Chapter 400: Strength Over Skill

Wang Zai dropped his voice to a whisper and told Meng Qi, Yan Chong and Chu Yunyu, “Aunt Bai is the younger sister of the Bai Family Master. Her real name is Bai Lianxiang but she goes by the nickname Seven. When she was young, she indulged in pleasure and entertainment and was not well-known. However, ever since she entered her 30s, she suddenly realized how she had been wasting her life away and started working on the Kung Fu that she had neglected for many years. She refused to use her original name and called herself Aunt Seven instead. Perhaps because she was born gifted in Kung Fu, she was able to make up for the years lost very quickly, and achieved the stage of Oneness of Heaven and Men just as she passed 40 years old. Her success story is considered an anecdote in Ying City even now.”

“The Bai and Mi families often formed alliances through marriage, so Zijing’s mother is the elder sister of Aunt Bai. No wonder he was so uncomfortable in front of her…”

It was rare for Wang Zai to tease other people.

Even though Yan Chong and Chu Yunyu were often in River East, they had never heard of Aunt Bai, since she always practiced behind closed doors and, at most, only sparred with people near Ying City. Now they knew that there was such a character hiding in Ying City apart from the masters at the Half-step Exterior Scenery-level and above.

Meng Qi had never heard of Aunt Bai either, but he was not unfamiliar with the Bai Family. From the concise information about Ying City that Six Fan School had provided, he knew that the Bai Family was ranked first among all aristocratic families. Aunt Bai’s uncle, the old Master Bai Baxian, was a Peerless Master Pro who had immersed himself in martial arts. Since he was never married, the position of the family head was eventually passed on to his nephew.

In addition, the Bai Family was not native to Ying City, having moved there more than a hundred years ago from a remote place in the South. They were said to have offended the Blood-robed Cult, which claimed hegemony in the remote South, and had to leave their homeland seeking refuge in the Central Plains. After the efforts of several generations, they finally managed to establish a firm foothold in Ying City, and became a recognized aristocratic family: the Blood-robed Cult, one of the Nine Evil Paths.

There were rumors that the elder who led the Bai Family to seek refuge back then was still alive, but they were never proven.

Mi Zijing was scared speechless by Aunt Bai’s retort, yet he knew it would be impolite to put on airs in front of his seniors, so he tried to appease her anger as he smiled and said, “Aunt Seven, I wonder what you are going to do, now that you’ve jumped into the arena.”

“I’m here to challenge them, of course!” Aunt Bai shouted matter-of-factly. She looked past Mi Zijing and fixed her eyes on Yan Chong and Meng Qi.

“But, but isn’t this bullying? You’re more powerful and older than them.” Mi Zijing had a terrible headache upon hearing her words. His Aunt Seven had always been headstrong, and that temper of hers had not changed much since her youth. The only difference was that she was a lot stronger now, otherwise he would stop her through “violent means”.

Aunt Bai brought back her gaze and glared at Mi Zijing’s ears with hatred, causing the poor fellow to remember the how painful it was every time she pinched his ears when he was a child. He shuddered at the thought of being pinched again and took a step back.

“Since when was I considered old? In Jianghu, 30 years makes a generation, so it just happens that we represent the beginning and end of the same generation!” Aunt Bai barked, resorting to fallacious reasoning.

Mi Zijing was afraid of embarrassing himself before the masses, so he nodded abjectly and turned to look at Wang Zai, Meng Qi and the others for their opinions.

“If it’s just sparring, I have no objections.” Yan Chong stroked the hilt of his knife. Faced with an opponent who seemed to be on the same level as he was, his interest had been piqued and he was eager to go.

Meng Qi was also no longer in his relaxed and carefree state. His right arm sagged a little to rest against the body of his blade as he calmly said, “Neither do I.”

Upon seeing Yan Chong and Meng Qi agree to the challenge, Wang Zai and Chu Yunyu exchanged glances and gently nodded as well.

In any case, given Aunt Bai’s realm of strength, she had better things to do than challenge them.

“See, Little Zijing, they all think I’m a young talent.” Aunt Bai was smiling brightly, very contrary to the long face she was pulling a while ago.

Mi Zijing’s face flushed a bright red that extended all the way to the tips of his ears. He used Secret Voice-sending to ask his aunt, “Aunt Seven, could you not address me like that any more?”

Then, without waiting for Aunt Bai to reply, he quickly asked, “Aunt Seven, who are you going to challenge?”

Aunt Bai’s attention was indeed drawn away. She paused to think for a moment, then replied, “I guess I’ll go with The Unstoppable. His realm is good enough and this isn’t a battle to the death, so he’d be just right as an opponent.”

Yan Chong did not speak, but responded with his actions. He took his long knife and slowly got up, revealing the black clothes underneath his cloak that had been left behind on the chair. He took his time to walk to the edge of the platform with every stride covering the exact same distance. Then, he stepped into the air.

Unexpectedly, he did not immediately sink down. Instead, it looked like he was stepping on stairs, making use of the waves to “walk” down step by step with his legs crossed. It was even more unbelievable than Meng Qi floating like a fallen leaf before. The crowd’s jaws dropped at the sight of it and did not close for a long while.

“Well. Isn’t. That. Interesting.” Aunt Bai’s eyes narrowed.

She paused between every word as her voice grew louder and louder, and by the time she said “interesting”, her voice was reverberating in the crowd’s ears. At the same time, her aura changed as well. A barbaric feeling hit them in the face as she seemed to turn into a human-like beast from the past.

Her feet were still and rooted to the ground, as if she were gathering strength from it.

Meng Qi straightened his back, his eyes glued to the two of them. They were rare enlightenment period masters indeed.

Yan Chong’s feet did not stop. He moved increasingly faster until when he was ten feet away, he suddenly pulled out his long saber and swung it at Aunt Bai from afar.

Knife Momentum surged and Knife Qi ripped across the air. The long saber seemed to have transformed into a giant wave that engulfed the distance of ten feet in a flash, already appearing in front of Aunt Bai.

Aunt Bai still stood in the same spot, and then punched forward all of a sudden. It was a heavy and terrifying punch that seemed capable of tearing monstrous creatures apart. Even when looked at from afar, one could feel the majestic force of it crushing his chest and hindering his breathing.

“What massive and pure strength…” Meng Qi was rather surprised. Even though he practiced Eight Nine Mysteries, he would probably have to open his Nine Apertures in order to possess such immense strength. Of course, if he had achieved Oneness of Heaven and Men, he was sure that he could hold Aunt Bai down with his strength alone.

“But that doesn’t seem like something to be proud of, it’s not like I’m someone who relies on brute strength!”

Ying Shaozhuo, who was at a high platform nearby, silently looked at the deep footprints he had created. He analyzed his performance with regard to Aunt Bai’s current one, and suddenly felt like all sorts of skills were useless before her absolute strength.

“Clang!”

Knife and fist collided with each other. Aunt Bai did not shake from the force at all, whereas Yan Chong took advantage of the momentum to display his Body Movements. Knife moves rolled in from all sides towards Aunt Bai like stormy winds or towering waves.

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His bladesmanship began to change. It was sometimes endlessly charging, sometimes ferocious, sometimes hiding surging undercurrents, and sometimes tender yet unpredictable. It could be attacking flaws, setting a death trap, closely following Dharma and Logos, simple or complex. It was at his fingertips, flowed according to his will, and did not rigidly adhere to common sense, but also joined together to perform a scene as vigorous as a thunderstorm.

Meng Qi watched in awe. Yan Chong was worthy of being a knife-wielding master among the top ten on the Ranking List of Young Masters. His realm was slightly better than Meng Qi’s own, the equivalent of Jiang Zhiwei before she opened her nine Apertures.

Aunt Bai, on the other hand, was another sight to behold. Every punch and kick possessed the strength of dragons or elephants. They were heavy and majestic, either sweeping across the battlefield or slamming straight ahead. A few simple moves from her seemed to constitute a perfect whole, blocking all of Yan Chong’s knife strikes and forcing him to change his moves. That was because if his blade collided with her fists, it would definitely be his loss. If that continued to happen, he would be defeated.

The sky darkened out of the blue as grey clouds began gathering and silvery-white thunderbolts snaked in and out of them.

The air became damp and circled around Yan Chong like it was about to form a stream of water. If one closed his eyes and felt his surroundings purely using his mental energy, he would notice that there were many drops of water condensing in the air. Following Yan Chong’s Knife Momentum, the area turned into a vast undulating ocean with raging waves.

“Boom!”

Silvery-white light flashed past and thunder rumbled. Rain began pouring down on the entire practicing field and even beyond it, gradually growing heavier.

The water that pooled near the area where they were standing was so dark, it was almost black. With the thunderstorm and lightning in the background, it resembled a stormy ocean.

Neither of them had deliberately triggered natural phenomena, because after all, they still had no way of benefitting from it yet. However, under the draw of the air, the weather had changed!

In Meng Qi’s eyes, Aunt Bai’s barbaric aura was stronger. It was as if she had returned to the time when the Human tribe was just rising, killing ferocious beasts with mere sticks and stones. Although her actions did not vary much, she was undeniably strong. Exterior-level Kill Moves seemed effortless to her.

Aunt Bai gradually became fiercer and fiercer as the battle progressed. Yan Chong did not look like he was about to lose, but it was already clear that he was at a disadvantage, being unable to find a chance to display his ultimate move.

In the heat of the battle, Aunt Bai forced Yan Chong back with a punch, and then cast her gaze at the high platform where Meng Qi was. She looked right at him and said,

“You, come at me too!”

Meng Qi was all ready to refuse because he preferred to lose one-on-one instead of carrying the notoriety of winning two-on-one. However, he suddenly felt the hunger in Aunt Bai’s gaze, and was shaken up by it, as if he realized something. He sighed. “I’ll take this as doing a good deed then.”

“Clang!” He unsheathed his long saber and leaped into the air. He descended from above as if he had the intent of cleaving mountains in half.

As Heaven Inflicted Pain swung down, it was trembling. Every quiver was like heavy accumulated strength or thunder, and silver lightning bolts appeared to be converging nearby.

“BOOM!”

Thunder erupted everywhere. The long saber swung right above Aunt Bai’s head with impossible strength and ferocity.

No matter how strong Aunt Bai was, she knew better than to underestimate that strike. She threw her right fist up like she was hurling rocks at flying birds.

The timing of Meng Qi’s knife strike was just right. It appeared to take over the battle for a moment and created an opportunity for Yan Chong to fight back.

His long saber moved from the bottom up and then turned downwards. Its Knife Momentum and Knife Intent were raging. It was as if a devastating tsunami had erupted from it.

The water nearby seemed to have sensed something and turned into a sea of black, emerging from behind Yan Chong with great strength.

The tsunami rushed in, devouring everything in its sight, while thunder rumbled as if it were signalling divine punishment. Aunt Bai was facing both of them at once, putting her in a tight spot.

However, she did not give in. On the contrary, her aura burst out and continuously grew stronger and her feet seemed to become one with the earth. She threw fearsome and heavy punches to her side and above.

“Boom!”

Both fists made contact with both blades. Lightning flashed and water sprayed everywhere. Aunt Bai’s aura was suppressed, and her fists started bleeding.

All of a sudden, she released a long roar and her growing aura made a break through. Storm clouds gathered between her brows and snatched their gazes away like a black hole.

The sky suddenly turned bright, the grey clouds dispersed, the mist vanished and the earth shook uncontrollably. The surrounding high platforms all sunk into the ground by an inch!

As the wind and clouds swelled and his body became heavier, Meng Qi made use of the momentum to land on the ground, just in time to see Aunt Bai chuckling. Then she turned away, leaving them with nothing more than a sentence.

“I won’t forget this favor!”

“Thank you both.” Mi Zijing hurriedly rushed forward and forced a pained smile on Aunt Bai’s behalf. “My Aunt Seven is like that. She always acts recklessly despite being rather old.”

Meng Qi and Yan Chong looked at each other, shock evident in their eyes. They both understood what the other was trying to imply.

“Is He Jiu’s Party of Happycloud going to be like that as well?”

Was he going to fight ten masters on the Ranking List of Young Masters at once by himself?

It would not be that exaggerated, would it…

If Wang Siyuan and Jiang Zhiwei were excluded from the bunch, it was actually quite possible…