Invincibility Begins with Mastery of Fist Techniques-Chapter 88: Victory or Defeat

Feimura Masayuki pressed his palms together before his chest, stopping Dong Wanming's Finger Sword thrust at the last possible second and pulling himself back from the Ghost Gate.

Blade Seizure Without a Blade. This was the supreme Mystical Technique of Tianhe Country's New Yin Style Sword Dao. Its true meaning was to seize an opponent's weapon while unarmed, thereby rendering them unable to cause harm.

It required exceptional vision, reflexes, experience, and judgment, along with unwavering courage and determination.

His strike, like a white rainbow piercing the sun, had been blocked. Dong Wanming's eyes widened in shock as he sharply retracted his hand.

The next moment, a powerful aura erupted from Feimura Masayuki, whose eyes had been lowered until now. He took advantage of the opening after Dong Wanming's intense burst of Heart Intent and stamina to launch a ferocious assault.

Before Dong Wanming could retreat, Feimura Masayuki suddenly surged forward, closing the distance with extreme speed. He raised his arm high above his head, formed his hand into a blade, and chopped down fiercely.

Sword Dao, One Cut, Two Pieces!

The explosive burst of power sliced through the air, and the sound of his palm carving through it clearly reached Dong Wanming's ears.

Hah!

Dong Wanming brought the heels of his palms together and thrust them upward, his ten fingers splayed like a blooming lotus, to block Feimura Masayuki's chopping strike.

He didn't use his forearms to block, knowing that the immense force of the strike would likely fracture the bones in his arms.

BAM!

A muffled sound of flesh on flesh rang out as the powerful force pushed Dong Wanming back slightly.

However, this was only the beginning.

What awaited Dong Wanming was a flurry of attacks from Feimura Masayuki, as relentless as a sudden storm.

Using his palms as blades, he now embodied the core tenets of the New Yin Style Sword Dao: speed, precision, and ruthlessness.

The New Yin Style was a Sword Dao technique born for ancient warfare. Regardless of its lofty ideals, at its core—setting aside the aspects of mental and physical cultivation—it was purely a technique for killing. Its single pursuit was to crush the enemy at the fastest speed and with minimal cost.

Wrist Cutting, Upper Slash and Teasing Yin, Beheading, Throat Stabbing... Each and every move carried an air of simple, vicious lethality.

His palms moved at a dizzying speed, tracing arcs through the air that, paradoxically, resembled blooming flowers.

These attacks seemed chaotic, but they were anything but. Amidst his assault, Feimura Masayuki used his powerful Perception Power over air currents to predict his opponent's movements. He sought the optimal angles in the airflow to minimize resistance, thereby achieving maximum speed and power.

"This guy... he's probably not far from mastering the legendary Secret Technique of Tianhe Country, Swallow Return."

Watching Feimura Masayuki's assault, He Runlin couldn't help but remark in a low voice.

Not only that, but as his assault intensified, his Spirit and willpower soared to new heights.

In the arena, Dong Wanming began to fall back step by step under Feimura Masayuki's overwhelming assault.

Executing that peerless thrust—a strike that could challenge a nation and overturn mountains and rivers—had already taken a significant toll on his mind and stamina. What's more, after Feimura Masayuki's miraculous Blade Seizure Without a Blade, he had instantly lost the initiative and was forced onto the defensive.

His opponent's hand-blades slashed through his Martial Arts Uniform and skin, drawing blood. He looked to be in mortal danger, as if he could fall in defeat at any second.

At the same time, the top-tier Martial Artists present could all sense that Dong Wanming's Spirit was beginning to fade. The light of the blazing sun in his will seemed to be dimming.

'Is this it for him?'

The top-tier Martial Artists present furrowed their brows.

The Assassin's Path was one of total concentration on a single strike, a simultaneous eruption of physical energy and Heart Intent, powerful enough to overturn mountains and rivers, swift as a white rainbow piercing the sun.

But after that one strike, his momentum would naturally wane. It was a perfect illustration of the saying: courage is high at the first drum roll, wanes at the second, and is exhausted by the third.

The most famous assassin of ancient times met his end in the grand hall precisely because his one and only strike was thwarted.

'Would this be Dong Wanming's end, too?'

The audience also seemed to notice that Dong Wanming was at a disadvantage. After a brief silence, they erupted into even fiercer and more unified shouts:

"Victory!!"

"Victory!!"

"Victory!!"

The entire arena erupted in a deafening, tsunami-like roar.

Dong Wanming's aura grew fainter and fainter. He retreated step by step under Feimura Masayuki's relentless assault, and the wounds on his body multiplied.

But his eyes remained calm throughout.

He drew everything inward, waiting for one final opportunity.

Amidst his constant retreat, amidst the roaring cheers of the crowd, his Spirit seemed to transcend into another time and space.

Years ago, the nation was shattered, teetering on the brink of collapse. The Lion slept, and its people suffered.

The country, much like he was now, was besieged by crises from all sides, teetering on the brink, in danger of total annihilation at any moment.

DONG!!

Just then, his retreating feet hit something hard. Without realizing it, under Feimura Masayuki's assault, he had been backed up against the wall of the arena.

At this moment, he was just like the nation back then.

Retreating step by step, enduring one humiliation after another, only to end up covered in wounds and forced into a corner.

Countless innocent people were slaughtered, countless citizens displaced, and so many of the living were like the walking dead.

The land was ravaged, and blood flowed in rivers. If the nation ceases to exist, what becomes of home?

There was nowhere left to hide, nowhere left to run.

Then there was only one choice: rise and fight back!

In the nation's time of peril, countless patriots and common people rose in rebellion, willing to sacrifice their lives and shed their blood, daring to lead the charge.

Perhaps they never knew that the path they walked was, in fact, the Assassin's Path!

Inspired by history, fueled by the burning will of the crowd, and with nowhere left to retreat, Dong Wanming seemed to grasp a powerful, ancient will that had lingered over this land for years, never fading.

He snapped his eyes open. His contained Spirit instantly billowed outward, creating a wondrous resonance that encompassed the very soul of every single person cheering in the crowd.

He moved.

This thrust abandoned all defense, carrying the power to overturn mountains and rivers, to drive out invaders, and to remake the world.

Even if Feimura Masayuki could defeat him, he would ensure his opponent was grievously wounded in the process.

Both had reached the absolute limit of power beneath Saint Awakening; they were evenly matched.

Faced with this strike, which seemed to carry the imprint of an entire era, Feimura Masayuki's will, entangled with Dong Wanming's, also seemed to slip into another time and space.

He saw with perfect clarity the tragic scenes that had unfolded on this land many years ago.

The bodies strewn across the ground, the earth stained red with blood, the pairs of eyes—some numb, some hateful, some fearless.

It was like Purgatory on Earth.

And in that other land, were the people happy? Under spiritual brainwashing, they lived like machines and puppets. Countless young men charged to their deaths for the sake of ridiculous ideals and slogans, dying in foreign lands with their families scattered and their bodies never recovered. In the end, even children as young as thirteen and fourteen were forced onto the battlefield.

They were nothing but sacrificial lambs to bloated ambition and endless desire.

Unbidden, scalding tears streamed from his eyes.

War brought nothing but pain to both sides. Slaughter brought nothing but a ceaseless, churning tide of hatred that rolled in again and again, forever sweeping everything away.

At that moment, he finally understood. He understood the founder of the New Yin Style—a famed swordsman from the era of Tianhe's warring states who had slain countless men with his Killing Blade. He understood why that man, upon founding his school, had established the Living Sword as its supreme Heart Technique and Blade Seizure Without a Blade as its highest Mystical Technique. He finally understood the founder's unconventional slogan: 'Take no pride in killing; victory lies in not being killed.'

Only after enduring long years of war and conflict can one truly understand the value of peace.

The true meaning of Blade Seizure Without a Blade was not to take the sword from an opponent's hand, but to dissolve the sword in their heart.

Unfortunately, too many in Tianhe Country could not grasp this principle, even denouncing Blade Seizure Without a Blade as a heretical path.

'They were all wrong.'

Facing Dong Wanming's all-or-nothing strike—a blow meant to save his homeland and serve as a beacon in a chaotic world—Feimura Masayuki suddenly retracted all his attacks and abandoned all defense. In an instant, his killing intent, his aura, and his will all vanished.

He pressed his hands together before his chest, a faint smile on his face. Incredibly, he gave a slight bow to the charging Dong Wanming.

The killing intent vanished, and flowers bloomed in its place.

This was Bodhi.

Dong Wanming was profoundly shaken by the sight. He instantly tensed his muscles, forcibly halting his fatal thrust.

He would not deliver a killing blow to someone who showed no hostility.

His finger ultimately came to rest between the eyebrows of Feimura Masayuki, who stood with palms pressed together in a slight bow. It broke the skin, and a trickle of crimson blood began to flow down.

Dong Wanming's Spirit had immersed itself in an era to subdue his foe, but at the final moment, Feimura Masayuki had dissolved the Sharp Sword in his opponent's heart.

Who won? Who lost?