Stranger Danger

Cheng Qishang coughed twice and tossed his handkerchief into the air, “Cough cough… my sword and my heart are as one, and there is nothing else for me besides the sword. If you think that a mere foreign demon can ruin me, think again!”

As soon as the handkerchief took flight, a clear wind blew from somewhere and spread out like the clouds. The next moment, the entire sky was filled with immense, crisscrossing sword qi.

The towering silhouette was sliced and diced into cubes in an instant. Even the Paranirmita Vasavartin Heaven had crumbled into pieces, causing the red dust, heart demons, and other foreign disturbances to vanish.

That wasn’t all. Ye Qing suddenly became absent-minded. He suddenly forgot who he was, where he was, and what he was doing.

“Seven Wounds Sword Art: Mind Fuddler”

“Seven Wounds Sword Art: Mind Fuddler” was a technique that seduced the consciousness and muddled the mind. The victim would find themselves stuck in a state of complete confusion and perplexity, unable to think or feel for a time.

While Ye Qing was stunned, Cheng Qishang rushed forward with a river of sword qi surrounding his sword. He was about halfway to Ye Qing when the latter suddenly snapped out of his trance, clenched his fist, and threw a punch at Cheng Qishang.

Buzz!

Half of the voluminous river of sword qi was scattered just like that. Every building within a hundred or so meters from the point of impact instantly disintegrated into fine powder.

However, Cheng Qishang’s sword qi kept flowing, and his sword intent was unbreakable. The river quickly returned to normal and continued flooding toward Ye Qing.

So, your sword qi is ceaseless like a river. But what if I were to divide it?

Ye Qing stepped forward and punched diagonally downward. His fist force immediately dropped in the middle of the river of sword qi and broke the flow, dispelling the first half and blocking the second half completely.

“Divide”

However, Ye Qing gradually noticed that something wasn’t right. For some reason, his vigor wasn’t able to keep up with the demand of his technique, resulting in his fist force being far weaker than usual.

Is it the Spleen Breaker?!

Realization flashed in Ye Qing’s mind. “Spleen Breaker” was a technique that specifically targeted the human spleen. The spleen was the organ responsible for transportation and transformation, promoting digestion of food and the absorption and transportation of nutrients. The origin point of vigor, it was why the ancients claimed that the spleen was the foundation of acquired constitution[1].

If the spleen was damaged, then a person’s vigor would be cut off like a lake without a source; a tree withouts its roots. Naturally, it couldn’t last long. Moreover, Ye Qing’s fist art was fully found in the body’s vigor and force. Without sufficient vigor, it was only natural that his techniques would be much weaker.

By the time Ye Qing noticed that something was wrong, it was already too late. Cheng Qishang had taken another step forward, straightened his left hand, and pressed it against his sword pommel.

He pushed, and his sword traveled one meter forward. The sword shattered and merged with the river of sword qi, causing it to become one-third stronger than it was before.

Boom!

There was a loud boom, and Ye Qing staggered backward with a muffled groan on his lips. Cheng Qishang continued forward.

Next, the swordsman curled two fingers and summoned two swords out of his body. One of them was steel blue in color, and the other pitch black.

If “Mind Fuddler” was formless and invisible, and “Spleen Breaker” was voluminous and grandiose, then the two swords were ephemeral and wavy like wood or water.

As soon as the two swords emerged, Ye Qing immediately felt weak in both body and spirit. His body fluid had suddenly gone out of control, and the sensations could only be described as beyond uncomfortable. Besides that, he could clearly feel his digestion, metabolism, and natural resistances weakening by a significant degree. At the same time, all sorts of toxins and impurities began eating his body little by little.

“Liver Crusher and Kidney Smasher…”

It was said that a person’s essence was stored within the kidney. It was the organ that was closely tied to a person’s growth and reproduction abilities, which was why they called it the natural foundation of constitution. Kidney was also centered in Water, which was why it played an important role in regulating one’s body fluid and metabolism.

The liver’s main function was regulation, capable of regulating a person’s emotions and activities. It supported the stomach and spleen’s digestive capabilities and was responsible for detoxification, excretion, secretion and metabolism. It too was an important organ of the human body.

The “Liver Crusher” and “Kidney Smasher” did exactly what its name implied. To lose these two organs was to suffer a severe blow in the body and weaken physically. ꞦâΝỐ𝐁ÈＳ

Boom!

The only response Ye Qing could muster against the two swords was to cross his arms in front of his chest and bear the brunt of it. He allowed the impact to knock him several kilometers away from Cheng Qishang.

“Hmph! You think you can escape?”

Cheng Qishang sneered when he saw this. Pressing five fingers against his heart, he opened his mouth and spat a fiery red sword at Ye Qing.

At first glance, the fiery red sword’s sword qi and sword intent were indiscernible. However, it gave off a grandiose and vast feeling. There was small within the big, thick within the thin, soft within the hard, and firmness within the malleable.

“The Heart Damager…”

The “Heart Damager” of the “Seven Wounds Sword Art” damaged the heart. The heart was the organ that governed blood circulation and the hub that all blood must pass through. Not only did the heart circulate vigor throughout the human body through blood, it was also the center of the mind, spirit, consciousness, and thought activities. It was the organ that played the biggest role in the human body[2]

Therefore, to suffer a heart injury was to experience a total decline across the board.

Bang!

In the end, Ye Qing was unable to dodge the attack. The fiery red sword slammed into his chest and exploded into smithereens, engulfing Ye Qing in a sea of sword qi.

“Cough cough… be proud. Few people could force me to use my sixth sword,” Cheng Qishang called out as he covered his mouth and coughed. Blood was leaking down his hand even though he had taken no damage from Ye Qing so far.

The Seven Wounds Sword Art was undoubtedly powerful. It attacked the most vital organs of the human body and affected the mind and soul as well. Its sword qi was vast, and its sword intent was formless, making it impossible to block in most cases. It was one of the few arts that—to a minor extent—countered both mind-tempering Trueman and body-tempering Grandmaster.

Not only that, Cheng Qishang was a swordsman who reached the adept level of the “Seven Wounds Sword Art”. As a result, his sword qi could be forceful, gentle, or a mixture of both depending on the circumstances. It was basically impossible to guard against it effectively. On top of that, the Seven Wounds could exist anywhere and everywhere as long as its practitioner willed it so. It could wound and kill someone without a trace. Terrifying couldn’t even begin to describe its potency.

Alas, the “Seven Wounds Sword Art” possessed one massive flaw: it was a double-edged sword that hurt the practitioner themselves. “To practice this sword art is to incur the seven wounds. To incur the seven wounds is to incur comprehensive harm.” Such was the “Seven Wounds Sword Art”.

Again, the “Seven Wounds Sword Art” was undeniably powerful. After all, even the likes of Ye Qing was one-sidedly beaten by it. However, Cheng Qishang’s health was an absolute mess in order to push the “Seven Wounds Sword Art” to the adept level. His mind was damaged, and his physical body was plagued by all sorts of illnesses and injuries. On top of that, his condition worsened every time he used the sword art. It was a double-edged sword that hurt both himself and his quarry.

Cheng Qishang was perfectly fine with the flaw of the “Seven Wound Sword Art”, however. He was willing to pay any price to get stronger, and in his opinion, any sword art that could slay his opponent was a good sword.

“Hmm? You’re not dead yet?”

Still coughing, Cheng Qishang was able to take his leave when suddenly, he sensed something and lifted his head. He saw a young man slowly walking out of the sea of sword qi his sixth sword had conjured.

The young man was, of course, Ye Qing.

Right now, Ye Qing was covered in rags and bleeding from head to toe. He was also coughing with every step he took. At first glance, he looked like he had one foot in death’s door.

Cheng Qishang thought otherwise, however. It was because the ground caved in every time Ye Qing took a step, leaving behind a deep pit of sword qi.

Every time the young man coughed, a huge amount of sword qi was ejected from his body as well.

Ye Qing stopped coughing by the time he fully left the sea of sword qi behind. As his body began scabbing and healing all over, he gave Cheng Qishang an approving smile and said, “The ‘Seven Wounds Sword Art’ deserves its reputation. Much obliged.”

Despite his casual smile, Ye Qing was quite astonished on the inside. He was currently an initiate of the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” and protected by the Profound Yellow Mother Qi. Logically speaking, he should have been immune to “all evils”. Despite this, neither the art nor the qi could not fully protect him from Cheng Qishang’s “Seven Wounds Sword Art”. The sword qi that boasted infinite flexibility, omnipresence and formlessness was just that indefensible.

If he had fought Cheng Qishang before he practiced the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”, Ye Qing had no doubt that he would be a broken, mindless corpse already.

1. One of the rare cases Google translate is really good. ☜

2. I know what you’re thinking, but that’s how it was in old Chinese and maybe even western medicine I think. ☜

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