Chapter 66: One Sword Breaks Momentum

  It's really a case of "different faces, different hearts". Hu Gao suddenly felt that Qi Hong, this professional mercenary, was much more lovable than these temporary adventurers who had greedy intentions. Just give them some egg and carrot flavor, and they would think it's crab cake, climbing up the pole and tearing off the roof!

  "Don't you think it's a waste of breath to say such nonsense now? Isn't it just robbery? Hehe... I'm afraid you won't take action, since you've chosen to use force, there's no need to hide or conceal anything, go ahead and unleash your full combat power, but don't disappoint me."

  In front of the old man, Hu Gao directly stuffed the red silk fruit into his arms. Although he didn't know what effect it had, it was clear that it was a treasure and must not be damaged during the fight.

  "You're courting death!"

  The old man with the pipe snorted, his anger towards Hu Gao's ingratitude evident. He didn't say another word, removed the pipe from his mouth, and thrust it at Hu Gao with a sharp breath.

  "Welcome!"

  He sensed the sharpness, ruthlessness and precision of his opponent's move, without any signs of weakness or exposure. Unfazed, Hu Gao drew his sword, No Shadow, to meet the attack head-on, as their battle intent erupted like a massive wave crashing against the shore.

  "Ding!" The Shadowless Sword clashed with the unknown material of the pipe, emitting a crisp ring. Both figures retreated, having gained a clearer understanding of each other's strength.

  "Whoosh!"

  Hiss...

  Almost without hesitation, the two clashed again, Hu Gao's sword light completely enveloping his opponent's figure, the fierce sword energy strangling in all directions, leaving behind a series of several-inch-deep sword marks on the ground and surrounding trees.

  "Good kid, your strength is actually so powerful, I underestimated you before."

  The sword light scattered, revealing two figures, who were none other than Old Smoke Gun and Hu Gao. The former's disheveled beard looked even more disheveled, while the latter's messy hair was just as messy.

  "Good kid, didn't expect that at just 7th stage peak, you could push a 9th stage to this point. Looks like the old man underestimated you!"

  "Then bring out your true skills."

  Hu Gao smiled faintly and said, his face showing no concern.

  "Kid, you're getting a bit too big for your britches!"

  The old man with the pipe put it back in his mouth, and suddenly thrust out his thin palms. The atmosphere in the forest changed instantly, like a strong gust of wind, like waves crashing!

  "Hmph, whatever aura you have, I'll still pierce through you with one sword."

  Hu Gao let out a light hum and completely ignored the old man's move, directly charging forward and controlling the Wuying Sword to make a series of swift stabs.

  From Liu Hong's body, Hu Gao learned how to borrow power, now it's time to learn how to break through the power!

  He could see that the old man's technique had reached at least the small accomplishment boundary of the human rank, and possibly even the great accomplishment boundary. He couldn't find any flaws in it. Adding to that, the old man was two ranks higher than him in cultivation, so he could only go all out.

  "Whoosh!"

  A string of sword moves, not looking particularly fancy, nor did it separate the sword light, but just found the weakness in the old man's attack, and finally it was an attack that combined yuan force with physical strength.

  "Ka-ching......" A crisp, glass-shattering sound echoed out as the Shadow Sword retracted its aura, parting the massive waves and gale-force winds to directly stab at the old man's throat.

  However, with a "ding" sound, Hu Gao found that the tip of his sword had not pierced into the old man's flesh and blood, but instead collided with the pipe again.

  Just as Hu Gao thought his sword would cut through flesh and blood unstoppable, the old man with a pipe merely lowered his head slightly, the extremely slippery short pipe in his mouth precisely blocked the attack of the Wuying Sword without any deviation or movement. After blocking the Wuying Sword, he didn't move at all!

  "This..."

  Hu Gao finally realized that he had encountered a powerful enemy.

  Just like himself, the old man's strength lies not in the level of his yuan force, but in his control over power! An ordinary warrior can use his mouth to hold a pipe and withstand a sword that can break through the lower boundary of the small success realm with a single palm.

  At this moment, Hu Gao was no longer able to shout for Xiao Wu to take action. He let out a loud roar: "Kill!"

  The whole body's potential energy surged, all the strength converged on the arm, the swordless sword in hand trembled, opened the smoke pot to block, burst out the supreme momentum, stabbed towards the old man's thin cheek.

  This sword, Hu Gao was already merciless, he wanted to pierce through the old man's head!

  However, Hu Gao was terrified to discover that the Shadowless Sword could not move an inch once again. Because two withered and yellow fingers had firmly clamped down on the clear blade of the Shadowless Sword.

  A mere inch of distance, the old man's head didn't move a single hair, but in an instant, he accurately clamped down on the Wuying Sword with his bare hands, this entry into the white blade, this control over timing and strength!

  What kind of person is this old man!

  He realized that he couldn't retrieve the Shadowless Sword, so Hu Gao gave up on launching another attack. He felt that even if he were to engage in close combat, his opponent would be able to grab the sword and slash him with it the moment he got close.

  "What kind of person are you? The strength you're showing is far beyond that of a Nine-Stage Initial Condensed Shadow Realm cultivator!"

  Hu Gao did not loosen his grip on the Shadowless Sword or back away, staring into the old man's piercing and spirited eyes, he asked sternly.

  The old man bit his pipe, opening his mouth to reveal a smile, two rows of orange-yellow teeth exposed, making Hu Gao feel somewhat nauseous. The old man chuckled and said: "Hehe, kid, the old man's acting skills are better than yours, right? A mid-grade human-tier sword was said by you to be a top-grade human-tier sword, luring the old man into a robbery. Hehe, the old man has made his move, and you can't beat him."

  What the heck! This old man is fooling himself!

  Hu Gao withdrew his Shadowless Sword with a whoosh, and found that the old man's killing intent and aura had all disappeared. Apparently, he didn't have any malicious intentions towards him. If he really did, Hu Gao wouldn't be able to escape anyway.

  But being played like this, Hu Gao would not easily forgive. While putting away his sword, Hu Gao burst out with all his might again. His left hand swung out and threw a swift and fierce uppercut punch, directly breaking the old man's high-bridged nose!

  The old man's strength was obviously much greater than Hu Gao's, easily pinning down Hu Gao's fist while also letting out a light snort.

  "Haha, the kid still isn't convinced...... Hmm, quite a bit of strength, looks like little brother has already mastered power control."

  The old man with a pipe did not reveal Hu Gao's perfect control over his power, releasing Hu Gao's fist and retreating two steps, not giving Hu Gao another chance to lose his temper.

  "Grandpa No Smoking is awesome!"

  Hu Gao reluctantly sheathed his sword, this time it was really "the fisherman got bitten by the turtle while trying to catch fish", and he was played by the old man.

  "Haha, little friend don't get angry, you and I each got one trick in, let's call it even. Just now you almost scratched this old face of mine." The old man with the pipe took a puff of thick smoke, looking extremely pleased.

  "Nonsense!" Hu Gao had an urge to add gunpowder to his pipe, "Speak up, what brings you here?"

  "There's nothing much, just that I saw the little brother's sword skills against the two-headed monster earlier and they weren't bad. I'm itching to try it out myself." The old man with the pipe spat out a mouthful of smoke, his face filled with satisfaction and admiration.

  "You're talking nonsense!"

  Hu Gao's face was full of disbelief.

  "Little brother, didn't you master the move 'One Sword Breaks Momentum'? You should thank me for that! That one sword move was pretty good, wasn't it? No way, I've got to take a few more puffs of smoke to calm down!" As he spoke, Old Man Smoke Pipe took two more strong drags.

  "Can you stop messing around?"

  Hu Gao sneered, "Even if you old man hadn't come out to make a fool of yourself, I, Hu Gao, would still have been able to comprehend the sword move 'One Sword Breaks Momentum'. What credit do you deserve?"

  Hu Gao's three "nonsense" remarks made the old man feel uncomfortable, feeling a certain part of his body was not quite right, and he took several more puffs on his cigarette.

  "I'm telling you, kid, can't you be a bit more civilized?"

  "Cut the crap!" Hu Gao didn't mince words as he handed him another one. "If you were a bit more civilized, you wouldn't be smoking in front of kids. Spit it out, what do you want?"

  Intuition told Hu Gao that this old man had come to him with an unmentionable purpose.

  "...", Hu Gao said, and the old man with the pipe suddenly felt that the old smoke in his mouth had changed flavor. The young man's eyes on him smoking the pipe were really not good, as if he was thinking of something.

  "Alright." The old man with the pipe unwillingly took another puff before putting down his pipe and said, "I want that red string fruit of yours."

  "Red Pomegranate?" Hu Gao took out a red pomegranate from his bosom and asked, "What do you want to do with this? What's the use of this Red Pomegranate?"

  "Of course it's useful, very useful indeed." Old Man Pipe's eyes lit up, and this time he wasn't acting.

  "Come on, say it quickly."

  "Red Tassel Gun, do you know?" said the old man with the pipe, pretending to be profound, habitually putting the pipe in his mouth, feeling it was not right, and then putting it down.

  "Nonsense! I don't know!" Hu Gao gritted his teeth.

  Hongying spear is a kind of weapon, the previous flame gun used by Guo De Yun also belongs to Hongying spear, what does it have to do with Hongying fruit? Is it just similar in name?

  The old man with the pipe was so enraged by the two words "bullshit" that he felt he could no longer play it cool with this young whippersnapper. You don't know how to behave, huh? Alright, I'll let it all out!

  "This gun is not that gun, it's a man's gun! Do you understand? You little punk."

  "Nonsense! How could a man not understand!" Hu Gao thought of throwing away the red tassel fruit in his hand, but then felt that this old man was cheating him. "Such a beautiful fruit, how can it be the legendary great medicine? I think you're talking nonsense and trying to cheat me. Besides, you're already so old, are you still useful? Why not let me keep it for myself, and later on, I'll have seven times the benefit!"

  "You stinky little brat!" The old man with the pipe was so angry that his face turned bright red, "What business is it of yours whether I'm useful or not? Do you think I'm cheating you?"

  "It's hard to say."

  Hú Gāo repeated this phrase in response to two questions from Old Man Smoker.

  "Damn it!" Old Man Pipe knocked out the ash from his pipe and refilled it with new tobacco, "You think the fruit that the giant snake and black bear fought over is something good for cultivating yuan energy? Do you know the nature of these two demonic beasts?"

  What kind of creature is it? Aren't they just two very common demonic beasts? They're just living in the Flame Valley, a bit different from others.

  What does this have to do with that thing?