Chapter 622: Intent
"I found that your blade strike also contained some strange blade intent." Observing the rapidly healing wound on his foot through his Spirit Energy perception, Teach discerned something deeper.
Fist intent, sword intent, blade intent—these were all concepts belonging to the Martial Path.
Martial artists released the spiritual power contained within their Dharma Body through physical attacks, using a unique method: Intent.
This power was imbued with a style unique to each individual.
Some Intents were purely violent and destructive; once entangled, this Intent would continuously ravage the wound until its power was exhausted, or the enemy perished.
Others were insidious, their Intent not exploding with fierce power, but subtly lurking within the victim's body, over time transforming into internal injuries, damaging internal organs, shortening lifespan, and killing without a trace.
Of course, there were also martial artists who did the opposite, following a healing path; they treated illnesses by striking their patients repeatedly, using their fist intent to heal and save lives.
...
However, Bai Mo's blade intent was peculiar. It possessed neither destructive power nor positive effects, yet it always gave one the feeling that its presence could not be ignored.
"It has no effect on the outside world; it merely exists. Does such a blade intent have any meaning?"
"Existence... that is enough..."
...
Meanwhile, Ying Huo gradually recovered from Bai Mo's blade strike.
Mars's cultivation civilization was far less developed than Earth's; the development of its various power systems was still in a primitive era.
They possessed no so-called universal Spirit Arts, no efficient methods of stimulating cultivation, nor a mature system of thought. Gaining power relied essentially on talent plus combat, with all insights gleaned from ceaseless tribal warfare.
Thus, regarding the newly appeared blade intent, it was utterly baffled, perceiving it only as a unique form of mental energy that it wished to analyze, yet had no starting point.
...
"Mio, I'm here!"
In the chaotic Yuegui City, Su Ming, buried under layers of rubble, continuously shouted.
The Moon, under the influence of Mars's gravity, continuously accelerated, gradually breaking free from the Federation's last restraints.
Thus, for the cities built upon it, their nightmare began.
Violent tremors, like a magnitude ten earthquake, ceaselessly ravaged every building on the surface.
"Hold on, don't close your eyes!" The black-haired girl, her face streaked with bloody tear marks, was desperately digging towards the source of the sound.
Disregarding her body's exhaustion, she frantically and repeatedly used her ability, attempting to directly dig a tunnel toward Su Ming's voice.
Every additional use brought two more drops of bloody tears from the corners of her eyes.
Crimson tear drops fell to the ground, corroding it like sulfuric acid and emitting wisps of white smoke.
"Why did an earthquake suddenly happen...? I don't want to die yet..."
Su Ming, trapped under the rubble, had only this thought left in his mind.
Although he also heard Mio's faint voice and knew he absolutely couldn't close his eyes now, the dizziness and exhaustion caused by excessive blood loss still made Su Ming's eyelids constantly droop.
His body urged him to give up again and again, to end this excruciating torment as soon as possible. But the desire to survive, and his yearning for the person he loved, allowed his will to persevere until now.
...
"I... am... sorry."
Only one last concrete slab remained. At this moment, the bare-handed Mio was digging at a speed comparable to ten small excavators working simultaneously. However, separated by that twenty-centimeter-thick reinforced concrete, she felt Su Ming's life-flame about to extinguish.
"No!!!!!"
The devastating news of her beloved dying before her eyes caused the girl to erupt.
In her frenzy, she swung her slender arms, punching the concrete slab that separated them by life and death!
One punch!
"Bang!"
Cracks appeared on the concrete slab.
Another punch!
"Bang!"
The embedded rebar was exposed; judging by its thickness, there appeared to have been no cutting corners.
One more punch!
"Bang!"
This concrete slab, embedded with rebar, was actually smashed open by her in three brutal punches!
The only cost, however, was that her once smooth palms became a bloody mess, her finger bones severely fractured; barely could one discern the shape of a hand.
"I won't let you die!"
The girl used her still relatively intact left hand to pull the unconscious Su Ming out of the trapped rubble.
Su Ming's thighs, stomach, and chest were covered in wounds of varying depths. He looked like a tattered rag doll, soaked in blood and utterly broken.
Su Ming, who had already stopped breathing, lay quietly on the girl's lap.
...
She tore open her top, used a fingernail to pierce a blood vessel above her heart, and painstakingly extracted a drop of purplish-gold blood.
The moment the blood was extracted, the girl's previously vigorous aura instantly plummeted considerably.
This precious drop of heart-blood, cradled on the tip of her left index finger, was slowly delivered to Su Ming's parched lips.
A few seconds later, Su Ming, whose heart had almost stopped beating, miraculously opened his eyes.
The first thing that met his eyes was a certain beautiful expanse of white.
"Am I... in heaven?"
"But why does this scent feel somewhat familiar..."
He tried to get up, but the intense pain brought Su Ming back from heaven to the human world.
Pain!
Pain inside, pain outside; there was no part of his body that didn't ache.
At this moment, he used all his strength to lift his head, gazing at the girl's pale face.
"Mio..." Su Ming felt his throat was on fire; every word was exceptionally difficult to utter.
"This time, I won't lose you again." The girl, called Mio, gently supported Su Ming.
"This... time...?" Su Ming felt something was off, but his mind had reached its limit. He only managed to say those three words before once again falling into a deep sleep.
Mio was none other than Xu Xuanling, whom Bai Mo had sent from the Manghuang Realm to the Moon several years ago. Just now, in a moment of extreme emotional upheaval, she unexpectedly rediscovered her true self, breaking through the "Illusion of Self" Bai Mo had set for her.
An invisible True Spirit Barrier temporarily isolated her from the power of Daoization.
And this also meant that, from this moment onward, she had essentially stepped into the Myriad Manifestation Stage.
Although this might be the weakest Myriad Manifestation Stage in history, or even for centuries to come, heavily wounded, she could exert negligible power apart from a trace of her indestructible essence.
"Make it... stop!"
But after the breakthrough, she once again burned herself, attempting to halt the Moon, this runaway wild horse.
Three minutes later, the Moon would collide with Mars.
PS: For the characters Mio and Su Ming, you can refer back to Chapter 530 - Girl in the Shell.
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