Master, What Dao Do You Cultivate?-Chapter 41: First the Sword, Then the Head

When she first heard Master’s plan, Yu Ye was a bit resistant. After all, she really didn’t have any experience with this kind of illicit affair setup and was worried that saying the wrong thing might ruin the entire plan.
Mad Ye, on the other hand, was eager to take part, but unfortunately, Yu Ye didn’t give her the chance.
In the room on the right, Ji Qinglin had asked a vendor to book it in advance and place a remote control player inside. From beginning to end, that room had never been occupied.
After gearing up with any potentially useful weapons and armor, Yu Ye looked at the toxic caltrops loaded into the stun gun and asked:
“Master, it’s already a two-on-one. Isn’t using stuff like this a little dishonorable?”
“Honor is something the living talk about. If you feel guilty, you can apologize to the corpse after you kill him.”
So, once the Coal Boss confirmed that Duan Tianpeng was inside the room, Master and Disciple started playing out their “A Good Master Makes a Great Disciple” scene.
——————
Duan Tianpeng had at least been an active sky thief for a while. Even when he jumped out the window and got bound mid-air, followed by a fierce Water-Splitting Strike rushing at him, he still didn’t lose his cool.
He quickly kicked off the wall to dodge to the side, narrowly avoiding a kick aimed straight at his throat.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, that leg that had just swept past him hooked back and struck his shoulder. The black figure used the momentum to flip mid-air and brought a powerful leg strike crashing down onto the top of his head.
With his arms bound, Duan Tianpeng couldn’t deal with such a sudden move. He had no choice but to twist his head aside and take the blow with his shoulder.
Bang—
A dull thud followed as the black-clad figure slammed Duan Tianpeng heavily into the ground. The moment his feet landed, cracks spread across the pavement beneath him.
Realizing his attacker was a woman, Duan Tianpeng had originally thought he could tank the move mid-air, but he hadn’t expected that second strike to be just as powerful as the Water-Splitting Strike.
As they landed, Duan Tianpeng finally saw her face clearly. Sure enough, it was that striking female disciple from the Ji Family General Store—dressed in tight black gear, expression cold and eyes locked firmly on him. She clearly wasn’t here to chat.
The alley had only two paths besides climbing to the rooftop—one ahead and one behind. Yu Ye was already blocking his way forward, and the rear exit led past that same general store.
He didn’t believe that a Master and Disciple pair who set up such a trap wouldn’t have placed some obstacle near their own store.
And now, Duan Tianpeng could already feel a numb, tingling sensation in his right hand. Normally, it wouldn’t bother him—but the poison he’d been hit with earlier at the Commerce Guild President’s home in West Chang District hadn’t been fully purged yet. Being poisoned now only made things worse. Dragging this out would only make it harder for him to win.
With that in mind, Duan Tianpeng pushed off the ground and broke free from the ropes, his figure flickering as he charged straight toward Yu Ye.
It was the same Phantom Shadow Soul-Chasing Steps, but Yu Ye knew Duan Tianpeng was far more practiced with it—she couldn’t even track his exact attack angle.
Thankfully, her own comprehension allowed her to at least sense the attack’s range. So when Duan Tianpeng got close, Yu Ye retreated two steps with a Phantom Shadow Soul-Chasing Step to dodge his fierce strike, then launched a Mountain-Pushing Palm right after.
But to her surprise, Duan Tianpeng had never intended to settle things in one move. As he dodged her attack, he stomped on Yu Ye’s arm with one foot and leapt off, using the wall as a stepping stone to soar toward the rooftops.
Before the fight, Ji Qinglin had already shown Yu Ye the breakdown of the Feilian Kick technique. Still, facing it for the first time was a bit of a shock—it was almost like watching someone take flight.
Yu Ye followed up with a Cloud Ladder Leap, but she was clearly slower. With no other choice, she charged her right palm and fired a Heart-Sealing Seal at Duan Tianpeng’s back.
As he tried to flee, Duan Tianpeng kept an eye on his opponent below, narrowly dodging the flying palm strike.
D*mn, this chick really is hard to deal with. If I get hit by one more of those, there’s no way I’m getting out of here.
With that thought, he pulled two steel pellets from his bag and hurled them at the wall.
As the pellets flew, Duan Tianpeng yanked the hood of his jacket over his head, striking a true-tough-guy pose: a real man never looks back at explosions.
Boom—
A burst of smoke erupted, followed by dozens of tiny steel needles shooting in all directions.
From below, Yu Ye saw everything clearly. The moment she saw him throw something at the wall, she sidestepped immediately and pulled out the electromagnetic retractable sword from her waist, deflecting the flying needles.
Ji Qinglin had already warned her—against ordinary sect Qi Refiners, you didn’t need all these gadgets. But when it came to sky thieves like this, they were escape artists through and through. You had to be ready for any weird trick they might pull.
Glancing back and seeing no sign of the girl chasing him, Duan Tianpeng relaxed a little. The sky above the alley was finally opening up.
But just as he climbed higher, he saw the young Master from the general store standing by the shattered window, calmly watching him like, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Duan Tianpeng knew this guy would be even harder to deal with, so he kicked off in mid-air toward another building.
He figured the guy’s movement technique might not be any worse than his, but if he could just get out of the alley and onto the rooftops, then unless one of the Nine Champions showed up, nobody would catch him.
As he leapt upward, Duan Tianpeng caught a glimpse of the young Master jumping too—his right arm snapping up fast.
Before he could react, Duan Tianpeng felt something wrap around his right leg just as his head cleared the alley. His body froze mid-air and was instantly yanked downward, the wide-open sky above squeezing shut.
The nanobot swarm “Mo Warrior” wasn’t just versatile—Ji Qinglin had spent days practicing with it and had basically figured out how to use it. Right now, the Mo Warrior had turned into a black whip coiled around Duan Tianpeng’s leg, pulling him straight back down.
Duan Tianpeng adjusted his posture midair, only to see Ji Qinglin throw a crushing punch right at him.
Knowing he couldn’t dodge in that position, Duan Tianpeng thought to use the same trick—catch the blow with a kick and use the force to escape.
But as soon as they collided, he realized there was no borrowing power from this punch.
Boom—
As the punch hit, Duan Tianpeng felt an air wall slam into him, pushing his entire body backward with no chance to redirect the force.
Bang—
With a near-sonic crack, Duan Tianpeng shot like a tennis ball into the opposite wall—except unlike a ball, he didn’t bounce back.
This was Ji Qinglin’s first time using the Eight Extremes Crushing Punch on a person. And worried Duan Tianpeng might get away, he hadn’t held back at all.
“Ugh!”
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Duan Tianpeng realized his foot meridians were ruptured. Escape was no longer an option. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his custom-made molecular-blade soft sword, wiped the blood from his mouth, and locked eyes with his opponent for a final stand.
Ji Qinglin retracted the Mo Warrior whip and reshaped it into a pitch-black longsword in his hand.
Duan Tianpeng clenched his jaw, stomped off the dented wall, and launched into a desperate horizontal slash. Ji Qinglin stepped forward and swung his sword to meet it.
Ding—
The moment the blades clashed, there were no sparks—just a soft chime.
Duan Tianpeng’s molecular-blade soft sword cut Ji Qinglin’s Mo Warrior longsword clean in half!
The lightning-fast strike gave Duan Tianpeng a moment of surprise and hope. Just as he was about to spin and strike again to escape—
A black sword blade had already silently sliced across his throat.
Duan Tianpeng only felt a chill—then the world flipped upside down.