"Tiancan Old Man?"
Li Miao squinted at Wan Tianzong.
"Oh, it's you."
Zuo Lishan's evil skill, obtained from the Ming Cult, was derived from the incomplete copy of "Heavenly Silkworm Skill" created by this person.
However, this person disappeared thirty years ago, and he was already quite old at that time. By now, he should be seventy years old, yet after emerging from the Celestial Human Five Declines state, he still looks like he's in his thirties.
It seems the secret method the court uses to keep these Celestial Human Realm masters in reserve not only delays the progression of the Celestial Human Five Declines but also has the effect of prolonging life.
However, according to Zhu Zai, this method is more akin to putting these masters into "hibernation," only waking them up to act when necessary. The Emperor and high officials do not use this method to extend their lives, presumably for this reason.
Returning to the present, Wan Tianzong looked at Li Miao and nodded.
"I didn't think that after thirty years of not being in the pugilistic world, such a remarkable junior like you would appear."
"Three paths merged into One, and you even self-damaged your realm in advance to avoid the Celestial Human Five Declines. In a life-and-death struggle today, I truly don't have full confidence in defeating you."
"It's a pity, whether you win or lose, you are destined to die today."
Wan Tianzong had not heard the conversation between Zhu Zai and Li Miao.
In his opinion, Li Miao's "Vajra" was complete, while his other two paths were incomplete, making him comparable to Wan Tianzong, who had two paths complete.
If Li Miao were to fight him like this, it would ultimately be a mutual destruction. But if Li Miao were to complete another path, even if he could defeat him, without the court's secret method, he would still die from the Celestial Human Five Declines.
Of course, by his own reasoning, he himself would also not survive either way.
He was currently using a psychological tactic, wanting to disturb Li Miao's state of mind and cause his moves to show flaws during their life-and-death struggle.
In a life-and-death struggle, every moment counts. There is no room for hesitation or retreat.
The more Li Miao hesitated, the greater his chances of winning.
Unlike Zuo Lishan and Yun Zelin, Wan Tianzong's Celestial Human Realm was genuinely cultivated by himself and honed through life-and-death battles. In terms of combat experience, he was far superior to the other two.
Just as Wan Tianzong spoke with certainty, believing he had a plan in mind.
Li Miao let out a light chuckle.
"Look how arrogant you are."
With that, the dust on the ground moved without wind, scattering in all directions.
His black hair suddenly turned white like snow.
"The Old Man is still waiting for my help, so I won't waste any more words with you."
Bang!!!
He stomped his feet violently, a muffled thud like a heavy hammer striking a drum.
In an instant, Li Miao had already appeared in front of Wan Tianzong.
"!!!"
Without time to think, Wan Tianzong instinctively raised a palm and attacked Li Miao.
As he struck out with his palm, cold air permeated, and before it even reached him, a thin layer of ice had already covered the collar of Li Miao's shirt.
Li Miao did not avoid it at all, and with a backhand strike, he intended to meet force with force!
When their palms met, it was like a glacier falling into magma, suddenly evaporating a vast amount of steam.
Thump thump thump thump--
Wan Tianzong retreated rapidly to dissipate the force, and midway, he raised his hand and struck an empty palm into the steam.
Cold air dispersed the steam, but Li Miao had already vanished.
"!!!"
Wan Tianzong's pupils constricted, his body spun, and he struck out with a backhand palm behind him.
But he hit nothing.
"Look up."
In mid-air, Li Miao's voice rang out.
Wan Tianzong suddenly looked up, and Li Miao was indeed in mid-air, his leg-axe already in front of him!
"So obedient."
"Iron Shackles War Summons," "One Axe"!
His upward gaze perfectly presented his face to Li Miao's move. At this moment, it was too late to hastily raise his palm for defense.
But Wan Tianzong was, after all, a Celestial Human Realm master who had fought his way through battles. In a life-or-death situation, he instantly came up with a clever solution.
In a flash, his left leg swept downwards, his body tilted to the left, and his right arm bent at the elbow, swinging diagonally upwards with his body's rotation, directly meeting Li Miao's leg-axe!
Bang!!!
A muffled thud echoed in all directions.
At this moment, both sides were giving their all.
Who would emerge victorious!?
Wan Tianzong, after all, changed his move in haste, intentionally disrupting his stance to keep up with Li Miao's attack.
And Li Miao had exerted all his strength and true qi, also leveraging the downward momentum.
The difference was immediately clear!
In an instant, Wan Tianzong's right elbow was shattered, and although some of the force from the leg-axe was dissipated, it still carried residual power and slammed heavily onto Wan Tianzong's shoulder!
Crack.
Wan Tianzong's right collarbone was completely broken!
But he showed no reaction, as if it wasn't his own body at all.
He raised his left palm, and with a move of "One Crane Soaring to the Sky," he struck towards Li Miao's chest and abdomen in mid-air.
In the one-by-one, no-mistakes version!
Li Miao, having landed a successful strike, immediately executed a "Ladder Cloud Ascent" to rise a zhang higher in the air, lightly landing in the distance.
Among the four forms of "Iron Shackles War Summons," the saber is sharp, the hook is fierce, and the cannon is powerful.
The axe is heavy.
This leg-axe strike, though not as brutal as the "One Slash" Li Miao used to split Yun Zelin's flesh at the time.
However, the internal force had already penetrated Wan Tianzong's body. At this moment, his right lung was injured, and he stood in place, coughing a few times.
"Spit."
He spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of flesh.
As an aside, the martial arts of the Great Shuo pugilistic world are by no means as "civilized" as those in the wuxia dramas of Li Miao's previous life.
Two masters decide life and death, the victor has a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, the loser a shallow sword wound on his chest, dying with a smile. Both are neatly dressed, only their hair slightly disheveled—such a scenario would never occur in the Great Shuo pugilistic world.
Strong offense and weak defense, flesh and blood flying, broken arms and severed limbs, that is the norm in the Great Shuo pugilistic world.
This is not a romantic, elegant pugilistic world, but a bloody one.
Therefore, when Zuo Lishan had his left hand twisted off by Li Miao, and Yun Zelin had his right lung split open by Li Miao, they could both continue fighting without changing their expressions, because they had long been accustomed to such a cruel pugilistic world.
And Wan Tianzong was no different.
Li Miao's move, with its penetrating force, had shattered the upper edge of his right lung.
What he spat out was indeed the flesh and blood of his own right lung. Every breath he took now felt like being cut by a knife or burned by fire.
Yet, his expression remained unchanged. He simply stared intently at Li Miao, secretly circulating his self-created ultimate skill, "Heavenly Silkworm Skill."
He saw strands of white silk gradually growing from his right chest, wrapping around the right side of his chest.
This martial art is a healing internal skill renowned for its endless vitality.
Li Miao shook his right palm, flicking off a thin layer of ice, and looked at Wan Tianzong: "Ice Silkworm Poison Palm."
"Good martial arts, but your brain isn't quite working."
"I told you to look up, and you actually did?"
Wan Tianzong said coldly: "Are you trying to trade lives with me?"
"With two paths complete and one incomplete, your Celestial Human Five Declines will arrive faster than mine. I only need to drag it out until you die of old age, and then I win."
Li Miao scoffed.
"Someone else thought that last time, and then he died."
"Stop talking nonsense, continue."
With that, without waiting for Wan Tianzong to reply, Li Miao flashed forward, striking a "Forward Step, Block, and Punch" towards Wan Tianzong's chest.
This was not a playful fight like the one with Yun Zelin on Mount Tai; Li Miao would not give Wan Tianzong a chance to heal.
Although Zhu Zai appeared confident, he was a person who cared about his reputation.
The reason he quietly added a request for Li Miao to finish and help him was because his fight with Bu Lei was truly uncertain.
