Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 271 Let him suck it
Although Azi was not seriously injured after being knocked down by Kumārajīva, her bones and muscles were in excruciating pain. However, seeing Duan Yanqing's fierce and imposing manner, she gritted her teeth, got up, and was ready to fight him.

When Duan Yanqing heard Azi say that if he couldn't beat Kumārajīva, he could at least beat him, his eyes remained indifferent, but his heart was secretly burning with anger. He coldly said, "Hmph, you little girl, you may have had some kind of fortuitous encounter, greatly increasing your inner strength. But you should know that strength is inanimate, but people are alive. If you rely on your inner strength to underestimate me, you will surely be the one who dies!"

Azi felt a chill in her heart. She thought to herself that Master Ding often said that internal strength is the foundation and techniques are the branches and leaves. This old cripple had a different view. If he hadn't often won against the strong, how could he have such an understanding?
It's important to understand that ancient times were different from modern times. Knowledge dissemination was extremely difficult, especially for these martial artists. The ideas and viewpoints they spoke of were basically their own genuine insights and experiences, unlike modern platforms like TikTok and Weibo, where catchy phrases fly everywhere and anyone, human or ghost, can spout a few words.

Therefore, upon hearing Duan Yanqing's words, Azi felt a sense of fear and nodded, saying, "What you say makes a lot of sense. So, it seems I probably can't beat you. Since I can't, why bother? Let Zhong Ling chat with you, and don't stop me from beating up Xiao Ding, okay?"

Duan Yanqing said firmly, "Since I have pledged allegiance to the Starry Sky Immortal, I will naturally go all out. You little girls, you might as well all come at me together!"

Azi retorted angrily, "Since we're still going to fight, why are you saying so much? Do you want to scare me into weakness so that I can win unfairly?"

Seeing that Duan Yu and Jiang Mingzhe were silent, while only the Starry Sky Immortal continued to laugh, Mu Wanqing was extremely worried. She drew her long sword and shouted, "Why are you talking to him so much? Come at me all at once!"

Azi glared at her and said, "Don't you know what kind of martial arts you have? I am Da Shengjiang's first wife. It's only natural for me to bully you on ordinary days, and it's only right for me to protect you when something happens! You all better stay put!"

Having said that, he circulated his inner strength at full speed, leaped up, and unleashed a palm strike directly at Duan Yanqing. The grayish-white palm force crashed down on Duan Yanqing with overwhelming force.

Duan Yanqing dared not block directly. He tapped the ground with his right staff, his body drifting sideways to press forward, while his left staff stabbed towards A Zi's brow.

This blow was both urgent and dangerous. Azi quickly slapped her palm horizontally, unleashing another palm strike. Duan Yanqing flicked his thin staff, using the momentum to twist his body and dodge again, while simultaneously thrusting his staff forward, aiming for Azi's side.

Azi shouted, "I'm not afraid of you!" She turned sideways and pushed out with her palm. Before the force of the palm even reached him, Duan Yanqing already felt a slight suffocation. He quickly used his staff to dodge and launched another attack.

Seeing Duan Yanqing's swift movements and sharp attacks, Mu Wanqing and the others were initially worried for Azi. However, after a few moves, they gradually realized that he was extremely wary of Azi's palm strikes, and they immediately understood the situation.

This Yanqing's internal strength was much lower than that of Xingxiu Laoxian and Kumozhi. When Azi faced him, her internal strength advantage was extremely obvious. Moreover, the White Rainbow Palm itself was quick to change moves, and it achieved the effect of overwhelming force with sheer power.

On the other side, Kumārajīva was incredibly powerful, using all sorts of amazing moves with ease. Li Qiushui, who was injured, was somewhat overwhelmed. Duan Zhengchun shouted, "Mother-in-law, don't be afraid, your son-in-law is here!" He pushed Fu Sigui aside, drew his sword, and stepped forward to join the attack.

Fu Sigui, wholeheartedly protecting his master, also picked up his copper cudgel and charged forward. Among the eight friends, Shi Qinglu was also filled with anxiety and rushed forward to help.

With these people holding him back, Li Qiushui steadied herself and said sternly, "Kumārajīva, if I do not die today, I will surely send troops to destroy your Qing Tang Tubo in the future!"

After saying that, she took out a crystal dagger and used a set of extremely profound and ruthless sword techniques. Every move was an attack. Her dagger was completely transparent and could not be seen with the naked eye when she used it fast. Kumārajīva was unarmed and afraid of hurting his body. He was killed by her and had to retreat repeatedly.

Kang Guangling was severely injured and unable to get up from the ground, but he was extremely agitated. He pointed at Ding Chunqiu and said, "Quickly, kill the old thief and avenge my master and grandmaster!"

Fan Bailing, Gou Du, and Xue Muhua, all with furious expressions, charged toward Ding Chunqiu.

At this moment, Ding Chunqiu held Duan Yu in one hand and twisted Jiang Mingzhe in the other, feeling the two men's powerful internal energy constantly flowing into him. He was extremely pleased with himself and kept letting out a smug laugh.

Jiang Mingzhe was initially flustered, but he gradually calmed down. His internal energy surged like a bursting dam, making it difficult for him to move, but his mind was racing.

He stole Duan Yu's extraordinary encounter with the Manggu Toad, transforming the poisonous gas of this king of all poisons into internal energy to absorb it. However, unlike Duan Yu, he did not swallow it directly. Therefore, it is unknown whether he truly acquired the Manggu Toad's ability to resist all poisons.

With his poison skills as a foundation and the Northern Darkness Transformation Technique in his possession, he was not afraid of poisons, so it was extremely difficult to verify whether he was immune to all poisons.

At this moment, his meridians were paralyzed by poison. He tried to save himself with the Dissolving Power Technique, but he could not feel any poison at all. He did not know whether it was because the poison was too peculiar or because the Starry Sky Immortal had refined poison and fused power, which had some other miraculous effect.

Unable to control the surge of his inner energy, he tried to transform it into various deadly poisons, hoping to kill the Starry Sky Immortal.

However, the Starry Sky Immortal was completely intoxicated, laughing wildly, showing no signs of poisoning whatsoever. It was unclear whether he was immune to the poison or had used some secret technique to transform the poison into power.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Jiang Mingzhe felt somewhat helpless.

He recalled that in the original novel, Xu Zhu had integrated the internal energy of the three elders of the Xiaoyao Sect into one, and with more than two hundred years of internal energy cultivation, his skill was so high that it was unprecedented. He had also learned top-level martial arts such as the Tianshan Six Yang Palm, the Xiaoyao Plum Blossom Hand, and the Chuiyun Lightness Skill. In terms of internal energy and moves, he might not be inferior to himself at this moment.

However, the Shaolin Temple fought the Starry Sky Immortal for more than half an hour without a victory. It was only when Chrysanthemum Sword borrowed the strong liquor from the Khitan warrior and splashed it out that Xu Zhu seized the opportunity to use the Life and Death Talisman, and finally won the battle.

While Xu Zhu's lack of experience and soft heart may have contributed to this, Ding Chunqiu's formidable skill is also evident.

Ding Chunqiu is now a fully enhanced version of Wu Yazi's internal energy! Jiang Mingzhe fell into his trap. Before he could even use his martial arts skills, he was grabbed and had his internal energy drained by the other party, leaving him extremely frustrated.

In fact, Jiang Mingzhe was unaware that Ding Chunqiu had not only absorbed Wuyazi's essence, but had also completely absorbed Su Xinghe and his disciples!

When he stormed Leigu Mountain, his demonic power was overwhelming. Wu Yazi had no choice but to reveal himself. Ding Chunqiu was overjoyed to see that he was still alive and immediately attacked him. Wu Yazi was seriously injured and had no other means of use except for the Beiming Divine Art. The opening of the Beiming Divine Art was exactly what Ding Chunqiu wanted. He immediately absorbed the internal energy and threw Wu Yazi onto Su Xinghe and the others who came to their rescue. He forcefully used Wu Yazi's Beiming Divine Art to completely absorb the internal energy of everyone on Leigu Mountain.

After mastering his divine skills, Ding Chunqiu kept his promise and accompanied Duan Yanqing to hunt down Duan Zhengchun. Fortunately, Li Qiushui and her group arrived to help, and Duan Zhengchun was spared.

Even with Li Qiushui's skills and the help of Kang Guangling and others, she could not withstand the combined efforts of Ding Jiu and Duan, three top masters. Fortunately, when Ding Chunqiu saw that Li Qiushui's appearance had been restored to its original state, he suddenly remembered their old friendship and was determined to capture her alive. Li Qiushui kept summoning the masters of Yipintang to help her, and that's how she managed to escape back to Leigu Mountain.

Yipintang had already suffered heavy losses in the battle of Xingzilin, and after this battle, it was practically defunct.

Jiang Mingzhe was unaware of these details, but he thought to himself: Ding Chunqiu created a brand new path of integrating poison into skill, and his own skill was already at the top level. He also absorbed Wu Yazi's internal energy for more than seventy years, so his skill was profound enough to rank among the top three in the world!
As for first place, Jiang Mingzhe believes he deserves it without a doubt, and second place goes to Duan Yu.

He thought to himself: What would happen if the third-ranked person in the world absorbed all the energy from the first and second-ranked people?
Thinking about it this way, he suddenly remembered something the old woman had said to him!

At that time, he swept through the Eight Friends of Hangu Pass with a single move, the Great Vajra Pestle. The force formed a giant, purple pestle. Tong Lao couldn't help but exclaim: "True Qi manifests! Just how much internal energy did you absorb, kid? You absorbed too much with the Northern Darkness Divine Art, there's no way to transform it, why didn't it kill you?"
He then realized that there is an upper limit to the accumulation of internal energy, and that great masters such as Tong Lao, Wu Ya Zi, and Li Qiu Shui had already approached this limit. Therefore, their cultivation was no longer about increasing internal energy, but about refining it to a higher purity.
A smile crept across Jiang Mingzhe's lips as he struggled to shout, "Third brother, don't hold back! Let him inhale, let him inhale!"

Ding Chunqiu used the Dissolving Power Technique to break their Northern Darkness Divine Skill. Their internal energy continued to flow into Ding Chunqiu's body. In their shock, they desperately tried to stop it by circulating their internal energy. Although they could not stop it completely, they did manage to slow down the outflow of their internal energy.

At this moment, Jiang Mingzhe understood the cause and effect, and gave up directly. Not only did he not control it, but he also vigorously output his internal energy outward. If the original internal energy was like a dam breaking, it was as if Jiang Mingzhe himself had completely dismantled the dam.

Duan Yu had never practiced the Kun-to-Peng transformation technique, and his understanding of the Beiming Divine Art was far less profound than Jiang Mingzhe's. Upon hearing Jiang Mingzhe's words, he was utterly astonished, staring blankly at Jiang Mingzhe. Then, as if suddenly enlightened, he said, "Second Brother, I understand! You mean that our skills were originally stolen and robbed, and now that they've been stolen and robbed, it's only natural. Second Brother, you're so insightful!"

Duan Yu thought he understood Jiang Mingzhe's meaning, and his face showed a solemn expression. He sighed and said, "Cause and effect are cyclical, and retribution is inevitable. Mr. Ding, my second brother and I have absorbed our internal energy from others. Now that you have absorbed it, it is no big deal. After you have absorbed our internal energy, please do not harm others."

Ding Chunqiu was initially surprised when Jiang Mingzhe said "let him inhale," but after hearing Duan Yu's words, his doubts were immediately dispelled.

He thought to himself that Jiang was originally a talented scholar from Qufu. He had only thought that Jiang was highly intelligent, but he did not expect that Jiang would also have a bookish nature!
And then he befriended this Duan the Fool. The two fools complemented each other, making them even more foolish. Aha, in this life-or-death situation, the two of them suddenly became incredibly foolish and started talking about cause and effect and retribution. Isn't this a sign that even God is looking out for me?
He immediately burst into laughter: "Hahaha, very well, very well, you've handed over your power, and I'm not a vicious and bloodthirsty person..."

As they spoke, he indeed felt as if Jiang and Duan's internal energy had been unleashed, surging into his body like a mighty river. He felt refreshed and invigorated, but his long-sharpened meridians even began to ache.

His meridians were throbbing with pain, but he felt a sense of exhilaration, a mixture of pain and pleasure. His facial features involuntarily contorted slightly as he exclaimed, "Wonderful, wonderful! So swollen, so swollen! So satisfying, so satisfying! Wait, wait, something's wrong, something's wrong, it's going to, it's going to come out!"

Old Ding had never learned the Northern Darkness Divine Skill. Although he knew that the Northern Darkness Divine Skill required acupoints for storing internal energy, and even used this idea to create the method of opening acupoints and storing internal energy in the Starry Sky Tribulation Scripture, he did not know that the reason why the Northern Darkness Divine Skill did this was to use acupoints along the way as a means of releasing and storing internal energy when absorbing it, so as not to absorb too much at once and be unable to bear it.

After absorbing the internal energy, one must use the Transformation Technique to change the attribute of the internal energy and store it in the Tanzhong Qihai acupoint. At that time, the internal energy stored in these acupoints will be transformed and stored, and the acupoints will be empty again.

Old Ding's method of absorption is different from the Beiming Divine Art's active absorption of the opponent's internal energy. Instead, he uses the Dissolving Power Technique to disrupt the operation of the Beiming Divine Art, causing the internal energy to flow backward. It's like artificially creating a short circuit in an electrical circuit, the consequences of which can no longer be controlled by human intervention.

In other words, once Ding Chunqiu starts absorbing internal energy, he cannot stop on his own!

Having previously absorbed the internal energy of Wu Yazi, Su Xinghe, and others, his internal strength was already abundant. Now, he was absorbing the internal energy of Jiang Mingzhe and Duan Yu. The two had been struggling, and their internal energy flow was limited, so Ding Chunqiu hadn't noticed anything amiss. But now that they had released their restraints and allowed him to absorb the energy wildly, he quickly realized something was wrong—

His 365 acupoints were not empty, but filled with years of hard-earned poison skills. At this moment, his meridians were filled with the surging internal energy. In addition to the swelling and pain, the external internal energy forced into many acupoints along the way, forcibly squeezing out his original internal energy. Ding Chunqiu could not control himself and shouted in vain, "It's coming out!"

It should be known that Ding Chunqiu's internal energy originally consisted of two types: one was the power of the Lesser Formless Skill he had painstakingly cultivated, which was the foundation upon which he was able to successfully receive the internal energy absorbed from Wu Yazi and others.

Secondly, he had painstakingly cultivated his poison skills by incorporating various potent poisons. He usually kept these skills hidden in his acupoints throughout his body, keeping them distinct from his Lesser Formless Skill, and they did not interfere with each other.

However, at this moment, squeezed out by external power, these poisons were temporarily unrestrained and immediately rebelled, causing chaos within the body. The Lesser Formless Skill was then activated, and began to transform the poisons on its own.

Ding Chunqiu was greatly alarmed. Although the Lesser Formless Skill and the Northern Darkness Transformation Technique had similarities, they were different after all. Neither had the ability to restore the original state. Once the poison was neutralized, although the internal strength would increase significantly, the poison skill would inevitably be ruined.

More importantly, his meridians and acupoints were now filled with internal energy. Jiang and Duan's internal energy was still surging in from the outside. The Lesser Formless Skill had detoxified and increased its power, and it had grown much more on its own. For a moment, he felt his whole body swell up like a balloon, as if it was about to burst at any moment.

But when he looked at his body, his hands and feet were unchanged; he was just extremely uncomfortable inside and couldn't help but look up at the sky and scream.

It was at this crucial moment that Fan Bailing, Gou Du, and Xue Muhua arrived. Fan Bailing raised the chessboard with both hands, gathered all his strength, and slammed it hard into the back of Ding Chunqiu's head.

The chessboard fell with a loud bang, then bounced back even faster, slamming into Fan Bailing's forehead with a thud, shattering his skull and killing him instantly.

Gou Du and Xue Muhua were caught off guard by this situation and cried out in grief and indignation, "Second Brother!"

Although Ding Chunqiu was in excruciating pain from the blow, the internal energy surging within him retaliated on its own. After expending a little of that energy, he felt a wave of relief and exclaimed, "Wonderful! That feels good! Hit me! Hit me as hard as you can!"

(End of this chapter)