Chapter 183: Dao Finger
In the blink of an eye, the Golden Saber that Lu Yun had transformed into was already slashing toward Lu Jian’s face.
How could Lu Jian dare to be negligent? He hurriedly raised his only usable left hand, his palm Drawing Square into Circle, solidly hard-blocking Lu Yun’s Golden Saber technique!
Again came a booming loud noise, both sides’ energies clashing, the qi wave knocking all the furniture inside the room to the ground.
Lu Yun’s saber momentum was incomparably fierce, his saber technique ever-changing, and if his opponent were an ordinary Grandmaster, they would likely have been covered in multiple wounds with blood flying everywhere long ago. But no matter how he varied it, it was all guided and neutralized by the circles Lu Jian continuously drew, unable to harm his opponent in the slightest.
In one breath, Lu Yun’s Golden Saber varied through ninety-nine eighty-one styles, yet still failed to break through Lu Jian’s single-handed Drawing Square into Circle. Instead, he felt the opponent’s pulling force continuously increasing, as if it would suck his entire body into that circle!
Seeing his technique growing stale, Lu Yun had no choice but to temporarily retreat, his eyes solemnly fixed on Lu Jian as he said in a low voice: “Drawing Square into Circle is indeed formidable!” He knew very well that if Lu Jian used this move with both hands, he would be firmly sucked into that circle, unable to escape!
He couldn’t even imagine how he would resist if Lu Jian achieved Cultivation Method Perfection and used this move on him!
It seemed he had indeed underestimated the heroes under heaven…
Lu Jian also did not attack. His right arm had suffered a heavy blow, greatly reducing his performance. Under Lu Yun’s earlier fierce assault, he had nearly been unable to hold on—how could he dare to rashly attack? He stared deathly at Lu Yun and sternly shouted: “What you’re using is not the Heaven and Earth Righteous Law! And it’s not a technique taught to you by Lu Xian either!”
Although Lu Jian did not know what killing moves Lu Xian had, one thing was certain: such fierce and complex techniques could not be mastered in a short time. Lu Yun had only been apprenticed for a month, so it absolutely was not learned from Lu Xian!
Lu Yun’s strike missed again, so he did not immediately attack further. Instead, he focused and opened the acupoint in the center of the forehead, continuing to elevate his own strength. Just now, he had used seventy percent of the strength sufficient to deal with Xiahou Lei, but evidently, to take down Lu Jian—even one who could only use one arm—it was still not enough!
“Who the hell are you?!” Lu Jian was at least certain of one thing: this sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth was absolutely a genuine Earth Rank Grandmaster, and one far exceeding ordinary Grandmasters. This completely overturned his understanding. Lu Jian stared at Lu Yun in utter shock, as if seeing a ghost in broad daylight. The next moment, his eyes suddenly contracted sharply, and he hissed through gritted teeth: “It was you who killed Lu Feng!”
“Hmph!” Lu Yun needed a little time to adapt to the surging vital energy in his body. He snorted coldly and said: “Lu Feng first kidnapped my elder sister, then hired assassins to kill my entire family. Naturally, I had to kill him.”
“So it was you who killed my son!” Lu Jian’s eyes instantly turned blood-red, like a mad demon. Ignoring everything, he flew at Lu Yun, raising his hand for another inescapable Drawing Square into Circle! This time, he held nothing back and exerted full force, its power half again as great as before!
Lu Yun likewise dared not be negligent. He stepped in the astral tread, his hands once more changing mudras. The middle and ring fingers of both hands bent inward, thumbs pressing down on the tips of the middle and ring fingers. The index and pinky fingers of both hands converged into a single point. It was as if all the heaven, earth, myriad things, and every reason in the world emanated from that one point!
The two men’s techniques collided once more. This time, there was no sound or flash of light—only at the point where their fists and palms met did a murky black vortex appear. Inside the room, everything went silent, the light dimming as if all sound and light were being sucked into the vortex.
This clash appeared far less thrilling than the previous two, but its peril far exceeded them. The two men’s qi auras were deadlocked together: the circle sought to absorb that point, while that point sought to devour the circle. Both sides’ true qi surged out endlessly, the grayish vortex spinning faster and faster. The carpet under their feet was actually torn to shreds, red fragments swirling around the two men, continuously shredded into tiny pieces by the entangled qi energy until they turned into powdery debris!
Lu Xian had once said there were three thousand great roads and all methods returned to one—the higher the martial arts, the more directly they pointed to the same origin. The Heaven and Earth Righteous Law’s Drawing Square into Circle was Tai Chi generating heaven, earth, and myriad things, with heaven, earth, and myriad things returning to Tai Chi! Lu Yun’s Dao Finger was the Dao generating one, one generating two, two generating three, three generating myriad things.
One was the Dao, was Tai Chi, was the Heaven and Earth Righteous Law’s Drawing Square into Circle, was the Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill’s Dao Finger!
Techniques of the same root and origin clashing together, neither could do anything to the other—not even disengage. The result became a contest of internal energy. Both sides could only desperately pour in true force, making the vortex spin faster and faster until one side could no longer hold out and was ground to dust!
At this point, it depended on whose internal energy was more profound. Lu Yun had the advantage in the profound vital energy—both in quality and quantity far exceeding his opponent’s true qi. But Lu Jian had the advantage in understanding and application of true qi, far surpassing Lu Yun, making the same internal energy achieve twice the result with half the effort, enough to compensate for the gap in strength. Thus, for the moment, he was not at a disadvantage.
But Lu Jian suddenly realized something, instantly losing the intent for a fight to the death. While pouring true qi to stalemate Lu Yun, he hissed with a twisted expression: “I know now—this is the Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill!” He had heard from elders that although the Heaven and Earth Righteous Law was a Confucian cultivation method, Confucian Dao and Taoism shared the same source, and at the ultimate pinnacle, traces of Daoist cultivation methods could be seen everywhere.
Now seeing Lu Yun’s move that worked on the same principle as his own, Lu Jian instantly realized the opponent was using a Daoist cultivation method. But where would Lu Xin and his son have obtained a top-tier Daoist cultivation method? Lu Jian finally recalled that case from ten years ago…
“I know now—the one who assassinated Xiahou Lei in Yuhang was you too. You father and son really know how to play these tricks!” Once he knew Lu Yun’s true strength, the fog of mystery before Lu Jian’s eyes dispersed like clouds. He immediately sneered repeatedly: “The Xiahou Clan is searching the world for the assassin, never imagining the assassin is Xiahou Lei’s savior!”
“You’ve talked too much!” Lu Yun frowned, his hands suddenly exerting force, eighty percent strength surging out. Lu Jian was instantly struck like by a heavy hammer, spurting a mouthful of blood.
“Once I tell this news to the Xiahou Clan, even Lu Xian won’t be able to protect you father and son!” Lu Jian’s mouth was full of blood, yet he laughed madly, looking utterly terrifying.
“You have no chance!” Lu Yun snorted coldly. He had already firmly suppressed Lu Jian and only needed a moment to finish him off!
“Hero cuts off wrist!” Lu Jian suddenly roared, Transforming Circle into Square and withdrawing all his true qi into his body. His left hand, losing the protection of true qi, was instantly shredded into fragments by the frenzied vortex!
However, when the frenzied air current tried to continue up Lu Jian’s arm, it suddenly lost its target. It turned out Lu Jian had used Transforming Circle into Square to forcibly sever all the meridians in his left arm at the elbow joint!
The air current, losing its target, reverted to vortex state. And previously, the vortex’s rotation had been sustained by both men’s qi energy, but now it was Lu Yun bearing it alone! Unless Lu Yun also severed his own arm like Lu Jian, he simply could not break free from this mass of frenzied air current.
“One hand for your father and son’s lives—worth it!” Lu Jian’s right arm had long been sealed at the acupoints, so he could not stop his own bleeding. Blood flowed from his severed arm, his face extremely pale, looking utterly wretched. But his face was full of ecstasy as he said: “Prepare to die, kid!”
With that, Lu Jian mockingly glanced at the fully occupied Lu Yun, knowing the kid must focus entirely on dealing with that terrifying vortex and had no attention to pursue him. He turned and dashed toward outside the door. Now with one arm crippled and one useless, he could only muster five-tenths of his full cultivation, but escaping to the Xiahou Workshop just two workshops away was still more than enough!
As long as he reached the Xiahou Workshop, that father and son pair would have only the path of death!
