Free Web NovelAmidst sharp screams, Lu Yibei's figure collided with Qingji's.
From her hand, Lingtai Pure Karma thrust forward, blocking the trajectory of Qingji's sword strike.
Accompanied by a grating clash of metal and stone, sparks flew.
As he closed in on Lu Yibei, Qingji suddenly spoke, saying nonchalantly, "Great-granddaughter-in-law, have you ever fought against a true Calamity?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei was slightly taken aback.
A true Calamity?
What did Ancestor mean by this?
In his era, there didn't seem to be this kind of ranking system for Psychics and urban legend, right?
Although she had encountered Calamity-level existences like Plague Tai Sui, Maitian God, and Invasion Beast before, she had indeed never fought against a true Calamity.
The ones she fought in Night Parade of One Hundred Demons were Plague Tai Sui's clones and dependents, the Big Boss in Dream Come True Journey didn't even have time to show his true power before being tricked by Chatterbox Girl, and turning the Invasion Beast into Wang Yingying in the God Kingdom Prototype was because Wang Yingying herself had no desire to fight.
Just as Lu Yibei was briefly lost in thought, and the echoes from the clashing blades hadn't faded, Qingji spoke again, "It seems you haven't. Then today, you're in luck. Most people at your level don't get this kind of treatment."
As his words fell, Qingji released the sword in his hand without warning, letting it fall.
He let go? Lu Yibei was slightly stunned.
Immediately after, she saw that as the sword fell, Qingji swiftly reached out, flicking the body of the sword with his fingertip. With a hum, the sword rotated to the perfect angle, its tip pointing forward, and shot out directly towards her face.
Lu Yibei leaned back, her pupils illuminated by the dazzling light on the blade.
By the time she steadied herself, she saw Qingji grasping the sword again, fluidly adjusting the angle of his strike. With his advancing steps, he skillfully drew an arc, cutting down from above once more.
【His long sword struck your face directly】
A premonition flashed through her mind. Lu Yibei quickly gripped her sword with both hands, raising Lingtai Pure Karma upwards. At the same time, Spiritual Energy surged within her, and a dazzling green light instantly erupted from the blade.
Taihe Gentleman Sword: Wind Chasing Command!
Seeing this, Qingji curved his lips. His sword stance changed, cleanly switching from a downward slash to a forward thrust. At the same time, a green light suddenly appeared on his blade, and he also used the Wind Chasing Command move.
Slightly different from Lu Yibei, the green light on Qingji's sword was noticeably weaker and dimmer.
It was like an old, flickering yellow lamp about to go out.
Something's not right! This doesn't seem like Ancestor's level, it's even worse than the youth version of Wind Chasing Command!
The way he's striking the sword is also completely different ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) from what I remember. It's less like thrusting with a sword and more like...
Cutting vegetables with a knife?
Lu Yibei was startled by the thought that flashed through her mind, but Qingji's current posture did indeed remind her of her Old Dad standing in the kitchen, holding a cigarette in his mouth, slowly cutting vegetables.
Even the faint hint of melancholy in their eyes and brows, as if thinking of someone, was exactly the same when they were 'cutting vegetables'.
"Clang—!"
Two green lights, one bright and one dim, met at one point, and a tearing sound exploded.
In an instant, Lu Yibei retreated rapidly, her figure tracing several pale trajectories in the thick fog. Her right hand gripping the sword was almost numb, and her forearm involuntarily twitched.
Using the same sword move, Qingji, when he struck, seized the most subtle flaw, used the simplest and clearest method, and the most precise amount of force to deliver the strongest blow.
After steadying herself, Lu Yibei noticed that no premonition flashed through her mind. Her heart skipped a beat, and she looked up at Qingji, only to find that he had stopped in place and wasn't continuing his attack.
"Your Wind Chasing Command just now had about seventy to eighty percent of the skill. If you were to change your move to Crumbling Jade Mountain as the blade nears the enemy, it might have a miraculous effect."
"..."
Ancestor, is he really teaching me techniques?
Damn, this feeling is so weird!
It's like an elite monster appearing at the entrance of the Demon King's castle to help the hero level up their skills, a complete act of betrayal.
However, although Lu Yibei felt that Qingji's actions were those of a traitor, Qingji himself felt that he hadn't violated the terrifying Strange Tale's instructions.
Intercepting and killing didn't mean he couldn't speak, nor did it restrict what he said. As long as he gave his all with every move, there was no problem.
Rather than saying this was betrayal and colluding with the enemy, it was more like, a general outside can disregard some of the king's orders!
...
Lu Yibei pondered Qingji's words for a moment and immediately became confused.
But why Crumbling Jade Mountain?
How could Wind Chasing Command change into Crumbling Jade Mountain?
The sword techniques recorded in "Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration" each have different symbolic meanings: heaven, earth, mountains, water, wind, thunder...
And Wind Chasing Command, which embodies the meaning of a swift wind, and Crumbling Jade Mountain, which embodies the heavy meaning of a mountain, are two sword moves with completely opposite concepts. They can't be linked together no matter what, and there will definitely be a sense of stagnation.
Whereas Burning Sky Command and Purple Cloud Manifestation, which have similar concepts, can clearly make the sword moves more fluid.
"Don't understand?" Qingji shook his head and explained, "The path of swordsmanship is about being like flowing clouds and water, going wherever you please. You are controlling the sword, not being constrained by the sword moves, like this..."
And so, Lu Yibei heard the roaring wind and the collapsing mountain.
Like an illusion, she saw a terrifying gale sweep over the mountain ridge, picking up massive boulders and smashing them onto the boundless earth.
Not relying on the intensity of Spiritual Energy fluctuations, but simply on the sword moves, can one reach this level? Lu Yibei fell into a daze.
----
Originally, Lu Yibei thought that Qingji, possessing nearly complete memories, would be stronger, but only slightly so, and not necessarily unbeatable.
According to Qingji, after he resigned from his position as Guest Elder of Da Chunyang Palace and returned to Hua City to marry Lu Yanzhi, he had not learned any new techniques.
He was twenty-eight years old that year.
For the next forty-plus years, aside from teaching Lu Yuebo swordsmanship and Spells for self-defense, he never picked up Lingtai Pure Karma again, and various Spells and Alchemy were also put aside.
Logically speaking, if any skill is neglected for decades, even if it doesn't regress, it's almost impossible to make further progress.
Moreover, as early as when Qingji became a Guest Elder of Da Chunyang Palace, the mastery of his skills, in terms of proficiency alone, had already reached a level that few could match.
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But now, Lu Yibei realized that after not using those previously unfathomable techniques like those of ghosts and gods, Qingji had become even more difficult and troublesome to deal with!
He seemed to be able to detect all the problems with Lu Yibei, from her sword moves, Spells, and Body Technique... even the slight sense of incongruity caused by the mixture of several types of power within Lu Yibei's body, and that strange premonition, could be easily seen through.
And what this insight brought was a complete negation of Lu Yibei.
Generally speaking, the core of a Strange Tale's main body is born from legends and is naturally integrated with itself, while a Psychic's Spirit Mark is mostly carefully selected, consolidated and strengthened through countless Alchemy materials and incense, finally achieving the effect of being commanded like an arm.
Lu Yibei is different. From a certain perspective, the core of her Strange Tale's main body was forcibly stuffed into her body by external forces. Although her Spiritual Energy fluctuations are strong, the Spiritual Energy within her body is in chaos.
This is the first mistake.
But this is not her fault, after all, she had no choice.
The strand of Qingji's remnant soul residing in the broken sword, which possessed the memories of his youth, had mastered various techniques that were undeniably profound. The Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon displayed by Lu Ming and the Spells collected by the Night Watch also had their unique aspects.
However, these techniques all incorporated habits they had developed over many years, as well as minor changes made to accommodate their own physical structure and Spiritual Energy fluctuations.
Lu Yibei, relying on her extraordinary memory, memorized them. Although she had made some modifications to suit herself, she ultimately lacked the years of practical experience and refinement they had. Most of the time, she could only copy them from memory.
However, her height, weight, arm span, stride, and Spiritual Energy fluctuation attributes were significantly different from the people she remembered. Copying them inevitably led to deviations.
This is the second mistake.
The third mistake is... Lu Yibei is truly too cautious.
Even at this moment, when she attacked, she still only used seventy percent of her strength, always subconsciously reserving thirty percent as room for maneuver, ready to either survive, escape, or launch a surprise attack at any opportunity.
Her current situation is simply like playing games from other platforms on a computer using an emulator.
It can run, but there are always some inexplicable inconsistencies and errors in strange places that one would never have thought of.
And this inconsistency and error brought her a miserable beating...
Qingji attacked continuously. Every one of his movements was perfectly captured by Lu Yibei's premonition and skillfully dodged by Lu Yibei.
But after dodging, a more ferocious attack followed.
Targeting Lu Yibei's responses, Qingji could always use the most appropriate timing and moves to pursue.
In addition, the terrifying impact brought by Qingji's exquisite sword moves.
In just a few minutes, Lu Yibei felt as if she had experienced an apocalyptic disaster.
Meteorites smashed through the sky and fell, hurricanes swept up mountains and stones like flying flowers, the deep sea churned up monstrous waves from which purple lightning erupted, and verdant trees stretched out from the lightning, growing to astronomical scales...
Lu Yibei didn't see all of this with her own eyes, but she felt it from Qingji's sword moves.
And so, she fell into a strange cycle.
She had a premonition, she dodged, but it was useless, the crisis was not resolved at all.
She was completely caught in the rhythm dictated by Qingji, like a puppet on a stage, dancing to the operator's will until the curtain fell, losing her soul and collapsing to the ground.
Lu Yibei initially thought that Qingji was truly just giving her a "lesson," a simple teaching session, but now she realized that her words had come true; this was also a life-claiming game.
It seemed as if Qingji didn't just want her to get rid of her bad habits and start over, but rather wanted her to literally be reborn.
And what was even stranger was that when Qingji attacked, he would occasionally mutter a dish name out of his mouth, making Lu Yibei feel as if she had become pickled vegetables and salted fish on a cutting board, greatly insulted!
----
At the same time.
Just as Lu Yibei fell into a passive position of being beaten, Hua Sang's mission was nearing its end.
"...Water comes from the Zhen Palace, capable of being soft and hard, the form of the turtle and snake on the platform, forever guarding the rivers and mountains..."
"Open!"
Accompanying a delicate shout, Hua Sang's eyes instantly turned into vertical pupils like those of a cold-blooded animal. On her fair face, faintly luminous blue scales cast from light appeared. The image of a mountain-like struggle between a turtle and a snake rose behind her, and two earth-shattering roars exploded.
Astonishing night erosion spread, instantly dyeing the surrounding thick fog inky black. The asphalt road beneath her feet aged and cracked at a visible speed, and the Shui Shu Beast in the distance, upon contact with the night erosion, convulsed all over, howled, and ran far away to hide.
The next moment, the ground beneath Hua Sang's feet suddenly shook, emitting a roar, as if a mountain had collapsed.
That was the tremendous pressure that had tormented her for over a decade.
And at this moment, after lifting the suppression of the Spirit Mark by the Spirit Seal, and temporarily transforming the image of the turtle and snake killing each other into an image of the turtle and snake coexisting, this torment became her means of attack!
Thus, Hua Sang formed a palm with her left hand and a palm with her right hand, and her gaze narrowed as she looked at the wriggling pale flesh ball.
"Bang—!"
A punch carrying immense force slammed into the pale flesh ball that Hu Chuan had transformed into. A loud bang erupted, and the resulting airwave instantly cleared the thick fog within a hundred meters.
However, under the powerful impact, the pale flesh ball did not fly out, but instead spun at high speed in place. As it spun, it changed into various shapes, as if being constantly kneaded by an invisible large hand.
Empty, hazy, hollow, loose, wind, penetration, tolerance, dreams, rushing, poverty(qióng - poor/exhausted), middle, playing, child, mediocre, bow, insect... This was the essence of Da Chunyang Palace's Body Technique. The force of the fists and feet, carrying violent Spiritual Energy, gathered without scattering, and would all erupt within the target's body.
And within this force, there was also an extremely high degree of night erosion, enough to cause a B Level Psychic's Spirit Mark to instantly lose control, and capable of corroding not only people and urban legend, but even objects.
Hua Sang, having shed her heavy burden, felt incredibly light all over, as if she would fly up if she just stood on her tiptoes.
The sharp, hedgehog-like objects that Hu Chuan instinctively condensed from pale flesh on his body's surface appeared particularly weak under Hua Sang's high-speed movement and constantly changing attack positions. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"Bang—Bang—Bang—!"
Muffled roars like rolling thunder continuously exploded on the deserted highway late at night.
Soon, the surface of the pale flesh ball was stained with a layer of dimness, then gradually turned black, and finally, with a "Puff!" sound and the muffled explosion of flesh and blood, it was sent flying by Hua Sang's punch.
The flesh and blood, completely unrecognizable in their original shape, arced through the air, like a sandbag blown apart by a punch, splattering thick black sludge in all directions.
----
Amidst a hazy blur, Hu Chuan, bathed in the chaotic colors cast by Yagn Nie, suddenly felt his life rapidly draining away.
Only then did he suddenly realize that he had made a mistake.
He thought that Lu Yibei alone couldn't break through the interception of those dozens of figures, but he had overlooked the possibility that Lu Yibei might call for help.
But everything wasn't over yet, because... that Adult had woken up!
He will avenge me... Hu Chuan thought.
