Chapter 771: Refining Steel with A Huge Fire

Everything happened so suddenly.

Jing Wuya and Liao Yuexian watched as chaos descended upon the room. They were unsure of what was happening, but there was one they knew for certain. Di Nufeng, who was standing before them, could kill them.

Without hesitation, Jing Wuya and Liao Yuexian joined forces and launched an attack on her.

Jing Wuya, clad in heavy armor, wasted no effort on flashy moves and simply threw a punch. However, that punch carried a force capable of crushing mountains into gravel. As that force surged forward, the floor beneath him cracked.

Ruuumble.

Liao Yuexian, on the other hand, pulled out a jade guqin, and her fingers flew across its strings. With a single resonant hum, invisible sonic blades tore through the air toward Di Nufeng.

Nevertheless, Di Nufeng was not the only person they were fighting.

Chu Liang immediately stepped in, brandishing his sword. He unleashed the Sword Strike of Severing the Void, intercepting Liao Yuexian’s sonic blades and shielding his teacher.

Swoosh!

The two powerful waves of qi collided and scattered in all directions with unstoppable force, slicing through anything in their path.

Xue Lingxue dared not participate in a battle of such a high level. She quickly moved to safety, pulling along with her the three people that had been hidden under the bed. Simultaneously, she sent word to her teacher about Liao Yuexian’s involvement, confident that the powerful members of her sect would soon arrive to aid them.

She possessed a Circle of Immortal Friends Token, but she couldn’t create a private soul domain for her sect like Chu Liang had for Silver Sword Peak. This meant her sect’s communication methods were far less convenient.

With Chu Liang holding Liao Yuexian back, Di Nufeng could focus entirely on Jing Wuya, and her approach was nothing short of direct. If he threw a punch, she would throw a punch right back.

With a fist engulfed in Samadhi True Fire, Di Nufeng struck forth with her fist, colliding forcefully with his oncoming iron-clad fist.

Boom!

Flames exploded outward, engulfing the palace in an inferno spanning hundreds of zhang.

Fortunately, the palace guards had evacuated the palace attendants earlier. Just the shockwaves resulting from the clash between the two Eminent Ones would have been enough to kill them.

The enchanted formations surrounding the royal bedchamber flared to life in defense. Nevertheless, under the overwhelming force of the duel, they quickly shattered one after another.

The collision of the two fists was so powerful that it sent Jing Wuya flying backward, causing his heart to shake in shock.

He had long heard tales of Di Nufeng, the ruthless and fearsome prodigy of the Mount Shu Sect. However, he had never imagined she would be this formidable. Strength-wise, they were evenly matched, but her Samadhi True Fire was truly incredible. He could already see a faint red glow spreading across the surface of his gauntlets.

Jing Wuya’s Aoshan Divine Armor ranked ninety-first in the Catalog of the Mortal World’s Ten Thousand Treasures. The nearly indestructible armor not only provided him with impenetrable defense but also enhanced his already incredible mountain-shifting strength. Combined with his immense cultivation power, Jing Wuya had rarely encountered an opponent of equal standing.

This was the first time he had faced such a fearsome foe at the seventh realm—one capable of forcing him into a disadvantageous position with a single punch.

Jing Wuya found Di Nufeng’s appearance at the palace rather strange. In fact, everything that had occurred in the palace that day had been strange. He still hadn’t figured out why there were three Han Lingshous.

Nevertheless, faced with the ferocious woman before him, Jing Wuya was already focusing on making a retreat.

Even so, this situation was like the saying, “The tree may wish for stillness, yet the wind does not relent.” Jing Wuya wanted to flee, but the wind of chaos that was Di Nufeng would not let him.

In the blink of an eye, a blazing wall of purple-gold fire surged forth and blocked off every possible escape route Jing Wuya could take, leaving him utterly astonished.

Does this woman's Samadhi True Fire not cool down—like ever??

She can conjure the fire at will that effortlessly... and seemingly endlessly???

Every enemy who had faced Di Nufeng had once harbored the same thoughts, and most of them had shared the same ending.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosive noises blasted through the air as there was another round of collisions between fire-clad fists and iron-clad ones.

If it were slashes or heavy attacks, Jing Wuya’s armor would be able to endure them without issue. However, the thing he was facing now just had to be Di Nufeng’s divine fire—a fire so powerful that its heat could penetrate through the armor.

Before long, the searing heat had turned the Aoshan Divine Armor scorching hot. The heat that the Samadhi True Fire produced was not the same as that of ordinary flames. That huge fire was basically refining the armor into steel!

If this continued, perhaps the armor itself could hold out, but there was no way Jing Wuya could. Soon enough, he wouldn’t be a man encased in iron; he’d be a man grilled on an iron plate.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Faced with imminent death, Jing Wuya exploded with rage. He gritted his teeth and roared, “Die!”

As Di Nufeng’s fist came toward him, Jing Wuya did not dodge. Instead, he fearlessly threw a punch at Di Nufeng’s waist.

Boom! Boom!

Two deafening impacts rang out at the same time.

Di Nufeng’s punch landed explosively on Jing Wuya’s head. His helmet and mask flew off—only to reveal there was nothing underneath.

Simultaneously, Jing Wuya’s fist struck the side of Di Nufeng’s ribs, sending her flying.

Nevertheless, he knew that one punch wouldn’t be enough to take her down.

From the empty neck of the armor, a beam of white light shot out and transformed into a small figure, darting away in a desperate escape.

It turned out that Jing Wuya was no towering warrior but a short man, the size of a child. He had hidden himself inside the massive suit of armor, using it as a disguise all along.

This was the one move Di Nufeng had not anticipated—which, to her, was a loss.

She watched as Jing Wuya fled as a beam of white light. By the time she had steadied her breathing enough to give chase, it was already too late.

Nonetheless, there was no frustration in her eyes.

Just as Jing Wuya looked like he was about to make his escape, clouds of qi surged and condensed ahead of him, forming a chilling beam of swordlight.

Splurt.

The swordlight severed Jing Wuya at the waist, and his blood sprayed down from the sky.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Despite having lost half of his body, Jing Wuya was still alive. He flailed his arms wildly as he fell. A firm hand soon caught him in midair.

That hand belonged to none other than Daoist Yan of the Mount Shu Sect.

As it turned out, Chu Liang had warned Di Nufeng and Daoist Yan in advance that the enemy was cunning, and they had to be vigilant against any escape attempts. Thus, Di Nufeng led the assault, while Daoist Yan lay in wait to catch the enemy.

And sure enough, their strategy worked flawlessly.

...

On the other side, Chu Liang’s fight with Liao Yuexian was just as perilous. However, in this battle, it was the member of Silver Sword Peak who was in danger.

Chu Liang quickly realized that Liao Yuexian was no weaker than Jing Wuya. She might not have Jing Wuya’s indestructible armor, but the strings of her guqin were just as deadly.

As she plucked the strings, a sharp hum filled the air. Numerous invisible sonic blades wove together into a massive net, engulfing Chu Liang in an instant.

Sensing the razor-sharp danger closing in, Chu Liang took action immediately. He raised the Demon-Slaying Sword and unleashed the Sword Strike of Severing the Void. He sliced through the web of sonic blades while using Dimension Compression to blink several meters away. Chu Liang barely managed to escape, but the next wave of sonic blades was already upon him.

When he fought the sea demons in the Ruins of Return, Chu Liang had felt like he was invincible among the seventh-realm Eminent Ones. Nonetheless, after fighting Jing Wuya and Liao Yuexian back-to-back, Chu Liang had to admit that his cultivation power was still lacking.

In truth, he had dominated the sea demons mainly because of the Demon-Slaying Sword’s special power.

When fighting demonic creatures, the Demon-Slaying Sword's divine might would surge beyond its usual limits, allowing Chu Liang’s strikes to be unstoppable. When fighting human cultivators, the special enhancement disappeared, making his attacks far less powerful.

That was why Chu Liang could only keep dodging as Liao Yuexian pursued him relentlessly over a hundred zhang. In this deadly exchange of sword qi and sonic blades, even the slightest misstep could cost him his life.

Just then, someone called out from the side. "Mother?!"

It was the Dragon Dancer, Liao Jingyue. She had just regained consciousness, only to see her mother engaged in battle.

Even though Liao Jingyue currently wore Han Lingshou’s face, that one word from her made Liao Yuexian falter.

Liao Yuexian’s gaze turned toward the source of the voice. "Jingyue?"

Chu Liang was closer to the group than Liao Yuexian, so he seized the opportunity to roll over there and swiftly fling out a talisman. A dense curtain of mist immediately rose, shrouding him and the others.

Liao Yuexian let out a cold snort, "Hmph! A petty trick."

With a flick of her fingers, the strings of her jade guqin vibrated, summoning a gust of wind that instantly swept away the mist.

However, what she saw left her dumbfounded.

Chu Liang had blended into the group. There were three identical Han Lingshous standing side by side, all with the exact same face.

The Han Lingshou on the left cried out, "Mother, stop fighting!"

The Han Lingshou in the middle echoed, "Mother, don’t attack!"

The Han Lingshou on the right looked rather groggy like he had just woken from a long sleep. Rubbing his head, he glanced around him. Noticing how synchronized the other two Han Lingshous were, he felt completely out of place.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Why is everyone calling her ‘Mother’?"

Boom!

Liao Yuexian shot a blast of powerful qi at him, knocking him down.

Chu Liang’s eyelid twitched.

Bro, do you know why now?