Chapter 58: Chapter 58: That’s Not Too Much, Right?

A figure in red suddenly landed, blocking the path ahead. Wu Chen’s heart gave a violent, inexplicable lurch.

Staring at her bewitching smile, he felt not a shred of contempt. It was more like being targeted by a venomous creature. His hair stood on end, and the Qi and Blood in his body began to surge violently.

He noted her graceful landing and realized that even though she had been following Xue Hongling, he hadn’t sensed her presence in the slightest.

And now that she had appeared, Xue Hongling was trembling uncontrollably beside him.

Wu Chen knew. Things were just as he’d suspected.

This woman had to be Xue Hongling’s master, an expert of the Fifth Realm of Martial Arts—the Organ Refining Realm.

She must have been secretly following Xue Hongling ever since she left the mountain, all the way to Black Stone City.

Her sudden appearance now likely meant she wasn’t just here to take Xue Hongling back to her sect.

He had killed quite a few Blood Evil fiends. Would this woman really let him go?

’It’s not that I’m smart, it’s that your disciple is too dumb!’

’It was so obvious. Only a naive girl who’s never seen the world would fall for such a trick!’

Though he was cursing internally, Wu Chen put on a polite smile and said to the newcomer:

"Well now!"

"You must be Miss Hongling’s esteemed master, correct? Just as Miss Hongling described—an absolute, peerless beauty."

"It’s true what they say: seeing you in person far surpasses any description..."

He knew what beautiful women liked to hear, so he laid the praise on thick. His words, however, left Xue Hongling utterly stunned.

’When did I ever tell him any of that?’

’And what’s with that sycophantic act?’

"Hehe, not only are you clever, but you’re a sweet-talker too. I like that very much!"

"No wonder you were able to trick my disciple!"

The woman in the bright red dress covered her mouth with a light laugh. She waved her other delicate hand, signaling for Wu Chen to be quiet, and he immediately complied.

"However, no matter what you say, I’m still taking my disciple with me today."

Xue Hanyan looked at Xue Hongling, her expression turning benevolent and her tone softening considerably.

"My good disciple, you’ve had your fun. Isn’t it time to return to the sect with your master?"

It wasn’t a question. She was making the choice for Xue Hongling.

Before her voice had even faded, she instantly closed the distance between them. One hand shot out to grab Xue Hongling, while the other struck at Wu Chen’s chest.

She intended to kill him on the spot!

One moment she was all smiles and pleasantries, the next, she was striking to kill!

’Heh, women!’

’She went from friendly to lethal faster than I could blink!’

But Wu Chen was already on guard. Ever since he’d heard about her master’s realm from Xue Hongling, he had been on high alert from the moment the woman landed.

WHOOSH!

The instant he felt the rush of air before him, he instinctively retreated.

Spirit Swallow Leaf-Plucking Step: Momentum!

He instantly activated the Body Technique he had long since mastered. Tapping his toes on the ground, his left hand shot out and grabbed Xue Hongling by the back of her collar, his body flowing backward in an elegant dodge.

He could have retreated much farther, but his mind raced. Instead, he moved back only a single step, making it look as though he had barely dodged a palm strike that would have pierced his heart and lungs.

"Oh? A little interesting."

Xue Hanyan was genuinely surprised that her strike had missed.

She blinked, letting out a soft sound of surprise. Her gaze fell to Wu Chen’s footwork, and she seemed to recognize something.

She nodded in approval.

"To have grasped the ’momentum’ of a Body Technique at such a young age? Your aptitude is not bad at all!"

To comprehend ’momentum’ in Martial Arts, only a Martial Artist who has achieved Perfection in the four stages of ’skin, flesh, sinews, and bone’ has any hope of grasping it.

So for Wu Chen, a mere Meridian Passage Realm—the third realm of Martial Arts—to be able to use a Body Technique with ’momentum’ naturally surprised an expert of the Fifth Realm like herself.

"But this is as far as you go."

Despite her praise, Xue Hanyan’s graceful steps continued to close the distance to Wu Chen.

A distance of several yards was nothing to her, let alone the single step that now separated them.

It would only take another strike.

But Wu Chen, who had created a two-foot gap, showed no panic in his eyes as he faced the deadly palm strike from a Martial Artist two entire realms above him.

As he created that one step of distance, his hands were already in motion.

He flicked his wrist to toss the scabbard aside, his hand instantly shifting to grip the hilt of the blade at his side.

As Wu Chen’s five fingers closed around the hilt, a transparent aura seemed to shimmer into existence around the jet-black blade.

Then, power surged through his body, converging in his arm.

SWISH!

A flash of black light shot forward, slashing swiftly at Xue Hanyan’s pale neck.

Xue Hongling, beside him, reacted just as quickly. Having been pulled back, her attack lacked Wu Chen’s power; her technique was clearly inferior and noticeably slower.

She knew she wouldn’t have time to draw her blade against her master.

So, she didn’t even try. She swung her blade, scabbard and all, straight at Xue Hanyan’s bewitching face.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Two vicious attacks, one from the left and one from the right, whistled toward her, carried by a powerful wind. Yet Xue Hanyan only had eyes for the blade in Wu Chen’s hand, her gaze filled with admiration.

"Your blade technique has also reached the level of ’momentum’. How rare!"

"But do you have any idea what the Organ Refining Realm means?"

"No matter how good your blade technique is, it’s useless before me!"

Xue Hanyan’s smile never faded. With no discernible movement other than a light wave of her delicate hand, both incoming attacks came to an abrupt halt.

One of her hands had clamped down on Xue Hongling’s scabbard.

The other had caught Wu Chen’s black blade, which was infused with the momentum of his technique.

She had caught the blade with her bare hand!

With no flourish whatsoever, she simply pinched Wu Chen’s previously unstoppable blade between two fingers.

His ferocious attack was brought to a dead stop.

No matter how hard Wu Chen and Xue Hongling struggled, they couldn’t pull their weapons free or even make Xue Hanyan budge an inch.

But as she watched them struggle, for some unknown reason, the smile on Xue Hanyan’s face suddenly froze.

The hand pinching the black blade trembled visibly.

Her reaction was lightning-fast. The wrist of the left hand holding the blade twisted, sending a tyrannical force surging down the dark blade’s body and straight into the hilt.

And then...

BOOM!

"Shit!"

Wu Chen’s palm went numb, the Qi Power inside him running wild. He only had time to spit out that single word before the force sent his vision spinning.

His body shot backward like an out-of-control cannonball.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

After crashing through three trees as thick as bowls, he finally managed to right himself, using his nimble Body Technique to dissipate the brutal force.

At last, he landed gracefully atop a protruding, incredibly hard boulder.

His physique, far superior to that of other Martial Artists in his realm, meant that while he looked disheveled, he was largely unharmed.

’So this is the Organ Refining Realm?’

’Two realms higher... she’s definitely tough to handle.’

Wu Chen wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. Recalling their brief clash, his eyes gleamed.

’A real fight... awesome!’

SWISH!

However, before he could savor the feeling, a streak of black light shot toward him with a flick of Xue Hanyan’s finger.

It was the black blade she had taken from him.

Facing the black streak, Wu Chen didn’t dodge. With his sharp eyesight, he could tell the blade’s trajectory was off.

Just as he predicted, the black blade plunged into the soft earth at the base of the boulder.

A smile touched the corners of Wu Chen’s lips.

’Looks like I can fight her... but only just barely.’

Wu Chen wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could defeat an opponent two major realms above him. Just injuring her was already a remarkable feat.

But his current predicament was certainly awkward.

From learning about her master from Xue Hongling, to understanding Xue Hanyan’s strength, to suspecting she might have been secretly watching... to Xue Hanyan’s sudden appearance, everything had happened too quickly.

It had all unfolded in the span of a dozen breaths.

Escaping was impossible. A surprise attack was his only chance of survival.

For example, that blade she’d thrown at him—the one that missed. That definitely wasn’t her showing mercy!

"Wu Chen! Run!"

"Run!"

Hearing the desperate cry, Wu Chen tore his gaze from the black blade at his feet and looked toward the source of the voice.

His eyelids twitched violently, and his pupils contracted as if he had just witnessed something horrifying.

’So ruthless!’

In that short span of time, Xue Hongling, lacking his skills, had already been captured by her master.

Not only that, but the bones in all four of her limbs had been broken.

Her joints were bent at unnatural angles, and Xue Hanyan held her casually, like a sack of goods.

However, Xue Hanyan was precise. Dislocating her joints to this degree wouldn’t be enough to damage Xue Hongling’s Martial Arts foundation.

It would just keep her subdued and prevent her from running off again before they returned to the sect.

Still, the pain of broken bones was undeniable.

Every joint in Xue Hongling’s body felt as if it were being pierced by needles and set aflame. The intense pain made her vision flicker, and she nearly passed out.

Yet she endured, her face showing no sign of the agony she was in.

Instead, she was worried about Wu Chen, who her master had sent flying with a single blow.

Hearing the girl’s desperate voice, Wu Chen leaped off the boulder and pulled his dark blade from the soil.

’Run?’

Wu Chen knew that was impossible.

’I have to stay calm. I have to act fearless, even if it’s just an act.’

’Make her hesitate. Make her think I have a powerful background, that I have hidden strength!’

He watched Xue Hanyan approach with a leisurely stroll, Xue Hongling dangling from her hand like a pet.

Finally, Wu Chen’s thoughtful gaze fell on Xue Hanyan’s other hand.

Xue Hanyan held Xue Hongling with one hand while keeping the other behind her back as she walked toward Wu Chen step by step.

She projected the air of an untouchable master, but in reality, the hand she held behind her back was trembling uncontrollably.

She had seemed to effortlessly block Wu Chen’s momentum-infused strike.

But the force of his "Savage Bull Shakes the Earth" had traveled up the blade, and the sensation was far from pleasant.

Her entire left arm appeared unharmed, but inside, her crystal, jade-like bones were covered in countless hairline fractures, like porcelain that had suffered a heavy blow.

This was what caused her entire left arm to tremble uncontrollably, and why her throw of the captured black blade had been so far off the mark.

If not for the two-realm gap between them, she might have actually fallen for his trick during that last exchange.

Xue Hanyan circulated the Qi from her five organs, sending a cool, clear energy through her arm to frantically mend the fractures in her left hand.

With her hand still behind her back, she walked slowly toward Wu Chen.

Looking at the outstandingly talented young man, she acted as if nothing was wrong, her smiling facade perfectly intact.

"You see, you’ve pillowed your head on my dear disciple’s lap. You’ve even slept in her embrace."

"She’s even taught you her Martial Arts."

"She even accompanied you for several nights, killing those gang scum in Black Stone City."

"You’ve had your fun, made your mess."

"My disciple has done so much for you. Taking your heart in return isn’t too much to ask, is it?"

With every sentence, Xue Hanyan took a step closer. As her last word fell, she flickered and appeared right in front of Wu Chen, her hand striking out.

Even injured, her Organ Refining Realm physique meant this hand-chop could still easily split the young man’s chest open.

But in an instant, her hand froze mid-air. It snapped back, and her fingers latched onto Xue Hongling’s jaw, prying open her tightly clenched teeth.

Bright red blood spilled from Xue Hongling’s mouth. Inside, she had nearly bitten her own tongue in half!

If Xue Hanyan hadn’t noticed something was wrong and acted in time, the force would have been enough to sever her tongue completely.

"Have you gone mad?!"

Xue Hanyan was furious, a trace of real anger finally showing on her face. Looking at her hopeless disciple, she wanted nothing more than to strike her dead with a single blow.

"You... let him go."

Xue Hongling stared at her master without a trace of fear.

She could see that Wu Chen was powerless to fight back. He was just standing his ground, making a final, desperate bluff.

Through a mouth filled with thick, viscous blood, she spoke, her words slurred. "Otherwise... I’ll die."

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