Chapter 644: Fast Sword
Xu Wuyi raised an eyebrow slightly.
Shao Yu continued, his tone flat but leaving no room for argument. "In my life, I only spar with those stronger than me. I have no interest in wasting time on anyone weaker.
"You are twenty-three this year, a Quasi-Grandmaster. I’ve seen some of your battle records. But a record is just a record; the person is the person. I don’t know what you’re truly capable of, so I have to test the waters first.
"Win, and you can stay at the Sword Listening Hut and spar for as many days as you like. Lose, and please leave today. Turn left on your way out. I won’t see you off."
Xu Wuyi fell silent for a few seconds. The words were blunt, even a bit grating.
Logically, as a junior paying a visit, he shouldn’t deliberately aim for victory. The focus of traveling and sparring was to exchange insights; winning and losing were commonplace, and there was no need to fight tooth and nail for superiority. Furthermore, he planned to spar and learn throughout his entire journey. If he had to defeat every Quasi-Grandmaster he encountered, it would be tantamount to building his own success on their reputations.
Not only would that reflect poorly on his own name, but after a few times, no other Quasi-Grandmaster would be willing to entertain him. After all, they were all renowned heavyweights in their respective regions. If a junior tried to use them as stepping stones to climb the ranks, wouldn’t they simply refuse the challenge?
But Shao Yu had already made his stance absolute. Win to stay, or lose and leave.
Xu Wuyi looked up at the old man opposite him. Those eyes remained calm, waiting for his answer.
"Alright," Xu Wuyi said.
A hint of surprise flashed through Shao Yu’s eyes, and then he nodded. "Straightforward."
He stood up and picked up the longsword on the table. "The courtyard is too small to stretch our legs. Follow me."
With that, he walked toward the corner of the courtyard. There was a small door there, previously hidden by a cluster of bamboo, which Xu Wuyi hadn’t noticed. Shao Yu pushed the small door open and stepped out. Xu Wuyi stood up and followed suit.
Behind the door was a bluestone path leading deep into the estate. After walking for about two minutes, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a vast martial arts arena.
The arena was half the size of a football field, paved with smooth bluestone. Several rows of weapon racks lined the edges, fully stocked with all manner of sabers, spears, swords, and halberds. Tall sycamore trees surrounded the grounds, their canopy acting as a massive umbrella that fractured the sunlight into countless dappled spots.
Shao Yu walked to the center of the arena, stopped, and turned around. "Here."
He gripped the unadorned longsword, its tip pointing diagonally at the ground in a casual posture.
Xu Wuyi unfastened the spear bag from his back and took out the Liaoyuan Long Spear. The dark gold shaft gleamed with a cold, gloomy luster in the sunlight, a sharp glint catching on the spear tip. He placed the bag on the sidelines, walked back to the center, and stopped ten meters across from Shao Yu.
"Senior," Xu Wuyi said. "Please."
Shao Yu looked at him and suddenly smiled. The smile was faint, but it made the surrounding air drop a few degrees.
"Young man, let me remind you," Shao Yu said. "When I strike, I never hold back."
Xu Wuyi tightened his grip on his spear. "I understand."
"Good."
As soon as the word left his mouth, Shao Yu moved. There was no warning, no gathering of momentum, not even a shift in his aura. He simply moved out of nowhere.
The moment the blade left its sheath, Xu Wuyi only saw a flash of white light. The light was impossibly fast. It didn’t look like a moving sword, but rather light itself flowing. Before the sound of the blade tearing through the air could even reach his ears, the tip of the sword was already right in front of him.
"So fast!" Xu Wuyi thought. His pupils shrank abruptly. His body instinctively shifted half a step to the left while he brought his long spear up to block.
CLANG!
The crisp sound of colliding metal exploded across the martial arts arena. Xu Wuyi felt an extremely sharp force transmit through the shaft, nearly knocking the Liaoyuan Long Spear out of his hands. He used the momentum to retreat two steps, dispersing some of the impact while keeping his eyes locked on Shao Yu.
Shao Yu did not pursue. He stood in place, his longsword pointing diagonally at the ground, a faint, cold gleam flowing along the blade.
"Not a bad reaction," Shao Yu noted, his tone as flat as ever. "Again."
The second strike came as soon as he spoke. It was even faster this time. The sword glinted like lightning, arriving in an instant.
Xu Wuyi didn’t take the hit head-on this time. Shifting his footwork, he drifted to the side. The blade grazed past his clothes, slicing off a scrap of fabric. But before he could even steady himself, the third strike arrived.
Sword strike after sword strike rained down, so fast it was suffocating.
𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Xu Wuyi bobbed and weaved through the flashes of the blade, brandishing his Liaoyuan Long Spear into a dark gold curtain of light. The crisp clashes of sword and spear rang out like a dense downpour, detonating continuously across the arena.
Shao Yu’s sword was simply too fast. It was so fast that Xu Wuyi had no time to set up Gravity traps or make any tactical adjustments; he could only rely on pure instinct to defend himself.
Aside from when he faced Ye Yixin, Xu Wuyi had never encountered such a Fast Sword Martial Artist. Both wielded a Fast Sword, and both exuded a suffocating pressure that left no room to breathe. But Shao Yu’s speed was completely different from Ye Yixin’s.
Ye Yixin’s speed was pure and absolute; every strike seemed capable of severing space and time, carrying a lethal Will. Shao Yu’s speed, however, was endless and unbroken. It was like a booming thunderclap or a torrential downpour—before one strike fell, the next was already rising, leaving absolutely no opening for a counterattack.
"So this is the Thunder Shock Nine Swords," Xu Wuyi thought.
As the sword glare surged toward him once more, he gritted his teeth and raised his spear to block.
CLANG!
A tremendous force washed over him, forcing him back three steps. His right hand, gripping the spear, tingled with numbness.
He felt a profound sense of peril—that was the most direct sensation in Xu Wuyi’s mind. From the start of the battle until now, he had been entirely on the defensive, with almost no chance to fight back. Shao Yu’s sword was far too fast, so blindingly quick that he could barely parry, let alone mount a counterattack.
Moreover, Shao Yu was truly going all out; every strike was merciless.
This was entirely different from Wang Hanshan. Although Wang Hanshan had also fought with full force, the old man’s Fist Technique followed a path of fierce and unyielding power. Every punch was solid, allowing his opponent to clearly sense the flow of his strength.
But Shao Yu’s sword was just too fast. It was so fast that there was no time to sense anything; one could only dodge and block on pure instinct.
Another thrust came, the tip aiming straight for his throat. Xu Wuyi twisted sideways to dodge, sweeping his long spear horizontally to force Shao Yu back. But wherever the shaft swept, Shao Yu was already gone. His movements were ghostly, shifting unpredictably under the cover of his flashing blade, making him nearly impossible to track.
The next strike stabbed from the side at an impossibly tricky angle. Unable to block in time, Xu Wuyi had no choice but to dodge again. The edge of the blade scraped past his ribs, tearing a slit in his clothes.
"If this keeps up, I’m going to lose," Xu Wuyi realized.
He wouldn’t lose because of a gap in strength, but because of the rhythm. Shao Yu’s Fast Sword had completely dictated the tempo of the fight, trapping him in a cycle of passive reactions with zero opportunities to strike back. If he couldn’t shatter this rhythm, his continuous defensive state would inevitably end with a blade running him through.
He had to change things.
Xu Wuyi took a deep breath. Deep within his sea of consciousness, a dark gold marsh suddenly churned. At the heart of the marsh, the Golden Crow Illusion spread its wings, letting out a silent, echoing cry.
Gravity Manipulation, fully activated.