Chapter Eighty: A Cup of Tea

Born with a congenital defect, Yun Zelin had only been made whole through the adjustments of the Bright Sect, gaining complete and functional meridians by force.

What had been pieced together little by little after birth could be made to work, but it was never as sturdy as the original.

Not to mention Li Miao’s vast, surging true energy—Blue Ledchuan would have been unable to endure it as well!

In almost an instant, the six meridians of Yun Zelin’s arm shattered one after another.

The Taiyin Lung Meridian, Shaoyin Heart Meridian, Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian, Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, and the rest were all torn apart.

And once that yang, mighty true energy had smashed through the meridians of his arm, it suddenly turned cold and razor-sharp, surging upward along his pathways without cease.

This was Li Miao, using the wonder of the Jezi to switch mental arts in a single breath and alter the nature of his true energy, all to put him to death.

The three yin channels of the hand run from the chest to the hand; the three yang channels of the hand run from the hand to the head.

Of the six meridians in the hand, the yin channels flow toward the heart, while the yang channels flow toward the head.

If that icy, keen true energy truly broke into his heart meridian and skull, Yun Zelin would be finished for good.

Only a sharp hiss rang out.

An arm fell to the ground.

By then Yun Zelin had already fled far away, one hand tapping furiously at his shoulder to staunch the blood.

Having cut off a tail to preserve his life, his already decrepit appearance aged again, until even his teeth began to fall out on their own.

He raised his head and looked at Li Miao in utter collapse. “Just what on earth are you practicing?!”

Left Lishan had asked that. Blue Ledchuan had asked that. Now it was Yun Zelin’s turn.

Li Miao bore three supreme paths, though none had reached perfection, thereby avoiding the Five Declines of Heaven and Man. That alone was already against all reason. But Yun Zelin felt that, as the destined foe he was meant to face, Li Miao ought to be extraordinary by nature, and so he had not been too surprised.

Yun Zelin and Li Miao were both three-in-one. Li Miao was incomplete; Yun Zelin was crooked. If anything, Yun Zelin was the stronger of the two.

In order to contend with Yun Zelin, Li Miao had forcibly brought the Diamond path to completion, and had already shown signs of the Five Declines of Heaven and Man—his whitening hair was proof enough.

If both arts were perfected, Li Miao could not have held out.

Yet Yun Zelin had never imagined that Li Miao could still cast off a perfected realm and step back from it.

That meant Li Miao’s self-made perfection of Diamond, and the supposed descent into the Five Declines, had all been a lie to begin with. After he finished fighting Yun Zelin, he could retreat his realm once more and go on being his lively, half-finished three-path monster.

What in the hell was this thing?!

Li Miao lifted a foot and stamped down hard.

Bang—

Yun Zelin’s severed arm was crushed into a pool of pulp.

Only then did Li Miao say coolly, “Didn’t you just say that all under heaven are mediocre fools, and only I walk the true road?”

“If it is the true road, then of course it differs from your crooked one. Is that not only natural?”

By now Yun Zelin had slowly steadied his mind, but hearing this, he still ground out, teeth clenched in fury:

“No. You are the crooked one. And beyond all reason, at that!”

“Once water is spilled, it cannot be gathered back. From the moment one cultivates Diamond to perfection, the sinews and bones are no longer those of ordinary men. Otherwise, how could flesh and skin withstand blade and sword?”

“This is not true energy, not mental art, but something real and unchangeable!”

In that instant, Yun Zelin seemed to understand something.

“So that’s it. So that’s it! Even your transcendent bones came from that!”

“Good, good!”

“I had intended to study your corpse and imitate your meridians—but if you possess such a method... all the better!”

A狂喜 look spread across Yun Zelin’s face.

“Then you’d best be able to beat me first.”

Li Miao beckoned to him.

“Come. Third round.”

Yun Zelin suddenly came to himself.

Right—just now, in a clash of inner strength with Li Miao, he had stirred the life force of his Gu worms, and in doing so had also pushed the advance of the Five Declines of Heaven and Man.

Not to mention that Li Miao had already destroyed six proper meridians and severed one arm. He was now at the end of his rope, whereas Li Miao had perfected the Sumeru path; the true energy he had expended was replenished, and even the injuries on his body had all vanished. Li Miao had lost nothing at all, while Yun Zelin could barely hold on.

In another quarter of an hour, he would die of old age on his own.

If he wanted to live, he had to kill Li Miao within that quarter of an hour.

A quarter of an hour—meaning the time it takes for hot tea poured into a cup to cool enough to drink.

In Li Miao’s former world, that was—five minutes.

Within five minutes, life and death must be decided.

First minute.

Yun Zelin suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood, which struck the ground and rose in wisps of white smoke. Yet the force about him abruptly sharpened.

He had driven the life force of the two Gu worms he had taken from Left Lishan and Blue Ledchuan to its fullest.

He was going all out.

Heavenly Mystery Finger!

A keen burst of true energy shot out, and Yun Zelin followed right after it, arriving before Li Miao at the same instant.

~~~

Li Miao shifted aside, leaving Yun Zelin only a step away.

Yun Zelin slashed downward with the blade of his palm—one blade, aimed at Li Miao.

Li Miao raised one leg high, then crashed it down in a counterattack with the one-axe strike from Iron Punishment Battle Order.

Iron Punishment Battle Order was an inheritance of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The so-called one blade, one axe, one hook, one cannon did not refer to weapons, but to palm-blade, leg-axe, claw-hook, and cannon fist.

Palm and leg struck together with a ringing clang.

Yun Zelin changed techniques at once, curling his fingers into claws and seizing Li Miao’s knee. A chilling burst of true energy poured through him, aiming to cripple that leg.

Li Miao’s Diamond was no longer perfected, no longer unbreakable!

Li Miao’s right hand smashed across Yun Zelin’s temple—this was precisely the Shaolin Heart Intent Strike, an attack that forced the enemy to defend.

Yun Zelin had no choice but to let go and retreat a step, dodging the fist’s edge, then twist his body and drive an elbow toward Li Miao’s chest.

Li Miao lifted his left hand and pushed upward, combining hardness and softness as he used Taiji Binding Hand to dissipate the blow.

Riiip—

The sound of tearing cloth burst out at once. Li Miao had just brushed aside Yun Zelin’s elbow strike when, before the hand had even fallen, his right fist suddenly drilled forward, so fast it ripped the sleeve open.

Yun Zelin had only one arm, and his stance was unstable. His form had already been thrown off by Li Miao’s Taiji Binding Hand. Faced with the right fist already in front of him, he could only turn his head slightly.

Splash—

Blood sprayed everywhere. When they were seen clearly again:

Li Miao’s right fist had scraped across Yun Zelin’s face, and the mighty true energy erupted in an instant, stripping clean all the flesh from the entire left side of Yun Zelin’s face.

By now, the whole left half of Yun Zelin’s face was bare, with ghastly white bone exposed.

At the level above the supreme, Diamond governed defense, Jezi governed change, and Sumeru governed attack.

By now Li Miao’s Sumeru had reached completion; every move he made carried true energy vast as the sea. If that blow had landed squarely, Yun Zelin would have died on the spot.

Even from a mere graze, Yun Zelin had been flayed into half a skull.

In a flash, Yun Zelin’s only remaining left hand rose and seized Li Miao’s right fist.

Grasping techniques were unleashed, locking tightly onto Li Miao’s right arm.

But even if he had bound Li Miao’s right hand with one arm, Li Miao still had a left hand free.

Li Miao suddenly formed his left hand into a blade and brought down a “one blade” in an instant, cutting into Yun Zelin’s right shoulder with unrivaled sharpness.

It cleaved straight through the right side of Yun Zelin’s body, all the way to the lung.

And at that moment, only the first minute had just passed.