The most fundamental difference between an innate expert and a danjin master is whether they can form protective astral qi outside their body.
Protective astral qi is the most important reason innate experts gain such a huge increase in strength. With it, they can easily crush any expert at the danjin level.
If a danjin master does not fight at close quarters and only relies on projecting internal energy outward to form long-range attacks through the air, then they can barely circle around an innate expert for a while. But once they collide at close range, it is no different from seeking their own death. The danjin level absolutely cannot resist innate astral force.
The reason Jiang Fei could now directly withstand an innate expert was only because the sword intent of the Dugu Nine Swords was purer, more direct, and stronger, and because the internal cultivation of the Northern Darkness Divine Art far surpassed ordinary internal energy, allowing his strength to rise by a great deal. But when it came to true close combat, he was still no match for innate astral force.
So when Tsukahara Bokuden saw Jiang Fei disappear and then choose to sneak-attack from behind at close range, not only was he not the least bit panicked, instead his heart was full of cold laughter. He thought Jiang Fei was simply courting death.
Even if his right hand was tied up and needed to block the wooden sword, even if he could only use one left hand and only mobilize a small portion of the astral qi in his body, in close combat he could still absolutely crush a danjin master!
This was the terrifying power of an innate expert. If it were a danjin master, it would be absolutely impossible for them to face a sneak attack so calmly and composedly.
Boom! Boom!
The wooden sword above his head and Jiang Fei’s palm almost simultaneously attacked Tsukahara Bokuden’s vicinity. Tsukahara Bokuden’s two hands also struck out at the same time. He had one hundred percent confidence that he could slap the wooden sword away and seriously injure Jiang Fei with one palm strike.
Crack!
The wooden sword, containing the powerful sword-path essence of the Dugu Nine Swords’ Sword-Breaking Stance, fiercely stabbed onto Tsukahara Bokuden’s protective astral qi. The two incredibly strong energies erupted, and the wooden sword immediately bent, like a great bow drawn into a half-circle. Then, in less than 0.1 seconds, because the bow had bent too severely, it was crushed and broken. It turned into specks of wood dust and sky-filling sword energy that shot out in all directions.
When Jiang Fei’s palm and Tsukahara Bokuden’s palm came into contact, the white-haired, youthful-faced Tsukahara Bokuden’s long hair flew wildly. His usually somewhat murky eyes became incomparably clear at this moment. Looking at Jiang Fei with thick killing intent, he only waited for the next instant when Jiang Fei would at least cough blood and be severely injured.
Hum!
The remaining astral qi in Tsukahara Bokuden’s body passed through his left arm and finally concentrated outside his palm. After colliding with Jiang Fei’s palm, it was immediately about to burst out violently, like a barrel of gunpowder with its fuse lit.
The energy contained within it, if it attacked without obstruction, was something a danjin master absolutely could not defend against.
“Hm… what’s going on?!”
Tsukahara Bokuden widened his eyes, and in the next instant his gaze became incomparably shocked. Having already reached advanced old age, he had seen countless great storms and experienced all sorts of strange and bizarre things. But this time he could not believe it, as if he had seen a ghost!
Because he did not see the scene he had imagined. Jiang Fei was not sent flying by his palm strike of innate astral force. Instead, he stood steadily and unmoving in front of him.
More importantly, the innate astral force he had wanted to erupt and had gathered in his left palm did not burst out. Instead… it was controlled by a strange energy!
This energy was transmitted from Jiang Fei’s palm. It was incredibly wondrous. Tsukahara Bokuden had lived for so many years and had never seen it, nor even heard of it.
This energy not only prevented his innate astral force from obeying his control and erupting with tremendous destructive power, but the internal energy within his own body was also attracted by this strange energy. His innate astral force was continuously melted and then flowed into Jiang Fei’s body!
This feeling was as if his body were originally a dam that had stored internal energy like water. But this energy could ignore his obstruction and directly draw out the water stored inside his body!
If this continued, the internal energy in his body would continuously decrease. That meant his cultivation would constantly be weakened, and his strength would retreat bit by bit!
“How is this possible!”
Tsukahara Bokuden cried out in shock. This was absolutely something beyond the scope of his understanding as an innate expert.
Compared with Tsukahara Bokuden’s shock, Jiang Fei’s shock in his heart was actually no less.
This move of his had originally only been a risky attempt.
He also knew how terrifying the astral force of an innate expert was. This had already been displayed vividly and thoroughly by Tsukahara Bokuden in their earlier exchange.
If it came to close combat, he was definitely not Tsukahara Bokuden’s match. He was not yet able to withstand an innate astral-force expert face-to-face at close range. To hold out, he could only rely on the outward projection of internal energy from the Northern Darkness Divine Art and the sword energy of the Dugu Nine Swords to succeed.
And once he fell into close combat, if he was even slightly careless, he would probably be severely injured immediately.
Even so, Jiang Fei still resolutely decided to do this, all in order to test the effect of the Northern Darkness Divine Art in absorbing another person’s internal energy!
Originally, when Jiang Fei was at the first level of the Northern Darkness Divine Art, he had already tried to absorb the internal energy of Yagyu Munenori, who was at the danjin level, but at that time it was declared a failure. The system told him that only after his Northern Darkness Divine Art entered the second level could he absorb the internal energy of a danjin-level expert.
Now Jiang Fei’s Northern Darkness Divine Art had broken through and successfully entered the second level. Absorbing the internal energy of a danjin-level expert was definitely guaranteed.
But what about absorbing the internal energy of an innate expert?
Jiang Fei could not be sure.
According to the previous pattern, there was a great possibility that he could not absorb it. Perhaps he would need to enter the third level of the Northern Darkness Divine Art to do so.
But Jiang Fei decided to take the risk and try. What if, by some chance, it succeeded?
If it succeeded, then his situation and Tsukahara Bokuden’s could immediately be reversed. He could completely suppress Tsukahara Bokuden, even drain all his internal energy dry and completely cripple this old monster!
In that way, he would also gain dozens of years of internal energy out of nowhere. At that time, it would be a huge profit, and disaster would truly have turned into blessing.
After absorbing Tsukahara Bokuden and then absorbing Brahma as well, he… might even directly charge toward the third level of the Northern Darkness Divine Art!
And if his prediction failed and he rashly approached Tsukahara Bokuden for close combat, he would likely be severely injured by a single strike from the other side. Jiang Fei was not unable to bear this result either.
At this moment, he had already exchanged for several sacred healing pills in the system’s pill shop. As soon as he was injured, he would immediately swallow them. By then, the injuries should recover by seventy or eighty percent within a short time, and he should still have the strength for one more battle.
Now it seemed that Jiang Fei had completely bet right.
The Northern Darkness Divine Art did not require the second level to absorb only danjin-level energy and the third level to absorb innate-level energy as inferred. It still only needed the second level to absorb it!
Actually, thinking about it, it was not surprising. In real life, the difference between a danjin master and an innate expert was indeed very large, almost like a natural chasm that was difficult to cross. But to the Northern Darkness Divine Art, the difference was not that great.
One had to know that advancing the Northern Darkness Divine Art from the second level to the third level required a full forty-five years of internal energy!
Add to that the fifteen years required for cultivating the first level, and that meant that to cultivate the Northern Darkness Divine Art to complete mastery, one would need at least sixty years—one full cycle of sixty years—of bitter cultivation to accomplish it.
If absorbing the internal energy of an innate expert in real life required sixty years of bitter cultivation of the Northern Darkness Divine Art, then that would be belittling this foremost internal-energy technique of the Carefree Sect far too much.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
The astral force in Tsukahara Bokuden’s left palm melted away like ice and snow, quickly turning into internal energy that was absorbed by Jiang Fei and drilled into his qi sea acupoint. At the same time, Jiang Fei’s own internal-energy cultivation rapidly grew at a speed almost visible to the naked eye.
“Hum…”
Tsukahara Bokuden himself felt his ears buzzing, as if he had tinnitus. His whole body trembled uncontrollably, and he soon could no longer hold on. In just a few breaths, he felt his cultivation had regressed by more than a year.
He wanted to struggle free, but for a moment he truly could not break away, as if he had been bound by ropes.
“I cannot let this continue!”
Tsukahara Bokuden roared inwardly. He quickly thought of a method.
Forcefully enduring the discomfort of having his internal energy absorbed, he mobilized all the internal energy in his body and suddenly gathered it at one point in his left hand, fiercely charging toward the place wrapped by the strange energy on Jiang Fei’s body.
Boom!
An innate expert, and one who had entered the innate level many years ago, had a terrifying amount of internal energy stored within his body.
Even though the Northern Darkness Divine Art was too special, and he could not “detonate” his internal energy, he could still gather it at one point.
When all the internal energy in his body gathered together, it was immediately like a landslide and tsunami. It instantly broke the balance Jiang Fei had while absorbing internal energy. Unable to withstand such a huge impact force, Jiang Fei’s hand pressing on Tsukahara Bokuden’s wrist was immediately bounced away.
Smack!
Under the effect of this rebounding force, Jiang Fei retreated several steps before stabilizing himself.
Tsukahara Bokuden, on the other hand, retreated more than Jiang Fei for the first time. Moreover, his originally white-haired, youthful-faced, and very rosy face now looked much paler, like that of a truly seventy- or eighty-year-old man.
After being bounced away, Jiang Fei was not discouraged. The look in his eyes as he gazed at Tsukahara Bokuden became very eager, as if he were looking at a treasure shining with golden light. He did not hesitate at all and pounced over again.
This time, it was Tsukahara Bokuden’s turn to no longer dare to fight Jiang Fei at close quarters. He could only dodge.
“Brahma, hurry up and finish those three. I… I’ve run into trouble here!” Tsukahara Bokuden said shamefacedly, thickening his old face.
He did not know what demonic technique Jiang Fei had just used, but he knew that with this move, Jiang Fei could firmly suppress him.
Without Brahma’s help, he was no longer Jiang Fei’s match.
“Hold on a little longer. I’ll be right there!” Brahma had also noticed that something was wrong and said in a deep voice.
After Olivia was severely injured by him again, only the Lion King and Yagyu Munenori remained.
When an innate expert faced two danjin masters, it was much easier to deal with them. Soon the Lion King and the other man could no longer hold on. Brahma found an opportunity and threw a punch toward the Lion King’s head, intending to take the Lion King’s life!
