Chapter 15: Can't See Clearly

However, in the next instant, the shadows before his eyes were abruptly split in two.

A blinding blade light burst forth from that darkness, moving with extreme speed and striking toward his arms with the force of a thunderbolt.

Yu Changlu was instantly struck with terror. His internal true qi erupted as he attempted to dodge.

But at that moment, another flash of blade light, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, streaked in diagonally, locking onto the center of his throat.

An intense sense of mortal peril told him that if he dared to dodge, the fall of this blade would surely sever his head from his body!

Yu Changlu froze in horror. In that moment of hesitation, two streaks of blood sprayed from his arms.

A sudden sensation of loss of strength caused his arms to plummet violently, and the heavy hammer in his hands crashed to the ground like a rootless tree.

Yu Changlu looked down to see a cold, slender blade resting against the side of his neck, while he could no longer feel even a shred of sensation in his dangling arms.

"Projecting true qi? Are you a Martial Arts Grandmaster?"

Yu Changlu looked up in terror, staring at Cang Yinyue, who stood quietly before him.

At that moment, a mountain breeze blew through Cang Yinyue's slender figure, and a cold voice drifted from beneath her gently fluttering veil

"Not quite. I can only be considered a half-step."

In martial arts cultivation, the Houtian Realm can be divided into three minor levels based on the number of meridians a practitioner has broken through and connected.

The Xiantian Realm is similarly divided into three stages.

One who has connected the Ren and Du meridians and can absorb the true qi of heaven and earth into their body is called a Xiantian Expert; this is the first stage of Xiantian.

One who uses the internal rotation of martial true qi as a foundation, projecting it outward until it is as condensed as a physical substance, can be considered to have reached the second stage of Xiantian. In the martial world, this realm is known as the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm.

Any Martial Arts Grandmaster holds a significant status in the martial world, equivalent to an Elder within the Blood Bath Alliance.

The two shadows Cang Yinyue had just split from herself were a combination of her "Lingcang Shadow Art" puppet shadow bodies and her condensed martial true qi.

However, she had not yet fully mastered true qi projection; this move was merely a clever use of momentum and could not be sustained for long.

Nevertheless, even with this technique, she would not fall far behind when facing a true Martial Arts Grandmaster.

"How does Miss Cang intend to deal with them?"

At this time, Li Musheng's voice rang out from behind Cang Yinyue.

He sat atop a mule, observing the now-tendon-severed Yu Changlu with a contemplative expression.

Hearing this, Yu Changlu instinctively glanced up at him before turning his gaze toward his subordinates.

To his shock, he saw his men standing along the mountain path, motionless like statues.

For a moment, a strange feeling rose in Yu Changlu's heart.

When he had fought Cang Yinyue just now, he had actually kept a fleeting eye on the condition of his subordinates.

Yet, from beginning to end, he had not seen this young man make a single move.

The opponent seemed to have merely ridden over on that mediocre mule, and then his subordinates had become like this without any warning.

Cang Yinyue shared the same feeling.

She had never taken Yu Changlu seriously, so while she was attacking, she had more than enough capacity to observe Li Musheng.

Cang Yinyue wanted to view it from a bystander's perspective to see exactly what kind of acupoint-striking technique it was that even she found difficult to resist.

She even wondered if she could find a way to counter it.

However, to her great surprise, she had not seen any sign of Li Musheng taking action this time.

And yet, the members of the Blood Bath Alliance had still been struck at their acupoints.

"How did you do it?"

Cang Yinyue did not answer but instead asked a question, her sharp eyes staring at that handsome face that carried a hint of playfulness.

"How did I do what?"

Li Musheng was momentarily stunned, then realized what she meant. He turned to look behind him

"You mean them?"

Then, he turned back around and said lazily

"It's naturally the Sunflower Acupoint Striking Hand. Didn't I tell you last time? It's a martial art I created myself."

Cang Yinyue frowned slightly and shook her head.

"But I didn't see you move."

Li Musheng gave a light smile.

"Then it can only be said that your martial arts are still a bit lacking. You'll need to practice diligently in the future. To be honest, my move just now was quite slow."

Hearing this, Cang Yinyue sneered and said bluntly

"You're such a poser!"

The implication of "poser" was something she had heard from Li Musheng before, and it seemed perfectly fitting for him now.

Li Musheng spread his hands helplessly.

"Then I'll demonstrate it for you one more time. I hope you watch closely this time."

As soon as he spoke, Yu Changlu, who was already powerless to resist, felt his eyes shift, staring intently at Li Musheng.

He also hadn't seen Li Musheng move, so he was curious about what method this young man had used to subdue his men.

However, he was extremely baffled to see that after speaking, Li Musheng remained seated on the mule with no intention of moving. Instead, he abruptly asked

"Miss Cang, did you see clearly this time?"

Before Yu Changlu could figure out what was happening, he suddenly heard the woman before him gasp.

"How on earth did you do it?"

Cang Yinyue's eyes were filled with shock.

She discovered that immediately after Li Musheng finished speaking, her body had suddenly become unable to move. Her acupoints were blocked, and even the true qi in her dantian could not circulate.

And all of this happened in an instant. She hadn't seen Li Musheng move at all; he was just sitting there on the horse as if he hadn't moved a muscle.

"Practice makes perfect."

Li Musheng waved his hand modestly and said with a chuckle

"Don't be discouraged, Miss Cang. As long as you practice diligently, one day you will surely be able to see it clearly."

With that, he flicked his finger, and Cang Yinyue found she could move freely again.

Her expression shifted several times as she gave Li Musheng a deep look, then she sheathed the slender blade that had been resting against Yu Changlu's neck.

"I underestimated you."

Cang Yinyue exhaled a breath of turbid air and said

"Martial arts that can strike acupoints from a distance are extremely rare in the martial world, and you have clearly mastered this technique to perfection. It makes sense that I couldn't see your technique."

As she spoke, her gaze turned sharp as she looked at Yu Changlu.

"With such a method of self-protection, even if a Grandmaster-level expert in the martial world were to strike, they might find it difficult to harm you. There is a high possibility we can break through the rest of this journey."

At this moment, Yu Changlu had not yet regained his senses. He didn't know if the banter between this young man and woman just now was real or fake.

In any case, from his perspective, Li Musheng hadn't even moved a hand.

As for whether he had truly struck Cang Yinyue's acupoints from a distance and instantly subdued a half-step Grandmaster, he had no way of knowing, nor did he dare to ask.

However, he could guess the reason why Cang Yinyue had not killed him.

(End of Chapter)