I Cheated While Cultivating

“How laughably absurd, Wang Xiuye was defeated, what makes you think you have the courage?!”

“So overconfident!!”

Li Wuwang saw Zhou Heng coming at him with just a palm and immediately sneered. His spear in hand was like a dragon, unstoppable, and he had no intention of dodging Zhou Heng’s attack.

What does it matter if your demeanor is awe-inspiring?

Before one’s spirit can directly affect another’s will, the crux of martial arts still lies in the hard clash of raw power!

As long as I crush you completely, what use is the profundity or skill within your palm strike?

It will all come to naught!

The spectators beneath the arena also held their breath, watching the scene unfold without blinking.

Especially Chu Qingchuan and Wang Xiuye.

One had crossed hands with Zhou Heng, and the other had faced off against Li Wuwang. They knew all too well how powerful and terrifying both men on stage were.

But between these two, who is the stronger one?

Zhou Heng takes him head-on with bare hands, not even wearing gloves; isn’t he afraid of being at a disadvantage?

He’s only at the Eighth Rank of the martial path!

He surely hasn’t reached the point where Inner Qi solidifies into substance, serving as both weapon and armor.

—— Upon initially reaching the Seventh Rank, a warrior’s body undergoes a metamorphosis, and their Inner Qi qualitatively changes. It can be projected outward, solidifying from intangible to tangible, forming weapons or armor. This is the greatest advantage of a Seventh Rank Warrior before stepping into the Peak of the Seventh Rank, where the Inner Scenery manifests externally.

Zhou Heng remained indifferent to all this.

His palm strike continued towards Li Wuwang, his momentum soaring even higher. In an instant, it felt as if all the elements of heaven and earth were encompassed within his palm.

Li Wuwang’s expression changed; he suddenly felt that no matter what, his thrust could not escape the enveloping range of Zhou Heng’s palm.

He had intended to pierce Zhou Heng’s head directly, but under the cover of this palm, the tip of his spear could only meet the palm, incapable of targeting anything else.

“Damn it, what kind of palm technique is this?” Li Wuwang’s eyes darkened, and he simply changed targets, directing the spear dancing like a dragon straight towards Zhou Heng’s palm.

But this thrust made him witness an even more terrifying aspect of Zhou Heng’s palm.

It was deep and mysterious within the palm, its layers upon layers, and between the shifting of his fingers, it seemed to encompass dozens of Martial Arts techniques, as if dozens of masters were striking at him simultaneously.

There were palms, fists, swords, sabers, thunder, and the Five Elements… it appeared to have it all!

“How is this possible, what kind of martial arts is this?”

Li Wuwang was shocked, his face full of disbelief.

Before his spear could truly hit its target, his mindset was completely changed; in the face of this palm, his Yu Long Divine Spear Technique seemed to lose its luster.

Zhou Heng’s expression was detached. His palm harbored divine intent and encompassed everything, naturally including all that he had learned—not just martial arts, but also Taoist formulas!

That is to say.

The palm he was now striking with contained Purple Thunder Seven Strikes, Six-Direction Plum Folding Hand, Solitary Nine Swords, Hundred Steps Flying Sword, Golden Light Three Forms… and many other techniques he had learned. They were all fused into one, consolidated into this single palm strike!

Clang!!

When Zhou Heng’s palm collided with Li Wuwang’s spear, there was a clang as if metal struck metal, like a golden bell being rung, deafening to the ear.

Under the impact of Zhou Heng’s palm, Li Wuwang’s Yu Long spear was bent out of shape, and the terrifying force traveled down the shaft into his palm.

With a crack.

Li Wuwang, a formidable Peak of the Seventh Rank warrior, had his palm and fingers twisted violently, bones broken, and the Yu Long Large Spear in his grip was slapped out of his hand by Zhou Heng’s palm, embedding into a wall dozens of feet away.

Moreover, Zhou Heng’s palm continued with undiminished ferocity, striking fiercely upon Li Wuwang’s chest as if heaven and earth themselves were toppling over him!

Boom!

The force of this palm strike caused an explosive sound.

Li Wuwang’s Inner Qi attempted to resist against this all-encompassing palm, but was brutally suppressed, causing turmoil inside his body as his blood and Inner Qi flowed in reverse.

Immediately after, he was sent flying backwards, like a straw dummy thrown through the air, flung straight from the stage and crashing into the same wall where his spear was embedded.

Like Wang Xiuye before him, he was imprinted onto the wall.

Instantly, the whole place fell silent, with everyone in the audience looking incredulously at Zhou Heng on the stage, their faces full of shock.

Just one palm!

Just one palm??

Had Zhou Heng really ended the battle against Li Wuwang with a single palm strike?

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Many had not even grasped what had happened.

It seemed as though the battle had ended just as it began.

…

“How could this happen, I actually lost with a single palm strike, just one palm strike, and I couldn’t even withstand Zhou Heng’s palm strike?

“I didn’t even have a chance to utilize more powerful spear techniques, I haven’t deployed my unique secret technique, how, how did I end up defeated like this?

“How is this possible, how is this possible, this can’t be?!

“What kind of palm technique was that, what kind of martial arts, was that, was that really still considered martial arts??”

Li Wuwang’s mind swirled with chaotic thoughts, a complete mess, entirely occupied by Zhou Heng’s palm strike earlier that seemed to encompass everything, as if it contained the changes of all things in the world.

How could there be such a palm technique in the world, what level of palm technique is this?

“You, what palm technique is that?!” Li Wuwang clenched his teeth as he incredulously stared at Zhou Heng.

At this moment, Zhou Heng was still immersed in the state of mind from that palm strike, his thoughts reaching the high heavens above and the great earth below, with himself at the center, evolving all phenomena and laws.

His body was interwoven with peculiar rhythms of mana, making his surroundings grow dim, as if even the light was twisting around him, causing many changes.

Up to this point, he had finally validated his own learning, confirmed his martial path will, clarified the way forward on the martial path, and the vision of the small world within became distinct, with the bottleneck of the Seventh Rank crumbling away before him.

Next, all he needed was to integrate everything within himself with his martial path will, and truly build out the nascent small world within, and he would be able to break through the realm.

At most three days!

Zhou Heng would truly step into the Seventh Rank, undergoing a transfiguration!

“You, what palm technique is that?!”

Li Wuwang’s voice came through, which was also the question in the minds of everyone present, what kind of palm technique had Zhou Heng just performed?

It was unbelievably strong.

Li Wuwang, being as powerful as he was, had his weapon knocked away with a single palm, and even he himself was sent flying backwards.

It was astoundingly powerful!

“Palm technique?” Zhou Heng gave a light shake of his head and smiled, “That wasn’t a palm technique, I just used the form of a palm technique to perform it, this move, I call it—

“Three Lives All Things!”

…

Huangtong Mansion City remained tranquil and peaceful.

People here continued to live as usual, the Longxing Martial Arts Hall had been set on the right track, and an even larger and newer training ground was under construction, predicting a future of prosperity.

Yu He was busily running around, effectively taking on the roles of financial officer, public relations, and marketing for the hall, but he found joy amidst the work.

Lei Xiuyan and Lin Cang were seizing every moment to cultivate the techniques Zhou Heng taught them, like “Pure Yang Three Forms Fist,” “Ta Hua Qi Nurturing Stance,” and “Pure Yang Cloud Peak Sword,” to prepare for future teaching.

Wang Xiuye, the lord of Huangtong Mansion, was hosting a banquet in the mansion, entertaining Pei Luoshu, Pei Luoling, and an important guest who had come from Pingzhou County City.

All was exceedingly harmonious, exceedingly peaceful.

However, eight hundred miles away from Huangtong Mansion City, the sky suddenly darkened, not with clouds obscuring the sunlight, but as if the heavenly phenomena themselves were altered for some reason.

This was a mountain road where a caravan was passing through. Over the years, they had traveled far and wide and witnessed many strange events, recognizing such changes in the sky usually meant someone of great power had made a move, someone they couldn’t afford to provoke.

— Altered phenomena, daylight turning dark, snow in June, rivers evaporating, and other peculiarities often occurred when warriors of the Middle Third Rank battled or used their martial arts, and many people, even if they hadn’t seen such occurrences, had heard about them.

Just when the caravan decided to speed up to leave the area, they suddenly saw a mysterious figure in a black cloak walking slowly toward them.

The experienced leader of the caravan knew better than to provoke such mysterious figures, as doing so could bring lethal trouble upon themselves.

Luckily, the mysterious figure seemed to take no notice of them and continued walking forward with his head lowered, appearing to be just a regular passerby.

The caravan leader, with his people, quickly distanced themselves from the mysterious figure and finally let out a sigh of relief, thinking he had been overcautious… but when he turned to look at the others in his group, his face instantly turned deathly white.

The twenty-some people accompanying him had, unbeknownst to them, all turned into skin-and-bones cadavers, still maintaining the poses they had in life, frozen on the carts.

The leader was filled with terror and sought to flee, but he suddenly found his movements incredibly sluggish. He struggled to look at his arms and legs and saw that, like the corpses around him, he had turned into a skeletal cadaver without flesh.

Immediately after, his consciousness sank into darkness.

He was dead.

The mysterious figure in the black cloak continued walking, now holding a blood-red “cherry” that was emitting a faint light in his hand.

“The despair of humans before death, mixed with their blood and flesh, is truly too delicious.”

This mysterious person swallowed the “cherry” in one gulp, paused in his step, released his divine sense, and smiled, “Ahead should be the Huangtong Mansion City that Lord Cang Hua mentioned, at this distance, I can start chanting.”

Simultaneously, within Huangtong Mansion City, at the Wu Family Mansion.

A man with square features and a stern demeanor suddenly put down his chopsticks and gazed toward the northwest.

He then addressed Wang Xiuye and both Pei Luoling and Pei Luoshu sitting at the table, “Brother Wang, I sense something. I will be back shortly. Luoling, Luoshu, stay here and do not go out.”

…

Inside Wujiang Prefectural City, an exceptionally handsome man had arrived.

This man had a nearly flawless visage, leaving every person who saw his face utterly amazed, regardless of their gender.

As he walked down the street with a smile on his lips and a glint of joy in his eyes, he said, “Found you, Ziwei!”