Chapter 159: Forever Original Soldier
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
"Listen to me, our Non-Phase Method is one of the world’s top body and spirit cultivation method. It has stood aloof from the rest…"
"Cut the crap. If it doesn’t have an attack, then say it doesn’t have an attack. In any case, you’re a fucking joke."
"...There’s no perfect method in this world. Thus, it is understandable for the Non-Phase Method to lack in offensive ability since it strives to achieve the ultimate defense. However, in the face of some special circumstances, surviving alone is un-recommendable. Therefore, there’s actually a way to attack."
"Yeah, I know. It’s sharp tongue. After insulting the opponents with the world’s most vicious swearing, you can then activate your turtle shell defense to make them helpless in dealing with you. Thus, making the opponent’s life worse than death. This is the world’s number one sharpest combination."
"... If you really don’t want to learn, then so be it. I’m going back to bed."
"When did I say that? Since you’re so sincere in begging me, then I’m going to reluctantly accept your teaching!"
"…"
A few days ago, there was such a dialogue on the Non-Phase Peak. After that, Wang Wu formally taught her disciple the sword art that she considered as her hidden trump card.
"Non-Phase Method lacks the explosive and magical power exertion ability. Therefore, if you want to injure the enemy, the only way possible is to use their own power against them...but that’s not an easy thing to do because no one is foolish enough to stare blankly as you maneuver their magical power back at them. However, it’s not difficult if you use the principle of resonance, injuring the enemy 800 while self-harming 1000."
After explaining the principle, Wang Wu personally demonstrated the sword resonance move. When the opponent’s attack reached the body, resonated the attack power of the opponent using Non-Phase Sword Bone as the core and transmitted back the resonation through Non-Phase Sword Art. Although the initiative to provoke the resonance that came from oneself would aggravate the damage to oneself, but at the same time, it would also return most of the attack power back to its owner and injure them. It was indeed injuring the enemy 800 while injuring oneself 1000. Though it seemed absurd and uninhibited, it could still be rated as master class swordsmanship.
Because the emphasis was on defense and survival, Non-Phase Method, which was basically a selling-blood-for-a-living kind of method, had never worried about this kind of ‘blood exchange’ move. Quite possibly, the more blood dropped, the better. And it seemed like Wang Lu’s ‘meat shield’ had reached the level of a prickly shell. From now on, the sky was the limit; he became free and unfettered!
"Master, Master, what is the name of this overbearing and threatening sword art?"
Master frowned for a moment. "Nameless Sword Art."
"…"
"Alas, naming incompetence is indeed the characteristic of our Spirit Sword Sect. Don’t look at me with that illiterate person expression. It’s like… you see, there are twelve peaks in the Spirit Sword Mountain. Stellar, Non-Phase, Brilliant Peaks and the like, the main peaks of the Spirit Sword Mountain, are previously the residents of the previous Sect Leaders. And at that time, Spirit Sword Sect was not called Spirit Sword Sect.
"What was it called then?"
"Whenever the Master of a Peak became the Sect Leader, the name of that peak became the name of the Sect. Therefore, in those days there are Stellar Sword Sect, Brilliant Sword Sect, Misty Sword Sect... Later on, when it came to our generation, after thinking back and forth, they decided to forgo the name change. However, renaming it to something fixed is troublesome. Thus, they simply changed it into Spirit Sword Sect. There is Spirit, and there is Sword... you see, that’s where the tradition is."
Wang Lu thought that the name Non-Phase Method had its reason for why it sounded like a poor man’s choice of words—because this illiterate person was given this Non-Phase Peak. Therefore, her self-created Method became Non-Phase Method... In any case, it didn’t matter whether this counterattack sword had a name or not, what really mattered was its result in the fight.
——
Now it seemed like the actual result was perfect.
Wang Lu’s time to practice this amazing swordplay was limited, less than three days; he just had ‘pried open the gateway into it’. Therefore, Wang Lu didn’t dare to firmly counter Zhao Jiangyuan’s thousands of kilos heavy first sword strike with the nameless sword. He waited until his opponent fell into a trap and injured, thus losing the momentum to finish the match as soon as possible. Then Wang Lu gradually unfolded the nameless sword, bit by bit returning the opponent’s attack power.
In general, Wang Lu suffered much more than Zhao Jiangyuan. However, with his foundation of Non-Phase Sword Bone, he could actually shoulder much more injuries than Zhao Jiangyuan. Thus, after several exchanges, Zhao Jiangyuan was the first who couldn’t withstand and stopped his Limitless Sword attack.
"...I am humbled by your excellent swordsmanship."
Under the imminent disintegration of his Jade Mansion, Zhao Jiangyuan’s complexion turned deathly pale as he tried to restrain from vomiting blood while reluctantly opening his mouth to concede the fight.
If he insisted on continuing the fight, it would injure his fundamentals. If his Jade Mansion really collapsed, even if he received the countless treatment methods from the Ten Thousand Arts Sect, it would still be troublesome. Zhao Jiangyuan was a sword cultivator, not a mad man.
To this defeat admission, Wang Lu very generously smiled back, "No need to be polite hahaha cough cough cough!"
He vomited blood once again, which turned into a mess… Then Wang Lu stood in the pool of blood and continued to groan.
"Oh, I, your father, can’t stand it anymore. I’m afraid that if I don’t consume several hundreds of thousand spirit stones worth of medicine soup, I won’t be able to recuperate. If the Sect’s public expense is without reimbursement, we will have to occupy ninety-nine percent of Spirit Pool Peak! Speaking of which, where’s the beautiful young nurse?"
On the other side, just as Zhao Jiangyuan barely managed to step down the platform, maintaining the poise as a defeated person, he could no longer hold on anymore. He vomited a mouthful of black blood and then passed out.
——
The highly anticipated third match ended in the triumph of Spirit Sword Sect.
Although many people had speculated that Wang Lu could win the fight, not many people would have guessed Wang Lu would actually clash head on and win using his real ability. Especially in the end where he used the bitter method of exchanging wound with wound, which caused people to suck their tongue in amazement. Moreover, as a high-level Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator, his physique was actually better than a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator! The body refining effect of the Non-Phase Method was really incredible.
The two sects’ Elders were also quite emotional with their post fight comments.
"Wang Lu has shown us a very high-level performance of winning against a superior opponent. Whether it was in the preparation for the fight, response during the fight and in surviving the fight, he has shown us an extremely high standard. Certainly, Zhao Jiangyuan’s performance was also very splendid. His defeat just now has many parts due to the lack of luck."
Yuan Chaonian didn’t mince words with his comments. "Zhao Jiangyuan lost in the tactical choice. He was too afraid of the opponent’s trick; before the fight even began, he already lost the mind game. He was anxious to finish the fight, if it were not so, using speed advantage, he should be able to win!"
In this regard, as the one who proposed this tactic, Hai Yunfan couldn’t help but feel guilty. They had considered all aspects, except for Wang Lu fighting head on in an open and aboveboard way! This was an enormous mistake for Ten Thousand Arts Sect that specialized in pre-fight analyses.
However, even the defeat of Zhao Jiangyuan couldn’t be squarely blamed on their Eldest Brother and Little Brother, after all... the opponent was Wang Lu. Without personally standing in front of him, it was difficult to understand the pressure that made the heart palpitate.
Couldn’t guess his next step and couldn’t guess the cards hidden in his sleeve... Obviously, his cultivation base wasn’t high, but like an insurmountable high mountain, it made people depressed, irritated, and lose rationality! A few moments ago, Zhao Jiangyuan had besieged Wang Lu in an inescapable net of Limitless Sword, but by the counterattack from the nameless sword, his injury rapidly accumulated... During this period, how could Zhao Jiangyuan not realize it? It was because he was so eager for the victory that he didn’t care about it until it was too late.
"This time, I lost fair and square. However, Senior Sister, you must take revenge for me."
On his side, the Second Sister Ye Feifei, who was caring for him, nodded. "Rest assured, I’ve seen your fight against him. I already know how to deal with him."
Zhao Jiangyuan warned, "Don’t be careless. His defensive ability is really strong, and…"
"Relax, I will not fight recklessly against him." Ye Feifei smiled, which was brimming with confidence that it dispelled Zhao Jiangyuan’s concern.
Although her brilliance had always been outshone by her Eldest Brother Zhan Ziye, she was, after all, still a rare cultivation talent in the Ten Thousand Arts Sect. Moreover, from an objective point of view, her fighting style should perfectly restrain that of Wang Lu.
This advantage of her was such that, in the fight against a rival like Wang Lu, Senior Sister’s winning odds should be higher than that of their Eldest Brother.
"Senior Sister, you can do it!"
——
On the other side, after the fight had ended, Wang Lu was caught in a bizarre dream.
In his mind, he only remembered being carried down after a serious injury. In order to recover more quickly, he was put into the state of induced sleep. Before his consciousness faded away, he was still sighing with emotion about the sharpness of the nameless sword. Then, he sank into a fog like illusion world.
Fragments of sound and light appeared in his mind scattered and smashed, obscured by the dense fog, which he could only vaguely identify to be some kind of desolate piece of land. However, a strong smell of blood stimulated his five senses. Some people’s roar came to his ear, but the language was incomprehensible.
After that, the pain seemed to blot out the sky, from his previous injury to cardiac pain; the life-is-worse-than-the-torment-of-death kind of pain. The pain was countless of times more than what he had suffered on the platform. Thus, although he was well aware that he was in an illusion world, Wang Lu somewhat was unable to control himself.
The enormous pain in him was like a fiercely compressed spring tightly wrapped up in a secure shell. However, the pressure seemed to possess a boiling resistance. In the illusion world, Wang Lu seemingly saw lava and heard the sound of thunder, yet from the beginning, with the restriction from that shell, it could not erupt.
Finally, the ‘spring’ seemed to have been compressed to the max. Although it still couldn’t break through the hard shell, nevertheless, the entire shell and the world within the shell shook.
Because of this shock, Wang Lu woke up.
"Hey, you’re still alive."
Came the voice of his Master.
"Seems like a very comfortable sleep right there. However, if you want to sleep again then go ahead, your treatment is already done."
Wang Lu gently frowned, and then asked, "Master, just now I seem to have seen something."
"Huh, did you catch me naked? That’s not true right?"
"Em, I mean…"
Unfortunately, before Wang Lu could explain the situation in the illusion world, he was interrupted by his Master.
"Your loyal dog, the dead fatty, has lost."
Wang Lu was startled, got up and asked, "That couldn’t be, right? I have clearly given him the mustard seed bag!"
His Master held out a basin of sunflower-like strange flowers. "See for yourself."
Magical power poured into that basin of strange flowers, their petals unfolded, and their pistils projected out the record of the fourth match on the Cloud Platform that happened when Wang Lu was still asleep.
On one side, Wang Lu ridiculed, "Did the poor ghost not have the money to buy the jade bamboo record?" On the other hand, he earnestly looked at the moving images.
On the Cloud Platform was the number two among the representatives of the Ten Thousand Arts Sect, Ye Feifei, as well as Wen Bao of Spirit Sword Sect.
On this match, the strength differences of the two contestants could be considered as the most disparate, thus, from before the match, there wasn’t that much of suspense. Despite in his victory against Zhu Qin, Wen Bao had proven that his strength wasn’t weak, in front of the number two character in the Ten Thousand Arts Sect roster, the odds were still stacked against him. Ye Feifei’s characteristics were brisk, patient, cautious, plus having the magical power of Foundation Establishment. All of these perfectly restrained the blindly-charge-forward-like-swine Wen Bao. On the stage, Wen Bao himself didn’t dare to think of victory. Only Wang Lu who looked forward to this dead fatty’s performance...
However, when the match started, Wen Bao very quickly surprised everyone. Facing Ye Feifei’s agile and swift movement, which seemed no different than illusion technique, Wen Bao’s chosen response was to charge like a pig, continuous pig charge; his aggressiveness was threatening as if he was demented.
That crazy charge attack forced Ye Feifei into a bind. Because the next opponent was Wang Lu, she didn’t want to reveal too many of her cards; she could not use her real skill in this fight... She thought this kind of brainless onslaught should be very easy to deal with—Although Wen Bao’s offensive was fierce, the flaw was astonishingly huge. In front of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, vital energy body protection was but a child’s play. However, at this time, Wen Bao’s whole skin seemed bright red as if there was a layer of blood on it; his resistance suddenly soared. Ye Feifei successively probed it with her spells, but not one of them worked. Instead, the wind generated from his sword move became increasingly fiercer, sometimes the wind from a single sword swing wreaked havoc in the area ten meters from him. Looking at the scene on the stage, the audience was dumbstruck.
Was this guy really in a Qi Cultivating Stage!?
Ye Feifei was also surprised. Her original plan was to defeat the opponent with the bare minimum effort, in order to avoid revealing her cards too soon. However, in the face of such development, it was increasingly difficult for her to keep hiding her card. Thereupon, she very decisively sacrificed her trump card.
Royal Air.
Flying, was the dream of countless mortals. People yearned for the flying sword of cultivators. However, for the cultivators, the real flying came at the Xudan Stage.
The simplest flight spell could be cast by cultivators as early Qi Cultivating Stage. However, the flying was slow and clumsy, nowhere near their movement on land in terms of agility and speed; it was basically a flying target mark. It had no actual combat value. Only when their magical power reached that of a Xudan Stage could they freely maneuver around on air, and have the ability to fly at high altitude, and thus be used in combat.
However, Ye Feifei’s cultivation base was just low-level Foundation Establishment, yet she could dance lithely in the air, which suddenly even left more than ten after images and dazzled people’s eyes.
Before people could sigh in appreciation the prowess of Ye Feifei as the number two trump card, Wen Bao had already wielded his great sword fiercely, setting off an astonishing raging tornado storm, which instantly swept away all of Ye Feifei’s afterimages. Only her real body was spared due to her wielding her wind shield.
The wind stopped, and the whole area turned deathly silent.
"This is impossible!"
Countless people who witnessed this spectacle roared such an exclamation. No matter how good Wen Bao’s attack was, but with a cultivation base of Qi Cultivating Stage, it was impossible for him to produce such an amazing wind from wielding his sword!
"By the way, how did you do that?" her Master asked Wang Lu.
"The brocade sack."
"What’s inside the sack?"
"Some original smell of a certain noble and elegant young lady."
"..." Even the Non-Phase Peak Master who had always been known for her questionable moral integrity, at this time couldn’t help but deeply admire. "Unfortunately, his power came from the pouch, his defeat also came from the pouch."
The white clad woman shook her head and motioned Wang Lu to continue watching.
The match was rather quick, only last for about a minute.
When Wen Bao thought he could go against the heaven’s will and win the match, he opened the brocade sack once again. When he tried to obtain power from that original smell...
Blood shot out from his nose and to the sky; Wen Bao swayed several times, and his plump figure fell down with a thud.
Wang Lu gawked for a long time.
"This loser is a virgin…"