The premise is, that fight with Lu Li doesn't count.
That one really shouldn't count, after all, Lu Li was already severely poisoned at that time, in a near-death state, truly at the end of his rope.
Even a slightly more powerful Qi Circulation Realm cultivator might have been able to finish him off.
In fact, although the gap between each major realm is quite significant, among the four realms before the fifth realm, the Passable God Realm, they are merely quantitative changes, not qualitative ones.
Forging the body to open the meridians leads to Energy Channeling.
Gathering Qi to condense a spring leads to the Martial Spring.
The spring surging to form a sea leads to the Qi Sea Realm.
The first four realms are essentially just changes and accumulation in the quantity and scale of true energy.
Chen Yan had already steeled himself with utmost focus, preparing to face the enemy.
In the end, it was one of the cultivators opposite who made the first move.
A blade light formed of true energy, glowing with a cyan radiance, came chopping down at Chen Yan's head and face.
The movement was fast.
But not faster than Chen Yan.
He merely took half a step to the side and easily dodged the assassin's blade strike.
Chen Yan was slightly surprised.
Because his intuition told him that even if he had taken that blade light head-on, he probably wouldn't have been seriously harmed.
These two assassins were weaker than he had imagined.
The sense of intimidation they brought to Chen Yan wasn't even as strong as that from Lu Li, who had been in a near-death state in the Prince's Mansion a few days ago.
Even among Martial Spring Realm cultivators, there are distinctions of strength and weakness.
Even so, given Chen Yan's innate talent, even if he had stepped into the Martial Spring Realm, he should have been among the weakest tier.
But now, Chen Yan felt the skill level of these two Martial Spring Realm assassins before him was clearly inferior to his own.
Soon, Chen Yan figured out the reason.
The Hidden Immortal Art.
Judging by the way these two assassins before him fought, they were clearly cultivators from the Kongshan Sect.
Before the Qi Sea Realm, the unified mental cultivation method practiced by Kongshan Sect disciples is the Kongshan Art.
Chen Yan was the same.
Having practiced both the Kongshan Art and the Hidden Immortal Art simultaneously, Chen Yan understood the difference between these two mental methods all too clearly—
The Kongshan Art, compared to the Hidden Immortal Art, was like toilet paper.
The method of circulating true energy was obscure and rigid.
The degree of development for the meridians and the Martial Spring was also quite low.
Even for the same person, the effect achieved by circulating true energy using the methods of the Kongshan Art versus using the methods of the Hidden Immortal Art was like heaven and earth.
Take the Kongshan Finger, for example.
The reason this technique is so popular among the Qi Circulation Realm disciples of the Kongshan Sect is entirely because this move has extremely high compatibility with the Kongshan Art.
Yet even so, when Chen Yan used the methods of the Hidden Immortal Art to execute the Kongshan Finger, the power he could unleash was still several times greater than the power unleashed using the Kongshan Art methods.
Thinking of this, Chen Yan exhaled another mouthful of turbid air and began to circulate the Hidden Immortal Art with his full concentration.
Instantly, all the energy auras Chen Yan had just released during the exchange vanished without a trace in an instant.
At this moment, Chen Yan, standing beside the bluestone slab, was no different from an ordinary person who hadn't yet begun cultivation.
"Playing mystical tricks!"
One of the assassins cursed, simultaneously pushing out two spiraling energy streams from both palms. Each spiral was layered with multiple levels of true energy, striking towards Chen Yan's chest with a momentum like a tidal wave.
Chen Yan did not dodge.
The moment the assassin's palm force struck Chen Yan's chest, several ripples suddenly appeared in the air before Chen Yan. All the multiple layers of energy force were absorbed and neutralized by these ripples.
A flash of surprise first appeared in the assassin's eyes, followed by fear and terror.
He had already realized he was absolutely no match for the person before him.
Without any hesitation, Chen Yan condensed his internal true energy, raised his right hand, and threw a punch directly at the assassin's head.
This punch easily shattered the protective true energy of the Martial Spring Realm assassin before him, as if breaking through a thin layer of ice, and then the fist heavily smashed into the other's head.
True energy erupted!
The assassin's body instantly flew sideways. When he landed, a part of his skull was already sunken in, his neck twisted 180 degrees, and his body had already lost its vitality.
Chen Yan's fighting style was extremely simple and brutal, just like when he was in the outer court competition.
First, because this straightforward punching was indeed very effective in a one-sided, overwhelming confrontation.
Second, because Chen Yan simply hadn't mastered many offensive techniques.
Especially offensive techniques for the Martial Spring Realm. Even though Chen Yan's cultivation level had reached the mid-stage of the Martial Spring Realm, his knowledge of the spells practiced by Martial Spring Realm cultivators could be said to be nonexistent.
Yet this still couldn't change the fact that, relying on the purity and circulation efficiency of the Hidden Immortal Art's true energy, Chen Yan could achieve invincibility within the same realm.
At the very least, within the Kongshan Sect, or even the entire Chenping Continent, there were no issues.
Because the advantage of the Hidden Immortal Art was simply too great.
After dealing with one assassin, there was still the other assassin.
The other assassin, who held a blade, had completely lost his will to fight after seeing his partner killed instantly by Chen Yan's single punch.
What kind of monster was this?
Weren't we told that not long ago he was still a Body Forging Realm cultivator who had just advanced to the early stage of the Qi Circulation Realm?
How could he punch a Martial Spring Realm cultivator to death with one blow?
Run!
The assassin decisively darted into the forest beside the road.
But how could Chen Yan let the other escape so easily?
Chen Yan focused his spiritual sense.
A black rope emerged from the assassin's shadow, binding his feet together.
Then, another beautiful blue light shot from Chen Yan's direction towards the assassin.
It was the Soul Ice Needles.
The Soul Ice Needles easily pierced through the assassin's protective true energy, stabbing towards his Martial Spring, locking down all the meridians in his body.
Chen Yan slowly walked forward, arriving beside the assassin.
"Who sent you to kill me?"
He asked coldly.
"What do you think?"
The assassin, bound by the Shadow Binding Rope on the ground, retorted.
Chen Yan didn't speak. He just slowly crouched down, picked up the assassin's right hand from the ground, placed his thumb against the assassin's little finger, and suddenly exerted force, bending it backwards.
Crack!
After a crisp sound, the assassin's little finger twisted backwards in an extremely bizarre manner.
The intense pain made the assassin involuntarily suck in a sharp breath.
"Bai Qiming? Fu Qian?"
Chen Yan continued slowly:
"Or someone else?"
"Definitely not the two you mentioned."
The assassin replied.
"Right."
Chen Yan nodded, then proceeded to twist the assassin's right ring finger and middle finger respectively:
"If it were the work of those two elders, they wouldn't have sent only two Martial Spring Realm cultivators... So, is it Song Wencheng?"
The assassin, who had already had three fingers broken alive, began to grimace in pain:
"No."
"Tsk."
Chen Yan clicked his tongue, then continued to break the assassin's right index finger. After that, he grasped the assassin's only remaining, intact thumb:
"Then are you willing to tell me who exactly sent you?"
The assassin remained silent.
Chen Yan let out a soft sigh, released the assassin's thumb, stood up, and began to walk away on the road back to the Kongshan Sect.
Struggling, the assassin sat up and looked towards Chen Yan's retreating back.
He saw Chen Yan pointing his own index finger towards his own forehead—
Kongshan Finger.