A wave of brutal aura emanated from the twin-headed spirit beast. The four eyes atop its two heads glowed faintly with a trace of pale red, as if the blood spattered upon the beast had solidified within its gaze, sending shivers down the spine.

At this very moment, He Yiming felt exactly that sensation.

Since achieving the pinnacle of his martial arts, he had already amassed considerable experience fighting against Xiantian masters.

Yet, never once had he felt such sheer terror.

Yes, this was panic, a feeling as if this spirit beast possessed an irresistible power over him.

Although he had just cleaved the creature until it was drenched in its own blood, this did not mean his strength vastly surpassed it.

In reality, aside from its ability to turn freely in mid-air and its body of Vajra-like invulnerability, it had revealed no other true capabilities.

The unknown was the most terrifying thing of all...

He Yiming drew a deep breath, his mind now completely calm. He could even hear the booming cadence of his own heartbeat, powerful and resonant like a war drum.

An aura of supreme dominance seemed to radiate from his own body, and his eyes held a sharp, challenging glare.

He gripped the tail end of the Great Guan Dao with his right hand and slowly raised it.

The nearly four-meter-long, three-hundred-and-sixty-jin Great Guan Dao was effortlessly held aloft by just one hand grasping its butt end.

The gleaming blade tip pointed toward the neck of the twin-headed spirit beast, and a surging, sky-piercing murderous intent spontaneously arose from the massive blade.

The spirit beast’s eyes seemed to contract. It sensed the incredible, overwhelming power emanating from this human—a spirit that resembled towering mountains, never admitting defeat. No matter how fierce its own aura, it seemed incapable of suppressing it.

It roared in fury, its two heads suddenly lowering as it charged straight ahead.

Compared to before, its speed seemed even swifter; the instant it lunged, it was already before He Yiming.

A mocking smile touched the corner of He Yiming's lips, and his body instantly blurred.

That seemingly indestructible, adamantine aura vanished in a flicker, becoming ethereal and intangible, as if it had disappeared without a trace.

His form left countless afterimages in the space, the essence of the Wind power, mastery over which allowed him to achieve such ultimate velocity.

At this point, the boots beneath He Yiming’s feet had long since been torn away. Beneath his feet, some invisible force seemed to support him as he circled the twin-headed spirit beast at unparalleled speed. It appeared as if he wasn't truly or directly touching the ground, suggesting he could tread on air.

In truth, this was merely an illusion created by the extreme quickness of He Yiming's movement technique.

Around his feet and body, his Zhenqi circulated, creating peculiar effects within a small radius. Aided by the power of the wind, his speed surpassed the physical limits of a human being.

Faced with this impossibly fast human, the twin-headed spirit beast was visibly agitated. The skin across its two heads tightened, and its massive jaws snapped open and shut intermittently, its sharp teeth biting wildly to no effect. Anxiety filled its four eyes. Though its fierce appearance remained, it looked utterly helpless.

As He Yiming moved, the Great Guan Dao continually flashed and swept down. Though the swift movement prevented him from unleashing the blade's true might or achieving the dramatic results of his earlier strikes, each cut landed somewhere on the beast, inflicting substantial pain that drew forth earth-shattering howls of rage.

Slowly, a strange feeling began to surface in He Yiming's heart. This spirit beast had brought him to the brink of extreme danger twice, yet once engaged, it seemed... ordinary. Could his perception be flawed?

An inexplicable unease settled within him. Though his strikes with the Great Guan Dao were merciless, he was deliberately withholding the most potent Zhenqi blade light.

He didn't know why he chose this course, but guided by some mysterious inner sensing, he made this decision naturally.

He seemed to prefer drawing out the confrontation, spending more effort rather than unleashing his ultimate technique prematurely.

The two fought fiercely for a full hour. He Yiming's blade momentum grew increasingly fierce, transforming into a massive sphere of light that enveloped the spirit beast. Fine wounds reappeared across the creature’s body, and blood slowly seeped from them. It seemed on the verge of collapse.

Suddenly, the spirit beast’s body went slack, and it stumbled, falling heavily to the ground.

He Yiming’s eyes brightened. After an hour of intense battle, even a Xiantian master like him felt a profound weariness creeping in.

While Xiantian masters were formidable, he was still human. Though Xiantian Zhenqi was mighty, the human form could not sustain endless expenditure.

Fighting this unknown monster at full strength for an hour was a tremendous strain on him.

Seeing victory within reach, He Yiming’s tension suddenly eased, and his Great Guan Dao transformed into a streak of lightning as he angrily brought it down.

But at that exact moment, as He Yiming’s vigilance waned, the spirit beast, which appeared utterly spent and collapsed, abruptly lifted its head.

Though fatigue was visible in its dual eyes, a light of absolute intensity shone within them.

Both of its massive mouths gaped wide, nurturing a formidable power that filled He Yiming with bone-chilling dread.

He Yiming’s heart leaped into his throat. This sudden turn of events, right when he had relaxed even slightly, felt like plummeting down a roller coaster from its highest point—a suffocating shock.

He finally understood why he had been so wary of the beast. Its trump card was the breath attack from its mouth.

Throughout the hour of combat, it had endured being cleaved by the Great Guan Dao, preferring severe injury to using the breath attack even once, deliberately creating the illusion that it was incapable of such a maneuver through mere snapping and biting.

Only now, sensing He Yiming’s relaxation, did it reveal its true, deadly fangs.

A gust of cyan wind and a torrent of blazing fire instantly reached He Yiming’s side.

This was the long-prepared breath attack, the spirit beast's ultimate power. Wind and fire seemed to tear through space instantaneously, shrinking the distance between them to nothing.

He Yiming’s gaze focused to a single point; his spirit reached its absolute apex in that instant.

At this moment of life and death, the scene before him seemed to shift. He felt as if he were ascending to a high vantage point once more.

He sensed the endless, fine mountain rain, felt the ethereal wind that swept over peaks and through the clouds...

The Great Guan Dao in his hand suddenly flared, and a blade light of emerald green burst forth, hacking toward the fierce inferno.

The blade swept through the heart of the flames, and a peculiar aura spread outward. The dense, powerful ball of fire instantly detonated.

The twin-headed spirit beast's fiery breath attack was utterly shattered by this single strike.

Countless scattered sparks danced in the air. Although these sparks contained potent fire energy, they were negligible against combatants of He Yiming's and the spirit beast's caliber.

Immediately following this, He Yiming let go. For the first time in the battle, the massive, terrifying weapon left his hands.

His body rose lightly; he seemed to transform into wind itself—true wind.

That cloud of cyan wind washed over He Yiming, lifting his body as easily as a fallen leaf, or as a breeze ripples a pool of water.

He Yiming’s body drifted within the cyan gale, seemingly merging into it, becoming a part of it.

Finally, the cyan wind dissipated, and He Yiming was blown a hundred meters away.

The twin-headed spirit beast stared blankly at He Yiming. After expelling those two breaths, its spirit rapidly diminished, as if it hadn't eaten, drunk, slept, or rested for ten days and nights, seemingly ready to collapse at any second.

Yet, its eyes remained locked onto He Yiming. It simply could not comprehend how He Yiming, cornered in a desperate situation, could possibly escape. It seemed utterly unbelievable.

Its body trembled violently, a flash of fear crossing its eyes. It instantly turned and fled toward the inner valley with all its remaining might, vanishing in a blur.

He Yiming’s face was deathly pale. Although he had shown restraint during the initial fierce confrontation, he never expected the spirit beast to possess such incredible endurance.

A sudden urge to curse rose within him. Such a spirit beast was even more cunning than humans!

If he hadn't experienced two moments of enlightenment, granting him a comprehension and control over wind, clouds, rain, and mist far exceeding ordinary people, he would now be dust, incinerated by the ball of fire, or sliced into ribbons by the cyan wind.

For a moment, his limbs felt icy cold, and all his strength seemed to drain away.

This was his first true, up-close encounter with death. Even he had felt inescapable doom moments earlier. Though he survived this trial narrowly, the profound terror instantly stripped him of all courage.

Fortunately, the spirit beast was even more shocked than he was. Its first impulse was not to pursue, but to retreat into the inner valley. Had it recklessly lunged forward again, He Yiming would surely have perished.

Watching the fleeing beast, the first thought that crossed He Yiming’s mind was also to flee—to escape as far away as possible.

He took several steps, but as his gaze swept over the Great Guan Dao lying silently on the ground, his movement halted abruptly. His scattered vision gradually coalesced.

He looked at the sword on the earth, and in his muddled mind, the image of his grandfather, He Wude, suddenly flashed by.

The old man shook the broad blade in his hand, producing a sharp clanging sound.

“Yiming, from this day forward, this blade belongs to you.”

“Yiming, forty years ago, I, your grandfather, came to Taicang County alone with this very blade. It was with this heavy saber that I established the vast foundation of He Family Estate over these decades. I long ago resolved that this blade would be passed to the most outstanding descendant of the He family, to witness the glory of our lineage.”

He looked up, smiling faintly, “I used this saber to forge the He family's foundation. Yiming, can you use it to expand and protect this legacy?”

The vision in his mind wavered, and then the frail, seemingly delicate figure of Yuan Lixun appeared.

“Young Master, my mother always taught my brother and me. Every person living in this world has a responsibility that is theirs alone. These responsibilities vary in size—the capable bear the larger ones, the less able bear the smaller ones. As long as you do what is within your power... that is enough.”

Unconsciously, He Yiming had arrived beside the Great Guan Dao lying on the ground. He slowly bent down. As his hand once again firmly gripped the weapon, his diffused gaze solidified anew.

His facial contours, now sharply defined, appeared incredibly resolute at this moment.

His eyes shone with a deep blackness, his sharp gaze fixed forward as if attempting to pierce something, silently observing the direction of the inner valley.

“Grandfather, I will not fail this blade.”

Past promises flashed through his mind like lightning. Shouldering the saber, he strode forward, crossing the shattered, pockmarked rock face separating the outer and inner valleys, entering the mysterious gorge.

The scenery within the inner valley had changed once again. It was nearly double the size of the outside area. Near the back, there was a deep pool covering several hundred square meters.

He Yiming suddenly realized that upon entering the inner valley, his Shunfeng Ear technique had instantly ceased to function as usual. Here, his hearing seemed constrained by some force, making him less perceptive than an ordinary person.

His gaze fell upon the water pool, causing him to pause slightly.

There, he beheld a spectacle that almost defied belief.

Above the water, a massive white stone was suspended. The stone, the size of two or three men, was pure white, its composition unknown. What shocked He Yiming profoundly was that this stone floated silently about half a meter above the water’s surface.

It hung there as if weightless, seemingly ready to be blown away by a mere gust of wind.

A strange radiance emanated from the stone—a white light, milky like fresh cream. When reflected by the ripples in the pool, this light cast a dreamlike, ethereal feeling upon the observer.

The twin-headed spirit beast was currently crouched beside the pool. The light radiating from the white stone enveloped it perfectly.

He Yiming glanced at the beast and immediately noticed that the skin lacerated by the Great Guan Dao was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just moments, it was nearly fully restored.

Furthermore, the spirit beast’s spirit and energy seemed greatly rejuvenated. While it didn't yet project a feeling of peak condition, it was undeniably worlds away from its previous exhaustion.

He Yiming instantly understood that the light from this white boulder not only healed the beast’s external wounds but could also rapidly restore its vitality.

If he had faced this situation upon first entering the valley, he might have hesitated. But now, his gaze was unwavering, and his steps moved forward without hesitation. His body moved with the natural flow of moving water, and the Great Guan Dao was raised high above his head.

The spirit beast’s eyes turned cold. Its two great mouths opened again, spitting forth fire and wind like lightning bolts.

He Yiming’s blade flashed, sending sparks flying. He struck down once, forcefully cleaving the two streams of fire and wind apart. However, his footing wavered, and he was forced back several steps.

The spirit beast opened its maw again, spraying fire and wind as if they were limitless, creating a formidable wall of wind and fire in the air.

He Yiming's heart tightened. The fact that the spirit beast, bathed in white light, could be so powerful was hard to imagine. He dared not meet the attack head-on again, desperately dodging within the maelstrom, seemingly surrounded by danger. Yet, his mind remained perfectly composed. With his wind-like movement technique, he navigated hazards easily, though advancing seemed entirely impossible.

Suddenly, the surface of the pool rippled, and a figure shot out of the water, seizing the floating stone, clutching it tightly, and beginning to sink back toward the pool.

This sudden development surprised both man and beast.

He Yiming’s gaze, sharp as electricity, recognized the slender figure as Yuan Lixun. He had no idea how she had managed to infiltrate the pool and appear at this critical moment.

Upon seeing the stone sinking into the water, the twin-headed spirit beast instantly plunged into a frenzy. One head whipped around, and several cyan beams shot through the air, leaving afterimages, instantly striking Yuan Lixun. With a plop, accompanied by the sound of the white stone hitting the water, she vanished.

He Yiming’s constantly maneuvering body froze abruptly, and for an instant, his mind went utterly blank.

As the blindingly white stone descended into the water, his heart sank deeply.

He suddenly felt as if a crucial element had been torn from him—something etched into his very soul.

His internal Zhenqi began to circulate instinctively: the Water-element ripple technique, the Wood-element Withered Tree technique, the Fire-element Blazing Fire technique, the Earth-element Great Strength Art, and finally, converting to the Metal-element Primordial Unity Force.

These inner energies, originally belonging to Houtian cultivation methods, had subtly changed after he advanced to Xiantian, seemingly transcending their original realm.

At this moment, the five-element flowing Xiantian power erupted, and golden light burst forth from the Great Guan Dao held high above his head...

P.S.: That bastard needs to be **! White Crane is striving hard to stop him from exploding! Begging for votes, tearfully running away...