Martial Cultivator

Chapter 535: A Hair's Breadth Away

Amidst the wind and snow, the sound of thunder was incessant, and countless gusts of wind and snow suddenly exploded.

A human and a demon were engaged in a life-and-death battle here!

In just an instant, their battlefield had shifted several miles from where it began, arriving at a more distant location.

They found themselves before a snow-covered mountain.

After kicking Chen Chao flying, Autumn had barely caught her breath before she was struck by a powerful saber strike from Chen Chao, sending her crashing heavily into the stone wall.

Chen Chao steadied himself and did not continue his pursuit. Instead, he gripped his saber with both hands, the dark hilt standing out starkly.

With the next slash, an enormous saber beam burst forth, intent on cleaving the low snow-covered mountain before him in two.

As a rumbling sound echoed, a massive avalanche occurred, with countless stones mixed with snow crashing down. Yet, before the force of Chen Chao's saber, everything was pushed aside to either side.

Autumn was finally buried once by the wind and snow.

But as the avalanche grew larger, a surge of demonic qi suddenly burst out from the snowstorm, followed by countless stones hurling towards Chen Chao.

As the stones rapidly fell, countless craters appeared on the ground, as if it had been struck by a meteor shower in an instant!

Chen Chao sliced through a massive boulder over a person's height with a single stroke, but before the saber light could dissipate, a figure had already appeared before him.

The pale-faced woman once again appeared in front of Chen Chao. But this time, endless wind and snow connected in front of her, gradually converging into a massive snow mountain that crashed down from above!

Chen Chao ran his fingers along the saber's edge and lifted it for a slash.

Rumble...

The snow mountain shattered, turning into an extraordinarily rare, heavy snowfall!

Autumn reached Chen Chao and struck the back of his Cloud Mud saber with her elbow while her other hand aimed for his head.

Chen Chao blocked the strike with his arm and used the momentum to swing the back of his saber toward Autumn's abdomen.

Autumn's body twisted into a strange posture to dodge the blow, while her free hand slashed at Chen Chao's throat with a knife-hand strike.

Chen Chao frowned slightly and quickly tilted his head back, but a thin line of blood still appeared on his throat.

Seizing the advantage, Autumn's seemingly delicate hand tore through the air, turning into a blade of wind and snow that struck Chen Chao. Unable to evade in time, a long gash was drawn across his cheek.

At the same time, Chen Chao's saber slashed across the woman's abdomen too.

The sharpness of Cloud Mud was not inferior to any Hundred Year Sword. It easily tore through Autumn's clothing, revealing her snow-white skin.

And with it, it also cut her flesh.

A scar appeared on Autumn's abdomen.

This showed that her physique was actually somewhat weaker than Yuan Ling's.

In an instant, the hilt of Cloud Mud turned snow-white.

The fine droplets of blood on Autumn's abdominal wound were a bright red.

Not all of the demon race's blood was red, but if it resembled human blood, there could only be two possibilities.

One was that Autumn's cultivation realm was too high, and the other was that her bloodline was of noble origin.

In truth, both could be true.

Chen Chao was very curious to know what true form the demon princess in front of him truly had.

But he did not know, and even before him, the daoist prodigy Yun Jianyue had not managed to force Autumn to reveal her true form.

Autumn frowned, somewhat puzzled as she looked down at her wound. She had long prepared herself for the fact that the young martial artist before her was much stronger than before, but she had not expected that after drawing his saber, he would exceed her expectations. Without waiting for Autumn to return to her senses, Chen Chao had already thrown a punch, filled with boundless qi, and once again sent the demon princess crashing into the snowy mountain wall.

As wind and snow scattered, Autumn was once more slammed into the mountain.

Chen Chao merely cast an indifferent glance before continuing to advance with his saber. However, as he moved forward, he belatedly noticed several new wounds on his chest, though he was not sure when they had appeared.

Cursing under his breath at this crazy woman's numerous tricks, Chen Chao arrived before the stone wall. Just as he was about to attack with his saber, a hand suddenly emerged from the swirling snow, grabbing his arm and forcefully pulling Chen Chao in.

Chen Chao gripped his saber with both hands and thrust it forward, the tip stopping right between the woman's twin peaks.

But it could not advance any further.

It was as if it had struck an impossibly hard piece of jade.

Chen Chao frowned, barely having time to react before the woman kicked him in the abdomen.

Chen Chao caught Autumn's leg with one hand, exerting some force to hold her calf in place. However, the next moment, her other leg kicked toward his chest. Chen Chao fell backward but refused to let go, tearing the fabric of Autumn's pants at the calf.

A snow-white, slender leg appeared before Chen Chao's eyes.

Nice leg!

This thought flashed across Chen Chao's mind subconsciously, but he instantly dismissed it.

Using the strength of his waist and abdomen, he straightened his body, gripped the saber with both hands, and stabbed downward again.

The two were buried in the snow, which kept sinking around them, entombing them both.

In Autumn's snow-white eyes, a hint of anger could be seen.

……

……

Struggling to break free from the snow, Chen Chao wasted no time and took off running.

Behind him, amidst the howling wind and snow, a massive dharma idol tore through the sky, appearing in the blizzard.

Chen Chao's expression darkened as he dashed forward, cursing, "Damn it, so petty! Your Father didn't do it on purpose!"

That enormous dharma idol had no intention of holding back, it stomped heavily on the ground, causing the entire snowy landscape to crack like a spiderweb. Countless ravines formed as a result.

Without turning back, Chen Chao fled frantically.

When demonic cultivators step into the Nepenthe Realm, they could often manifest a colossal avatar; a technique based on their demon form. Often, one could deduce the true form of a demon from the appearance of their avatar. However, Autumn's avatar remained hazy. Chen Chao sneaked a glance back but could not discern what kind of dharma idol it was.

As for why Autumn was able to manifest such a colossal dharma idol without yet stepping into the Nepenthe Realm, Chen Chao had no time to think about it. Even if he did, it would not help. Chen Chao would not feel surprised if someone like her had dozens of life-saving means.

Feeling the overwhelming killing intent behind him, Chen Chao made a decisive choice, he was not willing to get entangled with her here.

Avoid the sharp edge temporarily.

But this way, after a pursuit of several dozen miles, Chen Chao finally noticed the demonic qi behind him diminishing. When he turned around, he saw Autumn suspended in mid-air, her bare chest vaguely discernible, and a long, snow-white leg appeared particularly striking.

Chen Chao grinned, "I thought you could maintain that dharma idol for a long time, but it turns out it's just for show."

Autumn remained silent and just pulled a long spear out of the void, then hurled it down with force.

The spear was entirely snow-white, but there seemed to be faint traces of lightning on its shaft.

Chen Chao originally intended to dodge the spear, but as it got closer, he felt the terrifying aura emanating from it. He retreated far back, just in time to see the spear strike the ground, creating a massive crater.

Looking up again, Chen Chao saw that, at some point, countless spears had already appeared in the sky.

Chen Chao swallowed hard.

……

……

Afterward, seeing Autumn in a disheveled state from the barrage of spears, she remained expressionless. It was not until Chen Chao soared into the sky that she stirred slightly, directing the spears to chase relentlessly after him.

Chen Chao ignored the spears behind him and instead slashed towards Autumn in front of him.

Autumn neither retreated nor dodged. Instead, a barrier of qi appeared before her, blocking the attack.

She then smiled, stepping aside, and it was only then that Chen Chao noticed a massive snow sword had already formed behind her. Just as Autumn stepped aside, the snow sword rammed toward Chen Chao. He cursed inwardly at her cunning and delivered a saber slash, producing an almost inaudible dragon's roar.

The first to bear the brunt were the spears that had been relentlessly pursuing Chen Chao, they were all shattered in that instant.

Following that, countless broken spears fell down.

Chen Chao's slash that fully formed was precisely Dragon Rearing Head.

To block that snow sword!

Autumn kicked off her other shoe, revealing her dainty feet, and stepped onto the snow sword, walking slowly along its blade. With each step she took, the aura belonging her in heaven and earth grew stronger.

Chen Chao lifted his head, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, yet he still swung his saber.

The two immense forces clashed, shattering the snow sword and dissipating the momentum of the saber.

Autumn had already lost count of how many times she had closed in on Chen Chao.

Chen Chao grinned and swung his saber once more. Though he looked like an arrow at the end of its flight, this strike was unexpected even to Autumn. Instinctively, she tried to block the strike, but soon realized that the trajectory of Chen Chao's saber was elusive, and she could not sense his qi's path in such a short time.

As a result, she was struck on the shoulder by the saber.

Autumn winced in pain but refused to retreat, instead clamping down on the saber's edge with force, not allowing Chen Chao to pull it out and continue his attack.

Chen Chao then jerked the saber downward with force, directly carving a terrifying wound across Autumn's body.

At the same time, Autumn's palm had landed on Chen Chao's chest again.

As she neared him, her five fingers curled into claws, reaching for Chen Chao's heart.

Chen Chao felt the pain, but the saber's edge reversed upward, slashing toward the neck of this demon princess.

In an instant, it became a fight to the death.

Autumn seemed completely unafraid, driving her hand deeper into Chen Chao's chest. She could already feel his heartbeat.

Meanwhile, the saber had already swiped across Autumn’s neck.

A streak of blood appeared on Autumn's neck.

At that moment, the white mist within Chen Chao’s body began to circulate on its own, creating a barrier between Autumn and his heart.

It was just a hair's breadth away.

Autumn felt rather weak, retracting her arm and falling downwards.

Chen Chao did not want to miss this opportunity and forcefully threw Cloud Mud, intending to kill this demon princess in midair.

Cloud Mud pierced through Autumn's body.

Chen Chao let out a sigh of relief.

But then, Autumn mysteriously stopped in midair, forcefully pulled out Cloud Mud, which had already penetrated her body, and casually threw it back at Chen Chao.

Chen Chao struggled to grasp the saber's edge with one hand, his palm bleeding profusely.

Autumn landed in the snow, her complexion pale, but she remained standing.