Chapter 420: The Pinnacle (Part 2)

The ringing was urgent, rattling the eardrums and capable of plunging a person into a daze in an instant.

This silver needle and bell combination had a name; it was an exceedingly clever hidden weapon from the Heterodox Manor, known as the Soul-Catching Needle.

From the selection of materials to the forging process, crafting the Soul-Catching Needle was a matter of extreme fastidiousness.

To explain this in detail would be a long story, so we will set it aside for now.

However, once unleashed, the Soul-Catching Needle was something that the vast majority of people in the martial world could not withstand.

But this paltry trick had no effect on Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran circulated the Creation and Rectification Heart Sutra, and his mind instantly cleared.

He flourished his Shattered Gold Saber, and the two Soul-Catching Needles seemed to stick to the blade. With a flick of his wrist, he sent them flying into a nearby tree.

THUNK! THUNK! The needles sank into the wood, the bells on them trembling ceaselessly.

He looked up again to see the curtain of rain coalescing, forming a monstrous shape like an Evil Dragon.

The source of it all, however, was the Young Manor Lord’s fist.

Though the Soul-Catching Needle was formidable, the Young Manor Lord had never pinned all his hopes on it.

He was merely using the might of the Soul-Attracting Bell to divert Jiang Ran’s saber, creating an opening to strike with an ultimate art of the Heterodox Manor: the Evil Dragon Prison-Shattering Fist.

This fist technique was a closely guarded secret of the Heterodox Manor. It was as renowned as the Heaven’s Will Inverted Immortal Art the Young Manor Lord had just used, and both were ranked among the seven great divine arts of the Manor.

Strictly speaking, however, in terms of pure technique, the Evil Dragon Prison-Shattering Fist was only marginally stronger than Luo Qingyi’s Elephant Divine Fist.

Luo Qingyi’s Elephant Divine Fist drew its philosophy from the saying, “The greatest sound is faint; the greatest form is shapeless.” It followed the path of “the ultimate principles are the simplest.”

However, Luo Qingyi had only grasped its form, not its true essence.

Therefore, when the Young Manor Lord, disguised as Man Shengming, fought Luo Qingyi, it was child’s play for him to dominate her in the art of fist techniques.

Their levels of comprehension were simply on different planes.

The Young Manor Lord had also studied the Evil Dragon Prison-Shattering Fist for many years, honing his mastery to the point of perfection.

Combined with the Inner Strength he had forcibly enhanced with a Hundred-Year Pill, it created the awesome spectacle before them now.

Of course, if it were not raining today, Jiang Ran would only have been able to vaguely sense the overwhelming force of this fist.

He would not have seen the spectacle of the rainwater coalescing into a dragon.

Quicker than words can tell, the fist was already right before Jiang Ran.

It was too late to raise his saber—which was precisely why the Young Manor Lord had attacked with the Soul-Catching Needle first. He had diverted Jiang Ran’s saber, forcing him to meet this punch head-on.

Jiang Ran, however, simply smiled and raised his left hand, turning it palm-up.

WHOOSH! The falling rain seemed to hang suspended for a moment. Then, defying gravity, the drops that should have been falling began to rise with Jiang Ran’s palm, converging toward it from all directions.

From a distance, one would see that Jiang Ran’s palm had drawn in all the rain from an area dozens of yards around him.

Even the raindrops around the Young Manor Lord himself were being pulled toward Jiang Ran’s hand.

Though it had yet to fully gather, the display was still nothing short of extraordinary.

In the next instant, fist and palm collided.

“GRAAAGH!”

The Young Manor Lord roared, intending to channel every last bit of his Inner Strength into this one punch and obliterate Jiang Ran.

He did this because he was out of time.

Jiang Ran had been right. The Hundred-Year Pill did indeed come at a price.

The price was simple: the Young Manor Lord’s own life.

From the moment the Hundred-Year Pill took effect, the Young Manor Lord had only a quarter of an hour to experience the sublime feeling of a century’s worth of Inner Strength coursing through him.

It was, in a sense, a fifteen-minute free trial of a hundred years of Inner Strength.

Once that time was up, his meridians would rupture and he would certainly die.

Therefore, he threw all caution to the wind, gambling his entire well of Inner Strength on this single blow to annihilate Jiang Ran.

In that instant, the wind and rain were thrown into chaos, pulled every which way by the two men’s Inner Strength.

The Evil Dragon of rainwater coiling around the Young Manor Lord’s fist twisted and writhed, growing larger and larger as his condensing Inner Strength drew in even more of the surrounding rain.

But soon, the Young Manor Lord discovered a problem.

No matter how he exerted his Inner Energy, it felt as though there was an impenetrable wall in front of Jiang Ran.

No matter his skill, no matter his power, he simply could not break through that wall.

He looked at Jiang Ran, only to find the man staring back at him, his eyes filled with… shock.

This left the Young Manor Lord utterly confused…

There was no fear in Jiang Ran’s eyes, no worry, no terror… He was curious. He was stunned. It was as if he were looking upon a landscape he had never before witnessed.

Was that… the thrill of a hunter who has found worthy prey?

Unfortunately, the Young Manor Lord was exerting every ounce of his Inner Strength and was completely unable to speak.

Otherwise, he would have demanded to know, ‘Why are you making that face?’

Fortunately, Jiang Ran was perceptive. He understood the question in the Young Manor Lord’s eyes and answered with a smile.

“Your fist technique… it’s truly magnificent. I’ve seen a great many sights in my travels.

“Three Immortals Mountain is majestic, and the sunset at Sunset Plateau is truly breathtaking.

“But this dragon of yours… I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s truly marvelous beyond words.”

“…???”

‘He can still talk?!’

A look of pure horror washed over the Young Manor Lord’s face.

‘I’m wielding a century of Inner Strength, and not only is Jiang Ran defending against it effortlessly, he can even talk?’

‘Just how profound is this man’s Inner Strength?’

‘He’s five or six years younger than me!’

‘How is it possible… How could he possess such deep Inner Energy?’

As his will faltered, even the coiling Evil Dragon, which had been struggling to break through Jiang Ran’s defense, seemed to lose its spirit and droop.