Chapter 500: Chapter 419: Storm

Jiang Buyu and Ye Guhong’s swordsmanship was complementary. One style was hard, the other soft; one heavy, the other swift. They coordinated seamlessly.

But with every strike from Chen Li’s staff, the Order Divine Chains coiled around it erupted in brilliant light. The Primordial Qi they contained was on a fundamentally different level from his two opponents.

"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"

The Heavy Sword and the long staff clashed again and again. With every exchange, Jiang Buyu felt as if he were being smashed by a mountain. The webbing of his hand split open, blood flowing down the hilt of his sword, and his internal organs trembled so violently they felt as if they might shift out of place.

Ye Guhong’s situation was even more difficult.

His swordsmanship was light and agile, ill-suited for direct confrontation. Faced with Chen Li’s mountain-heavy Staff Technique, he could only rely on his Body Technique to maneuver. The slightest graze from the staff’s wake would send his qi and blood into turmoil and make his meridians feel as if they were about to rupture.

’If this goes on... we’re sure to die!’

Jiang Buyu grew anxious.

’I can’t keep fighting him head-on!’

’If we keep clashing directly, we have absolutely no chance of winning. We might not even last a hundred moves.’

"Junior Brother Ye!"

Jiang Buyu sent a Secret Transmission, his voice urgent. "I’ll hold him off—you leave immediately! Take word of what happened tonight back to the sect! You must let the Sect Leader know!"

"If anyone’s leaving, it should be you!"

Ye Guhong transmitted back. "I’m better suited to bog him down and buy time."

"Foolish!"

While desperately parrying a sweep from Chen Li that sent him staggering backward, Jiang Buyu sent another urgent transmission. "Your Body Technique is fast; I can’t outrun him. Besides, you can’t stop him. Go now!"

A flicker of hesitation crossed Ye Guhong’s eyes, but it was replaced by grim resolve in the next instant.

"Alright!"

He let out a low roar, met one of Chen Li’s attacks head-on, and used the recoil to fly backward. He spat a mouthful of blood in midair, but his body never paused as he raced away into the distant night.

"Trying to run?"

Chen Li’s gaze turned cold, and he moved to give chase.

But Jiang Buyu was already blocking the path, his sword held horizontally. He swung his Heavy Sword, its Sword Gang flaring to life and sealing off every route Chen Li could take.

"Wait, Your Excellency! We are willing to negotiate. There may be a misunderstanding here. The Celestial Sword Sect is prepared to offer compensation that will satisfy you. Everything is negotiable!"

He was attempting to stall for time.

Chen Li, however, didn’t even spare him a glance. His gaze was locked on the retreating Ye Guhong as he brought his long staff smashing down.

’Negotiations? Compensation? At this point, they’re just the useless words of a desperate last struggle.’

"BOOM!"

Chen Li paid him no mind. The momentum of his Qiankun Ruyi Staff did not lessen in the slightest. Like a collapsing pillar of heaven, the staff carried a suppressive might as it smashed violently toward Jiang Buyu’s whirling Sword Gang.

"Pfft..."

Jiang Buyu’s Sword Gang shattered inch by inch beneath the Qiankun Ruyi Staff.

His Heavy Sword was knocked high into the air. His entire body was violently shaken, blood streaming from his mouth and nose as his vision began to go black.

’I can’t retreat. I have to hold him off! I have to create an opportunity for Junior Brother Ye!’

Forcibly gathering his dissipating Primordial Qi and ignoring the tearing pain in his meridians, he raised his sword again. He pounced like a cornered tiger, adopting a reckless, all-out offensive style aimed at mutual destruction.

Jiang Buyu fought desperately to hold him back, while Ye Guhong fled for his life.

Under normal circumstances, even though Chen Li’s strength far surpassed the two of them, he would have likely let Ye Guhong escape when faced with one man fighting to the death to hold him back and another fleeing with all his might.

However, Chen Li remained perfectly calm and composed, not flustered in the slightest.

The main reason he had spared Feng Qingxuan—not killing her, but rather using both threats and promises—was to probe the Celestial Sword Sect and see just how many people they had sent this time, and what their strength was.

When Jiang Buyu and the others had left earlier, Chen Li had hidden in a teahouse by the docks and gotten a clear look at their forces: two Grandmaster Guiyuans, three Elders at the Void Transformation and Divine Hall Realms, and over a hundred elite disciples from the Celestial Sword Sect.

He was completely confident that he could prevent every last one of them from leaving.

’Trying to run? Have you asked for my permission?’

Chen Li sneered inwardly.

He met Jiang Buyu’s increasingly frantic, life-or-death attacks with his own body, engaging him in combat.

Meanwhile, within his Divine Hall Acupoint, the Second Primordial Spirit opened its eyes.

A point of golden light suddenly flared between his brows, shot out from the top of Chen Li’s head, flashed once in the night sky, and then streaked away in pursuit of the fleeing Ye Guhong.

"VMMMM!"

The streak of light was incredibly fast, crossing hundreds of yards in the blink of an eye and rapidly closing the distance on Ye Guhong.

It was none other than Chen Li’s Second Primordial Spirit.

’An opportunity!’

Jiang Buyu, still trading blows with Chen Li, caught sight of the streak of light from the corner of his eye. First, he was startled, but then he was overcome with elation.

He had never imagined that Chen Li would be so arrogant as to let his Primordial Spirit leave his body—performing Primordial Spirit Emergence—to hunt down Ye Guhong.

’After all, I’m still here!’

The Primordial Spirit is the foundation of a Martial Artist. Once it leaves the body, the Divine Hall is left empty and vulnerable.

If an enemy’s Primordial Spirit were to invade the Divine Hall at such a moment, the best-case scenario would be a damaged Divine Soul. In the worst case, one’s Acupoints would shatter, their Cultivation would be crippled, and they could even die on the spot.

’Isn’t he afraid that I’ll seize this chance to rush my Primordial Spirit into his Divine Hall and destroy it from within?’

Jiang Buyu’s suspicion was fleeting. The perfect, once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity before him instantly crushed all doubt.

’This chance is fleeting!’

’Chen Li’s physical body is still here, but with his Primordial Spirit gone to give chase, this is the moment his defenses are at their weakest!’

’Now is the time!’

A vicious glint flashed in Jiang Buyu’s eyes. He hesitated no longer.

A light flashed between his brows as a figure shot out from within, transforming into a streak of light that lanced toward the space between Chen Li’s eyebrows.

"Shatter for me!"

Jiang Buyu’s Primordial Spirit roared, a brilliant Sword Gang condensing in its palm as it prepared to blast Chen Li’s Divine Hall Acupoint.

However, the moment it rushed into Chen Li’s Divine Hall, its form froze abruptly.

It stared with wide eyes, looking ahead in utter disbelief.

The center of the Divine Hall Acupoint was not empty and unguarded, as it had anticipated.

A pale golden figure sat there quietly in meditation, wreathed in Order Divine Chains and radiating a majestic Primordial Qi as vast as the ocean.

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