"What is happening?" Wang Yueheng narrowed his eyes, halting the motion of crushing the pill in his hand. The Heart-Controlling Insect was expensive and rare; if Lin Hui didn't possess sufficient value, he wouldn't have even brought it out to control him.
The most critical point was that to control someone with the Heart-Controlling Insect, the target had to be immobile and stripped of the power to resist.
If he accidentally killed one without controlling the person, it would be a massive loss.
But he hadn't expected this—what kind of trump card for resistance could a mere Internal Force martial artist possibly have against the control of high-tier Void Force?
"Among Internal Force users, only those at the Circulation Realm can contend with Void Force. Could it be..." Wang Yueheng looked around, suspecting a Circulation expert was lurking nearby.
However, he had moved extremely fast for this operation, coming personally the moment he received the news.
It was unlikely any other faction was faster than him; after all, he had obtained first-hand intelligence directly from the Hundred Flowers Sect.
Could it be... does the Hundred Flowers Sect have an inside line with another major clan? The Liu family?
Wang Yueheng grew nervous.
In that case! Putting away the insect, a trace of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. I'll cripple him directly!
Immediately, he activated his Void Force. The massive invisible power solidified instantly, stopped rotating, transformed into a new cubic seal, and pressed down on Lin Hui's head.
But in the split second the Void Force pressed down, Lin Hui, who should have been solidified in place, moved the long sword in his hand.
Hum...
A faint, almost inaudible vibration was transmitted from his side to the surroundings.
"Wind." His lips moved slightly.
Clang!
Accompanied by the ring of a sword, a ring of violent distortion suddenly exploded outward with Lin Hui as the center.
A gale—a violent gale far exceeding anything Wang Yueheng had ever seen—surged out indiscriminately in all directions at this moment.
The wind power, which had been compressed for a long time, forcibly squeezed against the Void Force, causing it to pause for an instant.
Boom!
The next moment, the Void Force crashed down, smashing through Lin Hui's figure—but hitting only an afterimage.
As a deep pit exploded in the ground, Lin Hui instantly solidified beside Wang Yueheng, more than ten meters away. His long sword swept horizontally, flashing past the side of Wang Yueheng's neck.
Hiss.
The sword tip grazed the neck, drawing a trail of sparks.
What the hell? Wang Yueheng was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly switched the Void Force into a vortex to grab the opponent.
But he only caught another afterimage.
Chi!
In the next instant, another trail of sparks was drawn across the other side of his neck.
The Internal Force barrier was breached this time!
No, his speed is too fast! Much faster than before! What is going on?
Wang Yueheng knew his own cultivation well. His Internal Force barrier was at the Sixth Layer Perfection, second only to the Circulation Realm. Although he cultivated speed-type Internal Force to compensate for the slowness of his Called One abilities, his defense shouldn't have been broken so quickly!
That was a standard long sword without Internal Force—how could it break his barrier with speed alone?
Wang Yueheng retreated repeatedly, shaking his head left and right, trying to capture Lin Hui's figure within that terrifying high speed.
But beside him, there was only the sound of the wind blowing violently, a howling gale.
He couldn't see a human figure at all.
Only streaks of golden sparks were constantly exploding on his body.
Hiss!
Another spark exploded. This time, not only was the Internal Force barrier broken, but even his Called One body felt a long-absent trace of pain.
This guy! What kind of freak is he? Wang Yueheng felt his scalp tingle.
He was actually... actually hurt by an Internal Force martial artist using a standard long sword?
This wasn't how Circulation martial artists fought! They only relied on massive amounts of Internal Force to grind down Void Force!
Chi!
Another spark lit up. The clothes on Wang Yueheng's chest were slashed open, and the pearl necklace he wore underneath snapped, scattering beads all over the ground.
And in the center of his chest, on his silver skin, a tiny wound appeared.
Pain!
He actually felt pain!
Wang Yueheng panicked even more.
He retreated constantly, smashing his Void Force wildly here and there, but he simply couldn't catch Lin Hui in this high-speed state.
This deepened the panic in his heart.
What do I do? What do I do?
Thoughts raced madly through Wang Yueheng's mind as he sought a solution, but no matter how he thought, he couldn't come up with a way to break this deadlock.
The opponent didn't need to confront the Void Force head-on at all. He just needed to burst out power to stall the Void Force for a split second. That single instant of stagnation was enough for him to escape the enveloped range at high speed.
Wang Yueheng had never heard of such a fighting style! Whether in the Inner City or the Outer City, he had never seen anyone counter Void Force like this.
Is he trying to... grind me to death like this? This thought suddenly rose in his heart.
Wang Yueheng knew his own condition. He could sustain Void Force for ten minutes at most. After that, he would fall into a weakened state, relying only on his Called One physical strength and Internal Force to resist.
If he lost his Void Force, he wasn't sure if he could still threaten the opponent.
No... wait, we are just sparring, not fighting to the death! He does not need to kill me! A thought suddenly flashed through Wang Yueheng's mind.
Although I tried to use the Heart-Controlling Insect just now and attempted a ruthless hand, he doesn't know that. He should still think we are just sparring. So as long as we clear the air, it will be fine! This is all a misunderstanding!
Wang Yueheng finally found a way out.
At this moment, his robes had been sliced into tatters, and his exposed upper body was covered in bloody streaks.
"Enough! You can't maintain such an outburst for long, can you? Why don't we call it a draw?! At most, you can inflict some scratches on me, which will heal in a day. And I can't catch you at your current speed. Calling it a draw isn't unfair!"
Suppressing the panic in his heart and steadying his emotions, Wang Yueheng shouted loudly.
Chi!
Just a moment after his voice fell, a sword scar flashed past the side of his face and landed on a hill more than ten meters behind him.
Boom!
The middle section of the hill exploded on the spot, creating a deep pit several meters wide. Countless clods of earth flew into the air; the power was practically identical to the display of Void Force just moments ago.
Lin Hui's figure slowly solidified. He stood at the edge of the hill, sheathed his sword, and turned around.
He gazed at Wang Yueheng, his expression cool and his eyes deep.
One second.
Two seconds.
Suddenly, a smile surfaced on his face like thawing ice.
"Not bad. That burst just now was a top-tier secret art I created myself. The consumption required to use it is terrifying, and I need to take healing medicine afterward. Indeed, it cannot be sustained. Since this is just a spar between us, there really is no need to continue. If we fight any longer, real anger might flare up and hurt our harmony."
"Right, we can't hurt our harmony!" Wang Yueheng nodded hurriedly. "Brother Lin's strength is extraordinary. Your movement speed is something I've never seen in my life. Coming out of the city this time has truly opened my eyes; I didn't expect such terrifying high-speed martial arts to exist in this world! There truly are always people beyond people!"
"Brother Wang is too polite," Lin Hui smiled faintly.
He had been carelessly controlled just now and could only burst out with the Wild Wind Sword Technique at the last moment. Using the unique Internal Force circulation acceleration of the Wild Wind Sword Technique, he drew upon external force to manifest a gale, shaking the Void Force open for an instant.
And once the Wild Wind Sword Technique was employed, combined with the Featherweight Ascension special effect, the result was quite obvious.
The Wild Wind Sword belonged to the type that got faster and more powerful the longer it was used, with extremely low consumption.
If it really came down to a battle of attrition, he felt he could keep the special effect running all day!
But as Wang Yueheng said, they were just sparring. Although he suspected the opponent's intentions were impure during the fight—seeming to harbor some killing intent—it was useless to say anything until things were brought into the open or actual action was taken.
However, the difficulty of dealing with a high-tier Called One demonstrated in this exchange was even higher than I expected...
Internal Force barrier, Called One physique, Void Force—truly hard to kill.
Even bursting out with the Wild Wind Sword Technique only managed to break the Internal Force and leave tiny wounds on the opponent. And those were shallow cuts, less than a centimeter deep.
If this guy's psychological quality wasn't substandard—no, it should be said he had psychological issues—it would probably take a long time of grinding to have a chance to kill him.
And this was assuming the opponent had no other trump cards.
But that was impossible to imagine. Even an Elder of the Hundred Flowers Sect had a one-time explosive item as a last resort. His own father had obtained protection seals and a pile of protective jade pendants from You Ying.
It was impossible for these young masters from major Inner City clans not to have life-saving items on them.
"Witnessing Brother Lin's ultimate art today made this trip worthwhile. How about we part ways here?" At this moment, Wang Yueheng's clothes were all chopped off. Naked from the waist up and covered in bloody streaks, he looked extremely wretched. Naturally, he was anxious to go back and find clothes to cover himself.
"Very well. Then, regarding the cooperation Brother Wang mentioned..." Lin Hui spoke again.
Although he had wanted to kill the man just now, and the man seemed to harbor ill will toward him, this didn't affect the potential cooperation between them.
This was, after all, the first high-tier Called One he had made contact with.
"Cooperation?" Wang Yueheng froze. Looking at the sincere expression on the other party's face, it seemed Lin Hui still really intended to cooperate with him.
Cooperation...
At this very moment, his heart suddenly stirred.
If initially, he looked down on Lin Hui and had only come up with the idea of planting a trap for the Liu siblings while securing some extra income for himself...
Then, after that battle just now, he felt that having a partner like Lin Hui seemed to have a very bright future.
With Lin Hui's current strength, he would likely find no match in the Outer City. With such power, if added to the support he could mobilize from his family, perhaps he could really squeeze out the other few families and monopolize the resources himself!
More critically, Lin Hui was strong enough. If even he couldn't take him down, others who came would likely struggle too...
But if that was the case, why should he cooperate with Clear Wind Temple? This guy had high strength, secret arts, and ran fast if he couldn't win...
Wang Yueheng fell into deep thought.
Seconds later, he looked up abruptly.
Benefits!
Only sufficient benefits could bind the other party to him.
If before, he had come to cooperate with ill intentions, now, he genuinely planned to increase the stakes and cooperate with Lin Hui!
If he could really pull such a martial artist onto his boat, at least seventeen or eighteen towns in this vicinity of the Outer City would be under his actual control for many years to come. Even if people from the New Martial Alliance came, they wouldn't be able to interfere.
"Brother Lin, regarding the matter of cooperation, I personally am very willing. I have a few channels in the Inner City as well. If you need resources, precious medicines, or even relics and anomalous creations, we can discuss it all."
He paused.
"I heard you are collecting Spirit-Enriching Reishi? I collected over a dozen of them for medicine formulation before; I'll give them to Brother Lin as a meeting gift. As they say, no discord, no concord. A hero like Brother Lin will sooner or later be famous in the Outer City, and sooner or later, there will be a place for you in the New Martial Alliance."
His expression was incomparably sincere at this moment because, on second thought, if Lin Hui cooperated with someone from another family, his own family's interest channels in the Outer City would be finished...
So, no matter what, he had to bind this person!
Once this thought emerged, he wasn't in a hurry to leave anymore.