Chapter 97

Enlightenment is a very mysterious state that everyone can enter, even those who have never studied martial arts can enter this state.

A moment of enlightenment, and one can ascend in broad daylight. Although this is just an exaggerated myth, enlightenment is a mysterious and yet immediately effective improvement for oneself.

For ordinary people, enlightenment might come from understanding something, but for martial artists, enlightenment is specific to martial arts.

Regardless of one's strength, once one enters the state of enlightenment, their understanding of martial arts will surely be renewed, and their strength will greatly increase.

Moreover, enlightenment brings endless benefits to future martial arts cultivation, such as faster progress in learning various martial techniques and skills.

These are just some of the surface benefits. Other benefits, such as the enhancement of a martial artist's potential, are invisible.

Anyway, once a sect discovers that a disciple has entered the state of enlightenment, even if the disciple was previously dull, they will immediately be promoted to an elite disciple and be carefully cultivated.

Fang Dongting once desperately desired to enter the state of enlightenment, but this kind of thing depends on fate. The more you desire it, the harder it is to achieve.

But why can this bumpkin from the Southern Barbarian lands enter the state of enlightenment? And even during a battle with me, this makes Fang Dongting feel deeply humiliated.

"Die!"

Fang Dongting roared in anger, and powerful true qi burst forth. The water and fire energies on his pine-patterned iron sword disappeared, replaced by a hazy thunder force. His sword speed was like a bolt of lightning, each strike faster than the last.

"Dao Sword: Thunderbolt!"

A sound like a thunderclap from the heavens completely jolted Su Xin out of his state of enlightenment, making him furious.

If he could have stayed in the state of enlightenment a little longer, he might have gained more insights.

Seeing Su Xin's enlightenment interrupted, Fang Dongting smiled smugly: "To enter enlightenment in front of an enemy? That's simply courting death!"

Indeed, in the state of enlightenment, one's mind is in a daze, and the body's movements are subconscious. If one enters enlightenment during a battle, either they will unleash divine power and defeat the opponent, or the opponent will take advantage of the opportunity to kill them.

Fortunately, Su Xin was the former. Even though his mind was enlightened, his hands did not stop.

However, this state of enlightenment should not be disturbed. Fang Dongting fully unleashed the Thunderbolt Dao Sword, immediately disrupting Su Xin's previous fighting style and breaking his state of enlightenment.

"I think the one courting death is you. Since you want to die so much, I'll grant your wish."

Su Xin looked at Fang Dongting as if he were already dead.

At the same innate qi sea realm, Fang Dongting's strength compared to Xie Zhiyan and Gong Qingfeng was like heaven and earth.

No wonder people often say that a martial artist's strength cannot be measured by level alone.

Even the rankings on the Human List are based on battle achievements, not so-called realm strength.

Before enlightenment, Su Xin was not afraid of Fang Dongting, let alone now that he has already entered enlightenment and still has a killer move up his sleeve!

The Dao Sword technique of the Green City Sword Sect transforms the natural elements into the Dao Sword in hand. Fang Dongting is most proficient in his Water and Fire Dao Sword. Although the power of the Thunderbolt Dao Sword is stronger, he has not yet fully mastered it.

He only used this move out of desperation, being forced by Su Xin.

However, to Su Xin, this move was like a sieve, full of loopholes.

The so-called speed of a thunderbolt, to Su Xin, was a joke.

The Dragon-Soaring Sword moved up and down, easily blocking the Thunderbolt Dao Sword's attack. The counterforce was absorbed by the small ball in the sword guard. The only thing that troubled Su Xin was the lightning force contained in the Dao Sword, which made him feel slightly numb.

The Dao Sword technique can manifest any force in the sword qi. Although Fang Dongting had not truly grasped the Thunderbolt Dao Sword, the lightning force he simulated with his innate qi sea realm true qi still had some power.

But it was only a little. The true qi cultivated by Su Xin's Purple Mist Divine Skill could instantly neutralize this lightning force.

Su Xin's left hand held the long sword to block, while his right hand suddenly extended a finger, the index finger.

In an instant, the finger wind was as dense as a heavy rain, and the momentum was like a thunderbolt!

The Twenty-Four Solar Terms Shocking Spirit Finger: Awakening of Insects!

The Awakening of Insects represents thunder among the Twenty-Four Solar Terms!

Fang Dongting, shocked, hurriedly blocked with his sword, but the finger force of the Shocking Spirit Finger was abnormally terrifying. The finger wind struck the sword, and it sounded like a thunderclap.

"Spit!"

Fang Dongting spat out a mouthful of blood. Under the storm of the Shocking Spirit Finger, he was struck in the dantian and the zhongtan point. The finger force exploded inside his body like thunder, severely damaging his meridians!

"Buzz!"

The Dragon-Soaring Sword moved with a strange frequency, slicing across Fang Dongting's throat. It seemed slow, but it was actually as fast as the wind.

Now, Su Xin's sword was less bizarre and ruthless than before, but the speed of his strikes was three times faster.

This was Su Xin's own fast sword, a straightforward and yet impossibly fast strike.

Fang Dongting, clutching his throat, fell to the ground unwillingly. Su Xin said calmly, "I told you, strength does not represent everything."

The innate qi sea realm is very strong. Even the weakest innate qi sea realm has several times more true qi than the peak of the acquired realm.

However, if you cannot fully unleash the power of this true qi, no matter how deep it is, it is useless.

Xie Zhiyan and Gong Qingfeng are the type who can fully unleash their strength, even exceeding it.

But Fang Dongting, at his level, can barely unleash half of his strength.

Actually, Su Xin could kill Fang Dongting because his strength greatly increased after enlightenment, and he had the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Shocking Spirit Finger as a killing move.

If he had this strength when facing Chen Zhao, Meng Changhe's uncle, he wouldn't have wasted a precious Flame Blade and could have directly killed him.

After killing Fang Dongting, the system's voice sounded in Su Xin's mind: "Congratulations, host, for killing the righteous person Fang Dongting, completing part of the side mission. Reward: 200 points of villainy."

"Only 200 points of villainy for an innate qi sea realm martial artist? If I need to collect 1000 points of villainy, don't I need to kill five people?"

Su Xin immediately understood that the 'Public Enemy of the Righteous' mission was not meant for him at this stage. He wouldn't always encounter weak innate martial artists like Fang Dongting.

After resting for a moment and recovering some internal strength, Su Xin felt the situation becoming more complicated.

The Green City Sword Sect was already in Xiangnan and could reach Changning Prefecture in half a day.

Fang Dongting died here, and even if he escaped Jiang Ling's pursuit, he couldn't escape the Green City Sword Sect's manhunt.

Although no one saw him kill Fang Dongting, the Green City Sword Sect people are not fools. With careful analysis, they would definitely deduce who the murderer was.

So Su Xin needed time, time to forge the battle scene.

He brought Fang Dongting's body to where Gong Qingfeng and Aqi's bodies were, arranging them to look like they had killed each other.

Aqi's body was easy to handle. He died from Su Xin's Hatred Palm, which severed his heart meridians. Su Xin added a sword wound to his neck to make it look like a throat slash.

Fang Dongting, although he was severely injured by Su Xin's Shocking Spirit Finger, would not be noticeable without an autopsy.

The only tricky part was Gong Qingfeng.

He was shattered by Su Xin's Flower Plucking Finger, and if Su Xin added a large wound, all his blood would instantly drain.

This would be obvious even to a fool, and the Green City Sword Sect martial artists could not cause such injuries.

So Su Xin carefully used Fang Dongting's sword to cut Gong Qingfeng's throat, being careful not to touch any meridians.

This created the scene where Gong Qingfeng killed Aqi, and then Fang Dongting and Gong Qingfeng killed each other.

Although there were many doubts, this was the best he could do for now.

After setting up the scene, Su Xin picked up Gong Qingfeng's long sword and stabbed himself in the side, causing blood to gush out, making Su Xin's face pale.

Pulling out the sword, Su Xin staggered back, seeing He Tian and Meng Changhe lying on the ground.

These two, although they were severely injured by Gong Qingfeng's single strike, were not taken seriously by him.

The sword aura only casually cut them, with most of the force concentrated on Fang Dongting and Aqi. This resulted in them being severely injured but not dead.

Meng Changhe was still unconscious, but He Tian was struggling to get up.

Seeing Su Xin walk over with a wound on his side, He Tian asked urgently, "Leader Su, what about Gong Qingfeng?"

Su Xin's face was grim. "Dead. Fang Dongting and his servant Aqi were both innate martial artists. They managed to kill Gong Qingfeng, but they both died in the process."

He Tian immediately relaxed. As long as Gong Qingfeng was dead, he didn't care about the fate of the noble-born Fang Dongting.

Seeing his reaction, Su Xin sneered. "Don't relax yet. Don't forget that Jiang Ling, the Divine Palace realm martial artist, is still here.

Facing him, even at our peak, we are no match, let alone in our current injured state."

Thinking of this, He Tian's face turned pale, and he bitterly smiled. "There's no way, we can only wait to die here."

Su Xin said, "Go to the entrance and wait. If Xie Zhiyan can delay Jiang Ling for an hour or if he gets lost in the fog, we might have a chance. I tested it; without marking the direction, it's easy to get lost in the fog."