Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Useless
VMM!
With a slash of his saber, Jiang Ran moved to lop off Li Feiyun’s head.
In that instant, the shock and the smile on Li Feiyun’s face both froze. In the nick of time, he shot out a hand and grabbed.
With a sharp CRACK, he actually caught the blade of Jiang Ran’s saber in his left palm.
The blade’s edge glinted coldly. It had come within a hair’s breadth of severing his hand.
A blood-red light filled Li Feiyun’s eyes. How could he dare to underestimate Jiang Ran now?
Blood seeped from his body, but instead of dripping to the ground, it coiled around his hand like a blood-red glove.
The saber’s edge sank into it but found itself unable to advance another inch.
Li Feiyun looked up at Jiang Ran.
"Who... who in the world are you?"
"Jiang Ran, an Assassin."
A faint smile touched Jiang Ran’s lips. The inner breath of his Creation of the Righteous Heart Scripture stirred, splitting into yin and yang. The two forces merged, creating something from nothing, a seemingly endless power!
A massive force suddenly slammed down. The momentum sent Li Feiyun flying out of the covered walkway.
"First Chieftain!"
Geng Zhaoxing’s expression changed, and he rushed forward to help.
Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed slightly.
"Your betrayal is quite thorough, isn’t it."
The saber fell. Before Geng Zhaoxing could even see the glint of the blade, he was sliced in two at the waist, falling to the ground with an unending scream.
Using the momentary delay, Li Feiyun tapped his foot and shot up, about to make his escape.
Just then, the Great Master suddenly spoke up.
"His Blood Cauldron Scripture can use human blood to heal injuries. If you let him escape from here..."
Hearing this, Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed slightly.
Li Feiyun, who was in mid-flight, looked back at the Great Master in disbelief.
Jiang Ran tapped his foot, and the Creation True Qi gathered on the saber in his hand, making the blade hum and buzz.
Suddenly, he raised the blade.
The qi formed a single line; the saber moved without a sound!
A blade gleam, so fierce it was nearly unstoppable, suddenly tore through the air.
The Great Master looked up at the strike and lightly bit his lip.
Li Feiyun, however, whirled around. With his palms open, the inner breath of his Blood Cauldron Scripture began to spin wildly, and streams of blood rushed from his wounds.
His face was pale, yet the aura around him—his Inner Strength—suddenly surged!
In front of him, a layer of blood-red Gang Qi formed.
The moment the blade gleam touched this qi shield, ripples and waves spread out in an instant.
Suspended in midair, Li Feiyun had no leverage. He used his cultivation to resist head-on, but his body was pushed back by Jiang Ran’s blade, sending him flying backward uncontrollably.
He flew for thirty or fifty feet before finally starting to fall.
Below him was a fish pond, filled with numerous goldfish.
He tapped a foot, then again, and again. Each time his foot touched down, a pillar of water shot into the sky.
He stepped on the water’s surface six or seven times in a row. The fish in the pond were the real victims; who knows how many were killed by the shockwaves from his steps.
His body finally came to a stop against a wall. Barely managing to support himself, he circulated the Blood Cauldron Scripture once more. He raised his hands as if lifting a mountain and fiercely pushed out, concentrating a blood-red force between them.
Jiang Ran came at him with his saber, suddenly gripping it with both hands and slashing down from the air.
VMM!
The blade gleam and the blood-red True Qi collided in an instant, creating a deafening explosion.
The first thing to be hit was a rockery in the pond, which was blown to smithereens by the aftershock of their forces.
Next was the water in the pond, which was thrown more than thirty feet into the air.
Even the scattered droplets of water carried enough force to leave dents in the surrounding wood.
Jiang Ran used the momentum to flip back onto the covered walkway. He held his saber casually, the blade angled toward the ground.
Li Feiyun, on the other hand, flipped onto the wall. Before he could even steady himself, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
He looked at the blood, seeming to feel a pang of regret, then looked back at Jiang Ran, his expression even uglier.
"The Blood Cauldron Scripture... Why is it useless against you?"
The fight had reached this state with Li Feiyun completely on the defensive, taking a beating and constantly trying to escape.
This was not only because Jiang Ran’s Inner Energy was powerful, but more importantly, Li Feiyun hadn’t been able to unleash even a fraction of the Blood Cauldron Scripture’s true power.
The most dangerous aspect of the Blood Cauldron Scripture was its sinister, cold Inner Strength, cultivated using the blood of virgins.
Although this Inner Strength was of the yin attribute, because the Cultivator was male, it was augmented with a layer of Yang Fire.
In a normal fight, this inner breath would be all-pervasive.
Whether transmitted through the air or through an object, as long as this force landed on an opponent, it could freeze their bones and boil their blood, turning them into a dried corpse in a matter of moments.
Today, Li Feiyun had felt an appreciation for Jiang Ran’s talent. In their initial exchange, he had flicked a trace of Blood Cauldron True Qi onto Jiang Ran’s blade, and that True Qi had instantly flowed into Jiang Ran’s palm.
Logically, that alone should have been enough to severely injure Jiang Ran.
Even with his profound Inner Energy, the most he could hope for was to not die immediately.
Li Feiyun could then bestow a favor upon him and perhaps win over this formidable warrior.
That was the clever scheme he had in mind.
But he never expected that after that move, Jiang Ran would be completely unscathed and would turn around to deliver a slash.
They were both experts. On any other day, Li Feiyun would have had ways to either dodge or block Jiang Ran’s attack.
But at that moment, he was busy trying to show Jiang Ran his powerful smile and his personal charisma as the First Chieftain.
Who would have thought his technique would be useless?
That slash had truly almost taken his head off.
Afterward, he had used techniques from the Blood Cauldron Scripture like ’Coiling Blood Hand’ and ’Mystic Blood Gang Qi’ to defend himself, and with every move, he had a chance to strike Jiang Ran with his True Qi.
However... all of that force was like a stone sinking into the ocean.
Not a single ripple was seen.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ran’s Inner Strength grew more and more turbulent, beating him down until he couldn’t fight back at all.
Now, having finally gotten a moment to catch his breath, he checked his own condition, and his face was already as black as iron.
His internal injuries were grim. ’This time... I’m done for,’ he thought.
But even at this point, he couldn’t suppress his curiosity, so he finally asked his question.
After hearing him out, Jiang Ran looked somewhat baffled.
"Blood Cauldron True Qi? It’s useless against me?"
"..."
Li Feiyun almost cursed his mother. ’If it were useful, you’d have died eight hundred times by now!!’
Jiang Ran laughed, not taking it seriously.
"Perhaps it’s because I cultivate the Creation of the Righteous Heart Scripture, a legacy passed down from the Righteous Heart Sect of old."
"This art is impervious to external evils. Your paltry Blood Cauldron True Qi is hardly a concern."
"Nonsense!!"
Li Feiyun grew even more furious upon hearing this.
"The Creation of the Righteous Heart Scripture is based on the state of one’s heart! What’s so special about it when it comes to the dao of flesh and blood?"
"How could my Blood Cauldron Scripture fail to break you... No, it’s impossible. Who are you, really?"
"Could it be... that you have some connection to the Demon Sect of the past?"
Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow.
"First Chieftain Li, did you use to weave hats before you became a bandit?"
"Because I really can’t bear the weight of the label you’re trying to pin on me."
"Enough nonsense... I still need your head for medicine. Now die!!"
Li Feiyun was stunned by his words.
"My head for medicine? And you still dare say you’re not from the Demon Sect?"
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