The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 140 - 125, ’Command the gods!

Returning to the Heavens...

Years ago, he made a name for himself in the Capital, full of vigor and pride, yet his heart as a swordsman was once broken by the then obscure Ma Yan. The talented swordsman calmly uttered these words.

In his hand, a sword lightly covered with frost was waved without a touch of the mundane world.

Hiss, hiss...

The cold air spread wantonly, and he didn’t choose to close in on the retreating Zhao Douan.

Instead, he flicked a curved streak of Sword Qi.

Like a cold fog, the condensed smoke-like Sword Qi detached from the blade, silently sweeping down the long street like a life-claiming specter.

Crack, crack...

The blue bricks along the way were blanketed with a straight line of white frost, as thin and delicate as a thread.

Zhao Douan, caught off guard, sank his body down, braced his feet against the ground tensed like a bow, and slashed straight down with the knife in his hand, colliding with the Sword Qi.

In an instant, the Master’s long knife, allocated by the Imperial Court and forged by the Royal Forgers of the Forging Bureau, was frozen.

Accompanied by an overwhelming sharp force.

The metal, tempered in relentless fire, emitted a low wail, uncontrollably trembling.

Zhao Douan’s face slightly changed; he decisively discarded his knife.

The next second, the knife fell straight to the ground, snapping into three pieces.

The remnants of the Sword Qi hit his chest, with a flash of pale golden light fleeting by.

At the critical moment, Zhao Douan utilized the "Harvesting Mist Breathing Technique" passed down by the Great Yu Grand Ancestor, to block the residual Sword Dao charm.

So strong... Despite being prepared, Zhao Douan still felt a chill in his heart.

"Eh?"

In the distance, Gao Li, who wore a mask, expressed his surprise out loud.

He had not expected the fair-faced man, who was an entire Great Realm beneath him, to emerge unscathed.

Upon catching a glimpse of that emerging halo, he briefly snapped into realization and said softly,

"So you really did take up the martial path of a Royal Tributor."

Within the Kuangfu Society, there was an evaluation of Zhao Douan’s strength that marked him as a possible Tributor, but the specifics remained unclear.

And Gao Li happened to be very familiar with "Tributors."

Back in the day, in his pompous youth, he challenged the elite within the Imperial Palace, only to be defeated by an obscure eunuch. During that duel, Ma Yan had used this martial skill.

Zhao Douan gave a defiant smile:

"Not bad at spotting details. Then let me show you the number one route to martial arts cultivation in the world."

His body shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, advancing instead of retreating, attacking anew.

With each stride, he changed the rhythm of his breathing in sync with his footsteps widening and arms unfolding.

The "Martial God Map" emerged in his mind, where the Great Yu Grand Ancestor had led him at the mountaintop, practicing a set of "Nameless Fist Skill" for an entire month.

It was also the first time he used this set of fists in "reality."

Once the fist was delivered, the Qi Sea in his dantian boiled furiously, the abundant Qi flowing through his robust meridians, charging towards his opponent with a wildly dominant stance.

For a moment, his silhouette seemed to overlap with that of the Grand Ancestor in the painting.

A Mortal Realm martial artist daring to strike against someone in the Divine Chapter Realm with unyielding momentum, something only the secret teachings of the Xu Imperial Dynasty could accomplish.

"Mountain Attack Fist..."

Under Gao Li’s indigo-colored mask, memories surfaced in his eyes.

At this moment, he seemed to return to that martial competition back at the Imperial Palace grounds.

However, Zhao Douan was not Ma Yan of the past, and he, Gao Li, was no longer the same as before.

"Hmph!"

At this moment, Gao Li casually carried his left hand behind his waist, treating the long sword as a club, meeting Zhao Douan’s attack with one hand.

"Clang!"

The fist wrapped in pale golden light, as sturdy as refined steel, hammered firmly onto the pliable sword blade.

The blade bent sharply, then rebounded fiercely, and the surging energy was transferred back into Zhao Douan’s body, causing him to grunt, feeling a subtle pain.

Undeterred, Zhao Douan’s fists were dense like a net, almost producing shadows of punches.

While Gao Li always kept his left hand behind his back, sometimes retreating, other times stepping forward.

Using his body skill in combination with a one-handed sword, he managed to block all of Zhao Douan’s punchstorm.

A torrent of rain fell from the sky, yet he remained untouched.

When Zhao Douan put in a full effort only to be reduced to less, Gao Li took the opportunity to counterattack with sword after sword, forcing Zhao Douan into defense.

What a shift between offense and defense!

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Only the "clang, clang, clang" of metal clashes continued incessantly, like the fast drumbeats on a battlefield, each strike a contest between life and death.

While slashing away, Gao Li said coldly,

"You’ve imitated the posture quite well, attaining five or six parts of the Great Yu Grand Ancestor’s style. Your body seems tempered and solid with a firm martial foundation, but appears somewhat novel, as if you haven’t fully adapted.

What? Have you recently reforged your martial foundations?

It’s a shame, such a good Fist Skill, such a martial body blessed by heaven, yet you employ it so loosely and weakly.

Facing martial artists of the same Mortal Realm, you might indeed terrify.

But to cope with me, you still fall far short. Aren’t all the Tributors from the Imperial City more proficient in their Fist Skills than you?"

Zhao Douan remained silent, focusing only on defending against each cunning and strange blade edge.

Indeed, he was not skilled in this set of Fist Skills, unable to compare with the Tributors of the Inner Chambers.

However, he was not disheartened, for Gao Li did not know that this was Zhao Douan’s first time executing this Fist Skill.

And even less aware that Zhao Douan had been on this cultivation path for merely two months.

Most of his spare energy was also invested in other directions.

If Gao Li knew that the man in front of him had achieved such an effect on his first attempt of the "Mountain Attack Fist," he would wonder what he would think.

However, Zhao Douan had no need to explain. Though at an absolute disadvantage, the sparkle in his eyes became brighter.

A greenhouse cannot cultivate martial powerhouses; real understanding and progress must be made in life and death struggles.

At this moment, Zhao Douan was even somewhat grateful for Gao Li’s arrogance.

Time after time in these attacks and defenses, he frantically absorbed what he could from this once prodigious swordsman.