Chapter 1571: Chapter 41: Black Dragon Swallowing Whale Skill, Power of Life and Death!

Thoughts flashed across his mind, and he stepped back several paces before halting.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Chen Canghai.

At this moment, Chen Canghai did not capitalize on the advantage to press forward; instead, he stood with hands behind his back, exuding an air of composure.

Then, seeing Jiang Ning’s unchanged expression, a trace of surprise flickered in his eyes.

Although he hadn’t used his full strength with that palm just now, he had exerted eighty percent of his power, unleashing it with both rigidity and flexibility. Even a genuine First-grade would still feel their Qi-Blood churn for a while after receiving such a strike.

Yet at this moment, Jiang Ning’s complexion hadn’t changed in the slightest.

Evidently, Jiang Ning had already dissolved the incoming force.

"Sure enough, he cannot be underestimated! No wonder the Immortal abode holds such apprehension towards him!" The thought flashed in Chen Canghai’s mind.

"Would the Marquis be willing to coexist peacefully and retreat?" Chen Canghai spoke again.

"Hurt the foundation, aging and frail, weakened by three parts, and likewise lacking three parts of dominance!" Jiang Ning remarked.

"Since the Marquis is like this, then take another palm from me!" Chen Canghai spoke, slowly lifting his arms, as if embracing the sea and rivers.

Suddenly, the roar of the Nutao River amplified dramatically!

It wasn’t that the river truly became louder, but the water vapor between heaven and earth was crazily drawn and gathered by his qi.

Countless water droplets detached from the river surface, rose from the air, forming into a hazy sea of mist behind Chen Canghai. The misty sea churned, quickly solidifying, and unexpectedly transformed into a giant wave phantom, ten zhang high and as wide as a platform in just two or three breaths!

Though formed from water vapor, the giant wave was as heavy as solid matter, its crest rising and falling with a dull roar, as if an angry sea had been moved onto the cliff.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Ning’s gaze grew serious.

In his mind, the scene he had witnessed before emerged.

The confrontation between Prince Huai’an Lu Zhan and Pang Yunhai.

While Chen Canghai’s move was not as formidable as Prince Huai’an’s back then, it still carried a degree of imposing force.

"Black Dragon Swallowing Whale—Tsunami!"

Chen Canghai pushed his palms forward.

The giant wave replied in motion, toppling like a mountain, carrying the force to sweep through heaven and earth, roaring down towards Jiang Ning!

This strike was no longer simply an outward release of Inner Strength; it was harnessing the power of the Water Element, turning illusion into reality, overwhelming with force.

Before the wave arrived, the strong wind was already slicing like knives, rubble rolled on the platform, and Chen Wang and Jing Wuming in the distance were forced to retreat repeatedly, their faces aghast.

Jiang Ning looked up at the giant wave phantom that blotted out the sky and sun.

Suddenly.

Countless golden lights erupted from him, converging and forming around him, continually expanding.

"What is that!!" Jing Wuming was greatly shaken, watching the golden giant being swept by the giant wave up ahead.

The golden giant stood one zhang six high, its body like glazed gold, enveloped in golden light, as if a creature stepped out from myths.

"Ha!"

In the next moment, a loud explosive shout rang out like thunder.

The right fist of the golden giant straight out slammed forward.

No fancy moves, only the purest power and speed.

As the fist soared forth, the air compressed sharply, emitting a piercingly explosive sound, as a condensed, substantial golden Fist Gang tore through the air, meeting the giant wave head-on.

Boom—!!!

Golden Fist Gang collided directly with the giant wave.

Instantly, the platform shook violently, sounding like a thunderclap.

Gold and black energies frantically shredded and extinguished each other, the scattered energy plowing countless trenches into the platform floor, and the rocks near the edges couldn’t withstand it, crumbling in large chunks, falling into the roaring river below.

The giant wave was torn apart by the Fist Gang, but it didn’t completely dissipate, the remnants of the Water Element force still surged forward like a raging tide toward Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning neither dodged nor assumed a defensive posture.

He allowed the tide that held the power to shatter mountains and rocks to wash over his body.

Golden light brightly shimmered and transformed on his skin, making "sizzle" sounds, as if cold water splashed onto red-hot iron.

"This is!!!" Chen Wang watched this scene, unable to believe it.

"Buddhist Divine Skills!!!" Chen Canghai’s pupils contracted abruptly.

Just with one glance, he identified the technique Jiang Ning was now using.

At this very moment, Jiang Ning moved.

He stepped forward, the mountain stone beneath his feet shattered and scattered, fragments burst out, making a whistling sound as they pierced through the air.

In just an instant.

Jiang Ning appeared above Chen Canghai’s head.

Then a palm descended.

The golden light scattered, turning into countless points of light and dissipating, revealing his silhouette beneath the golden giant.

"Great opportunity!!" Chen Canghai’s eyes narrowed.

In a flash, he saw that Jiang Ning’s aura was unstable, overly consumed, clearly struggling.

He immediately raised both palms to the sky, as if trying to overturn the heavens above.

At this moment, Jiang Ning withdrew swiftly, like a willow leaf riding the wind.

"Chen Canghai." Jiang Ning spoke, his voice calm: "You once reached first-grade, glimpsed the scenery from higher realms. I wonder if you’ve seen this kind of power."

As he finished speaking, while retreating, his fingertip pointed outwards, emitting a gray light.

Within the light, lay the meaning of life and death.

It was his latest insight from recent days.

Just now, he pondered in his heart and abandoned using force to oppress, instead testing the power of life and death he comprehended from the changes of the seasons.

As the gray light pointed outwards, there was no earth-shattering momentum, no grand aura.

Just a single ray of light broke through the air.

At this moment, Chen Canghai suddenly felt an intense sense of dread, an inexplicable threat suddenly descending.

Instinctively, he mobilized all his strength, the Black Dragon Swallowing Whale Skill operating at its peak, black mist swirling around him, vaguely forming the phantom of a coiling dragon, guarding his body.

However, in the next instant.

Swoosh—

Before that gray light.

He found all his defenses to be illusions, all like a dream bubble, unable to stop the slightest bit of that gray light.

In an instant.

The gray light entered his body, and he was horrified to discover that his originally slow-declining qi-blood, due to physical issues and aging, was now rapidly deteriorating as if through a flood!

This decline was not due to injury-induced loss, nor was it suppressed by external force.

Rather, it was a more essential withering.

Just like after a flower blooms, there will inevitably be a day it withers.

At this moment, his body’s time seemed to be accelerated countless times, instantly completing the process of moving from prime to twilight. Muscles loosened, bones softened, qi-blood exhausted at a terrifying speed, even his divine soul transmitted waves of fatigue and drowsiness.

"You... what is this technique?!" Chen Canghai’s heart was greatly shocked, filled with overwhelming fear.

He desperately operated his cultivation technique, trying to stop this decline, but found his true qi also rapidly decaying, becoming sluggish, obscure, hard to mobilize.

In an instant.

Chen Canghai aged visibly, gray hair turned white, skin wrinkling, his once tall and upright body slightly hunched, his aura drastically plummeting.

"Life and death..." Jiang Ning looked at Chen Canghai, his understanding deepening further.

Chen Canghai was already at twilight years.

Chen Canghai’s twilight wasn’t due to a Martial Saint’s nearing lifespan.

But because he once suffered irreparable injuries, harming his essence.

This also led to Chen Canghai’s essence, qi, and spirit losing the potential for balance.

Reaching twilight, every strong one’s qi-blood begins to decline.

This is also the thing all first-grade powerhouses fear most.

Hundreds of techniques, myriad behaviors.

Reaching a certain age, maintaining such a realm becomes difficult.

Sooner or later, they all fall.

Chen Canghai stared at Jiang Ning intently, filled with incredulous shock, and a hint of bewilderment.

After decades of hard cultivation, experiencing life and death, reaching the pinnacle and then falling to dust, he hid for thirty years intending to revive using a precious treasure, rise again.

He thought, even if he couldn’t regain his former bravery, based on his deep understanding of martial arts and profound study of the Black Dragon Swallowing Whale Skill, he could lead Chaosheng Pavilion to a new height, thereby repaying Chaosheng Pavilion for nurturing him back then.

He wished to dedicate the last glory of his life to Chaosheng Pavilion.

Unexpectedly, he was defeated so thoroughly, so bizarrely in front of this seemingly exhausted young man!

"I beg the Marquis to give this old man one more chance, to leave a way out for the members of Chaosheng Pavilion." Chen Canghai bowed his head, his aura withered, as if aged twenty years in an instant, his tone filled with pleading towards Jiang Ning.

The platform fell into dead silence.

Only the unending roar of the Nutao River below faintly resonated.

Chen Wang looked ashen.

Jing Wuming took a deep breath, looking at Jiang Ning’s back, his eyes filled not only with awe but with an indescribable tremor.