One Punch to Kill a Late-Stage Ninth-Rank Mutant Beast, and You Call Yourself a Swordsman

At the same time.

Deep in the mountains.

"A ninth-tier early-stage magical beast couldn’t even scratch my skin."

Li Mo glanced at his fist.

They say to kill a snake, strike seven inches from its head.

But he had deliberately wanted to test the limits of his physical body.

The result? Without even using his Qi and Blood energy, he had shattered that winged serpent with a single punch.

Strangely enough, Li Mo had never even killed a chicken before.

Yet when he slew the beast for the first time, he felt no tension or discomfort—his mind was eerily calm, as if he had done this countless times before.

"Is this another benefit of the Xuanpin Immortal Body?"

Li Mo couldn’t help but muse.

It seemed that aside from swordplay, he excelled at everything with frightening ease.

Shaking the blood off his fist, he took out a map.

"Moonview Cliff..."

After confirming his location, he drew his steel-blue sword and ventured deeper into the forest.

The vast wilderness echoed with scattered shouts.

New disciples could be seen battling magical beasts here and there.

Li Mo didn’t linger.

Along the way, he encountered several more ninth-tier early-stage beasts, but the outcome was the same as before—each fell in a single slash, without him even needing to use proper sword techniques.

Soon, he arrived at a region marked on the map as "Streamstone Forest."

Towering, grotesque stone pillars stood like leafless, withered trees, with a river over ten meters wide flowing between them.

"This river flows down from Moonview Cliff."

"All I need to do is follow it upstream."

As he pondered, footsteps approached.

Looking up, he saw an inner sect steward dragging the corpse of a black-horned, scaly sheep-like beast.

An old acquaintance.

The Black-Horned Ram.

Though frequently served at Qingyuan Sect’s dining halls, this was actually a ninth-tier late-stage beast. Despite being herbivorous, it was notoriously aggressive and possessed immense strength.

Yet it had been slain in a single stroke.

"Ying Bing’s work?"

Li Mo recognized it immediately.

A clean slash across the throat, the wound frozen shut—not a single drop of blood spilled.

The ram likely hadn’t even realized it was dead.

"Indeed, this is the handiwork of True Disciple Ying."

The steward nodded.

He stood there, watching Li Mo intently, making no move to leave.

At first puzzled, Li Mo soon understood.

He felt it too.

The next moment—

A massive shadow surged from the water, leaping high into the air.

A hulking, jagged-shelled turtle.

A ninth-tier late-stage beast—the Spined Tortoise.

Its blood was medicinal, its flesh delectable, and its shell was a prized material—Qingyuan Sect’s bathtubs were even crafted from them.

Of course, as a ninth-tier late-stage beast, the Spined Tortoise was also notoriously vicious. Any body of water it claimed would be devoid of other fish.

"Another ninth-tier late-stage beast."

The inner sect steward watched with keen interest.

These two true disciples had joined Qingyuan Sect at the same time, both ascending a hundred steps of the Heavenly Stairway.

True Disciple Ying had slain the Black-Horned Ram in one strike.

Now, he wondered how True Disciple Li would fare against the Spined Tortoise.

Admittedly, among ninth-tier late-stage beasts, the Spined Tortoise was far trickier to kill. If it retracted its limbs into its shell, even a Qi and Blood Realm martial artist could only stare helplessly.

Just as he thought this—

Li Mo moved.

His steel-blue sword erupted with dozens of gleaming slashes, each carrying restrained Qi and Blood energy.

"Impressive swordsmanship."

The steward couldn’t help but admire it.

Even among Qingyuan Sect’s historical true disciples, such skill was remarkable.

Had he not witnessed Ying Bing’s swordplay, he might have been even more astonished.

Sensing danger, the Spined Tortoise let out a low growl and immediately retracted its limbs.

Dozens of flaming crane-feather-like slashes exploded against its shell, leaving countless tiny fractures.

The shell wasn’t the only thing damaged.

Li Mo’s sword now bore several grain-sized chips.

Li Mo: "..."

This was a standard-issue sect weapon—more than sufficient for slaying ninth-tier beasts.

But against this iron-shelled bastard?

Had he struck any harder, the sword might have shattered before the shell.

"Grr..."

The tortoise, now thoroughly cowed, flipped over and scrambled back toward the water.

"Oh no you don’t!"

Li Mo gave chase without hesitation.

You wreck my sword and think you can just leave?

"True Disciple Li!"

"That beast is cunning!"

Before the steward could finish, Li Mo had already plunged into the river.

Bubbles erupted on the surface as the steward’s heart pounded.

In water, the Spined Tortoise was ten times deadlier. Even ninth-tier peak beasts wouldn’t dare tangle with it there.

Li Mo’s swordsmanship was superb, but underwater? He’d be lucky to muster half his usual skill.

Just as the steward prepared to dive in for a rescue—

Gurgle—BOOM!

The river erupted in a geyser of murky water as the massive tortoise was hurled skyward.

Li Mo shot out after it like a meteor crashing to earth.

The Spined Tortoise’s eyes bulged with terror, its death already palpable.

But this time, it couldn’t escape back into the water. It could only resort to its old trick—retracting everything into its shell.

"!"

The steward’s jaw dropped.

He had just watched Li Mo throw the tortoise out of the water.

But the real shock came next.

Li Mo didn’t use his sword this time.

Every muscle in his body tensed to the extreme.

The Six Harmonies Fist—perfected to its pinnacle—channeled the full might of his ten meridians’ Qi and Blood energy, further amplified by the slaughterous aura of the Extreme Soldier Slaughter Body.

His fist descended.

The moment it struck the shell—

The shell crumpled like an eggshell, caving inward before shattering completely.

The force traveled through the shell, cracking the ground beneath in a spiderweb of fissures.

"I really..."

"Just wanted to be a swordsman!"

Li Mo clenched his fist, his heart filled with grief and indignation.

Hearing his roar, the steward’s face twitched uncontrollably.

A glance at the shattered shell confirmed it—the Spined Tortoise was dead.

And it had not died peacefully.

As for Li Mo? His sleeves had burst apart, steam rising from his body, his exposed muscles gleaming like forged metal.

You... a swordsman?

If the tortoise weren’t already dead, it would’ve leapt up to protest.

......

A short while later.

The two beasts’ corpses were displayed on a platform at the entrance.

One was unmistakably the Black-Horned Ram—clearly slain by Ying Bing.

But the other... lump?

The elders squinted, struggling to identify what species it had been in life.

"Is this... a Spined Tortoise?"

"Elder, it was."

"This..."

The elders’ expressions grew increasingly bizarre.

Ying Bing was astonishing—every beast she faced had been felled with a single, flawless strike, as if she knew each one’s weakness instinctively.

But Li Mo?

They truly had no words.

"Disciple Shang Wu, you're certain you taught him swordsmanship, correct?" Xue Jing confirmed once more.

"Why would I lie to you?"

Shang Wu wrinkled her delicate nose.

An inner sect steward also testified:

"True Disciple Li Mo did indeed wield a sword, and his swordsmanship was exceptional. It's just that the quality of his weapon was too poor to pierce the Thornback Tortoise's shell."

"When he punched the Thornback Tortoise to death, he was muttering something about wanting to be a swordsman or the like."

"..."

So doesn’t that mean his fists are harder than the tortoise’s shell?

The elders fell into silence once again.

After a long pause, Elder Hanhe finally spoke:

"After the trial, let Li Mo pick a weapon from the Divine Edge Cave. Among named weapons, swords are the most abundant—there’s no shortage for him. If he truly finds nothing satisfactory, he may even choose two from my personal collection."

"Hmph, as if we needed your permission."

Shang Wu lifted her chin and called out,

"You there—record the scores!"

The steward standing by the scoreboard wiped his sweat and began scribbling on it.

A glance at the board revealed that Li Mo and Ying Bing had overwhelmingly left all others far behind.

The gap between the two of them, however, was razor-thin—Ying Bing led by a mere five points.

As for third place...

Wang Hu?