Chapter 672: Comparing Saber Techniques
“Xiu! Xiu!”
However, two white figures moved even faster than the team from the Thousand Mystery Sect. In the instant the intense explosion happened, both Xiao Chen and Zhong Li had somersaulted and executed exquisite Movement Techniques. They avoided the assault of the shock waves and landed in front.
Then, their bodies shot forward like arrows into the sky, chasing closely after the fleeing Lone Wolf.
When they were about to reach the city gates, Lone Wolf, who was in front, stopped unexpectedly. He turned around, and his left hand suddenly turned into wolf claws slashing at Zhong Li.
Zhong Li, who was hard on Lone Wolf’s heels, had not expected him to be so crafty. Despite fleeing in a flurry, Lone Wolf still dared to stop and attack.
Zhong Li quickly raised his saber and formed a screen of sabers made from ice. However, the power behind Lone Wolf’s transformed arm clearly surpassed that of a peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch.
The sharp claws tore through the screen of sabers. Then, it continued to shred Zhong Li’s protective Quintessence shield, leaving five terrifying claw marks on his chest and knocking him back.
Such horrifying strength was astonishing. Lone Wolf had not lost all his combat prowess; he just had not wanted to take risks after his arm got injured.
Lone Wolf only revealed a pair of scarlet eyes through the mask. After he repulsed Zhong Li, he turned around, and the baleful aura in his eyes solidified and headed for Xiao Chen’s sea of consciousness.
After that, Lone Wolf laughed sinisterly and fired a pitch-black Quintessence palm at Xiao Chen. He felt confident that given Xiao Chen’s cultivation, Xiao Chen would definitely die after consecutive attacks from him.
Having done all this, Lone Wolf resumed his escape, not bothering to look back anymore as he fled the city.
The Mental Energy in Xiao Chen’s sea of consciousness surged and roared, shattering all the illusions his opponent’s baleful aura created into nothing.
The fearsome baleful aura that instilled so much terror in sect disciples was nothing before Xiao Chen.
A resplendent saber light lit up the night as Xiao Chen held his Lunar Shadow Saber and sent out a dense lightning-attributed saber Qi. The saber Qi immediately flew out and shattered the Quintessence palm.
When Zhong Li, who was falling to the ground in a miserable state with his chest injured, saw this scene, he frowned slightly. An imperceptible cold light flashed in his eyes as he gazed at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen had been paying attention to Zhong Li with his Spiritual Sense. When he saw this reaction, he seemed to have understood something. He sheathed his saber and gave up the chase even though Lone Wolf did not look too hard to chase down.
“Damn it, we let him escape again!”
When the rest of the group caught up, only a small black dot was visible in the distance. So everyone started cursing.
The somewhat pale Qiu Yi revealed a thoughtful gaze before he said, “Let’s return to the inn first and attend to our wounds.”
The initial group of people gathered together above the sky deck and discovered that several members suffered from severe injuries and needed to spend a long time to recuperate.
These people would not be able to fight for the next few days. The strength of the team had weakened significantly.
“This Lone Wolf is really crafty. If he comes again like this daily, our team’s strength will decline again the next day.”
“He is a Half-Fiend. He recovers much faster than us. If this keeps up, we won’t be able to endure for long.”
Everyone pitched in the analysis of the earlier battle. They seemed somewhat dispirited. It looked like Lone Wolf had severely damaged their mentality with these past few days of harassment.
Zhuo Ping said, “I feel that this Lone Wolf is getting more and more familiar with Qiu Yi’s moves and mine. It feels like he is able to observe how we attack from every angle.
“He seems to be having an increasingly easier time dealing with our attacks. At the start, he did not spend any extra effort to attack the others.”
Qiu Yi nodded and said, “That’s how it feels to me as well. Perhaps he has outstanding comprehension ability. However, this is not the moment to think about this. We do not have many more opportunities.
“Lone Wolf is very cautious. He will only appear for five days. Tomorrow will be the last day he appears. If we fail to take him down tomorrow, he will vanish once again.”
After Qiu Yi finished speaking, he looked up at the silent Xiao Chen. He said, “Brother Xiao, I saw that you managed to break Lone Wolf’s baleful aura easily. Do you have any insights?”
Following Qiu Yi’s reminder, everyone remembered that Lone Wolf’s baleful aura apparently had not had much of an effect on Xiao Chen. This person was definitely not as simple as he looked.
Xiao Chen smiled gently and waved it off. “I was just lucky. I do not have any great insights. You should ask Brother Zhong Li. He managed to seal Lone Wolf in ice with one attack.”
Zhong Li smiled bitterly and said, “That is all due to Young Master Qiu and Miss Zhuo hindering Lone Wolf. That gave me the chance to seal Lone Wolf. Just take a look at the wound on my chest when I fought him alone, and you can see how strong I actually am.”
Seeing that the two were not willing to say more, Qiu Yi did not continue questioning them. He turned the discussion to the next night’s deployment before getting everyone to go back and rest.
After the everyone else returned, Qiu Yi said to Zhuo Ping, “Those two fellows are not simple at all.”
Although Qiu Yi did not mention any names, Zhuo Ping knew whom he was talking about. She smiled and said, “Whether are they simple or not, I do not know. I only know that you are not simple yourself. Even before killing Lone Wolf, you’ve already thought of destroying the bridge after crossing over.”
[TL Note: Destroying the bridge after crossing over means to abandon one’s benefactor upon achieving one’s goal.]
Qiu Yi smiled without any concern. He said, “Tomorrow is our last chance. You and I can no longer hold back. We cannot give the two of them any opening.”
---
The moon hung high in the sky like a silver plate. After the great battle, the night sky of Heavenly Water City turned quiet once again.
Perhaps the cultivators in the city felt the horrifying energy fluctuations from earlier. However, to this small city, cultivators of Xiao Chen and the others’ level were already far from their reach.
Even if these cultivators knew about the battle, they did not dare have any thoughts about it. If they were not careful, they might end up losing their lives.
As for the ordinary citizens, they had already fallen fast asleep long ago. To them, this was a distant world, something that barely had anything to do with their lives.
Within a room in the inn, a lantern’s flame flickered. Xiao Chen did not cultivate on this night nor was he in a mood to sleep.
He thought carefully about what he had seen and came to a nebulous conclusion in his mind.
Xiao Chen spent a lot of time looking around the Universe Ring. Finally, he found what he was looking for. With the flip of his hand, half a piece of Spiritual Wood appeared in his palm.
This Spiritual Wood was a branch of an ancient Wutong Tree. He had vaguely remembered that he still had some Spiritual Wood and indeed managed to find it.
With a faint smile, Xiao Chen took out his carving knife. Then, he started to carefully carve this piece of Spiritual Wood that was only half a palm long.
The flickering lantern flame lit his delicate fair face in flashes, highlighting his focused expression.
As Xiao Chen carved, the shavings of the Spiritual Wood slowly fell.
However, these wood shavings did not behave like before when they turned to dust or dirt. Instead, they became spots of crystalline light floating in the room.
The enchanting light was gorgeous, making the simple room look surreal.
Xiao Chen had totally focused himself, not paying attention to the things around him. To him, there was only the wooden sculpture in his palm and nothing else.
When he completed the piece, he heaved a sigh of relief. He felt a huge headache, so he checked the Mental Energy in his sea of consciousness.
Just by carving, Xiao Chen had actually used a large part of his Mental Energy. No wonder he felt that it was even more tiring than a fight.
This wooden sculpture was one of Xiao Chen himself. It had a saber at its waist and was dressed in white as well. Its gaze appeared clear and intelligent. It looked like a miniature version of Xiao Chen, no different from the real deal.
“Charm, temperament…they are all there. However, it still lacks a little life.”
Xiao Chen thought for a while, then pricked his finger. A drop of blood emerged and permeated the wooden sculpture. Light promptly flashed in the eyes of that wooden sculpture, and red lines flowed within its body.
It seemed like real blood flowing through the arteries in the body. This carving was no longer an inanimate object.
At this point, Xiao Chen revealed a satisfied smile. He looked around and discovered the illusory spots of lights filling the room. He smiled and said softly, “Unexpectedly, after not practicing for a long time, my sculpting skills can still improve. It looks like sculpting is also a test of the state of mind.”
For the sake of this small wooden sculpture, Xiao Chen had expended a lot of his Mental Energy. Without wasting any time, he circulated the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation to recover.
Only by night the next day did Xiao Chen fully replenish his Mental Energy. After making his preparations, he pushed open the door to meet up with Qiu Yi and the others.
“Hey, Brother Xiao?”
Right after Xiao Chen left the room, he ran into Zhong Li, who was going to the sky deck as well. The white-haired and white-dressed Zhong Li had completely recovered from his injuries, radiating health and vigor.
Xiao Chen turned and smiled. “Brother Zhong Li, what’s up?”
Zhong Li eyed Xiao Chen carefully. He felt that Xiao Chen was somehow different from yesterday. However, he could not pinpoint exactly what.
Collecting his thoughts, Zhong Li smiled faintly and replied, “Nothing much. Brother Xiao, if I did not see wrongly, that saber attack you sent out contained a perfect forty-percent-comprehension saber intent. It is really admirable that you managed to gain such comprehension at such a young age.”
These words were not just praise. Xiao Chen looked to be about twenty-one years old. In this Kunlun Realm, those who were thirty-odd were still considered youths. So twenty-one years old was a rather young age.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and said, “It is just a forty-percent-comprehended saber intent. How can it compare to Brother Zhong Li’s perfect fifty-perfect-comprehended saber intent? Not to mention the state of ice that surpassed the peak.”
After a state reached the peak, it was quite challenging to advance it into a will. In order to raise the might of the state, one had to think of other methods.
The Extreme Yin Sect’s Wan Feng’s secret technique and Xiao Chen’s immortal state of thunder were such methods. Clearly, this Zhong Li also grasped a secret technique of this sort.
A proud look flashed in Zhong Li’s eyes. He said, “I am just older than you by a few years. We are both bladesmen. If there is a chance, we should compare our Saber Techniques.”
“I would be delighted to. I have long wished to have an exchange with another bladesman of the same generation,” Xiao Chen replied calmly.
As Zhong Li looked at Xiao Chen, he appeared very prim and proper. However, he felt some disdain in his heart.
A perfect fifty-percent-comprehended saber intent is much stronger than a forty-percent-comprehended saber intent. My state and cultivation are much stronger than his. To think he really believes he can compare notes with me!
As the two spoke, they quickly arrived at the sky deck on the rooftop. The top inner sect disciple of the Full Moon Pavilion, Qiu Yi, and the top inner sect disciple of the Thousand Mystery Sect, Zhuo Ping, were already there.
The moon on the fifteenth was bright, but the moon on the sixteenth was rounder. Tonight’s moon was indeed rounder than the night before. A radiant glow came from the sky, making Heavenly Water City look gentle and quiet.
[TL Note: The ancient Chinese used the lunar calendar where every month has only twenty-eight days. The full moon always occurs on the fifteenth and sixteenth.]
Even though the moon looked very beautiful, the people present were not in a mood to appreciate it. Everyone stood to the side, preparing for the final battle.