Martial Cultivator

Chapter 537: Demon Heart

The life-and-death battle between Chen Chao and Autumn began with a tempestuous first half, followed by a sudden reversal in the latter half. By now, neither had made another move.

Each focused on recuperating.

After Chen Chao got up, he had no intention of attacking and instead wandered aimlessly through the snow. Autumn followed not far behind, always maintaining a distance of several dozen yards between them.

Since neither had made a move, both took the time to regulate their breathing and heal their injuries.

After about half a day, Chen Chao took the initiative to ask, "Are you going to make a move or not?"

Autumn calmly replied, "No rush."

Chen Chao responded with an "Oh" and did not seem in a hurry either. Instead, he asked with great interest, "What kind of demon are you, anyway? Can't you just tell me?"

Autumn remained silent.

"Since you won't say, I'll make a guess? Someone as fierce as you must be a real tigress, right?"

Chen Chao scooped up a handful of snow, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed as he said casually, "That must be it. How else would you be so fierce?"

Autumn said nothing and just shook her head.

This was a denial.

Chen Chao who originally intended to anger this demon princess with his words sighed inwardly. Having interacted with her several times, he finally understood the temperament of the woman before him. Ordinary words rarely caused any emotional fluctuations in this demon princess. However, if her reverse scale was truly touched, it would lead to a relentless and frenzied pursuit by this princess, just as it had before.

Feeling bored, Chen Chao picked up a handful of snow, formed it into a snowball, and threw it forward with force.

But the snowball was destined to be unable to hurt Autumn. Before it even reached this demon princess, it shattered into pieces.

“If you want to fight, then fight. Why bother with these little probes?”

Autumn stared at Chen Chao in the distance, smiling slightly. “You want to kill me, yet don't want to be killed by me. You seem conflicted.”

Chen Chao did not care and casually replied, “What's there to be conflicted about? When it comes to matters of life and death, who wouldn't be cautious?”

Autumn chuckled, “If I said I'd let you go, would you dare leave?”

The corners of Chen Chao's mouth twitched, “Don't play tricks with me. Do you really think I'm that easy to fool?”

With her hands behind her back, Autumn continued forward calmly, “Others might think you're shameless, but to me, the more shameless you are, the more I want to kill you.”

Chen Chao said with irritation, “So unreasonable! Just because I'm shameless, I deserve to die?”

Autumn said softly, "You know the reason."

Chen Chao looked at Autumn's exposed jade-like leg and remarked, "I have to die just because I took a few looks, how unreasonable."

Autumn remained silent, but still did not show any anger.

Chen Chao unconsciously sighed again.

Autumn tilted her head up and smiled, "Forget it, not waiting any longer."

Chen Chao immediately furrowed his brows, "How about we wait a bit more?"

Autumn said nothing.

The wind and snow began to pick up.

Chen Chao gripped his saber hilt, waiting in full battle array.

……

……

An hour later, both had left terrifying wounds on each other.

At that moment, Chen Chao slashed Autumn's other shoulder with his saber, while she pierced his body with her snow sword, though not through his heart.

Enduring the intense pain, Chen Chao threw a punch at Autumn's head. This time, she could not avoid it and was struck head-on by the punch, causing her entire forehead to bruise instantly. But at the same time, Autumn already kneed Chen Chao in a vulnerable spot. Chen Chao immediately felt his mind blank out. Damn it, didn't she know you don't hit a man in the groin? How could this crazy woman not understand that?

Autumn tilted her head up, and with the hand gripping the sword, she twisted forcefully, causing the snow sword to agitate Chen Chao's wound.

Chen Chao felt excruciating pain both above and below, but he quickly reacted, throwing a palm strike toward Autumn's exposed jade-like leg.

A loud sound echoed in the wind and snow, and Autumn's exposed leg visibly turned red at this moment.

But at this moment, Autumn seemed to be in a daze, only feeling a searing pain coming from her thigh, instinctively trying to pull back.

Chen Chao then bent his elbow and slammed toward Autumn's chest, trying to take advantage of the moment when this demon princess could not react in time to further his attack.

Autumn's snow-white eyes flickered with emotion as she released the snow sword and crossed her hands in front of her chest.

Chen Chao's elbow strike did not land as intended.

The woman blocked Chen Chao's strike while simultaneously raising her feet to push against his abdomen.

Her jade-like foot was cold as ice, pressing against Chen Chao's abdomen, causing him to regain some clarity.

However, the two of them were now in a rather strange position. It looked somewhat ambiguous, and anyone observing probably would not dare to say they were engaged in a life-and-death struggle.

Chen Chao withdrew his hand, gripping his saber with both hands and pressing down.

Autumn struck the blade, and suddenly, a humming sound filled the air, causing the surrounding wind and snow to dissipate slightly.

Chen Chao's hands trembled uncontrollably, nearly losing his grip on Cloud Mud.

Autumn's seemingly simple strike actually contained countless techniques within it. For young geniuses of their caliber, their control over qi far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators. This seemingly casual strike had already targeted several key nodes where Chen Chao's qi was circulating, disrupting his flow and causing chaos, which made him feel a tingling sensation in his scalp.

But fortunately, Chen Chao quickly forced his qi to break through the obstruction and pressed down on his saber once more.

Taking advantage of the chance, Autumn lowered her shoulder and rammed into Chen Chao, causing him to stagger back a few steps, struggling to keep his balance.

Autumn was expressionless. She just removed the hairpin from her head and directly stabbed it into one of Chen Chao's crucial acupoints. Her long hair immediately cascaded down.

Chen Chao could not avoid this killing move that Autumn had been brewing for so long. The hairpin lodged into the acupoint, instantly blocking the flow of his qi throughout his body. Feeling somewhat powerless, Chen Chao almost lost his grip on Cloud Mud.

At this moment, Autumn's relentless assault had already arrived.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Chao's chest suffered at least a dozen lethal strikes.

The more Autumn attacked, the stranger she felt. The young martial artist before her had a remarkably resilient body; much stronger than the average demon. Even she herself would not dare claim her physique was stronger than Chen Chao's.

Though she knew that human martial artists excelled in tempering their bodies and possessed unparalleled physiques among human cultivators, this was only among the humans. How could they possibly compare to demons?

But Chen Chao was evidently an exception.

Autumn quickly realized that if he were not an exception, how could he have killed Yuan Ling?

Autumn stared at Chen Chao and delivered a hand chop aimed to break open his entire chest.

However, Chen Chao reacted swiftly and grabbed her wrist. He exhaled a breath of turbid air and pressed his other hand against his abdomen, forcibly removing the hairpin and grasping it. He then stabbed it towards Autumn's forehead.

The sharp end of the hairpin soon pressed against Autumn's glabella, drawing a stream of blood down her face. Yet, despite the hairpin breaking in the end, Chen Chao could not pierce her glabella.

Chen Chao had no choice but to throw a punch at Autumn's chest and then withdraw.

With his qi in disarray, Chen Chao's expression turned grim. The hairpin had arrived at a critical moment, catching him off guard.

Before Chen Chao had the chance to deal with the disrupted qi inside him, he saw a figure charging at him. At this moment, both were arrows at the end of their flight, and lacked the energy to employ other tactics. Autumn pinned Chen Chao under her and continued to strike, while Chen Chao released his Cloud Mud, using both hands to protect his vital areas, mostly remaining on the defensive.

The two greatest young geniuses of the era had descended to what seemed like barbaric men brawling in the countryside, which was extremely comical.

Relying on his physique, Chen Chao withstood wave after wave of Autumn's attacks. He finally seized the opportunity to grab a handful of her jet-black hair and forcefully press her head down.

It was unclear how many strands of hair were torn out by Chen Chao during this struggle.

With Autumn's head lowered and pressed against Chen Chao's chest, she could feel his heartbeat. Autumn was both angry and experiencing some other mixed emotions at the same time.

While Chen Chao had a solemn look as they reached the most critical moment.

He wrapped his arms around the back of Autumn's neck, preventing her from lifting her head, while repeatedly ramming his knees into the demon princess.

Autumn placed her hands on the snow-covered ground, trying desperately to break free from Chen Chao's hold, but to no avail.

With a muffled grunt, Autumn's snow-white eyes suddenly emitted a mysterious light. Chen Chao was startled and quickly kicked her away, rolling in the snow. At the same time, he grabbed his saber again and aimed it forward.

The tip of the saber once again pressed against Autumn's chest.

Chen Chao suddenly exerted force.

This time, Cloud Mud pierced through Autumn’s body.

It penetrated this demon princess' body firmly.

Blood began to seep from the corners of Autumn's mouth. This demon princess' snow-white eyes quickly returned to normal. They were actually quite beautiful eyes, filled with spring-like tenderness and the clarity of autumn water.

Chen Chao felt somewhat dazed for a moment.

But he quickly returned to his senses and thought about directly slicing through the demon princess' body. However, he saw Autumn raise her hand, pressing her palm against his chest.

She suddenly exerted force.

The boundless demonic qi forced Chen Chao back.

Chen Chao gripped Cloud Mud tightly, causing both him and the saber to be sent flying backward.

In mid-air, Chen Chao spat out blood but felt somewhat pleased. This time, he had finally managed to kill Autumn.

This battle had been arduous, but he had ultimately emerged victorious.

However, when he struggled to stand up, he saw the woman across from him slowly rising to her feet too.

Her body was drenched in blood, and her jade-like leg was also covered in blood, yet she still stood up.

Though her breath was weak, there was no sign of life force fading.

Chen Chao was unsteady on his feet, leaning on his saber, and asked with reluctance, "What kind of monster are you? Even after being pierced through, you're still not dead?"

Autumn spat out a mouthful of dirty blood and opened her mouth with some difficulty, "You indeed pierced my heart with a single blow."

Chen Chao raised his brows.

Autumn said calmly, "But who said that demons only have one heart like humans?"