Chapter 221: Slaying the Enemy with the Falling Dragon, Perfection in the Dao of the Spear!

Chapter 221: The Dragon Descends, Enemies Slain, the Gun Path Complete!

Chen Yì, master of medical arts, indeed knew certain methods of striking acupoints or using medicines to awaken the latent potential of the flesh.

Yet those were all evil arts, and the consequences of their use were grave—either severe damage to the meridians or grievous harm to the physical body.

A sudden burst within a short time could lead to a lifetime of no progress at all.

Even normal people, if they knew the methods, would not dare to use them.

But right before his eyes stood a madman.

Yan Fu Sha cared not for such niceties. Once the drug took effect, his blood-red eyes held only Chen Yì.

"Kill! Kill him!"

Before his words had even fully formed, he surged forward, his entire being turning into a black streak, rushing straight at Chen Yì.

Chen Yì did not hesitate or overthink, raising his gun to block the way.

Almost as he completed his motion, a tremendous force surged through his chest.

—Ten-Thousand-Strength Force!

Chen Yì was flung backward, his eyes slightly widened, staring at the grotesque figure lunging toward him again.

His inner energy flowed and erupted, his strength resonating through his entire body, delivering a thousand-jin fall to the ground.

Then his form shifted, employing the perilous "Dancing Dragon and Phoenix Body Method" to evade Yan Fu Sha's claw aimed directly at his face.

Had that claw struck true, his face would have been torn clean off half.

Yan Fu Sha's strike missed, he crouched low and swept his leg, kicking Chen Yì's neck as he raised his leg sideways.

"Dead!"

Chen Yì raised his gun to block again.

Bang.

Another colossal, heavy blow sent him flying sideways.

But unlike the previous unprepared defense, this time Chen Yì had made preparations, his lower body firmly planted, sliding along the ground.

His cultivation, techniques, and physical strength were all behind, so he absolutely had to avoid the state of being airborne.

Otherwise, he would merely become Yan Fu Sha's target.

Chen Yì remembered this, his body and actions one by one deflecting Yan Fu Sha's fierce, lethal techniques.

Especially avoiding those five-colored poisonous auras emanating from Yan Fu Sha's palms.

In just ten breaths, the two had exchanged over a hundred moves.

Their speed was so fast that only a blue and a black twin streak of figures could be seen entangling and parting.

All the trees, rocks, and stones within a hundred-foot radius were shattered and crumbled.

Especially Yan Fu Sha's five-colored poisonous auras, each time they were unleashed, they eroded a patch of the surrounding area.

Amid the rustling sounds, a stench of poisonous fumes began to waft through the dense forest, surrounding their location.

From afar, Pei Minglu on the boat saw this, too preoccupied to even shout at Yan Fu Sha, pacing anxiously on the boat.

"Brother, you must be careful! Don't get into trouble!"

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't stumbled upon those scoundrels' tricks, you wouldn't have come here."

Pei Minglu worried and blamed herself, yet she knew she could do nothing now, only hoping Chen Yì would kill Yan Fu Sha or someone would come to rescue them.

But she also knew that their location was far from the Shu Prefecture, and they were by the Red River. Any significant movement would be hard to report to the prefecture.

Moreover, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival tonight. Even if someone ventured out, they couldn't possibly reach this wilderness.

Pei Minglu thought of these things, and couldn't help but shout: "Brother, be careful!"

Chen Yì was too absorbed in the fight to notice any surrounding movements.

In just half a minute of sparring with Yan Fu Sha, he had exerted all his strength yet still couldn't withstand the onslaught.

His right arm, previously tainted by poisonous auras, now stung with renewed pain.

His chest, clawed by Yan Fu Sha, bore similar traces of poisonous auras beneath the bloodstains.

Over a dozen wounds, black and red blood mixed with pus, soaked his torn robes.

It was a dire situation.

But worse still was Yan Fu Sha.

Though his breath remained steady, his inner energy, fists, and poisonous auras were all at their peak, his body had become even more grotesque and terrifying.

Five wounds on his head—eyes, mouth, nose—bled profusely. Dark veins bulged across his body, seeping blood.

His black nightclothes had long since been stained red with blood.

Yet Yan Fu Sha showed no signs of feeling it, his feral chase on Chen Yì relentless.

A palm, a claw, even joints and limbs—all carried tremendous force.

His fists were infused with the harmony of heaven and earth, scattering poisonous auras in all directions.

"Dead, why aren't you dead yet?"

"If someone as gifted as you could grow, they absolutely must not grow!"

Chen Yì remained unmoved, his gaze never leaving Yan Fu Sha.

Though his state was poor, he still had no intention of abandoning the plan to kill Yan Fu Sha.

He merely waited for an opportunity.

Fortunately, he had medical arts by his side. While dodging and blocking, he could strike acupoints to treat injuries, delaying the poison's erosion of his meridians, organs, and internal systems.

Without that, he couldn't have endured this long.

Just then, a golden light flashed before Chen Yì's eyes—

[At the hour of Hai, seven marks pass, witnessing the Mid-Autumn Poetry Gathering at the Cloud Villa. You, with "Song of the Full Moon" by Du Fu, claim the title of Poetry Master. In the pavilion by the pool, you achieve the celestial realm of literary accomplishment. Excellent performance.]

[Reward: "Mid-Autumn Riverscape," opportunity +66.]

Chen Yì barely glanced, dodging Yan Fu Sha's attack.

Golden characters appeared, nearly causing him to be struck by Yan Fu Sha's fist.

But the more he feared, the more he came to understand.

In less than a breath, another golden light appeared—

【Daily Intel: Grade A. Yan Fu Sha and others have kidnapped Chen Yì and Pei Minglu, the son-in-law of the distant Hou Prefecture. Minor opportunity gains possible.]

"..."

Chen Yì muttered a curse under his breath, already irritated by those golden characters and Yan Fu Sha's relentless pursuit.

Looking at Yan Fu Sha's energy beginning to wane, he spun around, exerting all his strength in the "Dancing Dragon and Phoenix Body Method," leaping three zhang away.

"Where to flee?!"

Flee?

Chen Yì let out a cold sneer, then planted his feet firmly, his spiritual essence flowing through every bone in his body in an instant.

He didn’t even glance at Yān Fùshā’s position, but spun around on his heel and thrust his spear forward.

It was the eighth form of the Luò Lóng Qiang Technique: Inverted Heaven and Earth!

The moment his spear struck, the blade light split into two, like two golden dragons diving down to ambush Yān Fùshā in a double strike.

And Chen Yì himself was caught between those two golden dragon-like blade beams, his figure and spear merging into one, also transforming into a dragon-shaped attack.

Yān Fùshā’s eyes widened, his face suddenly twisted into a grotesque grin.

"How convenient! Ha ha!"

As he spoke, his feet darted forward, meeting those three dragon-shaped blade beams head-on, his claws flipping upward.

The five-colored poison coalesced into a cluster.

Then, with a downward claw strike, ten blades of poison erupted.

In a blink, the three dragon-shaped blade beams collided with the poison, erupting in a deafening boom.

Boom, boom, boom...

The golden blade beams scattered, the five-colored poison surged, shattering everything within a ten-li radius into dust and debris.

Mountains, trees—all were flung apart in all directions.

In the midst of such perilous strikes, time seemed to stand still.

Chen Yì clearly saw Yān Fùshā’s grotesque face, and the scars left on his own body by the blade beams piercing his protective spiritual veil.

He also saw his own wounds, festering into pus-filled bubbles from the poison’s corruption.

In the next instant, Fú Líng had an idea.

Chen Yì gripped his spear and swung it in two wide arcs, the golden blade light forming two spinning wheels of wind fire.

Instantly, he swept away all the surrounding poison.

Without hesitation, Chen Yì then unleashed one of the four ultimate techniques of the Luò Lóng Qiang, reaching the pinnacle of martial arts:

"Dragon!"

Chen Yì raised his spear high and brought it down with a single, effortless strike.

That spear, arcing through the air like a half-moon, carved a golden crescent across the sky.

Then, a trembling ripple of divine energy spread out, shaking the heavens and earth within a hundred li.

In the night sky, a dark cloud within a hundred li radius flickered into existence, and golden lightning rained down.

Like a mighty golden dragon, it roared toward the unsuspecting Yān Fùshā.

"Yin!"

When the dragon’s shadow struck Yān Fùshā, a clear, resonant dragon’s cry echoed across the land.

A golden dragon-shaped silhouette spiraled upward, vanishing into the clouds.

Chen Yì appeared behind Yān Fùshā, stumbling slightly from exertion.

Looking back, Yān Fùshā slowly turned his head. The swirling spiritual veil had vanished, the black, grotesque aura dissipating, leaving only a withered corpse.

He lifted his trembling hand, his eyes wide with surprise, pointing at Chen Yì: "Y-you... your spear technique is complete..."

The levels of martial arts—from entry, minor achievement, to great achievement—are all about utilizing the divine energy of the world.

Different levels allow one to harness different strengths from the world’s energy.

At the entry level, one’s martial arts realm takes shape, capable of wielding sword and spear energy to enhance technique.

At the minor achievement level, one’s martial arts realm has matured, gaining a portion of the world’s divine energy and its unique applications, such as the martial arts of the Banner Mountains or Gale Wind.

At the great achievement level, one’s techniques grow more powerful, fists heavier, swords sharper, and the range wider.

These three levels are the limits known to ordinary people, the limits of human capability.

But if one’s martial arts cultivation reaches the complete level, everything changes.

The most obvious sign is the alteration of the world—lightning flashing, thunder rumbling, rivers flowing backward, and so on. As long as one’s cultivation and spiritual energy can sustain it, even moving mountains and filling seas is not impossible.

So in Yān Fùshā’s eyes, the technique that had just triggered such a world-altering phenomenon in Chen Yì’s "Dragon" spear strike had already reached the complete level of spear technique.

But the truth?

Chen Yì glanced at him, then shook his head: "Not yet."

A person’s final words before death are often true; he couldn’t have lied to Yān Fùshā.

Yet Yān Fùshā had just shown a hint of understanding, and as his body split in two, Chen Yì saw dazzling golden characters appearing:

[In the blink of an hour, witnessing the ten poison demons of the Five Poison Sect, including Yān Fùshā, kidnapping the groom Chen Yì and the mountain clan’s Pěi Wéng Lì, and personally executing fourteen evil demons of the Five Poison Sect, including Yān Fùshā. Reward: "Thousand Poison Skill," opportunity +45.]

[Spear technique refined: "Dragon," perfected, revealing the essence of complete spear technique.]

[Spear technique: Great Achievement, realm +1000, reaching the complete level.]

Chen Yì glanced over, his face frozen in astonishment, then realized his mind was flooded with vast knowledge of spear technique’s mysteries.

"Spear technique... truly complete?"

After checking twice to confirm he hadn’t misread, he couldn’t help but glance at Yān Fùshā’s corpse, a smile spreading across his face.

"Master Yān, I apologize, but I didn’t intend to hide it—it just happened too suddenly."

Ah, complete spear technique.

Now he truly had reason to rejoice.

But before Chen Yì could even get excited, he suddenly felt his vision go black, and he fell backward with a thud.

He hit the ground hard.

His wounds, corrupted by the poison, swelled up one after another.

Blood and pus streamed down his body in clumps.

Pěi Wéng Lì, watching from the Red River, saw this and his previously joyful face turned to worry. He hurried back to the boat, retrieved the vials and jars, and leaped off, rushing toward Chen Yì frantically.

In a moment, Pěi Wéng Lì reached Chen Yì’s side.

Without even checking him properly, she took out the antidote powder and had him consume it.

At this point, her face was streaked with tears: "Brother, don’t scare me."

"You mustn’t die, or else, or else..."

Pei Wanlu swayed and sobbed, her voice trembling as she clutched Chen Yi, "Or Jinghong Sister won't forgive me."

"Brother-in-law... wailing..."

At that moment, Chen Yi spoke weakly, "Stop crying, stop swaying."

"If I keep swaying like this, I'll really die."

Pei Wanlu's sobs faded, and she smiled through her tears, embracing him: "Brother, you're fine, you're really fine..."

"Ah... ahem..."

Chen Yi struggled to pull her away, but she held on tighter. Reluctantly, he let her cling to him.

He gazed at the moonlight filtering through the dense branches of the forest, his mind murmuring:

This time, it was truly perilous.

The Five Poison Sect, Liu family's Liu Zhao Xue... this wasn't over yet.

But neither of them noticed the man standing a hundred feet away, leaning against a tree.

Chen Yunfan was staring, his mouth open in utter disbelief.

More precisely, he was staring at the prone Chen Yi, whose face and eyes were etched with profound confusion.

"Yi Jie?"

"That's Yi Jie?"

"Yi Jie's gun technique is perfected?!"

My God, this can't be possible.

How could it be?

After all, he—Chen Yunfan—had spent over a decade cultivating martial arts, his progress barely reaching the lower tier of fourth rank. His sword technique had only just entered the realm of completion.

At this level of cultivation, he was already deemed a "heavenly jewel" by the elders in his clan. They called him the highest martial arts prodigy in the Chen family's hundred-year history in Jiangnan Prefecture.

Yet he was a "rare occurrence in a century." What about Chen Yi?

Younger than him, his cultivation was slightly lower, but his gun technique far surpassed his.

"Father, Mother, Uncle, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Fifth Uncle—come see!"

"Yi Jie has achieved greatness! His gun technique is perfected! Oh my..."

Why? How could this be?

He had worked tirelessly since childhood, enduring hardship to cultivate martial arts, yet never dared to show off, all to make a name for himself.

But before he could even emerge in the court, before he could stride across the land, someone in his clan surpassed him.

"Yi Jie, your literary arts are perfected, and your gun technique too... such a genius makes me uneasy."

After a moment, Chen Yi noticed some signs of the poison's intrusion had faded. Reluctantly, he spoke again:

"Stop crying."

"Help me up, help me up."

Pei Wanlu finally regained her senses and helped him sit up. "Brother, do you feel better?"

Of course not—she could see it.

Chen Yi's body was still ravaged by poison. Except for his face, which remained relatively unharmed, his entire body was swollen and festering.

It was a sight of utter desolation.

Yet after checking his internal condition with the art of spiritual pressure, he sighed in relief:

"It's alright. All the injuries are superficial, no internal organs were affected. We'll probably be fine by tomorrow."

Pei Wanlu, who had been heartbroken over those wounds, paused: "Tomorrow?"

He nodded, pulling out a pendant and beginning to treat his injuries.

While applying the "Qi-Infused Needle Technique," he also reminded her: "After we leave, don't mention anything that happened tonight."

"Madam Biang Sister is pure-hearted and won't understand such deceit. Plus, her health isn't good, so it's better not to worry her."

"If she asks, we'll agree on a story—say you encountered some people from thejianghu, and it almost turned into a fight."

Pei Wanlu nodded, taking notes as she listened, her eyes wide with curiosity at his actions.

"Brother, is that the 'Qi-Infused Needle Technique'? I remember Auntie mentioned some incredible medical masters could perform it."

Chen Yi nodded, continuing: "Don't worry about that now. Just remember what I said, and don't let your guard down like you did in front of Jinghong Sister."

"Brother, rest assured—I'll keep this secret."

"Speaking of which, what happened this time? You had so many bottles and jars with you, and those insects. How did the Five Poison Sect catch you?"

When he brought it up, Pei Wanlu's face flushed with anger.

"They were so cruel! They tricked me using a child!"

"When I came out of the outhouse, a child ran up saying he couldn't find his mother. I thought I'd take him to look for her."

"Just then, I stepped onto a path and was knocked unconscious..."

Unconscious...

So unconscious...

Chen Yunfan would give anything to be in that state right now.

That way, he could dismiss everything as a dream, not something real.

"Yi Jie is still a medical master... a martial arts perfectionist, a literary arts perfectionist, and a medical master... such a genius..."

Chen Yunfan wiped his eyes, not from blurred vision, but from near tears.

After much thought, he couldn't fathom how Chen Yi had cultivated so quickly.

Literary arts were understandable.

Chen Yi had studied diligently since childhood, his calligraphy wasn't bad, and he could even write and paint while confined in a storage room. His literary achievements today didn't surprise him.

But martial arts and medical arts?

Chen Yi had never studied medical texts, at least not before arriving in Shu. Within just a few months, he'd reached the minor completion stage of medical arts and mastered the "Qi-Infused Needle Technique."

And Chen Yunfan couldn't figure out when Chen Yi had started cultivating martial arts.

After much deliberation, he could only think of one possibility.

"Those years, Er Nuo wasn't imprisoned by his mother; instead, he had been secretly cultivating martial arts in the shadows."

"Five years of cultivation, reaching the pinnacle of gun-based martial arts, and now facing a life-or-death crisis to break through to the Complete Realm—it's not impossible."

"Could it be that his cultivation of martial arts was also arranged by his father?"

Chen Yunfan suddenly understood, his mind made up to find a way to contact his father.

He wanted to ask him outright about this: what exactly were the martial arts, the scholarly arts, and the medical arts that Er Nuo possessed?

"Not human, absolutely a monster!"

Thinking this, Chen Yunfan took a deep breath, gave one last glance at Er Nuo, and turned toward the manor city.

Just as he stepped out of the hundred-foot pole, he suddenly stopped and turned back, his eyes filled with both surprise and sudden realization.

"Gun method, gun techniques..."

"Was it Er Nuo who knocked out my lord that night? Was it Er Nuo who knocked out my lord and brought people to wake me up?"

From the gun-based and medical arts that Er Nuo displayed, Chen Yunfan instantly grasped everything, his face darkening with resentment.

"The West Market Herbalist Hall—Er Nuo went there often."

"And that night when Cui Qingwu was involved in an incident—it was the Xiao family who were framed..."

"His mother, his mother, his mother... Er Nuo, you've hidden this from your brother with such cunning!"

"You, you, you... you wait for your brother!"

Chen Yunfan's earlier resolve to rescue Er Nuo had long since evaporated like smoke.

Rescue him?

What rescue? I'm nothing without him!

(End of Chapter)