Chapter 249: Chapter 122: "Nine Blood Soul Blades" Breaking Limit, Sword Gang Imbued with Fiend, Invading Flesh and Eroding Bone, Slaughtering the Mind and Spirit

He did not rush to strike. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused, stirring the immense, dormant Qi Blood Power within him.

In an instant, a scorching heat steamed out from his pores. His Qi and Blood surged like a river bursting its banks, accompanied by a faint, muffled roar.

His skin rapidly turned an unnatural crimson, like a branding iron plunged into a great furnace.

Wisps of grayish-black Evil Qi gathered from the void, twining around his saber and his body.

In just a moment, the Long Saber in his hand was also dyed a dark red.

This strange sight startled Xiaobai, who was inside the house.

She shot her head up and looked toward the courtyard, a flicker of alarm and disgust in her beautiful eyes. "Have you gone mad?" she shouted. "You’re actually using the methods of the Blood Saber Sect’s wicked path, drawing Evil Qi into your body to cultivate! You may be training with the saber, but you’re walking the Demon Dao!"

Chu Fan was already in motion, slowly raising his Long Saber.

His mind was completely immersed in the impending breakthrough, deaf to all outside disturbances. He replied coldly, "My affairs are none of your concern."

"Hmph! Ungrateful!" Xiaobai’s chest tightened with anger.

Sensing that the Evil Qi, so unsettling to her Demon Soul, was growing stronger, she quickly gathered the snacks beside her and scurried into another room to escape the unnerving presence.

In the courtyard, Chu Fan’s focus was absolute.

’First blade, Blood Burning!’

As he recited the name in his mind, a crimson glint ripped through the darkness. The wind from his saber howled, carrying a ferocious power that threatened to incinerate everything.

Once the Sword Momentum began, it was nearly impossible to stop.

The second blade, "Boiling Blood."

The third blade, "Coagulating Blood."

Each strike was faster than the last, each move more ruthless than the one before!

The Qi and Blood in his body surged, level by level. The crimson light flared, so intensely that even the thin Evil Qi gathering around him was stained blood-red.

The air in the backyard grew thick and strange. Piercing Sword Intent and frigid Evil Qi intertwined, weaving a suffocating field of force.

By the time he unleashed the ninth blade, "Blood Slaughter," the Qi and Blood in Chu Fan’s body was boiling at its peak.

His skin was crimson, and his veins bulged like knotted ropes. He looked like an Asura emerging from a pool of blood.

Condensed on the blade’s edge was not just Qi Blood Power, but a tangible, ferocious Evil Qi that shrieked with a thirst for slaughter and destruction.

[Nine Blood Soul Blades Experience Points +5]

’But this is still just the pinnacle of the Sword Technique.’

’To break the limit, I must surpass this pinnacle!’

SHUA!

Chu Fan’s eyes were blood-red. He squeezed out every last drop of his Qi and Blood, even the wisps of Evil Qi he’d attracted, and poured it all into his Long Saber, hacking out one slash after another.

In a moment of sudden insight, he abandoned the established ninth form. He took the essence of the first eight blades—the finality of Blood Burning, the frenzy of Boiling Blood, the control of Coagulating Blood, the cruelty of Slaying Blood... He then fused it with the insights gained from his many near-death experiences, and his profound understanding that behind "protection" must lie "destruction." He forged it all into a single whole.

This strike no longer belonged to any of the Nine Blood Soul Blades.

It was a strike he had comprehended on the verge of Breaking the Limit!

WENG—!

The Long Saber let out a sharp, trembling hum, as if unable to bear the strain.

A Sword Gang, condensed to its absolute limit and so dark red it was nearly black, silently shot from the blade and streaked across a heavy cyan Stone in the courtyard.

There was no earth-shattering BOOM...

Where the Sword Gang had passed, only a fine red line remained on the cyan Stone’s surface, as if seared by a hot poker.

The next second, a series of dense KACHA sounds erupted from within the cyan Stone. Then, with a soft PFFT, it disintegrated into a pile of fine powder that rustled to the ground.

Its momentum unspent, the Sword Gang plowed a trench several inches deep into the courtyard’s back wall, leaving behind charred edges from which wisps of smoke rose.

With its ultra-pure Qi Blood and Evil Qi, this strike had touched upon the very essence of Destructive Sword Intent.

[Nine Blood Soul Blades Experience Points +8]

[The "Nine Blood Soul Blades" has reached the peak of Perfection. Consume 20 Spiritual Essence to Break the Limit?]

Chu Fan stood, saber in hand. The boiling Qi Blood and swirling Evil Qi around him gradually subsided, and the crimson color slowly faded from his skin.

With a thought, his status panel immediately changed...

[Technique: Nine Blood Soul Blades (First Breaking Limit) Progress: (1/4500) (Trait: Blood Evil Invading God)]

[Blood Evil Invading God: The Sword Gang is imbued with Evil Qi that invades muscles, corrodes bone, and ravages the spirit. The blade not only inflicts grievous physical wounds but also channels the user’s accumulated Evil Qi into the enemy’s body. This affliction clings like a disease to the bone, continuously eroding their meridians and Qi Blood while battering their mind. Mild cases result in disordered Qi Blood and rampant illusions. Severe cases cause a total mental collapse, shattering the victim’s will to fight.]

[This Evil Qi is exceedingly difficult to dispel, like planting a "seed of ruin" within the enemy. In a battle to the death, it provides overwhelming intimidation and a continuous debilitating effect.]

An unprecedented sense of clarity washed over him, surging from the depths of his being.

Chu Fan closed his eyes, and the phantoms of a thousand, ten thousand slashes flickered through his mind.

His understanding of the Nine Blood Soul Blades had reached an entirely new level.

Everything from his Sword Techniques and Step Technique to the very pathways of his Qi Blood circulation had undergone a subtle yet significant transformation.

Chu Fan exhaled a long, turbid breath, tinged with scorching heat, the smell of blood, and a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of Evil Qi.

Feeling the surging power within him and his newfound mastery over the Sword Technique, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

’Blood Evil Invading God...’

Looking at the Trait he’d gained after Breaking the Limit, Chu Fan’s pupils contracted.

He was familiar with this Trait. The Nine Blood Soul Blades already possessed a similar quality, but it had never been this potent.

Blood Evil Invading God felt as if it had magnified that original quality more than tenfold.

Other than Demon Dao masters who cultivated using Evil Qi, ordinary Martial Artists wanted nothing to do with it.

That was why, when fighting a practitioner of the Nine Blood Soul Blades, most opponents opted for a swift, decisive battle.

But the original Evil Qi of the Nine Blood Soul Blades was not strong enough to subdue an enemy without a fight. It could be easily blocked by condensed Qi Blood Power or Primordial Qi.

’If the Evil Qi drawn by the Nine Blood Soul Blades could so easily corrode an enemy’s body and mind... the Blood Saber Sect would have unified Cyan Yang Ancient City long ago.’