101: Chapter 101 Slaying Clouds and Opening Mountains

The moment the tiger soul saber was unsheathed, the air in the cell seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, and the viscous darkness even appeared to tremble for an instant.

Under the faint illumination of the Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi, the dark, blood-colored patterns on the blade pulsed slowly, like awakening blood vessels.

A fierce, overbearing Evil Qi, carrying an ancient and wild aura, radiated from Jiang Hanzhou, faintly forming a confrontation with the filthy Demon energy in the darkness.

"Saber... a good saber..."

Deep within the darkness, that pair of scarlet eyes suddenly brightened, and the hoarse, broken voice revealed a trace of greed and longing.

"Eat you... the saber... will also be mine!"

Before the words had even faded—

"Boom!"

The darkness exploded!

A figure, unimaginably hulking, swept in with a foul wind and violent air currents, like a cannonball fired from its chamber, instantly pouncing from over ten zhang away!

Too fast!

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils contracted sharply; he had no time to see his opponent's full form.

He only felt a foul wind, mixed with the stench of blood and filthy Demon energy, rushing at his face.

A giant claw, covered in knotted muscles and dark red scales, with nails curved like hooks, had already torn through the air and was clawing down at his head!

Before the claw arrived, the sharp wind already made Jiang Hanzhou's skin sting, and a cold, filthy aura attempted to drill into his pores to erode his Qi and blood.

"Good!"

Jiang Hanzhou did not retreat but advanced instead, stomping his right foot hard onto the slippery stone floor!

"Bang!"

The stone slab beneath his feet shattered, and gravel flew.

His body bent like a bow, his spine, the great Dragon, connecting section by section.

A massive, surging force rose from his heels, traveled through his waist and hips, and finally converged in his right arm.

The tiger soul saber swung upward from below in a diagonal slash!

No frills, no techniques, only the collision of the purest power and speed!

Saber and claw collided!

"Clang—!!!"

A deafening explosion, not at all like the clashing of metal, but rather like the teeth of a giant beast gnawing on metal, erupted within the sealed cell!

A visible shockwave exploded in a ring from the point of impact, slamming heavily against the surrounding stone walls, shaking the entire cell and causing dust and gravel to rain down.

Jiang Hanzhou only felt an indescribable, massive force transmitted from the saber, mixed with an alien energy that was cold, filthy, and crazily eroding his protective Qi and blood, spreading up along the Meridians of his arm!

He let out a muffled groan and retreated three steps, leaving inch-deep footprints on the stone floor with each step.

His right arm holding the saber felt slightly numb, and his Qi and blood surged turbulently.

The figure that had pounced was also sent tumbling backward by this strike, landing with a heavy "thud" before stabilizing itself.

Borrowing the force of the saber's recoil, Jiang Hanzhou finally saw his opponent's full appearance.

It was a "humanoid" creature nearly two zhang tall.

One could vaguely make out a human silhouette, but its muscles were exaggeratedly bulging, tearing its original clothing into rags.

Its exposed skin was covered in a layer of fine, dark red, almost black scales that gleamed with a metallic cold light in the dim environment.

Its head was a size larger than a normal person's, its facial bones were twisted, its cheekbones were high, and its lips were turned outward, revealing jagged fangs.

Its pair of eyes had completely turned scarlet; no pupils could be seen, only pure, violent madness.

Most terrifying of all were its ten fingers, which had completely mutated; the nails were half a foot long, curved like hooks, pitch black as ink, and their edges glinted with a chilling cold light.

Thick, foul-smelling, dark green liquid dripped continuously from its fingertips, clearly highly toxic.

It was surrounded by visible dark red mist.

As the mist churned, twisted, painful faces vaguely appeared and dissipated, emitting a sickening, sweet, fishy stench and endless resentment.

"Heh heh... not bad... you have some strength..."

The Demon Martial Artist let out a strange laugh from its throat, its scarlet eyes fixed on Jiang Hanzhou, especially the tiger soul saber in his hand.

It licked its outward-turned lips with its tongue, drool mixed with blood dripping down.

"But it's not enough... nowhere near enough! Give me your flesh and blood... your saber... everything!"

"Roar—!!!"

It suddenly threw its head back and let out an inhuman roar.

The sound wave was mixed with a mental shock, making Jiang Hanzhou's eardrums hum and his Divine Soul tremble slightly.

Amidst the roar, the Demon Martial Artist pounced again!

This time, its speed was faster, its power more ferocious.

As it swung its claws, it left behind streaks of black afterimages, the claw wind sharp and fierce, tearing through the air with a shriek like ghostly wails.

Not only that, the dark red filthy energy surrounding it surged as well, coiling toward Jiang Hanzhou like a living creature, attempting to erode his protective Qi and blood and interfere with his perception.

Jiang Hanzhou's gaze became extremely grave.

The strength of this Demon Martial Artist had absolutely reached the peak of the Viscera Burning Realm.

Because of the transformation by Demon blood, its Physical Body strength, power, speed, and recovery ability far exceeded those of human Martial Artists of the same rank.

Even more troublesome was the accompanying Demon filthy energy, which had a strong polluting effect on Qi, blood, and the mind.

He could not fight it head-on, and he definitely could not drag out the battle!

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Jiang Hanzhou's figure moved like the wind, dodging and weaving within the narrow space of the cell.

He no longer clashed head-on with his opponent but used his movement technique to maneuver.

The tiger soul saber would occasionally strike like a viper flicking its tongue, aiming for the opponent's vital joints; at other times, it would sweep like a gale, parrying lethal claw strikes.

Saber light and claw shadows crossed, erupting in a dense series of metallic clashes and explosions of Qi.

Sparks flew, and gravel scattered.

Jiang Hanzhou infused the force of the "Thirteen Transformations of Heavenly Fire" into his saber technique.

A red-gold color faintly appeared on the blade, and the scorching, rigid saber force constantly collided with and annihilated the Demon Martial Artist's cold claw force.

But soon, he felt the pressure.

This Demon Martial Artist seemed tireless; its attacks were continuous like a tidal wave.

Even more terrifying was its combat instinct, which was extremely formidable.

It did not look like it had a chaotic mind at all; instead, it was like an experienced, bloodthirsty Vicious Beast.

Every attack was tricky and ruthless, aimed directly at vital points.

Moreover, the surrounding dark red filthy energy was pervasive, constantly consuming Jiang Hanzhou's protective Qi and blood.

Even though he protected his heart Meridians with Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi and resisted with the pure Yang Qi and blood of the "Dragon Subduing and Tiger Taming Skill," after a long time, he felt his Qi and blood circulation gradually becoming sluggish, and his mind was slightly eroded, causing him to become restless and uneasy.

"This won't do; I must find a flaw and end this quickly!"

Jiang Hanzhou's thoughts raced, and his eyes became increasingly sharp.

While dodging and parrying, he carefully observed the Demon Martial Artist's attack patterns, the nodes of its power circulation, and the flow patterns of that dark red filthy energy.

After a dozen moves, Jiang Hanzhou's eyes suddenly brightened!

He noticed that every time the Demon Martial Artist unleashed its full power, the color of the scales in the center of its chest would dim slightly, and the circulation of the filthy energy around its body would also experience a momentary lag.

That seemed to be the key node for its Fusion with Demon blood and the weak point in its power circulation!

"Opportunity!"

A fierce glint flashed in Jiang Hanzhou's eyes; he intentionally revealed a flaw, slowing his retreat by half a beat.

The Demon Martial Artist's scarlet eyes lit up; how could it let such an opportunity pass?

It roared wildly, both claws striking out together, one high and one low, sealing off all of Jiang Hanzhou's retreat paths, aiming straight for his head and chest!

The claw wind was sharp, and the filthy energy churned!

Just as Jiang Hanzhou was about to be torn to shreds—

In this split second of life and death, Jiang Hanzhou moved!

He did not retreat again, nor did he parry.

Instead, he closed his eyes.

It was not giving up, but rather plunging his entire mind into a profound and mysterious state in an instant.

In his mind, the power-exertion diagrams and Mind-Cultivation Technique tips of the first three forms from the "Heavenly Saber" Jade Slip flashed by rapidly like a revolving lantern.

Especially the description of the first form, "Slaying Clouds and Splitting Peaks":

"At the start, the blade does not move, and the air within three zhang of the body congeals like amber.

The practitioner must first forget the existence of 'self,' sink their mind into the pulse of the earth beneath their feet, and then rise to the changing flow of the clouds in the nine heavens.

This form is not about swinging the blade with human strength, but borrowing the momentum of heaven and earth to split a line..."

Forgetting self...

Sinking into the earth's pulse...

Rising to the clouds of the nine heavens...

Borrowing the momentum of heaven and earth...

The words that he had pondered over but never grasped, now, under this pressure of life and death, in the state of boiling Qi and blood from battling a strong enemy and highly concentrated focus, were suddenly illuminated as if by a flash of lightning!

Jiang Hanzhou forgot he was in a cell, forgot the Demon Martial Artist in front of him, and even forgot the saber in his hand.

His "Spirit" seemed to truly detach from his body, first sinking downward.

Beneath his feet was the cold, hard stone slab; further down was the thick, boundless island bedrock; it was the earth's pulse, hidden deep underground, surging since ancient times...

An "Intent" that was thick, heavy, and carried all things surged into his perception along an invisible connection.

Immediately after, his "Spirit" climbed upward.

Breaking through the top of the cell, crossing the island cliffs, it rose straight into the vast sky, merging into the formless, phase-less, ever-changing flowing clouds...

An "Intent" that was light, ethereal, and ever-changing also arrived quietly.

Connecting to the earth's pulse below, bearing the flowing clouds above.

Jiang Hanzhou stood in the middle, as if he had become a bridge connecting heaven and earth, becoming the "Momentum" itself that was about to split a line and divide the clouds and peaks!

All of this takes a long time to describe, but in reality, it happened in a flash.

Outside, the Demon Martial Artist's claws had just barely touched Jiang Hanzhou's clothes; the sharp claw wind had even cut his skin, and the dark red filthy energy was surging crazily, about to swallow him whole.

Yet Jiang Hanzhou still stood with his eyes closed, holding his saber.

The tiger soul saber still pointed diagonally toward the ground, not having been raised even an inch.

But—

With him as the center, the air within a radius of three zhang suddenly congealed!

It was not a metaphor, but a real solidification!

Dust hung fixed in mid-air, dripping water droplets hovered, and even the surging dark red filthy energy was like a bug trapped in amber, its speed dropping sharply, becoming viscous and sluggish.

In the Demon Martial Artist's scarlet eyes, for the first time, clear astonishment appeared, along with... a trace of instinctive fear!

It felt as if it had crashed into an invisible mire, and its movements had become incredibly difficult.

What made it even more uneasy was that the human in front of it, who had his eyes closed, was emitting a "Momentum" that made its very Soul tremble!

That was not a "Momentum" of strength or weakness, but a higher-level "Momentum," as if resonating with this heaven and earth, about to act on behalf of heaven to mete out punishment!

In this eerie atmosphere, congealed like amber—

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes.

In his eyes, there was no Killing Intent, no anger, only a vast indifference, as if looking down upon clouds and peaks.

His right hand holding the saber finally moved.

The movement was very slow, so slow it was as if he were lifting a weight of a thousand jun.

The tiger soul saber slowly rose from below.

The blade cut through the air without a sound, without any brilliance.

But right along the trajectory where the blade was raised.

"Rip!"

It was as if an invisible giant blade had sliced through silk.

A straight, slender "crack," which seemed capable of severing all tangible and intangible things, appeared out of thin air in front of the blade!

The crack extended upward; wherever it passed, the viscous, congealed air, the pervasive dark red filthy energy, and even the empty space above were all split apart as if by an invisible hand!

The crack spread downward; the moment it touched the stone floor.

"Rumble—!!!"

The entire cell, no, the entire cliff, seemed to tremble slightly!

Beneath Jiang Hanzhou's feet, the sturdy stone slab, which had been inscribed with a reinforcement Formation, silently cracked open, revealing a bottomless, finger-wide fissure that extended straight forward, pointing directly at the Demon Martial Artist!

And the Demon Martial Artist was currently on the trajectory where the "crack" was extending!

It wanted to dodge, it wanted to flee, but the air around it was like an iron hoop, and that invisible "Momentum" pressed down like a mountain, slowing its movements by more than ten times!

It could only watch helplessly as that invisible "crack," like the fingertip of the Grim Reaper, gently touched the center of its chest, right on that slightly paler scale.

There was no earth-shattering roar.

Only a faint "pop" sound, as if a bubble had burst.

The Demon Martial Artist's body stiffened abruptly.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

It slowly lowered its head to look at its chest.

In the center of that dark red scale, an extremely tiny "dot" appeared.

The next instant—

With that "dot" as the center, countless fine cracks instantly spread out like a spiderweb, covering its entire chest and even rapidly spreading toward its neck and limbs!

From within the cracks, no blood gushed out; only the extremely dense dark red filthy energy leaked out crazily, mixed with countless twisted, wailing Soul phantoms.

"No... impossible..."

The Demon Martial Artist let out a wheezing, leaking sound from its throat.

In its scarlet eyes, the madness quickly faded, replaced by disbelief and bewilderment.

"This is... true... power..."

Before the words had finished.

"Bang—!!!"

A muffled sound.

The Demon Martial Artist's hulking, hideous body, like a sand sculpture with its support removed, collapsed with a crash, disintegrating into countless fine dark red fragments that scattered all over the ground.

After those fragments hit the ground, they quickly lost their luster, turning into gray, decayed dust.

The dense Demon filthy energy, losing its attachment, began to dissipate slowly, but before dissipating, it still emitted bursts of shrill, unwilling shrieks.

In the cell, silence returned.

Only that bottomless fissure extending forward from Jiang Hanzhou's feet, and the sharp "Saber Intent" not yet fully dissipated in the air, spoke of the terror of that strike just now.

Jiang Hanzhou maintained the posture of swinging the saber upward, motionless.

His face was as pale as paper, cold sweat poured from his forehead, his right hand holding the saber trembled slightly, the web between his thumb and index finger had split, and blood dripped down along the saber handle.

That strike just now had almost drained most of his Qi, blood, and spirit, and had also caused a significant burden on his Meridians.

But in his eyes, an unprecedented, blazing light burned.

"Slaying Clouds... and Splitting Peaks..."

He whispered the name of this form, feeling the incredibly clear, indelible imprint of the Saber Intent in his mind, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up, revealing a hearty, unrestrained smile.

He had finally entered the threshold!

Although it was only a first glimpse, and he was still far from truly unleashing the power of "Slaying Clouds and Splitting Peaks," he had crossed the threshold, and the path ahead was clear!

More importantly, at the critical moment of life and death, he had grasped that profound mystery of "forgetting self and borrowing momentum," truly touching the threshold of a Heaven Rank Martial Skill.

This would have immeasurable benefits for him in condensing his True Intent in the future.

After adjusting his breath for a moment, Jiang Hanzhou suppressed his turbulent Qi and blood and put away the tiger soul saber.

He walked to the pile of gray, decayed dust and examined it carefully.

In the dust, there was no longer any sign of life, and the Demon filthy energy was also dissipating rapidly.

But he still cautiously activated a wisp of Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi to thoroughly purify it.

After finishing all this, he finally looked up toward the entrance of the cell.

The barrier at the entrance, where black light had been flowing, had silently dissipated at some unknown time.

Outside the door, the voice of Commissioner Yan came, still cold as ever, but seemingly with a hint of surprise:

"Number seventy-nine of the Bing category, assessment passed."

"Come out."