noffsinger Chapter 27 Initial Stage of Fetal Breathing
Chapter 27 Initial Stage of Fetal Breathing
The faint image of the talisman flickered in Chen Bai's pupils.
Xue Shan's swordplay became crystal clear in his eyes.
Although the strike was powerful, the path of the blade was too straight and lacked variation. Moreover, Xue Shan rushed in too fiercely, and his footwork had become disordered.
He twisted his waist to the side and dodged.
The dagger grazed his face as it slashed down, the wind from the blade causing a dull ache in his cheek.
Instead of retreating, Chen Bai advanced, taking half a step forward with his right foot. His right hand, like a snake, reached out and grabbed Xue Shan's wrist, which was holding the knife.
His thumb pressed precisely on the acupoint on Xue Shan's wrist.
"what!"
Xue Shan felt as if his entire arm had been struck by lightning. A tingling, numb sensation shot from his wrist to his shoulder, and his fingers involuntarily loosened their grip on the knife handle.
The dagger slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground.
Before he could react, Chen Bai delivered a precise chop to the side of his neck with his left hand.
Xue Shan's eyes glazed over for a moment, and then, as if all his strength had been drained, he collapsed to the ground.
From the moment Xue Pan swung his first staff to the moment Xue Shan fell to the ground, only twenty or thirty breaths had passed.
The illusory image of the Zhaowei Talisman in Chen Bai's pupils slowly dissipated.
He only felt a slight swelling between his eyebrows.
The Illumination Technique does indeed consume a significant amount of spiritual energy. In just a short while, nearly 20% of the innate spiritual energy has already been depleted.
However, compared to the terrible headache I experienced after using the first imprint talisman, it's much better now.
He walked to the adobe door and knocked three times.
The door was opened a crack from the inside, revealing Wei Bo's round face.
He had just climbed into the house through the back window and was protecting the Qi family mother and daughter. He only dared to open the door after the commotion outside stopped.
He peeked outside.
Xue Pan lay face up in the dust, while Xue Shan slumped against the wall, both motionless.
"Brother Bai, is everything resolved?" Wei Bo's eyes widened.
Just as Chen Bai was about to speak, a sinister voice suddenly came from the alley entrance.
"You've really gotten to know things."
The three of them turned their heads at the same time.
Xue Zhen appeared at the alley entrance at some unknown time.
He was wearing a gray robe, typical of an outer disciple of the Spirit Sword Sect, and his sallow face was expressionless.
Those slender eyes narrowed slightly as they stared at Chen Bai, then swept over the unconscious Xue Pan and Xue Shan on the ground, and the corner of their mouth twitched.
"Two useless people."
He snorted coldly, stepped forward, and kicked Xue Pan in the lower back with his toe.
Xue Pan groaned as he was kicked, but remained unconscious and showed no signs of waking up.
Xue Zhen withdrew his foot, raised his head, and his gaze fell back on Chen Bai.
"I underestimated you."
After three months apart, he actually managed to get the better of two skilled fighters—"
Chen Bai observed Xue Zhen without making a sound, and remained silent.
At the same time, his hands, which were hanging at his sides, moved almost imperceptibly.
Two talismans slid from his sleeves into his palms and were quietly affixed to the outside of his legs.
A warm sensation rose from the meridians in my legs, and my legs suddenly felt lighter.
"Did Steward Xue come to pick up the person in person today?" Chen Bai asked.
"That's how it was originally."
Xue Zhen flicked the dust off his sleeves, his tone unhurried, "I always need to personally oversee things that Young Master Yao has instructed me to do. But it seems that—"
He abruptly changed the subject, his narrow eyes narrowing, "Brother Chen, are you trying to interfere?"
"The mother and daughter inside are Wei Bo's relatives, so this matter might not be very convenient," Chen Bai said calmly.
Xue Zhen scoffed after hearing this.
He didn't waste any more words.
With a slap of his right hand at his waist, a thick-backed broadsword was drawn from its sheath. The blade was dark blue, and the edge gleamed with a chilling light.
Chen Bai recognized the material of the knife at a glance; it was a first-grade low-level [Hundred-Refined Iron Essence], which was several times tougher than ordinary iron.
It must be at least a low-grade magic weapon.
He remembered that three months ago, when Xue Zhen was demanding rent, this knife was placed on the small wooden table next to him.
With the knife in hand, Xue Zhen's aura suddenly changed.
His body was instantly enveloped in layers of iron-blue aura, his imposing presence like a forest of swords and a rain of spears, a vast army arrayed in formation.
The embryonic breathing cultivated through this "Five Elements True Method" leans towards the "sharp" element, possessing an invisible sharpness.
He took a step forward, and his dark blue aura spread along his right arm to the blade, where a faint spiritual light emanated.
"Today I'll give you a quick and painless death!"
After saying this, Xue Zhen gripped the knife in his right hand and made a hand seal with his left.
The dark blue aura of the fetal breath flowed and condensed behind him, transforming into a fetal breath arm with its five fingers spread out. The arm was dark blue in color and had a faint metallic luster.
This magical arm emerged from Xue Zhen's shoulder blade, like a third hand, its five fingers clenched, and drew another spare short blade from the scabbard at Xue Zhen's waist.
【The Three Powers Transformation Technique】
This is a lower-level Taoist technique that matches the "Five Elements True Method".
Transforming one's own vital energy into a third hand, wielding a weapon, is equivalent to having an extra person attacking from both sides.
When used by a cultivator in the early stages of embryonic breathing, it is more than enough to deal with ordinary rogue cultivators.
Xue Zhen moved swiftly, bringing his thick-backed broadsword down on his head.
The magical arm behind him also swung a short blade, stabbing diagonally from the left flank.
The two blades almost completely blocked Chen Bai's space to dodge. Before the blades even arrived, the wind from the blades cut through the air, making a sharp hissing sound.
Chen Bai moved his feet.
The talismans on both legs were activated simultaneously, and a warm current of energy surged out from the talismans and flowed into the meridians of the legs.
He felt his legs suddenly become less than half as light, and with a push of his feet, he shifted three feet to the side, barely avoiding the two flashes of light.
Xue Zhen's sword cleaved through the air, striking the ground and sending up a spray of pebbles.
Instead of being surprised, he laughed: "A magic talisman? Is that all the trickery you've got?"
With a flick of his wrist, the broadsword slashed upwards along the ground, its movement even more cunning than before.
With his toes touching the ground, Chen Bai's movements became much faster thanks to the Jiama Talisman. He glided back two steps as lightly as a leaf blown by the wind.
The blade grazed the hem of his Taoist robe, narrowly missing him by an inch; he was about to be disemboweled.
He glanced at the ground out of the corner of his eye and saw Xue Shan's short knife stuck in the mud two steps away.
Chen Bai suddenly ducked, his left hand flashing as he drew his short sword, and with a backhand parry, he blocked the attack.
The thick-backed broadsword clashed with the short sword, sparks flying. Chen Bai felt a violent jolt in his hand, and a chip the size of a soybean appeared on the blade of the short sword.
The difference in material between [Hundred-Refined Blue Steel] and weapons forged from ordinary iron is simply too great.
Xue Zhen sneered and continued to strike with his sword.
Although his swordsmanship was not particularly exquisite, each strike was powerful and heavy. With the enhancement of his internal energy, the spiritual light on the blade cut visible white streaks in the air.
The third arm behind him kept stabbing from all sorts of tricky angles, and with the fierce slashes of the broadsword, the attacks were relentless.
Chen Bai held a short knife in one hand and picked up the short stick that Xue Pan had thrown on the ground with the other, using both weapons to barely defend himself.
The speed boost from the Armored Horse Talisman temporarily prevented him from being overwhelmed by the blade's light, and the insight from the Illumination Technique allowed him to predict the approximate trajectory of each of Xue Zhen's strikes in advance. However, the sharpness of magical weapons cannot be compensated for by skill.
Short sticks are fine, but every time a short iron knife clashes with a broadsword, the blade will develop an extra notch.
More importantly, the spiritual energy depleted from maintaining the Illumination Technique for so long had caused a dull ache between his eyebrows.
"My innate spiritual energy has been more than half depleted, and can only last for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn at most... I must finish this quickly."
Chen Bai's mind raced as he quickly considered the situation.