Stranger Danger

Chapter 741: Impetus of Tai Chi

The technique he used just now was called the “Impetus of Tai Chi”, and it combined all nine impetuses into one. The “Impetus of Tai Chi” was the ultimate technique of the “Nine Impetus of Tai Chi”, and it could only be performed after the practitioner had mastered all other impetuses—fast or slow, action or inaction, hard or soft, yin and yang—and combined them all into the ultimate impetus, a.k.a the “Impetus of Tai Chi”. Not only could it neutralize forces and block certain attacks, it could even reflect an opponent’s attack right back at them.

The “Impetus of Tai Chi” was incredibly powerful, but it was equally difficult to cultivate. The keys to mastering the “Impetus of Tai Chi” was a vast reservoir of true qi and an unbreakable body. After all, if you couldn’t even withstand the enemy’s force, then how could you possibly reflect it back at the enemy?

In fact, Ye Qing had grasped the “Impetus of Tai Chi” before he entered the Death Sea thanks to Nanke. However, his body wasn’t strong enough to unveil its full power. Things were different now. His body had entered the Grandmaster stage, and it was tempered by the Profound Yellow Mother Qi no less. Now that his body was at least ten times stronger than before, it was more than capable of unleashing the full might of the “Impetus of Tai Chi”.

Even better, Ye Qing felt that he was still far away from reaching the absolute ceiling of the “Impetus of Tai Chi”. If he could merge the power of the Profound Yellow Mother Qi into the technique, he was sure that it would become even more powerful.

After annihilating his opponent with his own technique, Ye Qing abruptly sped up and dashed toward the Magia Tree at high speed. Seemingly angered by Ye Qing’s total annihilation of its trial, every Magia Tree began wobbling and shining unnaturally. For a time, Taoist sounds, Buddhist radiance, and demonic qi merged together to create a sight no words could sufficiently describe.

Then, countless Magia Fruits flipped open and unleashed their Magia. The Yellow River descended from the sky, avalanches both rock and snow collapsed on top of Ye Qing from multiple directions, walls of sword qi surged toward him with deadly intent, a sea of qi moving mountains and rivers to squish him like a bug, purple rising from the east to blot out the celestial bodies, the sun and moon shining so bright that the stars might as well be invisible…

Ye Qing never stopped running, however. He didn’t even slow down. He smashed apart the waters of the Yellow River with his shoulder, redirected the avalanches away from him using the “Impetus of Tai Chi”, blew apart the sea of qi threatening him from multiple sides with a shout, swallowed the purple qi from the east, and even shattered the sun, moon and stars that attempted to block his way with one punch.

So much power and so many Magia, and yet not a single thing could Ye Qing’s march! None!

On the ground, Mountain Tunneling King was positively dazzled by Ye Qing’s performance. Any one of the Magia currently assaulting Ye Qing could have pressured him into revealing a trump card or two to survive. All of them at once? Even the merest brush would be enough to kill him. And yet, Ye Qing looked so casual, confident, and untouchable he was like a living god whose powers were strong enough to overwhelm anything and everything.

This was the moment Mountain Tunneling King’s opinion of Ye Qing truly changed completely. For the first time, he looked up to the young man like he was seeing his own god.

Ye Qing was too busy to pry into Mountain Tunnel King’s thoughts right now. Even if he knew, it wouldn’t bother him one bit.

When he finally reached the trunk of the Magia Tree, the Magia Fruits abruptly closed themselves, and the storm of Magia ravaging the area abruptly vanished like it never happened.

He had overcome the Magia Tree’s trials. It was time to pluck the fruits of victory.

From a distance, the Magia Tree didn’t seem so imposing. But now that he was standing underneath it, Ye Qing was starting to realize just how massive it was even compared to your millennia-old trees.

The Magia Tree was over a hundred meters tall. It would take at least a dozen people to hug its tree trunk completely. Its leaves and branches were so thick that the shadow it cast almost felt like nighttime, and he felt positively like an ant in terms of size.

Ye Qing did not rush to pluck a Magia Tree. Instead, he circled around it once and examined it carefully before producing three Incenses of Fortune from his Nine Heavens. He lit them one by one.

After the incense sticks were ignited, he prayed to the Magia Tree and said, “I’m counting on you, brother Incense…”

As soon as he said this, the three Incense of Fortune began burning at an accelerated rate. Puffs of blue smoke floated into the sky, pierced through the thick leaves and branches, and began checking out each and every Magia Fruit as if they were sentient.

The closer they got to the Magia Fruits, the faster the incense sticks burned. At this rate, they were going to burn out in just a dozen or so breaths.

The blue smoke didn’t stop, however. Sometimes, they would linger near a Magia Fruit as if they had made their decision. Then, they would move away and float higher up the tree.

“Ahem… I don’t need perfection, brother Incense. I’m fine with just an excellent Magia that won’t kill me or something.”

Ye Qing hurriedly said when he saw this. It would be terrible if they ran out of steam before they could decide on the perfect Magia Fruit for him.

Seemingly understanding Ye Qing’s meaning, the blue smoke paused in front of a Magia Fruit right before the three Incenses of Fortune would burn out.

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up, and he leaped into the air to pluck the Magia Fruit.

It was at this moment he suddenly blanked out for an instant. It was less than a fraction of a second, but it was enough time for a hand to appear out of nowhere and grab the Magia Fruit.

It was literally just a hand; a hand that looked like it had been severed by a sharp blade. There was no denying that it had plucked the Magia Fruit, however.

The palm of the severed hand split open, and the fruit disappeared into the gap as if swallowed. Then, an annoying cackle came from the same gap, “Hahaha… Thank you so much for your trouble, brother. I will gladly accept this gift of yours.”

“You may not have the stomach to claim my spoil!”

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. This time though, he was the praying mantis. Absolutely furious, Ye Qing threw out a punch in an attempt to crush the hand like a bug.

“Calm down, brother. Haven’t you heard that impulse is the devil?”

The severed hand jeered and did a strange twirl. Ye Qing recognized it as a profound palm technique though. After all, it somehow managed to redirect his deadly punch elsewhere.

“Shit!”

It was after the punch that Ye Qing realized that he had fucked up. Unfortunately, it was too late. The severed hand had redirected his fist force against the Magia Tree!

Boom!

The Magia Tree wobbled, and countless cracks spread across its jade-like bark. An unbelievable amount of tree leaves fell from above like the rain.

The ploy was scummy, but it worked. The Magia Tree believed that it was Ye Qing who attacked it and lashed out with its numerous tree branches.

Ye Qing kicked off the tree trunk and shot toward the periphery like an arrow. However, the Magia Fruits flipped open and unleashed their Magia at him. His figure instantly vanished beneath a storm of power.

“I told you that impulse is the devil, didn’t I? You only have yourself to blame for this outcome.”

Meanwhile, the severed hand had reappeared not far away to jeer at Ye Qing. However, it barely finished before the storm of Magia suddenly parted like a flood against a solid rock, and a figure jumped toward it while moving his fingers like he was playing the pipa. He was, of course, Ye Qing.

Twang twang twang!

Invisible ripples appeared in the sky, and the severed hand exclaimed in surprise, “You’re quite strong, brother! I guess I won’t be playing with you any longer!”

The severed hand was just about to leave when suddenly, thunderclaps erupted from the surrounding space. The severed hand let out a strange cry before exploding into bits as if it had been crushed by a boulder.

“Argh!”

As soon as the hand exploded, a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the ground about one hundred meters from the floating island. The next second, a middle-aged man appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

The man looked to be in his forties. He was dressed in rags and wearing strange, comedic make-up. It was almost as if he was a circus clown.

The man’s left wrist was ripped apart and bleeding profusely. The wound was so deep that one could see the bones inside. Strangely, the man was smiling happily.

“How ruthless of you, brother. I won’t forget this…”

The man’s mouth split into a wide, exaggerated grin. Then, he turned around and ran away.

“Stay right there!”

Mountain Tunneling King hurriedly gave chase when he saw this.

On the floating island, Ye Qing attempted to chase after the strange man as well. However, he quickly realized that he was stuck on the island almost as if the space around him was locked. Not only that, he was getting closer and closer to the Magia Tree.

The next moment, the Magia Fruits flipped open and engulfed him in a storm of Magia once more.