Chapter 67: Blue Silver Berries
"Drifting wind sword." Yu Nianzhen swung his sword.
Nine wind blades rushed forward, and Yu Nianzhen wasn’t far behind.
He flew fast, and a moment later, he arrived thirty metres away.
"Who are you?" A young woman glared at him.
The young woman was standing in front of a one-metre-tall herb tree.
The tree had three bundles of blue silver fruit, and each bundle had six berries.
In total, there were eighteen berries.
"Does it matter?" Yu Nianzhen asked back.
At first, he came to the valley because he was attracted by a light fruity scent.
Even when he attacked earlier, he didn’t know what kind of herb was growing in the valley.
He only wanted to prevent the young woman from picking it before he saw what it was.
However, now that he saw it, he couldn’t let it go.
The blue silver herb was a peak-grade silver rank herb.
It did not increase cultivation, but its benefits to the body could not be ignored.
When cultivating martial arts, it was inevitable that a cultivator would damage their body.
If the injuries were not removed using special elixirs, the hidden injuries would accumulate and may cause the body to collapse.
One of the best elixirs for removing hidden injuries was the regeneration pill refined using the blue silver berry.
It could repair damaged cells, rejuvenate the body, and decelerate the process of ageing.
In modern terms, the blue silver berry was a super antioxidant.
If refined by a powerful alchemist, the effect would be even more exaggerated.
There was a chance it could reverse the process of ageing making one look younger.
After going through the tribulation when breaking through to the origin forging realm, Yu Nianzhen’s body was enhanced, and most of his hidden injuries were removed.
Because of this, he did not need a regeneration pill, but Jiang Yue needed it.
Even if he felt bad for snatching from the young woman, Yu Nianzhen was only uncomfortable for a moment.
In the end, everything depended on strength.
If he got the herb, it was because the other person was weaker than him.
"Indeed, it doesn’t matter." The young woman agreed.
Without another word, she narrowed her eyes and coated her palm with qi.
"Mountain collapsing palm." She shouted and rushed towards Yu Nianzhen.
When she was half a metre in front of him, she stretched her palm and slapped downwards.
"Heavy mountain strike." Yu Nianzhen slashed upward.
His sword met the palm, and a loud thud filled the surroundings.
In this first encounter, neither had an upper hand.
"How..." The young woman was surprised when she saw this.
She was at the peak of the ninth level of the origin forging realm, while her opponent was only at the seventh level.
She thought her victory was assured, but the first strike told her otherwise.
However, she was only surprised for a moment.
In the end, she was in the ninth level, and he was in the seventh level.
Even if his sword art was strong, she had more qi.
If they fought for a long time, she would be the last one standing.
After thinking this, she calmed her heart and once again used the mountain collapsing palm.
"Soft water slash."
Yu Nianzhen no longer used the heavy mountain strike.
Although it was strong, he hadn’t realised its intent.
Because of this, its power was only comparable to the girl’s palm strike and would not result in victory.
Unlike the heavy mountain strike that pursued weight, the soft water slash pursued softness.
When the mountain collapsing palm met the soft water slash, both attacks disappeared without a sound.
"Interesting."
The young woman smiled and also changed her palm art.
"Fire palm."
Although her palm did not change colour, the surrounding air became a little warm.
As the palm approached Yu Nianzhen, he felt his skin begin to dry.
His blood began to warm and had the tendency to boil.
Yu Nianzhen frowned when he felt these changes.
Although he was sure he could block this palm if he activated his intent, he did not do so.
Instead, he retreated to avoid the palm.
"You are not my opponent. Leave, and I won’t pursue." The young woman said.
The two didn’t have irreconcilable grudges, and there was no reason to fight to the death.
Although the blue silver berry herb was valuable, it wasn’t as valuable as one’s life.
Yu Nianzhen also understood the logic.
However, the young woman wasn’t so powerful that she could threaten his life.
If the situation turned dire, he would use his sword intent to deal with her.
The reason he didn’t do so from the beginning was because he wanted to practice his sword arts.
He understood the drifting wind sword intent because he used it frequently.
Although he could practice his sword arts by himself, it was always better to practice against an opponent.
With this thought, Yu Nianzhen didn’t answer the young woman.
Instead, he swung his sword, and a water drop rushed towards the woman.
"You..." She shouted angrily.
She thought that the other would recognise the difference in their abilities and leave.
She didn’t expect that the other person didn’t appreciate her kindness.
However, she didn’t have the time to be angry at this moment.
The water drop was rushing towards her, and she could feel a sense of danger from it.
’Block or evade?’
In less than a breath, she made her decision and jumped to the side.
Although she could block, there was no reason to work harder than necessary.
She would use a lot of qi to block the attack, which may lead to a disadvantage if they continued fighting.
As soon as she landed on the side, she pushed her palm forward.
A strong wind rushed towards Yu Nianzhen.
The wind was filled with dominance, and he felt that he would be injured if the wind palm landed on his body.
"Drifting wind sword."
Nine wind blades rushed forth and met the wind palm.
The wind palm disappeared, but the wind blades were not extinguished.
One blade continued to rush towards the young woman, but she easily blocked it.
’The drifting wind sword is still my most powerful sword art.’ Yu Nianzhen observed.
When he comprehended the drifting wind sword intent, the drifting wind sword art had innately changed.
Even without activating its intent, the sword art contained a mystery that was absent in his other sword arts.
After blocking the wind blade, the young woman approached Yu Nianzhen.
Although she was wary about fighting a swordsman at close range, her most powerful palm arts were most suitable for close combat.
In that case, she needed to risk injury to defeat her opponent.
At worst, they would both be injured.
However, her cultivation was higher, and her injury would be light compared to his.
"Mountain collapsing palm." She shouted.
This time, she did not strike the palm above Yu Nianzhen’s head.
Instead, she struck his chest.
She had already given him a chance, and he did not appreciate it.
His death was no longer her concern.
However, she had underestimated Yu Nianzhen.
If this palm strike was used on another cultivator at the seventh level of the origin forging realm, their life would be harvested, but this was not so for Yu Nianzhen.
His body had been enhanced twice.
The first time was when he broke through to the origin forging realm.
At the peak of the meridian awakening realm, he had a force value of ten thousand kilogrammes.
This meant that his body could withstand more than ten thousand kilogrammes.
After breaking through to the origin forging realm, the force value of all cultivators would at least double.
In his case, Yu Nianzhen’s force value had tripled because of the special circumstance of his breakthrough.
Also, he had comprehended a sword intent recently.
This had allowed his body to enter the first realm of sword body refining, which had further enhanced his body.
Yu Nianzhen’s current body was at least comparable to the body of a first-level qi transformation realm cultivator.
Although his opponent was powerful, her attack couldn’t kill him.
At most, he would be injured.
However, he didn’t want to be injured if he didn’t have to be.
Because of this, Yu Nianzhen slashed a wide arc in front of him.
This slash wasn’t one of the sword arts he comprehended.
It was an instinctive slash that materialised in his moment of urgency.
"It’s useless." The young woman shouted, but her face turned pale in the next moment.
When her palm met the slash, she felt like a barrier had appeared between them.
She injected more qi to strengthen her palm strike, but no matter what, the palm could not penetrate the barrier.
"What is this?"
She frowned and jumped backwards.
There were many swordsmen in her sect.
However, this was the first time she came across a sword barrier she couldn’t breach.
