“Humph…”

Outside the courtyard, seeing Xu Taiping walk through the barrier and step out, the golden-haired demonic cultivator suddenly grinned, revealing a mouth full of beast-like sharp teeth.

“Should I praise your bravery, or scold your stupidity?”

The golden-haired demonic cultivator crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Xu Taiping as if he were an ant passing by.

“You can praise my bravery or scold my stupidity, but what does that have to do with me?”

Xu Taiping placed his hand on the hilt of his saber, his gaze locked onto the golden-haired demonic cultivator as he began to pace around the barren ground in front of the courtyard.

This demonic cultivator was very different from the one he had encountered at the Listening Wind Pavilion.

Compared to that demonic cultivator, this golden-haired one was more robust and imposing. Just standing there, he gave Xu Taiping an overwhelming sense of pressure.

What was even more different was that this demonic cultivator’s physique was far more formidable.

His bronze skin glistened with a metallic sheen under the sunlight, and his skin’s texture resembled that of a beast rather than a human, yet his bone structure and muscle distribution were akin to that of a martial artist.

It was the kind of physique honed to the pinnacle of martial arts.

This physique reminded Xu Taiping of Fan Qi, but compared to Fan Qi, he could clearly feel that the golden-haired demonic cultivator’s physique, from the bulging muscles and protruding veins down to each individual hair, was a crystallization of blood and energy, ready to be converted into immense power at any moment.

“To actually walk out here, you do have some guts among human cultivators. But to think you can compete with a demonic cultivator in terms of physique, that just makes you a slightly brave fool. The way we demonic cultivators temper our bodies is beyond your imagination.”

The golden-haired demonic cultivator chuckled.

As he laughed, he took a step forward, assuming a fighting stance.

Just this simple action made Xu Taiping’s hair stand on end, his survival instincts screaming at him to flee from this person.

It was just like when he had faced the Blade Ghost.

But he suppressed the urge to run, stopping in his tracks, his hand still on the hilt of his saber, his gaze fixed on the golden-haired demonic cultivator.

“Do you know why I agreed to your stalling tactics?”

The golden-haired demonic cultivator’s body lowered slightly, his aura shifting from outward release to inward focus, his eyes unblinking as he stared at Xu Taiping.

“Because you can’t stall for time at all.”

As he spoke, his expression turned cold, and then he punched out like a cannonball.

“Clang!” Almost simultaneously, Xu Taiping drew his Spring Tiger saber, slashing with a long-prepared move to meet the golden-haired demonic cultivator’s punch.

“Bang!” With a loud crash, Xu Taiping’s saber was shattered in an instant, and as his Spring Tiger saber was knocked aside, the golden-haired demonic cultivator’s other fist, already prepared, struck Xu Taiping’s abdomen heavily.

“Boom!” Despite the dual protection of the Cang Luan Ring’s wind wall and the Danxia Technique’s ice armor, Xu Taiping was still forced back several steps by the punch, the wind wall and ice armor shattering almost instantly.

The power of the demonic cultivator’s punch was evident.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Before Xu Taiping could steady himself, the golden-haired demonic cultivator appeared in front of him again, a fist aimed directly at his face.

“Swish!” In a flash, Xu Taiping dodged the punch, raising his Spring Tiger saber, his mind racing through the principles of the Demonic Severing Blade technique.

“Even the swaying of grass and trees can be a force, the collapse of courtyard walls can be a force, the toppling of mountains can be a force.”

In an instant, every blade of grass, every brick and stone, every broken wall, and every dead tree in the barren land was imprinted in Xu Taiping’s mind.

“Slash!” As he swung his saber, the grass in his mind began to dance wildly in the wind, bricks and stones fell, walls crumbled, the courtyard collapsed, and even the low hill behind him turned into a landslide, sweeping away everything in its path.

“Zheng!”

In that moment, the imagery in his mind transformed into a saber force, merging with his slash towards the golden-haired demonic cultivator.

The golden-haired demonic cultivator sensed something, but the saber force appeared too suddenly for him to react.

So he chose to meet Xu Taiping’s slash with his fist.

“Bang!” This time, the golden-haired demonic cultivator’s fist was shattered by Xu Taiping’s saber force, his chest exposed.

“Swish!” With a sound of slicing wind, the blade of the Spring Tiger saber cut deeply into the golden-haired demonic cultivator’s chest.

“Bang!” The golden-haired demonic cultivator was sent flying by the slash, stumbling several steps before steadying himself, a deep wound on his chest revealing bone.

Seeing this, the Senior Sisters of the Sixth Peak were all stunned.

“Taiping’s saber actually injured the demonic cultivator?”

Sixth Senior Sister was incredulous.

“Borrowing force, Taiping actually understood how to borrow force.”

Xu Ziyan, who had some understanding of force, quickly grasped the essence of Xu Taiping’s slash.

Lin Buyu also breathed a slight sigh of relief.

“Quickly deal with this demonic flood dragon, we can’t waste the time Junior Brother Taiping has bought for us!”

Xu Ziyan reminded everyone loudly.

Hearing this, everyone focused, fully activating the Breaking Cloud Sword Formation to deal with the demonic flood dragon still crashing against the barrier.

“Swish!” At the same time, Xu Taiping slashed at the demonic cultivator again.

“Bang!” The demonic cultivator, just barely steadying himself, could only barely fend off the saber with his fists, but with Xu Taiping mastering the art of borrowing force, his saber became incredibly heavy. Even the golden-haired demonic cultivator, with his formidable physique, couldn’t fend off every strike, and soon his chest was covered in wounds.

“Boom!” Just as Xu Taiping’s saber force was reaching its peak, the golden-haired demonic cultivator’s aura surged, and two more arms sprouted from his back.

“Bang, bang, bang!” The fists of these two new arms rained down on Xu Taiping like a storm, shattering the saber force he had painstakingly built up.

“My master also taught me to control force with intent, but that doesn’t suit me. Using intent to nurture strength, using intent to store power, and breaking all techniques with brute force is my path.”

After creating some distance between them, the golden-haired demonic cultivator glanced at his wounds, then looked up and grinned at Xu Taiping.

As he spoke, he raised his hands and removed two large iron rings from his wrists, tossing them to the ground.

“Bang!”

The iron rings hit the ground with a heavy thud.