Chapter 40: I Am the True Tiger

Sun Ninghu did not speak.

His breathing grew heavier, his chest heaving violently. Two clusters of fire burned in his light brown eyes, a mix of shock and fear.

His legs trembled slightly, as if he were trying with all his might to suppress the urge to turn and flee for his life.

"My Lord, this servant is under the command of County Princess Yunhe..."

Qiu Chihu said nothing. He rested his hand on the hilt of his saber.

The blade slowly left its sheath.

The blade was extremely long, over a chi longer than an ordinary Goose-Quill Saber.

Its spine was thick, but its edge was incredibly thin—thin as a cicada's wing, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the sun.

Faint silver patterns flowed along the steel, trailing from hilt to tip like a silver snake coiled around the blade, spitting cold light.

The moment the saber was drawn, the air within several zhang plunged into freezing cold.

Chen Lingxi instantly understood.

'This saber... is absolutely no ordinary weapon!'

Seeing that begging for mercy was useless, Sun Ninghu let out a sudden, low roar and lunged at Qiu Chihu.

He struck out with both claws. Crimson blood-qi flickered unsteadily at the tips of his ten fingers, tearing the surrounding air with ten sharp shrieks.

He poured all his strength into this pounce, rushing forward with the unstoppable momentum of a true, fierce tiger.

"You overestimate yourself!"

Qiu Chihu lightly turned the long saber in his hand.

One strike!

Only one strike.

The saber light swept upward from below, carrying Silver Marrow blood-qi and bone-chilling light, slashing squarely into Sun Ninghu's right arm!

The saber light was too fast—so fast that Chen Lingxi only saw a thread-thin silver line flash through the air before he heard the sound of shattering bone.

"Aaaah!"

A miserable shriek tore through the air!

Sun Ninghu's right arm was severed clean at the shoulder. The stump was as smooth as a mirror, and blood sprayed wildly, dyeing half his body crimson.

He screamed and fell backward, his left hand pressing desperately against the severed stump. Blood gushed through his fingers, pooling on the ground.

Qiu Chihu stepped forward, pinned Sun Ninghu's chest beneath his foot, and looked down at him.

His face was bathed in the radiance of the two true lights floating above Sun Ninghu's head. Shifting between light and shadow, his smile looked all the more terrifying!

Sun Ninghu trembled all over, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something.

But before he could speak, Qiu Chihu's saber moved.

The blade sank into his throat.

Sun Ninghu's body twitched violently a few times, then fell still.

Qiu Chihu pulled out the saber, wiped the blood from the blade on Sun Ninghu's robes, and sheathed it.

He stood there, looking down at Sun Ninghu's corpse.

"I am the true tiger," he said. His voice was low, sounding as though he were muttering to himself, or perhaps speaking to the corpse. "Does a servant like you deserve to share a name with me?"

As his words fell, Sun Ninghu's corpse began to melt away.

Starting from the limbs, it dissolved inch by inch into fine motes of light, scattering silently in the air like a pile of sand on the wind, before condensing into another ray of radiance.

This radiance, along with the two true lights originally hovering above his head, drifted toward Qiu Chihu.

Qiu Chihu didn't even spare them a glance. Hand resting on his hilt, he strode toward the mountain path, the eighteen true lights floating above his head trailing behind him.

Chen Lingxi sat motionless in the canopy.

Through the gaps in the leaves, he watched Qiu Chihu's figure vanish at the end of the mountain path before slowly withdrawing his gaze and closing his eyes again.

The canopy was so quiet that only the wind and the rustling of the locust leaves remained.

An unknown amount of time passed before several muffled bangs exploded from a distant valley.

Chen Lingxi opened his eyes.

Qiu Chihu stood on the mountain path not far away, looking around and muttering to himself, "There's still one servant left. Where is he hiding?"

He frowned in thought.

Chen Lingxi seemed to realize something.

'Except for me, all the other beast fighters are dead.'

He rose to his feet!

The canopy rustled.

Qiu Chihu instantly sensed it and looked up toward the canopy.

His gaze pierced the dense layers of locust leaves, colliding directly with Chen Lingxi's eyes.

He tilted his head and grinned.

"You hid well, servant."

Chen Lingxi brushed a few dead leaves from his robes, leaped, and landed lightly in the forest clearing.

Qiu Chihu didn't waste another word. He stepped forward and casually unleashed a slash.

The saber light clanged sharply, and Silver Marrow spilled across the sky!

Chen Lingxi's blood-qi surged, and he threw a booming punch.

City-Collapsing, Mountain-Collapsing!

The force of his fist shattered the saber light!

Qiu Chihu's expression changed.

He saw the faint, silvery-white glow beneath Chen Lingxi's skin, and he saw the piercing coldness unique to Silver Marrow within his blood-qi.

"Silver Bone." He raised an eyebrow, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes. "Not bad. A Silver Bone beast fighter is quite rare here in Yuanjiang Prefecture."

As he spoke, he gently shook his saber.

A cold edge suddenly erupted from the blade.

Silver Marrow flowed across the steel and blood-qi pulsed unsteadily, compressing the air within several chi until it hissed.

"You hid from me for so long and wasted so much of my time, making me lose face before the Crown Prince." The smile on his face faded slightly. His tone remained steady, but the mockery in his eyes was gone, replaced by undisguised killing intent.

Chen Lingxi did not reply.

He suddenly felt that Qiu Chihu's gaze was exactly like Lu Baizhong's when he pinned down the ant in Liujie Alley.

Perhaps even worse than Lu Baizhong...

This man still saw him as nothing more than a wild beast put on display for their amusement.

The disgust in Chen Lingxi's heart nearly ignited into an open flame.

And so...

He fiercely threw another punch!

With this strike, it was once again the third form of the Seven Forms of Halting War—the City-Collapsing Stance!

Blood-qi churned furiously within his body. The crimson of his Copper Fire blood-qi and the coldness of his Silver Marrow collided and intertwined in his meridians. Like ice and fire sharing the same furnace, yin and yang merged, transforming into a torrential, unstoppable, and majestic force that violently erupted through the channeling method of the Mountain-Collapsing Force.

Where his fist passed, the air was compressed into a visible white ring that rippled outward, sending shattered stone flying and dead leaves scattering in its wake.

The sheer power of this punch was countless times greater than that of an ordinary early-stage Silver Bone martial artist!

This was the profound marvel of refining the bones at the Qi Circulation 3rd Floor!

A light flashed in Qiu Chihu's eyes. Without dodging or evading, he answered with a slash of his own.

The strike was simply too fast.

Chen Lingxi only saw an incredibly thin silver line flare before his eyes, tearing across the sky with unstoppable momentum!

Fist met blade. The moment the Mountain-Collapsing Force collided with the saber light, a dull, thunderous boom exploded!

A shockwave blasted in all directions, ripping away every dead leaf, broken stone, and withered blade of grass within several zhang, exposing the bare yellow mud beneath.

Chen Lingxi felt a peerlessly sharp and fierce force travel through the blade, jolting his knuckles until they went numb.

Even more terrifying was that this force didn't dissipate. Instead, it snaked its way up his finger bones, metacarpals, and wrist bones. Wherever it passed, his bones hummed and rattled, as if someone had viciously smashed a hammer right through his flesh.

He was forced back three steps before he could steady himself.

"Bone-Piercing Force," Chen Lingxi said, rolling his numb wrist, his gaze darkening.

Bone-Piercing Force—the symbol of Silver Bone Great Completion.

This Bone-Piercing Force was tyrannical to the extreme.

Although he had met that saber strike head-on with his Mountain-Collapsing Force, the Bone-Piercing Force clung to him like maggots to a corpse. It bypassed the blood-qi barrier over his knuckles and directly rattled his bones.

Silver Bone Great Completion was extraordinary indeed.

Having gained the upper hand with one strike, Qiu Chihu proved merciless.

He took a step forward. The silver patterns on his treasured saber abruptly lit up.

The moment they glowed, the saber's entire momentum underwent a drastic shift.

His previous strike had taken a dark and freezing path, its light thin as a silver thread and oppressively cold.

Now, however, the silver patterns on the blade seemed to ignite, bursting with blinding golden light.

The Gold-Illuminating Blade Technique!

This was the blade technique passed down through generations of the Qiu family, drawing upon the concept: "When the great sun illuminates gold, nothing can hide."

Once the momentum of the blade unfurled, it was like a scorching sun hanging in the sky, radiating boundless light.

In just an instant!

Qiu Chihu unleashed seven consecutive slashes.

The first six strikes grew progressively stronger and faster.

Chen Lingxi's blood-qi surged wildly. Chaining his Mountain-Collapsing Force and City-Collapsing Stance together, he met Qiu Chihu's long saber head-on!

And then came the seventh strike.

This was the killing move of the Gold-Illuminating Blade Technique. The blade cleaved down diagonally from top right to bottom left, its golden light blazing to the absolute limit. It looked like a genuine sun crashing down from the highest heavens!

With nowhere to dodge, Chen Lingxi had no choice but to push his Mountain-Collapsing Force to its absolute zenith. He blasted out a fierce right punch, directly answering the descending saber light.

This time, a wisp of cyan light wrapped around his knuckles!

The Cyan Edge Method!

The cyan gleam was incredibly thin and faint. Mixed among the crimson blood-qi and the silvery-white radiance, it was almost imperceptible without looking closely.

But the moment fist and blade collided, that wisp of cyan light flared brilliantly—like a famous sword drawn from its scabbard at last.

Fist met blade.

"Clang!"

It rang out as if two divine weapons had smashed into each other!

Soundwaves rippled outward in all directions, rattling the surrounding leaves. Several crows roosting on distant branches took flight in a panic, circling in the air a few times before fleeing in terror.

Both men retreated instantly upon impact.

Qiu Chihu looked down at the treasured saber in his hand.

The blade was still trembling.

Qiu Chihu raised his head and stared at Chen Lingxi's right hand.

Chen Lingxi had brought his right index and middle fingers together like a sword. A hazy cyan edge slowly pulsed at his fingertips.

For the first time, genuine astonishment appeared in Qiu Chihu's eyes.

"What technique is this? I've never heard of it," he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Chen Lingxi did not reply.

The cyan edge at his right fingertips flickered unsteadily, perfectly complementing the Mountain-Collapsing Force gathered on his left fist.

Crimson blood-qi, silvery-white radiance, and the cyan edge—three colors intertwined, flowing endlessly across his body.

He looked just like a sword immortal wielding a spiritual blade.