Chapter 88: Pushing It Too Far

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Pushing It Too Far

Yin Mo Li’s brow furrowed as he watched Xu Zhang’s horrific death. Rage flared in his heart, but an even greater sense of gravity settled in as he faced this powerful foe.

However, in the brief instant Yin Mo Li sidestepped, his vision blurred. Chen Yue’s figure had already followed Xu Zhang’s flying corpse, closing the distance to appear right before him.

No wasted words, no building of momentum. The long saber in Chen Yue’s hand, still slick with fresh blood, flashed with a cold light. It became a straight silver line, hacking directly down at Yin Mo Li’s face.

The saber’s path was simple, direct, and ferocious, sealing off any path of escape to his left or right.

’So fast!’

Yin Mo Li’s heart went cold. ’This tactic of exploiting the instant I dodge to close in and attack, this speed... it’s no less than that of a Martial Artist in the Marrow Refining Realm who specializes in agility.’

But he was Yin Mo Li. How could he be so easily dealt with?

Facing the descending blade, Yin Mo Li’s body seemed to become weightless, drifting backward on the wind of the attack. Simultaneously, the wrist of his sword-wielding right hand twitched and flicked at a bizarre angle.

WHOOSH!

The slender, deep blue sword shot from his grasp, flying even faster than he was retreating, straight for Chen Yue’s face.

Trailing behind the blade, a thin, transparent thread with a metallic sheen was faintly visible. One end was attached to a hidden clasp on the pommel, while the other was wrapped securely around Yin Mo Li’s right wrist.

Yin Yang Separation Sword!

This was Yin Mo Li’s ultimate technique, a bizarre Swordsmanship on par with the Refining Organ Realm, and he had already cultivated it to the Realm of Perfection.

The core of this Swordsmanship lay in its name: "Separation." By using specially made Celestial Silk in concert with his Inner Strength, he could control the sword as if it were an extension of his own arm from over ten feet away.

Its angles were treacherous and unpredictable, its speed astonishing, making it nearly impossible to defend against.

Relying on this Swordsmanship and his superb Lightweight Body Technique, Yin Mo Li had rarely met his match within the Marrow Refining Realm. Furthermore, his own Cultivation was already touching the threshold of the Refining Organ Realm.

The purpose of this blood sacrifice was to use the vast Qi Blood it gathered to break through his bottleneck in a single stroke and step into the Refining Organ Realm.

CLANG!

With an explosive clash of metal, Chen Yue’s descending saber precisely struck the flat of the incoming sword’s blade.

The immense force knocked the deep blue sword aside, its blade vibrating violently with a mournful hum.

His first strike having failed, Yin Mo Li gave his wrist a slight flick. The thread pulled taut, and the deflected sword carved an arc through the air, bypassing Chen Yue’s saber. The tip quivered, then darted toward Chen Yue’s temple once more.

He was relying on the superior range and unpredictable movements of his Yin Yang Separation Sword to keep Chen Yue at a distance before landing the killing blow.

Combined with his ethereal Body Technique, an ordinary Marrow Refining Realm expert would often be defeated without ever managing to touch the hem of his clothes.

As the flying sword came at him again, Chen Yue’s gaze remained placid. He silently pushed his Heart Nourishing Technique to its absolute limit.

In an instant, the path of the lightning-fast sword, the subtle tremble of the pulling thread—it all seemed to slow down in Chen Yue’s eyes.

In the next moment, Chen Yue’s feet blurred. He shot forward like a bolt of lightning, his left hand splayed open as he reached out to grab the deep blue blade aimed at his temple.

He was going to meet the sharp blade with his bare flesh.

"Hm?"

A fierce glint flashed in Yin Mo Li’s eyes, his mind reeling with shock and suspicion.

’Only a cornered madman or someone arrogant enough to have absolute faith in their Horizontal Training would try to catch a blade infused with the Inner Strength of a Peak of Marrow Refining Realm expert with their bare hand.’

’But this junior just cleanly dispatched Xu Zhang. His momentum is at its peak. He doesn’t look like someone who’s at his wit’s end and taking a desperate gamble.’

’Something’s wrong!’

Yin Mo Li’s combat experience was vast; he made his judgment in an instant.

Whatever his opponent was relying on, he would not let him get close. With a flick of his wrist, he rapidly retracted the thread. The sword, as if yanked back by an invisible hand, flashed and began to withdraw to a safe distance.

While Yin Mo Li’s Yin Yang Separation Sword was strange and difficult to defend against, it had a glaring weakness: its over-reliance on the thread. If an opponent managed to grab the blade or the thread, or simply closed the distance for close-quarters combat, its effectiveness would be drastically reduced.

Yin Mo Li was always cautious. He would never give an opponent such an opening.

However, his move to retract the sword seemed to be exactly what Chen Yue had been expecting.

The very instant the sword began to retreat, Chen Yue released his grip on his saber.

The saber that had just shattered Xu Zhang’s weapon became a streak of cold light. It flew from his hand like a powerful arrow shot from a greatbow, whistling sharply through the air as it shot straight for Yin Mo Li’s chest.

Chen Yue himself followed like a shadow, right behind the flying saber, closing in for the attack.

He had willingly thrown his saber!

This time, Yin Mo Li was truly caught off guard. He could see clearly that the young man had no Celestial Silk or similar device on his wrist. Once that saber left his hand, it was just a thrown weapon. It could never be retracted as nimbly as his own sword.

’Is this kid crippling himself, or does he have another Killing Technique up his sleeve?’

The thrown saber was too fast, too ferocious. Yin Mo Li didn’t have time to dodge completely.

CLANG!

In his haste, Yin Mo Li had no choice but to use his just-recalled sword to deflect the side of the incoming saber’s tip, knocking it aside.

The saber spun away, embedding itself deep into a nearby earthen wall with a solid THUD, right up to the hilt.

However, the force of the impact made Yin Mo Li’s body falter. For a split second, his rhythm was broken.

In that single moment of hesitation, Chen Yue’s figure was upon him.

The distance between them closed to less than three feet in an instant. Yin Mo Li could even see the bone-chilling killing intent in his opponent’s eyes.

WHOOSH!

Chen Yue’s right palm, which had been building power, shot out with explosive force.

His bones and sinews hummed in unison. The compressed air boomed. It was the powerful Vajra Mountain Pushing technique from the Great Vajra Palm, aimed directly at Yin Mo Li’s heart.

Yin Mo Li watched as Chen Yue reacted as if he had predicted every move. Rage surged within him, but what infuriated him beyond measure was that his opponent was once again trying to block a sharp blade with his bare palm.

A wicked flame, mixed with the humiliation of being outmaneuvered, rushed to Yin Mo Li’s head.

"Arrogant junior!"

Killing intent erupted in Yin Mo Li’s eyes. With a sharp cry, he poured the immense Inner Strength of the Peak of Marrow Refining Realm into his sword. The deep blue blade let out a piercing shriek.

With a flick of his wrist, the sword became a fan-shaped curtain of blue light, slashing horizontally at the wrist of Chen Yue’s incoming palm.

He would sever this ignorant brat’s hand—and his arrogance—in one clean cut!

CLANG!

It wasn’t the clash of metal, but a deeper, more muffled impact.

The expected scene—a severed hand and a spray of blood—did not occur.

Reflected in Yin Mo Li’s suddenly constricting pupils was the point of contact between Chen Yue’s palm and the sword’s edge. A layer of Qi Force rippled violently, yet it was impossibly tough, completely blocking the blade infused with all his Inner Strength.

Not only that, but a terrifying, overwhelming power erupted from the palm and surged up the length of the blade.

"Urgh!"

Yin Mo Li felt a violent tremor run up his right arm. The webbing between his thumb and forefinger split open, spattering blood, and his fingers went numb.

The sword, connected to his very Heart Spirit, was nearly torn from his grasp.

Yin Mo Li staggered back two steps, his Qi Blood roiling within him.

But after knocking the sword aside, the momentum of Chen Yue’s right palm didn’t lessen in the slightest. With the force of a thunderclap, it drove forward, striking viciously at the opening over Yin Mo Li’s heart.

The force of the palm strike pressed the robes tight against Yin Mo Li’s chest, catching his breath.

’Is that... Gang Qi?’

A storm of disbelief and horror raged in Yin Mo Li’s heart.

He could accept that his opponent had Innate Divine Power. He could even accept that someone in the Bone Forging realm could possess the combat strength of the Marrow Refining Realm. But Gang Qi?

A junior from some backwater town had actually cultivated Protective Gang Qi—something that could only be formed by cultivating a top-tier Body Refining Divine Skill to an extremely profound state!

What even was Gang Qi?

Even among Martial Artists of the Refining Organ Realm, a Body Refinement expert capable of forming Gang Qi was an absolute top-tier existence, a figure who could dominate an entire region!

And now, he was seeing Gang Qi on a junior who was merely at the Bone Forging realm.

Moreover, with his keen eye, Yin Mo Li could clearly sense that this junior’s Gang Qi was not the ethereal, scattered energy of a novice. It was condensed, heavy, and moved with complete freedom.

Boundless dread and a sliver of fear he refused to even acknowledge instantly overwhelmed Yin Mo Li.

He finally understood why Xu Zhang had lost so quickly and so miserably.

Faced with a monster from the Bone Forging realm who possessed Gang Qi, the usual gap in Cultivation Realm was completely erased—even reversed—by that bizarrely powerful Body Refinement skill.

Yin Mo Li’s face suddenly flushed an unnatural crimson as he forcefully activated a Secret Technique to unlock his potential, heedless of the cost.

He used the recoil from Chen Yue’s palm striking his sword, combined with the boost from his Secret Technique, to shoot backward even faster than before.

He wanted to retreat, but Chen Yue gave him no such chance.

CRACK!

Chen Yue took a single step. The stone paver beneath his foot shattered. Unleashing his Vertical Cloud Thousand Layer Step at full power, he stuck to the retreating Yin Mo Li like a shadow.

One retreated while the other advanced. Instead of widening, the distance between them was rapidly shrinking.

Chen Yue raised his right palm again. Gang Qi flowed as he unleashed another fierce Great Vajra Palm, the force of the blow targeting several vital points on Yin Mo Li’s upper body.

Forced into a corner, Yin Mo Li’s eyes flashed with a mad light as he let out a hoarse shriek:

"Junior, you’ve gone too far!"

As he frantically poured his Inner Strength into it, the deep blue sword in Yin Mo Li’s hand let out a piercing shriek.

He thrust the sword forward. Light and shadow twisted, and in an instant, the blade split into two identical swords. One on the left and one on the right, they stabbed toward Chen Yue’s eyes and throat!

This was the ultimate Killing Technique of the Yin Yang Separation Sword: Sword of Yin and Yang.

By relying on the specially crafted blade, his unique Inner Strength, and the exquisite control of the Celestial Silk, he could split the sword in two at a critical moment, creating an attack of both illusion and reality that was impossible to defend against.

With this move, Yin Mo Li had defeated three experts at his own level in the Marrow Refining Realm. He had even managed to wound a powerhouse from the Refining Organ Realm and escape with his life.

Yet, in the face of this bizarre dual-sword attack that could fell any expert of the same realm, Chen Yue’s expression showed not a hint of surprise or panic.

With his Heart Nourishing Technique operating at full power, the flow of Inner Strength at the moment the sword split and the subtle manipulations of the thread were all reflected clearly in his Heart Lake.

Chen Yue’s left hand, which had been hanging at his side, shot out like a bolt of lightning, moving later but arriving first.