Chapter 421: The Pinnacle

His frantic movements now lacked their earlier ferocity.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Ran couldn’t help but sigh. With a tap of his foot, his Inner Strength erupted.

The Young Master felt a terrifying, irresistible force descend upon him.

He immediately and covertly circulated the Heaven’s Will Inverted Indestructible Divine Art to protect his meridians, but Jiang Ran’s inner breath from the Creation True Heart Sutra still pierced his defenses.

He was sent flying backward.

While still in mid-air, he reached out, and three Soul-Catching Needles appeared in his palm.

However, they weren’t for Jiang Ran. He plunged them into three different acupoints on his right arm.

He did this to stop Jiang Ran’s inner breath from shattering his heart meridian.

But just then, he looked up sharply. Jiang Ran, wielding the Shattered Gold Saber, was already upon him.

Jiang Ran brandished his saber. The glint of the blade began on the left, and though it should have landed on the right, it struck from the left again…

Stunned, the Young Master found a new bloody gash on his arm.

It seemed Jiang Ran had no intention of killing him. He simply advanced, step by step, delivering one cut after another.

The Nine Shocking God Sabers itself consists of nine forms.

The style is unpredictable and swift, defying conventional logic.

It was the art Jiang Ran had relied upon in his early days to face his foes.

Only after he had further refined the art and combined it with his Inner Strength did Jiang Ran realize that the Nine Shocking God Sabers was meant to be two distinct sets of techniques: an inner and an outer style.

Jiang Ran called the initial nine forms the “Outer Nine Sabers.”

This was the foundation, the core of the Nine Shocking God Sabers, but it was not its most powerful aspect.

The “Inner Nine Sabers,” in contrast, were built upon the foundation of the outer style, fused with one’s own insights and personally created.

Some of these techniques came naturally, like the “Ghost-God Shock.”

For other techniques, however, every practitioner’s understanding and creation would be unique.

And for anyone who practiced the Nine Shocking God Sabers, the Inner Nine Sabers were the true Assassin—the very essence of their saber skills.

The move the Young Master broke that night was one of Jiang Ran’s Outer Nine Sabers.

What Jiang Ran was using now was also the Outer Nine Sabers.

But aside from taking a beating, the Young Master couldn’t break a single move.

He seemed afraid to strike, cowering. Every time he was about to make a move, Jiang Ran’s blade was already at his throat.

With every rise and fall of the blade, another bloody mark was left behind.

“Young Master, that night… didn’t you break my saber technique? And so decisively, too.”

“Why not break it now?”

“A moment ago, you were telling me I didn’t dare to fight you…”

“Tell me, Young Master, do I dare now, or not?”

Jiang Ran spoke as he swung his saber, advancing step by step, while the Young Master retreated again and again.

He couldn’t break the saber technique. His Inner Energy was inferior to Jiang Ran’s. And though his own ultimate skills were formidable, he had no opportunity to use them.

“Or could it be… Young Master, that you can break some moves, but not others?”

As Jiang Ran spoke, the move he was making with his saber suddenly changed.

It was something between a block and a slash, the intent of the blade pointing diagonally.

The Young Master was being badly suppressed. But upon seeing this move, an idea flashed in his mind, and his body reacted on pure instinct before he could even think.

He struck out with a claw technique—the exact same move he had used that night.

It was designed to slip straight through Jiang Ran’s blade and strike his throat.

A small smile played on Jiang Ran’s lips. He suddenly spun the Shattered Gold Saber, whirling it into a wheel of light.

The blade drew a circle. SHIIING!

The Young Master’s expression changed, and he immediately pulled back.

But a hand was left behind, falling to the ground.

“This is your twenty-year obsession? You can only break a single move? A pity. The counter is too risky. It only works if it’s unexpected.”

“The moment someone gives it a second thought, it becomes completely useless.”

Jiang Ran shook his head gently. “That move of yours is now useless against me. To repay the Young Master for the ‘gift’ of this technique, I shall ‘gift’ you one in return… Watch closely, Young Master!”

He spoke as if to himself, not waiting for the Young Master to reply.

He held his saber horizontally. The blade seemed to cut through space itself, appearing before the Young Master in an instant.

The Young Master took a deep breath, his mind made up. No matter what technique Jiang Ran used, he wouldn’t try to block it.

‘Run. Dodge. When Jiang Ran gets careless in his victory, I’ll gather all my Inner Strength into a single point and risk everything on a final, desperate attack!’

But when Jiang Ran’s saber descended, the Young Master found he had nowhere to run.

The single strike seemed to lock down all of space, sealing off every possible escape route and counter.

In the face of this strike, all external techniques were useless.

So he took a deep breath and activated the Heaven’s Will Inverted Indestructible Divine Art!

He spread his arms. Even though one hand was gone, the heel of his palm remained. He brought them together, one above the other, pressing the heels of his palms together.

OMMMM—A Gang Qi, far denser than before, instantly formed around him.

But a flash of foresight appeared in Jiang Ran’s eyes, as if he had expected this.

The Shattered Gold Saber in his hand suddenly lost all its brilliance, becoming utterly plain.

Even the saber’s own natural luster seemed to dim.

Then, the Young Master discovered that the “Indestructible Gang Qi” from his Heaven’s Will Inverted Indestructible Divine Art couldn’t affect Jiang Ran’s blade in the slightest.

This unremarkable-looking saber simply sliced through the Indestructible Gang Qi, piece by piece.

It was like slicing through paper or a silk handkerchief.

Effortlessly, it cleaved through everything in its path.

The final strike slid across his neck.

The saber arrived with tangible force, yet departed in silence.

The Young Master’s eyes slowly swiveled to look at Jiang Ran.

“You… tricked me. That wasn’t a single strike.”

“Your eyes are sharp as ever, Young Master.”

Jiang Ran smiled. “The ‘Life-Death Scar’ is strong, but it can’t break everything.”

“‘All is Formless’ can break anything, but it isn’t without its own flaws.”

“Therefore, the combination of these two techniques is the current pinnacle of my saber arts.”

“To die by this strike means your life was not lived in vain.”

“But now that it has come to this, there is one thing I must ask you.”

“Where is the real Man Shengming?”

The Young Master struggled to force out two words:

“He’s dead.”

Jiang Ran sighed softly. With a casual push, the Young Master’s body fell away, leaving only his head in Jiang Ran’s hand.