Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 687 - 617: Ripple

Before he could circulate his Qi Blood to stabilize his injury, sharp piercing sounds erupted simultaneously from all directions.

Hundreds of sharp Mind Needles, originating from different positions, sped towards Yan Yundang, threatening to pierce him through.

Telekinesis Masters have two major advantages over Martial Artists. One is mobility; Telekinesis Masters can fly freely without needing any leverage points. The second is the quantity of Heart Thoughts. They can control a few Telekinesis Control Devices, or as many as dozens, while Martial Artists can only rely on their hands, feet, and personal weapons.

Li Ang’s figure continued to retreat explosively, his palms joined together. He controlled the sky full of Mind Needles stabbing towards Yan Yundang, diverting a strand of Heart Thought to think, And I, unlike ordinary Telekinesis Masters, possess even more Heart Thoughts.

WHOOSH—

Hundreds of Mind Needles, like a flock of birds, emitted a piercing screech as they rushed forth.

Yan Yundang released his grip, dropped the corpse, then stomped on the ground and sprinted forward.

The phantom created by the Lion Furnace not only replicated the Cultivator’s physique, Qi Sea, commonly used weapons, and other data, but also recorded his combat habits.

As a Martial Artist, staying in place and facing round after round of attacks from Telekinesis Control Devices meant only one thing: death.

Protracted defense would inevitably lead to failure; he had to switch from defense to offense to have any chance of victory.

THUD!

The ground beneath his stomping feet cracked into a spiderweb of fractures.

Yan Yundang rapidly closed the distance with Li Ang, his Broadsword a wild blur in his hands, forming a tight, impenetrable circle that cut down the closest Mind Needles.

With every slash, he poured in abundant Qi Blood. This not only severed the Mind Needles but also disrupted their connection with Li Ang, preventing Li Ang from re-controlling the severed sections to launch another attack.

The distance closed: fifty paces, then twenty.

Li Ang released his telekinesis, pushing himself backward and swiftly gliding over the bloody battlefield. However, the distance between them steadily decreased. He could clearly see the indifferent face beneath the phantom’s helmet.

BUZZ—

The resistance from beneath his feet suddenly increased. Through a strand of Heart Thought, Li Ang clearly saw the edge of the battlefield ripple like water, as if an invisible wall of air stood between heaven and earth. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

This must be the boundary simulated by the Lion Furnace. I can’t retreat any further.

Expressionless, Li Ang stopped, his fingers fiercely interlaced. Of the fifty-odd remaining Mind Needles, more than thirty lost their force and fluttered to the ground.

In exchange, the other twenty Mind Needles suddenly accelerated.

In that brief interval, Yan Yundang, relying on a Martial Artist’s extraordinary instincts, sensed the impending danger.

He swung his blade, cutting down ten Mind Needles. His surrounding Gang Qi surged and spun, transforming into a vortex that created a terrifying gale, disrupting the telekinetic force controlling the other Mind Needles.

Losing their telekinetic guidance, these Mind Needles veered from their intended trajectories and pierced into Yan Yundang’s body.

They struck the back of his neck, under his ribs, his knees, his left shoulder, his inner thigh, behind his ears, his spine, the top of his foot, and his elbow.

Nine Mind Needles penetrated his body. The moment they made contact with the Martial Artist’s Qi Blood, they were stripped of all telekinesis, only advancing a short distance further due to inertia.

Wounds to these areas would be extremely troublesome even after a battle, but in the midst of this life-or-death struggle, they were still insufficient to cripple Yan Yundang’s combat capability.

His muscles bulged and writhed. Relying on a Martial Artist’s control over their physique, he used his muscles to forcibly squeeze out most of the Mind Needles.

His left hand, however, firmly grasped a long needle that had pierced his left eye socket, preventing it from advancing further.

CRACK!

Yan Yundang squeezed his left eye shut, tightened his eyelids, and with a grunt of effort from his hand, brutally pulled out the blood-stained Mind Needle and snapped it in two.

Meanwhile, his right hand, seemingly unhindered, swung his Broadsword with all its might as the distance between them closed to twenty paces.

BOOM!

The materialized Gang Qi, like a bolt of pure white silk, slashed diagonally. Corpses in its path exploded, flying over ten meters, and the soft soil beneath them was gouged out by the force of the Gang Qi.

With nowhere to retreat and no way to evade, Li Ang flung his arms upward in a table-flipping motion. He used his telekinesis to drive the soil at his feet, forming a thick earthen wall in front of him.

Mere soil obviously couldn’t block such a strike. Li Ang’s sleeves billowed. Mind Threads woven from Fine Gold shot out from his cuffs, embedding themselves into the earthen wall to form its skeletal structure.

Simultaneously, a Concrete Talisman ignited and burned slowly, rapidly hardening the soft soil.

All of this happened in an instant. The unstoppable Gang Qi from the blade collided head-on with the wall.

Instantly, stones flew, soil erupted, and Mind Threads snapped.

The wall did its utmost to impede and slow the Gang Qi before it finally crumbled and collapsed.

Li Ang splayed his left hand, conjuring a barrier. The very tip of the Gang Qi had already bored its way between his fingers. It was a hair’s breadth from slicing his flesh and signaling the end of the trial.

Ultimately, however, the spent Gang Qi, like an arrow at the end of its flight, dissolved into a light breeze and vanished between his fingers.

Before a feeling of relief could even form in Li Ang’s mind, Yan Yundang himself burst through the ruined remnants of the wall, his Broadsword slashing horizontally.

Dragon Fall!

A metal toothpick flew from Li Ang’s sleeve. It grew upon meeting the air, rapidly transforming into a long spear.

He didn’t control the spear to thrust. Doing so would only lead to what happened in the previous trials: the death-defying phantom would trade blow for blow, injury for injury, even at the cost of its own ’life.’ The phantom didn’t care whether it lived or died; as long as it injured Li Ang, the trial would end.

CLANG—

The sound of colliding gold and iron reverberated over the battlefield. The Dragon Fall Spear narrowly parried the slash, vibrating slightly in mid-air. Li Ang’s expression flickered; he forcibly stabilized the tumultuous waves in his Qi Sea.

Yan Yundang ignored his bleeding, torn tiger’s mouth (the web of his hand) and forcibly pushed his blade forward. The edge scraped along the spear shaft, further agitating Li Ang’s Qi Sea. Yan Yundang then stepped forward, swinging the pommel of his Broadsword at Li Ang’s head. When the Dragon Fall Spear blocked this too, he resorted to elbow strikes, knee jabs, and headbutts.

Telekinetic barriers formed only to shatter instantly. Li Ang loaded four Wind Talismans into the bolt groove of the Radiant Crossbow and pulled the trigger, creating a roaring gale. He then used his telekinesis to propel himself forward and to the left, increasing his distance from the phantom.

Yan Yundang kicked off the boundary of the Lion Furnace, sending spectacular, wave-like ripples through the air, and pursued once more.

He attacked like a maddened beast, ignoring his injuries to launch a furious barrage. Yet, he strictly adhered to the principles of Martial Arts, always striking when Li Ang was unprepared, his moves seamlessly linked.

Li Ang barely managed to parry the onslaught with the Dragon Fall Spear, continuously pulling the Radiant Crossbow’s trigger. He swept across the battlefield again and again like a hurricane, sending corpses flying.

CLICK.

Finally, a faint clicking sound came from within the Radiant Crossbow’s mechanism. The Crossbow’s ability to remotely activate talismans could only be used ten times in rapid succession.

Yan Yundang’s phantom detected this faint sound. Risking shattered knuckles, he punched the incoming Dragon Fall Spear, forcing it back, and simultaneously thrust with his Broadsword.

Time seemed to freeze. The dust-covered, hollow eyes of the surrounding soldiers’ corpses reflected this scene, one that would decide the outcome of the trial.

SNAP!

Just as the Broadsword was about to pierce Li Ang’s shoulder, the ground beneath Yan Yundang shattered. Countless Mind Threads sprang from the soil—like springs, like a spider’s web—then tightened and constricted, ensnaring his torso and limbs.

Several of these threads, unnoticed, had also wrapped around the butt end of the Dragon Fall Spear’s shaft.

Li Ang spread his hands and swept his arms inward. All the Mind Threads, pulled taut by the Dragon Fall Spear, tightened in unison, slicing Yan Yundang to pieces.