30: Ba Da Hammer, your iron shirt is so hard
Rip!
Rip!
Hall Master Liu sharpened his knife.
This knife, rusty and named 'Blade of Tetanus,' possessed astonishing lethality.
Over the past decade, many had perished under this blade.
Boom!
Spring thunder rumbled, wind and rain arrived, and the candlelight flickered.
Hall Master Liu closed the doors and windows tightly. He flipped through the books on the table, then practiced with his knife.
Initially, the knife's gleam formed a swirling mass, like a wheel.
But as he neared the end, he suddenly stopped.
He frowned, pondered, mentally rehearsed, and then wielded his knife again.
Once... ten times... a hundred times... Each time, Hall Master Liu swung his knife from a different angle, connecting it with the previous Move.
Whenever he had an insight, he immediately sketched and wrote it down.
After practicing for a while, he would cross it out and negate it again.
Soon, he was drenched in sweat.
After some hesitation, he took a Secret medicine from a hidden spot and swallowed it.
This Secret medicine was for quickly restoring Qi, spirit, and energy, each pill worth one tael of silver.
In the past, when he was tired from rehearsing his blade technique, he would take one without hesitation.
But now, he had to hesitate.
Because:
Chief Constable Shi had extorted a lot of silver from him.
He had wanted to kill Zhao Wuji and the other hall masters precisely to extort silver.
Unfortunately... he failed.
“It’s all that killer’s fault; it’s all Chu Qing’s fault.”
“Without silver, my rehearsal speed slows down.”
“The next time I meet the gang leader, he will surely reprimand me.”
Thinking of this, his resentment grew deeper.
“Give it three to five years, once my blade technique rehearsal is successful, I’ll make them pay.”
Hall Master Liu swallowed another Secret medicine.
When his Qi, spirit, and energy recovered to their Peak, he intended to continue his rehearsal, but suddenly, he heard a knocking sound.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Someone knocking on a stormy night?
Who?
His wife? Impossible, she was in the Buddhist hall in the back.
His concubine?
Also impossible, they knew when he was in this room and would only play among themselves, never disturbing him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The knocking sounded again.
Hall Master Liu felt uneasy.
He clutched his beloved Blade of Tetanus, staring intently at the door.
“Who is it?”
Outside the door, silence.
Boom!
A sudden spring thunderclap.
On the window, a silhouette was reflected.
“Kill!”
Hall Master Liu swung his knife, employing a half-finished blade technique.
The knife's gleam flashed, like a wheel, crushing the door.
Boom!
The door exploded, and he saw Chu Qing, masked in sackcloth.
Hall Master Liu was shocked and enraged: Someone wants to kill me?
He roared, his arms tensing, the knife's gleam becoming fiercer, like a bolt of silk.
“Even if it’s a bull, I can cleave it with this one strike.”
Chu Qing had originally intended to lure Hall Master Liu out.
But this guy directly cleaved open his own door.
You're destroying your own property? Why aren't you following the usual script?
The knife's gleam was fierce, like a bolt of silk, leaving no time to dodge.
“I was careless.”
“I didn't expect him to have a long knife.”
“Fortunately—I have steel gauntlets.”
He threw a punch.
Mantis Fist!
The punch-knife whistled, like a mantis's foreleg, meeting the attack.
Knife and fist collided.
Chu Qing retreated two steps.
Hall Master Liu's pupils constricted as he saw the steel gauntlets on his hands.
“An Outer Courtyard student of the Martial Academy?”
“Damn it!”
If caught privately Cultivating with weapons by the Martial Academy, it would mean at least crippled hands, or at worst, execution.
There was no chance of luck.
“Kill!”
Hall Master Liu was shocked and enraged, his killing intent surging; his long knife changed, sweeping across.
Chu Qing advanced instead of retreating, his hands like shields, drawing on the Toad Skill's Iron Tendons for reinforcement:
Iron Hand!
Clang, clang, clang!
The knife's gleam dissipated.
Hall Master Liu retreated into the room, and Chu Qing stepped inside.
“Mantis Fist?”
“Iron Hand?”
Chu Qing roared, his legs moving like a large snake, rushing forward:
Red Snake Leg!
Hall Master Liu dodged and swung his knife.
The Red Snake Leg missed, striking the ground and shattering three to five green bricks.
The long knife grazed his long leg, tearing the sackcloth, leaving a white mark on his skin.
“Perfection Iron Cloth?”
Hall Master Liu's pupils constricted.
“What if it’s Iron Cloth? I’ll still cut it down!”
He pulled his knife and charged again.
Clang, clang, clang!
Inside the room, the two fought fiercely.
Hall Master Liu, experienced and cunning, constantly struck Chu Qing's body.
Soon:
His sackcloth was ripped to shreds.
Chu Qing was enraged.
Rip!
He tore off his tattered sackcloth, naked, staring at Hall Master Liu, and hoarsely said:
“Your knife—it’s too weak.”
Hall Master Liu said nothing, swung his knife, and unleashed his strongest blade Move: “Kill!”
The knife's gleam was like a bolt of silk, like a startled swan.
This time, Chu Qing neither dodged nor avoided; as the knife's gleam descended, he met it with his fingers forming claws.
Crack!
His hands seized the long knife.
Hall Master Liu roared, abandoning his knife and striking with his fists.
“Mantis Fist!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hall Master Liu's fists were like knives, already at Perfection, capable of cleaving Flesh and breaking tendons and bones.
However:
Chu Qing's entire body was bluish-black, unmoving.
Crack!
With force from his fingers, the Blade of Tetanus was actually pierced through by his fingers, shattering to the ground.
“You're out of a knife!”
“Your Mantis Fist is not up to par.”
“Turns out, you’re so weak.”
Hall Master Liu's pupils constricted, and he turned to flee.
“He is definitely not an Outer Courtyard student, he must be an Inner Courtyard student.”
Whoosh!
Chu Qing's feet crushed the green bricks, and like a large mantis, he sprang behind him.
His hands formed claws:
Eagle Claw Skill!
The cry of an eagle sounded.
Illuminated by candlelight, on the wall:
An eagle-like shadow stabbed at the back of Hall Master Liu's shadow.
Hall Master Liu suddenly turned, his hands like iron hammers, forcefully striking.
[Eight Great Hammers]
Boom!
The steel gauntlets exploded, his fingers ached immensely, his fingernails nearly blown off.
Hall Master Liu charged, his hands like iron hammers, striking again:
“As long as you haven't Cultivated Iron Bones, you are no match for me.”
He had Cultivated four Iron Bones using the Eight Great Hammers Cultivation Technique.
He was confident he could kill Chu Qing.
Ha!
The Secret Toad Skill activated the Iron Cloth, over fifty Iron Tendons wriggled, forcefully resisting.
Boom!
One punch!
Chu Qing retreated, trying to dodge.
But Hall Master Liu immediately followed with a second punch.
The third punch... the fifth punch... the eighth punch... the Eight Great Hammers ended.
Chu Qing retreated from inside the room to the center of the courtyard.
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Hall Master Liu gasped for breath.
Even with Iron Bones supporting him, even with over a hundred Iron Tendons.
But activating such a fierce Eight Great Hammers Cultivation Technique still left him exhausted.
“Good power, almost killed me.”
Chu Qing spat blood; he felt his sternum had cracked.
Fortunately, the Secret Toad Skill was powerful, drawing an additional ten-plus Iron Tendons to reinforce the Iron Cloth.
He... withstood it.
Hall Master Liu was horrified.
These Eight Great Hammers were his ultimate trump card.
Once unleashed, no one had ever been able to stop them.
“Even Li Hao, who had Great Perfection Iron Cloth, would have been blown apart by at most five punches.”
“How is this guy’s Iron Cloth... so hard?”
Before he could figure it out, Chu Qing charged.
His feet moved like a large snake.
Mantis Fist!
The punch-knife cleaved Hall Master Liu's arms.
Iron Hand!
His hands pushed him back.
Iron Fist!
Hall Master Liu's chest Flesh exploded.
Red Snake Leg!
One leg shattered his sternum; Hall Master Liu screamed, flying backward into the room.
Before he could land, Chu Qing leaped into the air, his fingers like hooks, descending viciously.
Eagle's cry!
Eagle Claw Skill!
Crack!
One hand pierced his chest, crushing his heart.
One hand pierced his face, leaving five large holes.
With force from both hands, he pressed the corpse, smashing it heavily onto the ground.
Boom!
Spring thunder clapped:
Wind and rain blew into the room, and the half-finished blade manual on the table rustled, then fell to the ground.