Chapter 37: Tiger’s Roar

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Tiger’s Roar

Li Lie heard the familiar yet strange voice. He couldn’t quite place it, but he immediately knew how he had just given himself away.

As the head of the apothecary’s guards, he should have immediately moved to capture the suspected accomplice who had just appeared after the attack. Instead, he had hesitated, weighing his options.

’He had a guilty conscience!’

"Who are you!"

Li Lie’s face instantly turned livid, a terrifying killing intent exploding in his eyes. With a sharp SHING, the thick-backed Blade at his waist was already unsheathed. The gleaming edge drew a cold arc through the darkness, aimed straight at the slowly approaching Chen Yue.

His Bone Forging Realm Qi Blood erupted without reservation, and a heavy, oppressive aura surged toward Chen Yue like a tidal wave.

Chen Yue seemed oblivious to the crushing pressure of the Qi Blood, his smile unwavering. "Who do you think I am?"

"You’re courting death!"

Thoroughly enraged by this contemptuous attitude, Li Lie roared. He stomped his foot, shattering the flagstones beneath him. His body shot forward like a tiger bursting from its cage. The Blade in his hand let out a piercing whistle as he brought it down on Chen Yue’s head with the force of a mountain splitting apart.

The flash of the blade, like a bolt of white silk, momentarily lit up the dim alley and Chen Yue’s face.

Chen Yue barely lifted his eyelids. He instantly pushed his internal Mountain Shattering Technique and Furious Wave Saber Technique to their absolute limits, swinging his long saber up from below in a reverse slash.

CLANG!

A deafening explosion of metal on metal, like two bronze bells colliding, thundered through the narrow alley. A violent shockwave radiated from the point of impact, kicking up dust and rubble.

Chen Yue felt an immense force travel up his blade and sweep through his body. With a CRACK, the flagstones beneath his feet fractured into a spiderweb of cracks, and he slid back half a step, unable to stop himself.

But that was all.

Li Lie’s eyes widened slightly. The man clearly had the aura of the Refining Flesh Realm, yet the force coming from his blade was condensed and resilient. In particular, a peculiar vibrating and rebounding power within it had largely neutralized the force of his own strike.

What shocked him even more was that after taking a full-force blow, his opponent’s aura wasn’t the least bit disturbed.

Chen Yue’s gaze was serene. He paid no mind to the surprise in Li Lie’s eyes.

With his Mountain Shattering Technique at the Perfection level and bolstered by the Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield, Chen Yue’s strength was now not far off from someone in the Bone Forging Realm. This much had been clear when he’d easily slain another cultivator at the Refining Flesh Realm.

And this exchange had only served to confirm it.

In the narrow alley, blades flashed like snow. The sound of their collisions was as dense and rapid as a torrential downpour. Chen Yue and Li Lie, two blurs of motion, moved at high speed, weaving and clashing within the confined space.

At first, Li Lie relied on the superior strength he’d gained from his recent breakthrough to the Bone Forging Realm. His Saber Momentum was broad and sweeping, each strike heavy and powerful as he attempted to overwhelm Chen Yue with brute force.

The Mountain Flipping Technique excelled in power. As he swung his Blade, the wind howled and kicked up dust, creating an astonishing display of force.

However, after just a few exchanges, Li Lie found that not only had he failed to suppress his opponent, but he was gradually being forced onto the defensive. His opponent’s Saber Momentum unfurled like a raging tsunami, relentless and inexhaustible.

The Saber Techniques they wielded might have been of a similar grade, but Chen Yue’s understanding and application of his art far surpassed Li Lie’s.

What frustrated Li Lie even more was his opponent’s ghostly Body Technique. Every time Li Lie tried to create distance to switch tactics, Chen Yue would instantly close in again. Li Lie simply couldn’t shake him.

In fact, his desperate attempts to change tactics had only resulted in Chen Yue’s blade grazing past his vital points, leaving several bloody cuts, though none were serious.

A dark premonition grew ever stronger in his heart.

"Who the hell are you? What grudge do we have?" Li Lie roared in a low voice, forced back again and again, his aura growing unstable.

Chen Yue’s assault never faltered. Hearing the question, a smirk touched his lips. "You tell me. What grudge is there between us?"

As he spoke, Chen Yue’s facial muscles rippled. The layer of disguise receded like a tide, revealing his true face.

In the dim light of the alley, the face was terrifyingly familiar to Li Lie.

"Chen Yue?"

Li Lie’s eyes flew wide, filled with a sense of utter absurdity.

’Refining Flesh Realm? With the combat power to match the Bone Forging Realm? How is that possible!’

In the instant Li Lie’s mind reeled from the shock...

ROAR!

From within Chen Yue’s body, his muscles and bones resonated in unison, emitting a low, powerful tiger’s roar.

The Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield operated at its absolute limit. Chen Yue forcibly infused his Protective Gang Qi into his long saber, and in an instant, the blade was coated in a flowing, pale golden light.

Gripping the saber with both hands, Chen Yue brought it down on Li Lie’s head. The blade seemed to split the very air, which let out a sharp shriek as it passed.

In his haste, Li Lie could only react on instinct, raising his Blade and mustering all his strength to parry.

CLANG!!!

Amidst the deafening boom, Li Lie felt an immense force, as if a mountain were crashing down, travel up his blade. The shock left his wrist, arm, and even half his body numb with excruciating pain. His Qi Blood roiled, and his guard was smashed open.

Li Lie was horrified. He looked up at the pale golden blade, which had slowed but was still descending toward his neck. The shadow of death fell over him.

He had no time to raise his weapon to block again. At this moment of life and death, a crazed light flashed in Li Lie’s eyes as he recklessly thrust his uninjured left hand out to grab the descending blade.

SQUELCH!

The sickening sound of the blade slicing through flesh and bone was followed by Li Lie’s agonized scream.

The instant his left hand touched the blade, it was mangled. All five fingers were severed nearly to the palm, left dangling by mere shreds of skin and flesh.

If not for the increased bone density from his breakthrough to the Bone Forging Realm, his entire hand would have been lopped off. Even so, the excruciating pain nearly overwhelmed him.

But that desperate grab had finally halted the blade’s descent. It hovered less than an inch from his neck, the cold Saber Qi from its edge already slicing his skin and drawing beads of blood.

Chen Yue looked at Li Lie. He didn’t pull his blade back for another strike; that would have given his opponent a moment to recover.

Instead, he took a sharp step forward, breaking through Li Lie’s guard. He clenched his left hand into a fist, pale golden Gang Qi once again gathering on his knuckles, and smashed it into the right wrist Li Lie had raised to block.

BANG!

CRACK!

The bones in Li Lie’s wrist shattered on impact. He could no longer hold his Blade, which flew from his grasp and CLANGED onto the ground several paces away.

Aaargh!

His right wrist shattered and his left hand nearly useless, the agonizing pain twisted Li Lie’s face into a monstrous grimace. He let out an inhuman howl.

He simply could not understand or accept it. How could this peasant apprentice, whom he’d once dismissed as worthless, possess such terrifying strength and such ruthless methods?

Seeing Chen Yue’s advance not pause for a second after knocking the Blade away, his right fist already roaring toward him, Li Lie could only lift his mangled left hand in a futile attempt to block.

THWUMP!

Chen Yue’s right fist was unstoppable. The Gang Qi condensed on his knuckles shattered the remaining bones in Li Lie’s left hand, and without losing any momentum, slammed solidly into Li Lie’s neck.