Chapter 912 - 878: Too Smooth

Xu Chunliang was amused by his words and laughed. "Old thief, listen to my advice: kill yourself, save yourself the humiliation."

Cao Xinwei said, "Brat, you really are arrogant. Even if you’ve taken away her Profound Yin Body, it’s useless. She’s the furnace cauldron I painstakingly refined. What you’ve done is nothing more than a cow eating peonies and a pig rooting cabbages."

Xu Chunliang smiled with narrowed eyes and said, "Whether it’s a cow eating peonies or a pig rooting cabbages, the reality is she’s already my woman. Old thing, stop indulging in your delusions."

Cao Xinwei’s fury had reached its peak; his Tianchi acupoint hurt like being pricked by needles. His hands swung back and forth as if drawing circles.

Xu Chunliang mocked, "Putting on a show of gods and ghosts." Though his words were light, he didn’t dare be careless in the slightest. His left hand swept back slightly, signaling Xiahou Mulan to move aside.

Xiahou Mulan hated this thief who had killed her parents and deceived her for many years to the bone. She stepped back, raised the knife in her hand, and suddenly shot it toward Cao Xinwei’s face.

Xiahou Mulan had bitterly trained in flying knives for many years and attained considerable mastery. The short knife flew from her hand like lightning, carrying a sharp whistling as it tore through the air straight at Cao Xinwei’s brow.

Cao Xinwei didn’t make any evasive movement. The short knife was stopped an inch in front of his forehead, as if it had touched an invisible barrier.

Cao Xinwei glared, eyes round. "A grain of rice dares to shine!"

His voice was like torn silk, shrill and piercing. Xiahou Mulan’s eardrums buzzed from the shock, her vital energy surging chaotically. The short knife’s momentum died, and it fell to the ground in midair under its own weight.

The air in the room seemed to be sucked toward him; in a space where there had been no wind at all, a howling gust suddenly arose.

Xu Chunliang secretly sighed that Cao Xinwei was using his own Gang Qi to form a vortex. Who knew how many people this old thing had harmed to finally reach such a realm. It was a pity that water that can carry a boat can also capsize it. Cao Xinwei’s Inner Strength was undoubtedly the most vast and powerful in the world, but that was also his greatest hidden danger: his Inner Strength was not obtained through his own cultivation, but through maiming others and draining their Inner Strength.

The more Inner Strength he absorbed, the more thick and powerful it became, and the stronger the backlash. In the past, Cao Xinwei had always used his own Inner Strength to forcibly suppress these alien True Qi, which was why he had aged before his time: he looked like a man of seventy or eighty, when in fact he was just past fifty.

The fundamental way to eliminate this hidden danger was to obtain Profound Yin Qi. That was why Cao Xinwei had spent more than twenty years raising and cultivating Xiahou Mulan; otherwise, given his temperament, he would have killed this girl long ago.

Xu Chunliang flicked his right hand; three cold flashes shot straight at Cao Xinwei, one aimed at the Dantian, one at the chest center, and the third at the glabella.

Though the fine needles were light, under Xu Chunliang’s flick they flew faster than Xiahou Mulan’s throwing knife.

Cao Xinwei let out a great roar; his arms shuddered, and the clothes on his upper body were torn apart by True Qi, shredding into hundreds of pieces. Though his face was old, his body was robust like a youth’s: muscles knotted, skin taut. The three fine needles Xu Chunliang had shot were all blocked outside the Gang Qi that covered his body’s surface.

Cao Xinwei advanced on Xu Chunliang step by step. Xu Chunliang guarded Xiahou Mulan, retreating continuously.

Cao Xinwei sneered, "Brat, even if you used a poison needle to seal my Tianchi acupoint, so what? I’ll just seal off the Hand Jueyin Heart Sack Meridian." As he spoke, a cold gleam flickered at the Tianchi acupoint on his left chest; that poison needle he had mistakenly inhaled was actually being slowly forced out by him.

Xu Chunliang praised, "What overbearing Inner Strength. Just speaking of Inner Strength alone, you should be considered the foremost in the world."

Cao Xinwei laughed smugly. "Scared now? Still not going to surrender?"

Xu Chunliang wasn’t nervous at all and said lightly, "I wonder if you’ve ever driven a car?"

Cao Xinwei didn’t know why he suddenly asked this. Xiahou Mulan thought Xu Chunliang was trying to stall for time. At this moment she felt a powerful suction pulling her forward. She had already retreated to the edge of the wall; even with her back against it, she still felt a pair of invisible hands dragging her forward with force. Luckily, Xu Chunliang was in front of her blocking the way.

If even she was like this, the pressure on Xu Chunliang, who was facing Cao Xinwei directly, must be even greater.

Xu Chunliang went on, "As long as you’ve driven, you should’ve experienced a tire getting punctured. If a nail lodges in the tire and you pull it out right away, the tire will deflate quickly. If you leave the nail in for the moment, the leak is actually slower. Right now, you are that tire."

Cao Xinwei’s heart sank. Xu Chunliang wasn’t exaggerating, but even if he was right, killing the two of them wouldn’t take him much time at all. He sneered, "Die!"

His right palm slapped the ground through the air. The short knife on the floor sprang up, shooting toward the ceiling of the secret chamber at astonishing speed. After striking the ceiling, it ricocheted out at an angle, its trajectory aimed straight at Xiahou Mulan.

In Cao Xinwei’s eyes, Xiahou Mulan had already lost her Profound Yin Body and thus any value. Killing her with this shot would not only vent his hatred, but also serve as a feint—attacking the east to strike the west.

If Xu Chunliang ignored Xiahou Mulan, she would undoubtedly die. If Xu Chunliang blocked the blade for her, then Cao Xinwei would have his opening.

Before Cao Xinwei launched his attack, Xu Chunliang had already seen through his intent.

Xiahou Mulan heard Xu Chunliang’s voice sounding by her ear: "Lunge toward me."

After obtaining Xiahou Mulan’s Profound Yin Qi, Xu Chunliang successfully activated his Innate Power, and the abilities that had been sealed due to damage to his Inner Strength were unsealed as a result; secret transmission was one of them.

Because the flying knife was launched by rebound, Xiahou Mulan’s move actually happened before the knife bounced back.

Cao Xinwei’s plan was thorough and his intent vicious, but he’d overlooked one thing: Xiahou Mulan could move. The moment Xiahou Mulan pounced forward toward Xu Chunliang, it was already destined that the flying knife would miss its mark.

Xu Chunliang activated at the very first instant, chopping a palm toward Cao Xinwei.

The short knife shot into the spot where Xiahou Mulan had just been standing, smashing heavily into the rock and throwing off several sparks.

Cao Xinwei saw that he had missed his target and couldn’t help feeling regret, then saw Xu Chunliang taking the initiative to attack him, and felt a burst of delight—this was exactly the chance he’d been waiting for.

He likewise sent a palm out to meet Xu Chunliang’s.

Cao Xinwei prided himself on his dense Inner Strength. Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength might be powerful, but he had already absorbed seven or eight tenths of it; even with Xiahou Mulan’s Profound Yin Qi as a supplement, Profound Yin Qi was not the same thing as Inner Strength, and while it was useful to him, it didn’t do much for others. That was why Cao Xinwei used the phrase "a cow eating peonies" to describe it.

Their palms collided like magnets striking together and were instantly locked tight against each other. Xu Chunliang raised his left hand, and Cao Xinwei grabbed his left hand as well.

Cao Xinwei hadn’t expected success to come so easily and was wildly overjoyed. His Inner Strength formed a vortex within his body, and the powerful suction that vortex generated drew Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength from his Lao Gong acupoint into his own Lao Gong acupoint.

Cao Xinwei secretly reveled in his triumph. You, Xu Chunliang, only know that pulling the nail out of a tire lets it deflate faster, but you don’t understand that if I keep pumping air into the tire as it deflates, I can keep it as it was. I’ve clearly sucked away most of your Inner Strength, and yet this time you’re still so careless you dare to pit palm force against me. Let’s see if this doesn’t kill you!

Xu Chunliang showed a look of inexplicable terror. Cao Xinwei’s face twisted into a ferocious grin—so now you know fear? Too late. He sped up the circulation of his internal breath, accelerating the intake of Xu Chunliang’s remaining Inner Strength.

Xiahou Mulan saw Xu Chunliang in danger and picked up the short knife that had just been shot at her from the ground, circling around toward Cao Xinwei’s back. She now felt nothing toward Cao Xinwei but hatred; all kinship was gone.

Xu Chunliang’s voice came by her ear, stopping her: "Don’t!"

Xiahou Mulan simply assumed Xu Chunliang was worried about her safety. At a time like this, how could she let Xu Chunliang fight alone? She swung the knife and drove it hard toward Cao Xinwei’s back. Back then he’d used this very blade to kill her father; now it was her turn to take revenge.

Though the short knife had lain in dust for twenty years, it was still sharp. Xiahou Mulan put all her strength into that thrust, yet when the tip stabbed into Cao Xinwei’s back it was like hitting rock. Her strike failed, and she raised the blade, ready to stab again—but the short knife had actually been sucked onto Cao Xinwei’s back.

Xiahou Mulan tried to let go of the short knife, but her hand was glued to the hilt by a powerful suction.

Right now Cao Xinwei was like a huge magnet; anything that touched his body would be pulled firmly to him.

Cao Xinwei’s delight now gained a new layer. Xiahou Mulan’s Profound Yin Body had been broken, but aside from him, no one in this world should know how to utilize Profound Yin Qi. Today he was going to suck over in one sweep the Profound Yin Qi that Xu Chunliang had taken, along with the little residue still remaining in Xiahou Mulan’s body.

However, he very quickly felt disappointed. There wasn’t the slightest trace of Profound Yin Qi left in Xiahou Mulan’s body. So the two of them really had done something indecent. That punk Xu Chunliang was simply wasting heavenly treasure.

Xiahou Mulan had no idea just how precious her Profound Yin Body was, and had casually let Xu Chunliang take advantage of it like that. Although Xiahou Mulan still had some Inner Strength she’d gained through cultivation, Cao Xinwei didn’t care for it at all. The Inner Strength backlash came; Cao Mulan was just pulling the knife back when the powerful attraction from Cao Xinwei suddenly vanished. Cao Mulan stumbled, and at the same time a surge of backlash force from Cao Xinwei traveled along the blade into her body.

Xiahou Mulan was like someone hit in the chest by an invisible fist, flung backward as though riding clouds and mists. She slammed into the wall before finally stopping, the impact sending searing pain through every bone in her body. She crashed to the ground and—puh!—spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Over the course of this single day, she’d really lost no small amount of blood.

Cao Xinwei confirmed that Xiahou Mulan’s Profound Yin Body no longer existed and gave up any hope he’d had for her, focusing all his attention on dealing with Xu Chunliang.

Seeing the panic on Xu Chunliang’s face, Cao Xinwei felt a surge of satisfaction. "Now you know fear? Too late."

Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength was accelerating as it flowed into his body. Everything was going so smoothly: once he sucked away Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength and took back the Profound Yin Qi that should have been his, his divine skill would be complete, and he would no longer be troubled by that alien True Qi. The more Cao Xinwei thought about it, the happier he became.

Yet Xu Chunliang suddenly started laughing.

Cao Xinwei thought: You’re on death’s door and you can still laugh?

Xu Chunliang’s tone was full of mockery as he said, "Don’t you think everything’s going a little too smoothly?"