Like all things in the world, the martial path undergoes a process of evolution.
In the beginning, life-and-death combat between martial artists was nothing more than a contest of who had more internal force, who possessed fiercer explosive power, who boasted a stronger physique, and whose techniques were more exquisite.
Until one day.
During a struggle among heroes for the title of number one in the world, a martial artist, pushed to the brink of life and death while facing formidable foes from all corners of the land, entered a unique state.
This state was extremely special. The arena captured the world’s attention, meaning countless people would know the outcome. The expectations of millions converged there, creating an intangible “atmosphere” that formed a substantial, crushing weight on the mind, nearly driving the martial artist to a mental breakdown.
However, that martial artist was a peerless genius.
He pulled through.
What followed was an unimaginable qualitative change. His martial path was no longer confined to the physical body; he underwent a complete metamorphosis, shifting his focus to the power of spirit and mind.
When a martial artist’s mind can bear the weight of the world’s renown, their spirit transforms, in turn nourishing the physical body. The concrete manifestation of this is the ultimate evolution of the five senses: hearing a crawling ant from a hundred meters away, experiencing a sudden premonition before danger strikes, or slowing down the world before their eyes.
In that era, people reverently titled that martial artist the Martial God.
He was the first martial artist to complete this spiritual qualitative change. To commemorate this pioneer of the martial path, people named this mental power—
【Divine Intent】.
The invisible massive net descended once more. Majestic internal force coiled around every silk thread. In a daze, Wang Ping saw the massive net transform into a sharp talon.
The Heavenly Roc captures the dragon!
With this explosive burst, Xu Bingzheng landed directly on the ground. His feet stomped heavily, and visible cracks instantly spread out from beneath him.
Immediately after, the ground fractured with his every step. He slowly raised his palm. It was clearly empty, yet he seemed to be holding up a towering mountain. Surging internal force churned up a howling gale, pouring entirely into the massive net in mid-air, astonishingly outlining a tangible, invisible mountain range!
“Smash!”
The voice arrived before the technique. What shocked Wang Ping was that Xu Bingzheng’s shout created an unexpected effect upon reaching his ears.
Rumble!
It was as if someone lit a firecracker right by his ear. The heavy, booming reverberation echoed from the outside in, striking his sinews and bones, causing his entire body to resonate.
This vibration completely escaped his control, rendering his body incapable of any reaction for a split second. A shadow fell over his mind, as if a real mountain was crushing down on him. His thoughts ground to a halt, leaving him helplessly watching the massive net descend upon his head.
This process did not last long.
From beginning to end, it was merely the snap of a finger—negligible under normal circumstances. Yet, in a life-and-death struggle between martial artists, a momentary pause dictated life or death.
So this is Divine Intent… to think it can be used like this!
Ignoring the physical body and directly striking the mind?
Wang Ping achieved sudden realization. He had already lost. Just now, his mind lost to Xu Bingzheng, reducing him to the little dragon captured by the Heavenly Roc.
And with the mind defeated, the physical body would die!
In a flash, Wang Ping did not hesitate. He directly took out an elixir bottle hidden on his person and hurled it at the massive net falling towards his head.
“Here’s the elixir!”
“Hmm?”
Almost simultaneously, Xu Bingzheng let out a soft sound of surprise. He didn’t try to catch the elixir bottle, but instead retreated sharply, pulling the invisible massive net back with him.
This showed that the move that nearly forced Wang Ping into a fatal situation was far from his full strength; otherwise, he couldn’t have retracted it so effortlessly.
The next second, the elixir bottle exploded, scattering a cloud of white powder in mid-air. The remnants of Xu Bingzheng’s internal force that he failed to retract in time touched the powder and instantly ignited out of nowhere. From afar, it looked like a torch lit beneath the night sky, a swirling mixture of flames and rain.
“A Cultivation-Dissolving Powder capable of burning internal force.”
Xu Bingzheng frowned slightly. “It seems you’re carrying not only restorative medicine, but poison as well. A pity—you still don’t understand the fundamental gulf between us.”
“The path of ‘absolute sincerity’ grants one foresight.”
“Had it been an ordinary person, intent on obtaining the elixir and caught off guard by your words before they had time to think, they might indeed have fallen victim to your Cultivation-Dissolving Powder.”
“But before a Titled Martial Master, such tricks are meaningless.”
“I have no need to think. I need only follow the intuition bestowed by my Divine Intent. Anything that poses a threat to me can never truly harm me.”
Naturally, Wang Ping didn’t stand there foolishly watching Xu Bingzheng show off. The moment the other party spoke, he was already sprinting out of the courtyard. At the same time, he threw out another bottle of poison, the 【Gu Poison Pill】. It released tiny, pitch-black pills the size of rice grains.
Xu Bingzheng, however, paid them no mind.
Even though Wang Ping used his spiritual sense to calculate the exact trajectory, Xu Bingzheng dodged the 【Gu Poison Pill】 with ease, as if possessing prophetic vision, and stayed hot on his heels.
“The desperate struggle of a cornered beast.”
“You haven’t been at the internal force stage for long. You possess formidable martial arts but your technique hasn’t kept up at all. Your 【Heaven-Shaking Cloud-Piercing Bow】 hasn’t reached major attainment yet, has it?”
Xu Bingzheng strolled leisurely, speaking with composure:
“For us martial artists, technique is the foundation of our existence. Without technique, no matter how high your cultivation or how strong your physique, you are merely an unarmed monkey.”
“And technique requires time to hone.”
“Relying on your amateurish skills, you might have killed Chen Haoyan by a fluke, but facing the Divine Intent of a Titled Martial Master, you are just a feeble monkey.”
As his words fell, he abruptly clenched his fist.
With just one motion, the invisible massive net enveloping the air suddenly drew tight. The voice that previously struck the mind resounded once more, rolling across the sky like thunder:
“This punch contains twenty years of refinement.”
“What will you use to block it?”
Rumble!
Wang Ping raised his head, the phantom of the Heavenly Roc capturing the dragon surfacing in his mind again. His cognitive processes were suppressed, his mind shaken, freezing him in place once more.
But this time, he snapped out of it much faster.
Break for me!
A martial artist’s Divine Intent could suppress a mortal’s mind, but it could not possibly shake an immortal cultivator’s spiritual sense. It erupted violently, instantly taking over Wang Ping’s body.
Furthermore, his spiritual sense captured a specific scene.
This is…?
In an instant, Wang Ping’s heart, which was already prepared for death, skipped a beat. Like lightning piercing the night, a doubt buried deep in his heart was unravelled.
It seems I’m not the only one being schemed against this time… Since that’s the case, victory and death are still uncertain. I might as well fight to the bitter end; there might still be a chance!
At this thought, Wang Ping exploded into action decisively.
Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!
A sound like a rushing river emanated from his body. His normally thick skin instantly flushed blood-red, as if it could drip blood at any moment!
Immediately after, the Black Hornless Dragon Bow appeared in his hands. He drew it to a full moon again, but this time, his own body emitted the creaking sound of a drawn bow, accompanied faintly by a dragon’s roar. This was his sinews and bones vibrating, generating force, pouring his entire body’s strength into it!
“Hmm?”
Almost simultaneously, Xu Bingzheng frowned.
Because exactly when Wang Ping broke through the mental suppression, an intense sense of crisis suddenly flared in his heart—like thorns at his back, signaling imminent disaster.
This was the intuition brought by his Divine Intent; he couldn’t doubt it.
But… why?
What’s happening?
He wasn’t surprised that Wang Ping could break through the mental suppression. Divine Intent, after all, wasn’t a physical object. Illusory mental power inherently required means like gaze, sound, and words to manifest its might. If the target was mentally prepared, the effect naturally diminished significantly.
He was, after all, only a Titled Martial Master.
To truly unleash the power of Divine Intent, probably only those Martial Grandmasters who had accomplished “Perceiving Spirit” could do it, which was a realm beyond his reach.
But the problem was:
Even if he can break through my mental suppression, with his martial arts, even if he fights to the death and uses a life-risking secret technique, how can he threaten me?
Xu Bingzheng’s thoughts raced violently.
In his eyes, the world slowed down; this was also an effect of Divine Intent, granting him more time to formulate a strategy to counter the crisis.
In a split second, he devised over a dozen contingency plans.
He ran through each one in his mind, checking his intuition’s feedback. He would choose whichever plan lowered the sense of crisis.
However, the result this time was different.
…None?
Xu Bingzheng found it inconceivable.
No matter which plan he chose, the sense of crisis didn’t waver in the slightest. In fact, as time slowly trickled by, the sense of crisis kept intensifying!
I… might die?
What a joke!
In a flash, Xu Bingzheng made his decision. The fist he had brought down jerked sharply upward, and the invisible massive net swept up the rain, surging back toward the sky.
Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping moved.
As he did, the Black Hornless Dragon Bow snapped, Wang Ping’s sinews and bones snapped, and his internal force exploded with a boom. It didn’t sound like one person firing an arrow, but an entire army firing in volley!
In an instant, the long arrow left the string. However, it didn’t fly straight. It was an arrow imbued with shattering, explosive internal force, smashing toward Xu Bingzheng with the ferocity of a violent storm. The momentum was so massive it directly shattered the falling rain around it, blasting open a rain-free zone several meters across.
Concurrently, Wang Ping’s vision went black.
He held nothing back in this strike. He even used his spiritual sense to squeeze his physique, forcing an explosive output. Having unleashed this blow, he felt entirely hollowed out.
Yet, he dared not slack off.
In the blink of an eye, the world fell still. Amidst a dizzying spin, he tumbled into the 【The Taiping Classic】 space, where lines of blood-red text materialized one by one on the scroll.
【Perish with the Sun】!
Xu Bingzheng had inflicted quite a few injuries on him earlier. They were all recorded now, ready to be converted into tangible retribution and entirely returned to the sender!
Pfft!
Raising his eyes, the world returned to normal. A blood blossom abruptly exploded on Xu Bingzheng’s body. It was the retribution from 【Perish with the Sun】, yet it was minuscule.
The injuries were too minor.
The gap between Wang Ping and Xu Bingzheng was vastly larger than the gap between him and Chen Haoyan previously, and this time he hadn’t suffered a severed arm.
Therefore, the retribution was minimal, merely causing Xu Bingzheng to stall for a split second.
But it went back to the same saying—in a life-and-death struggle between martial artists, a split-second pause was often enough to decide victory, even life and death.
Now! Wang Ping widened his eyes.
There was no sound, no warning sign. As if it were merely a thought from someone far away, a blood blossom bloomed on Xu Bingzheng’s body.
【A Thought Blooms】.
“Shouchong—!!!”
Xu Bingzheng’s furious roar, filled with hatred and pain, mingled with the sound of the rain, the falling blood, and the whistling of Wang Ping’s full-powered arrow, sounding increasingly agonizing.
Compared to the retribution from 【Perish with the Sun】, the sudden appearance of Shouchong delivered the true fatal blow. That blood blossom bloomed on his chest, not only breaking his physical body but also shattering his cultivation body. His internal force lost all control and was rampaging through his meridians!
And right at this critical juncture, Wang Ping’s desperate strike arrived!
Yet, facing this life-and-death moment, Xu Bingzheng surprisingly showed no intention of defending. Instead of retreating, he advanced, the boiling internal force within him exploding at this moment!
But it was also at this time.
An aged, raspy laugh drifted faintly from the rain: “You merely touched ‘Spirit,’ you didn’t truly ‘Perceiving Spirit.’ With just this, you dare speak of foresight?”
“You again… you lingering old phantom!”
Xu Bingzheng gritted his teeth. He felt a tremendously strong mental pressure carried in the voice, forcing him to feel deeply stressed and stalling his thoughts.
“Besides, even if it were true foresight, so what? As long as the power is great enough and the speed fast enough, so-called foresight merely adds to the fear.”
“For example.”
“With the next blade, I will sever your right hand.”
Blood blossomed once more.
Xu Bingzheng’s right hand was pierced through, blasting open a bowl-sized bloody hole on the spot. The explosive bloom of force frantically crushed his bones and muscles.
The internal force he had erupted to block Wang Ping’s desperate strike consequently dissipated.
He had sensed the crisis beforehand and tried to dodge, but couldn’t escape it.
Everything happened in a flash. The dialogue between Shouchong and Xu Bingzheng was actually transmitted via thoughts during the clash of their Divine Intents.
Martial artists who were not Titled Martial Masters, whose minds had not reached the microscopic realm, couldn’t sense their collision at all, nor could they hear this momentary exchange.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The flurry of arrows arrived.
Dozens of small wounds burst open all over Xu Bingzheng’s body instantly, while a long arrow pierced through the left hand he desperately held up to shield his forehead.
The next second, his figure vanished from where he stood.
Almost simultaneously, four or five silver-white throwing knives appeared out of thin air exactly where he had been. Each one carried a chill that made Wang Ping’s scalp tingle.
Where did he go!?
Wang Ping’s thoughts raced. Then, in a moment of clarity, he looked up, just in time to see Xu Bingzheng’s figure trailing bloody light, rapidly vanishing into the depths of a dark cloud.
【Immortal Thread】!
The origin of Xu Bingzheng’s title. This lightness skill that scaled clouds and vaulted the heavens was the true foundation of his existence, and he managed to successfully execute it at the very last moment.
“Hmph, he runs fast enough.”
Under the moonlight, the white-haired Shouchong, clad in a Daoist robe, strolled out. His gaze lingered on the dark clouds with a hint of regret for a moment before he withdrew it.
Immediately after, he looked at Wang Ping and grinned broadly:
“Good disciple. I really didn’t misjudge you. You were born to be a rebel!”
“You old bastard…” Wang Ping gritted his teeth.
“You knew all along that I killed Chen Haoyan. You stayed by my side just waiting for that dog official to notice the clues and trace it back to me.”
“Correct.” Shouchong nodded, smiling benignly.
“The county yamen is heavily guarded; it’s not easy for me to barge in.”
“And that fellow surnamed Xu is an old tortoise who rarely shows his face. Fortunately, Chen Haoyan died, and his plot to acquire the elixir in your hands finally exposed a flaw.”
Without a doubt, he had been used as bait by Shouchong again.
Xu Bingzheng thought he had discovered the true culprit, but in reality, he was the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. He was lured out of the county yamen by Shouchong.
In tonight’s grand play, this old bastard was the director behind the scenes!
Thinking of this, Wang Ping raised his head. He had just opened his mouth to speak when he saw Shouchong’s retreating back.
“Although Xu Bingzheng escaped this time, his injuries will take at least six months to a year to heal. The county town will inevitably fall into chaos because of this. This old man won’t linger here any longer.”
“There’s no time to lose, I’m leaving tonight.”
“Good disciple, the martial world is vast, take care of yourself!”
Wang Ping: “…….”
This old bastard is not human!
Wang Ping took several deep breaths before finally recovering. He glanced at Liu Ye next to him, who had immediately fainted when Xu Bingzheng fled with heavy injuries.
He checked his breathing. Good, still breathing.
What to do next?
Although Xu Bingzheng was so badly injured he wouldn’t be a concern for the time being, the county yamen and those hundred-plus constables were still around. Staying at the Su residence carried significant risks.
Looks like it’s time to flee.
Right at this moment, Wang Ping suddenly felt something. He snapped back to reality and immediately saw the woman standing under the eaves, her beautiful eyes staring straight at him.
At some point, Madam Su had awoken.
She seemed to have witnessed the entire ordeal. She knew Wang Ping had killed Chen Haoyan, understood he was currently in grave danger, and was well aware he should flee immediately.
However, once Wang Ping fled, she would be the only one left here.
When the time came, all alone, powerless to defend herself, and having lost Wang Ping’s protection, what kind of malice would she suffer? What kind of ending would she face?
She didn’t know, but she figured it wouldn’t be pretty.
So, she just watched.
Her beautiful eyes were deep and profound, obscured by the rain, hiding her thoughts. She didn’t speak. She just stood there, separated by the rain, quietly watching Wang Ping.
A curtain of rain seemed to isolate two different worlds.
The next second, Wang Ping decisively hoisted Liu Ye onto his back. With his bow and saber in hand, he took large strides, breaking through the curtain of rain until he stood before the woman. With a relaxed tone, he said:
“Let’s go. I’ll take you out of the city.”