Chapter 80. Natural Enemy (5)

"Ah! Chief! Hurry and...!"

"Wait."

"Huh?!"

"Wait."

"But, Chief! The Young Master is in danger!"

"Where do you see that?"

The Changyung Corps, hidden in the forest, could observe the entire battle unfolding in front of them.

Shinmo's eyes gleamed.

"The Young Master can handle them easily."

"Is he that strong?"

"He is strong, but it's a bit different."

Shinmo was also uncertain. How the Young Master was dealing with the enemies. Not only was the distance considerable, but the number of enemies was overwhelming.

But one thing was certain.

'He knows their weaknesses.'

It wasn't just a casual understanding.

It was almost a complete dismantling. With every step, every gesture, the enemies' martial arts crumbled like reeds.

When they tried to strike, he would already be out of range, striking another enemy. An onlooker might think they had rehearsed it.

Shinmo was perplexed.

'He's thoroughly analyzing their martial arts. How is this possible?'

Could the Young Master have mastered the techniques of the famous families? How?

At that moment.

Chirp! Chirp!

A bird's call came from beyond the bushes. It was a very faint call, imbued with a slight internal force.

The eyes of the Changyung Corps members lit up.

"Get ready."

Rumble.

The power of the dragon robe rose within Shinmo's body.

"When the signal comes, we'll charge immediately."

* * *

Crash!

Flesh and blood splattered.

'I can see it.'

Snap! Crunch!

With one axe swing, the horse's head and the assassin's body were cleanly split and flew apart.

'I can see everything.'

The power of the White Tiger surged, and the power of the Black Tortoise spread widely.

The assassin's martial arts grew more intense with time. But it wasn't just rough.

Rough and fierce, yet precise and flexible. In the midst of the Ghost Spirit Qi and the Qilin Spirit Qi, Yan Hozheng's martial arts were blossoming like never before.

Crash! Crash!

It was a possessed axe.

Spear techniques, sword techniques, staff techniques, and chaotic strikes had merged into a devastating axe technique.

Swinging, striking, shattering, and destroying.

It was a martial art that maximized the destructive power of a massive weapon.

That wasn't all.

Sssss!

The swirling swords and spreading palm power were reduced by the White Tiger Qi and the Black Tortoise Qi.

No, not just reduced, but absorbed. The destructive force was dismantled by the axe and fists, and the dismantled energy was absorbed and neutralized by the White Tiger Qi and the Black Tortoise Qi.

Yan Hozheng's eyes grew darker.

'Enough!'

He didn't tire.

The enemies' Qi, their force, and the shockwaves only fueled his inner energy, making it stronger.

The axe, imbued with this enhanced energy, became an invincible divine weapon, severing heads and shattering bodies.

Crack!

Yan Hozheng's movements visibly sped up.

The power of the axe increased explosively. The Thirteen Strikes of the Yan Family and the Continuous Strikes of the Yan Family transformed into a hammer, taking the lives of the assassins.

The leader of the fifty assassins, Ming Jiliang, was horrified.

"That, that monster!"

Yan Hozheng, emitting a terrifying killing aura, swept through the assassins like a storm. Where the martial arts of the Western Emperor White Tiger passed, blood spurted, and where the martial arts of the Northern Emperor Black Tortoise rose, bones shattered.

He was invincible. To the martial artists of the famous families who had mastered the Four Great Skills of the Commanders, Yan Hozheng was a disaster.

Crash!

With a terrifying sound, the heads of two Blood Horses flew high into the sky. Simultaneously, the bodies of three assassins were torn apart and scattered.

Flash!

Suddenly, Ming Jiliang felt a chill.

The enemy, wielding a massive weapon the size of a human body, had locked onto him. The black and white spirit energy in his eyes seemed capable of piercing his skull in an instant.

Boom!

The ominous feeling was accurate.

Yan Hozheng, having pushed back the assassins with sheer force, kicked off the back of a Blood Horse and leaped toward Ming Jiliang.

'Gah!'

Ming Jiliang's hand reached for the sword strapped to his back. The Phoenix Spirit Qi flared like fire.

At that moment.

Crash!

A tremendous shockwave sent Yan Hozheng flying backward.

Crack!

He landed and regained his stance, but the force was too strong. His feet dug long trenches in the ground.

Roar!

Suddenly, a swordsman stood in front of Ming Jiliang, his sword blazing with the fire of the Fire God.

"Arrogant brat!"

Crack!

The ground around Ming Tian's feet began to crack like a spider web.

Rumble!

Flames engulfed the surroundings.

'How is this possible?'

Ming Jiliang was shocked.

'He's already mastered the Phoenix Spirit Skill to this extent...!'

It was overwhelming. Ming Tian had practiced the Phoenix Spirit Skill day and night, but the level was completely different.

Ming Tian, the head of the Nine Great Families, the Thunderfire Divine Sword.

A supreme expert renowned for his lightning-fast and powerful sword techniques, finally entered the battle.

Killing intent surged in Ming Tian's eyes as he surveyed the scene. In the brief exchange, more than half of the assassins had lost their lives.

"You incompetent fools! I can't just stand by and watch this!"

Surprisingly, his anger was directed not at Yan Hozheng, but at the assassins.

"How could you be so lax in your skill training to be defeated by a mere brat?"

It was an unreasonable accusation.

Ming Jiliang could see what was happening. Yan Hozheng's martial arts were not only strong but were completely dismantling their techniques.

In other words, he was thoroughly exploiting the weaknesses of the Four Great Skills. Yet, Ming Tian accused them of being lax in their training?

"Filthy brats! To think I trusted you to conquer the world, I was foolish!"

Of course, Ming Tian knew there was nothing wrong with the assassins' skills. He also knew that Yan Hozheng's martial arts were beyond imagination and that he had thoroughly grasped the weaknesses of the Four Great Skills.

But he couldn't accept it.

The Ming Family was a lineage founded by ancestors who, along with the Four Great Emperors, the strongest in martial history, had driven out the Blood Sect.

And now, they were practicing the martial arts that had marked a significant era during the worst chaos and peak of the martial world. Ming Tian couldn't accept that these martial arts were being dismantled by a mere brat.

Crack.

Yan Hozheng, who had been pushed back, stood up and smiled at Ming Tian.

"Finally decided to show up?"

Ming Tian's eyes flashed.

It was a powerful strike, one that could cause internal injuries even to a high-level expert like an assassin. Yet, Yan Hozheng seemed unaffected.

A deep voice emerged from Ming Tian's mouth.

"Yes, you do have some skills."

Sssss!

A resonant sword cry echoed from Ming Tian's sword.

It wasn't a common broadsword. It was a greatsword, a foot longer and twice as wide as a regular longsword.

Its form was closer to a military greatsword. The hilt was also over a foot long, making it a two-handed sword.

A murderous intent, bordering on madness, flickered in Ming Tian's eyes.

"I will cut off your head and throw it in front of Lian Wei, that damn brat. I wonder if he can maintain his composure when he sees his son's head pickled in salt."

It was a significant provocation. For Yan Hozheng, who harbored deep guilt towards his bloodline, there was no greater provocation.

'...'

But why?

His heart was surprisingly calm. Even facing the true enemy who had orchestrated the destruction of his family, his eyes remained clear.

Whoosh.

A white wind swirled around the slowly moving axe blade.

Yan Hozheng looked up at the sky and closed his eyes.

'Finally, here I am.'

He had left his family and entered Henan. Since then, he had shaken the Ming Family through several battles.

In fact, it hadn't been a long time. But to Yan Hozheng, it felt like an eternity.

'Father. I plan to eliminate this long-standing grudge here. Even if you don't know, I will still take revenge.'

Thinking of his father, Yan Zhiping naturally came to mind.

The sight of his younger brother's white hand offering a rice ball made his eyes sting.

'Ping.'

His grip on the axe tightened.

'I will drink all the tears you shed from now on.'

The father of the past, the father of the present.

The younger brother of the past, the younger brother of the present.

The deep grudges of the past and the vigorous leaps into the future of these two people merged, finally becoming Yan Hozheng's present.

Yan Hozheng's eyes snapped open.

Boom!

A powerful aura surged, shaking the heavens and earth.

Yan Hozheng shouted.

In a bold voice, filled with the spirit of a martial artist.

"Come at me, Ming Tian."

It was a majestic presence that no one had ever seen before.

Ming Tian's face contorted.

"Brat!"

Crash!

Ming Tian charged.

It was the beginning. The duel, the bloodbath, the debt of blood created by the martial world, was now demanding their lives.

Yan Hozheng's axe and Ming Tian's greatsword clashed head-on.

Boom!

A deafening sound shook the earth.

It was a clash of massive weapons, a confrontation of strength.

Thud!

Yan Hozheng's body flew backward.

It was an inevitable disadvantage in strength. Ming Tian was a supreme expert, a legendary swordsman on par with Lian Wei. A direct confrontation with him was madness for the current Yan Hozheng.

Bang! Boom!

But Yan Hozheng didn't stop.

He quickly regained his balance and took the second step of the White Tiger Dominance.

'What?'

He thought he had rendered Yan Hozheng combat-incapacitated with one strike, but it seemed not. Immediately after being pushed back, he charged again with a storm-like momentum, even more powerful than before.

Ming Tian swung his sword.

Yan Hozheng also launched a fierce attack.

Clang! Clang!

Their weapons clashed, bursting into brilliant sparks.

It was impossible to count how many times they clashed in that brief moment. The speed was beyond what even a peak expert's vision could follow. Both wielded heavy weapons, yet their techniques were as fast as swift swords.

Ming Tian's eyes glinted with a fierce light.

"Arrogant brat!"

Slash!

Blood spurted from Yan Hozheng's chest.

It was a deep wound, a diagonal slash from his left clavicle to his right abdomen.

As Ming Tian smiled bitterly, it happened.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

Ming Tian's body was pushed back.

Despite receiving an attack that should have made a counterattack impossible, Yan Hozheng immediately swung his axe. If he had been careless, this strike would have split his body.

"What a madman!"

Bang! Bang!

The White Tiger Dominance Steps were unleashed.

It was a technique that grew stronger with time. Even the legendary Ming Tian was taken aback by the tiger king's momentum.

Clang! Clang!

The power of the axe, fueled by the momentum, grew stronger.

Bang! Bang!

Another advance. Another attack.

Clang! Clang!

The speed increased as much as the power. The fierce force of the Tiger King's Nine Walls Technique struck like lightning.

Whoosh!

And suddenly, Yan Hozheng's movements reached an incomprehensible speed.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, Ming Tian's body was pushed back wildly by the overwhelming technique.

It was the Continuous Advance Steps of the White Tiger Dominance. The extreme fighting spirit was driving the secret technique of the Dominance Steps.

Boom!

Ming Tian's body creaked. Blood dripped from his hand gripping the sword.

Yan Hozheng's face contorted.

The sight of his opponent's blood stirred his ferocity.

"Ming Tian...!"

Flash! Boom!

He blocked the downward axe strike, but his feet were buried up to the ankles in the ground.

Crash!

It was an astonishing sight. Yan Hozheng's fist finally struck Ming Tian's shoulder.

Staggering, Ming Tian.

The image of a raging beast rose above Yan Hozheng's face.

"Don't back down just yet! If you don't fight properly, I'll tear you apart!"