Xie Yun stood still on the grass for a short while with his eyes closed. He slowly opened them, his expression grim, a sharp gleam flashing in his gaze. “The junior brother in the tree, come out. Although you hid yourself cleverly, suppressing your breath and heartbeat to nearly inaudible levels, almost fooling even me—you shouldn't have left such obvious footprints on the trunk, giving away your hiding spot at a glance.”

Ye Qin was momentarily stunned. He had been careful when climbing the tree; there shouldn't have been any marks.

He looked down at the tree trunk beneath his feet and a wry smile touched his lips. Indeed, there were several faint, fresh footprints still soiled with mud and grass—marks left by Feng Xiao when he climbed the tree earlier, which Senior Brother Xie Yun had instantly noticed.

Since that was the case, staying hidden in this forest was no longer feasible. It was best to leave before he got entangled. However, how to depart safely presented a problem.

Senior Brother Xie Yun’s reputation in the Medicine Gathering Hall was formidable. It was said that his core internal cultivation technique, the Xin Zhao Jing, and his supreme swordsmanship, the Qing Yun Sword Art, had both reached astonishing levels. His mastery of both internal and external skills was incredibly profound, and he was proficient in various other martial arts, surpassing the standard of ordinary first-rate martial arts experts. Almost no younger disciple in the hall could withstand more than three or five moves against him; he was exceptionally difficult to handle.

In a normal confrontation, Ye Qin was uncertain whether he could defeat Xie Yun and escape safely. After a moment’s consideration, he ripped a piece of coarse cloth from his azure robe with a sharp hiss, quickly covering his face to prevent his features from being recognized. Then, with a light touch of his toes on a branch, he sprang upwards into the dense canopy.

Xie Yun, possessing keen hearing, immediately detected Ye Qin's location from the sound of the ripping cloth. He let out a cold snort, launched himself forward, stepped hard on a large tree, and leaped into the canopy to pursue.

As for movement skills, Ye Qin’s recently learned Wind Control Art was far inferior to the lightness skills Xie Yun had rigorously trained for over twenty years. Ye Qin was several times slower, and within a few blinks, Xie Yun caught up.

“Where do you think you’re running!”

Xie Yun closed the distance and roared behind Ye Qin. The shout echoed like a thunderclap through the forest, likely enough to overwhelm anyone with a weaker will. Xie Yun did not draw the long sword sheathed behind him, instead executing a palm and claw technique, instantly aiming for Ye Qin’s shoulder, attempting to subdue him in one move.

Ye Qin perceived the incoming force through sound and the wind.

He let out a cold chuckle. Immediately, while airborne, he executed a carp flip. His right leg drew back like a taut bow, whipping backward rapidly, kicking towards Xie Yun repeatedly. These kicks were at the speed of at least a first-rate expert’s strike, but lacking any internal Zhenqi infusion, they fell short in raw power.

Xie Yun met the attack with raised fists. The moment fist met foot, he discerned the weakness in Ye Qin’s kicking style—insufficient force. He snorted dismissively, unconcerned by the attack's power level. His hands struck out in a flurry of punches, blurring into more than ten afterimages, solidly blocking Ye Qin’s side kicks. However, he was quite intrigued by the speed of Ye Qin’s kicks. Someone capable of such rapid footwork was exceedingly rare within the Medicine Gathering Hall.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

Fists and feet interwove. In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged over a dozen rounds mid-air.

Subsequently, the momentum they had built up from leaping stalled; there was no solid footing left to push off from. They could not continue fighting while suspended in the air and began to drift toward the ground.

In this situation, the fight could only resume upon landing.

Yet, just before they touched down, at the precise moment Xie Yun was most mentally relaxed and physically drained—

A sudden, unforeseen change occurred.

A divine light flashed in Ye Qin’s eyes. He suspended himself mid-air in a posture utterly defying physics, and his legs shot out again like lightning, striking with a force perhaps ten times greater than his previous kicks.

Xie Yun could never have anticipated that Ye Qin’s true speed would be so monstrously abnormal. He was completely unprepared, let alone capable of defending himself. He desperately forced his Zhenqi to resist, but he couldn't even manage a defensive stance before his abdomen, Dantian, and several vital meridians were struck in quick succession by more than ten powerful kicks. Though the individual force might have been slightly weak, the sheer velocity of the kicks targeted his most vulnerable meridian points. This kind of impact was not something an ordinary person could endure.

With a thump, Xie Yun was thrown backward, crashing heavily onto the grass. He tumbled once and managed to prop himself up on one knee, enduring the turmoil of his internal energy surging backward through his abdomen and Dantian, barely able to support his body.

Ye Qin landed with an uncanny, ethereal lightness. He glanced at the fallen Xie Yun, confirmed the injuries would prevent pursuit, and then leisurely walked towards the distant county town. His mood was quite light; the most skilled senior disciple of the Medicine Gathering Hall had stumbled before him. It seemed that deploying the Wind Control Art suddenly at a critical juncture was quite effective.

Xie Yun’s lips trembled a few times as he tried to speak, but instead, he coughed up a mouthful of clotted, stagnant blood from the reversal of his Zhenqi. Gritting against the sharp pain in his stomach, his face pale, he looked up at Ye Qin’s retreating back, utterly horrified.

The moment he was struck by the kicks, he had rapidly cycled through every leg technique stored in the Medicine Gathering Hall’s secret manual library, yet he could not identify the style that had injured him.

Only after hitting the ground did a technique surface in his memory—the side kick.

Perhaps it shouldn't even be called a technique.

It was one of the most fundamental striking movements that every novice apprentice in every martial arts faction in Pingzhou learned—front kick, side kick, downward chop, great swing. It was a foundational move mandatory for all beginners.

As one of the most basic movements for an apprentice, this kicking style held no technical complexity whatsoever. One couldn't even discern which faction the practitioner belonged to from this move, as anyone in Pingzhou who knew martial arts had learned these basic leg stances.

But the kicks just delivered were too fast, too ruthless, and too accurate. The assailant had delivered a simple side kick continuously at a lightning speed invisible to the eye, driving it into his Dantian and meridians. This instantly threw his accumulated internal Zhenqi into chaos and reversal, preventing him from deploying his ultimate skills. If the force of the kicks had been heavier, Xie Yun suspected he might have died on the spot.

Xie Yun felt a lingering dread.

Furthermore, the man was deeply calculating.

The speed and power of the first set of kicks were indistinguishable from an ordinary first-rate expert, leading him to mistakenly believe he was facing a hidden master of legwork within the Hall, viewing it as nothing more than an earnest sparring session, and thus failing to deploy his supreme techniques in response.

Then, exhausting his strength mid-air, he was forced toward the ground—even the most agile first-rate lightness expert would have no choice but to land after their momentum failed in the air; sustained aerial combat was impossible.

But what he never anticipated was that the man’s exhaustion was feigned. At the final instant before landing, when Xie Yun was most mentally vulnerable, the assailant suddenly unleashed a second round of aerial kicks, this time delivered with terrifying swiftness at least ten times greater than the first. This struck him when his previous strength had waned and new energy had yet to gather, decisively injuring him. While the injury wasn't severe, he was unable to deploy any martial arts until the chaotic Zhenqi within him was stabilized.

Xie Yun’s face was deathly pale, his heart filled with bitterness as his hand tightly gripped a clump of dirt and grass on the ground.

In a single exchange, he, the supposed strongest disciple of the younger generation in the Medicine Gathering Hall, had been reduced to internal energy disruption—incapable of fighting—by the most basic side kick. Was this a monumental humiliation, or had he been privileged to witness a master of rare skill and superior intellect?

The attacker’s face was masked, he wore the azure robes of a Medicine Gathering apprentice, and appeared quite young. Who could possess such profound martial arts?

At that moment, several enforcement team members returned, escorting some inner and outer hall disciples they had apprehended. They found Xie Yun kneeling on the ground, his face ashen, and an azure-robed figure sprinting away in the distance of the woods.

“Senior Brother, what happened to you?”

“Who injured you?”

“Was it that person in blue robes from further away? Let’s pursue him; we must capture the culprit!”

They rushed anxiously toward Xie Yun, and some eager members even prepared to chase after the fleeing figure.

Xie Yun forcibly suppressed the erratic flow of his internal energy, managed to stand up, and coldly ordered with a face like iron: “No one chases! ... That was a top-tier traveling martial arts master who infiltrated our forest, masquerading as one of our disciples. You are no match for him. Gather the team and return to the city.”

－－－－－－－－－－－－ Calling for votes, let’s see the combat power of Baili’s readers! Last week we were second on the new book rankings, fighting among the top four masters. Although Baili has the fewest collections among them, the quality of recommendation votes is absolutely top-tier. This week, let our Baili Legion create another miracle, defeat the other three masters, and see who can stand at second place on the new book charts this week. Baili must strive hard this week. If we break onto the front page of the general recommendation list, I will work hard on my typing this week and release three chapters a day! .