From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Chapter 85 Shen Yue, Transformation Realm

"But I will."

Manager Feng opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back, bowed, and withdrew.

That evening, Lin Yan sat alone in the courtyard.

The moon was very round, and the moonlight was very bright, making the ginkgo tree in the yard look as if it were plated with a layer of silver.

He was thinking of Ye Qingxue.

I don't know if her injuries have healed, I don't know if the people at Taiqing Palace have made things difficult for her, and I don't know when she will be able to return.

Lin Xiu ran out of the house, holding a bamboo whistle in her hand.

"Brother, do you remember this?"

Lin Yan took it; it was the bamboo whistle, the one Lin Xiu had given him when he was in Qingzhou, saying he should blow it when he missed her.

"Remember."

"You've never bragged about it."

"I'm afraid you'll miss me if you hear it."

Lin Xiu squatted down in front of him, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at him.

"Brother, are you thinking about Sister Ye?"

Lin Yan did not answer.

"I knew it." Lin Xiu pursed her lips. "Sister Ye will come back."

How did you know?

"Because she promised you she would eat noodles with you, and a promise is a promise."

Lin Yan looked at his younger sister's serious little face and suddenly laughed.

"you're right."

He hung the bamboo whistle around his neck, stood up, gently patted Lin Xiu's head, and said:

"Brother has a martial arts competition tomorrow."

"I know, brother, you absolutely have to win."

"it is good."

A few days later, the semi-finals of the Imperial Guards' Grand Competition were held.

The number of people on the training ground was almost double that of the previous sessions.

The stands were packed, and even the aisles were full of people. Emperor Li Chengji arrived earlier than usual on the main stand. He sat on the dragon throne with a plate of snacks in front of him, but he didn't touch them.

On the east side of the stands, Crown Prince Li Zhengxin held a teacup, his expression calm, but Steward Feng noticed that he held the teacup with a bit more force than usual, unable to hide his nervousness.

On the west side of the stands, the seat of the Second Prince, Li Zhengming, was empty.

He didn't come today.

"The Second Prince didn't come?"

Steward Feng leaned close to the Crown Prince's ear and whispered something.

"He didn't come."

Li Zhengxin took a sip of tea. "It would be strange if he came. Zhao Wuji lost face, and Shen Yue is the Third Prince's man. If he came, it would be like he's supporting the Third Prince. He wouldn't do such a thing."

In the center of the arena, Lin Yan stood inside the circle drawn with white ash.

His chest was still wrapped in bandages, but it wasn't noticeable because of his clothes.

The knife hung at his waist, and the hemp rope wrapped around the handle had been replaced; it had been re-wrapped by Chen last night and was very tight, so it wouldn't come loose.

Shen Yue was standing opposite him.

Shen Yue is forty-two years old. He has an average appearance, average build, and average clothes. He's the kind of person you'd easily lose in a crowd.

But his eyes were unusual; the color of his pupils was lighter than that of ordinary people, like faded glass, and when he looked at people, he carried an inexplicable coldness.

He had a knife hanging at his waist, the scabbard was black and undecorated, as plain as a piece of iron.

But Lin Yan noticed that both of his sleeves were longer than normal, and the cuffs were tightly bound, so there must be something hidden inside.

Penetrating bone nail.

"General Lin," Shen Yue said, clasping his hands in a respectful gesture, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, "I have long admired you."

"Commander Shen."

Lin Yan returned the greeting with clasped hands and said politely, "I've heard so much about you."

The two exchanged a glance.

Shen Yue smiled, but the smile was devoid of warmth.

Vice Minister Zhou stood at the sidelines and raised the command flag.

"start!"

Shen Yue did not move.

He stood there, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, looking at Lin Yan, as if waiting for Lin Yan to make the first move.

Lin Yan didn't move either.

He stood on the other side of the circle, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword, looking at Shen Yue, his [Aura Observation] spread out.

The circulation of spiritual energy within Shen Yue's body appeared in his perception. Although his cultivation level was not as high as Zhao Wuji's, the spiritual energy within him was far more abundant than Zhao Wuji's true energy.

The spiritual energy condensed into a ball in the dantian, and something seemed to be slowly rotating at the center, like a nail sunk to the bottom of the water.

That is the Dharma form.

The second-grade realm of spiritual cultivation, the Manifestation Realm, involves compressing and condensing the spiritual energy in the dantian into a concrete form. Shen Yue's Dharma form is a three-inch-long bone-piercing nail, which is located in the very center of his dantian, absorbing and releasing spiritual energy.

Before I could even take a closer look, a heavy sense of oppression came over me, as if someone had grabbed my meridians, and the speed at which my internal energy circulated slowed down by a third.

Lin Yan frowned, silently circulating his inner energy, sending out streams of true energy from each of his Ren and Jin meridians to stabilize his mind.

Shen Yue seemed to sense something, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"General Lin is actually able to withstand the pressure of the Dharma Aura, that's quite remarkable."

Lin Yan didn't respond. His attention was entirely focused on Shen Yue's arms. The path of his spiritual energy circulation was different from that of ordinary body cultivators. Body cultivators' true energy starts from the dantian, passes through the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and is transmitted to the palms.

Shen Yue's spiritual energy split into two paths at the elbow joint, one going to the palm and the other to the wrist, and then directly from the wrist to the cuff.

There's something in my sleeve.

Lin Yan's gaze fell on Shen Yue's sleeve.

His spiritual energy stopped after reaching his cuff.

His ability to observe qi couldn't see what was inside the cuffs; the cuffs seemed to be covered by something, making it impossible to see clearly.

But Lin Yan already knew.

Penetrating bone nail.

Shen Yue's hidden weapons were not thrown out by hand, but propelled out by spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy originates from the dantian, passes through the shoulders and elbows, and reaches the wrist. It then twists at the wrist, transmitting the force to the bone-piercing nail. Once the spiritual energy is released, the bone-piercing nail will fly out like it has been shot from a crossbow.

This launching method is faster, more accurate, and more concealed than throwing by hand.

"General Lin, why don't you make the first move?" Shen Yue asked.

"Commander Shen, please go first," Lin Yan said.

Shen Yue smiled and drew his sword from his waist with his right hand.

The blade was very narrow, almost half the width of an ordinary knife, and the edge gleamed with a cold light.

He didn't use any hidden weapons; he used a knife first.

With a swift and narrow slash, the blade swept across the ground like a venomous snake.

Lin Yan drew his sword to parry, and the two swords clashed with a crisp clang.

Shen Yue's knife was light, but his strength was not.

The spiritual energy of the Transformation Realm was poured into the blade, and when it slashed down, it carried a shockwave, causing Lin Yan's arm to go numb.

What was even more unbearable was the oppressive aura. With each clash of weapons, the oppressive feeling of Shen Yue's Dharma Image would come through the blade, causing a brief stagnation in the flow of true energy within his body.

Lin Yan took a step back, used his nimble footwork to slide to Shen Yue's left side, and swung his sword up with a backhand motion.

Shen Yue parried with his sword, and the two swords clashed again.

The two exchanged blows in the center of the training ground, each strike swift and dangerous.

In the stands, Xiong Kuo gripped the hilt of his knife, silently cheering for Lin Yan.

In the arena, Shen Yue suddenly sheathed his sword and took half a step back.

Lin Yan did not chase after them.

His [Qi Observation] detected the changes in the spiritual energy within Shen Yue's body. At this moment, the spiritual energy in Shen Yue's dantian was rapidly being transported to his left arm. The spiritual energy was several times more concentrated than before and was finally compressed onto the hidden weapon.

Shen Yue's left sleeve billowed without any wind.

The hidden weapon is coming.

Shen Yue's left hand swung out of his sleeve.

Without any warning, three slender black shadows flew out from his sleeves, heading straight for Lin Yan's face, throat, and chest.

The bone-piercing nail has arrived.

Fast, very fast.

But Lin Yan's [Aura Observation] saw the moment the spiritual energy was released from Shen Yue's wrist, and he turned to the side half a beat in advance.

Three bone-piercing nails flew past his face, neck, and shoulder, embedding themselves three inches into the sand behind him, with only the tip of each nail protruding.

Someone in the stands gasped in surprise.

"He dodged it?"

"You dodged all three bone-piercing nails?"

Shen Yue frowned and muttered something incredulously.

He didn't stop, and with a flick of his left hand, he delivered three more bone-piercing nails, this time targeting Lin Yan's legs and abdomen.

Lin Yan jumped up, and the bone-piercing nails flew past his feet, but one of them suddenly turned and stabbed into his back from below.

Another use of the Dharma Image Projection... Spiritual Guidance. Shen Yue used his spiritual sense to guide the Bone-Piercing Nail, allowing him to adjust its direction over short distances.

Unable to gain leverage in mid-air, Lin Yan forcefully tapped the ground with his knife, flipping over to narrowly dodge the attack.

Shen Yue slashed with his right-hand sword at the same time, giving Lin Yan no chance to fight back.

Lin Yan couldn't dodge in time and managed to block Shen Yue's knife with his own. He was slashed to the side and fell, the wound on his chest making him groan.

Shen Yue gave him no chance to catch his breath, spreading his five fingers on his left hand and unleashing a torrent of spiritual energy from his palm.

He's getting serious now.

"Dharma Form! Appear!"

Shen Yue murmured a sentence. A three-inch-long, bone-piercing nail phantom, made entirely of spiritual energy, appeared in his palm. It was silver-white and radiated a dazzling cold light.

He released his hand and pushed towards Lin Yan.

There's no escaping it.

The spiritual energy locked onto Lin Yan's aura, allowing it to catch up no matter how he dodged.

He held the sword in front of him, filling the blade with his true energy, and frantically activated the remaining chapter of the breathing technique, gathering all the true energy from the Ren, Du, and Chong meridians onto the sword.

A loud bang.

Lin Yan was blasted away along with his knife, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Shen Yue withdrew his palm, and the Dharma image projection dissipated into the air.

His face paled slightly... The Dharma Image Projection consumes a lot of energy and cannot be used continuously.

"General Lin, admit defeat," Shen Yue said. "Your injuries haven't healed yet. If you continue fighting, you'll lose your life."

Lin Yan leaned on the knife to stand up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Give up?" He chuckled. "It's not over yet."