"What is a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier?"
Beneath Celestial Waterfall Cliff, Lu Han looked perplexed. The term was entirely alien to him; he had never even heard of it.
"A single leaf blocking the eyes, obscuring the Cyan Mountain—that is an Illusion Barrier! Whether you are a Martial Arts prodigy or a supreme genius of this era, if you do not lift that leaf, you will never behold the grand halls of Martial Arts," Lin Huang explained. He had never expected to fall into a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier himself.
Such Illusion Barriers usually only afflicted Martial Artists with vast and complex Martial Arts experiences, typically those above the Martial King Realm. As for Lin Huang... he had merely just stepped into the Earth Element Realm.
Lin Huang couldn’t help but mock himself slightly. He never imagined he would encounter a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier while fusing the moves of the Godslaying One Slash. After all, he had cultivated this Martial Technique for ten years in his previous life. It was the ultimate skill that made him famous.
"This... is a little funny," Lin Huang muttered, a self-deprecating smile playing on his lips.
Fortunately, Lin Huang was only trapped in a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier, not a Martial Arts Dao Illusion Barrier. At worst, he would simply have to give up cultivating the Godslaying One Slash. If he had encountered a Dao Illusion Barrier, it would have meant near-certain death. But how could he bear to abandon the Godslaying One Slash? Let alone the fact that it was an Earth-Tier Martial Technique, even if it were a mere Yellow Tier Martial Technique, he had used it for ten years and developed a deep attachment to it.
Ever since his rebirth, cultivating the Godslaying One Slash was what he looked forward to most. Yet, after two months of cultivation, just as he was about to fuse the three moves, he found himself doubting the technique’s true essence and plunging into a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier. How could this not leave him disheartened?
Beneath Celestial Waterfall Cliff, Lu Han seemed utterly unconcerned with the Martial Arts Illusion Barrier. Seeing the despondent Lin Huang, he finally couldn’t help but tentatively ask, "Um... I have something I need help with. Could you do me a favor?"
"What is it?" Lin Huang replied instinctively.
"Beat you up!" Lu Han’s tanned face was completely serious. Catching Lin Huang’s sharp glare as he turned his head, he hurriedly waved his hands and added, "I mean I want to fight you. I’ll suppress my cultivation to the Earth Element Second Heaven, I promise I won’t bully you!"
"Suppressing it to the Earth Element Second Heaven—you call that not bullying me?" Lin Huang frowned. Right now, he was only at the Earth Element First Heaven.
"The power of those three moves of yours is too great. I can’t guarantee that my theory is right, so I have to keep my realm at the Earth Element Second Heaven. That way, even if I’m wrong, I can rely on the realm advantage to escape with my life," Lu Han explained clumsily, which only confused Lin Huang even more.
Looking at the tanned, wooden Lu Han, Lin Huang curled his lip. "What exactly are you trying to do?"
Lu Han took two deep breaths before saying with a hint of uncertainty, "It’s just... I might have broken those three saber moves of yours!"
SPLASH!
The moment Lu Han finished speaking, a loud splash echoed as Lin Huang tumbled directly into the Cold Pool, spraying water all over Lu Han’s face.
"What did you say?" Lin Huang popped his head out of the Dark River, astounded.
"I said, I broke those three moves of yours, and now I want to fight you to verify my theory!" Lu Han roared, wondering if this guy was deaf.
"Damn it!" Looking at Lu Han, Lin Huang couldn’t help but curse. He was profoundly shocked, unable to believe what he had just heard.
This guy said he broke Three Thousand Miles, Slaying Kunlun, and Shooting the Celestial Wolf? The standalone moves before fusing into the Godslaying One Slash?
Broken!?
"Do you even know what it means to break a move?" Lin Huang asked with utmost seriousness as he climbed out of the Cold Pool.
On this continent, breaking a Martial Technique was not something ordinary people could achieve. In martial spars, life-or-death battles, and slaughter, combatants competed with the sheer power of their Martial Techniques. Victory or defeat didn’t mean someone had broken their opponent’s move; it only proved whose Martial Technique was stronger.
To truly break a move meant dismantling the Martial Technique from its very foundation to find a counter. Dismantling a technique, however, was vastly different from cultivating one. All in all, anyone who dared to claim they could break a Martial Technique was either a genius or an idiot. And anyone who could actually break a Martial Technique was either a peerless genius or an invincible idiot!
"Well..." Lu Han scratched his head in confusion. Seeing Lin Huang’s skeptical gaze, he began to doubt himself deep down. Had he actually broken it?
"Let’s test it out!" Seeing Lu Han’s bewildered expression, Lin Huang shook his head. He set aside the greatsword in his hand, turned around, and drew the Demon-Suppressing Blade before charging at Lu Han.
The sharp saber light flashed like surging lightning, carving an incredibly distinct water line through the waterfall. It instantly arrived in front of Lu Han, the power contained within it exploding abruptly.
Three Thousand Miles.
Slaying Kunlun.
Shooting the Celestial Wolf!
In an instant, Lin Huang unleashed all three moves simultaneously. Fast as roaring thunder, imposing as Mount Kunlun, and possessing the precision of a Flying Sword taking a head from a thousand miles away, all the power was concentrated on the tip of the blade.
And the tip was heading straight for Lu Han...
CLANG!
A series of metallic clashes rang out beneath the waterfall. Wielding his iron spear, Lu Han shed every trace of his previous timidness, replaced by an aura of fierce ruthlessness. He pushed forward indomitably, much like the iron spear in his hands!
As the tip of Lin Huang’s blade thrust toward Lu Han’s glabella, the latter advanced instead of retreating. With a flick of his wrist, his iron spear clashed against the Demon-Suppressing Blade dozens of times, blooming into fierce bursts of spear blossoms. In that fleeting instant, Lin Huang felt a jolt run through his arm before the Demon-Suppressing Blade was forcefully deflected by an unstoppable surge of strength, causing his entire offensive to miss entirely.
An instant later, the tip of Lu Han’s spear rested against Lin Huang’s throat!
Beneath the cascading torrents, Lin Huang and Lu Han stood as still as two stone statues.
Lu Han’s grip on the iron spear trembled uncontrollably. It wasn’t because the brief clash had drained his strength, but because of his overwhelming excitement.
He had broken the three moves! He had truly countered them, and the result was exactly as he had deduced in his mind.
Meanwhile, standing at the spear’s tip, Lin Huang remained frozen in place, his expression blank like a soulless puppet. But his dazed state wasn’t out of shock...
He hadn’t even had the time to be shocked. At this moment, every thought in his mind was suppressed by a profound wave of enlightenment.
A single leaf blocking the eyes, obscuring the Cyan Mountain—that is a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier! And Lu Han’s spear strike had pierced right through that leaf for him.
In this moment, the doubts accumulating in his heart were entirely dispelled. All his speculative guesses regarding the fusion of the Godslaying One Slash vanished into thin air.
Under the dusk light, the black-robed youth suddenly closed his eyes. Immersing himself in the crash of the waterfall, he slowly raised the Demon-Suppressing Blade and slashed at the torrent.
One slash...
Severing the water’s flow!
After Lin Huang executed that slash in the waterfall, Lu Han’s eyes widened, his mouth twitching. With his eyesight, he could naturally tell that Lin Huang’s three saber moves had fused into one!
That slash appeared far too ordinary, yet when it was swung, it made Lu Han feel as if he had been plunged into a cavern of ice. It felt as though all surrounding vitality had been utterly annihilated in that instant.
"It evolved!"
"I broke it for nothing!" Lu Han gritted his teeth, his face a mask of shock. He never imagined that after squatting painstakingly at Celestial Waterfall Cliff for two months, racking his brain every single day to figure out how to break Lin Huang’s three moves until his head nearly exploded, this would happen.
Now he had finally broken them. Then the technique evolved. And to top it all off, it was because Lin Huang gained enlightenment during their fight, leading him to fuse the three moves into one.
At this thought, Lu Han’s wooden, tanned face flushed red with anger. Staring at Lin Huang, who was meditating with his eyes closed under the waterfall, Lu Han’s expression resembled a vicious, ravenous wolf.
Lin Huang, completely oblivious to Lu Han beside him, felt as if he were beholding an entirely new world the moment he closed his eyes—a world overflowing with endless saber gleams. Every single gleam originated from the Godslaying One Slash, yet each contained distinct paths and variations, as if perfectly exhausting every possible transformation of the technique.
Gazing upon this world of boundless saber gleams, Lin Huang’s mind grew increasingly lucid and ecstatic. Unconsciously, the hand grasping the Demon-Suppressing Blade began to swing in tandem.
What he failed to notice was that as he swung the blade, the Profound Sea within his body surged, crashing toward his Profound Gate like a mighty, roaring river.
Everything happened so naturally!
When Lin Huang opened his eyes, he found Lu Han staring at him dumbly, as if looking at a monster.
"What’s wrong?" Lin Huang asked, confused.
"You’re sick!" Lu Han glared at Lin Huang viciously. "Otherwise, how could you break through your realm so quickly!"
Lin Huang blanked for a moment. Upon sensing the torrential Primordial Qi surging within his body, a look of joyous surprise washed over his face.
Earth Element Third Heaven?!
To think he had consecutively broken through two Heavens within three days, effortlessly reaching the Earth Element Third Heaven without him even noticing!
"As expected, breaking through a Martial Arts Illusion Barrier brings unimaginable benefits," Lin Huang smiled, suddenly feeling his body brimming with strength. He was vastly more powerful than before.
"It would be great if this could happen a few more times!" Lin Huang remarked greedily.
Lu Han shot Lin Huang a fierce glare, his eyes practically spitting fire with jealousy. He hadn’t expected Lin Huang to be so shameless.
Breaking through two Heavens consecutively was a feat that only a handful of people in the entire East Spirit Realm could achieve, yet this guy actually wanted it to happen a few more times. Did he really think he was a supreme Martial Arts genius?
"Thanks for earlier!" Lin Huang looked at Lu Han and smiled gratefully. If Lu Han hadn’t broken those three moves, Lin Huang wouldn’t have gained his epiphany, shattered the Martial Arts Illusion Barrier, and broken through to the Third Heaven.
"Then lend me twenty-five million!" Lu Han immediately seized the opportunity to push his luck.
"Get lost!"
Over the next few days, Lin Huang focused entirely on consolidating his realm. Though he had stepped into the Earth Element Third Heaven, his foundation was still somewhat unstable and required continuous tempering. His life remained disciplined and peaceful—until the resonant toll of a bell echoed throughout Piaoxue Palace.
"DONG... DONG..."
"DONG!"
"DONG DONG!"
Beneath the waterfall, Lin Huang suddenly opened his eyes, looking toward the direction of Piaoxue Peak with confusion. The sudden, booming bells vibrating through the air sounded rather urgent.
"What’s going on?" Lin Huang asked Lu Han beside him.
The ancient bell chimes, radiating from Piaoxue Peak, resounded like a majestic dragon’s roar sweeping across the heavens and the earth. The sheer force of the sonic vibrations caused the ice and snow within a ten-mile radius of Piaoxue Palace to crack and shatter.
Lu Han’s expression shifted slightly as he spoke with utmost gravity, "The palace gates’ toll can ring a maximum of ten times. Right now, it’s rung eight times... Something has happened!"