Lu Yu's Qi Blood was formidable, and Yang Fan did not intend to engage in direct confrontation against him.
Yang Fan swung the sword in his hand, releasing a streak of red-gold Sword Qi, Lu Yu observed the trajectory of the Sword Qi and threw a seemingly ordinary punch.
Bang~ The Sword Qi dispersed into countless red-gold light spots, Lu Yu merely felt a slight ache in his fist, and Yang Fan's Sword Qi left a white mark on Lu Yu's fist.
Lu Yu withstood the Sword Qi of a fourth-grade spiritual weapon, the Red Gold Sword, with his physical body, without using Spiritual Power, breaking the Sword Qi without injury, astonishing the crowd.
Yang Fan squinted his eyes, while Lu Yu wasn't complacent, realizing that was only Yang Fan's probing, as his adversary had not used full force.
Upon being attacked, Lu Yu's Qi Blood began to boil; compared to using Spiritual Power in combat, using Qi Blood made battles more exciting and thrilling. Qi Blood was more easily influenced by emotions, and heightened emotions could help exert stronger power.
Lu Yu's figure vanished, instantly reappearing in front of Yang Fan.
The speed of the Ruler Step exceeded Yang Fan's imagination; at the moment Lu Yu made his move, he could only manage to position the Red Gold Sword horizontally in front of him.
Sparks flew off the Red Gold Sword as Lu Yu's finger brushed across the sword's blade, but at the last moment, Lu Yu refrained from further attacking, only tapping the sword's blade before retreating, realizing his fingers couldn't withstand the sword's sharpness.
Yang Fan felt a lingering fear, his arm slightly trembling; despite the brief exchange, he perceived Lu Yu's immense power. Without the brief moment before Lu Yu appeared in front of him to throw a punch, he wouldn't have reacted.
Lu Yu also noticed this flaw; though the speed of the Ruler Step was quick, it still allowed the opponent some reaction time when throwing a punch.
The Ruler Step was like a flash, enabling one to instantaneously reach a pinpoint location, but Martial Cultivators at the Qi Cultivation stage couldn't see the movement process.
The movement speed left the opponent unable to react, yet Lu Yu's own attack speed allowed reaction time, where a skilled opponent only needed a brief instant to seize the opportunity to defend or even counterattack.
Aware of Lu Yu's extraordinary Body Technique, Yang Fan dared not permit Lu Yu's attack. As Lu Yu retreated, he swung out a semicircular Sword Qi that continuously expanded, restricting Lu Yu's evasion space.
The consumption of executing the Ruler Step was too great, so Lu Yu didn't choose to use it again to dodge the Sword Qi.
The Qi Blood within him surged vigorously, Lu Yu threw a punch, his arm's Qi Blood erupted, spreading a faint red Qi Blood.
Crack~ The Sword Qi shattered like a mirror under Lu Yu's fist, his fist being cut by the Sword Qi, and droplets of thick blood fell, striking the ground like beads of blood, coalescing into a mass without dispersing.
"Blood Like Mercury!" Yang Fan looked shocked at the blood beads dripping from Lu Yu, watching the blood maintain a bead-like form before dispersing into a puddle, Yang Fan's eyes blazed with fervent desire.
Blood Like Mercury and copper skin iron bones were the divisions in the realm of Body Refinement; Martial Cultivators reaching this stage possessed a body akin to a spiritual weapon, capable of resisting spiritual weapons unharmed.
Lu Yu was nearing the Blood Like Mercury realm, meaning ordinary spiritual weapons hardly inflicted lethal harm.
Once he truly attained the Blood Like Mercury refinement stage, Lu Yu would be immune to low-grade spiritual weapon attacks, with a body comparable to a third-grade spiritual armor.
If Lu Yu reached that stage, Yang Fan naturally wouldn't dare provoke him, but now Lu Yu was merely approaching that stage, indicating he still had a chance to seize Lu Yu's powerful Body Refining Technique.
Yang Fan's Spiritual Power madly surged into the Red Gold Sword, its brilliance grew increasingly dazzling.
"Hundred Shadows Flowing Light Slash!"
Yang Fan executed the sword maneuver, one sword became a hundred, instantly subjecting Lu Yu to hundreds of slashing attacks, layers of sword light enveloped him. Although these sword lights were false martial arts phenomena, they still dealt considerable damage.
Lu Yu couldn't activate the defense of his disciple attire; the attack landed on him, so he could only stir his Qi Blood and Spiritual Power to strengthen his defense.
Because Lu Yu set his virtual spiritual armor to not activate if the attack power didn't exceed the Qi Cultivation stage, he resisted all the sword lights without triggering the armor.
The sword shadow had engulfed Lu Yu, Yu Xiaoman grew tense, Yu Qinghua, Zeng Longyue, Zheng Fangying and others were curious whether Lu Yu could withstand the peak Qi Cultivation stage's damage.
The Yang family guards already showed smiles; they had never seen anyone survive this move intact, not to mention Lu Yu hadn't even activated his spiritual armor, seemingly courting death.
Yang Fan's expression was grim, sensing all his sword shadows seemed to strike unyielding stone, lacking the sensation of cutting flesh.
Defending himself from the sword shadows aimed at his head, Lu Yu felt the damage of this move wasn't substantial.
Yang Fan retrieved the Red Gold Sword, all the sword shadows were like a movie rewinding back into the sword; the sword's glow extended over two meters beyond the blade, growing longer as shadows returned.
"Hundred Shadows Flowing Light Slash, Gale Cut!"
A five-meter-long, red-gold sword light slashed towards Lu Yu.
Thousands of pounds of the Demon-Breaking Saber slashed towards the sword light.
As the sword and saber collided, Lu Yu felt the spiritual power within the Demon-Breaking Saber rapidly depleting, its weight lightening, prompting him to constantly infuse Spiritual Power into the saber to increase its weight.
At the instant the five-meter-long sword light slashed the Demon-Breaking Saber, Yang Fan felt an irresistible force on the other end, with the sword light surprisingly reversing towards him.
The sword light enveloped the Red Gold Sword; Yang Fan couldn't undo the sword's force, resorting to pressing the sword hilt with all his might, directing the sword light towards Lu Yu.
Lu Yu sensed he was already suppressing the sword light, and channeled all his Spiritual Power into the Demon-Breaking Saber.
Instantly, the Demon-Breaking Saber's weight exceeded ten thousand pounds. Follow current novᴇls on ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt
The weight surged fiercely, making Yang Fan unable to control the sword, with the five-meter sword light completely collapsing back towards him.
Yu Qinghua, Zeng Longyue, Zheng Fangying, Yang family guards widened their eyes, utterly perplexed by what transpired.
They saw Yang Fan wielding the five-meter sword light towards Lu Yu, then an intense flash followed, as the sword light flipped over, slashing towards Yang Fan himself.
Boom~ The sword light carved a deep fissure in the ground, spreading over ten meters, the Red Gold Sword nowhere to be seen, a blade with orange patterns was embedded in the earth.
Yang family guards found Yang Fan not far away; the Red Gold Sword lay close by, its blade bent, the edge chipped due to excessive force, Yang Fan lay severely injured.
If not for a crucial moment where golden light erupted from his body, he would've been slain by his own sword light.
Lu Yu managed to repel the sword light, utilizing the Demon-Breaking Saber's power, capable of striking intangible objects like Demonic Qi.
One hand grasped the hilt of the blade embedded in the earth.
Swoosh~ The Demon-Breaking Saber emitted a heavy icy aura, frost spread over the surrounding ground, with its ice Spiritual Power released, Lu Yu lifted the saber restored to normal weight.
When the Demon-Breaking Saber slashed out, even he couldn't hold onto the saber.
Yang Fan's final strike had surpassed the Qi Cultivation stage level, forcing Lu Yu to resort to the Demon-Breaking Saber to block it; otherwise, the virtual spiritual armor on him would have activated.
He did not want to reveal the existence of his virtual spiritual armor so soon.
Among the Yang family guards, a middle-aged man with facial scars hurriedly approached Yang Fan, checked his injuries, found them not life-threatening, and sighed in relief, seeing Yang Fan's fractured wrists, his face grew dark.
Glancing at Lu Yu who drew his blade, he said coldly, "You injured Young Master Yang, don't blame me for bullying the weak now."
Previously he refrained from intervening partly because Yang Fan forbade it, and also to avoid tarnishing the Yang family's prestige, letting other families say the Yang family only bullies the weak.
But now, he's not bullying the weak, but loyally protecting his master!
He unleashed Spiritual Power, a surge of red spiritual power erupted from him, a red wolf head lunged at Lu Yu.
"How lively, why not let me join in!" A voice emerged from the black forest.
The red wolf head was about to reach Lu Yu when it abruptly turned back towards the scar-faced man, who cautiously looked towards the black forest, sensing danger emanating from there.
"Who is it!" said scar-faced man, warily.