Su Yi’s figure shifted gracefully as he swung his fist, the subtleties of the Pine and Crane Body Refining Technique on full display.

This was a peerless foundational technique of the Martial Dao. In stillness, it was as steady as a pine tree, its roots embedded in the cliffside as it towered into the heavens. In motion, it was like an immortal crane beating its wings and soaring into the skies, free and at ease.

As he swung his fist, Su Yi’s blood and qi blazed like a furnace. Every last acupoint in his body lit up with dazzling light, his energy surging to its very limits. 

Bang!

Fist clashed against paw, a head-on collision, like two mountains crashing into one another. 

The space between Su Yi and the Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast burst with surging torrents of energy. As the power dispersed, the surrounding air collapsed with a wail, and mud flew through the air.

Su Yi suddenly staggered and retreated several steps back, his blood and qi churning within him.

With each step he took, the ground cracked and split, rumbling like thunder.

“I’m still missing a certain something. Again!”

The depths of Su Yi’s dark eyes lit up. He roared and charged back into the fray, his blue robes billowing in the wind. His tall, upright figure resembled a dragon leaping out of the abyss.

“Roar!” The Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast roared into the heavens, its voice booming like thunder.

Then, it attacked with even greater ferocity. It soared through the air, like a streak of flashing white light. It wasn’t just quick; every time it attacked, it struck with all the swiftness of lightning and ferocity of fire.

A single casual attack from those massive claws could easily slay an ordinary Grandmaster; they were terrifying to the extreme.

Cha Jin watched from within the stone cave. Watching their battle sent chills down her spine, and the look on her beautiful face changed again and again and again. Her heart had long since tensed up.

If that were me, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to block even a single hit…

But Su Yi was different.

He was clearly a peerless master of the sword, and she knew he was capable of calling upon thunder and lightning, yet to her shock, he did neither. Instead, he clashed with the beast barehanded.

To Cha Jin, the most unbelievable part was that despite the violent ferocity of their combat, Su Yi didn’t seem to be at any disadvantage!

Every time he faced a potentially fatal threat, he dodged by a hair, his footwork exquisitely precise. Anyone watching would have sighed with admiration.

Although he wasn’t falling behind, Su Yi couldn’t seize the advantage so easily, either. 

The Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast was simply too powerful. Its sharp claws spat fiery light, and its ferocious energy spread outward, filling the air and covering the ground. A single light tap was enough to shatter boulders and snap fully-grown trees.

Furthermore, the beast was obviously intelligent. It carefully timed its attacks and dodged Su Yi’s strikes; it attacked and retreated in accordance with the situation. It was completely different from those low-level spirit beasts that only knew how to fight and destroy.

Boom!

Man and beast clashed violently under the cover of night. Everything within ten thousand feet became their battleground. The surrounding rocks and vegetation were already nothing but pebbles and ash, and they’d already left countless cracks and rifts in the ground. The sheer devastation was shocking. 

A clash like this was far more terrifying than a battle between the world’s top Grandmasters.

Cha Jin was already terrified and completely on edge, and she found it difficult to calm herself.

It was now that she finally realized just how enormous the gap between her and Su Yi really was.

They were as far apart as the mud and the clouds!

After all, Su Yi was still only in the early stages of the Qi Accumulation Realm….

When she recalled this fact, Cha Jin felt as if she were on the verge of collapse. How could anyone so monstrous exist in this world?

I just hope my Senior Apprentice Brother never shows up with others from the sect… Cha Jin sighed to herself. 

When her senior apprentice brother, the one who ambushed Su Yi with the talisman sword, first fled, he said he was going back to the sect for reinforcements, and that he’d deal with Su Yi when they returned.

But now, Cha Jin would much rather that the sect didn’t send anyone else...

“What a wonderful beast you are! Hahaha!” 

Suddenly, the sound of Su Yi’s uproarious laughter resounded throughout the battlefield; he sounded incomparably delighted.

His shirt was ripped apart in several places, revealing bloodied claw marks; he was completely covered in blood. 

Despite this, he looked happy. No, he looked delighted. He attacked in full force, and the longer he fought, the more valiant he was. That contemptuous, fearless display of power left Cha Jin dumbstruck.

Ordinarily speaking, Su Yi was lazy and proud. His laziness reached his very bones, but so did his pride. His superficial veneer of tranquility was, in fact, a manifestation of his supremely arrogant nature.

He was obviously only seventeen years old, but he seemed more like a ruthless and aloof, unflappable old monster.

Those who didn’t understand him mistook him for an ordinary youth, but if you provoked him, you’d learn the terror and despair of his domination.

The Su Yi Cha Jin saw now seemed completely different from his usual self!

He was free and unrestrained, and he maneuvered freely throughout the battlefield, every inch of him emanating domineering arrogance. His momentum threatened to swallow up everything around him.

Even though he was covered in injuries, this did nothing to affect his peerless bearing.

When she saw that valiant smile and how heartily he fought, when she sensed his rising, surging will to fight, Cha Jin went into a trance.

A young man like a fallen immortal, fierce as a raging bull!

Taking another look at the Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast, it was as fierce as ever, but numerous, eye-catchingly red, bloodied fist imprints had appeared all over its snowy white pelt. From time to time, it roared in rage and agony, shaking the mountains and scattering rock and sand.

Suddenly, its eyes flashed with ruthless light as its pelt seemed to burst into flames, releasing a flood of firelight. Its power soared, rising to a whole new level.

At that moment, it was as if the beast had transformed into the sun. Its light stretched for tens of thousands of feet, illuminating the surrounding scenery and dispersing the dense layers of mist.

Even the winds and clouds shifted in response.

“Roar!” The beast roared into the heavens and charged at Su Yi like the sun soaring through the skies.

There was no doubt about it; the spirit beast was desperate, so it was unleashing its trump card.

An indistinct but enormous projection floated into view in the air behind it. The projection walked amongst the stars, so massive, it was simply unimaginable. It looked like a divine beast straight out of a legend; it was terrifying beyond belief.

“What is that?” Cha Jin’s delicate frame quivered, and her knees buckled. Her heart sank into wordless, icy terror.

At almost the same time, Su Yi’s dark eyes flashed with a hint of fiery light. No wonder this beast can manipulate divine flames. So, its body contains a sparse, diluted ‘Suanni’ bloodline…!

The Suanni. In the Nine Provinces of the Great Zhou, they were considered one of the “Eighteen True Spirits.”

They were shaped like lions and tigers, and they feasted on smoke and flame, their power without limit. Their innate talent allowed them to manipulate wind, lightning, earth, and flame, but they were particularly proficient with clouds, mists, and the Dao of Illusions. 

The Emperor of the Mists, an expert once famed throughout the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, was actually a peerless yao cultivator with a Suanni bloodline. 

The Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast before Su Yi only had the barest trace of a Suanni bloodline, but in a mundane empire like the Great Zhou, that was enough to make it a rare existence even amongst tier-nine spirit beasts. 

The instant the beast charged, Su Yi sensed the power hurtling towards him. The pressure pricked at his skin; he could sense the impending peril.

However, it was this very sensation of extreme danger that stimulated his energy and concentrated it to an unprecedented degree. His qi surged madly in response, exploding like a tidal wave.  

He could dimly discern that the danger had stimulated each of his one hundred and eight spiritual apertures to an enormous degree. They were like miniature lakes, except now, their “waters” boiled.

“Yes!” This was precisely the moment Su Yi had been waiting for. He laughed out loud, his sleeves fluttering in the wind as one hundred and eight profound lights lit up across his body. 

Each fired a beam of sword light, which arced like rainbows and pierced the skies. The sound reverberated through the air, which filled with ring after ring of glowing illusory swords, their radiance as brilliant and colorful as brocade silk. They rose and fell, like ripples in the sky, utterly magnificent.

From a distance, each illusory figure was like a deity. Rings of profound light surrounded and protected the illusory swords. Against the darkness of the night sky, this miraculous phenomenon shone with radiant holy light.

Boom!

The Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast charged, like a blazing sun in motion. The vast projection behind it seemed intent on swallowing up this entire stretch of heaven and earth.

However, when it clashed with the hundred and eight swords of profound light, the massive, illusory Suanni instantly popped like a bubble and disappeared. The maddened Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast shuddered; it could sense the danger.

At almost the same time, Su Yi’s hand shot out and pressed down in the air.

A casual, understated gesture.

But then—

The massive beast suddenly froze. Immediately afterward, it was like a vast, primordial divine mountain bore down upon it, slamming it into the dirt with an audible boom.

The impact created a deep crater and scattered fragments of rock.

 The Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast struggled to its feet, only to roar in bitter indignation and collapse once more. Its coat dulled, and its skin was smeared with blood. Who knew how many of its bones and sinews had snapped already?

The power of a single palm had suppressed this rare and unusual tier-nine spirit beast, an existence on par with a fifth-level Grandmaster!

As for Su Yi, he stood there, tall and upright. The light of illusory swords circulated around him protectively, so dazzling, he looked like a deity. 

When she saw this, Cha Jin was rooted to the spot, dumbstruck, completely and utterly stunned. 

She would remember this domineering and despotic scene for the rest of her life.

It was too terrifying to forget!

It was truly reminiscent of an immortal displaying their power. Su Yi had suppressed this peerless spirit beast with means that seemed not of this world. This was far beyond the level of mundane warriors.

“I finally broke through….” Su Yi’s heart surged with wordless, indescribable satisfaction. 

Within his body, each of his one hundred and eight spiritual apertures now resembled a miniature hidden realm. They shone with radiant light, and they were as translucent as crystals. Within each miniature world, mysterious phenomena intertwined; they were each unpredictable and mysterious patches of chaos. 

This was “Full Spiritual Awakening of the Acupoints!” 

In his past life, although he’d managed to unblock and refine each of his spiritual apertures, only seventy-two of them gave rise to true spirituality. 

After stepping into the Imperial Realm in his past life, he expended countless treasures of heaven and earth to rectify this flaw. Despite this, his early failures negatively influenced the foundations of his cultivation. 

But now, as he fought Jade-Eyed Crimson Flamebeast, he used this critical juncture as an opportunity to quench and awaken all one hundred and eight acupoints in one go! 

Each spiritual aperture was now its own miniature world, and each gave rise to strange and miraculous phenomena. They could now connect with the power of heaven and earth and reflect the light of the Grand Dao!

Even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, this level of attainment in the Martial Dao was almost unheard of, nigh-unprecedented and practically unreplicable. 

Su Yi had finally reached perfection in the early stage Qi Accumulation realm. His foundations far surpassed his past self at the same stage of cultivation!

I just don’t know what profundities lie within the mysterious phenomenon appearing in my acupoints….. Su Yi was just examining his transformation when the Sword of the Nine Hells floating within his mental sea reacted with a bizarre tremor. 

Immediately afterward, all one hundred and eight of his spiritual apertures suddenly burst with light, shining like stars in a peculiar rhythm. Shockingly, they resonated with the Sword of the Nine Hells, forming a miraculous connection and correspondence.

This change caught even Su Yi off guard.

By the time he realized what was happening, the strange and chaotic phenomenon within each acupoint transformed. Each aperture now contained a single illusory Dao Sword!

Each such illusory blade was cast from the same mold as the Sword of the Nine Hells contained within his mental sea!

The only differences were that the illusory Daoist swords weren’t chained or sealed, and all of them were just illusions. They were the manifestations of the spirituality of his acupoints. 

In other words, each of these one hundred and eight illusory Dao Swords was the spirituality of one of Su Yi’s spiritual apertures. 

Dao Swords hide within the acupoints, the manifestations of hidden realms. A phenomenon on this level is far more divine and miraculous than what happened earlier…. Su Yi’s heart shook.