Reversing the Milky Way

Before Bai Cheng could think further, the man in black suddenly moved, his movements so fast that he rushed in front of Bai Cheng in the blink of an eye, which startled Bai Cheng.

A huge fist came hurtling towards him. Bai Cheng quickly jumped back to dodge, but the man in black's punch still created a deep crater where he had been standing. With dirt flying through the air, the man in black pressed his advantage and punched Bai Cheng in the abdomen.

Bai Cheng reacted quickly, using both hands to block the black-clad man's arm joints, attempting to deflect the attack. However, the next moment, the explosive power of the black-clad man's fist far exceeded his expectations. Not only did he fail to block the attack, but his body was also sent flying like a cannonball, smashing straight through the stone wall of the watchtower behind him.

Bai Cheng felt a churning in his abdomen, and blood gushed from the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell is this guy?! Even if an ordinary person pushes their body training to its limit, their full strength is only around 70-80 ding (a unit of weight), while this big guy's punch just now exceeded that by at least three times! Is it really because he's so big that his strength is so much greater?!"

Bai Cheng endured the pain in his abdomen and quickly got up. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and quickly took out a Rejuvenation Pill from his pocket and swallowed it.

He immediately circulated all his spiritual energy, and with a single step, his speed exploded at full power.

"I refuse to believe you can keep up with my speed!!"

In the blink of an eye, Bai Cheng rushed out of the ruins and arrived behind the man in black before he could react. He launched an elbow strike at the back of the man's head, but unexpectedly, the man's arm twisted and rotated outward at an unbelievable angle, blocking Bai Cheng's elbow strike.

Immediately afterward, the man in black turned around swiftly and swung his arm forcefully, forcing Bai Cheng to retreat. Bai Cheng's eyes widened in shock after witnessing the man in black's actions.

"Are you even human?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Cheng once again used his speed advantage to relentlessly attack the man in black. As his punches and kicks increasingly struck the man's joints, a sense of dread washed over him. The reason was simple: he discovered that this large man, except for his abdomen, was entirely as hard as stone—a physical characteristic far beyond what one would expect from a human. Bai Cheng immediately began to make a bold guess.

'The man in black in front of me is probably not a real human. He is more likely to be a puppet. After all, even someone who specializes in body tempering cannot truly temper their body to the point of being as taut as a rock. Even a cultivator should have a layer of body tempering runes on the surface of their body. Moreover, this guy doesn't even have spiritual power, and his body surface doesn't seem to have any temperature.'

So, to verify his conjecture, Bai Cheng, while fighting the man in black, once again conjured a dagger from spiritual energy. Although its shape was still not quite standard, it was more than enough to pierce a human body; after all, Bai Cheng only wanted to verify his idea.

As Bai Cheng continued his attacks on the man in black, he became more and more certain of his idea, because his attacks were always launched from angles that the man in black could not detect at all. However, the man in black's limbs seemed to have an autopilot, and no matter what angle Bai Cheng attacked from, they would be blocked.

Moreover, the black-clad man's immense destructive power kept Bai Cheng extremely cautious. Any mistake, even just one more hit, would send him flying like he had just been.

In an instant, Bai Cheng was engaged in a fierce battle with the big man in front of him. Each attack from the man in black was able to smash a large crater in the ground.

Finally, as dust billowed before Bai Cheng's eyes, he seized a moment when the man in black was caught off guard. As the man turned around, he sidestepped and slid the dagger he had conjured into his hand towards the man's side.

As the golden blade sliced ​​past the black-clad man's side, a spark ignited from the tip of the dagger. Bai Cheng felt as if his blade had struck a hard iron plate, penetrating not an inch.

So, taking advantage of his speed, he kept trying to stab other parts of the man in black's body, but the result was the same as before: he couldn't cause any harm to the man in black at all.

To avoid wasting spiritual energy, he quickly stopped condensing it on the dagger, realizing that each strike required him to concentrate spiritual energy on the dagger, otherwise it would dissipate. As he withdrew his spiritual energy, the dagger turned into specks of dust in his hand.

The man in black seemed to have inexhaustible stamina, continuing to hurl punches at Bai Cheng. Bai Cheng, unable to subdue him, was forced into a situation where he could only dodge.

'Damn it, this giant is made of some unknown material from head to toe. Not only can he move freely, but his body is also as hard as refined iron. Even if I had a weapon, I probably wouldn't be able to hurt him in the slightest. Even if I used the power of the fragments, I'd probably just be able to take a beating. Should I call for help? Anyway, my place isn't far from here.'

Bai Cheng kept thinking of countermeasures.

However, at that moment, a voice suddenly came from under the mask of the man in black.

"Hehehe... Bai Cheng."

Hearing this mechanical voice, Bai Cheng was momentarily confused.

"You can actually talk?!"

In response to Bai Cheng's question, the man in black only chuckled hoarsely twice.

"Hehe, the probing ends here."

As the man in black finished speaking, Bai Cheng's expression grew increasingly solemn, because he noticed that a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy was emanating from the center of the man in black's chest.

Soon, the man in black's eyes seemed to be ignited, emitting a bright light. Then, the fluctuation of spiritual energy quickly covered his entire body. Immediately afterwards, the surging spiritual energy formed a spiritual armor technique in front of him and covered his entire body.

Then, the man in black slightly raised his arm, and to Bai Cheng's astonishment, a huge spirit sword materialized in his hand.

'What's going on? I clearly didn't detect any spiritual energy within him before, so why does he suddenly seem like a completely different person?'

The massive figure in black brandished his weapon, and the surging power created a wave of energy that rushed straight towards Bai Cheng's face.

"Now we're in trouble!"

Without thinking twice, Bai Cheng quickly turned around and ran towards his temporary lodging.

However, the man in black raised his long sword high, and with a powerful swing, a blade formed of fiery spiritual energy flew out, carrying an irresistible force, heading towards Bai Cheng.

Bai Cheng felt a sudden panic. He quickly activated the power of the fragments within his body, and as the huge sword blade roared towards him, he immediately used his arms to block it in front of him.

In the blink of an eye, sparks flew as the tip of the massive spiritual energy sword met his arms. With a tremendous force, Bai Cheng was pushed hundreds of meters by the sword blade, while the spiritual energy fragments within his body were rapidly being consumed.

As the massive sword energy swept past, it left a deep trench in the ground, the remnants of flames still visible within. Finally, after traveling several hundred meters, the sword energy slammed Bai Cheng into a house.

Instantly, the house was split in two as if sliced ​​into a melon, and as the sword energy slowly dissipated, dust rose into the air.

Bai Cheng lay panting heavily amidst the ruins. When he raised his arm, he found it trembling slightly, and even the clothes on his arm were charred. Fortunately, he was protected by the power of the mysterious fragment.

He slowly clenched his fist, a tremor running through him. The attack from the man in black had directly reduced the spiritual power of the fragment within him by thirty percent. It was important to know that the spiritual power stored in the fragment within him increased along with his cultivation level. Previously, even after enduring two Thunderburst Crystals, Bai Cheng had only reduced the fragment's spiritual power by twenty percent. These two Thunderburst Crystals could severely injure a mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivator, and Bai Cheng's cultivation level at that time was not as high as it is now. Therefore, this attack deeply shocked Bai Cheng.

The loud noise attracted the attention of the guards patrolling the mountain resort.

"Quick, there's movement over here!"

As a dozen or so patrol members from the mountain villa vaguely appeared before the man in black, he followed the path carved into the ravine to look.

"This kid can't possibly survive this attack."

As the hoarse voice rang out, the man in black put away his weapon.

He slowly turned his head, just about to step into the dark forest, when he heard the noisy voices of the manor guards in the distance. When he turned his head, he saw Bai Cheng struggling to get up in the ruins.

Guard 1: "Hey, are you alright?"

Bai Cheng dusted himself off and looked at the guard who was asking him questions.

"Cough cough! I'm fine!"

Guard 2: "What's going on here?!"

"There's a man in black..."

Before Bai Cheng could finish speaking, they heard the earth tremble in the distance.

"careful!"

A man in black, his massive body swaying, was seen running towards them. The guards of the manor gasped in surprise upon noticing him.

"who!?"

When they saw the man in black's enormous size, their eyes widened in horror.

"You're still alive?!" The man in black roared as he leaped high into the air, gathering spiritual energy in his hands and unleashing a palm strike of spiritual power at Bai Cheng's location.

The attack formed by this palm strike was over ten meters in size. Bai Cheng quickly kicked away the two guards beside him, then performed a backflip and escaped from the ruins where he was.

Immediately afterwards, an explosion accompanied by fluctuations in spiritual energy spread out, and the place where Bai Cheng had been standing was deeply dented several meters deep. Two guards who did not have time to dodge were directly smashed into mincemeat.

The other guards screamed in surprise upon seeing this.

The black-clad man's massive body trembled as he landed. He continued to stride forward, his eyes flashing like those of a tiger eyeing its prey, charging straight at Bai Cheng.

"Quickly! Go and inform the young master!"

The guard shouted loudly. No sooner had he finished speaking than the man in black casually tossed him aside, sending him flying.

Bai Cheng also knew that these guards were only at the Great Perfection of Body Refinement Realm, and they were completely powerless against the huge man in front of them, whose identity was still unknown.

"Quickly inform the White House Academy disciples of their whereabouts and tell them to come! I'll hold him off for now."

After Bai Cheng finished speaking, his expression became extremely solemn. He didn't know if he could hold off this behemoth. However, no sooner had he finished speaking than a voice came from afar.

"No need to notify us! We're already here!"

Lan Sheng arrived from afar with Hu Chen and Meng Wan'er. At the same time, Hu Chen took out his weapon, an exquisite longbow that looked like it was made of brass.

Upon landing, he swiftly conjured an arrow from his own spiritual energy and aimed it at the man in black. With a sharp clang, the arrow, trailing a streak of spiritual energy, flew rapidly toward the man in black.

However, upon seeing the attack, the man in black quickly stopped and casually caught the arrow flying towards him with his hand.

"Um!?"

Upon seeing this, Hu Chen quickly formed a hand seal with two fingers, and the arrow in the black-clad man's hand suddenly exploded, the shockwave causing his massive figure to stagger back two steps.

"Bai Cheng! Are you alright?"

Lan Sheng came up to him and looked Bai Cheng up and down.

"I'm fine, Senior Brother Lan. Luckily you arrived in time."

Lan Sheng looked at the man in black in the distance, and her expression faltered slightly.

"Just asking you to keep watch at night, and someone's come knocking on your door? Are they your enemies? They seem a bit dangerous."

As they spoke, the man in black had regained his footing and was unaffected by the explosion of the arrow. Seeing this, Hu Chen also stopped his attack and went to Bai Cheng's side.

"Something's not right. I don't see any spiritual power on this person, yet he can easily withstand my attacks. Is he wearing some kind of high-level armor?"

In response to Hu Chen's question, Lan Sheng said, "No, this thing shouldn't be human. It looks like a spirit puppet."

"Spirit puppet? What's that?"

Bai Cheng asked, puzzled.

"A spirit puppet is a humanoid puppet forged by cultivators. The main materials are usually spirit wood, stone, and iron. Due to the extreme difficulty of forging, they are rarely seen. However, I have never seen one with such an imposing presence before. I'm afraid even the spirit puppets in the academy's trial tower cannot compare to it. No, perhaps they are far inferior!"

Bai Cheng was also shocked upon hearing this.

'The academy's trial tower? It seems I should take a look. This spirit puppet's combat power is terrifying. If I could create one myself, it would greatly enhance my own combat abilities.'

Soon, a tense atmosphere developed between the two sides. Neither side showed any intention of making a move. Gradually, more and more people arrived from Bai Cheng's side, including Yang Jinxuan and Si Nanchen.

"what happened?"

Yang Jinxuan strode forward, followed closely by two guards.

Lan Sheng: "Suddenly, some ghostly thing appeared out of nowhere and attacked Bai Cheng."

Upon hearing this, Si Nanchen slowly walked forward.