Martial Cultivator

A moment later, Chen Chao’s mind suddenly calmed again. He looked at the woman before him and said wistfully, “As expected, the words of you women can never be fully trusted.”

Autumn asked, “What made you figure it out?”

“Given your temperament, even if she’s already publicly acknowledged as a genius, since she hasn’t yet reached Nepenthe, you naturally wouldn’t lay a hand on her. That’s your arrogance, and perhaps also your weakness.”

It was precisely because Chen Chao had come to this conclusion that he was able to steady his heart so quickly.

Autumn said coolly, “Looks like you know me well.”

She had indeed seen Xie Nandu on her journey south, but it was only from afar. Even knowing that the one inside the carriage was that female sword cultivator, she ultimately had not made a move.

Had it been someone else, she would likely have already attacked by then. After all, killing a future human genius would be a good thing for the demon race no matter how one looked at it. But for Autumn, it was unnecessary.

Just as Chen Chao had said, she was simply too conceited.

Even if the girl was one of the few in the world who could possibly stand on equal footing with her, Autumn still did not take her seriously.

“But you really do care about that woman. Looks like I ought to find an opportunity to kill her.”

Autumn glanced at Chen Chao calmly. Her pair of snow-white pupils now faded back to normal.

Chen Chao took a deep breath and said, “Then I’ll definitely kill you.”

Autumn only smiled dismissively.

These kinds of things had never been something she worried about.

The idle talk had gone on this long, in truth, for something that was ’not reminiscing,’ it had turned into a reminiscence of sorts. The two of them had more or less said all that needed to be said. What followed now would likely be a ruthless battle of life and death.

Chen Chao lowered his head slightly and looked at the tip of his saber, Cloud Mud, lost in thought.

Behind Autumn, a cloud of demonic qi slowly rose once again, spreading upward to cover the sky.

She was not afraid of drawing too much attention and attracting enemies.

The greater the commotion, the more people it would deter.

Chen Chao stared at that sky like a curtain of dark clouds, and could not help but sigh again.

Really fighting huh...

But that thought flashed by in an instant.

The next moment, Chen Chao had already charged toward Autumn.

He was like an arrow loosed from a bow, so fast it was like a gust of wind, impossible to grasp.

Autumn did not even think about dodging. She was already intimately familiar with this young martial artist’s fighting style. Since he wanted to compete with her in physical strength, then she would compete with him head-on.

The two quickly collided.

A massive clash of qi erupted before their bodies met. In an instant, a terrifying shockwave blasted out in all directions. The nearest trees exploded first, countless splinters flying everywhere. The sound of crashing and rending was deafening as numerous towering trees collapsed and were blown apart before they could even hit the ground.

Autumn avoided what looked like a simple punch from Chen Chao and immediately struck with a palm toward the young martial artist’s head. Chen Chao dodged that palm filled with thick demonic qi and responded with a punch aimed at Autumn’s shoulder.

Autumn’s face was expressionless. This time, the demon princess had no intention of dodging. Instead, her falling palm turned into a knife-hand strike aimed at Chen Chao’s neck.

Chen Chao leaned his head back to avoid the chop, but in the same moment, he saw her knife-hand morph into a claw, five fingers hooking toward his throat.

This woman was indeed ruthless.

The punch Chen Chao had thrown was pulled back, and he bent his elbow to brace against Autumn’s forearm, pushing it upward slightly. But the latter clearly had no intention of giving up. After a brief pause, she pressed down again. Accompanied by a surge of demonic qi that bore down on him, she pinned Chen Chao’s arm so hard he could not even lift it.

Autumn glanced at Chen Chao, a trace of mockery appearing in her eyes.

The meaning was simple: Is that all you’ve got?

Chen Chao gritted his teeth. Lately, no matter what he did, no matter who he was sent to kill, he always succeeded, and it had made him a little overconfident. Now, facing this woman, he belatedly realized that he really should not have let himself get into that mindset.

Cloud Mud in his other hand was lightly tossed into the air, freeing that hand as Chen Chao launched a punch. A terrifying burst of fist force exploded forth, and the ground around them instantly caved in under the pressure.

Autumn frowned slightly. After a brief moment of hesitation, she tapped her toe and withdrew, narrowly dodging Chen Chao’s fist force.

Chen Chao stepped forward with the momentum, and Cloud Mud, having been tossed into the air, fell back down, landing cleanly in its sheath.

It was not that Chen Chao had not planned on using his saber from the start. But Autumn was no longer the Autumn of the past, he had wanted to test her first too.

The two continued to exchange blows in the forest, their battle toppling countless trees and collapsing large swathes of earth.

A clash between two Nepenthe powerhouses was more than enough to lay waste to an entire forest.

Later, in one direct confrontation where neither resorted to any tricks, they clashed purely through the force of their qi. The result was Autumn being blasted several dozen feet away, smashing through five large trees. Only when she pressed a hand against the trunk of the sixth tree did she barely manage to stop herself.

As for Chen Chao, he did not fare much better either, also knocked back several dozen feet and crashing through a number of trees before being slammed into a cliffside.

By the time Chen Chao forced himself free from the stone wall, Autumn had already charged at him again.

Chen Chao could not dodge in time and had no choice but to grit his teeth and face it head-on.

The two of them smashed straight through the cliff face and tunneled into it. Only after half an incense stick’s time did they break out the other side.

By this point, Chen Chao’s black shirt was in tatters, his back riddled with countless embedded shards of rock.

Blood streamed down freely.

The wounds looked gruesome, but they did not actually affect Chen Chao much. What troubled him far more was how relentlessly this woman kept pressing him.

Ordinary women entangling a man might rely on a bit of flirtation; nothing worth mentioning. But when that woman was a bona fide Nepenthe cultivator, that kind of entanglement was anything but easy to deal with.

Chen Chao timed a punch precisely and forced Autumn back. Standing his ground, he exerted force to push the embedded shards out of his back. The bleeding stopped soon after.

After being forced back this time, Autumn stood at a distance and said calmly, “Looks like your body’s tempering is nothing special.”

Chen Chao pointed irritably at Autumn’s forehead.

There, a large purplish bruise had already bloomed.

Autumn did not seem to mind.

Chen Chao rolled his neck and smiled. “I really don’t believe that just because you were born with better bloodline talent, you can truly crush me that easily.”

Autumn beckoned a finger at Chen Chao.

But it was hardly suggestive of anything romantic.

After all, the woman before him was not some delicate songstress from the South.

The two collided again. This time, Chen Chao widened his stance, unleashing punch after punch with broad movements. His qi surged, and white mist flowed all over his body, serving to obstruct Autumn’s onslaught.

Autumn swept her hand like a blade, slicing through the mist over Chen Chao’s chest. Before it could close up again, she slashed once more. But in the end, she only managed to tear his robes and it did not cut his flesh.

As for the tattered cloth stuck to her fingernails, it was instantly reduced to dust by her.

Chen Chao’s punch struck Autumn’s shoulder, but instead of the bone-cracking sound he expected, his own arm throbbed with pain from the recoil.

“Goddammit.”

Chen Chao could not help but curse under his breath.

In the past, it was always him who had the edge when it came to raw physique. But now, it was the other party’s body that felt like the greater threat.

Still, if Chen Chao were someone who gave up easily, he would not have made it this far.

Chen Chao drove his elbow forward again, aiming for Autumn’s chest. She raised a palm to block, and in that instant, Chen Chao exerted force and brought his other hand down toward the crown of her head.

Autumn responded with a kick aimed at Chen Chao’s abdomen.

This time, Chen Chao got the better of her, knocking Autumn forward. After several dozen feet, the two of them crashed through a series of trees before tumbling down a hillside.

Though they were pressed so close together, neither ceased their attacks. As they rolled, they left one crater after another along the slope.

At the base of the hill lay a large lake.

After seeing it, they both exploded with power. In the end, they separated and plunged into the lake below.

As the waves surged, Autumn was the first to burst from the surface, stepping lightly across the lake water.

But with every step she took, towering waves followed behind her, a curtain of water rising into the sky.

From the other side, Chen Chao leaped forth and stomped down hard on the lake’s surface, splitting a long rift in the water beneath his foot.

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