There is a type of knife that, before it even pierces the enemy's body, terrifies them to death, causing them to die before they are even wounded.
Jiang Liu is now facing just such a knife!
The sword is a Japanese samurai sword, snow-white, cold and elegant, with cloud patterns like chrysanthemums on its blade. The blade is so sharp that it seems that just looking at it would cut your eyes and make them bleed!
A single stroke in two! Anything can be cleaved in two by this blade, including steel, and even more so, Jiang Liu's body!
The person wielding the knife was dressed entirely in black, as dark as the night, completely blending into the darkness. Even his skin and face were a dark bluish-black, creating a stark contrast with the snow-white knife. Only his two eyes gleamed with an eerie, blood-red light in the pitch-black night!
This was the most dangerous blow Jiang Liu had ever encountered in his life!
Even the demonic Daoist Qingming did not give Jiang Liu such a feeling.
With that one strike, Jiang Liu felt he was so close to death.
This strike, its power erupted suddenly, unseen and unheard! This strike, its killing intent was almost tangible, chilling to the bone! This strike, though not yet pierced the body, seemed to have already pierced it! This strike was stunning! It was alluring! It was deadly! It was a strike that would slay gods and Buddhas alike!
Jiang Liu had practiced swordsmanship, specifically the Wudang Turtle-Snake Sword, and had even reached a minor level of mastery. But in the face of this one strike, he was as laughable as a child!
This sword has surpassed the Grandmaster level and reached a state of divine skill, seemingly containing a hazy sword intent!
Sword intent! A bloodthirsty, murderous sword intent!
This was an assassination attempt, one that Jiang Liu had anticipated long ago!
Although he lacked Tang Zichen's spiritual cultivation and could not comprehend the meaning of "Sincerity leads to foresight," Jiang Liu was a transmigrator. He knew that his challenge to the Japanese martial arts world would inevitably attract assassination attempts from senior masters.
Wang Chao also encountered a joint assassination attempt by five top Dan Jin masters in Japan during his visit to Japan. However, at that time he had already "broken through the void" and reached the realm of "seeing the gods", so he was naturally not afraid and even killed the five Dan Jin masters.
However, Jiang Liu's martial arts skills were still lacking. Without using his vital energy, his strength was only at the level of Outer Qi, and facing such a strike was already his limit.
In his perception, there were two more experts behind him, forming a triangle to attack him, seemingly determined not to give him any chance to escape.
As for Ba Liming, he was also assassinated. A strong wind swept in from afar, and if a typhoon were to strike, the small house where he lived would collapse with a crash.
The five remaining masters of Japanese martial arts and ninja skills have finally made their move!
Ito Osamu is over a hundred years old, but his sword remains as sharp, decisive, and murderous as it was seventy years ago. Once drawn, it will not return until it has tasted blood. Seventy years ago, when China was shattered, he once challenged the entire nation with his sword, only to be defeated once by Sun Lutang. Countless Chinese boxers have died at his hands.
It's said that killing too many people can solidify one's murderous aura into a tangible form, capable of driving someone to madness with just a glance. Ito Osamu hasn't killed anyone in over sixty years, yet his eyes still seem to possess a kind of magic, causing people to involuntarily slink away upon seeing them, feeling nauseous and irritated.
Jiang Liu's cultivation had reached the "Refining Essence into Qi" realm, so he was naturally unafraid of the erosion of killing intent. Their eyes met; one was like a raging wind, with clouds swirling and thunder flashing within its gaze; the other was eerie and blood-red, seemingly the eyes of a demon from hell, bloodthirsty and insane.
A sudden autumn wind swept through the night, bringing desolation to millions!
With a gentle flick of the blade, a streak of light flashed along the path of the autumn wind. The blade remained straight, and his wrist moved with a tremor, yet it didn't even produce the slightest sound of wind cutting through the air! His blade had already merged into the chilling autumn wind, thrusting straight at Jiang Liu before suddenly exploding the entire blade!
As the music ended and the plectrum was withdrawn, a single note from the four strings sounded like tearing silk! This final strike enveloped Jiang Liu's chest, heart, lungs, and even his Adam's apple!
Every strike is fatal!
In particular, the sword intent and killing intent contained in this strike were completely released in this tearing explosion. Looking at his blood-red eyes, one felt as if his body suddenly turned icy cold and an eerie, yin wind suddenly rose around him.
That was the force of his explosive blade, which caused the treetops around him to sway wildly, creating ghostly shadows and sounds like the wailing of ghosts, captivating the soul.
Ito Osamu's swordsmanship perfectly combined sound, wind, light, energy, spirit, and strength! Coupled with his killing intent, determination, and the explosive release of his accumulated mental and physical power over many years, this strike can be called the strongest strike in history!
He once unleashed a devastating stab, killing someone before the blade even pierced their heart; the enemy's liver and gallbladder ruptured, and they died of fright! That's why he was once known as the "Demon Blade."
The knife didn't pierce the person's body, but the person died of terror.
What an incredibly powerful sword intent!
Jiang Liu had nowhere to retreat. The two men behind him had blocked all his escape routes. A master who could coordinate an assassination with such a blade could not possibly be just an ordinary boxer. This strike shook his very soul. He knew he was now at the brink of death, and he no longer suppressed his inner energy. A flash of lightning appeared in his eyes.
He drew his sword-like fingers together and thrust it out in an instant. Was he going to use his bare arms to block the demonic blade's edge?!
The human body could not possibly withstand the blade's strike, but lightning could. Jiang Liu's vital energy surged forth from between his fingers, unleashing a "lightning technique."
An arc of electricity flickered between his fingers, as if countless birds were chirping, and then his entire palm was covered with silvery-white arcs of electricity.
This move is like the Chidori and Raikiri from Naruto, possessing extremely strong penetrating power and a paralyzing effect. Jiang Liu wouldn't dare to compare the sharpness of his finger against a blade; all he wanted was the paralyzing effect of the lightning.
Sure enough, the lightning surged into Ito's hand along with the sword. The hand that had held a sword all his life suddenly went numb, the blade paused, and he almost dropped it.
"Lightning?!"
Ito Osamu let out an incredulous sound, a strange sound, because it wasn't an old man's voice, but rather as soft as a woman's.
This strike, imbued with all his energy and spirit, was intended to kill. Even if Yang Luchan, Sun Lutang, and Li Shuwen were alive, they couldn't possibly withstand it bare-handed. However, he hadn't anticipated that Jiang Liu could conjure lightning out of thin air. With his strike broken, his momentum instantly vanished!
One should strike with full force at the first attempt, but the momentum will wane at the second and be exhausted at the third!
Ito was already over a hundred years old. Although the Core Formation realm allowed him to control his qi and blood, and he could still unleash peak strength at a hundred, it couldn't be sustained. This burst of power had already consumed most of his physical and mental energy. With his strike missing, his momentum waned like a receding tide!
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Decline (Part 1)
A small difference can lead to a huge error!
In a battle between masters, victory or defeat can be decided in milliseconds!
With a single strike, Jiang Liu shattered Ito's eerie blade, surging forward with incredible speed, his feet planted on the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) symbol, swimming upwards. One hand pressed down on the blade, acting like a giant magnet, adhering to the edge. No matter how hard Ito tried, he couldn't break free from this one-handed "empty-handed clash with a blade"!
A swordsman without a knife, a swordsman without a sword, unless he reaches the state of "unity of man and nature" where having no sword is better than having a sword, will lose seventy percent of his strength.
In Jiang Liu's eyes, this swordsman and assassin was already a dead man.
Ito's eerie eyes narrowed to slits, his pupils shrinking to mere points. The sword was still in his hand, but he could no longer wield it! Jiang Liu pressed his hand against the blade, unleashing a fully mastered spiraling silk-wrapping force. With just one hand, Ito felt the blade sink, as if weighed down by ten thousand tons; no matter how he tried to move it, it was like a dragonfly trying to shake a stone pillar. More importantly, he seemed to feel that Jiang Liu's skin was like a magnet, firmly holding the blade in place, making it impossible to pull away, not only upwards but also to the side or downwards!
"Baka!"
In a flash, Ito's eerie, bloodshot eyes widened, his gaze contorted with rage, his face contorted with extreme ferocity. A deafening roar erupted from his mouth, like a lion's roar, utterly deafening. Then Jiang Liu felt the knife beneath his hand vibrate, as if it were about to slip from his grasp. Ito was using all his strength to pull the knife away!
Jiang Liu snorted coldly, his palm suddenly tensed, and then he shook it repeatedly.
Itō Oto seemed to be unleashing his ultimate move, knowing he only had one last chance. He was going to die anyway, so he poured all his remaining life force into that final strike! He unleashed his full power of the Core Formation, his hand trembling as he drew his sword. His entire body swelled instantly, as if his blood was surging to its peak, making him imposing and energetic, radiating a youthful aura!
This is the power of a master who has reached the Core Formation stage. Even at a hundred years old, they can control their blood and qi to reach their peak state, but this state cannot be maintained and can only be used for one strike. Moreover, this is Ito Osamu's second outburst. The strange slash just now consumed most of his mind and blood. If he were to strike again, even if he could survive Jiang Liu's attack, he would die within an hour.
Jiang Liu remained unusually calm, his gaze unchanged. In his eyes, Ito was already dead. In that instant! Jiang Liu felt the knife beneath his hand hum and vibrate violently, as if a dragon suppressed beneath a mountain, unwilling to be restrained, was about to break free and soar into the sky!
But who was Jiang Liu? His fist possessed the mighty power of heaven. Let alone a flood dragon, even a real dragon would struggle in vain once captured by him. The tendons in his arm vibrated like a bowstring, and with a sudden burst of force from his five fingers, his snow-white, jade-like hand turned as blue as a steel claw, then twisted violently!
Click, click, click, click, click!
The incredibly sharp knife was instantly covered with cracks, and then, like a block of ice, it shattered into seven or eight pieces and fell to the ground!
Meanwhile, Jiang Liu's other hand had already begun to claim Ito's life. From the moment Ito stabbed him to the moment Jiang Liu retaliated and took his life, only a little over a second had passed—a reversal of fortune in an instant. The muscles and tendons in Jiang Liu's arm vibrated violently with each movement, like a giant python undulating and surging within his clothes. This caused the sleeves of his clothes to move like the large metal blades of a blower, violently churning the air within a foot of him, much like the shockwave from a bomb explosion.
This is the terrifying aspect of the external force within the Gang Jin (罡劲).
The ability to strike from an inch in mid-air with innate qi was something I learned after exchanging and sparring with Ba Liming.
The powerful, rounded force of Tai Chi combined with the innate qi's "one-inch strike in mid-air" technique, though it didn't touch Ito's body, caused his head to explode as if hit directly by a cannonball! His entire body flew up, his head shattered, bones flying everywhere, red and white.
"The cherry blossoms have fallen; the daisies will surely bloom..."
Ito murmured something in the air, then crashed to the ground, scattering blood everywhere—a poignant, eerie red, like cherry blossoms blown away by wind and rain, crushed into dust.
This ninjutsu master, a powerful figure over a hundred years old, has thus died completely!
"Hahaha……"
With a loud laugh, Jiang Liu used his feet to execute the "Dou Bu Gang" technique, dodging the sneak attacks from two martial arts masters behind him. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Liu smashed Ito Oto's head with a single punch, then dodged the attacks from behind!
Jiang Liu's loud laughter was incessant, and his voice seemed to reach the heavens.
With life and death hanging in the balance, and having escaped the brink of certain death, Jiang Liu was now 100% confident in withstanding the attacks of the remaining two.
The two men who arrived were both over a hundred years old, with pure white hair, but Jiang Liu dared not be careless in the slightest. Anyone who could still carry out assassinations at the age of one hundred was, without exception, a master of Dan Jin (a martial arts technique).
That palm strike was in the stance of the Bagua Great Slamming Hand, extremely fierce and unparalleled, comparable to the round and powerful force of Tai Chi. As the palm struck, the feet stepped in the Yu Step, exactly the same as Jiang Liu's Stepping the Dipper and Spreading the Gang, and the strong wind made Jiang Liu's clothes flutter loudly.
Jiang Liu had been sparring with Ba Liming for over ten days, acquiring countless treasured manuals and becoming extremely familiar with various styles of boxing. This palm strike was none other than the most ferocious and powerful "Rolling Thunder Chop" from Da Shuaibei's hands.
The Baguazhang Great Stele Smashing Technique comprises five strikes: rolling strike, thunder strike, willow leaf strike, cross strike, and coil strike. It is the highest method of Daoist cultivation, stimulating blood, qi, and the life gate.
Rolling is twisting force, thunder is explosive force. With one twist and one explosion, taking a life is as easy as cutting grass.
Jiang Liu challenged the Japanese martial arts world, crushing the martial arts of an entire nation to achieve his own unique style of boxing. Naturally, he had conducted a detailed investigation into the surviving masters in Japan. The old man who used the "Rolling Thunder Chop" technique was named Tamura Naoyoshi, a small old man with completely white hair, thin and frail, but with very strong muscles all over his body.
If you disregard that ferocious palm strike, this lean, elderly man looks like an ordinary old farmer. His martial arts philosophy is "martial arts and farming are one," so calling him an old farmer wouldn't be an exaggeration. Besides being a farmer, he is the head of the Suigetsu-ryu, a small martial arts school in Japan, and is now 103 years old.
When Tamura Naoyoshi, the grandmaster of the Water Moon Style who was proficient in the Yu Step, made his move, his mind was completely still in the realm of the moon reflected in the water. He remained completely unmoved. His expression, the light in his eyes, and the blood and qi in his body did not fluctuate in the slightest when Ito Oto died instantly.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Decline (Part 2)
The most fierce and powerful move in Da Shuaibei's hand, "Rolling Thunder Chop," is matched against the extremely powerful and fierce Gangyuan Jin of Tai Chi!
There's a Chinese martial arts proverb that says, "Bagua is like pushing a millstone, Tai Chi is like catching fish, and Xingyi is like catching shrimp." Many of the power techniques in Bagua Palm are gleaned from pushing a millstone, hence the "Great Slamming Stone" is also known as the "Bagua Millstone Palm Great Slamming Stone." Tamura Naoyoshi's Bagua skills have reached their peak. Combined with the Yu Step, he delivers a powerful upward punch, then spirals into a palm strike, much like a massive millstone, spinning at high speed, suddenly detaching from its axis and violently slamming out.
This palm strike brought thunderous roars; it wasn't just a rapidly spinning millstone hurtling towards us, but a comet crashing into the earth, carrying unparalleled power and destructive force.
One can imagine that even a piece of granite would be smashed into pieces by this palm strike.
Jiang Liu was extremely familiar with the power of "Great Slamming the Stele," and had gained some understanding of it during his sparring with Ba Liming. However, compared to Ba Liming, Jiang Liu's understanding of the hard and rounded power of Tai Chi was deeper, so he often used Tai Chi to kill his enemies in life-or-death battles.
In his book *The Study of Baguaquan*, Sun Lutang describes the highest realm of Baguazhang as "swallowing a golden elixir into the abdomen." This "embracing the elixir" is the state of "holding the elixir." Only those who have achieved this can unleash the "Great Slamming Tablet" force at will. If one's skill is not up to par, forcibly attempting to unleash this extremely powerful force will be like a millstone breaking its axle; the practitioner will even injure their waist, hips, and abdomen from their own force.
Seeing the "Rolling Thunder Chop" that came straight at him, a palm strike that could smash a monument, and feeling the punch that followed, Jiang Liu raised his hand and delivered a blow.
This punch was not fancy at all; it was a simple straight strike. However, upon closer inspection, the force of this punch was based on the hard and round force of Tai Chi, and incorporated the grinding palm and smashing stone tablet force of Bagua, the collapsing force of Shaolin Vajra Wheel Fist, the pushing millstone style of Shaolin Xinyi Ba, the half-step collapsing force of Xingyi Quan, and the collapsing and exploding force of Laobazi Quan.
This is how Jiang Liu developed his unstoppable hammer strike. Although he hasn't fully mastered and integrated it yet, it already possesses considerable power; a single strike or tremor can kill or hasten death.
Jiang Liu's combined punching techniques from various schools are like Li Yuanba's mighty hammer, invincible. Whether it's gold, iron, wood, or stone, everything is shattered and scattered with a single blow, leaving no room for retreat.
This single strike, named "Zhen" (震), is referred to by Jiang Liu as the "Zhen Character Technique"!
A single blow can split mountains and crack the earth, like an earthquake.
It is also the strongest fighting and killing method he currently possesses.
With a "Zhen" technique in his hand and a "Dou Bu Gang" stance under his feet, he plowed the ground with both feet! Sizzle! The blue brick ground beneath his feet was suddenly torn apart by the force of his feet! It was as if an invisible pair of giant scissors had cut through the ground, carving out two deep trenches.
Bang!
His fists were like sledgehammers; with each strike and each tremor, Li Yuanba killed people in the same way!
Tamura Naoyoshi's "Rolling Thunder Chop" of grinding palm and smashing monument was completely unable to stop the "Shock Technique". He could feel the huge impact and shock force contained in Jiang Liu's fist. With one punch, his bones creaked and cracked instantly!