Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

The massive flock of birds, which seemed to cover the sky, produced wind blades that sliced everything in their path cleanly in half. They were sharp enough to rival Hu Sanlang's saberlight.

Of course, Chu Liang didn't dare to come into contact with them. While evading the wind blades, he pushed forward and charged toward Du Wuhen with the Dustless Sword in hand.

Despite having already fought two battles, Chu Liang showed no signs of fatigue. Instead, he seemed to become even more invigorated the more he fought.

Battles were common occurrences for Chu Liang. However, he rarely battled against prodigies in his peer group, and his display of such an intense fighting spirit was an even rarer occurrence than that.

As Chu Liang swung his longsword, a vast and mighty wave of Cloud of Determination sword qi surged forth, making Du Wuhen's heart tremble in fear. There was a clear reason why Chu Liang's status in the world had been rising during this past year—his strength was indeed terrifying.

Boom.

The wave of sword qi and the wind blades revolving around the scythe collided. The impact of the collision sent both forces flying in all directions, leaving countless small cuts on Chu Liang and Du Wuhen. The sound of ripping fabric rang out incessantly.

Many bloody wounds appeared on Du Wuhen's skin, staining it red.

Meanwhile, Chu Liang was protected by the Jiuli Soul Armor, so his torso was unaffected. Only his clothes had been ripped. His limbs and face were wounded, but they healed soon after.

Boom, boom, boom.

After several exchanges of attacks, Du Wuhen was wounded all over. However, Chu Liang's wounds had already healed, leaving only fresh scars.

Seeing that, Du Wuhen felt perplexed. Like Chu Liang, Du Wuhen was at the second level of the fifth realm and possessed the Jia Wood Foundational Qi. So, why was Chu Liang's recovery speed so much faster than his?

Of course, Du Wuhen had no idea that Chu Liang's Jia Wood Foundational Qi was from two Golden Cores. Moreover, he was also at the third realm of the White Dragon's cultivation legacy, making his physique as strong as a that of celestial beast.

In other words, Chu Liang's physique was comparable with that of Du Wuhen's tamed beast Azure Mysterious Wind Bird, while his cultivation power was on par with Du Wuhen's. With the two aspects combined, Chu Liang was undeniably formidable.

…

The scene of Chu Liang overwhelming Du Wuhen so swiftly left the spectators outside the illusory realm dumbfounded.

Unable to understand the intricacies of the fight, the non-cultivators simply enjoyed the exciting fight.

They had seen Hu Sanlang suppress Chu Liang for so long in the previous fight, so they had thought the two young men were on par in terms of strength. Chu Liang had won in the end, but they had assumed it had been a narrow victory. They had not known that it had been because of Chu Liang's strategy to minimize the damage he received.

It was obvious to the spectators that Du Wuhen's strength surpassed that of Hu Sanlang, so most of them had believed this would be a tough battle for Chu Liang. To their surprise, Chu Liang took the offensive right when the fight started, unleashing a storm of attacks that left Du Wuhen overwhelmed.

The eldest disciple of the Thunderbolt Stronghold was being beaten to a pulp.

Lackey A and Shang Ziliang, who had been wailing in despair just before, forgot about their bets for now. They stared fixedly at the screen, feeling their sect might have grasped a glimmer of hope.

"Chu Liang's switch has been flicked!" Lin Bei exclaimed. "Senior Sister Jiang's death must have triggered his battle mode. I've never seen his fighting spirit this intense!"

The other disciples of the Mount Shu Sect nodded in agreement. Chu Liang was always smiling; who had ever witnessed him this fierce?

Bam, bam, bam!

Drenched in his own blood, Du Wuhen finally had enough. If Chu Liang's barrage of attacks continued, Du Wuhen would essentially be subjected to death by a thousand cuts. Their exchanges of attacks were only hurting Du Wuhen; Chu Liang’s physique was totally fine, yet Du Wuhen was reaching his limits. �

Du Wuhen bellowed, "You've taken your bullying too far!"

Boom!

He swung his scythe fiercely, creating some distance between him and Chu Liang. Then he raised his hand and transformed his scythe back into its spirit beast form, the Azure Mysterious Wind Bird.

The Azure Mysterious Wind Bird spun and transformed again. This time, it became a beam of green light and entered Du Wuhen.

It was the divine ability Tamed Beast Possession!

This divine ability was rarely used by the beast tamers of the Thunderbolt Stronghold, as it inflicted major harm to the beast tamer. The power of a spirit beast could destroy the human beast tamer's corporeal body. The best case scenario was a serious injury, and the worst was that they would shatter to bits. The chances of getting a bad side effect was high if the tamed beast was a spirit beast of the Azure Mysterious Wind Bird's caliber.

Nevertheless, when the tamed beast and its tamer became one, their power was greatly amplified.

After the Azure Mysterious Wind Bird possessed Du Wuhen's body, Du Wuhen grew in size, and his eyes ignited with azure divine fire.

He let out a sharp cry, "

Keeew!

"

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

A violent whirlwind rose from the ground of the street. In an instant, half of Misty Waters City was engulfed in a massive whirlwind, with a vast wave of divine light surging upward and illuminating the night sky!

Amid the violent winds, Chu Liang felt an immense force pulling at him, threatening to tear him apart!

It's so powerful…

All Chu Liang could do was concentrate on circulating his foundational qi, barely managing to remain standing stably on the ground.

In mere moments, the whirlwind had grown so much that it now encompassed all of Misty Waters City, and it was still gaining velocity and force!

Within the blinding chaos, all Chu Liang could see was Du Wuhen in the eye of the whirlwind. He was enveloped in azure light, resembling a star. As the heart of the whirlwind, Du Wuhen had control over an unimaginable amount of force.

While watching Du Wuhen, Chu Liang's eyes lit up with divine light. He activated a divine skill, and two heads and four arms suddenly sprouted from his torso.

It was the Three-Headed and Six-Armed Form!

Chu Liang did not use this divine skill to directly attack Du Wuhen. Instead, he planned to use his six hands to simultaneously draw six trigram talismans and combine them into three hexagram talismans.

He was going to make the hexagram Xun As Wind![1]

Several of the disciples that had journeyed into the Celestial Talisman Master's Hidden Realm had comprehended the Eight Trigram Talismans and learned to draw them with both hands, mastering the method of combining trigrams. Just that was already quite formidable.

However, Chu Liang did some further research and found that while two talismans was the limit for regular bodies, he didn't have the same limit. When he used the Three-Headed and Six-Armed Form, he could draw talismans with all six arms simultaneously and combine six trigram talismans.

If Situ Guanhai were to witness this scene, he would likely find it unbelievable. Chu Liang had learned how to combine trigram talismans from Situ Guanhai, yet Chu Liang did it in a totally different way now.

Chu Liang's six hands each drew a Xun-Character Talisman and instantly combined them into three pairs, making three hexagrams.

"Xun As Wind!"

A powerful talismanic force emerged, but it was not meant to stop Du Wuhen's whirlwind. On the contrary, Chu Liang's intention was for the power of Xun As Wind to increase the velocity and force of the whirlwind.

The raging winds intensified sixfold!

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Du Wuhen was already under a lot of strain trying to manipulate the whirlwind. He persisted with gritted teeth, trying to use the whirlwind to rip Chu Liang apart.

However, the raging winds suddenly intensified, and he lost control. Something exploded inside him.

Chu Liang had deliberately intensified the whirlwind, giving it more force than Du Wuhen could handle.

Du Wuhen burst open, and a fountain of blood sprayed out. Without any energy left to resist, he transformed into a soul crystal.

Right then, the violent, raging whirlwind exploded, sending a massive blast of wind through Misty Waters City, which had already been reduced to ruins, and razing it to the ground. After that, only piles of rubble remained.

…

The blast hurled Chu Liang dozens of zhang away. The injures he suffered this time were quite significant, but he had successfully countered and killed Du Wuhen.

"

Huuu…

"

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he didn't heal his wounds. Instead, he got up and continued walking forward.

The streets and buildings were gone now, so there was nothing in his way. He could see the people waiting for him up ahead.

Yang Shenlong, Yang Yuhu, Xi Miaoxian, and Qi Lin'er—the team of four from the Penglai Supreme Sect stood in a row amid the rubble, gazing at Chu Liang with shocked expressions.

Qi Lin'er broke the silence with a strange laugh. "

Heheh

."

Then he leaped in front of Chu Liang. "I didn't expect you to make it here. Since you're so eager to court death, I can only—"

Qi Lin'er didn't finish his sentence.

Chu Liang was suddenly enraged, and an aura of indescribably immense power burst out from him, shrouding him. Taking a step forward, Chu Liang turned his hand over and struck Qi Lin'er's celestial spirit with his palm.

Boom.

That one palm strike obliterated Qi Lin'er!

The gazes of the remaining members of the Penglai Supreme Sect team wavered in fear, even Yang Shenlong's. Their expressions immediately turned grave.

On the other hand, Chu Liang smiled nonchalantly as if he had merely swatted a mosquito to death.

He shook his head and said, "What business do children have speaking here?"

1. This "Xun" refers to the trigram combo/hexagram "Xun". They are the same character, which means it's basically wind x2. This hexagram could be interpreted in various ways, including a gentle/penetrating wind or obedience. ☜

GLTD Alternate Universe's Thoughts

Translator: LD