Chapter 635: Now Or Never

The sea winds blew freely. Tension rose as the two warriors watched each other intently. Darkness descended upon them suddenly. The cheerful radiance of the sun was shrouded by columns of clouds that sparked with lightning and rumbled with thunder.

“You are powerful.” Ning Tai remarked in the accented tongue of the Great Jin Empire. His body looked outwardly relaxed and calm, but his aura within him grew rigid like a taut bow and his readiness climbed to its climax.

His eyes were filled with burning passion—a love for the exhilarating experience of intense battle even at the cost of his life!

“So are you.” Meng Qi’s hand leisurely rested on the hilt of his saber with an air that was not of arrogance but of tremendous confidence in his own abilities. He stood proud and erect, a man of imposing bearing.

His opponent had not brandished his weapon, but Ning Tai could already feel the staggering pressure weighing down on him!

“What terrible aura! It is no less strong than other powerful warriors I have encountered before! My blade would never be able to see the day if this continues!”Ning Tai thought suddenly.

For the past few months, Meng Qi had been assimilating the Dharma and Logos of Nature. In the meantime, he had also meditated and studied the techniques of the Divine Nine-annihilation and the Six Strokes of the Overlord, including the methods of intensifying his dominating presence. With the Eight Nine Mysteries discipline, he was now able to project more than two-thirds of the same presence as the Overlord himself!

The winds died down and the choppy waves subsided. On the small shallop, Ning Tai bent forward slightly. He drew his left hand closer to himself while his right hand pointed the sword forward. He briskly called out.

“I challenge you to a duel!”

Unperturbed by the cry of his opponent, Meng Qi replied with a smile. “So be it then.”

Short and simple, with no unnecessary words.

As he spoke, his apertures unsealed discreetly. The Forms of the Golden Crow, the Grand Sun, and the cosmic stars of the Chaos materialized and converged as one into the Celestial diorama formed by the internal aura of his Nine Innate Apertures and his internal organs. The manifested Celestial returned to its original form before the passage of time where there was only absolute nothingness!

The “Big Bang” technique was ready!

This time, Meng Qi did not cast the technique as he usually did. Instead, he concentrated the powers of the technique upon the blade of the Heaven Inflicted Pain. The stroke also contained vestiges of the Chaos Vortex technique from the Virtual Purity Sabersmanship and the fundamentals he had learned from the first of the Six Strokes of the Overlord.

In his most recent hermetic training, he had learned to instill his freshly-acquired understandings into the “Big Bang” technique of his creation. With the refinement of the technique using the assimilation of the “Singular Existence” technique, the “Big Bang” was close to its completion. Its potential close to the peak of the Exterior levels due to its enhanced effects that Meng Qi’s conjured Dharmic Forms allowed. The full output of the technique was not inferior to the techniques of the Dharmakaya level!

At that very moment, Ning Tai felt Meng Qi’s aura grow in intensity, especially the saber that he held in his right hand. There was a strange concentration as if forces had been contained within the blade, displaying a still silence that contrasted deeply with their breathing and the flow of their boiling blood.

“An incredible draw of the saber!” Ning Tai gasped with shock. His aura wavered with fright, feeling everything around him grow dark as the saber left its sheath—a force of unstoppable magnitude!

Hardly uninitiated nor uninformed, he could clearly see the uniqueness and power of Meng Qi’s stroke!

The martial disciplines from the island of Dong Sang specialized in dealing the most powerful blow with the first strike. Coupling one’s mind and physique with the forces of Nature, the force of the blow blended all the elements into one concentrated blow that would erupt with terrifying force. Thus the first strike of warriors from Dong Sang commonly embodied the concept of “intensification” of powers.

“Now is the time, or I will never be able to draw my sword!” Beads of perspiration appeared on his forehead. His eyes squinted as he channeled his powers.

Suddenly, the small shallop skimmed over the sloshing waves and shot forward at the junk ship. Ning Tai took a small step forward and leaped off the little boat.

His speed rapidly increased as his feet stepped in the air and hurled himself at Meng Qi. Ning Tai bent his body slightly and held his sword in one hand and its scabbard in the other, preparing himself to attack!

As a warrior of the Exterior, he could call upon the forces of Heaven and Earth and harness them into the aura of his blade to strike at enemies from afar. However, against opponents of similar strength and power, the forces of such aura would diminish as distance increased. The same could be said for the effects of the Dharma and Logos of Nature upon oneself. Thus the damage of one’s attacks would weaken without the full utilization of one’s own physical strength. Battles would then become close combat between two combatants of similar powers, with clashes of fists and steel. The physique that one had continually honed for years, the amassing of the forces of Nature and the assimilation of the Dharma and Logos of Nature would be the keys to unleashing one’s greatest fighting powers in such skirmishes!

Therefore, seeing that Meng Qi was an opponent of equal level and strength, Ning Tai mustered his full power while waiting to strike at his opponent when he was close!

With the help of his Body Movement techniques, Ning Tai’s body appeared to separate into shimmering mirages that would throw enemies into confusion. If someone were to strike at Ning Tai’s flickering illusions and miss, he would lose the initiative. Therefore, it would be prudent for Meng Qi to either wait for a true opening to attack or use a ranged attack to disrupt Ning Tai’s momentum.

Instead, Meng Qi elected to strike first! He stood tall and erect in front of the ship’s bow with his saber tightly grasped.

“Now is the time!” Ning Tai drew closer and his right hand ripped his sword from the scabbard!

Splash!

There was a lightning flash of steel. Waves around them leaped several meters into the air before they came down together with the merciless swing of the saber!

The immense, bluish-black waves splashed back into the sea with a force that would flatten anything!

Meng Qi calmly watched his rapidly approaching foe. He did not draw his weapon, but, instead, his hand pushed the hilt of his saber deeply into its scabbard.

The tension in the air around them became heavier and heavier as if all elements of Nature and Time were being squeezed tightly, threatening to burst with a force that could destroy everything!

The air darkened with the rising intensity. The cold and fierce glint of steel came close to Meng Qi as the waves that rose up into the air covered his view of the sky.

His grip on his weapon suddenly tightened. The saber escaped from its sheath, swinging upward ferociously!

Chink!

The call of his saber pierced into the strata of heavens like the cry of a dragon, echoing into the distance across the entire city of Langya.

The saber flashed menacingly and dispersed the tension that lingered as if venting its frustration upon release from captivity. The never-before-seen eruption of such frightening force caused a huge flash of light that illuminated the sky.

With the fearsome blow, the dark tension around them crumbled. Even the sea of clouds in the sky was divided into halves above them. The waves of the ocean separated into two with the ship at the center of the divide. Far into the horizon, the divide stretched—so deep the ocean bed was visible!

The blade had endured a silent slumber in his heart. Upon its awakening, the force of its release could destroy all things or even reshape the very fabric of Nature!

In the city of Langya was He Jiu who took up lodging at the residence of the Ruan Clan, and Wang Siyuan who stayed on top of a mountain nearby. These experts of the Exterior turned to gaze in the direction of the seaport.

“The stroke displays the dominance of a warrior of unrivalled skills!”

“Su Meng is here? Has he reached such a level?”

“For more than a year, his blade had not seen the light of day within the Great Jin Empire! Who could have known that it would let loose such power upon its release!”

Clang!

The shining sword clashed furiously against the Heaven Inflicted Pain. Immediately, Ning Tai felt the indomitable force of his opponent’s stroke. The flash of his sword’s shiny glimmer was being split into two!

His sword, a Precious Weapon, was notched! He could vaguely see the blinding flashes from their clashing weapons through the chinks on his sword because it was about to fall apart!

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Suddenly, the cold and frenzied radiance from his opponent’s saber softened and mellowed. Flurries of illusions assailed his mind: illusions of different countermoves of the striking saber played before his eyes with blinding speed. The waves of the sea became calm as his opponent forced him backward.

Chink! Meng Qi returned his saber to its sheath.

The bright radiance from their frantic but brief clash disappeared as if on cue from the sound of Meng Qi’s saber being sheathed. The undulations of the sea were calm once more and Ning Tai was back in his position on the small shallop just like before.

Nothing seemed to have changed. It was as if their brief bout earlier was nothing more than a very realistic dream!

Ning Tai was stupefied for a while and then he roared with laughter.

“Indeed, the Central Plains has many great hidden talents! My journey here has not been in vain!

“To think that there is such skill of the saber in this world! Such martial disciplines!”

There was no pain, anguish nor anger. Instead, Ning Tai was delirious with joy.

“Wisdom came ere the Dawn was shining; Why pity when Death comes claiming!”

“Another fanatic of the martial arts…” Meng Qi’s view of his opponent improved. He bowed slightly in respect and said, “You have been gracious. It would have been extremely difficult for me to block your attack if we had met several months earlier.”

Indeed, Ning Tai was a person worthy of his name. If Meng Qi were to duel with him before he had encountered the vision of the Six Strokes of the Overlord, not even the Five Thunder Bombardment or the Big Bang technique would have ensured his victory. Without a proper state of mind and control of the tide of battle, or if he had committed any blunder, Meng Qi would have been forced to be on the defensive. Without conjuring his additional limbs and the Law Phenomenon enchantment, he would not have been able to end the clash with just one stroke.

“May I know your name, Young Master?” Ning Tai stowed away his sword and asked hesitantly.

“Su Meng, the Killing Blade.” Meng Qi uttered his name with a cheerful smile.

Ning Tai’s expression became proud and cold again. Poignantly, he said, “I have traveled west and I have seen much, yet I have only encountered two who amazed me. You are one of them, Master Su. You have given me such satisfaction in our duel.”

He spoke very passionately despite his lapses in the tongue of the Central Plains.

“Who is the other one?” Meng Qi asked with a snicker.

“He is also a man who cruises the sea with a small shallop. He wears strange robes of green and his expression is perpetually bewildered. I tried to catch up to him and possibly challenge him to a duel but I could not even catch up with his shadow. I only heard his voice, muttering ‘Who am I’ repeatedly.”

“Who am I…” Meng Qi eyes narrowed a little, remembering the strange Taoist who had chained the Gatekeeper outside Carefree Valley and the ink scroll left by the deity, Dongyang God!

“Where was he headed?” Meng Qi asked with feigned indifference.

“To the east,” Ning Tai said simply.

“The east?” The answer made Meng Qi frown slightly.

“Does that refer to the ‘East’ of the Dongyang God—literally, the God of the Eastern Sun?

“Or the ‘East’ of the Patriarch of the East?”

His thoughts wandered to the name of the “Immortality Elixir of the East Pole”, a name that he had once noticed amongst the legacies of the Dongyang God of old. The name “Azure Emperor”, also known as the Patriarch of the East!

At the thought of the name of the ancient legendary entity, Meng Qi took a light breath and tried not to reveal anything from his expression.

Knowing that Ning Tai could reveal no more, Meng Qi changed the subject. “Have you heard of the Qinghua Spiritual Wood? I heard that the continent of Dong Sang is a place blessed with many natural resources.”

“I have. But, those that are more than a thousand years old are rare. Those that have survived longer still would no longer be in existence,” said Ning Tai in the crude language of the Great Jin Empire.

Meng Qi nodded gently. He waved his arm toward the cityscape before them. “The city of Langya is just ahead. Would you not challenge He Jiu to a duel?”

Ning Tai shook his head. “I have learned much from the duel with you, Master Su. I will need some time to meditate and assimilate my gains before I can challenge He Jiu,” he said.

As he spoke, the small shallop turned and drifted in the direction of the islands near Langya.

Meng Qi smiled and saw his newfound friend off into the distance. Back on land, he settled the remaining payment for the boat. He stepped into the city and went in the direction of the Residence of the Ruan Clan.

As he drew near, he heard the music of flutes and zithers playing softly. The sweet sounds wafted through the wind and an overwhelming tranquility swept his senses as the Residence of the Ruan Clan loomed.

His brief but tumultuous display at sea had not gone unnoticed by the clan. A person he knew stood waiting for him at the entrance. It was Ruan Yaoguang.

Her hair was worn in a bun held by a pin. Clutching her dragon head’s staff, she surveyed Meng Qi before she gasped. “What a formidable young man indeed!”

Meng Qi was about to respond with a humble remark when she continued. “But you have come at an ill-timed hour. The Twenty-First Daughter is still in hermetic training. She plans to break through the Realm of the Exterior. It will take at least ten to fifteen days before she succeeds.”

From her voice, there was no doubt about Ruan Yushu’s ability to succeed.

“These are good tidings indeed.” Meng Qi remarked passionately before he continued with the true purpose of his visit. “I have heard of the matter involving the Blue-blooded People, so I have come to see if I can help. Does the Clan have any plans?”

With the slightest hint of her brows twitching, Ruan Yaoguang replied. “You have yet to pass the First Celestial Ladder, right?”

She had not sensed Meng Qi conjuring his Dharmic Forms earlier in his duel with Ning Tai.

“I am still a little short.” Meng Qi admitted honestly.

“The Blue-blooded People are gifted in combat. Without the powers of the First Celestial Ladder, any of their warriors who possess skills of the Exterior can kill you. I would advise that you stay away for your safety.” Ruan Yaoguang declined Meng Qi’s offer.

However, there was something about her bluntness that puzzled Meng Qi. He swiftly said, “I have techniques that could disrupt the Blue-blooded People’s ability to manipulate water.”

“I see.” Ruan Yaoguang responded flatly. “The Patriarch has asked for help from the Master of the Wang Clan and his Divine Weapon, the Book of Luo. They are divining more information on the Blue-blooded People as we speak. There are no further plans for now. You can come and stay for a few days while we wait.”

“The Book of Luo, one of the Peerless Godly Weapons? Even the Wang Clan of River East is involved in this?” The revelation was shocking to Meng Qi. He cupped one hand in the other before his chest and spoke modestly. “With Yushu in meditation and training, there is no one in the Clan that I am close to. Please allow me to take up lodging at a monastery or a temple for convenience.”

“Very well.” Ruan Yaoguang nodded softly.

“I was just being modest…” Meng Qi felt his cheeks burn slightly. Doubt and skepticism about Ruan Yaoguang’s strange demeanor niggled at his mind.

He repressed further thoughts and left to seek temporary shelter at the Three-clearness Monastery nearby.