Chapter Ninety-Three: Resisting the Enemy

The air was heavy with the damp stench of blood, the blood left behind when the Perfected Lord of Wonderful Unity had his hand severed. By then he had already fainted from the agony. There were no medicines at his side to treat the wound, and he had endured this long only by sheer force of true essence. It was truly remarkable.

Blood and earth mingled together, lending this slaughter a tremor all the more chilling and vivid.

On a high ridge of the mountain, Chu Qingyun watched the battle below. Several men in black robes stood behind him with bowed bodies. One of them said, "Young Marquis, should we help Qi Fei a little..."

Before he could finish, Chu Qingyun laughed aloud. "I want to recruit that Qi Fei not because I consider him a friend, but because he is ruthless and merciless. If he can be used by me, why should I fear failing to seize the world? It is only that he has stirred up too much trouble lately. Though this time the marquisate helped him escape Chu Yanran's wrath, still..." He did not say the rest. Instead, he fell into thought. Seeing him like this, the others suppressed their questions and stared intently toward the battle below.

Even with my cultivation at the innate realm, if I were caught by that binding art, my movements would be affected somewhat. I never expected this young man to be able to ignore it entirely.

Suddenly, Qi Fei felt a wave of true essence beneath his feet, bristling with killing intent and rushing straight at his position. Without a second thought, he shot into the air. At once the ground exploded, and a pit dozens of zhang across appeared where Qi Fei had just stood. The pale-faced scholar, full of murderous fury, was holding a long spear and staring up at him. It was obvious that this was because of the tragic death of the Daoist Qingxu.

Qingxu gritted his teeth, bit hard through the index finger of his right hand, then tore open the clothes on his upper body, revealing a chest as thin as a cage of bones. With his own blood he began to draw upon it. In moments, a strange pattern took shape across his chest. Then he formed a great hand seal, and the design made entirely of blood actually burst forth with blinding silver light. At the same time, strange ripples of true essence spread from his body.

Qi Fei, still locked in fierce combat with the pale-faced scholar, immediately sensed Qingxu's change. With all his strength he thrust out a sword strike and forced the pale-faced scholar back, then turned and stared at Qingxu.

The pale-faced scholar was about to charge forward and resume his killing battle with Qi Fei when he too sensed the change in his companion. He halted at once and watched him closely.

The pattern before Qingxu grew brighter and brighter. He himself was enveloped in silver radiance, his aura drifting and wavering, while strange fluctuations of true essence spread through the surrounding spiritual senses.

The people watching from afar were astonished to see Qi Fei, only at the innate stage, contend against several later-stage pure yang masters of Daoist arts, even gaining the upper hand and successfully killing one of them. How could a killing across realms be this extreme? Some innate cultivators looked at Qi Fei with worshipful eyes, their gaze like that of wronged wives in their chambers, making Qi Fei shudder with revulsion.

Only the steward behind Chu Qingyun had eyes full of cold malice.

The rest looked sorrowfully at Qingxu's headless corpse, never expecting that a friend who had fought at their side for countless years would die like this. Though Qingxu had hidden himself for years in the Orthodox Truth Temple, he had always been a man of the Yin Yang Sect. Qi Fei also looked at Qingxu's corpse and realized that lately he had developed a habit of severing people's hands. He sighed.

So it truly was the Yin Yang Dao of North Province! Qi Fei was startled. This was clearly a spell of the Yin Yang Dao of North Province.

North Province lay in the far north of the realm, covering eight million square kilometers. Its territory was considered small by the standards of the world, and its population was only seven million. Yet no one dared underestimate its strength.

Because all the inhabitants of North Province were of the Yin Yang Dao. The arts of the Yin Yang Dao differed from the spells and martial skills of other sects. This tradition focused on cultivating the spirit, using human blood and dual cultivation as the medium to fuse yin and yang. Then, with blood as the guide and the body as the foundation, one communicated with the energies of heaven and earth and drew them for one's own use.

Among all under heaven, only the Yin Yang Dao of North Province dared use its own body to commune with the majesty of heaven and earth. But that was not all. Within its arts had also evolved many heterodox and side-path disciplines, along with the puppet arts of the northern frontier and more besides.

The strength of the Yin Yang Dao was formidable across the board; every member was a master capable of standing alone. Qi Fei had never expected this Qingxu Daoist to be a person of the Yin Yang Dao from North Province. Instinctively, he felt that Qingxu had already brought him a great sense of threat; he could not allow this to continue.

The thought flashed through Qi Fei's mind, and he immediately charged forward with the Cold Soul Blade in hand.

"Brat, I'm still here!" the pale-faced scholar barked. Knowing what Qingxu was about to do, he flashed in front of Qi Fei and successfully intercepted him.

Qi Fei was truly anxious now. He stabbed at the pale-faced scholar with a sword, but the strike was blocked by the long spear in the scholar's hand. The clash of their forces compelled both of them to retreat a step. And at that moment, Qingxu's spell was finally complete.

His whole body erupted in blood-colored light. In the sky, a silver pillar of light suddenly appeared, more than ten meters in radius, and shone down to enshroud him. Qingxu gave a low, beastlike roar, as if some demon from hell had awakened within him. When the silver pillar faded, Qingxu stood there with disheveled hair, his eyes entirely replaced by a blood-red glare.

Qi Fei looked on, a chill rising in his heart. How could a person's eyes be so terrifying? The onlookers in the distance all drew a sharp breath at the sight, and at the same time felt pity for Qi Fei.

What a rare talent he was, yet he was about to die. None of them believed Qi Fei could survive under Qingxu's hand.

"You must die!" Qingxu said hoarsely.

"You are also fortunate enough to have me use my most hidden art!"

"Who dies is still uncertain. Whether it is your Orthodox Truth Sect or the Yin Yang Dao, today I will make sure none of you leave alive. That scum Miaoyi is proof enough for you. You'd best not be too arrogant, or I may simply wipe you out right now. So what if this is the spell of your Yin Yang Dao lord? As far as I know, this should be a branch of Yin Yang Five Elements Arts, should it not?" Qi Fei said, looking at Qingxu.

Among the memories left to him by Blood Shadow True Lord regarding the world's dao arts and martial skills, there had been a brief mention of spells.

"You, how do you know that?" Qingxu was shocked, his voice even stammering a little. Yin Yang arts, also known as the art of supplementation and gathering, were the mountain-guarding arts of the Yin Yang Dao. Their cultivation harmed heaven's balance. During training, one had to soak in the blood of pregnant women and absorb the yin softness within it. For that reason, the Yin Yang arts were persecuted within the Yin Yang Dao itself. Yet no one in the world knew that the Yin Yang Dao still possessed this branch of the Yin Yang arts. So when Qi Fei declared at a glance that Qingxu's was the Yin Yang arts, Qingxu was stunned beyond measure. This was a secret known only to their Yin Yang Dao; he had never imagined this young man would actually know it.

"If your Yin Yang Dao's arts are so vicious, then this young master will kill you today. I doubt your Yin Yang Dao would seek revenge for you, would it?" Qi Fei did not answer the question about the Yin Yang arts, but asked instead with a hint of mockery.

"That will depend on whether you have the ability!" the Yin Yang arts master roared, his entire body surging with aura, then he lunged violently toward Qi Fei. His speed was astonishingly fast. Qi Fei only saw a streak of red flash by, and then a wave of searing pain shot through his chest, sending him flying backward. His chest had actually been smashed in by a single fist from the Yin Yang arts master.

Enduring the agony, Qi Fei drew forth the true essence power from his spiritual core and used it to mend the wound. In the blink of an eye, his chest was restored to normal. Apart from a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, he appeared no different from before. Yet Qi Fei was inwardly astonished. He had not expected that after Qingxu used his spell, both power and speed would be so transformed.

You want to compete with me in speed? Just wait.

Qi Fei then unleashed his proudest movement art. In an instant, his speed reached its limit, appearing now on the left and now on the right. If one looked closely, one would see that the path he moved in circled around an image of taiji.

At this, seeing that he could do nothing to Qi Fei, the Yin Yang arts master immediately halted his body without being affected in the least by inertia. Once again he began chanting the incantation, and it was the binding art.

Qi Fei saw him use this move again and felt somewhat disdainful. What kind of fool used the same useless move twice in the world?

But after a moment, Qi Fei's expression changed, because the binding art was already taking effect on him.

Originally this binding art had no effect on Qi Fei anymore. But after being strengthened by Qingxu's spell, not only had its power increased, the structure of spiritual force and true essence had also changed.

Seeing Qi Fei's movements clearly restrained, the pale-faced scholar suddenly no longer dared attack him. He had already learned his lesson. And Qingxu, having used this move, could not attack at the same time. So the three of them just stared at one another.

"Go, Gao Kai, kill that brat! That brat definitely can't move now!" Qingxu grew anxious. The binding art consumed true essence at a tremendous rate, and he could not sustain it for long. He could already clearly feel that the brat had been bound by him. Seeing that Gao Kai was also not advancing, he became frantic.

"Did you really bind him just now? I don't want to end up like Liu Zhan!" Liu Zhan was the pale-faced scholar.

"Absolutely true! Hurry, I can't hold on much longer either!" Sweat had already broken out on Qingxu's brow.

"Fine!" Gao Kai clenched his teeth, then suddenly saw Qi Fei looking terrified, and immediately hesitated. When Liu Zhan had been killed, this brat had shown the very same look of fear. This fellow is definitely pretending. There must be something wrong. So he did not rush to attack, and instead watched Qi Fei carefully.

He quietly opened the vertical golden line on his forehead and looked at the spiritual forces surrounding Qingxu.

Above Qingxu, within the sky, strands of red thread shot down and linked to the top of his head, while beneath his feet there were also lines as thick as a thumb, faint and invisible, connecting him to the earth. As for Qingxu himself, he was sending out wave after wave of energy fluctuations.

The reason Qi Fei was restrained was that his true essence and those threads had formed a netlike structure. If Qi Fei were to make his own true essence vertical, it would also form a net with Qingxu's true essence. In that case, the binding force on him would become even more severe.

While he was fretting over this, the Golden Eye of Creation happened to catch Qingxu's current state. Qi Fei could tell that he was using himself as a medium and had successfully communicated with heaven and earth. Heaven, man, earth. For a moment, Qi Fei was so absorbed in the sight that he murmured to himself: heaven, man, earth, what an arcane and wondrous existence.

Unconsciously, Qi Fei began circulating the Scripture of Transformation of the Court. His eyes remained fixed on the sky, the pale-faced scholar, and the earth. Most importantly, he watched the distribution of those threads and of spiritual force.

Deep within his dantian sea of qi, the Mystic Pearl began to spin, one black and one white, one yin and one yang.

According to what Qi Fei had learned from the Scripture of Transformation of the Court, after the pure yang realm came the out-of-body realm. But Qi Fei discovered that between pure yang and the out-of-body realm, something was missing: a transitional stage, a process of qualitative change in power.

So after the pure yang realm, there had to be another hidden realm waiting for him to uncover.

Under Qi Fei's careful observation, he realized that the reason Qingxu's binding art was effective was not because Qingxu had mastered spiritual force. On the contrary, Qingxu had not mastered even a trace of spiritual force. The reason for the binding was that Qingxu used the incantation as a guide to commune with heaven and earth, and the authority of heaven and earth thus obtained was then run through the netlike true essence. The authority of heaven and earth, combined with the special structure of netlike true essence, produced spiritual force, and the binding art came into being.

This binding art was in fact a technique of the Yin Yang Dao.

At this realization, everything suddenly became clear to Qi Fei. So it could be used this way. Heaven and earth together formed one's own spiritual core. And if a person stood between heaven and earth, using himself as the medium to link the two, innumerable things would be born from it. Just like Qingxu, who at this moment had generated spiritual force.

Therefore heaven, earth, and man were the three most important existences in the cosmos, mutually supporting one another. But then, which of them was truly the most important? If one cultivated spells, one could attain limitless divine abilities. Then could the pinnacle of martial dao only ever be the shattering of the void?

Qi Fei suddenly thought of something and drew his spirit into the depths of his dantian sea of qi. The Mystic Pearl was still revolving ceaselessly, a humming sound rising from it. Qi Fei formed a hand seal, and at once the pure white figure, the yang figure, was controlled, rising above his head, while the black figure sank beneath his feet. He himself stood between the two figures. Seal after seal flashed from Qi Fei's hands, and then streams of golden light shot toward the black and white spheres. At the same time, Qi Fei felt the connection between himself and the two spheres becoming ever more intimate.

In the blink of an eye, he had formed eighty-one hand seals, and at that moment the two spheres began expanding wildly, soon swelling to a diameter of thirty meters. Standing between the two figures, Qi Fei felt rather small, yet it did not hinder his continued insight.

Qi Fei attempted to communicate with the two enormous spheres. But he discovered that the place he now occupied was within the dantian sea of qi, where true essence could not possibly be transmitted. Throughout the world, there had never even been mention of being able to circulate true essence into the dantian sea of qi. Thus, without a medium of communication, he had succeeded only halfway.

After pondering for a long while and just as he was growing discouraged, he suddenly thought of something and smacked his own forehead. Ah, how had he forgotten fundamental true essence?

Fundamental true essence was true essence born from the depths of the spiritual core, true essence evolved from pure yang, and naturally it could reach the interior.

The moment the silver-gray true essence appeared, the entire spiritual core shook violently. Qi Fei formed his seals, and the fundamental true essence immediately divided into two streams: one linked Qi Fei's head to the yang figure; the other linked Qi Fei's feet to the yin figure.

In an instant, the Mystic Pearl and Qi Fei became one through the fundamental true essence, and a message suddenly appeared in Qi Fei's mind: Pure yang gives birth to the spiritual core! The spiritual core realm! Heaven, earth, and man are the spiritual core!

Outside, the moment the spiritual core took shape, Qi Fei's entire body radiated intense golden light, while countless strange characters formed from true essence spun around him. At the same time, a crimson pillar of light shot straight into the sky, faintly accompanied by the cry of a dragon.

Seventh Layer Heaven! The instant the spiritual core evolved, Qi Fei broke through to the middle stage of the Seventh Layer Heaven!

The onlookers in the distance were once again astonished. He could break through like this too?

Qi Fei opened his eyes, his smile wicked and strange, and looked toward Qingxu. "Much appreciated for helping me break through to the Seventh Layer Heaven. But I never intended to spare your life, because you look far too damn sleazy!"

"Bah! Brat, you're courting death. I will never let you go today! Let me show you my true abilities!" Qingxu's appearance was one of his sore points. Whether out of face or fear of his cultivation, no one had ever exposed his shortcomings to him directly. Yet now Qi Fei had spoken of them without the slightest courtesy. How could he not be enraged?

"And you, what are you grinning at? You look like a woman. Do not think that because you are carrying two iron spears I will be afraid of you! From the look of you, you should be from the cultivation lineage. How did a creature like you, with limbs developed but a brain lacking, ever come to exist?"

Having broken through to the Seventh Layer Heaven, Qi Fei felt his whole body brimming with strength, and the realm of the spiritual core contained the rules of the spiritual core, so he paid the binding art no mind at all. He pointed his right hand at Qingxu, and fundamental true essence shot out, blasting apart all the ground beneath Qingxu's feet and destroying the medium through which he communicated with heaven and earth.

Qingxu was blown flying, and at the same time the pale-faced scholar crashed toward Qi Fei. Do not be deceived by Qi Fei's slender frame; he was extremely fond of close combat. Seeing the pale-faced scholar charge at him, he shouted in excitement and rushed forward as well. He struck toward the scholar's head with a fist, and the pale-faced scholar raised his arm to block.

Qi Fei smiled. Red light flared over his fist, and that punch, carrying thick true essence, crashed mercilessly against the scholar's arm.

With a sharp thunderous crack, the scholar was blasted down from the sky by Qi Fei, his arm shattered in that instant by the force.

The pale-faced scholar was now utterly aghast. He belonged to the martial lineage, and very few dared confront martial cultivation head-on. Who would have thought this young man could smash his arm to pieces with a single punch?

The marquisate's onlookers in the distance were likewise astonished. Just moments ago Qi Fei had still been trapped by the crowd and at a disadvantage. How had he suddenly turned around and sent the most formidable of them, the pale-faced scholar, flying with a single blow?