Broken?
14: Chapter 14: The Unbreakable Star Blade!
Broken?
As Zhao Kongcheng caught the Zanpakuto, he couldn’t feel any power of a Forbidden Realm from them, yet an uncanny sensation took hold—a feeling as if he and the dual blades were merging into one.
Envy flashed across Leng Xuan’s face, but he knew all he could do for now was wait patiently.
“Give ’em a spin.
See how they feel,” Lu Ming said, looking at Katen Kyokotsu, the Zanpakuto he had forged for Zhao Kongcheng, with immense satisfaction.
In Lu Ming’s eyes, this pair of dual blades was the single most suitable Zanpakuto for Zhao Kongcheng…
Not just because Katen Kyokotsu’s abilities meshed well with him, but because Zhao Kongcheng shared a striking resemblance to its original master, Shunsui Kyoraku.
With Zhao Kongcheng’s temperament, earning Katen Kyokotsu’s approval would undoubtedly be far easier than with any other Zanpakuto.
Thoroughly thrilled, Zhao Kongcheng immediately put the blades through their paces.
He was already skilled in swordsmanship.
Though he wasn’t accustomed to dual wielding, using them didn’t feel foreign at all.
With enough practice, he would surely be able to handle this pair as easily as his own arms.
Flashes of blade light crossed the courtyard, gleaming under the pale moonlight.
Zhao Kongcheng felt a surge of pure delight!
Watching Zhao Kongcheng swing his blades, Leng Xuan felt his own martial blood stirring.
Though he was a sniper by specialization, his close-quarters sword skills were by no means weak, and he possessed his own Starblade.
“Old Zhao, let me test your mettle!” “Good!
Leng Xuan, it’s been a while since we last sparred.
Let me see if you’ve forgotten all the swordsmanship I taught you!” The crisp, rhythmic clashing of metal echoed in the center of the yard.
One held a pair of Zanpakuto while the other wielded a Starblade, their movements swift and fierce as sword shadows flickered back and forth…
Up in the second-floor bedroom, Hongying and Si Xiaonan were awakened by the sounds of battle below.
Dressed in their pajamas, the two stepped out onto the shared balcony.
Watching Zhao Kongcheng and Leng Xuan spar in the middle of the night, Si Xiaonan looked utterly exasperated.
“Hongying, aren’t you going to stop them?
They don’t even know to give you a quiet environment to recover.” Si Xiaonan wasn’t wearing her glasses, and with Leng Xuan and Zhao Kongcheng moving so fast, she couldn’t make out the weapons in Zhao Kongcheng’s hands clearly.
Hongying, however, spotted the abnormality right away.
Zhao Kongcheng had always used a single blade, but this time he was using dual swords—one long and one short—whose style closely mirrored the Senbonzakura Lu Ming had held earlier.
*Lu Ming already forged a Zanpakuto?
Is Zhao Kongcheng using the new Zanpakuto Lu Ming crafted?
Does this mean Zhao Kongcheng has his own Forbidden Realm now?* Hongying maintained a calm expression, but inside, her heart was pounding with excitement.
She hadn’t expected Lu Ming to complete the forging while she was asleep.
How long had it even been?
Hongying glanced at the time.
Barely an hour had passed since they had gone to sleep.
In just one short hour, Lu Ming had finished forging a Zanpakuto?
This was a Forbidden Object they were talking about!
Could Leng Xuan force out the Zanpakuto’s Forbidden Realm power during this spar?
The thought had barely crossed Hongying’s mind when something entirely unthinkable occurred.
With a sharp *CLANG!*— Leng Xuan’s Starblade, clashing against Zhao Kongcheng’s Zanpakuto, suddenly snapped clean in half…
The sight left both Si Xiaonan and Hongying frozen in shock on the balcony.
Down in the center of the courtyard, Zhao Kongcheng and Leng Xuan froze mid-motion as well.
Leng Xuan stared at the broken Starblade in his hand, his eyes widening to the size of saucers.
Zhao Kongcheng instinctively glanced down at the edge of his own Zanpakuto, half-expecting the heavy clash to have left some nicks on the blade.
To his absolute astonishment, the Zanpakuto remained as pristine and sharp as new, without the slightest chip along the edge…
“Hongying…
that was a Starblade in Leng Xuan’s hand!
How did Zhao Kongcheng do that?
What are those two blades in his hands…” Si Xiaonan gripped the balcony railing with both hands and turned to look at Hongying.
Though she asked the question, she already had a guess in mind and simply sought confirmation.
Hongying said softly, “That must be the Zanpakuto Lu Ming promised to forge for Zhao Kongcheng.
I never expected a Starblade to be so fragile before Lu Ming’s Zanpakuto.” Star Blades were forged from a metal of mysterious origin, reputed to never break, rust, melt, or freeze—supposedly immune to any external force attempting to shatter its internal structure…
Yet today, that legend was utterly shattered.
Shattered by a Forbidden Object forged by an obscure high school student.
Hongying had thought she paid enough respect to Lu Ming and his so-called Zanpakuto, but now it seemed she still hadn’t taken them seriously enough!
Right now, in terms of durability and sharpness alone, the Zanpakuto had already surpassed the Starblade—and Zhao Kongcheng hadn’t even drawn upon its true Forbidden Realm power yet.
*** “Done testing the blades?” Lu Ming looked at the dazed Leng Xuan and Zhao Kongcheng, breaking the silence between them.
Zhao Kongcheng shuddered, pointed at the broken blade on the ground, and stammered out, “L-L-Lu Ming…
it…
it broke!” Lu Ming’s brow furrowed, his expression unamused.
“I know.
I’m not blind.
A chunk of metal that big lying on the ground, how could I miss it?” Zhao Kongcheng swallowed hard and muttered under his breath, “But this is a Starblade…
the supposedly unbreakable Starblade!” Lu Ming let out a helpless sigh.
“How could anything be truly unbreakable?
It’s simply that it hadn’t met a sharper weapon yet.
Even the Zanpakuto in your hand could snap if you ran into a strong enough enemy…” “Old Zhao, why didn’t the Starblade break before?
Simply because you were too weak, and the enemies you faced weren’t powerful enough.” “Actually, the intrinsic strength of a Zanpakuto and a Starblade are comparable.
But because Leng Xuan couldn’t unleash the full power of the Starblade, this happened.
If it were the Captain wielding it, the ones breaking might have been your dual blades instead.” Lu Ming’s words were a bit harsh, but paired with the snapped Starblade on the ground, they carried absolute conviction.
Strength was the true foundation of everything.
Both the Starblade and the Zanpakuto were weapons, and it was the master wielding them who decided their fate.
Zhao Kongcheng wasn’t fragile-hearted, and he quickly snapped out of the shock of the broken Starblade.
“I have to report this to the Captain right away!
The power of this Zanpakuto is just too absurd.” Zhao Kongcheng patted his pockets, wanting to pull out his phone.
Lu Ming stopped him immediately.
“Look how late it is.
There’s no rush for a few hours.
The Captain is far more exhausted than you are; it’s not worth disturbing his sleep over something like this.” Lu Ming understood Chen Muye’s condition.
He knew the Captain constantly had to use his Black Impermanence Forbidden Realm to suppress the Shiva’s Resentment artifact within his body.
Though it hadn’t reached the most critical phase yet, Lu Ming hoped to afford Chen Muye as much rest as possible whenever he could.
Zhao Kongcheng scratched his head sheepishly and slid his phone back into his pocket.
By now, Lu Ming held an elevated stature in Zhao Kongcheng’s heart, and he wouldn’t dream of going against such a request.
“Master Lu Ming, this Zanpakuto…” “Ahem!” Lu Ming raised his right fist to his mouth, coughing lightly as he gave Zhao Kongcheng a playful look.
“Old Zhao, why the sudden change in attitude?
Aren’t I just ‘Lu Ming the kid’ to you?” Zhao Kongcheng’s face stiffened, and he immediately declared his stance.
“It was Old Zhao here who had eyes but failed to see Mount Tai, failing to recognize Master Lu Ming’s true skill!
I deserve not having awakened a Forbidden Realm all this time!” Though he was self-deprecating, Old Zhao’s face was practically splitting with a grin.
“Master Lu Ming!
This Zanpakuto suits me way too well!
May I ask what its name is?
And how can I use its true Forbidden Realm power?” Now that he had witnessed the sheer physical power of the Zanpakuto, how could he settle for just using its sharpness?
He desperately wanted to experience the true Forbidden Domain ability locked within.
As Zhao Kongcheng’s words fell, Hongying and Si Xiaonan on the second-floor balcony, as well as Leng Xuan beside him, all focused their full attention on Lu Ming.
Every single one of them was dying to know what kind of Forbidden Realm ability this Zanpakuto would allow Zhao Kongcheng to awaken…