Chapter 131: Dual Cultivation of Body and Soul

Wonderful!

Amidst the white smoke, even the damn Japanese who had unleashed it could only vaguely distinguish friend from foe by their attire; no one else could possibly catch the fierce glint suddenly erupting in Liang Jing's eyes.

Liang Jing had finally discovered the qualitative change brought about by his true qi after breaking through to the fourth layer!

Clang! Clang!——

Pushing all other distractions aside, Liang Jing parried the attacks of Kitamiya Shogame while luring his opponent into a relentless exchange of blows, all the while feigning a worsening, desperate posture. More importantly, he was deeply engrossed in studying the functions of the fourth-layer true qi, concentrating entirely on its mechanics.

Thud! Liang Jing struck a ninja on the chest with his right palm, only to cause a fracture and force the man back a few steps without inflicting any fatal damage. A thought stirred in Liang Jing's mind: driven by the abundant source of life, his true qi had previously unblocked the meridians of his left arm; however, his right arm remained unblocked, meaning the true qi could not circulate into it or reach his palm to amplify his striking power.

From this, Liang Jing deduced that the fourth-layer true qi—which he had not yet had the time to test in practice right after his breakthrough—was capable of increasing and stimulating offensive might once the meridians of the limbs were cleared to channel the energy directly to the palms and soles. It seemed that under the influence of true qi, the cells throughout the entire limb instantaneously unleashed formidable power, delivering a devastating blow to the enemy.

No wonder the martial arts masters in novels were so terrifying; propelled by their internal energy, their limbs could unleash immense destructive force. Just like Liang Jing's left hand—under the exact same physical strength, the offensive power generated under the influence of the fourth-layer true qi could multiply exponentially.

Exponential multiplication!

What kind of concept was that?

The physical strength Liang Jing was currently employing was roughly equivalent to the combined strength of seven ordinary men. Yet, when augmented by the fourth-layer true qi, the explosive force doubled to that of fourteen ordinary men, enough to kill someone instantly, unlike his unblocked right hand, which could only injure rather than deal a fatal blow.

Recalling the martial arts masters from novels, Liang Jing felt another surge of emotion!

Swish! Sidestepping a sweeping slash, he deflected his opponent's weapon with a twist of his left hand, grabbed the enemy directly with his right hand to render him completely immobile, and gently pressed his left palm against the man's chest. With a surge of true qi within his body, the captured warrior let out a muffled grunt as black clots of blood oozed from the corners of his mouth. His eyes widened in disbelief before he simply died!

Hiss!——

Incredible! Was this the true qi internal energy of martial arts masters? Just now, when Liang Jing pressed his left palm against the enemy's chest and channeled his true qi, it inflicted fatal trauma on the man's meridians and internal organs, ensuring a dead-certain demise that left even Liang Jing inwardly shaken.

True qi was simply too formidable! After breaking through to the fourth layer and clearing the meridians of the limbs, the boost to combat capability was utterly immense. No wonder so many characters in those novels hardly bothered with physical tempering; as it turned out, well-cultivated true qi was truly peerless. Even for someone like Liang Jing, whose physical strength was staggeringly powerful, true qi could still provide a tremendous augmenting effect.

More importantly, no matter how formidable the physical body of any creature might be, their internal organs and meridians remained fragile. By striking directly inside the enemy's body, true qi dealt fatal damage. Looking at the dead enemy before him, who had vomited blood with wide-open eyes, Liang Jing felt a slight chill; the offensive application of true qi was genuinely insidious.

Pondering various martial arts from wuxia novels—such as the Bone-Melting Palm, the Chilling Frost Palm, and striking across mountains to deal damage—Liang Jing corrected his previous dismissive view of true qi cultivation. At the same time, this sobering realization anchored his mindset, calming the fleeting arrogance that had briefly made him feel as though he were invincible.

Others might not possess a physical body as freakishly resilient as his, but as long as they cultivated their true qi well, they could pose a severe threat to him all the same. If true qi continued to break through further, what kind of changes would occur? This reminded Liang Jing of the energy barrier shimmering across the exterior of the giant mutant golden eagle; that must also be a manifestation of true qi applied at an advanced stage.

Recalling the sheer potency of the giant golden eagle's energy barrier, Liang Jing was completely humbled. He no longer dared to underestimate the cultivation of true qi, realizing why so few people practiced external martial arts and physical tempering. It was not only because tempering the physical body was vastly more arduous, but more importantly, because advanced true qi was extraordinarily powerful and offered numerous benefits: it could increase striking power, directly ravage internal organs, and unlock countless unknown potentials.

He had not expected that while third-layer true qi could merely alleviate fatigue, restore stamina, and nourish the physical body, breaking through to the fourth layer would yield such monumental utility—it was practically a heaven-shaking, earth-even transformation.

Of course, Liang Jing's newfound respect for the cultivation and utility of true qi did not mean he would abandon the improvement and application of his physical body. His choice was to pursue physical cultivation and true qi cultivation simultaneously, dual-wielding both paths. Physical cultivation was his specialty and his greatest strength; he would never give that up, firmly believing that bodily strength was ultimately his own.

After all, film and television works constantly featured tropes like bone-softening powders that rendered bodily energy unusable under certain environments, instantly crippling those individuals, or sudden sneak attacks where victims failed to mobilize their energy defenses in time and were summarily slain. There were simply far too many such tragedies.

This gave Liang Jing a sense that true qi was somewhat unreliable; his own rugged physical toughness felt far more dependable. With a formidable physique, even if someone ambushed him in his sleep and hacked at him from all sides, he wouldn't die—how exhilarating would that be? Furthermore, endurance was something true qi simply could not match. Based on his recent use, he sensed that the consumption rate of true qi was truly rapid, vastly faster than the depletion of his physical stamina.

Naturally, while true qi inflicted devastating damage on the internal organs, the resilience of those internal organs would still undergo a certain degree of enhancement as the physical body grew stronger, thereby increasing their defense against true qi attacks. Moreover, Liang Jing possessed the source of life, which offered the absolute best restorative effects for internal injuries; even if his organs were damaged by an enemy, he could recover swiftly. To a certain extent, Liang Jing had nothing to fear from them.

In short, Liang Jing intended to grasp both true qi and physical cultivation with both hands, making both grips firm. Combining both swords was the ultimate path.

While exchanging blows with the small Japanese, Liang Jing pondered. Having figured these matters out, he could not be bothered to overthink the rest for now. Devising advanced true qi attack applications, icy bone-melting palms, profound netherworld palms, bone-chilling palms, the overwhelmingly ferocious Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, or scorching flame blades—all of that was a matter for the future.

Unnoticed, the white smoke began to gradually disperse, and visibility improved. The small Japanese surrounding Liang Jing had dwindled to just a couple of dozen. Having snapped back to full awareness, Liang Jing had no intention of holding back any longer.

"Not good!"

Kitamiya Shogame finally realized something was amiss. Although Liang Jing appeared to be just a hair's breadth away from being defeated and killed by him, the man simply refused to die. Not once or twice, but continuously, he survived like an indestructible cockroach, completely uninjured, with not a single attack landing on him. Now, as the smoke thinned, looking at the miserable carnage on the ground and the dozen or so men left by his side, even a fool would know the situation had gone wrong.

Kitamiya Shogame made the most sensible decision remaining—to run away!

However, it was already too late!

Kill!

With a fierce roar in his heart, Liang Jing's figure instantly snapped back to the blinding speed and agility he had displayed at the very beginning. Snatching up [Baroque's Sorrow] from the ground, he lightning-fast charged toward the remaining dozen-odd enemies. Under the influence of the gravity field, every movement these people made demanded massive effort and was agonizingly slow; their tragic fate could well be imagined.

"Baka!" Kitamiya Shogame watched his subordinates continuously perish while he moved like a snail before Liang Jing, utterly incapable of escaping. Driven by a surge of desperation, his face flushing crimson and his muscles trembling as if he were exerting his dying breath, he slashed fiercely with his saber toward the charging Liang Jing, determined not to let him off easily even in death.

Swish!——

Seeing that Liang Jing completely ignored his incoming slash and swung his greatsword directly toward him, recalling how his subordinates had been cut down like stalks of wheat just moments before, Kitamiya Shogame's hard-won courage instantly evaporated. He panicked, trying to thrust his saber forward to block the incoming greatsword. The next instant, accompanied by a sound resembling tearing paper, he froze completely. He watched as his samurai sword was sliced cleanly in two, saw his own lower body collapse onto the ground, and then plunged into pitch-black darkness, never to wake up again.

"No! Gao Yaotai, quick, go up and kill him!" As the white smoke cleared, Political Commissar Gong stared at the hall, which resembled a veritable slaughterhouse, his face drained of all color as he frantically issued orders to his personal guard, Gao Yaotai.

These damn Japanese were utterly useless! How could so many of them fail to kill a single Liang Jing? They were absolute idiots. He had truly been dragged down to his doom this time. Commissar Gong was gripped by sheer panic and terror.

"You—all you faction leaders, hurry up and move to slay this demon!" Commissar Gong shouted frantically, refusing to give up as he yelled toward the faction leaders standing near the edge of the hall's entrance.

Yet, his cries were met with absolute immobility. Even the few leaders he had previously bribed—aside from Xiahou Jian, who had already been killed by Liang Jing—did not budge an inch. They had been utterly terrified by Liang Jing's ferocity. Looking closely, Liang Jing noticed that the glowing dots representing them had already shifted from hostile red to neutral yellow, with some even bearing a faint tinge of green.

Disregarding everything else, Liang Jing sprinted towards Commissar Gong in two or three strides, raising his greatsword to hack downward and utterly annihilate this traitorous running dog once and for all.

"Stop! Impudent! Halt at once!" At that very moment, a furious roar erupted from outside the doorway, its volume scarcely inferior to the roar Liang Jing had used earlier to awe the crowd.