To fight Yanqing, one must first understand his preferred method of combat.
Firstly, Yanqing was still young, his body not yet fully developed.
He naturally lacked raw, overwhelming strength.
Consequently, he relied heavily on the lethal precision of his flying swords to handle powerful foes.
This was clearly evident from his bout with Luka during the Wardance, and even more so in his intense, inseparable clash with Yunli.
When facing Luka, despite his own lack of physical might, Yanqing was still an overwhelming presence.
The gap between a native of Belobog and a native of the Xianzhou was likely just too vast.
But when he fought Yunli—a fellow Xianzhou native who was not only much older but also in her physical prime—Yanqing could only employ circuitous tactics, using his superior agility to pin down his opponent.
The current Yanqing was even younger than he was at the start of the main story.
And while he was an undisputed genius in the field of swordsmanship with an exceptionally high level of attainment, his physical strength was far inferior to Kazuki’s.
Not only had Kazuki’s body already matured, but he had also just received a significant boost to his stats from the Chrysos Heir’s constitution.
“Alright, seeing that you’re both about ready, let’s just begin.” With a casual wave of Jing Yuan’s hand, the duel commenced.
Kazuki knew in his heart that in terms of pure technique, he was nowhere near Yanqing’s match.
His only path to victory was to use his numerical advantage in raw power.
“Hah—yah!” Kazuki let out a thunderous shout.
His arms bulged with sudden force as he swung the Stone Fire Dream Body—a weapon he had once struggled to even lift—with the force of a landslide.
The massive formation blade sliced through the air, letting out a sharp, piercing whistle.
Clang!
In the blink of an eye, the formation blade in Kazuki’s hand crashed against the one-handed sword in Yanqing’s.
Sparks flew in a brilliant shower, and the crisp sound of clashing metal echoed through the training ground.
It was just as Kazuki had predicted.
The resistance from Yanqing’s side was surprisingly weak.
Seeing this, Kazuki immediately increased the downward pressure.
He gritted his teeth, every muscle in his body tensing as he channeled every ounce of his strength into his arms, attempting to completely overwhelm Yanqing with brute force.
Yanqing felt a tremendous power pressing down on him like a tidal wave.
His legs involuntarily bent, his feet carving two shallow grooves into the ground beneath him.
But he was a genius of the sword, after all.
Despite being at a clear disadvantage in strength, he showed no signs of panic.
With a deft flick of his wrist, he skillfully rotated his sword, using the momentum of Kazuki’s downward press to guide the heavy formation blade aside.
In the same fluid motion, his body leaped backward, lightly creating distance between them.
A flash of surprise crossed Yanqing’s eyes. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
He took a moment to catch his breath, a small pant escaping his lips.
“I didn’t expect Teacher Kazuki to be such a hidden gem.”
Kazuki didn’t reply—or rather, he lacked the breath to.
He immediately adjusted his stance and launched another attack.
He brandished the Stone Fire Dream Body, its blade a blur of light as he hacked at Yanqing from every conceivable angle.
Each strike carried a sharp, cutting aura, as if it could cleave the very air in two.
Yanqing, meanwhile, weaved nimbly between the flashes of the blade.
His figure was as elusive as a phantom, making him impossible to pin down.
The sword in his hand sometimes thrust and sometimes parried, each movement precisely neutralizing Kazuki’s ferocious assault.
‘Just as I thought…’Kazuki mused grimly.’After that first clash, he knows there’s a huge gap in our strength.
He’s not going to meet me head-on again.’
He had to find another chance to exploit his advantage.
Suddenly, Kazuki spotted an opening.
He lunged forward, leaped high into the air, and raised the formation blade above his head, bringing it down on Yanqing with the weight of a falling mountain.
This strike concentrated all his power and was executed with blinding speed, leaving no time to react.
Yanqing was startled.
He knew this blow would be difficult, if not impossible, to block directly.
He pushed off with his toes, his body tilting sharply to one side as his own sword swept upward in a desperate attempt to deflect Kazuki’s attack.
However, the force behind Kazuki’s strike was simply too great.
Yanqing’s sword only managed to slightly alter the trajectory of the formation blade.
The sharp edge still grazed his shoulder, tearing through his uniform and leaving a thin, crimson line on his skin.
“A fine strike, Teacher Kazuki!” Yanqing couldn’t help but praise, a hint of genuine admiration in his voice.
‘Wait…
are you complimenting me or mocking me?’ Kazuki wondered.
“In that case…” Yanqing’s fingers lightly brushed over the longsword in his hand.
“I’ll have to get serious, too!”
Instantly, several flying swords materialized from thin air, surrounding Yanqing in a deadly orbit.
A bone-chilling cold began to radiate from his body, and a layer of frost spread across the ground at his feet.
It was obvious that the young lieutenant was only now beginning to truly exert himself.
It was then that Kazuki realized he had overlooked a critical fact: as a Pathstrider, Yanqing’s strength wasn’t something that could be analyzed on paper.
His power couldn’t be measured by common logic.
can we settle this peacefully?” Kazuki asked, looking at the now-frigid aura emanating from Yanqing.
He turned his head to glance at Jing Yuan, who was watching from the sidelines.
The general didn’t look surprised in the slightest.
‘Of course,’Kazuki thought with a sinking feeling.’This old fox intentionally dug this pit for me to fall into…’
A moment later, Kazuki was lying spread-eagled on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.
A trickle of blood, tinged with a faint, otherworldly gold, seeped from the corner of his mouth.
“My apologies,” he managed to rasp.
“I couldn’t let you enjoy yourself fully, Lord Yanqing.”
Yanqing had indeed carried out Jing Yuan’s orders to the letter, not holding back in the slightest.
Kazuki couldn’t access the power Jing Yuan had hidden within the Stone Fire Dream Body to begin with.
Relying solely on the constitutions of a Chrysos Heir and a Xianzhou native, he was, at best, a “high-spec Cloud Knight.” How could he possibly rival a living Sword Immortal like Yanqing?
In the end, he had been forced back by the storm of flying swords, taking a few hits that weren’t severe but were certainly painful enough, and had simply admitted defeat.
“Get up.
It’s not like you were seriously hurt.”
Jing Yuan approached, his tone laced with a familiar, teasing quality.
For a Xianzhou native, such a superficial injury didn’t even warrant a trip to the Alchemy Commission.
The wound might heal itself before he even got halfway there.
Only…
Jing Yuan’s gaze fell upon the golden blood at the corner of Kazuki’s mouth, and his brows furrowed slightly.
This wasn’t ordinary blood.
That faint aura…
was that the Ancestor of Destruction?
The Xianzhou’s primary business was hunting the Abominations of Abundance, but they never showed mercy if they encountered the Antimatter Legion.
As the General of the Luofu, Jing Yuan was all too familiar with the aura of the Path of Destruction.
But the aura of Destruction in Kazuki’s blood was several times more concentrated than that of an ordinary Antimatter Legion soldier.
Thinking back to the boy’s sudden surge in strength…
He looked at Kazuki, who was still groaning dramatically on the ground, and thought to himself, ‘I’ll have to find a chance to ask him about this later.
Surely this child didn’t step onto the Path of Destruction in just half a day?’
With his usual lazy and fun-loving nature, he seemed far more suited for the Path of Elation.
[Elysian’s Note:
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