Death… and me

1355 The Completion of The Gentle Water Sword

This difference was one that occurred at the fundamental level.

One controlled the sword while the other was controlled by the sword!

The difference might not be obvious at this point, but once they reached a certain level in their grades, such a difference was capable of determining life and death!

This was because when a person controlled a sword, he was a god!

But when a sword controlled a person, he was instead a demon! A demonic sword!

A ray of light flashed. Chu Yang delved right in with his sword raised. With a slide of his foot, his entire self suddenly turned solitary and lonely, bleak and desolate.

As though he was the only person left in the world!

The Sword of Solitude!

Even if it were Gu Duxing by his side right now, he would probably also mistake himself as the person displaying the sword technique right now.

With nary a shift in Ye Zui’s eyes, he shouted, “Impressive sword intent! Watch my Sword of Drunken Dreams!” With a flash of sword light, the black robes of Ye Zui suddenly became blurry, a wave of dreamy, fantasy-like and almost drunken sword intent gushing out.

Their realms of artistic concept blended and mingled. The sword intent of the Sword of Solitude remained lonely and solitary in the drunken dreams!

Both swords suddenly gave off innumerous rays of chilly light, and both of them went on the offensive simultaneously!

It was already dawn by now, but at this moment, sword light scattered and interlocked, flooding the sky above and making it even brighter and dazzling than stars in the night sky!

Both of them had already transformed into smoke. Merely drifting around in mid-air was enough to leave trails of afterimages.

However, there was no sign of their swords, because the swords had already transformed into sword light and sword aura which raged about the area!

Sword aura rushed into the skies at this moment!

Clang!

After exchanging several blows, their swords finally clashed for the first time.

The clash made both of them stagger and fall back.

The sword aura in the air lost the controlling force behind them and exploded with a loud boom. Like a bomb going off, it spread throughout the dense forest.

With a loud swoosh, all the trees and greenery within a few hundred feet of where they were were reduced to dust by this surge of sword aura!

Before the sword aura in the vicinity had even dissipated, the two rays of sword light came together and became entangled once more.

The blows earlier could only count as attacks to sound the other party out. However, the entanglement this time was a through and through battle!

A burst of dreamy, foggy, smoky and cloudy sword aura spread in Chu Yang’s direction.

With a wave of Chu Yang’s sword, however, a wave of solitary and lonely sword aura held back all the enemy forces. In an instant, Ye Zui had already circled seventeen to eighteen rounds around him. His sword came attacking wildly from every single direction — top to bottom, all four cardinal directions, front, back, left, right, from the top of the head and from the bottom of the feet!

They transformed into clouds of smoke, permeating every inch!

Chu Yang’s form was as straight and tall as a sword. He wielded the sword without any openings, matching his opponent blow for blow. He focused strictly on defense and refrained from attacking!

Clings and clangs resounded without pause.

Every time the swords clashed, bursts of sword aura shot out and spread outward. In the blink of an eye, the entire forest was in shambles.

In the shadows a hundred feet behind them, a figure quietly appeared. He seemingly glanced at them before leaving in a flash swiftly — It was the Third Elder.

Ye Zui had obviously noticed him, yet he chose to disregard him. Instead, he wielded his sword madly and launched an offensive against Chu Yang!

“Hey! The person you’re actually chasing after has escaped!”

“It’s fine even if he escapes… Right now, nobody is as important as you!”

This was a fair duel between swordsmen that didn’t come easily, yet he had to run into a lunatic. Incredibly frustrated, Chu Yang braced himself to face the enemy with full attention.

In just a mere moment, Ye Zui’s form turned from ‘transformed into a wave of smoke’ into ‘changed into a cloud of smoke’.

Chu Yang closed his eyes, his sword moving about as he sensed the sword’s reverberations. Every reverberation resulted from it coming into contact with the other party’s sword tip and sword spine.

In just a short amount of time, Chu Yang had already taken no less than 3,000 attacks!

On another swordsman, such speed would definitely have been enough to cause the wielder’s arm to be torn off from the body and be thrown out!

And yet Ye Zui’s speed was actually becoming faster!

Chu Yang’s situation gradually became perilous. As the speed of the other party’s attacks became faster and faster, he realized that he was actually beginning to become somewhat unable to keep up!

Even though his opponent was battling while his own cultivation was suppressed, his actual foundation remained that of a solid fourth-grade Sword Supremacy regardless!

The moment he failed to keep up with the opponent’s momentum, his body would become riddled with holes in just the blink of an eye!

Chu Yang’s mind moved swiftly as he blocked the attacks. A phrase suddenly came to him —’Steel walls and bronze gates have yet to see the end of strife’!

Steel walls and bronze gates?

Inspired, Chu Yang stopped his passive and defensive stance and abruptly abandoned Gu Duxing’s Sword of Solitude’s sword intent. Drawing a circle of sword light, he created a wall of bright light. With a tremble of his sword, a spread of stars, as though the milky way, covered the area before him at once!

Steel walls and bronze gates!

As though a whirlwind, Ye Zui spun a few hundred rounds around Chu Yang within a brief moment. His sword light had already connected as one and yet he couldn’t even touch a corner of the other party’s robes.

It was apparent that the other party was already entirely on the losing end. He kept having a nagging feeling —’If I push a little harder, the other party will be finished!’

But even after pushing time and again, the other party continued to remain in a precarious situation yet still hanging on by a thread.

Ye Zui shouted, “Are you trying to wear me down? Even though I’ve suppressed my cultivation, my actual cultivation is still here. You won’t be able to expend my energy!”

Chu Yang let out a sneaky laugh and replied, “We’ll see about that!”

But all he did was repeatedly display the first half of the ‘Steel walls and bronze gates have yet to see the end of strife’ move. His enlightenment, however, became deeper and deeper. Under his opponent’s storm of attacks, Chu Yang was able to increasingly comprehend the brilliance of this move!

He couldn’t help but think of a saying —’It is only when an opponent who is stronger than you launches an all-out offensive attack on you will your potential be forced to exercise to its extreme! And only then will you be able to see your own weaknesses!’

This saying was apt in every situation.

A smile appeared on Chu Yang’s face. Even though he was constantly retreating, he was already in a much better situation compared to the precarious situation he was in earlier.

Ye Zui’s brows furrowed. Suddenly, he let out a long laugh and flew thirty feet out.

Chu Yang took three steps back and stood there abruptly, panting heavily.

All of that had happened in the mere blink of an eye, but Chu Yang could already feel his exhaustion.

Ye Zui said coldly, “Why do you not attack? Under my attacks, if all you do is guard, you’re sure to die!”

Chu Yang replied calmly, “When it’s time to attack, I will naturally do so!”

There was a look of fanaticism in Ye Zui’s eyes. “I’ll wait for you to attack… Although this defensive move of yours is marvelous, it is not almighty! Watch my Sword of Demon Sealing!”

Holding his sword out, he suddenly leaped into the air. He shouted, “With the Demon here, hurry and wait to die, you pitiful ants!”

Chu Yang let out a few wry chuckles inwardly.

Damn it, and they call me the Extraterrestrial Demon. I think this fellow… is much more like one than me!

This thought had only just crossed his mind when he felt a wave of evil — almost psychotic — sword wind come rushing at him from above! It brought with it a ruthless sensation, as though it wanted to annihilate everything in this world. In an instant, it actually sealed his front, back, left and right completely!

At this moment, he felt as if he was standing naked all alone in a world of ice and snow!

Chu Yang drew his sword and bellowed ferociously, “Clouds of the sky!”

And displayed the first half of ‘Nine-colored clouds gather in unison’.

He slashed apart that mysterious seal in front of him, his sword clashing against his opponent’s!

At that moment, Ye Zui suddenly vanished!

He disappeared completely, leaving behind only a sword!

A sword that had already become demonified!

There was a boundless devouring aura and a boundless sense of evil around it!

Chu Yang wielded his sword desperately. At this moment, under the pressure of impending death, many sword moves automatically appeared in his mind. Without thinking, he unleashed them all!

All the different types of sword techniques in the first-generation Nine Tribulations Sword Master’s legacy, Luo Kedi’s sword technique, Gu Duxing’s, Ji Mo’s, Ao Xieyun’s… and even Bu Liuqing’s…

He displayed them all.

But that demonified sword disregarded all of them and continued to follow behind Chu Yang, as though a maggot clinging onto flesh. The moment Chu Yang showed any opening, it would detect it immediately and launch an attack!

As everyone was aware, no matter how ingenious a sword technique might be, it was impossible for it to not possess even a single weakness.

And this demonic sword technique of Ye Zui’s precisely targeted the weaknesses inherent in every sword move! It didn’t care what kind of sword technique one used, or how ingenious or crude it was.

It attacked only the weaknesses.

In fact, Chu Yang had a vague feeling — Right now, it didn’t seem like Ye Zui was the one who was attacking. Or rather, Ye Zui had already merged with the sword and was instinctively attacking.

This instinct, however, leaned greatly toward the sword!

And not Ye Zui!

Chu Yang finally understood what the Sword Spirit meant by ‘demonic sword’!

The sword itself wasn’t a demon!

But once a swordsman stepped onto the path of demonic cultivation, he was even more frightening than a demonic sword!

In the blink of an eye, there were spots of blood on Chu Yang.

Under such a dense and all-pervasive slew of attacks, Chu Yang actually felt like he couldn’t keep up.

Yet there was no way he could display the complete Nine Tribulations Sword Technique.

Chu Yang let out a furious bellow, his sword suddenly changing from fast to slow, and he drew a circle with his sword. The internal energy within him followed suit too and circled one round. At this moment, he had unwittingly displayed his own Gentle Water Sword Intent.

This was a move that Chu Yang displayed by instinct when countering the opponent’s torrential storm of attacks.

The moment he displayed the move, he cried out in dismay inwardly. The other party’s offensive momentum was so dense and swift; wasn’t he just offering his life up on a silver platter to the opponent by using this irritatingly slow and languid Gentle Water Sword Intent?

But the next moment, Chu Yang found himself flabbergasted.

Under the guidance of the Gentle Water Sword Intent, the other party’s wild and violent attacks actually followed the Gentle Water Sword Intent and circled half a round before returning to its original position.

The Sword of Demon Sealing was actually unable to do anything about the Gentle Water Sword Intent!

Chu Yang was tremendously surprised. Then, he finally understood — The Sword of Demon Sealing was a move that searched for weaknesses. Every sword move had its own weakness. But this sword intent, which was formed from water currents, was the only one that didn’t have one.

Water that flowed leisurely was something that lasted for eternity!

As long as water continued to flow, it was one body from top to bottom. Whether it was fast or slow, urgent or languid, it remained as one body! Who had ever seen water currents severed by a sword?

Using a sword tip to search for a flowing water current’s weakness within a flowing water current… How could that possibly work?

The moment he thought of this, Chu Yang suddenly felt a wave of comfort in his heart and he was almost tempted to laugh into the sky!

Because, right at this moment, he knew very clearly that the Gentle Water Sword Intent that he had created was finally going to approach the realm of completion today!

Following this, Chu Yang wielded his sword to the east and to the west, his sword intent as though the flowing water, gentle and continuous and going on without stop. Before the power of the first sword move dissipated, the power of the second move had already reached. It didn’t seem hurried in the least, nor did it harbor even the slightest bit of murderous intent. And yet it protected him completely!

The opponent’s demoniac attacks actually couldn’t find any opening to take advantage of at all!