Chapter 298: Chapter 297: A Trial of Brinksmanship (Seeking Subscription)
Chen Gong, a Fifth Tier practitioner of Xuan Qi, was only 23 years old. Among his peers, he was a second-tier genius. He thought he was not someone just anyone could provoke, and hence unleashed 70% of his power as soon as he fired his first shot.
The Sword Qi whistled, roaring like a raging wind.
If Shi Xiaole could not even block this move, it would bring disgrace upon himself.
The sword light flashed across him, splitting Wind Intent Sword Qi into two halves, dissipating to the left and right of Shi Xiaole.
"Hmm, the sword is quite fast."
Chen Gong was a bit surprised, immediately annoyed. An insignificant individual at the fourth level of Xuan Qi, who wasn’t even well-known, dared to brag about comparing his skills with him. What did he take Chen Gong for?
"Wind and thunder go together."
With fifty percent of Wind Intent and Internal Power simulating the Sword Qi of thunder, Chen Gong swung his sword angrily at Shi Xiaole.
"Little Stone, watch out for his follow-up moves!"
Seeing this, Lan Xiaodie couldn’t help warning loudly.
"His strength is better than Lin Shaoyi."
Seeing his previous exchanges with Lan Xiaodie, Shi Xiaole had roughly gauged his strength, and now he was even more certain. Without thoroughly understanding Sword Heart, Shi Xiaole only had a three to four in ten chance of beating him.
As for now—
Shi Xiaole’s wrist trembled slightly, and a large amount of Qingyang Sword Qi burst out. Chen Gong’s Wind and Thunder Sword Qi seemed to be like a plastic film, which was penetrated directly under continuous impact and forcibly stopped his subsequent moves.
And at this moment, the voice of Lan Xiaodie had just fallen.
"Wind Whistling, Thunder Raging!"
His steps flickered, and Chen Gong’s expression changed again and again. His fighting style also changed from frontal engagement to catching his opponent off guard.
Shi Xiaole’s sword was not stronger, but it hit the flaws of Wind and Thunder Sword Qi. How proud Chen Gong was, if you want to compare skills with me, I will accompany you to the end!
Clang, clang, clang.
Sword after sword were handed out mysteriously, but all were easily blocked by Shi Xiaole.
"Impossible, why is his reaction so fast?"
Chen Gong was shocked.
Shi Xiaole did not seem like a fourth level martial artist of Xuan Qi, facing him. He made Chen Gong feel frustrated as if a child was hitting an adult. What he thought was a powerful attack was childish and laughable in Shi Xiaole’s eyes.
He had only experienced this feeling with his Senior Brother, Zheng Dan.
"Brother Shi seems a bit different from before."
Tao Xingyu’s eyes were strangely lit.
Whether it was an illusion or not, he always felt that Shi Xiaole today was different from the usual Shi Xiaole. In his usual calm demeanor, there seemed to be a mysterious aura of having everything under control, which even made him a bit anxious.
"You also take some of my swords."
Being passively beaten was not Shi Xiaole’s style. After breaking Chen Gong’s moves one after another, he saw him stepping forward, swinging his Qingfeng sword wide open, always stabbing at the opponent’s weakness, and after ten moves, he swept Chen Gong away like fallen leaves with his sword held horizontally.
"You opportunist, Wind and Thunder Separation, be defeated!"
On his retreating path, Chen Gong’s face was fierce, and there was a heavy rain of Sword Qi pouring towards Shi Xiaole.
If it was a hard crushing of strength, Chen Gong would not have lost his composure thus.
But from beginning to end, Shi Xiaole was avoiding the strong and taking advantage of the weak, stopping his momentum by moving a thousand pounds with four ounces. If that’s the case, I’ll force you into face-to-face combat.
The Wind and Thunder Sword Qi was overwhelming, causing the air pressure to drop a bit. Three feet away from Shi Xiaole, the strong winds messed up his black hair, covering his face with the same color pattern.
Lan Xiaodie opened her mouth, but before she could even make a sound, everything happened too fast and Shi Xiaole stood immobile.
With one sword drawn, the Qingyang Sword Qi was as strong as the midday sun, too dazzling for anyone to open their eyes. The earlier raging Wind and Thunder Sword Qi was like a thunderstorm on a cloudy day, disappearing without a trace the instant the sun broke through the clouds.
Bang.
Chen Gong retreated violently, his long sword stabbed one inch into the stone platform, unable to stop the trend of the retreat. Instead, the stone platform was cut open for dozens of meters.
"You..."
Chen Gong looked up, watching Shi Xiaole in shock.
The sword move he used just now was not high-ranking indeed, but why was it so powerful? Could it be that the opponent’s Internal Power was too strong?
No, with such strong Internal Power, the other party’s cultivation level could not possibly be at the fourth level of Xuan Qi. Besides, he wouldn’t dare to display it ostentatiously.
Thinking of this, Chen Gong turned to look at his Master, Sun Zhongwei, but accidentally found that Sun Zhongwei wore an expression of surprise and stupor.
"Good swordsmanship, Brother."
It was Zheng Dan who spoke, stepping forward, his eyes seemingly trying to see through Shi Xiaole.
He had thought that the strongest peer here was Tao Xingyu, only to find out now that he had been mistaken. Compared to Tao Xingyu, this young man in blue gave him a more dangerous feeling and aroused his blood.
The strength of a person’s will can be seen from his eyes. The stronger the will, the more every victory over the opponent can improve his Heart-Cutting Sword Technique.
"Please, brother."
Chen Gong’s sword art emphasized momentum, fully inheriting the style of Sun Zhongwei. Zheng Dan’s sword art, however, was like a dark shadow, a hidden spike. Every swing made Shi Xiaole feel as if his spirit was pierced.
Tao Xingyu was always paying attention to the field, and shouted, "Brother Shi, don’t observe his sword art!"
The Heart-Cutting Sword Technique, of course, can’t actually cut out one’s heart—that’s something only a deity can do. The so-called ’Heart-Cutting’ is actually an illusion technique.
A simple illusion skill is enough to make people in the Martial World wary.
And yet what Zheng Dan learned was an illusory sword technique passed down by his master, the Wind and Thunder Sword Marquis. When illusion is combined with swordsmanship, its power is beyond imagination.
Before the confrontation, Tao Xingyu wasn’t unaware of the severity of the Heart-Cutting Sword Technique, but he had no choice. He didn’t know when he had fallen into the trap, and by the time he realised, it was already too late.
"Would a warning have been useful?"
Chen Gong scoffed. Under the influence of the Heart-Cutting Sword Technique, a person’s senses gradually fade away.
He admitted that Shi Xiaole was strong, but few probably knew that even the will of a master at the Spiritual Passage Realm couldn’t easily resist his Senior Brother’s sword technique.
"An illusion technique?"
Shi Xiaole could indeed not hear anyone’s words. In his line of sight, it seemed like Zheng Dan’s sword technique was everywhere. The powerful visual perception even prevented one from closing their eyes.
Without mental disturbance, Shi Xiaole thrust his longsword firmly, breaking everything before him.
But at the same time, an unremarkable sword tip suddenly attacked Shi Xiaole from the side. The speed of the sword was even faster than Chen Gong’s Wind and Thunder Sword Qi.
This was Zheng Dan’s real move.
"We’re in trouble!"
From the perspective of Tao Xingyu and other onlookers, Shi Xiaole didn’t seem to be thrusting his sword right now, but rather pouncing forward, throwing himself onto the sword tip that Zheng Dan extended.
This is the terrifying aspect of illusion masters, especially illusion swordsmen. Victory or defeat often lies in a moment.
Clang!
"Your illusion technique is useless against me."
With a slight turn of the sword, to everyone’s surprise, Shi Xiaole not only blocked this sword, but also slashed a piece of Qingyang Sword Qi towards Zheng Dan.
"Your will is indeed strong, but it’s a pity, the Heart-Cutting Sword Technique is not solely an illusion technique."
A voice as calm as a dried up well echoed, the illusory image of Zheng Dan left in its original place was shattered, but his real body appeared behind, holding his sword vertically and making a hack. He had already touched Shi Xiaole’s body.
In his eyes, there was a trace of fatigue and excitement.
Illusion technique, it lies between reality and illusion. When fusion is high enough, the true and false are already blurred. It’s like the moon in the water, if there is no real moon in the sky, where does the reflection come from?
This is the strongest move of the Heart-Cutting Sword Technique, but it can’t be used easily because it requires too much mental power. But as long as he encounters a strong enemy, this move can actually trigger his inner inspiration and better comprehend the mystery of the sword technique. It has been tried and tested many times.
In this sense, he needs to thank Shi Xiaole.
"I told you, it’s useless."
As if he grew eyes behind his head, Shi Xiaole’s longsword suddenly appeared behind him and blocked Zheng Dan’s finishing move again.
"Hmm?"
Zheng Dan was shaken, astonished by Shi Xiaole’s reaction speed and even more surprised that his opponent could obviously make a temporary move even against reason when his sword move had run its course.
However, he is not an ordinary person after all. He quickly reacted and covered Shi Xiaole with a thin fog with a twist of his longsword.
The fog seems thin, but it is composed of countless sharp sword Qi.
In an instant, a ring of trenches about six inches deep and two fingers wide had been cut on the surface of the rock table around Shi Xiaole. The surface of the trench is extremely smooth, and it is extremely regular.
"Such strong sword Qi, such terrifying control."
Tao Xingyu and Lan Xiaodie, and even Chen Gong, were stunned by this situation.
The rock table at Tide Listening Cliff was built by sturdy white jade stones. Even a master of Xuan Qi Ninth Tier, using all his strength, could only carve a three to four inch deep mark on its surface.
Zheng Dan’s strike clearly reached the peak level of the Xuan Qi Ninth Tier. It turns out that everyone had been deceived by him. His most powerful skill is not illusion sword technique, but his real strength!
"You forced me to use my Fog Concealing Technique, my good fellow, you should be proud enough."
With a leap of three meters into the air, Zheng Dan took a stand in the air and slashed another sword towards the top of Shi Xiaole’s head, bringing out the Intent Realm of the fog that has reached sixty percent.
Even though they were more than a dozen meters away, Tao Xingyu and Lan Xiaodie were shocked to find that their senses were being restricted.
As they could imagine, if they were the ones under attack, they would probably be left in the dark, unable to determine Zheng Dan’s position, leaving them with only the path of death.
Indeed, Shi Xiaole’s mental strength is stronger than theirs, but in front of this sword technique, unless he has great strength, he is more likely to be in danger than lucky. But with a gap of two realms, how can Shi Xiaole possibly be a match for Zheng Dan?
"Using sword Qi to disrupt the air and obscure perception, impressive."
In the thin fog, an amazed voice came.
"What?!"
The longsword was resisted, and was blocked for the third time, Zheng Dan finally showed concern: "How did you do it?"
Shi Xiaole didn’t respond but just shook his longsword. In the blink of an eye, a breath that was both pure to the extreme and sharp to the extreme spread out from him in all directions like mad.
Upon sensing this breath, the several swordsmen present were all dumbfounded.
"Sword Heart, a complete Sword Heart Realm? Fog-Concealing Technique!"
His face changing dramatically, Zheng Dan resentfully pulled out his life’s killing technique. The thick fog seemed like it wanted to devour all vitality.
Whoosh!
Shi Xiaole only needed a sword strike. Once the Death Claiming Sword Qi came out, the fog was neatly shredded. Being the first to bear the brunt, Zheng Dan staggered back several tens of meters and fell flat on his bottom.
