Judging from Jiang Fei’s past experiences of absorbing the internal energy of others, the internal energy painstakingly cultivated by Eastern martial artists wasn’t particularly useful to him, with a conversion efficiency of only one-fifth.
Five years’ worth of internal energy could only be converted into one year’s worth of his Beiming Divine Art internal power. This conversion rate left Jiang Fei quite dissatisfied. His current Beiming Divine Art internal power was less than four years’ worth. To complete the fifteen years required for the first layer, he needed a large number of ‘monsters’ to deliver experience points.
It could be said that, without ‘monsters’ for him to absorb, the difficulty of leveling up the Beiming Divine Art was ten times, dozens of times, or even a hundred times greater than leveling up the Dugu Nine Swords!
Jiang Fei might never be able to max out the Beiming Divine Art in his lifetime.
This was also one of the reasons why Jiang Fei had been reluctant to use his ultimate reward to enhance the Dugu Nine Swords.
Leveling up the Dugu Nine Swords wasn’t simple either; it required a significant number of skill points. But skill points could be earned gradually over time. Once the Jiang Clinic expanded in the future, leveling it up wouldn’t be difficult; reaching the max level might only take about a year.
But for the Beiming Divine Art, the first layer alone required a full fifteen years. What about the second layer? The third?
Therefore, Jiang Fei wanted to use the ultimate reward to enhance the Beiming Divine Art. That would definitely be the best deal.
Now, standing before him were three members of the Church. Jiang Fei truly wanted to try using the Beiming Divine Art to absorb the strange power within them. If he could successfully absorb and convert it, and it was even more effective than internal energy, then Jiang Fei could elevate his strength to another level before his decisive battle with Yagyu Munenori.
The depth of internal power greatly amplifies one’s own strength. Even for a peerless sword technique like the Dugu Nine Swords, although its moves aren’t constrained by internal energy, the presence or absence of internal energy makes a huge difference in terms of lethal power.
Take the simplest example, like Yagyu Munenori. His techniques, where even a flying flower or plucked leaf can injure others—if Jiang Fei didn’t possess internal energy, no matter how exquisite the Dugu Nine Swords were, it would likely be useless.
“Just who are you?” Kristina asked, glaring at Jiang Fei with wide, hate-filled eyes.
Jiang Fei chuckled. “Don’t you already know I’m Jiang Fei, the one who will soon battle Yagyu Munenori? Why ask who I am now?”
Kristina said angrily, “I’m asking which sect you belong to, and who your master is! Skills like yours definitely couldn’t be self-taught. You must have been taught by some master!”
Jiang Fei looked playfully at this tight-clad “Your Highness” and teased, “Are you saying you’re a little afraid of me now, not as arrogant as before?”
“You…” Kristina felt somewhat stifled, her coldly beautiful face flushing red. “Do you think just because you have some skill, you can disregard everything? Leaving aside the fact that it’s still uncertain whether you can survive against Yagyu Munenori, even if you do have the ability to survive, if you dare to lay a hand on Yiyi, if your hands aren’t clean, I still have ways to deal with you! Don’t think you gained the upper hand in our earlier exchange. I haven’t even used my true skills yet!”
After pondering for a long while, Jiang Fei’s eyes gradually burned with a resolute light. He had made a decision in his heart.
Earlier, his hands were clasped behind his back, hidden from the view of the three in front. They only saw that when Jiang Fei slowly extended his right hand from behind his back, he was already holding a long sword that reflected a cold, hidden light under the bright moonlight!
Jiang Fei had finally decided to use his sword.
These three ‘monsters’ delivering experience points right to his doorstep, and being so strangely aggressive, especially that middle-aged charlatan bishop who clearly harbored ill intentions towards him, even wanting to kill him…
Given that, Jiang Fei had no reason not to give it a try.
He was just worried about not finding suitable masters to convert internal power for him. If this succeeded, given the strength of these three, his Beiming Divine Art internal power might increase severalfold!
Swish!
With just a light flick of the long sword, one hand still behind his back, Jiang Fei looked at the several people with a smile, gesturing for them to make their move.
Seeing the long sword that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in Jiang Fei’s hand, Kristina and the others’ pupils slightly dilated, their expressions growing even more serious.
From the earlier exchange, it wasn’t hard to tell that Jiang Fei, like Yagyu Munenori, was absolutely a master in swordsmanship. Just using his fingers as a sword, he could unleash such powerful force. What if he used a real sword?
“Do you really think I’m afraid of you?!” Kristina’s expression was very unpleasant as she clenched her fists tightly. She had come today to warn this despicable man, to tell him not to touch Qiao Yiyi, otherwise she would make Jiang Fei die a horrible death.
But now, how had it become this despicable man threatening her?
If she let herself be threatened by Jiang Fei like this, where would she put her face?
Thinking this, Kristina couldn’t stand still any longer. In a flash, she charged towards Jiang Fei again without hesitation. The knight McEvoy and Bishop Frank beside her, seeing this, naturally wouldn’t stand idly by. The two followed closely behind Kristina, also charging forward, surrounding Jiang Fei in a three-against-one situation.
Now they didn’t care about the bad reputation of ganging up on one.
Facing an expert comparable to Yagyu Munenori, the three of them fighting together wasn’t anything shameful. Whether they could win was still up in the air!
This time, Kristina’s attack speed was even faster than before, her figure leaving an afterimage in the air, while her hands… seemed to vanish!
Yes, Kristina’s hands seemed to disappear into the night. But in reality, she was now wearing a pair of black gloves on her hands, even darker in color than her tight leather outfit and made of a very special material. Her choosing to wear gloves now definitely meant these gloves were extraordinary.
Sure enough, when Jiang Fei thrust his sword forward, Christina fearlessly blocked it with both hands. If Jiang Fei’s sword hadn’t been so agile, it would likely have been caught and subdued by her
Frank was using the cross necklace in his hand as a whip weapon, and even Jiang Fei’s sharp sword could not cut it.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sounds of clashing weapons echoed in the darkness, occasionally punctuated by sparks. Jiang Fei was trapped in the middle. The three strange individuals, as if they had rehearsed a plan, formed a highly effective offensive strategy with perfect coordination. They could protect each other while maximizing their destructive power.
“You think this can stop me? It can’t.” Jiang Fei’s sword speed was extremely fast. No matter how airtight the三人’s formation was, Jiang Fei could always attack their weakest points, throwing them into disarray.
Finally, the knight McEvoy was the first to falter. Jiang Fei’s sword slashed a cut across his abdomen, tearing his clothes. If he hadn’t retreated quickly and been thick-skinned, this sword strike could have been fatal.
Now that the trapping formation has been loosened, the next step is naturally to put in more effort, exert great strength on this loosened area, and completely destroy it. This will naturally create a gap, and the formation will break.
Swish! Swish!
Two more sword strikes slashed across McEvoy’s leg, leaving another gash. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jiang Fei broke free from the three-man encirclement. He flashed behind the burly McEvoy, using his body as cover.
Frank and Kristina were both startled, thinking Jiang Fei would surely go for the kill next. Instead, Jiang Fei merely placed his sword horizontally against McEvoy’s neck in a threatening gesture.
“Let McEvoy go!” both Frank and Kristina exclaimed, their expressions changing dramatically.
McVoy was a Knight of the Round Table, a very high-ranking figure in the church. If he were to perish here today, it would be a major event, causing a great stir.
A slight smile touched Jiang Fei’s lips. Of course he wouldn’t kill this knight named McEvoy. What he wanted was to see if the Beiming Divine Art could work on these Church members!
With his right hand holding the sword across McEvoy’s neck and his left hand against McEvoy’s back, the Beiming Divine Art’s inner cultivation method naturally began to operate, and a strange attraction spread from his palms along the meridians.
Thump!
McEvoy’s body suddenly trembled violently, beginning to shake uncontrollably. This situation was exactly the same as when Jiang Fei had absorbed the muscular Tian Fei and Miyamoto Kazuma before.
“Is it working?” Jiang Fei’s eyes showed a look of surprise. He felt his palms getting slightly hot and a strange power was beginning to flow from the other person’s body, then along the meridians into his own Tanzhong acupoint.
Just one step left.
If the Tanzhong point’s energy sea could accommodate this bizarre energy, and then be converted and absorbed by the Beiming True Qi, then it would mean he could absorb the strange energy within these Church members.
“Ahhh…!” McEvoy let out a loud roar. He hadn’t even grunted when Jiang Fei’s finger sword energy had struck him earlier. But now, feeling his strength and cultivation draining away, he began to panic.
This was a method he had never heard of. How could this Eastern man simply place a hand on his back and suck the energy within his body?
Was this guy God?
“Let McEvoy go, now!” Kristina and Frank took several steps forward, standing before him and speaking angrily.
Jiang Fei frowned, not answering them. With McEvoy under his control, these two shouldn’t dare act recklessly.
Hiss…
The warm current was drawn into the Qi Sea, and the Beiming True Qi surged continuously, like a tide. As soon as something strange entered, it immediately enveloped it, as if it wanted to devour it.
Jiang Fei’s eyes turned sharp, carefully sensing the situation within his body. Success or failure hung in the balance.
Whoosh…
This situation lasted for about two seconds. After that, the surging Beiming True Qi in Jiang Fei’s Tanzhong acupoint receded like a tide, quickly calming down.
The strange energy drawn from McEvoy’s body had not been absorbed!
“What’s going on?” Jiang Fei frowned, sensing this scene. When the Beiming True Qi couldn’t fuse with this strange energy, it was immediately expelled from his Tanzhong acupoint, then seeped out of his body along the meridians, disappearing without a trace.
Jiang Fei was very unwilling to give up. He tried twice more, but the result was the same as the first time. Even if he absorbed it into his Qi Sea, the Beiming True Qi couldn’t convert it into his own internal energy; it could only be expelled.
After repeating this process, Jiang Fei finally gave up completely. He understood that his Beiming Divine Art indeed couldn’t convert the strange power within these Vatican personnel into his own internal energy.
“Such a disappointment!” Jiang Fei thought with great dissatisfaction.
It’s true what they say, ideals are often grand, but reality is harsh. He thought he could strengthen his internal energy cultivation, but the result was just getting excited for nothing.
“The Beiming True Qi claims to be able to absorb all internal energies under heaven into one’s own body, then convert them into one’s own internal power through the Beiming True Qi. But now it seems that’s clearly unscientific, not matching the claims!” Jiang Fei muttered. He finally moved his hand away from McEvoy, whose cultivation had already dropped significantly and who was about to collapse weakly to the ground, No longer absorbing his internal power.
But thinking carefully, it made sense.
In Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the Beiming True Qi could indeed absorb all internal energies under heaven, but that so-called ‘under heaven’ referred to the East. It didn’t refer to these Western Church members.
The strange power within these Western Church members was completely different from the internal energy of Eastern martial artists; their attributes were two distinct categories.
This strange energy gave Jiang Fei a feeling similar to the holy power of angels described in the Bible, with a kind of burning sensation.
“However, even though the Beiming Divine Art can’t convert this strange power into my own internal power for my use, when facing these people, it at least has some effect. If it can’t be used for myself, but can suck the opponent’s cultivation, isn’t that essentially Ding Chunqiu’s Skill-Dissolving Technique?” Jiang Fei thought to himself.
“Moreover, it’s a Skill-Dissolving Technique without flaws. When dissolving others’ cultivation, there are no side effects, and cultivating it doesn’t require relying on things like the Medicine King’s Divine Cauldron or poison.”
Shaking his head, Jiang Fei also moved the sword away from McEvoy’s neck. He pushed the now-weak, transformed-from-brute-to-chicken McEvoy towards Frank and Kristina.
Frank caught McEvoy, while the already furious Kristina immediately wanted to charge at Jiang Fei again.
“Stop!” Jiang Fei quickly made a pause gesture, looking at her with a cold smile and said, “I’m saying, we don’t need to continue fighting, right? When the three of you ganged up on me, you were no match for me. Now that one of you has already been injured, do you think the two of you combined can still be a match for me?”
“I told you, I still have a trump card I haven’t used!” Kristina said angrily.
“Then how do you know I don’t have any more powerful backup plans?” Jiang Fei said coldly. “Let’s leave it at that for today. Don’t come to Daocun again, and don’t even think about threatening me. Whether I do anything to Qiao Yiyi is my own business. I hate being threatened! And next time, I won’t be so polite!”
