Chapter 55 Breaking Through the Realm

Liu Heng's face suddenly darkened, resembling the ominous clouds before a violent storm.

The other man's words had struck precisely at his most sensitive sore spot.

Though he had been gifted with exceptional intelligence since childhood, he had never managed to win the favor of the City Lord. Meanwhile, his seemingly dull elder brother had unexpectedly risen to become the senior disciple of Martial Emperor City.

He felt no jealousy, yet the stifling resentment in his heart weighed upon him like a massive boulder, leaving him scarcely able to breathe.

What enraged him even more was that this Lin Fei before him dared to look down upon him with such a condescending and judgmental posture, something he found utterly intolerable.

With a deafening crash, the ground beneath Liu Heng's feet exploded into a massive crater, and his figure shot forward like an arrow released from a taut bow. Delivering a fist of peerless, tyrannical might, he aimed directly for Lin Fei.

The howling wind of his fist whipped Lin Fei's long hair into a wild frenzy.

Lin Fei stood unmoving, his feet firmly anchored to the earth, gathering all his strength into a single punch as he crashed head-on against Liu Heng's incoming onslaught.

Bang!

Their fists collided mid-air, sending the surrounding snow on the ground rippling outward in wave-like shockwaves.

Immediately afterward, Lin Fei's body was sent flying backward like a withered leaf caught in a gale, crashing heavily against the central wall of the grand hall and punching a gigantic, gaping hole right through the masonry!

Another thunderous roar echoed.

Without a single moment of hesitation, Liu Heng bent his knees and leaped, instantly rushing to the edge of the crater. Planting his feet against the wall with his waist and back held straight, he stood poised like a deeply rooted pine tree.

Then, his fists rained down like a relentless tempest of pear blossoms. Countless blurred fist-shadows filled the air, and the fractures in the wall widened rapidly.

At last, the entire long-abandoned hall began to shudder and tremble.

Like a humanoid beast, Liu Heng indulged in unbridled destruction, painting a scene of breathtaking shock.

Suddenly, his fists came to an abrupt halt mid-air. He curled his lips in a sneer, a trace of mockery tainting his tone: "You run quite fast."

At that very instant, Lin Fei's figure materialized behind him like a ghost. Tilting his right hand slightly, a three-foot-long sword silently appeared within his palm.

The blade emitted a faint black radiance, seemingly pregnant with a bottomless, unfathomable power.

"What kind of pathetic sword cultivator are you? In front of martial artists like us, everything else is utterly hollow."

Liu Heng spat in disdain, his figure shifting once more. Descending like a fierce tiger charging down a mountain, he lunged straight for Lin Fei's vital points, driving his fist directly toward Lin Fei's head.

Lin Fei flicked his body aside and thrust his sword forward. The tip of the blade met the fist mid-air, causing the sword body to bend into an astonishing arc under the immense impact.

Lin Fei knitted his brows slightly and retreated step by step.

Refusing to let up while he held the advantage, Liu Heng unleashed a torrential storm of twin fists, radiating a peerless and oppressive might.

Inside the hall, shadows of fists and swords intertwined in utter chaos.

A single punch shattered a corridor pillar, sending dust billowing into the air.

A single sword stroke cleaved through floor tiles, spraying stone fragments in all directions.

The battlefield was reduced to a complete mess.

Shortly after, the two clashed fiercely once more before Liu Heng suddenly widened the distance between them.

"To fight me to this extent while merely in the Mortal Realm, you truly possess some ability."

Liu Heng let out a cold hum, a hint of surprise coloring his tone, though it was overwhelmingly overshadowed by absolute confidence: "However, this game ends here!"

Spiritual energy surged violently around Liu Heng like a tempest, wrapping his right fist in a dazzling, brilliant layer of golden aura.

"Eight Thousand Cloud Fists!" he roared in fury. The golden radiance on his right fist flared intensely, and the explosive power coiled within his waist and abdomen erupted like a mountain torrent as he struck out at Lin Fei.

The speed of this punch was dazzlingly fast, nearly matching the blinding velocity of a flying sword.

With nowhere left to dodge, Lin Fei could only cross his sword horizontally across his chest, attempting to fend off this ferocious blow.

Liu Heng's fist slammed heavily against the long sword. The force transmitted through the blade like thunder and lightning, striking squarely against Lin Fei's chest.

Struck by this blow, Lin Fei became like a kite with a severed string, sent flying backward to smash through a corridor pillar before finally crashing heavily onto the snow outside the courtyard.

Liu Heng slowly stepped out of the courtyard gate, shaking his head and sighing as if feeling regret over the outcome of the battle: "What a pity. I am at the fourth stage of the Martial Dao, which you Sword Sect practitioners call the Dust-Exiting Peak, so you were destined to be no match for me."

Yet, at that exact moment, a hand resting upon the snow twitched slightly.

The surrounding air seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second, and then the nearby snow began to scatter violently in all directions.

"There is nothing to pity." Lin Fei slowly rose from the snow, as though the devastating impact had caused him no injuries whatsoever.

He brushed the snowflakes from his garments, his tone calm and detached: "If the Mortal Realm is not enough, then I shall simply add another realm."

Witnessing this scene, the sneer on Liu Heng's face grew even wider: "Oh? You broke through?"

Lin Fei possessed a vast and boundless Qi ocean, making the breakthrough to the Muddy Pellet Realm an exceptionally steep and difficult hurdle for him to cross.

Over the past two years, although he had accelerated the pace of his cultivation, he had never quite managed to touch the threshold of a breakthrough.

It was not until that snowy night, as he spent the entire night quietly contemplating the falling snow, that the Qi ocean within his body finally showed signs of condensing into a muddy pellet.

Yet, Lin Fei had chosen not to break through at that moment.

He understood profoundly that the breakthrough of realms must happen naturally when conditions are ripe, ensuring that the foundation remains flawless and complete.

If one always falls just a fraction short each time, lingering cracks that are difficult to mend will eventually form within one's state of mind.

It was only just now, facing Liu Heng's provocation, that Lin Fei finally entertained the thought of breaking through, smoothly and seamlessly advancing into the Muddy Pellet Realm in one continuous breath.

Lin Fei spoke up abruptly, his voice placid: "Compared to flying swords, I much prefer to believe in the sword-walking doctrine that within three feet, one is invincible. However, I still habitually use flying swords when I fight on ordinary days."

Liu Heng raised an eyebrow, asking with curiosity: "Why?"

He did not take Lin Fei's breakthrough seriously; even if his opponent had reached the Muddy Pellet Realm, a vast, unbridgeable chasm still separated them.

In his eyes, such a negligible advancement was merely the dying struggle of his opponent.

"Because flying swords are swift and consume less spiritual energy," Lin Fei explained. "If I were to duel using sword techniques, I would always worry about accidentally exhausting the pitifully little spiritual energy left within my body."

Hearing this, Liu Heng let out a derisive snort, as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world: "Are you trying to say that your sword techniques are so immensely powerful that your realm cannot even support them?"

With an indifferent expression, Lin Fei nodded: "You could understand it that way. Though the situation has improved slightly now."

Liu Heng caught the implication behind Lin Fei's words.

He had some understanding of the Sword Sect's realm hierarchy and knew that the Muddy Pellet Realm signified the forging of spiritual energy into a spiritual embryo within the dantian, rendering one's spiritual energy endlessly regenerative and vastly superior to the Mortal Realm.

Even so, the confidence woven into Lin Fei's words carried a hint of arrogance, grating harshly against Liu Heng's nerves.

"You seem quite certain that you can defeat me."

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of Liu Heng's lips, a flash of playful malice dancing in his eyes: "Care to try?"

Lin Fei nodded, his tone calm yet resolute: "Let us try."

Before his voice had even faded, Lin Fei's figure vanished entirely from Liu Heng's field of vision.

Liu Heng's pupils abruptly constricted. A heavy sense of crisis, forged through countless brushes with life and death, surged into his mind, and he instinctively hurled himself violently to the right.

Bang!

With a deafening explosion, the brazier standing directly before him was blasted into countless shards of metal in a fraction of a second.

Lin Fei stood precisely where Liu Heng had been standing a moment ago, maintaining the posture of his sword-thrust.

"So fast!" A jolt of shock coursed through Liu Heng. Drenched in cold sweat, he crossed his arms in front of his chest while spiritual energy surged wildly within his body, no longer daring to harbor even the slightest shred of carelessness.