Chapter 270 - 267: Extreme Speed! Demon of Strength! Breakthrough to the Third Turn

Chapter 270: Chapter 267: Extreme Speed! Demon of Strength! Breakthrough to the Third Turn

Looking down from tens of thousands of feet in the air, the Inverted Gate Sect’s suspended mountain resembled a heavy sword of profound iron, hurled at the mortal world by a celestial god.

The dark rock strata glowed crimson like molten iron in the Xizhao. Gnarled ancient cypresses grew wildly against the earth’s magnetic field, their roots clinging like spiderwebs to the surface of the inverted peaks.

The dark-green canopies stretched down toward the churning sea of clouds below, appearing like millions of inverted, giant bronze umbrellas.

Liu Qingmeng had now reverted from her lightning form. She held a three-foot-long sword flickering with electric arcs, her expression cold and hostile.

"What brings the Sect Leader of Jiejian Mountain all the way here to my Inverted Gate Sect, a journey of tens of thousands of miles?"

Sand Whale took a few steps, approaching Liu Qingmeng with a puzzled expression.

’Of course, he knew why Liu Qingmeng was here. It had to be about Fang Can.’

’But hadn’t Jiejian Mountain sealed its gates and made it clear they were staying out of Fang Can’s business?’

’So why the change of heart now?’

Liu Qingmeng, dressed in a white sable fur coat, her stunning face a mask of indifference, stated her purpose directly:

"Where is Fang Can?"

A flicker of anger ignited in Sand Whale’s heart at Liu Qingmeng’s cold, discourteous question, but he kept his expression neutral.

’There were still differences between those at the Fourth Turn.’

’These female cultivators from Jiejian Mountain all looked like they followed the righteous path, but in a fight, every last one of them was bloodthirsty and utterly ruthless.’

’He hadn’t seen the Sect Leader of Jiejian Mountain fight in over a decade, but he still had no confidence he could defeat the woman standing before him.’

’Over a decade ago, the four great sects of the Great Derivation had come to blows over Jiang Ning’an, an exceptionally talented girl they all wanted as a disciple.’

’This woman, who was normally so unassuming, had suppressed the other three sects the moment she acted.’

’"The Apex of Speed." That was the three sects’ assessment of her after that battle.’

’If they fought to the death, Sand Whale felt the odds were ninety-ten in her favor. Hmm... even ten percent for him was optimistic. He’d probably be killed in an instant.’

’More than a decade had passed since then. The woman was only a little over a hundred years old—the prime age for making breakthroughs.’

’She might have already tried to break through to the Fifth Turn.’

’In his estimation, among all the experts at the Fourth Turn, the only one who could face this person head-on without losing...’

’...was probably the emperor over in Great Chu, Xiang Hongtu.’

’Both of them were all about speed!’

’Just in different ways.’

’One was the Apex of Speed, the other, the Demon of Strength!’

’If Liu Qingmeng’s wraithlike speed—transforming into light in an instant—was already mind-boggling, then Xiang Hongtu was just monstrously fast.’

’Liu Qingmeng’s abilities were still within the realm of comprehension. Xiang Hongtu’s speed, however, defied imagination.’

Sand Whale still remembered something that had happened eighteen years ago.

Several Fourth Turn masters from the Great Derivation had been invited by Great Chu to attend the 100-day celebration for Xiang Hongtu’s son.

At the time, a certain Fourth Turn shaman, whose entire family had been killed by Xiang Hongtu, had the gall to place a curse on Xiang Longtao during the celebration.

Pulling a stunt like that on such a joyous occasion thoroughly enraged Xiang Hongtu.

The shaman had already used a spatial transfer to flee several hundred kilometers away, but Xiang Hongtu only threw a single punch.

As a fellow Martial Artist specializing in physical arts, Sand Whale still remembered the magnificence of that punch to this day.

In a single instant, Xiang Hongtu’s figure didn’t move; he just threw a simple, unremarkable straight punch forward.

It crossed a distance of hundreds of kilometers, obliterating the shaman and reducing the land in a three-mile radius to rubble.

Everyone knew it wasn’t some form of teleportation.

Because from beginning to end, Xiang Hongtu’s figure hadn’t moved at all. He had simply thrown a punch forward at his fastest speed.

No one present at the time saw how Xiang Hongtu actually struck.

’Logically, the sequence should have been Xiang Hongtu rising, crossing hundreds of kilometers to appear above the shaman, and then throwing the punch!’

’But it was as if a huge chunk of the description had been deleted. It just became: Xiang Hongtu threw a punch, and the shaman, hundreds of kilometers away, was instantly blown to bits by the force.’

’As for how the force of the punch connected?’

’Who knew? They had no idea. They couldn’t even see the punch clearly.’

’All they knew was that by the time everyone came to their senses, the shaman had already been killed by Xiang Hongtu’s one punch.’

’It was a punch so fast it skipped the entire process and went straight to the outcome—a direct hit.’

Afterward, the title of "Demon of Strength" was given to Xiang Hongtu, for his use of power was as monstrous and incomprehensible as a demon’s.

’In the Martial Dao, the most terrifying thing is that which cannot be understood.’

’Because what cannot be understood cannot be analyzed, cannot be countered, and cannot be broken.’

’Liu Qingmeng transforming into lightning and moving at the speed of light was still within the realm of the conceivable.’

’But Xiang Hongtu’s punch was even stranger.’

After returning, he had even secretly discussed it with the Fourth Turn Sect Leader of the Supreme Profound Sect.

Their only conclusion was that Xiang Hongtu’s inherited techniques had to be related to either time or space.

’Either time stopped in that instant!’

’But it made no sense for Xiang Hongtu to hit someone and then pop back just to strike a pose!’

’Or the punch traversed space, allowing his fist to strike a target hundreds of kilometers away.’

’But then why couldn’t anyone see him throw the punch?’

’It made no sense. They were all at the Fourth Turn; how could they be unable to even see Xiang Hongtu throw a punch?’

Besides, even if they figured out the source of Xiang Hongtu’s power and knew he couldn’t use that punch repeatedly...

...Sand Whale felt even less confident.

’Because he had zero confidence he could take that one punch that had killed the Fourth Turn shaman.’

’Faced with a punch of such unholy power...’

’...even though he was also at Tier Four, he would be nothing but cannon fodder, killed in a flash!’

’I’m getting lost in thought again... fantasizing about dying to Xiang Hongtu’s fist.’

Sand Whale’s awareness snapped back to the present, his heart a turmoil of complex emotions. That punch from eighteen years ago had well and truly rattled his soul.

Looking at the opponent before him—another person he was no match for—the Sect Leader of the Inverted Gate Sect spoke, his feelings in turmoil:

"Fang Can was indeed here yesterday, but he’s already been sent away."

"Sent away?" Liu Qingmeng, sword in hand, paused for a moment. "Where was he sent?"

"Suxin Pavilion! Sect Leader Liu should be quite familiar with that name," Sand Whale said nonchalantly.

"Suxin Pavilion!!!!"

Liu Qingmeng’s eyes widened slightly! Sand Whale caught the expression.

Acting on a hunch, he bared his teeth in a sharp grin and said:

"Suxin Pavilion is a great sect in the arts of amorous cultivation. A living cauldron like Fang Can would naturally be sent there."

Watching her figure erupt in a blast of lightning and vanish on the spot, a malicious smile spread across Sand Whale’s face.

"It’s been a full day and night. By this point, he’s probably already fathered a child."