onto the soil.
Luo Feng was dead!
An inner disciple at the sixth level of Qi Condensation had thus died at Xu Chuan's hands, on his way to avenge his cousin.
"Whoosh!"
After slaying Luo Feng, Xu Chuan let out a long sigh of relief.
Before the fight, Xu Chuan had been somewhat concerned about being outmatched.
After all, this was a battle where he was fighting three levels above his own, and the opponent was an inner disciple with numerous techniques.
But to his surprise, this battle had been so simple.
He had even felt less tense fighting Luo Feng than he had fighting the giant centipede earlier.
This left him somewhat surprised.
However, upon reflection, he was practicing a Heaven-grade cultivation technique, and his potent Great Sun Primal Energy was simply not comparable to that of these ordinary inner disciples.
Moreover, the saber he wielded was also a key to his victory.
Without a good saber, he would have been unable to unleash the Scarlet Blood Saber Art, let alone achieve a swift kill.
After figuring this out, Xu Chuan nodded in satisfaction.
He cleaned the battlefield and thoroughly searched Luo Feng's belongings. Xu Chuan then found a place where monsters dwelled and threw the corpse in.
He was confident that by dawn, the body would be completely gone, leaving not even a bone.
Then everything would be dead and gone, with no proof!
Meanwhile, in Sun Qian's courtyard,
He held a communication jade slip imprinted with Luo Feng's aura, waiting for him to deliver the news of Xu Chuan's death.
Ever since he heard that his cousin Luo Feng was making a move, he had been eagerly anticipating it, not even sleeping.
However, at that moment,
The communication jade slip in his hand shattered into dust.
Sun Qian stared blankly at this, not knowing what had happened.
Suddenly, he realized, his face contorted with terror, and he trembled uncontrollably in his wooden wheelchair.
A strong smell of urine emanated from beneath him, followed by a flow of yellow liquid.
Sun Qian had been so terrified that he had urinated himself.
The communication jade slip shattering into powder could only signify the demise of the owner of the aura it contained; there was no other explanation!
"Cousin is dead? Dead!?"
His face was filled with disbelief.
His cousin, whom he remembered as nearly invincible within the same realm, had died while attempting to assassinate Xu Chuan?
At this moment, his heart completely collapsed. Helplessly, he slumped to the ground, muttering incessantly, "Dead, dead."
"Hahahaha!"
"Cousin is dead!"
Sun Qian began to laugh maniacally.
His laughter startled Luo Tong, who got up to see what was happening.
However, at that moment, Sun Qian inexplicably slammed his head into a stone pillar in the courtyard, instantly ceasing to breathe.
Luo Tong, who had rushed over, saw the dead Sun Qian and the pile of shattered communication jade slips on the ground. He immediately understood what had happened.
"My son, my Feng'er..."
He wept bitterly, cradling the pile of shattered fragments.