Chapter 290
Chapter 290
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 290
Chapter Title: Lightning-Fast Strike
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A lightning-like split-second draw.
The Flame Moon carried a momentum fierce enough to cleave the world in two, slashing down from the heavens.
The distinctive crimson glow of the Flame Moon flickered.
It was a speed so swift it seemed to skip the intermediate steps.
Within that motion, the quietly blossoming sword aura of internal energy had been honed to an indescribably sharp edge.
The moment the straight downward slash of the Flame Moon touched Nongjil's thick crown, right at her Baihui acupoint.
Whoosh!
Something pale and indistinct moved.
It was the bear pipe.
The instant Nongjil sensed the murderous intent from behind her back, she reacted reflexively.
An unconscious action.
Her slender fingers gripping the bear pipe traced a curve.
It was a graceful, fluid motion, like silk fluttering in the wind.
As if a dancer were performing.
Sichuan Peerless Beauty's Heaven-Shaking Ghostly Dance.
A sudden draw.
Any ordinary martial artist would have crumbled without even properly channeling their internal energy.
But.
Nongjil was different from the common warriors scattered across the jianghu.
Having reached the supreme realm known as the Heavenly Martial Boundary, she naturally infused her movements with profound energy, unleashing her full momentum.
Her thoughts had instantly transformed into martial arts.
Dark, murky energy seeped into the bear pipe swimming through the air, solidifying it.
Evil and death.
The energy wave unique to the Sichuan Peerless Beauty swirled through the air.
Immediately after, the bear pipe, tightly wrapped in that evil energy, clashed against the Flame Moon.
Craaaang!
An immense shockwave exploded in all directions.
Nongjil let out a groan.
The weight pressing on the hand gripping the bear pipe was indescribable.
It meant her opponent's internal energy was that superior.
The longer the clash dragged on, the deeper her feet sank into the ground.
Grrrrrind!
Finally, the collision of the two forces caused the earth around her—about three zhang wide—to cave in deeply.
'...A contest of internal energy is ambiguous.'
Her pupils elongated into thin slits.
Revealing serpentine eyes cold as ice, she relaxed the force on the bear pipe clashing against the Flame Moon, then threw her upper body far back.
It looked as if she were falling backward.
Following that, Nongjil extended both hands above her head, planted them on the ground, and spun her body once.
A flexible, swift movement.
She immediately escaped the area of engagement, causing the now-targetless Flame Moon to plunge straight into the earth.
Kabooom!
A explosion erupted, kicking up dust.
'Well, well, what do we have here?'
Cheonhwi's eyes narrowed.
The Flame Moon had embedded itself into the deeply gouged earth.
Leaving a deep sword scar behind.
That was when it happened.
"You're different from what I knew."
A voice came from beyond the dust.
Confusion, killing intent, madness, wariness.
A voice tangled with emotions too complex to describe.
"Does Mount Hua have such a domineering sword? I heard Mount Hua's swordsmanship focused on illusory and variable swords..."
As soon as the words ended, a gust swept through, clearing away all the dust.
Nongjil stood ten zhang away.
The leisure on her face, which had been there until moments ago, was gone as she held her bear pipe.
Her expression was rigidly hardened.
Whoooosh—
A wave of energy surged from her entire body.
It seemed the dust had been blown away by her aura.
Semitransparent black energy churned violently like raging waves, whipping up fierce winds around it.
Her ash-gray hair, burned as if scorched, floated lightly in the air, and her tattered palace robes fluttered wildly in the swirling energy.
Within it, she half-closed her eyes.
Her vertically slit pupils fixed on Cheonhwi as he lifted the Flame Moon.
A stance of vigilance and preparation for counterattack.
Ready to strike with full power at any moment.
"Hm, so that's how you deploy your martial arts?"
At that moment, Cheonhwi stepped forward.
A stride without hesitation.
It was the domain Nongjil had established by putting ten zhang between them.
Yet he entered it as if it were nothing.
'He's just walking right in?'
Nongjil's brows furrowed slightly.
It was now within range where she could strike him immediately.
But she couldn't move rashly.
Because Cheonhwi's presence—his momentum—as he approached seemingly defenseless was overwhelmingly dominant.
Step, step.
With each step, intangible energy blazed from his body like heat haze, distorting the space.
How far had he walked like that?
Thud.
Suddenly, Cheonhwi stopped.
Now the distance between them was three zhang.
But that distance was meaningless.
For those who had reached peerless realms, three zhang was close enough to take each other's lives at any instant.
In that state, the two stared at each other without moving.
Simply gazing silently.
Their gazes intertwined like twisting threads.
Cheonhwi faced Nongjil's serpentine slit pupils calmly, unperturbed.
Then, at some point.
Screeeeech!
He suddenly swung the Flame Moon.
The sword strike unfolded without any prelude, shooting straight toward Nongjil's chest in an instant.
But Nongjil, who had heightened her nerves to the extreme and was on guard, lifted her left foot the moment the sword swung.
At the same time, she pivoted on her right foot.
And with that, she swiftly swung the bear pipe infused with the Sichuan Peerless Beauty's energy.
A counterattack augmented by rotational force.
Clang!
The struck sword strike glanced off to the side, shattering the precarious mountain gate of Fuhu Temple into pieces.
Cheonhwi showed no surprise or panic even as his sword was deflected.
He simply stared at Nongjil calmly.
As if it were nothing.
'What will you do now?'
A fierce glint burst from Cheonhwi's eyes.
By now, she must have realized it.
That she had no chance of victory without unleashing her martial arts to the limit.
As if proving Cheonhwi's thoughts, she pivoted in place and stomped with infused internal energy.
Boom!
For the first time, she moved first.
Energy exploded beneath her foot, sending fierce gales blasting outward.
And then.
Whoosh!
Her upper body suddenly loomed larger in an instant.
Nongjil had closed the distance.
Her face filled Cheonhwi's vision.
Beneath her demonically gleaming slit pupils, the thin gauze over her mouth trembled finely.
Wooooong—
And from below, the sound of vibrating air rang out.
In her clenched right fist, intense evil energy churned.
That fist pulverized the surrounding atmosphere as it shot forward.
A ferocious fist strike.
The single blow, laden with terrifying suction, reached Cheonhwi's close range in one go.
At that moment.
Swish—
Cheonhwi abruptly raised his left hand.
Energy surged from his palm heart.
A heavy intangible force lingered at his palm, creating ripples.
A calm yet fierce wave.
Soon, the rippling intangible energy gathered into each of his five fingers.
And right after.
Fwaaah!
His hand bloomed like five petals.
Plum Blossom Pure Heart Palm.
The first form of the Plum Blossom Palm technique unfolded.
Craaaang!
A heavy shockwave raged.
The shockwave from the unfolded palm made his sleeve balloon massively for an instant.
His hair fluttered in the aftermath.
Through strands of ash-gray hair, Cheonhwi saw Nongjil unleashing her icy glare.
'An interesting reaction.'
For a moment, the corner of Cheonhwi's mouth twisted.
Bloodshot eyes from the clash, but her eyes curved widely.
An ecstatic smile.
At the same time, her figure blurred and reappeared at Cheonhwi's side.
Evil Illusion Step.
One of the fastest movement techniques among the many in the Evil Phantom Battle Arts.
Whoosh—
Positioned at his flank, she roughly swung the bear pipe in her hand.
A sharp strike laden with evil energy.
But Cheonhwi glanced at it with indifferent eyes and immediately executed Divine Movement Hundred Changes.
Unfurling the intricate footwork with dozens, hundreds of variations, he effortlessly evaded the swung bear pipe.
Then, he thrust the Flame Moon upward.
A counter one beat faster.
Nongjil threw her head back.
She narrowly dodged the swung Flame Moon, but the gauze over her mouth was sliced in half.
Seeing it, Cheonhwi narrowed his eyes.
'Is that why she wore the gauze?'
The lower face hidden beneath the gauze was gruesome.
Her lips and cheeks were mangled hideously, as if crushed by immense pressure.
Even amid it, Nongjil moved.
She deployed Evil Illusion Step, pressuring Cheonhwi with every lethal technique of the Sichuan Peerless Beauty.
Sword and staff arts with the bear pipe.
Fist and kick techniques with hands and feet.
Each one an exquisite martial art.
Those forms linked from all directions, as if to ensnare Cheonhwi.
Clang! Kaboom! Slash!
Cheonhwi swung the Flame Moon while observing her frenzied onslaught.
The Flame Moon dominated up, down, left, right, all eight directions, relentlessly targeting her with every movement and swinging.
Over thirty exchanges in a flash.
The earth within forty zhang was upheaved, riddled with craters.
Bloodstains multiplied on Nongjil's body.
Wounds started on her arms, extending to her legs and cheeks.
Each instant divided life from death.
Shockwaves continued erupting, sharp attacks drawing blood.
As they surpassed fifty exchanges.
"Hahahaha!"
Suddenly, Nongjil burst into mad laughter.
Her twisted mouth grew even uglier, but she didn't stop her deranged cackling.
'Hm?'
Cheonhwi narrowed his eyes.
Nongjil was attempting some change now.
'Her temperament has changed.'
The atmosphere had definitely shifted.
Her serpentine pupils clouded over.
Pupils swirling with deep madness.
And not just that.
The dark energy enveloping her gradually faded, eventually transforming into an opaque ash-gray aura.
Profound internal energy.
Cheonhwi's brow twitched.
He recalled something from her appearance.
'Qi deviation...?'
Tangled qi and blood, clouded eyes.
Moreover, she couldn't control the rippling energy around her at all. It matched perfectly with a warrior who had just fallen into qi deviation.
At that moment, Nongjil's right hand opened.
Causing the bear pipe in her grasp to drop to the ground with a 'thud'.
Fwaaah!
Her pale, slender fingers filled with opaque, dull energy, then surged with domineering momentum.
Five fingers spread like eagle talons, each with a zhang-long blade of qi rising.
'Wait.'
Seeing it, Cheonhwi narrowed his eyes.
Something felt familiar.
The internal energy circulation in the stance, the momentum.
That instant.
Whoooosh—
A light wind stirred.
The waves of energy from her body turned into hundreds of wind strands.
Boom!
She leaped forward.
The ground cracked like a spiderweb under her stomping foot.
Ash-gray hair whipped back, mad eyes tracing long trails in their path.
An immense-speed charge.
Simultaneously, she raised her right hand.
The opaque energy on her talon-like fingers gradually turned into sword qi, and soon.
Shraaaash!
The five blades of qi exploded forth, shredding the air completely in an instant.
Residual Soul Residual Blood Claw.
The absolute demonic technique of the unorthodox paths, one of the Three Great Demonic Hand Arts.
The unique skill of the Dead Blood Emperor, who once terrorized the jianghu, had appeared.