"Wen Ming?"

The masked man was astonished.

​​

He asked himself if the familiar face before him belonged to the kid he encountered the other day and from whom he had asked for directions. He wondered why the kid would appear on the mountainside.

On top of everything, the kid even stabbed him.

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly felt himself trembling. Despite all his calculations, he never thought the man on the ground would be able to do such a thing.

Without warning, he reached out to tear off the mask from the masked man's face.

It was only fair that he returned the favor.

Whack!

However, the masked man's movements were no longer slow. He swiftly grabbed hold of Xu Xiaoshou's hand and dug his fingers into its flesh.

Xu Xiaoshou pulled his hand back from the pain but, to his horror, discovered that he could not pull it away.

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

Shouldn't he be in a weakened state?

How was it possible that he was instantly immobilized when the masked man grabbed him? It felt just like how it was in their previous encounter.

But how could it be? I now have the Master Physique, man! I have upgraded!

"Well, um… I think this is all a misunderstanding," Xu Xiaoshou said.

"Shut up!"

The masked man shouted, pushing Xu Xiaoshou down and forcing him to sit. The force he applied soon caused Xu Xiaoshou to drop to the ground.

Xu Xiaoshou's face had turned red from the pain, and it took him quite a while before he could even utter a word. "I'm not fond of this pose."

The masked man stared at him in exasperation.

Cough! Hmm!

The masked man was choking, and he almost coughed out blood.

Xu Xiaoshou immediately seized the opportunity and delivered a knee strike to the masked man.

POW!

The tremendous power of Master Physique and Recoil delivered a terrifying amount of force. Somehow, it enabled Xu Xiaoshou to throw the masked man, unable to maintain his fighting mettle, high into the air.

Xu Xiaoshou probably realized that if the masked man were to strike him, he could certainly not handle the blow.

However, he had to do something, regardless of the risk.

The masked man behaved like a sick man when Xu Xiaoshou attacked him. He was unable to parry or deflect any of the attacks and could only endure the inflictions.

To put it simply, the masked man seemed like someone who had lost his sense of judgment, for he had spent all his points in attack but had set none into defense.

Xu Xiaoshou noticed that the masked man's Spiritual Source reserve seemed to be lower than his.

He did not know if he was imagining it, but the masked man looked even weaker than when they had first encountered previously.

Back then, the masked man could still somehow maintain his level of power at the Innate Stage. Presently, it felt like his powers had dropped right down to the Acquired Stage.

Xu Xiaoshou wondered deep down if the members of the Holy Vassal became more vicious in their combat prowess when they had lower levels of powers.

As they were now quite a distance apart, Xu Xiaoshou took the chance to get up to leave. He noticed that the masked man seemed to struggle to even steady himself after getting kicked into the air.

He was shocked to find how wobbly the masked man looked in the sky. He looked unbalanced, just like how he had been when he first rode on his sword in flight.

"Wait, he cannot fly?"

Are you telling me that his power has dropped to that of Acquired Stage?" Xu Xiaoshou muttered.

He immediately shot a compressed fire seed at the masked man.

BOOM!

The masked man went flying even further after the explosion.

"He is weak," said Xu Xiaoshou with raised eyebrows.

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes widened in disbelief. He found it rather unbelievable that the man in front of him was the same man who once overpowered a host of formidable opponents from the Spirit Palace.

: Cursed, Passive Points +1.

He saw the Information Bar suddenly refreshed at that moment, causing his eyes to glint.

The attack worked?

Well, why else would the masked man curse at him if it did not, eh?

Xu Xiaoshou then shot another five fire seeds at the masked man with a flick of his hand without a second thought.

"Wen Ming! You…"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The deafening explosions drowned out the furious rantings of the masked man. Mushroom clouds took form in the dark sky, and Xiao Qixiu, who watched from afar, was utterly shocked.

"Is that Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Did he cut down his path successfully when he was in the Tianxuan Gate? Why is he so damn powerful right now?"

He recalled how Xu Xiaoshou had such a hard time with his battles during the Wind and Cloud Contest. Xiao Qixiu wondered why the kid's fighting prowess had spiked so much after not seeing him for only a few days.

Hell, he shouldn't be so powerful even if he was on drugs!

Su Qianqian was in shock as well, feeling as if the world around her had come crashing down on her.

The invincible masked man was now being beaten continuously with no way of defending himself.

She had not seen her Brother Xiaoshou for just a few days, so how did he become so powerful?

"Is this real?" The girl extended her hand and looked at her Master. She hesitated for a bit before deciding to slap herself on the cheek.

She flinched as she felt a sharp sting.

"It is real!" she cried out.

...

The more Xiao Qixiu thought about what was happening, the more peculiar he found it.

He studied the man Xu Xiaoshou had been blasting in the night sky to the point he was bleeding copiously. He then realized it was not Xu Xiaoshou who had become unbelievably strong but that the masked man had become weak.

He connected the dots in his mind and the truth was now plain to see. He immediately realized what was happening there and then.

"The guy had been bluffing all the while."

Xiao Qixiu's face turned red from fuming anger. He could not believe that he ended up fooled when Xu Xiaoshou saw through it at once.

He was about to get up, but the decay of the Great Path was something very challenging to put a stop to.

He felt despair.

If he had lost in actual combat, he would have gladly died with no regrets, but to end up dead in this way was a cruel joke.

"I am beyond saving, huh?"

He looked blankly into the far distance.

Tap!

Xiao Qixiu and Su Qianqian heard a light tap. It was the sound of a footstep.

The sound came from not far away. But just right beside him.

Xiao Qixiu trembled. Before he could turn to look at the figure beside him, a thin, wrinkled hand appeared before him, holding a bottle of pills.

"Vice Dean!" Su Qianqian shrieked in surprise as she looked at the bottle with tears in her eyes.

My Master Xiao can be saved!

Elder Sang had pulled his hat low, but his eyes remained focused on the prey far away, like the eyes of a hawk. His expression was dark and sullen.

"Sorry for being late. I got caught up in something."

...

The smoke from explosions on the battlefield clouded Xu Xiaoshou's vision.

But it did not affect him. His Sense allowed him to see the masked man, twisted and drenched in blood from the bombardment, so much so he looked like he was falling apart.

The masked man may have powerful attack skills, but without Master Physique, it was still difficult for him to take on such furious attacks.

It surprised Xu Xiaoshou when he saw the Sword Will around the masked man gathering force and pulling his body together like a broken toy being glued back in one piece.

"What kind of move is this?"

"Some special spiritual technique?"

He then recalled the Sword Will Possession mentioned in the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword, wondering if that was how it worked.

He looked closely and found the familiar power emanating from the masked man's body.

"Ordinary power of thought?"

"No, it cannot be. It is anything but ordinary."

The move appeared to be of a level far higher than the psychokinesis that he came to understand and learn. At the very least, it was something that could hurt his mind and soul, even just observing it with his Sense.

"High-level power of thought then?"

Xu Xiaoshou thought no further, for it seemed like he could end the masked man with one last hit. He then pulled out his bathtub and rushed at the masked man.

"Stop!"

Xu Xiaoshou heard a rather tired voice in his mind, and it immediately doused all the fire he had for the fight.

Elder Sang?

Xu Xiaoshou calmed down right away as he gazed at the masked man falling from the sky. He felt a chill on the soles of his feet.

Holy sh*t!

He questioned himself—what the hell has gotten into me?

Instead of pulling back after gaining the upper hand, all he thought about was delivering the killing blow. Had he assumed that he could do whatever he wanted after gaining the Master Physique?

Would it be detrimental if the masked man really got angry?

"Wen Ming!"

"You have forced my hand!"

A white blast of sword aura rumbled, rising like the morning sun, shrouding over the moon, and lighting up the entire mountain.

A snowy-white massive sword shot into the air, trembling slightly, and tore the night sky apart.

: Summoned, Passive Points +1.

Xu Xiaoshou's face paled and he regretted he had been so bold.

He turned around and ran like hell, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to do that!"

"Help!"