Sundering Nature - Volume 4 Chapter 34

"He… he uses the sword?" The swordsman guardian was shocked. Up until now, Li Yiming had only used his fists and the thunder that ran along his limbs to fight. Everyone had thought Li Yiming to be a close-combat brute. However, Li Yiming had just displayed a mastery of the sword he could never be able to reach.

"Fortunately, my teacher taught me well." Li Yiming smiled coldly and pulled the sword out of Man Dao's corpse. "Four left!" Li Yiming's newfound strength gave him a boost of confidence.

The remaining four guardians backed away from Li Yiming. They were still in complete shock at such a turn of events after having Li Yiming cornered for so long. What was more important was that Li Yiming's aura seemed to have changed completely. He was now calm and composed, and it was as if his bloodthirstiness and rage had never existed.

"Shit!" Bing Shuai roared in anger. Man Dao was the second subordinate he had lost to Li Yiming.

A small tornado of ice formed in Bing Shuai's palm as he made ready to unleash his wrath onto Li Yiming. However, before he could attack, Bing Shuai suddenly froze mid-air; two people stood in the front garden, staring at him coldly. 'Li Huaibei and Stargaze…'

'If I…' Bing Shuai dropped his hand down in frustration. He waved his arm and a curtain of light enveloped the neighborhood.

"Kill him! Quick!" Bing Shuai blew a hole in the floor beneath him and shouted through the opening.

"Bing Shuai?" Ying Mei raised her head and felt the change that was brought on by Bing Shua's sage Boundary. A cruel smile appeared on her lips, and her body melted into the darkness once again, splitting into several dozens of shadows.

"It's a sage's Boundary! You don't have to worry about Heaven's Laws anymore. Now's the time to go all out. That man on the second floor is a sage." Bai Ze immediately understood the implications of Bing Shuai's initiative. As for Bing Shuai, she did not worry about him much, since Li Huaibei was right there.

Li Yiming activated Thunderflash immediately and appeared in front of the well-built man, pulling his sword back and feigning at an attack. The well-built man immediately retracted his left arm and raised his right fist to trade a blow with Li Yiming; he trusted his comrades to take Li Yiming down if he could distract the latter for a split second.

However, Li Yiming immediately vanished with another flash of purple light. This time, he appeared above the swordsman and thrust his blade toward his enemy. The swordsman bent down as quickly as possible, but the sword was too fast. However, as his heart was about to be pierced by the blade, plum blossoms suddenly appeared on the metal. Li Yiming felt as if liquid lead had been poured into his weapon, and he was forced to relinquish it. Another flash of light later, and he moved in an inch closer, allowing him to grasp the throat of his enemy.

Lightning shot out of Li Yiming's palm, and his foe fell onto the ground with a broken neck and charred limbs. Before the corpse even touched the ground, Li Yiming's feet were instantly chained in place once again by Ying Mei's shadow vines. Li Yiming raised his head and saw the well-built man leaping toward him with his fists ready. At the same time, a giant plum flower appeared in the distance and flew toward Li Yiming.

The moment Li Yiming parried the blow from above, his feet sank into the ground beneath. "Bai Ze!" Li Yiming shouted. Bai Ze's true form suddenly emerged and tore through the well-built man's abdomen with her white claws, creating a downpour of blood and flesh.

"What?" Xue Mei screamed in horror. The giant plum flower which flew toward Li Yiming changed trajectory and sought Bai Ze instead.

"Thunder!" Li Yiming yelled while pointing at Xue Mei with his right hand. A lightning bolt suddenly fell onto Xue Mei. Having no time to dodge the attack, she raised her hand and created a plum flower that served as a shield.

However, the lightning did not stop. One bolt fell after another, and the latter was nailed in place, struggling to block the thunderstorm that bombarded her. Li Yiming knowing a thunder Dao technique was not within Xue Mei's expectations, much less a summon.

After dodging the plum flower with ease, Bai Ze quickly pounced on Xue Mei. With a clean swipe of her claws, she sliced Xue Mei's head into pieces. Li Yiming lowered his head and threw a glacial stare at the shadows beneath his feet; Ying Mei was already gone.

'It's over.'

The whole sequence of events, from Bing Shuai's putting down his Boundary and Bai Ze finishing off Xue Mei, lasted only a few seconds. Bing Shuai had intended to give his subordinates the advantage, but he empowered Li Yiming instead. Bai Ze returned to Li Yiming's side and the two raised their heads toward Bing Shuai.

"I'm going to kill you!" Bing Shuai was furious. Even if Stargaze and Li Huaibei were to intervene, he would make sure that Li Yiming's life ended there. The team he had been building for decades had been annihilated within seconds.

Bai Ze immediately returned within Li Yiming's body, and Li Yiming activated Thunderflash again to dodge the attack. A moment later, a giant ice palm crashed into the ground beneath him, creating a deep crater. Li Yiming stopped his fall midair with a roll and stood at the edge of the hole.

Li Huaibei frowned and pulled out his sword.

"Keep him busy and I'll owe you one." Bing Shuai glanced at Stargaze.

Stargaze raised her hand and an invisible barrier appeared in front of Li Huaibei, blocking him off.

"What are you doing?" Li Huaibei looked back in indignation.

"I want to see how far he can go." Stargaze seemed to have something else in mind as she stared at Li Yiming.

"Move!" Li Huaibei slashed at the barrier in front of him.

"Wait…" Stargaze gritted her teeth. With a movement of her left hand, a ray of light fell from the sky and enveloped the two.

"You!?" Li Huaibei could feel the strength of the barrier being erected around him. Stargaze had used her full strength, and although the two were technically both sage-level, Stargaze was much more experienced.

"Li Yiming…" Bing Shuai's body slowly levitated into the air. Stargaze having accepted his deal meant that he could take his time with Li Yiming.

Li Yiming had a dreadful feeling. He had not expected the woman who came with Li Huaibei to be able to stall him so easily. He was planning to escape and run away with Thunderflash, knowing that even a sage's Boundary would not be able to stop him. However, when he activated his technique, he reappeared at the same place a split second later.

"He's locked down the area around you. You won't be able to teleport." Bai Ze said in a grim voice.

"I'm not going to kill you… no, I'm going to remove your veins, chop up your limbs and turn you into a specimen. I'll make you wish that you died…" Bing Shuai approached Li Yiming slowly, freezing everything in his path.

Li Yiming suddenly felt crushed by the aura around him. An icy feeling reached his spine and he felt an immense pressure on his consciousness. He could barely keep his breath, and he nearly fell to his knees. Li Yiming started to sweat profusely, and the moment the liquid came out of his pores, it would turn into frost.

'I can't come out…' Bai Ze cried out.

Li Yiming could not answer Bai Ze's call. He felt as if a steel needle had penetrated into his mind and was stirring in it until his head cracked open. The coldness continued to attack his body, and he could no longer feel his limbs. By now, a thick layer of ice had accumulated around him, making him look more like an ice sculpture than a human being.

"Go!" Li Huaibei's sword emitted a buzzing sound as his blade trembled violently. An orb of white light appeared at the tip of the sword; it was Di Jiang's spirit, who had awakened at the fury of his master.

"Wait…" From the menace that she felt, Stargaze could tell that Li Yiming was getting serious. However, she still kept her eyes on Li Yiming. Sparks of light danced in her irises, and she finally began to see things that Li Huaibei could not see.

'This is the power of a sage…?' Li Yiming was losing control of his body and his sense. He had reached his limit.

Crack!

A cracking noise was heard from inside Li Yiming's body. A drop of blood dripped down the corner of Li Yiming's lip, and it quickly froze into a scarlet bead.

'Your… your vein is broken!' Bai Ze shouted in surprise. She could see that the Heavenly vein that corresponded to speed had been shattered.

Inside Li Yiming's body, the five Heavenly veins shook violently. A thick layer of frost covered them, and although the multicolored light alternated and flashed frantically, it could not triumph against the devastating freeze.

My money is on Li Yiming not actually being turned into a specimen. But I’m wrong that we’ll have 200 chapters about Bai Ze being the MC instead. (Which she could be, since Bing Shuai’s won’t kill Li Yiming)