Chapter 101: Identity Revealed

Beiming Ce plunged headlong into the Magnetic Execution Domain.

The domain, woven from yin force and essence, revolved of its own accord, carrying a strange, twisting power capable of affecting the bodily functions of any martial practitioner.

The instant Beiming Ce fell into it, he sensed that something was wrong, and his expression changed abruptly.

Inside the domain, his body hung in midair, spinning involuntarily—one moment upside down, the next curled into a ball—unable to maintain even the simplest upright stance.

Within the same domain, however, Shi Yan, the one who had formed it, remained completely unaffected. He first watched Beiming Ce for a moment with a detached expression, then suddenly moved.

The air boomed with a series of explosive impacts.

Shi Yan drove the full force of his body like a surging flood dragon toward Beiming Ce. His arms spread wide, his hand clamped around Beiming Ce’s waist, and his iron knee crashed upward.

The Finger Spear Art condensed in an instant. Shi Yan’s five fingers curved like hooks, stabbing savagely into Beiming Ce’s waist.

Clink. Clink.

A crisp metallic ringing sounded from Beiming Ce’s waist.

Beneath his green robe, Beiming Ce wore a close-fitting suit of armor like overlapping fish scales. It gleamed with an icy luster and exuded an astonishing chill.

Shi Yan’s Finger Spear Art struck down, yet it could not pierce that crystalline armor. It only punched a row of finger-shaped holes through Beiming Ce’s robe.

Though Beiming Ce’s body spun helplessly within the domain, he was inwardly shaken to the core. Once more he drove the Extreme Cold Ice Flame martial spirit within him to full force.

Under the impetus of the Extreme Cold Ice Flame, the ice-bright armor suddenly spread over his entire body.

In an instant, even Beiming Ce’s face was covered in scale-like crystalline armor.

It was clearly a wondrous secret treasure. Not only was its defense astonishing, it also matched the attribute of Beiming Ce’s Extreme Cold Ice Flame martial spirit, strengthening one another.

With the martial spirit surging, torrents of cold energy flooded into the armor. It seemed to awaken, and a piercingly frigid aura began spilling out uncontrollably.

Shi Yan’s Finger Spear Art struck Beiming Ce’s body, unable to breach the armor. Instead, the terrifying cold radiating from it seeped into his fingers, making all ten of them increasingly stiff.

Even now, Beiming Ce was still spinning rapidly within the domain, unable to steady himself, and could only endure Shi Yan’s relentless assault passively.

But with that crystalline armor protecting him, Beiming Ce was not the least bit worried. He was still waiting for a chance to counterattack.

Not good.

A glint of chill flashed in Shi Yan’s eyes. He drew a deep breath inside the domain, finally rousing the negative force within his body, and immediately entered his berserk state.

A savage, bloodthirsty, evil aura suddenly erupted from him. Shi Yan’s face darkened, and a pale mist began coiling around his entire body.

Diyalan’s delicate frame shuddered violently. She stared in disbelief at Shi Yan inside the domain and cried out, “Ding Yan!”

Mu Yudie’s lovely face changed slightly. Her beautiful eyes also fixed on Shi Yan, and the expression on her features became extraordinarily complicated.

Once Shi Yan entered his berserk state, the negative power within him surged forth in full force, condensing into thick white mist. His body was filled with a brutal, bloodthirsty, frenzied aura.

This state was too wicked and too strange. Diyalan and Mu Yudie only needed one look to recognize that this young man of the Shi Clan was the very same Ding Yan who had once left them behind.

“How can it be him?” Mu Yudie’s expression was complicated beyond words. She shook her head hard and murmured, “Impossible. It has to be impossible. His appearance is completely different. Ding Yan was only an unknown martial practitioner. How could he be a young master of the Shi Clan? Impossible…”

Mu Yudie could not believe this fact, nor was she willing to believe it.

“Shi Yan is Ding Yan!”

Diyalan had shared intimate closeness with Shi Yan before, and she knew his berserk state too well. No matter how his appearance changed, once Shi Yan entered that state, the aura he gave off was utterly unique.

Mu Yudie stood frozen there, staring blankly at Shi Yan, as though her heart had been upended and all manner of feelings were flooding through her at once.

Diyalan’s bright eyes shone. Her ample bosom rose and fell with quickened breaths, drawing alluring curves beneath her clothes. Looking intensely at Shi Yan, she suddenly felt anxious and said urgently, “Xiao Die, Beiming Ce is fighting Ding Yan. How can this be allowed? I don’t want either of them to come to harm.”

Mu Yudie took a few deep breaths and gradually calmed herself, then shook her head helplessly. “Can you stop them?”

Diyalan froze, and after a moment she said, “We have to try.”

“You don’t understand Beiming Ce.” Mu Yudie sighed. “Anything he sets his eyes on, he will never allow another to touch. Besides, Ding Yan has already spoken so arrogantly before. Now he definitely won’t let Ding Yan go. Sigh… even if Ding Yan really is a young master of the Shi Clan, he still can’t contend with Beiming Ce. The Shi Clan and the Beiming Clan are simply on completely different levels.”

“No. I have to stop them.” Diyalan’s expression turned resolute. She cried sharply, “Ding Yan, stop! Young Master Beiming, stop fighting! Please stop!”

Shi Yan heard Diyalan’s cries perfectly clearly, but his face remained cold and he paid her no heed.

Threads of negative force were driven out from his acupuncture points. Shi Yan’s power surged violently. Suddenly, within the domain, he activated the Life Seal. In his right hand, seven radiant hand seals condensed in rapid succession, flashing with strange light, and all struck toward Beiming Ce almost simultaneously.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Beiming Ce took seven consecutive Life Seal impacts to the chest. He was forcibly blasted out of the domain by Shi Yan and flew directly more than fifty meters away.

He spat out a mouthful of blood. Bones in his chest were shattered, and the gleam on the ice-bright armor dimmed as well. Even it could not withstand Shi Yan’s overwhelmingly fierce Life Seal.

After landing, Beiming Ce quickly got back to his feet. His face was as white as paper, and blood still hung at the corners of his lips.

“Ding Yan!” Diyalan suddenly screamed. “Stop fighting! All of you, stop fighting!”

Beiming Ce rose to his feet with a ferocious expression, carrying the Heaven-Rending Sword. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and fixed Shi Yan with a venomous glare. “Shi Yan, I’ll not only kill you, I’ll wipe out your Shi Clan as well.”

“You?” Shi Yan’s killing intent soared to the heavens. His gaze was icy, and he licked the corner of his lips with a cruel smile. “You’re not qualified.”

“Ding Yan!” Diyalan cried out again.

Mu Yudie was also growing anxious. She said aloud, “Ding Yan, you should understand the strength of the Beiming Clan. In Skyfall City, opposing the Beiming Clan will bring you no good.”

Shi Yan drew a breath and turned to glance at the two women. His eyes were cold, without the slightest trace of emotion. “I don’t know you.”

With that, Shi Yan suddenly walked step by step toward Beiming Ce.

With each step he took, the space around him rippled and warped. As he moved, the domain enveloping him continued to release its strange, crushing power.

As long as he remained inside the domain, Shi Yan had nothing to fear from Beiming Ce’s teleportation martial spirit. Once Beiming Ce entered the domain, Shi Yan was confident he could deal with him at his own pace.

Beiming Ce had learned his lesson as well.

Seeing Shi Yan approaching step by step, his face suddenly turned cold, but he did not use his teleportation martial spirit to rush forward. Instead, he actually sat down where he was.

The Heaven-Rending Sword shot out at once.

Under the blazing crimson and ice-blue light, the Heaven-Rending Sword seemed truly to carry the power to split heaven and earth apart, suddenly slashing down from above Shi Yan’s head.

With a soft crack, the Heaven-Rending Sword struck the domain. A strange sound rang out from within it, and then the sword sank into the domain.

Crimson and ice-blue sword light erupted violently.

Inside the domain, the sword light scattered everywhere together with the strangling force. Within that sharp brilliance lay boundless sword qi, terrifying beyond measure.

Ssshh, ssshh, ssshh, ssshh.

All at once, sword marks appeared across Shi Yan’s body.

The sword light exploding from the Heaven-Rending Sword, much like Mu Hui’s Nether Spirit Blade, was also incomparably sharp. It actually succeeded in breaking through Shi Yan’s Petrification martial spirit.

A spiritual-grade weapon was indeed extraordinary.

Shi Yan’s expression tightened. He flickered out of the domain, blood streaming from him, only to feel his body burning with pain.

Dozens of wounds had been left on him by the sword light from Beiming Ce’s Heaven-Rending Sword, each one nearly a centimeter deep.

Teleportation.

Beiming Ce suddenly appeared beside Shi Yan and threw a bare-handed punch. The Extreme Cold Ice Flame martial spirit attached itself to his fist and struck directly into Shi Yan’s back.

Bang.

Shi Yan staggered forward ten meters in a sorry state and also spat out a mouthful of blood.

Before he could even steady himself, Shi Yan hurriedly urged his yin force and formed a Yin Wall around himself with incredible speed.

Only after the Yin Wall appeared did Shi Yan dare look more closely. Beiming Ce was indeed already in front of him, holding the Extreme Cold Ice Flame in his hand and staring at him coldly.

Had Shi Yan not condensed the Yin Wall as fast as he had, Beiming Ce would have blanketed his entire body with the Extreme Cold Ice Flame without the slightest hesitation, freezing him directly into an ice block before brutally dismembering him.

“Return,” Beiming Ce said in a low voice.

With a beckoning gesture, the Heaven-Rending Sword that had fallen into the center of the domain suddenly shot back, landing in his hand like a streak of flowing light.

Holding the Heaven-Rending Sword, Beiming Ce wore a vicious expression and grinned savagely. “Let’s see how you keep fighting me now.”

Shi Yan’s face was grim. He had also realized that this Magnetic Execution Domain seemed effective only against living beings with intelligence, and could not restrain the Heaven-Rending Sword itself.

If he hid within the Magnetic Execution Domain, Beiming Ce could direct the Heaven-Rending Sword in after him with a mere thought, then unleash sword light to deal with him inside the domain.

If he remained outside the domain, Beiming Ce could rely on teleportation to close in like a specter and strike when least expected.

Troublesome.

Beiming Ce, with his twin martial spirits, was exceptionally powerful. Add to that his array of secret treasures: offense with the Heaven-Rending Sword, defense with the ice armor. He was almost without flaw.

“Master Ce, please don’t kill him. He’s a friend of mine!” Diyalan suddenly cried out, seeing how badly things had turned for Shi Yan.

“Master Ce, could you spare his life for my sake?” Mu Yudie hesitated, then sighed inwardly and also raised her voice to plead.

Beiming Ce remained unmoved. He shook his head and said flatly, “If it were anything else, I would certainly agree to you. If Shi Yan had not displayed such terrifying strength today, I would have agreed as well. But now, I cannot. He is only at the Human Realm, yet he possesses a body of secret arts and the power to threaten my life. If he lives, the Shi Clan may one day have the chance to climb over my Beiming Clan. Therefore, he must die.”

As soon as these words fell, Beiming Ce no longer hesitated. The Heaven-Rending Sword in his hand shot out again and slashed down directly at Shi Yan.

Carrying unparalleled sword qi, the Heaven-Rending Sword dragged a ten-meter-long trail of sword light behind it, as if it were truly splitting heaven and earth, descending like a meteor from the sky.

Sword light burst forth from the Heaven-Rending Sword, sealing Shi Yan in from all directions and completely blocking off the surrounding space.

“Ding Yan!” Diyalan screamed miserably.

“Ah…” Mu Yudie shook her head lightly, her face full of helplessness, while a trace of pain flashed through her eyes.

“Life-and-Death Seal.”

Three obscure words suddenly came from Shi Yan’s mouth.

Beneath the rain of sword light, Shi Yan’s expression was firm, his eyes without the slightest trace of fear.

Under the gaze of Mu Yudie and Diyalan, Shi Yan’s right hand swelled continuously, while his left hand grew thinner and thinner, until it was little more than skin stretched over bone.

At the same time, two utterly different terrifying auras suddenly burst forth from within Shi Yan’s two arms.

…