Chapter 133: A Cat Playing with a Mouse

Qi Fei's strike left the onlooking crowd utterly dumbfounded. Could this really be the same youth who had been utterly incapable of fighting back just moments ago? Could this really be the same City Lord Ma Lianliang who had seemingly settled the outcome with a single sweep just now? Yet, the current situation had completely reversed.

The first to recover from his astonishment was a burly man in his early thirties. Nudging his companion with a finger, he asked with lingering fear in his heart, "Big Head Zhang, tell me, is City Lord Ma holding back his true strength just to toy with that kid?"

"I'm not entirely sure either. Perhaps City Lord Ma simply wanted to give the boy a sliver of hope so that it would be all the more entertaining when he finally executes him," a heavily-built, rough-looking man beside him replied after a moment of quiet contemplation.

This explanation fit the current situation rather well. A cat does not consume a captured mouse immediately; instead, it leaves the mouse within paw's reach to play with it first. Perhaps Ma Lianliang harbored a similar psychology toward Qi Fei.

Perhaps neither of them could believe that Ma Lianliang would fall into a disadvantageous position under such circumstances, leading them to quickly formulate the most rational explanation for what they had just witnessed. However, while this convenient explanation gained the approval of the majority, a few others who favored Qi Fei expressed different views.

Big Head Zhang lowered his voice and said, "Let's observe for a moment longer. Another possibility is that the boy unleashed a supreme technique, and City Lord Ma was caught off guard due to a momentary lapse in caution. That would be quite normal."

After Ma Lianliang was driven back, the crowd, completely silenced by shock, remained quiet for only a brief moment before the Xiantian experts behind him broke into heated discussions. Because everyone held differing stances, the murmurs started as a faint whisper and gradually grew louder, eventually resembling a noisy argument between commoners in a marketplace. Yet, in the very next second, the boiling, clamorous noise was abruptly cut off as if someone had seized it by the throat.

When Qi Fei shouted out the sixth strike and Ma Lianliang attempted to stand his ground and trade blows head-on to preserve the dignity of a tier-four Xiantian expert, he was shown no mercy and was blasted back several zhang. Even after finally managing to stabilize his footing, he was unable to fully neutralize Qi Fei's tremendous force and let out a mouthful of fresh blood with a grunt. In contrast, Qi Fei's expression remained as calm and solemn as before.

Such an unexpected scene naturally silenced all the debaters instantly. Yet, Qi Fei showed no intention of stopping. With a slight movement of his lips, he uttered the words "the eighth strike," and once again thrust forward just as before, aiming straight for Ma Lianliang's glabella.

Having suffered moderate internal injuries under the sixth strike, Ma Lianliang suddenly realized the truth: each of the boy's strikes carried more formidable genuine Qi than the last, with the internal power contained in each consecutive blow multiplying several times over compared to the first.

By now, the onlookers finally understood that Qi Fei clearly had hidden trump cards. No wonder Ma Lianliang had easily deflected the first strike, handled the second with ease, and barely accepted the third; by the time the later strikes arrived, Ma Lianliang had faintly lost even the ability to parry.

At this moment, to say that Ma Lianliang still harbored any contempt would be an absolute lie. From the moment he was driven back and coughed up blood, alongside the terror he felt at Qi Fei's overwhelming methods, he vaguely sensed that Qi Fei's previous boast of defeating him within ten strikes was by no means a fabrication.

If things continued to progress at this pace, let alone ten strikes, he might not even be able to endure another two or three. Before the battle began—or even up until the moment Qi Fei unleashed his third strike—had anyone told him that a tier-one Xiantian could defeat him within ten strikes, he would have met it with deep, unadulterated contempt, no matter how wildly impossible the claim sounded. But when such an ironclad reality manifested right before his eyes, aside from a profound sense of pathos, Ma Lianliang was left with only one lingering thought.

No wonder Qi Fei had lain dormant for two or three years without the slightest improvement in his cultivation realm; it turned out he had been spending that time mastering such a formidable martial art.

In his heart, Ma Lianliang assumed that the techniques Qi Fei was using against him formed a complete martial arts manual. Just as his own renowned Five Tigers Door-Breaking Saber was a profound-grade, tier-one martial art, Qi Fei's methods ought to belong to the same tier at the very least, and quite possibly the profound-grade superior tier. As for the yellow-grade, he simply refused to believe that an isolated youth with no backing could possibly acquire something that only existed within the hereditary legacies of ancient aristocratic clans.

Of course, these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. As Ma Lianliang hurriedly calmed his roiling vital energy, he had no choice but to face Qi Fei's oncoming eighth strike. Given the circumstances—knowing that the might of Qi Fei's blade momentum was compounding—the smartest course of action would have been to temporarily avoid the sharp edge and seek out an opening through mobile combat. Yet, as the foremost expert of Yunshan City and a proud core member of the Ma family, his pride forbade him from making a move equivalent to admitting defeat.

*Could evasion... possibly be something an expert of my caliber, a tier-four Xiantian, should ever resort to against a beginner-tier Xiantian martial artist?*

A man lives for his reputation. Believing that dodging would inevitably invite ridicule afterward and impair the Ma family's deterrent influence over Youyun Prefecture, this man, traditionally perceived as ruthless and vicious, suddenly forged a desperate, all-or-nothing courage. Holding his Five Tigers Door-Breaking Saber horizontally before his chest, he centered his mind, circulated his internal breath, and let out a resounding roar as a ring of green light rapidly materialized around his body.

Once these rings of green light emerged from his body, layer after layer gathered above his head, not only casting a terrifying hue over the faces of those around him but also infusing his presence with an alluringly eerie aura.

As his opponent in combat, Qi Fei was the first to notice this change. When the blood-colored halo above Ma Lianliang's head intensified, he abruptly felt the man's overall aura surge drastically, carrying an ominous, terrifying undertone. This sudden anomaly not only caused Qi Fei to pause for a fraction of a second, but it also reignited the murmurs among the previously silenced spectators.

Big Head Zhang's expression suddenly shifted in shock. "How could the City Lord possibly use this technique?"

"The True Scripture of the Heavenly Demons Dancing in Chaos! Isn't that the exclusive art of the Blood Shadow Monarch, who ranked seventh on the righteous path's hunt list twenty years ago? How did City Lord Ma get his hands on such a technique?"

"Ever since the Blood Shadow Monarch was hunted down and annihilated, this technique vanished completely. To think it fell into the hands of the Ma family."

Listening to the voices of the crowd, waves of deep regret and disapproval were palpable. "For City Lord Ma to practice such demonic and heterodox arts... This truly brings shame upon all of us in Yunshan City!"

The hushed discussions among the crowd quickly laid bare the anomaly manifesting on Ma Lianliang. The onlookers, who had been completely clueless moments earlier, gathered information and quickly understood the full picture.

The Blood Shadow Monarch had once occupied the lofty position of third on the righteous path's wanted list. This was not only because his personal strength approached the realm of immortality on the Black List, but also because his penchant for consuming human blood raw had stirred a massive uproar throughout the Divine Mainland.

However, eighteen years ago on a certain day, this fellow happened to murder the biological son of the master of Youyun Prefecture's Xuanxin Sword Sect, thereby provoking a kill order issued by the sect master. Following a year of relentless pursuit, he was finally cornered and executed on the spot within Danxia Mountain in Youyun Prefecture. At the time, the Ma family had been among those responding to the Xuanxin Sword Sect's bounty, which meant the Ma family must have acquired the Blood Shadow Monarch's uninherited scripture during that very period.

Though this cultivation method undoubtedly belonged to the demonic paths, it possessed undeniably terrifying utility. When the Blood Shadow Monarch had been cornered back then, he had actually managed to drag down an immortal-tier existence with him by utilizing this very technique. The reason this art was so devastatingly sharp upon execution was that the True Scripture of the Heavenly Demons Dancing in Chaos could forcibly elevate the practitioner's realm by an entire level.

Back then, the Blood Shadow Monarch was already approaching the threshold of immortality; after executing this technique, his combat prowess was essentially indistinguishable from the ancient monsters on the Immortal-Tier List, which was why he could slaughter an expert of that caliber in one go. Now, though Ma Lianliang—a tier-four Xiantian—could not compare to the Blood Shadow Monarch, his combat strength surging abruptly afterward was an absolute certainty. After all, as a core high-ranking member of the Ma family possessing ancient hereditary resources, he could not simply be viewed as an ordinary martial artist.

Although Qi Fei had not previously known what hidden trump cards Ma Lianliang might be harboring, considering the Ma family's long history, he never believed the other party was as simple as outsiders made him out to be. The deeper the foundation of a great clan, the more hidden, unknown forces they possessed. Otherwise, if they were truly as simple as they appeared on the surface, the Ma family could never have maintained its deterrence over Youyun Prefecture for so long. Heritage was something accumulated bit by bit over countless years.

As the saying goes, many hands make light work. Even if the ancestors of the Ma family had merely accumulated a few branches a thousand years ago, passing down only that tiny bit to each successive generation, over such vast expanses of time, those branches would have grown into an endless forest—not something an ordinary person could destroy overnight. Thus, as a core high-ranking member of a clan with thousands of years of heritage, it was entirely natural for Ma Lianliang to possess one or two hidden, life-saving ultimate techniques.

Yet, this development was something Qi Fei had anticipated well before the battle began. Therefore, even upon seeing Ma Lianliang resort to such measures, his expression merely flickered slightly before he pressed forward with his blade, entirely devoid of fear.

The technique of the Myriad Blades Returning to Origin had already reached the eighth strike. Until the planned ten strikes were completed, he could only continue increasing the count; retracting his offensive was an absolute impossibility. Thus, regardless of how the situation on the opponent's end changed, he had no choice but to push forward along the predetermined trajectory of battle.

If Ma Lianliang had previously shown complete inferiority, then upon executing the True Scripture of the Heavenly Demons Dancing in Chaos, he faintly recovered the power to stalemate Qi Fei once more. Especially when his Five Tigers Door-Breaking Saber shifted, seemingly coated in an endless, blood-soaked radiance, the chilling majesty he exuded gave Qi Fei the illusion that he had reached the strength of the Immortal-Tier List.

*Could it be,* Qi Fei wondered suspiciously, *that this True Scripture of the Heavenly Demons Dancing in Chaos doesn't just elevate his realm by a single level, but directly grants someone at his tier-four Xiantian level the combat power belonging to a higher tier? If so, things are truly troublesome.*

Though tiers in martial arts were separated by mere definitions, the disparity in actual strength between them was as vast as heaven and earth. Even as a tier-four Xiantian expert, if Ma Lianliang were to genuinely encounter a higher-tier adversary, his only recourse would be to flee for his life. As noted earlier, the gap between these stages was akin to the difference between a Xiantian expert and an ordinary martial artist; barring exceptional circumstances, the latter had zero hope of defeating the former.

*It looks like this fellow Ma Lianliang has used this secret art to forcibly elevate his cultivation realm,* Qi Fei thought rapidly. *So this technique was passed down to him by the Blood Shadow Monarch. By slaying him today, I suppose I am repaying the debt of saving my life that the Blood Shadow Monarch inadvertently caused back then... I only wonder if my eighth strike can still wound this old bastard.*

"Bang!"

Even as these thoughts raced through his mind, the blade in Qi Fei's hand did not slow down by even a fraction as it thrust toward his opponent. However, the blood-drenched radiance pervading Ma Lianliang's long saber proved exceedingly bizarre. The moment Qi Fei's blade collided solidly with it, he felt an infinite suction force erupting from the enemy's weapon. No matter how he circulated the vital energy of heaven and earth, it felt as though he were merely feeding supplies to the other side; not a single ounce of his offensive force could be retrieved.

Struck by a great shock, Qi Fei immediately halted all transmission of heaven and earth vital energy into his Chill-Soul Blade and stepped backward, retreating pace by pace. Though he remained unaware of the precise mechanical changes Ma Lianliang underwent after operating the True Scripture of the Heavenly Demons Dancing in Chaos, Qi Fei understood that continuing to mobilize internal vital energy to attack would not only be a futile waste of effort, but would likely create an opening for the enemy to seize victory.

What caused Qi Fei the greatest headache was that, despite the opponent's technique remaining technically unchanged after the forcible elevation of his realm, the surging internal power left him feeling completely helpless. Though he knew Ma Lianliang could not possibly convert the genuine Qi sent into his blade for his own use, this was the first time Qi Fei had ever encountered a situation where his striking force was nullified into nothingness.

Especially when Ma Lianliang, wearing a chilling smile, launched a counterattack completely unaffected by the eighth strike as Qi Fei retreated, the youth realized it was imperative to alter his combat strategy. If this continued, let alone breaking through the enemy within ten strikes, he feared he might end up defeated himself.

Yet, the current situation no longer allowed Qi Fei the luxury of pondering what alternative strategy he should adopt.