In Emei, start by obtaining golden attributes.

Chapter 427 Are you sure you're not at the Celestial Realm? (Third Update)

Upon hearing this, Sun Baifa turned his head and looked at Gu Santong's face, which was already puffy and full of expectation. Sun Baifa narrowed his eyes.

Old people are shrewd; Sun Baifa has lived for so many years, how could he not see that Gu Santong is up to no good?

But Gu Santong's words struck a chord with him.

Sun Baifa has been stuck at the second level of the staff technique for too many years.

It's not that they lack understanding, nor that they lack opportunity.

But that hurdle was like a thorn stuck in his bone. He could avoid touching it normally, but once someone brought it up, the pain kept him awake at night.

Although he and Gu Shaoan did not cultivate the same weapon, martial arts are like a river; no matter how many branches there are, the source is always the same.

If you understand one method, you understand all methods.

If one could glean even a spark of insight from Gu Shaoan's unity of man and sword, it would be enough to keep this old man burning for three to five years, and might even allow him to cross that invisible hurdle and reach the level of unity of man and staff.

Therefore, after a moment's hesitation, Sun Baifa took a deep breath.

Then, with a light step, he moved like an old ape skimming across branches to a distance of three zhang (approximately 10 meters). With a flick of his wrist, he turned the pipe in his right hand, so that the tip of the pipe pointed diagonally at the ground.

He looked up at Gu Shaoan, his gaze sharp, but his face showed no frivolity, only a serious expression.

Gu Santong chuckled as he took in Sun Baifa's actions, then grabbed Sun Xiaohong and they were five zhang away in a few quick movements.

Seeing this, Gu Shaoan raised his right hand, and the surrounding bamboo leaves rose up on their own without wind. Five zhang away, a bamboo branch rose with the wind and landed in Gu Shaoan's hand.

With a slight turn of Gu Shaoan's wrist, all the emerald green bamboo leaves on the bamboo branch fell off.

Although Gu Shaoan was holding a bamboo branch, in Sun Baifa's sword perception, Gu Shaoan's aura was perfectly integrated into the bamboo forest.

If Sun Baifa closed his eyes, he was certain that he would not be able to sense any trace of Gu Shaoan's presence.

After taking another deep breath, Sun Baifa's eyes darkened, and his inner energy surged instantly.

"Whoosh-"

In the next instant, Sun Baifa's figure swayed, like an old ape climbing a tree, his toes touching the ground twice, and he instantly appeared in front of Gu Shaoan.

He didn't speak, his pipe held horizontally in front of his chest, the stick slowly rising inch by inch, the old copper pot now gleaming with a cold light as it was infused with vital energy.

In an instant, the bamboo leaves around him trembled without wind, as if an invisible force spread out from under his feet, pressing down the dust and sand on the ground.

next moment.

"boom--"

With a thunderous stomp of his foot, Sun Baifa was instantly propelled by a taut bowstring, reducing the distance between him and Gu Shaoan from three zhang to three chi.

Because of its excessive speed, the back of Sun Baifa's robe was lifted by the air blast, and as it flew close to the ground, it left a gray trail, while bamboo leaves were swept into the air and fell like rain.

At the same time, Sun Baifa raised the pipe in his hand.

The tip of the pipe trembled slightly, leaving three afterimages, like three chess pieces falling at the same moment, heading towards Gu Shaoan's throat, brow, and heart almost simultaneously.

"Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!"

The three strikes, each imbued with the force of a needle, produced a sharp, piercing sound as it cut through the air.

Each sound was like a needle piercing silk, so fast that even in Gu Santong's eyes, all that remained were three faint gray-white threads.

At this moment, Gu Santong realized that Sun Baifa had not used his full strength when he fought him earlier.

"That old rascal, he's been hiding it really well."

On the field, facing Sun Baifa's attack, Gu Shaoan did not retreat a single step.

He simply raised the bamboo branch in his hand, as naturally as an ordinary child wielding a stick.

"despair."

The next second, the tip of the bamboo branch flew through the air, and the three afterimages that rushed towards Gu Shaoan were wiped away by a drop of water and disappeared instantly.

Seeing that Gu Shaoan had so easily broken through his lightning-fast three strikes, Sun Baifa's eyes narrowed. Instead of stopping, he used the momentum of the slip to make his pipe sink and flip.

The stick moved along the ground like a snake, then suddenly lifted up – not a flick, but a "flip".

The dust and sand on the ground were whipped up by the wind from the stick into a wave, the crest of which crashed straight down to Gu Shaoan's knees. The bamboo leaves were blown backward, and the bamboo poles all shook, emitting a series of low "buzzing" sounds.

The moment the stick was raised, it felt as if the air itself was being torn apart, and the wind pressure stung my face.

Gu Shaoan seemed not to hear, but gently pressed down on the bamboo stick in his hand, pressing down on the middle of the stick that was raised, just at the moment when the "wave" was at its fullest.

"despair."

A soft sound rang out, but it was like pressing down on a pot that was about to boil. The wave of dust and sand collapsed instantly, and the wind pressure parted in front of Gu Shaoan, sweeping past his sides and rushing towards the bamboo forest behind him, bending several slender bamboos over.

Sun Baifa let out a low shout, his chest thumping like a drum, the sound waves causing the nearby bamboo leaves to tremble.

The pipe was twisted upwards, and the countless shadows of the pipes transformed into a dense, impenetrable net, enveloping Gu Shaoan like a dark cloud.

Each strike of the staff carried a terrifying sense of the world collapsing, shaking the very soul.

The stick flashed across the sky, and the sound it made as it cut through the air was no longer sharp, but a deep roar, as if the entire wind had been twisted into a rope and pulled down.

Seeing this, Gu Shaoan calmly and slowly pointed out with the bamboo branch in his hand.

At this moment, the surrounding wind was instantly stirred and transformed into countless green willow catkins.

At the same time, Sun Baifa felt as if he had stumbled into a lake filled with willow catkins, and all he could see were green willow catkins.

All his attacks were covered by these blue willow catkins.

The sound of clanging metal echoed continuously within the bamboo forest.

Strength emanated continuously from Sun Baifa and Gu Shaoan.

Gradually, beads of cold sweat began to slide down Sun Baifa's cheeks. Gu Santong's gaze fell on Gu Shaoan's feet.

It was discovered that Gu Shaoan's feet had not moved an inch even now.

Moreover, in Gu Santong's view, there were nearly a hundred dents in the open space around Gu Shaoan and Sun Baifa.

It felt like being forcefully struck down with a thick stick.

What slightly surprised Gu Santong was that the marks left on the muddy ground around the two men were clearly the force of Sun Baifa's "Heavenly Secret Staff Technique," heavy yet without any sharpness.

In other words, in his repeated battles with Sun Baifa, Gu Shaoan managed to ensure that not a single bit of his energy was wasted or dissipated.

The ancient three-way system can also do this.

However, the premise is that Gu Santong was only facing martial artists in the Acquired Realm or those who had returned to the Innate Realm.

Only when one's strength is already on a completely different level can one achieve what Gu Shaoan is doing now, making every move with confidence and ensuring that every bit of his strength is precisely aimed at the target.

The key point is that the one currently attacking Gu Shaoan is not a low-level martial artist from the Jianghu, but Sun Baifa, the Heavenly Mystery Elder, who is ranked number one on the Weapon Ranking!

Gu Santong had always been keenly aware of Gu Shaoan's strength.

The fact that Gu Shaoan was able to kill Tu Baichuan, a martial artist at the Celestial Realm, after leaving Wudang last time, is enough to demonstrate Gu Shaoan's strength.

But the last time Gu Shaoan faced Tu Baichuan, he didn't exert this much pressure on Gu Santong.

This made Gu Santong wonder.

"Does the state of perfect harmony between man and sword really enhance a martial artist's strength that much?"

In the arena, Sun Baifa, unable to break through after a long attack, suddenly let out a low shout.

Then, he suddenly took half a step forward, and his aura suddenly dropped, as if a mountain was pressing down from the clouds onto people's faces.

Immediately afterwards, Sun Baifa twirled his pipe and handed it out flatly, as simple as a farmer handing over a stick.

But just as Sun Baifa handed over the pipe, a powerful aura suddenly burst forth from his body.

At the same time, within a ten-zhang radius around Sun Baifa, there were invisible streams of energy.

The surrounding bamboo leaves seemed to be pressed down at the same time, and even the rustling sound stopped for a moment.

The air felt heavy and oppressive. Gu Santong and Sun Xiaohong, who were watching from a distance, felt a tightness in their eardrums, as if they had heard a silent giant wave.

Despite Sun Baifa's blow, Gu Shaoan's smile remained unchanged, and he casually flicked the bamboo branch with his hand.

"Ding--"

The moment the stick touched the bamboo, a crisp sound, like ice cracking, rang out.

Immediately afterwards, a terrifying shockwave suddenly exploded outwards, dust and sand swirled outwards in a ring, bamboo leaves were shaken and scattered all over the sky, and deep in the bamboo forest there was a "whoosh" sound of things collapsing, like waves crashing against rocks.

Even Sun Baifa himself couldn't help but take a step back amidst these shockwaves.

But in the eye of the storm, Gu Shaoan seemed to be in another space, surrounded by invisible barriers that prevented his clothes from being lifted at all.

In Sun Baifa's perception, at this moment, the bamboo branch in Gu Shaoan's hand seemed to have gained an invisible energy, splitting the air waves that touched him in two.

Looking at Gu Shaoan standing opposite him, Sun Baifa waved his hand and said, "Let's not fight anymore. If we fight any longer, the old man's mental state might be affected."

The "Heavenly Secret Staff Technique" is a unique skill of the Sun family. The name "Heavenly Secret" naturally implies calculation.

Its staff technique is similar in principle to Fu Cailin's "Yi Jian Shu" (The Art of Chess Sword).

They all transformed their own bodies into a chessboard, treating themselves and their enemies as pieces, and proceeding cautiously step by step.

But today, facing Gu Shaoan, Sun Baifa felt as if all his intentions had been seen through by Gu Shaoan.

No matter how Sun Baifa attacked, Gu Shaoan's slender bamboo branch always managed to neutralize his moves with a satisfyingly "just right" technique.

There was even a feeling that Gu Shaoan was just casually waving the bamboo branch in his hand, but every time he deliberately bumped into it.

Moreover, Sun Baifa could clearly sense that when Gu Shaoan made a move, he mobilized very little internal energy each time, and did not use his "heavy lifting of light weights" technique.

In other words, if Gu Shaoan really wanted to defeat him, he wouldn't have lasted this long.

Thinking of this, Sun Baifa couldn't help but look at Gu Shaoan with a strange expression and said, "Kid, are you sure you haven't entered the Celestial Realm yet? Your strength is not right!"

In response to Sun Baifa's question, Gu Shaoan smiled and said, "This junior has not yet condensed his essence, energy, and spirit into flowers, so naturally he has not yet entered the Celestial Realm."

Sun Bai frowned and said, "You haven't even reached the Celestial Realm, but your strength is a bit too much, isn't it? Are you sure that the third stage of swordsmanship can raise your strength to this level?"

Unlike ordinary forces, Sun Baifa's family has existed for a very long time.

The family of Sun Baifa, which grew up in the area, recorded many secrets that even the top forces in the martial arts world and even experts at the Celestial Realm did not know.

Among these changes are some of the changes in a martial artist's strength after they enter the third realm of swordsmanship.

Sun Baifa was certain that any martial artist who could reach the third realm of swordsmanship would be very strong.

Even if someone is strong, they wouldn't be as powerful as Gu Shaoan, who is at the same level of Qi Condensation but whose strength is so great that it's almost despair-inducing.

As he spoke, Sun Baifa couldn't help but think back to ten years ago in Datong Prefecture.

At that time, Gu Shaoan had only just entered the realm of returning to the innate state. His strength was not considered top-tier in the martial arts world, but it was not enough to catch Sun Baifa's eye.

But who could have imagined that in just ten years, the young man's strength would have reached a level that even the old man Tianji had to look up to?

Looking at Gu Shaoan across from him, so calm and collected, not a speck of dust on his clothes, Sun Baifa truly understood what it meant to say: "New talents emerge in every generation, and each new generation surpasses the old."

As the thought crossed his mind, a sense of weariness suddenly crept over Sun Baifa.

After a moment's thought, Gu Shaoan replied to Sun Baifa's words, "If one only enters the realm of man and sword as one, the increase in strength is certainly great, but it is indeed not enough to reach this level."

Upon hearing Gu Shaoan's words, both Sun Baifa and Gu Santong felt a chill run down their spines.

(End of this chapter)