Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 186: People in the Jianghu
"Your swordsmanship is exquisite!"

As Chu Tianshu landed, he faced the Lord of Liuyun Mansion and raised his eyes.

"What about this?!"

Colorless flames suddenly burst forth from his eyes, mouth, and nose.

In an instant, flames engulfed his entire body.

The human figure had been completely obscured, leaving only a large, raging ball of colorless flame.

Crash!!!

The lake water lapped against the rocks, creating spray like arrows and white debris.

The flames, however, spread across the damp, juicy rocks.

In an instant, the flames swelled to the size of three or four wild horses.

It crushed towards Lord Liuyun.

Chu Tianshu's internal energy attribute underwent a subtle change, allowing him to more easily manipulate the condensed mental energy within the Three-Seven Divine Sword to create illusions.

Compared to the fleeting, deterrent illusions of the past, this is the only way to achieve the greatest effect.

Now his fire burns fiercely and will never be extinguished.

Within the colorless flames, dozens of palm prints appeared like muffled thunder.

All that could be seen were palm prints, not the person. They grabbed, chopped, stabbed, and slapped, covering the sky and striking every part of the Flowing Cloud Palace Master's body.

The palm techniques are so realistic that it's hard to tell if they're real or illusory, yet each hand gesture can disrupt one's intuition and create a strong sense of threat.

Although the Bodhidharma Sword is exquisite, it is difficult to use it in this situation.

Lord Liuyun remained calm in the face of danger, turning his body to the side.

His left side seemed to disappear into the aura and into the shadows.

No matter which direction people looked from, they all felt that at this moment, it seemed that only the right half of the Flowing Cloud Palace Master's body remained.

That didn't look like a living person at all; it made one feel that the Lord of Liuyun Palace was just half a corpse, making the scene extremely bizarre.

He used the right half of his body to thrust repeatedly with the iron flute.

The mutilated body appeared and disappeared, like a ghost or a demon.

All the palm prints were gradually broken by the iron flute's oblique thrust.

On a boat near the island, there was a tall, thin old man with a high crown and a face full of wrinkles.

Even though he had been affected by the flute music, he managed to control himself and prevented the ship from sinking or causing any cracks in the planks.

However, upon seeing the skill of the Lord of Liuyun Palace at this moment, the old man's hand, which was gripping his sword, suddenly clicked.

"How...how could he possibly have mastered this sword technique to its peak?!"

The old man's fingers crushed a ring of wood around the scabbard, and he almost broke the extremely long and narrow sword in his grip.

He was the Supreme Elder of the Hainan Sword Sect, and had mastered almost all the secret manuals on swordsmanship, internal energy, and lightness skills that the Hainan Sword Sect had established since its founding.

He just couldn't master the "Thirteen Forms of Heavenly Cripples".

But he was not ashamed of it, because the Thirteen Forms of Heavenly Cripples seemed to be a sword technique that only people with severe disabilities could practice.

The leader of the Hainan Sword Sect, despite having mastered this sword technique, was no match for the Supreme Elder, even though he was missing an arm and a leg.

However, when he saw the Lord of Liuyun Palace displaying the "Thirteen Forms of Heavenly Cripples," he realized that his previous understanding of this sword technique was a complete joke.

Human bones are heavy and muscular, preventing us from flying like seabirds; human breathing is fragile, making it impossible to breathe underwater.

This is the innate defect, the original meaning of "heavenly disability," that the founder of the Hainan Sword School felt.

This principle was already pointed out in the preface of the sword manual, but later generations of inheritors could not understand its meaning and only thought that the patriarch was exaggerating and talking some nice but empty words.

He then ignored the prologue and devoted all his energy to comprehending the strange sword techniques that followed.

In reality, the martial arts of the Hainan Sword School are mostly unorthodox and unconventional.

Only the "Thirteen Forms of Heavenly Cripples" is a first-rate method of regulating breath.

Harmonize internal and external breathing with light and agile sword energy, and use changes in sword posture to drive your movement.

The sword techniques such as binding hands, feet, waist with iron hoops, and swallowing stones are all just methods to train sword energy and internal strength, not to actually simulate those incomplete techniques.

At this moment, the Lord of Liuyun Palace was half in the light and half in the dark, and the distance and height of his position changed with the wind.

He had been breathing continuously, blocking hundreds of palm strikes from Chu Tianshu, and still hadn't reached the point where he needed to catch his breath.

Whoops!

The indistinct, distorted, colorless flames roared violently, then began to contract.

Dozens of real and fake palm shadows suddenly disappeared, leaving only one palm.

The transparent palm print transformed into a real hand and struck out with a thunderous roar.

With a flick of the iron flute, it pierced the base of the ring finger of the hand.

This is a weakness of most people's palm techniques; if the little finger is stabbed, even if the finger is broken, it may not be able to stop the impact of the palm force.

If you stab the palm, that's where your palm power is strongest, turning it into a contest of internal strength.

Only the base of the ring finger, though relatively weak, can instantly influence the overall palm force.

Sword energy enveloped the front of the iron flute, faintly forming a sharp, cone-like edge.

laugh! !

The sharp cone pierced the palm, triggering the sword energy, and the right hand immediately exploded.

However, the right hand shattered like a bubble bursting, without any blood mist.

Three inches behind, another right hand shot out like lightning.

The palm of this hand slammed directly into the front of the iron flute.

After Chu Tianshu gathered the raging fire, he did indeed only unleash one palm strike, but this strike was both an illusion and the truth.

The sword energy on the iron flute was momentarily depleted, and a wisp of green energy shot out from each of the flute holes.

The flute's sudden sound was so loud it seemed to rip people's eardrums apart!

The craftsmanship of this flute was extremely ingenious; even under these circumstances, it managed to deflect 20% of Chu Tianshu's palm strike.

Even though it's made of black iron, it can't withstand the remaining 80% of the force.

The entire iron flute deformed violently, broke apart, and flew away.

Boom boom boom boom boom!!
Chu Tianshu alternated between his palms, flashing with green lightning.

In the blink of an eye, he had already exchanged six blows with the Lord of Liuyun Palace.

A divine feat that can subdue the heavens, a thunderous aura that can quell the waves.

After comprehending the principle of refining spirit into qi, his internal strength took another big step forward.

The damage from these six consecutive palm strikes was comparable to the ten palm strikes he had exchanged with Chen Zuqi.

Chen Zuqi's internal strength was much greater than Chu Tianshu's at the time. After receiving those ten palm strikes, his bones were penetrated by the force of the palm strikes, and his heart meridian was directly shattered.

Lord Liuyun took the blow head-on, but his expression remained solemn, his eyebrows twitched, and he showed no signs of injury.

Chu Tianshu sensed that although the opponent's total internal energy was not as great as Chen Zuqi's, it was very rich and the way it was used was also very special.

The martial arts skills that can be called unique techniques in the martial arts world must each have their own unique internal energy circulation routes.

Some martial arts techniques are incompatible with each other's internal energy, not because of their attributes, but because of their flow.

For example, the Wudang School's Yin-Yang Mind Method requires internal energy to flow along the Du Meridian at midnight and noon.

Although the name of the yoga mental method of the Tianzhu Jiaxing lineage is different, there is a meridian in it that corresponds to the Du meridian. At noon, the internal energy should flow against the Du meridian.

If someone practices both of these mental techniques.

Even if you master one technique before practicing another, it will still dissipate the residual effects of the first technique in your meridians.

This makes practicing the latter method much less efficient. Furthermore, the former method will experience delays in its application.

It seemed that the meridians inside the body of the Lord of Liuyun Palace were divided into layers.

Within the same meridian, some are divided into two layers, and some into three layers, which can simultaneously accommodate several internal forces with different flow directions and speeds.

This was something he could only do after he comprehended the divine meaning of "Flowing Clouds and Heavenly Net".

Only the divine will of the Flowing Cloud Heavenly Net can separate various internal forces, preventing them from penetrating each other, and can also protect the meridians, preventing them from bursting.

His body was as if it contained thirty-seven layers of netting, most of which overlapped.

As soon as Chu Tianshu's palm strike rushed forward, it was diverted and neutralized by the thirty-seven layers of netting.

A gentle touch concealing a sharp edge, initially cool then intense, leading the opponent to their doom...

These are all internal energies that have been circulating in the body of the Lord of Liuyun Palace for a long time and are accustomed to, so there is no need to be distracted to control these changes.

These changes will occur naturally as long as he has the thought of resisting the movement in his mind.

No wonder he was able to neutralize the power of the Demon Blade Technique and easily deal with Lu Shuangyan's first fourteen sword strikes.

"drink!!"

Although he could withstand Chu Tianshu's offensive, Lord Liuyun did not intend to fight head-on indefinitely.

He let out a low groan, his hands and sleeves billowing like clouds in a strong wind.

Two thick white clouds suddenly merged together, pressing down on Chu Tianshu.

Lord Liuyun felt that Chu Tianshu's stamina was something he had never seen before.

The cyan internal energy surged and gushed, constantly replenishing its energy. With each collision, the force of the physical body also slammed through.

Even if Lord Liuyun could withstand two or three hundred moves in a head-on fight against someone like that, he would most likely still lose.

As these two white clouds spread out, the Cloud Lord's hands moved in countless ways within the clouds.

Knives, guns, swords, palms, fingers, claws—all sorts of unique skills emerged.

Use sharpness to overcome force, and skill to overcome mentality.

Chu Tianshu's eyes flashed, and at that moment, the sleeves of his clothes bulged.

His two blue sleeves, unlike his opponent's sleeves, did not bulge out quickly yet gracefully.

It was as if two blue thunderclouds suddenly bloomed inside his sleeves.

The crisscrossing threads that make up the sleeves are stretched to their limit, but because internal energy also permeates these threads, they remain unbroken.

Boom! ! !
The two colors, blue and white, are clashing together.

The four sleeves billowed and swayed incessantly, rolling and colliding.

To outsiders, the barrier of fabric seems to have disappeared.

The four sleeves became a unified space.

Outside, the blue and white turbulence was intense and difficult to resolve; inside, lightning flashed as they clashed, an endless and unceasing battle.

Even Chu Tianshu and Lord Liuyun themselves couldn't see what was inside the sleeve at this moment.

They simply relied on their senses, letting their hands, hidden in their sleeves, strike, and exert force at the fastest speed.

The sound of the lake waves crashing against the rocks was not as deep and resonant as the sound that echoed around them.

Finally, after a deafening ripping sound.

The figure of the Lord of Liuyun Palace drifted away like a wild goose flying into the void.

It landed on a pine tree that grew horizontally on a low cliff.

Although his sleeves were torn in several places, they were not shattered.

Chu Tianshu's large sleeves, however, were torn into shreds and fluttered in the air.

Beneath the wide sleeves, there were also narrow, light blue cuffs.

But these two narrow-sleeved garments are now covered with more than a dozen kinds of hidden weapons.

Money darts, dark blue projectiles, caltrops, death nails...

Chu Tianshu took a deep breath with a solemn expression, and his arms trembled, causing the blue silk to tighten.

All the hidden weapons, which originally seemed to be embedded in the surface, have now been shaken off without a trace of blood.

However, there seemed to be some redness and swelling on her arms.

"At such close range, you dare to launch so many hidden weapons? Aren't you afraid they'll bounce back and smash into your face?!"

Chu Tianshu noticed the eerie green poisonous light on some of the hidden weapons and couldn't help but utter a sarcastic remark.

"Your skin isn't as resilient as mine. If you scratch it, your face will be ruined."

Lord Liuyun silently pulled a few silver needles from his arm.

"If your silver needles were also poisoned, I would be using my internal energy to expel the poison now."

There are several acupoints on the forearm of the Lord of Liuyun Mansion, from which blood is gushing out.

Although the silver needles were not poisoned, the way they were inserted was strange.

As soon as the needles were inserted, the blood in several places on his forearm instantly felt like unusable blood.

If it is not allowed to flow out, it may actually affect the heart and lungs.

"Happy!"

Lord Liuyun sighed, "Sound skills, techniques, internal strength, hidden weapons, fighting spirit—it's been a long time since I've encountered an opponent I can compete with in every aspect."

"I am still a man of the martial world after all."

"pity……"

Lord Liuyun stared at Chu Tianshu, "There are so many pleasures in the world that can be destroyed, why do you insist on destroying the family-run system?"

"If all you want is to conquer the Central Plains and dominate the world, I am willing to spend another ten or twenty years."

"Let us have enough time to discuss and appreciate this grand spectacle from time to time."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianshu looked at him with newfound respect and became more interested in talking to him.

"How did you know what I was going to do?"

Chu Tianshu laughed and said, "Do you know how painful it was for me to go to school?"

“When learning those things, there is too little empirical evidence to support them, so it is always very boring.”

"But now that I've learned it and have the ability, I should do something that allows me to fully utilize my strength and knowledge."

He scratched his eyebrows with his fingernail.

The corners of his eyebrows seemed to become sharper as a result.

"But I don't agree with your claim that you're a member of the martial arts world."

Chu Tianshu gazed at the vast lake.

"The river is turbulent, reckless, brave, and cruel; the lake is calm, patient, simple, and mundane."

"But the boundaries of the martial arts world are very thin. It's all flowing water, and once you meet, you'll quickly merge together."

"I have never heard of any river that can lie on top of a lake for so long, touching each other without mixing."

"And those dynasties, like palaces built by people, only grow higher and higher, layer upon layer. The higher they go, the less they touch the ground, unless, of course, the entire palace collapses..."

Chu Tianshu stared at the Lord of Liuyun Mansion.

"Your heart is no longer in the world of martial arts."

"I am the true hero of the martial world!!"

(End of this chapter)