Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 455 The Howl of the Heavenly Wolf, Three Swords from Outside the Heart
The sunlight grew brighter and brighter.

After the drumbeats stopped, it was already close to noon.

The cicadas' chirping grew increasingly noisy in the woods.

Cheng Xin and the others have been discussing matters in the front hall of the palace recently, but they can also hear the sound of cicadas coming from the royal garden.

They had agreed to present a letter of state to the Tang Dynasty in order to seek submission, but they were unsure about the specific format and wording to ensure that the letter would be neither servile nor arrogant, and that it would demonstrate the sincerity of the people's will.

These are things that require slow and meticulous work.

We've been busy from morning till noon, and it's still not completely finished.

Suddenly someone came to report: "A group of people has entered the city, claiming to be from the Imperial Guard of the Great Tang Dynasty, and they are looking for the merchant group of Su Xianzhi from Tang."

"finally come."

Cheng Xin looked up at the outside of the hall, told the ministers to continue their work, and stepped out of the hall. He then instructed the guards to invite Su Xian and Li Chenxiang.

The main gate of the palace, although it was damaged some time ago.

However, recently, the giants and strongmen in the homes of disgraced officials have been put to work on repairs, and the repairs have been completed very quickly.

The original solemn and exquisite city gate tower has not yet been rebuilt, but at least the city wall has been repaired and the city gate has been erected.

As soon as Cheng Xin and his group passed through the palace gate, they saw a group of people waiting outside.

The woman in red leading the way had dismounted, holding the reins, smiling, with a small dimple on her right cheek, looking bright and approachable.

Two strong, muscular men in light black armor followed her on either side; one had a slightly deep-set face and a short, wiry beard, while the other was slightly plump with rosy cheeks.

There were also dozens of riders, all dressed in black, tight-fitting outfits, with leather armor on their upper bodies and fast boots on their feet, their figures slender and agile.

When Cheng Xin came out, his first reaction was to look at people, and then he couldn't help but look at the horses.

These tan horses were not particularly bulky or large, but their eyes were all clear and bright, their eyelashes were thick and long, and they snorted, twitched their bellies, lifted their hindquarters, and trotted lightly with their hooves.

Each horse has many small movements, seemingly chaotic yet orderly, with heat rising from its body and the mane on its neck rising and falling as if breathing.

They looked like skilled boxers practicing their punches by focusing their abdominal muscles and controlling their pores.

The Nanzhao Kingdom also had horse training techniques, and there were specially developed boxing manuals that combined human and horse skills.

However, compared to the horses in front of them, even the best horses in Nanzhao could only be considered second-rate.

Although Cheng Xin had met Hai Donglai several times and had even received some instruction from him, this was the first time he had ever seen the elite of the Imperial Guard mobilized in such a large force.

Just looking at the horses filled him with admiration; they truly lived up to the grandeur of a superior nation.

"When the Nanzhao Kingdom took over the government, Cheng Xin paid homage to the imperial envoy."

"General, there's no need for such formalities."

The woman in red reached out to help, and said with a smile, "We have inquired about the situation in Nanzhao along the way, and we would like to thank you all for your help to our Tang Dynasty merchant group."

"Nie Hongxian came here with her people for two reasons: first, to take the merchant group away, and second, to express her gratitude."

When Cheng Xin saw her coming to help him, he maintained his manners, straightened up, stepped back half a step, and introduced her: "This is Elder Su of the Chang'an Su Clan Merchant Guild, and this is Prince Bamo of Zhenla Kingdom."

Su and Li exchanged greetings together.

The woman in red stepped forward and bowed deeply, saying, "Your righteous deeds will surely be rewarded by the Great Tang Dynasty."

She bowed very close, her attitude extremely humble.

Su and Li felt as if they could almost smell a faint scent of ink from a book, and quickly reached out to help each other.

We are ashamed.

Su Xian said, "If it weren't for Senior Chu's help, the things we were escorting would probably have been stolen halfway through."

Cheng Xin smiled and said, "This Senior Chu is my great-uncle in terms of seniority, and he also had a connection with the Crimson Emperor back then."

"Before, I, Cheng, had written to Chang'an on behalf of my great-uncle, hoping to find out where the Red Emperor was and to meet with an old friend."

The woman in red asked with slight surprise, "Is that so?"

“We set off from Chang’an long ago, but encountered many obstacles and delays along the way, which is why we are a little late. We must have missed the letter from the old general.”

"Since we have a long-standing relationship, would you be so kind as to grant me an audience?"

After Hai Donglai advocated for the establishment of official schools, countless people throughout the land learned their skills from those old guards.

However, this person did not seem to have much patience for personally teaching apprentices.

Fortunately, he lived long enough that, even without much patience, he still managed to train a group of people, albeit intermittently.

Among them, the most outstanding were Tian Zhu, Yang Jungong, and Nie Hongxian.

Tian Zhu was a minister of the State Affairs Hall, Yang Jungong was a general in charge of troops, and Nie Hongxian was the commander of the Imperial Guard.

The three are quite different in age, with Nie Hongxian being the youngest, but in terms of seniority, they are all Hai Donglai's prized students.

Therefore, if Nie Hongxian were to meet Chu Tianshu, she could directly address him as "uncle" or "master uncle."

She wanted to visit Chu Tianshu, and Cheng Xin was naturally willing to introduce her.

The group immediately headed towards the Imperial Garden, and a short while later, they arrived near Ximing Pond.

After passing around the pool, the large group of people stood in front of the incense pavilion.

Cheng Xin raised his voice and said, "Grand Uncle, Commander Nie of the Tang Dynasty's Imperial Guard has come to pay a visit."

The main gate of the Fragrant Pavilion opened wide without any wind.

Everyone could see an incense burner in the center of the incense pavilion, with wisps of smoke rising from it.

Chu Tianshu sat on a cushion about ten steps away behind the incense burner, his sword across his knees, his expression relaxed and at ease.

"The Imperial Guard is indeed full of talented people."

He looked at the people outside the incense pavilion and laughed, "They've come out to meet the merchant group, and there are actually three Su Kings leading the team."

Cheng Xin was slightly startled and turned his head to look.

He had long known that Nie Hongxian was highly skilled, but he hadn't expected that the two deputies following Nie Hongxian were also top-notch martial artists.

The woman in red maintained her smile and was about to reply.

Chu Tianshu's gaze had already fallen on the man with rosy cheeks and a slightly plump figure.

"The artistic conception of this person's boxing style seems to be somewhat similar to the divine drum I've been playing with recently..."

At this point, the amiable, slightly overweight man's left little finger trembled slightly, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Chu Tianshu originally intended to say the second half of his sentence.

Did Hai Donglai spar with Shan Wang too many times, and then deduced some of the essence of Shan Wang's boxing style and passed it on to the Inner Guard?
But the slightly overweight man's reaction suddenly aroused his suspicion.

"you!"

Chu Tianshu raised his eyebrows, his eyes suddenly flashing like lightning, and his voice rose.

"You're Tibetan?!"

The slightly overweight man's expression changed completely, and he clenched his fists abruptly.

The woman in red suddenly turned around, looking at the Tibetan spy with extreme surprise, which drew everyone's attention to the slightly overweight man at the same time.

Just then, the black-armored man with a slightly dark complexion and a short, wiry beard suddenly swelled up.

The black fish-scale armor he was wearing was actually burst open by his swollen chest cavity, the thin ropes snapped and the armor plates broke.

Unlike giants or strongmen whose proportions change dramatically with size, this deep-eyed man's upper body only swelled to twice its original size, his shoulders broadened, his arms grew longer, his chest expanded, and he roared with explosive force.

"Ow!!!"

In that instant, it seemed as if a silver-white wolf's face overlapped with the man's, its features contorted and bulging, roaring with a bloody maw.

Chu Tianshu felt a giant wolf suddenly pounce on him with incredible speed.

This is a strike purely driven by the spirit of boxing.

Those who cultivate martial arts to a high level constantly hone their will and energy.

In terms of sheer explosive speed, those who only cultivate mental power, using complex and tedious visualizations to hone their spirit, cannot match the ferocious strikes of this kind of fist intent spirit at all.

However, precisely because they haven't undergone complex refinement, the fist intent of people like Zheng Tianchang and Huoshu Toutuo easily dissipates once released from their bodies.

This was the first time Chu Tianshu had seen this since entering this realm.

Some people can transform their fist intent into a complete, godlike giant wolf, pouncing on you with lightning speed!

The giant wolf's shadow crashed into him, only to be shattered by the red sword intent that flashed in his eyes.

However, it also slightly blurred his vision.

The high-frequency oscillating roar was much slower than the spirit of the fist, and it was only at this moment that it surged into the incense pavilion.

The howling of wolves caused all the tiles on the roof of the Xiang Pavilion to shatter and fly away with a crash.

All the slightly fragile structures, such as doors and windows, were also blown to pieces.

The massive wooden beams and red-lacquered pillars were covered with mottled cracks, and the stone bricks on the ground began to tremble and crumble.

The large incense burner in the very center was shattered into pieces by the concentrated impact of the air currents.

Amid a series of loud bangs, thick incense ash rapidly spread out.

The entire Fragrant Pavilion now contains residual fluctuations of shattered fist intent.

There are also physical-level air waves, sound waves, the sound of objects breaking, and incense ash impurities.

From any perspective of human senses, it is utterly chaotic.

Chu Tianshu suddenly formed a sword finger with his left hand and swung it to the left. The long sword on his knee was pulled and shot into the air, piercing through the left wall and flying to an unknown destination.

At the same time, his right hand, with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, was pinched in front of his heart.

He gripped a sword tip that seemed to be nonexistent.

A human silhouette flashed in his eyes, instantly transforming into the hastily written character for "fire".

Those three fingers perfectly embody the meaning of Samadhi.

The red light of the Samadhi Divine Fire was about to reach the tip of the sword and spread outwards.

However, the sword suddenly broke off its tip.

There was no process of the sword tip breaking off, and no snapping sound.

Because the force was applied so decisively, it looked as if the sword tip and the entire blade were simply joined together, clearly distinct from each other.

The sword tip didn't move, but the sword body suddenly disappeared.

When the sharp angle of the broken sword reappeared, it was already aimed at Chu Tianshu's left eye.

Chu Tianshu's third eye on his forehead suddenly tilted to the left, overlapping with his left eye.

The sword broke off another section prematurely!

That fragment still shot towards the left eye.

The broken sword, however, was now aimed at the right eye.

Chu Tianshu's eyebrows were sharp as swords, almost reaching his temples, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Its left eye was a deep, shimmering green, while its right eye was a fiery red, like lava.

Besides the Heavenly Eye being able to radiate power, Chu Tianshu's own eyes had also been trained to the point where they could radiate internal energy.

However, the eyes are more vulnerable than the rest of the body, and the internal energy they emit is weak; only the sword intent content can be higher.

However, now he possesses the internal energy foundation of the Tai Xu Zhu Ri Zhen Jie (太虚煮日真解), a unique internal energy that, while damaging the physical body, also catalyzes the potential of the soul into vitality.

This allows him to unleash a more powerful sword aura when channeling his inner force through his eyes, with full concentration of energy and spirit.

The fragments and broken sword slowed down simultaneously under the light emanating from his eyes.

The reaction force caused Chu Tianshu's body to shift backward, changing from a sitting to a standing position.

In an instant, he crashed through the back wall of the Fragrant Pavilion, leaving a perfect human-shaped opening, and stood in the garden behind the pavilion.

"it is good!!"

A surge of joy welled up in Chu Tianshu's heart, which then spread to his face, revealing a smile.

It's pointless to bully people like Huoshu Toutuo who barely passed the threshold of becoming a King.

Only the person in front of him gave him a slight sense of renewed fighting spirit.

The same principle applies to "a punch from outside the heart".

In that brief moment, Zheng Tianchang could only throw one punch.

The swordsman just now was able to use it on his sword, and during the sword strike, he also performed three consecutive changes.

They can maintain this state and unleash three sword strikes, or even more.

The Heavenly Eye suddenly returned to Chu Tianshu's forehead, and the emerald ripples expanded outward abruptly.

Inside the fragrant pavilion, all the dust had vanished.

As the ripples swept across, the entire roof beam frame seemed to be lifted up slightly for a fleeting moment by a powerful force.

The woman in red, holding a broken sword, was exposed in this loosely furnished and clearly defined boudoir.

This woman, who had just been surprised by the Tibetan spy, was clearly the mastermind behind the operation.

The deep-eyed man who had roared was still standing outside the main gate. His body had returned to normal, his throat was still making faint sounds, and his eyes were still flashing like wolf eyes, with a hint of surprise.

He hadn't expected that Chu Tianshu would emerge unscathed from such a surprise attack.

"You're not Nie Hongxian, are you?"

Chu Tianshu smiled and said, "You two are qualified to leave your names."

The woman in red did not answer; her cold, piercing eyes held only a hint of regret.

She originally planned to enter the Fragrant Pavilion, get a closer look at Chu Tianshu, and then make her move with greater confidence.

Unexpectedly, Chu Tianshu only glanced at it from afar, which revealed a flaw.

"What a formidable enemy!"

The man with the deep-set eyes responded to Chu Tianshu's words with a loud howl, and an illusion of long silver wolf fur appeared on his body, sometimes visible and sometimes not.

"My name is Altai!"

Outside the incense pavilion, everyone was on high alert, each on guard.

The Tibetan man, not to be outdone, shouted, "And me! My name is..."

(End of this chapter)