Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 335: Chapter 188: A Qi Refiner? Is That All?

But he understood the techniques of the short, skinny man before him.

Besides, the man couldn’t use Sword Control, which meant he wasn’t yet a Second Realm Cultivator!

The Flying Sword pierced the air from behind. Just as the blade was about to touch the back of his neck, Wan Ze abruptly dropped and spun, narrowly dodging the attack.

In a fleeting glimpse, he saw the sword hovering in midair, its blade trembling slightly.

The short, skinny man formed a peculiar Hand Seal. A faint golden light appeared between his fingers, but it flickered unstably.

’He can use a Technique for Sword Control without having cultivated to the Soul Condensation Realm?’

A thought struck Wan Ze.

This discovery gave him a new understanding of Huangliang’s Cultivation system.

It wasn’t that one had to reach Soul Condensation to use Artifact Manipulation. One could use it before then, but the methods were cruder, the cost was greater, the range was shorter, and it couldn’t be sustained.

The short, skinny man’s Hand Seal was some kind of Low-Tier Artifact Manipulation Technique. The cost was a massive amount of Qi, and it could only control a single object.

With no time for further thought, Wan Ze shifted his feet and once again dodged the flying sword.

SHIING!

The sword brushed past his shoulder with undiminished momentum and slammed into the cliff face beside them. The blade sank deep into the stone, leaving only the hilt exposed.

The rock was split open. Debris flaked off from the crack, CLATTERING down to form a small mound on the ground.

The short, skinny man tried to retrieve the sword.

His fingers moved rapidly before his chest. Qi surged from his fingertips, forming a thin thread that wrapped around the hilt as he attempted to pull it out of the rock.

But the sword was embedded too deeply. No matter how much Qi he channeled, it refused to budge.

He frowned and cursed under his breath. The sound was faint, but the shape of his mouth made it clear they weren’t pleasant words.

’If my Cultivation were just a bit higher, I wouldn’t be in such a pathetic state.’

’If I had already stepped into the Soul Condensation Realm, this sword wouldn’t be stuck in the rock. It would have split the entire cliff face in two.’

He glanced over at his senior brother.

His senior brother was still locked in a standoff with Feng Jiuchen. Flashes of lightning and Talisman light intertwined, illuminating the area in flickering bursts.

’Good, no one saw.’

But before he could turn his head back...

BOOM!

A clap of thunder erupted right in front of him!

A shockwave exploded outward, and a fierce wind slammed into his face!

The sound was so loud that the short, skinny man’s eardrums went numb in an instant. All he could hear was a persistent, high-pitched ringing, as if countless mosquitoes were buzzing inside his brain.

The short, skinny man’s pupils contracted sharply as a figure suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

Right in front of him!

So close he could clearly see his own reflection in the man’s pupils!

’Fuck!’

The short, skinny man’s heart lurched. His body instinctively shot backward, but his retreat failed to create any distance.

The figure was faster than him—so fast that he had barely retreated half a step before the man was already upon him.

The short, skinny man stared in horror at the figure right before him, never imagining that Wan Ze would dare to attack first.

In his mind, a Loose Cultivator who hadn’t even entered the First Realm had only one choice when facing an Official Disciple of the Li Huo Sect: run. Run as far and as fast as possible.

’Attacking first?’

’You’re courting death, kid!’

Just as the short, skinny man’s sense of crisis peaked, a hand shot out fiercely!

CLANG!

The short, skinny man hastily raised his hand to block, his hook-like fingers successfully latching onto Wan Ze’s arm.

But upon contact, the short, skinny man’s expression changed drastically.

What his fingertips felt wasn’t the elasticity of muscle at all, but a texture so hard it was almost cruel, like grabbing a slab of iron that had been tempered a thousand times over.

’Huh?’

The short, skinny man was stunned.

’Even if I struck hastily and didn’t use my full strength, I’m still an Official Disciple of the Li Huo Sect. I’ve been in Cultivation for more than ten years, and my muscles and bones have been tempered countless times.’

’Even a real slab of iron would be crushed to pieces by my grip.’

’But how can that be... How is this kid’s body so strong?’

The thought flashed through the short, skinny man’s mind, but he quickly suppressed it.

He didn’t believe it.

He refused to believe a Loose Cultivator’s body could be stronger than his.

’I don’t fucking believe it!’

The short, skinny man attacked again.

This time, he didn’t aim for Wan Ze’s wrist. Instead, he pressed his fingers together, his fingertips like an awl, and stabbed toward Wan Ze’s eye socket.

The eyes were one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. No matter how strong one’s physique, an eyelid couldn’t stop a finger from piercing it.

His speed was astonishing, his fingertips slicing through the air with a sharp whistle.

SMACK!

As if it had been waiting there all along, Wan Ze’s hand clamped precisely onto the short, skinny man’s outstretched wrist.

His five fingers were like an iron hoop, locked tight around his wrist. The force was so great that the outlines of his fingers were imprinted on the short, skinny man’s skin.

”You seem to be expecting something?”

Wan Ze’s voice was terrifyingly calm.

The next second, the Qi inside his body erupted like a bursting dam, violently tearing apart the shadow that enveloped them.

The short, skinny man’s Sword Intent and his momentum were utterly crushed before Wan Ze!

A powerful momentum erupted from Wan Ze.

It was something far more primal, like a beast that had been caged for too long and was finally set free.

An intense momentum burst forth from his body.

If Wan Ze had been an inconspicuous lamb before, what now stood here was a terrifying beast!

The short, skinny man’s pupils shrank. Before he could react, he felt his entire body being lifted into the air.

Wan Ze hoisted him up like a sledgehammer and swung!

”You!”

The short, skinny man’s voice was filled with horror and rage. His body carved an arc through the air, his robes billowing up to expose his midsection.

He struggled frantically, trying to break free from Wan Ze’s grip, but Wan Ze’s fingers were like they were welded to his wrist, refusing to budge.

BAM! ℯ

The short, skinny man had lost all control and was completely unable to resist. His back slammed violently into the ground, kicking up a howling gale. Debris and dirt flew in all directions, leaving a human-shaped crater in the earth.

The impact was so heavy that the short, skinny man blacked out for a moment.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Wan Ze didn’t stop.

He swung the short, skinny man up from the ground and smashed him down, then swung him up and smashed him down again.

He used his full strength with every blow.

In Wan Ze’s hands, the short, skinny man’s body was like a ragdoll, utterly incapable of resistance. His limbs flailed through the air.

Under the colossal, earth-shattering force, a visible ring of dust spread out wildly.

The wave of dust surged outward from the point of impact at incredible speed. Wherever the fierce wind passed, gravel was swept up, dry branches were snapped, and the soil was overturned.

The ground within a ten-meter radius fractured.

Fissures spread out from the point of impact.

After this brutal onslaught, the short, skinny man’s body felt numb, his ears ringing with the sound of countless thunderclaps.

At such close range, he was powerless to resist. He had already been beaten senseless, his blood and qi in turmoil, with blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

”Wait a minute! Brother, wait a minute!”

the short, skinny man yelled, his voice laced with obvious panic.

But Wan Ze turned a deaf ear.

”Wait! Do you know... who I am?!” the short, skinny man managed to say, his mouth full of blood.

”I know.”

Wan Ze stopped his assault.

The short, skinny man felt a wave of relief, and a flicker of hope appeared in his eyes.

’He knows me? He knows I’m from the Li Huo Sect? He knows what killing me means?’

’As expected, he’s wary of the Li Huo Sect’s name...’

THUD!

Wan Ze stomped his foot viciously onto the short, skinny man’s face.

The force of the stomp scattered the man’s blood and qi. He was dizzy, his cheekbones nearly shattered, his nose caved in, and his vision started to double... two, three, four Wan Zes, all looking down at him with blank expressions.

”You... really know me?” he asked indistinctly, his voice filled with expectation.

”Of course.”

Wan Ze looked down, his gaze as calm as still water.

”A dead man.”

RIIIP!

He yanked hard.

The short, skinny man was already dizzy and didn’t even let out a grunt as everything above his neck was violently torn from everything below!

Blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the surrounding debris red.

He was dead.

Wan Ze casually tossed the corpse aside.

The torso rolled to a stop at the tall, fat man’s feet.

In that instant, this powerful Qi Refiner from the Li Huo Sect...

...was utterly stupefied.

He just stood there, frozen in the middle of forming a Seal, his hands suspended in midair with his fingers slightly parted, as if flash-frozen.

The tall, fat man’s gaze lifted from the half-corpse at his feet. It slowly rose, passing over the spreading pool of blood and the settling dust, and finally landed on Wan Ze.

Shock and rage!

And... utter astonishment!