Unsheathed

Only the young boy in white existed in Zhong Qiu’s eyes at this moment, and he said, “No one will interfere in our battle, so feel at ease and unleash your full strength.”

After saying this, he added, “However, if someone truly dares to attack you in secret, then I, Zhong Qiu, will definitely fight them to the death, regardless of whether they’re Ding Ying or Yu Zhenyi.”

Chen Ping’an raised a hand and wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth. There was a bone-deep gash near his elbow, and there was also a gaping hole in the sleeve of his snow-white robe. This was the price for blocking Lu Fang’s sword strike. This was also the first time that Golden Sweet Wine had been damaged.

Even though the immortal abilities of Golden Sweet Wine were restricted in this world, it was still an incredibly tough robe at its core. From this, one could see just how destructively powerful Lu Fang’s sword attacks were.

Zhong Qiu started to walk forward after he finished speaking.

His footsteps seemed slow, yet he was actually able to cover seven to eight meters with each stride. Moreover, his movements didn’t radiate with any unnecessary aura.

Zhong Qiu was the imperial preceptor of Southern Garden Nation and also a widely renowned calligrapher and painter.

It was necessary for each word and sentence he spoke to adhere to the rules and principles, and it was necessary for each punch and kick he threw to align with the laws.

Those at the paramount level were either scholarly literati or martial arts grandmasters.

Zhong Qiu was both of these things.

Ding Ying looked down on all of the martial artists in the world, yet he made an exception for Zhong Qiu, whom he treated differently. There were naturally good reasons for this.

Chen Ping’an stood still, not moving a single muscle.

Zhong Qiu’s casual approach reminded Chen Ping’an of Ding Ying’s entrance into the great hall of the White River Temple back then.

Chen Ping’an could only roughly sense the peerless disposition of the old man in the bamboo building in Downtrodden Mountain. The gulf in cultivation between them was far too great, so Chen Ping’an was naturally unable to fully make heads or tails of the old man’s disposition.

The Martial Dao of Cui Chan’s grandfather was far too profound, and even though he hadn’t spoiled Chen Ping’an’s growth due to training him so hard, Chen Ping’an was still receiving fewer benefits each time he advanced his cultivation after reaching the fourth tier.

In terms of the unique auras of Ding Ying and Zhong Qiu, whereby they seemed to be one with the heavens, Chen Ping’an hadn’t felt much about this during their first encounters. However, he had detected their uniqueness and was able to ruminate over some things after his second encounter with them.

Zhong Qiu simply walked over just like that, not carrying a fierce and overbearing aura like Pink Vajra Ma Xuan, not uncanny and scheming like Smiley Face, and definitely not bold and indomitable like Feng Qingbai.

Zhong Qiu imperceptibly shrugged. He was dressed in an azure robe, and the mystical movements of his shoulders were much like rolling clouds gliding past an ancient pine.

His punch arrived in front of Chen Ping’an, with not a single drop of fist aura seeping out of his body. There was no rushing wind, nor was there a thunderous rumble.

Zhong Qiu’s punch was far too strange, so much so that Chen Ping’an experienced a rare moment of hesitation, unsure of whether he should use the Deity Drumming Technique to aim for a quick and decisive victory or use a defensive fist technique that paralleled a technique from the Proper Sword Scripture.

Fortunately, Chen Ping’an abandoned both of these options and retreated in a timely manner, sliding back as he instinctively raised his arms and guarded his head.

Zhong Qiu’s fist struck Chen Ping’an’s palm.

His fist didn’t travel any further.

However, Chen Ping’an was viciously struck by the back of his own hand.

He was sent flying backward.

Chen Ping’an twisted his body, causing his two large and snow-white sleeves to dance through the air as he landed one meter away.

Zhong Qiu stood with one hand behind his back, saying in a calm voice, “It’s not good to be distracted.”

Chen Ping’an clenched and unclenched his left hand, and only then was he able to remove the numb sensation coursing through it as if he had been struck by lightning.

Zhong Qiu smiled and said, “You’re far too smart. If it wasn’t for this probing attack of mine, I wouldn’t have dared to say with certainty whether you’re left-handed or not. You were most likely confident that you could kill Lu Fang with your ten punches just then, so you purposely attacked with both your left hand and your right hand, using your left hand six times and your right hand four times. Perhaps you were already preparing for the next battle at that time?”

Chen Ping’an remained silent.

Zhong Qiu didn’t think much about Chen Ping’an’s silence, and he continued, “The reason why I’m going against my personality and speaking so much nonsense to you is because my punch to save Lu Fang was very unfair. That’s why I held back and didn’t deliver a killing blow even though you hesitated a moment ago. However, I won’t go easy on you anymore.”

He then turned to Feng Qingbai and the others and said, “Don’t any of you try to touch that little girl on the stool. Otherwise, don’t blame me for wantonly killing the innocent…”

Chen Ping’an arrived behind Zhong Qiu in a flash, drawing his arm back before throwing a punch as swift as an arrow at the back of Zhong Qiu’s head.

Zhong Qiu leaned forward, causing his back to arch up like a mountain range. At the same time, his arms were like swimming flood dragons as he surprisingly remained rooted to the spot and skillfully dodged Chen Ping’an’s viciously powerful punch.

Chen Ping’an wasn’t using the Deity Drumming Technique, so his movements had been too exaggerated and obvious. As a result, it was only natural that his punch would fail to strike an extremely skilled superior grandmaster like Zhong Qiu.

Once a pure martial artist trained to a high enough level, they could dodge attacks based on their instinct of danger without needing to see or hear the attack. In fact, they could even kill assassins in their sleep if any assassin dared to near their bed. They would then continue to sleep. This was simply terrifying.

Chen Ping’an had only thrown a normal punch with his full power, while Zhong Qiu had surprisingly stood still like an immovable mountain. As a result, it was naturally very difficult for Chen Ping’an to successfully strike his opponent.

Zhong Qiu threw a backward punch and struck Chen Ping’an in the ribs, causing him to go flying back. However, his second punch was pushed aside by Chen Ping’an’s kick, and this made him lose the best opportunity to drive home his advantage.

The two of them separated and stood still again.

Zhong Qiu pursed his lips. As it turned out, the imperial preceptor of Southern Garden Nation had purposely let Chen Ping’an off the hook again, making up for his sneak attack for the second time. At the same time, however, this was also bait for the young boy.

The two of them charged at each other at almost exactly the same time.

They often kept their exchanges in an extremely small area, with their attacks either missing each other completely or striking each other in a seemingly light and nimble manner. This fight was surprisingly quiet and without commotion.

It was the complete opposite of Chen Ping’an’s earth-shaking battle with Lu Fang just then.

Zhou Shi didn’t understand this at all.

Feng Qingbai, an otherworldly immortal, fared slightly better, and this was because he had interacted with some martial arts grandmasters from Parasol Leaf Continent before.

A truly magnificent punch would be like a boulder thrown into a lake when it struck, with the ripples causing external injuries that then triggered internal injuries.

Zhong Qiu had once thrown a single punch and caused a martial arts grandmaster known for his tough physique to become so wounded that he had to stay in bed for several years. Under the martial artist’s clothes, his skin had been like fractured porcelain while his internal organs had been in an even worse state.

The skinny little girl on the small stool felt huge relief when she heard the warning issued by the man who looked like a teacher. A smile spread across her face, and she started to unconscionably bare her teeth and swing her arms, emulating the punches of Chen Ping’an and Zhong Qiu.

The first small win was finally decided.

Chen Ping’an’s fist was pushed aside by an elbow coming in from a sharp angle, giving Zhong Qiu the opportunity to push him in the chest with a palm strike. Chen Ping’an flew over the ditch in the ground and crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the street.

Zhong Qiu also strode over the ditch that Lu Fang’s sword qi had carved into the ground.

However, Chen Ping’an wasn’t incapacitated like the pipa woman or Lu Fang, and he shrugged and caused the fractured rocks around him to crumble and fall with a rustle. He was just about to make a move, yet Zhong Qiu’s punches suddenly became much quicker than before, with one punch following the next in a furious flurry. He threw ten punches at Chen Ping’an in the blink of an eye.

Six punches with his left hand and four with his right.

Zhong Qiu was imitating the Deity Drumming Technique, down to the number of punches with each hand and the order in which they were unleashed.

Even stranger than this was the fact that the tall wall didn’t shatter even after Zhong Qiu finished throwing his ten punches. Chen Ping’an was still embedded in the wall.

However, Chen Ping’an didn’t remain there and wait for defeat. He was far too familiar with the Deity Drumming Technique, and his exchanges with Zhong Qiu had also allowed him to roughly understand his opponent’s attack patterns. Thus, he was able to block four of Zhong Qiu’s ten punches.

In other words, he was still struck by six forceful punches, causing blood to seep from the corners of his mouth. This was especially the case with Zhong Qiu’s last punch, which caused Chen Ping’an’s body to bounce inside the wall.

Even though this was Zhong Qiu’s first time imitating the Deity Drumming Technique, his punches were still relaxed and orderly. He was just about to repeat the ten punches again, yet it was at this instant that he immediately retreated several steps before retreating yet again, jumping backward over the ditch in the ground.

As it turned out, Chen Ping’an’s body had bounced slightly forward in the wall the moment that he had appeared to reach complete exhaustion. Zhong Qiu’s hairs had instantly stood on end, and he didn’t need to think or hesitate before he voluntarily abandoned his significant advantage and fell back in retreat.

Zhong Qiu was extremely alert at this moment. He had still underestimated the young boy’s ability to endure pain, and this miscalculation had almost caused him to suffer immensely.

Chen Ping’an felt a slight sense of disappointment. He had only been a hair away from successfully throwing a punch using the Deity Drumming Technique.

Now, however, he had endured Zhong Qiu’s ten punches for nothing.

Chen Ping’an nimbly jumped out from the wall and slowly walked toward the ditch.

Zhong Qiu couldn’t help but chuckle.

He had imitated Chen Ping’an’s fist technique, so Chen Ping’an was now imitating his manner of walking?

However, Zhong Qiu quickly narrowed his eyes.

The fist stance that he had comprehended and created had no relation to other types of fist techniques. Instead, he trained his back as if it were a mountain, his shoulders as if they were flowing water, his elbows as if they were eagle beaks, and finally his hands and fists to complete this stance, allowing him to strike in one fluid and natural motion.

Once Zhong Qiu comprehended this stance and continued to temper it, he would become like a large mountain firmly rooted in the ground. Regardless of how ferocious and exquisite his opponents’ fists and swords were, they would always be fighting against Zhong Qiu’s entire body, spirit, and soul.

This was a fist stance that Zhong Qiu had privately named Mountain Peak. He was very proud of this fist stance, and it was very likely that even external martial arts superior grandmasters like Eight-Armed Deity Xue Yuan wouldn’t be able to understand the true essence of this fist stance, even if they were allowed to stand there and observe it again and again. Imitating its form wouldn’t be difficult, but imitating its aura would be impossible without several years of diligent study!

However, Zhong Qiu was astonished to discover that Chen Ping’an had already managed to emulate some of his fist stance’s aura.

The two of them faced off against each other once again, separated by the deep ditch in the middle of the street.

In a rare sight, Chen Ping’an took a deep breath before actively speaking to his opponent during battle, asking, “Does your fist stance have a name?”

Zhong Qiu nodded and replied with a chuckle, “It’s called Mountain Peak. I was young and ambitious when I comprehended this fist stance, and I felt like I could definitely reach the peak of the world if I continued to perfect it. However, I was too lazy to modify it in the end. Of my ten direct disciples, most of them are unable to perform the fist stance as well as you even after practicing it for twenty to thirty years. This is even though you’ve only taken a few casual glances at it. As expected of an otherworldly immortal.”

Chen Ping’an suddenly smiled and said, “The first fist technique that I practiced was called the Mountain Shaking Fist.”

Zhong Qiu also smiled and said, “Is my fist stance indomitable like the mountains, or will your fist technique succeed in shaking the mountains? Let’s give it a try?”

Zhong Qiu took a single step backward and bent his knees slightly, raising one hand high up with his wrist slightly bent forward as if he were holding something in his palm. Meanwhile, he clenched his other hand into a fist and rested it in front of his body.

Even though he remained still, Zhong Qiu’s aura still made the onlookers in the street feel stifled as if a heavy downpour were about to descend.

This was the first time that Zhong Qiu properly and genuinely assumed his fist stance.

Chen Ping’an’s mind was as calm as a tranquil pond.

He had wandered around for a long time while trying to find the Observing Dao Temple in the capital of Southern Garden Nation, and he had spent so much time and effort that he had eventually stopped practicing fist techniques and sword techniques for a while.

He had come across many people and matters during this time, and some of these things were trivial matters that he didn’t need to pay any heed to. However, there were also some matters that he hadn’t paid attention to during the time, but they now provided him with inspiration during his fight against Zhong Qiu, allowing him to unleash his accumulated knowledge at once.

When Chen Ping’an had first settled down in that courtyard, he would often walk past a neighboring martial arts school. Out of boredom, Chen Ping’an had silently sat in the shadows away from prying eyes and secretly observed the training of those so-called martial artists—at least this was how the commoners in the streets viewed them.

The person running the martial arts school was an old man, and all of his disciples treated him as if he were a deity. Apart from holding back as he taught them standing meditation, footwork, and fist stances, he would also recount his magnificent feats in the cultivation world from when he was young. In Chen Ping’an’s eyes, however, the old man’s fist techniques had truly been abysmal.

Chen Ping’an had quickly left in silence that time.

Afterward, after having no success with finding the Observing Dao Temple, Chen Ping’an had gone to the martial arts school again, this time to relax his mind.

While observing his pupils practice standing meditation, the old master had walked around with his hands clasped behind his back and expounded some seemingly profound yet fundamentally hollow martial arts principles. For example, how the movement of one branch could trigger the swaying of a hundred branches, and how internal martial artists didn’t rely on sound and vision and instead focused on detecting the flow of energy. Only then could one reach a state of mastery.

The old master had also mentioned how one’s tendons and bones needed to be relaxed, and how one’s skin and hairs needed to be sensitive and brimming with spiritual qi. He claimed that someone had launched a sneak attack on him from behind before, yet he had purely relied on his instincts to spin around and throw a punch, leaving the attacker half-dead.

Chen Ping’an had found this quite funny, yet the old master had then done something that he had never seen before.

This was also the first time that he had felt a sense of increased respect toward the old master.

The old master had told a new pupil, a young man, to stand still. He had then ordered two other pupils to grab his arms and pull them taut. Another two disciples had been told to squat on the floor and grab his knees, holding him still. Afterward, the old master had started to straighten his pupil’s spine.

He hadn’t been doing this in a perfunctory manner, and he had genuinely smoothed out his pupil’s spine starting from his neck all the way to his tailbone. In the cultivation world, this process was called Examining the Dragon, something that didn’t discriminate between internal or external martial artists.

In the end, the old master had suddenly pressed down on his pupil’s tailbone in a gentle yet strong manner, causing his pupil to shudder and have his hairs stand on end like a forest of upright trees.

The young pupil’s shudder had caused the two senior brothers holding his arms to sway and take a step forward. Meanwhile, the two senior brothers holding his legs had only swayed slightly.

The old master had been slightly disappointed, yet he hadn’t said anything to his pupils.

Only if all four pupils holding the limbs of the young pupil had been dragged forward could the young pupil be considered a martial arts talent. The aptitude of the young pupil was decent, yet his future potential definitely wouldn’t be anything amazing.

Chen Ping’an had observed this with keen interest at the time, yet he hadn’t given it any deeper thought afterward.

It was only until today when he was mysteriously stopped on this street and forced to engage in fight after fight, encircled by enemies and facing near-certain death, that Chen Ping’an suddenly came to a realization.

Before fighting with Lu Fang, Chen Ping’an was already able to unleash and retract his fist techniques as he pleased.

However, his mental state hadn’t been able to keep up.

After fighting with Zhong Qiu, he was finally able to bring his mental state up to par as well.

This was especially the case after observing and learning Zhong Qiu’s fist stance. After recalling the process of Examining the Dragon, a thought suddenly occurred to Chen Ping’an and caused him to involuntarily walk forward using the six-step walking meditation of the Mountain Shaking Fist. He no longer worried about whether his fist intent was released or concealed, and he was already walking higher and higher into the air before he knew it.

Having already thrown more than one million punches, Chen Ping’an’s spine automatically underwent the process of Examining the Dragon and straightening itself after he took the fifth step, releasing a cracking sound that was like beans exploding apart.

Zhong Qiu surged forward, throwing a punch at the young boy whose aura was rising explosively and aiming to smash him out of the sky with a single punch!

Chen Ping’an was seemingly walking on the wind at this moment, and he also replied with a punch of his own.

Standing an arm’s length apart, the two of them struck each other in the chest at almost the exact same time.

Zhong Qiu’s azure robe fluttered chaotically as he vanished from the sky and crashed into the ground with a loud boom. If one were to gaze down at the capital of Southern Garden Nation from the sky, one would discover a deep ditch being carved into the ground for more than sixty meters. Zhong Qiu was finally able to stop his backward momentum with much difficulty, yet his two legs were already deeply embedded in the ground.

He had only suffered minor injuries, yet it was ultimately he who had lost.

Meanwhile, the young boy wearing the white robe stood on the other end of the deep ditch, having not taken a single step backward.

Considering this world alone, Zhong Qiu could no longer be regarded as the strongest martial artist in the world.

Instead, it was the young boy with the surname Chen who was invincible within an arm’s length.