Chapter 152: M Attribute Explodes, True Sword Match Second Bout!
No footsteps, no breathing, not even the sound of a physical entity tearing through the air at high speed.
Silent as a ghost.
In just an instant, the slender silver light blooming from Akatsuki Ran’s hand had already reached Shangshan Che’s side.
But from outside the field, one could still see Akatsuki Ran standing in the center of the arena’s sand ground, without having moved at all.
This eerie phenomenon left many audience members with little practical combat experience stunned in their seats, unsure where to look.
But even before Shangshan Che turned his head, the “Clear Mirror” in his mind had already clearly reflected the trajectory of that plain-as-water yet killing intent-filled thrust.
Shangshan Che didn’t waste time turning his gaze.
He held his breath and focused, causing scorching Corona Qi to erupt from the tips of his hands, then flipped his wrists to position the Plain Spear’s tip across the path of this sudden high-speed thrust.
Slash!
Iron and bone collided at a single point, and after a moment of silence, the intense clashing sound transformed into visible sound waves that boomed outward in all directions.
Feeling the heavy pressure transmitted from the spear shaft to his arm, Shangshan Che’s expression remained unchanged as he plucked the strings of his heart.
Two-Foot Adult behind him immediately raised her hands in a gun gesture.
Accompanied by popopo sounds, a series of gray-white bullets bypassed Shangshan Che and sped toward his front.
Clang! Clang!
And just before these gray-white bullets arrived, the true form of the silver-white stream of light—that short pure white Bone Dagger—twisted and danced in an almost nonexistent distance, stabbing the same spot on the Plain Spear’s head repeatedly.
Bang!
In Shangshan Che’s slightly surprised perception, the upper right corner of the head of the Special Affairs Office standard Plain Spear in his hand shattered with a boom, turning into sharp fragments that flew outward.
He slightly tilted his head to dodge the fragments, letting them embed deeply into the arena’s stone wall, and stared at Akatsuki Ran’s figure gradually solidifying under the lights.
Why did Akatsuki Ran risk being hit by the position bullets fired by Two-Foot Adult just to linger in place a moment longer?
But Akatsuki Ran told Shangshan Che with her actions—
Far from over!
Amid the flying black and white hair, Akatsuki Ran exaggeratedly grinned, aiming the short dagger barely over two inches long at Shangshan Che’s neck.
Under Shangshan Che’s gaze, the dagger, at least a meter away from his body, suddenly extended without warning!
No spiritual power fluctuation whatsoever, nor any sign of Breathing Technique qi flowing.
The cold sensation grazed Shangshan Che’s skin by a hair’s breadth, slicing off a few strands of hair at his temple.
The next moment, the incoming bullets from all directions exploded, turning into a massive sticky white net that fell, covering every possible escape direction for Akatsuki Ran without blind spots.
The already partially shattered Plain Spear simultaneously swung back, smashing down from above with a boom.
Bang!
Yellow sand splashed up amid the explosion, kicking up a hazy turbid dust cloud.
But Shangshan Che felt no sensation of hitting a solid object in his hand.
Escaped?
When?
Shangshan Che waved his hand to disperse the smoke in front of him, and saw a shadow slowly dissipating in front of him.
He pondered briefly and looked toward the center of the arena.
“That was close, almost got smashed.”
There, Akatsuki Ran was flushed and happily patting her chest lightly, showing a completely different demeanor from before the battle began.
She was enjoying the thrill brought by that brush with death.
“Position-swapping phantom, huh…”
Shangshan Che let go, allowing the damaged Plain Spear to fall to the ground.
Then spiritual power surged in his palm, disguising it as drawing a new Plain Spear from the Storage Bag, aiming it remotely at Akatsuki Ran.
At this moment, Kujo Obuya, seated in the highest position, began slowly announcing the rules.
“In this True Sword Match, Obscure Moon Hall from our side faces off against the Special Affairs Office. We have dispatched three people total, namely…”
On the notary seat, Kujo Shingo frowned and spoke: “Starting the fight before the organizer and notary announce the rules is already a rules violation.”
“This is a True Sword Match, Your Excellency Kujo.”
Kujo Obuya wasn’t angry at being interrupted; she kept her eyes closed, her tone casual.
“Since both sides knew before entering the field that this was a match where lives are at stake, the match has already begun once both contestants are standing in the arena.”
“—Otherwise, it would be irresponsible to one’s own life.”
Kujo Shingo said coldly: “That’s sophistry. Rules are rules; once set, how can they be casually broken!”
“I have no objections.”
In the center of the notary seat, Tokugawa Hoshi’s gaze repeatedly scanned Shangshan Che in the arena.
She turned her head away and tsked softly: “Since it’s called a True Sword Match, you can’t naively entrust your life to those outside the field after entering.”
Kujo Shingo narrowed his eyes and looked toward Huijue on the other side.
Huijue, fiddling with three smooth round Sarira in his hand, smiled openly.
Seeing that Shangshan Che was already prepared, he nodded: “Since the True Sword Match has begun, we outsiders shouldn’t interrupt anymore.”
“Two against one, Your Excellency Kujo.”
Kujo Obuya said calmly, then simply shut her mouth, swallowing all the opening remarks she was supposed to say.
—In the arena, this time Shangshan Che took the initiative to attack.
—Corona Breathing Technique · Fifth Form!
Accompanied by a substantial burst of pure white Qi Barrier, Shangshan Che’s figure crossed over ten meters in the blink of an eye, arriving at the arena’s center.
The over two-meter-long Plain Spear shot forward like a great dragon, thrusting toward Akatsuki Ran’s heart.
The scorching heat wave arrived first, burning Akatsuki Ran’s skin.
Her pupils contracted slightly, and her entire body bent toward the other side at an extremely unnatural angle like rubber, perfectly leaving an opening for the Plain Spear to pass through.
Shangshan Che unhesitatingly released the Plain Spear, stepped forward, gathered surging Internal Qi on his fist’s surface, and landed a fierce uppercut on Akatsuki Ran’s abdomen.
This time, a solid sensation transmitted from his fist.
The sound of ribs cracking rang out, and blood color instantly dyed Shangshan Che’s arm red.
“Cough…”
Akatsuki Ran couldn’t help coughing up a large mouthful of blood, but the pleasure on her face only increased; a deep red flush spread from her cheeks to her ears, growing even more vivid.
“Got you~”
Her powerful thighs, wrapped in a bodysuit, coiled around Shangshan Che’s arm like thick pythons. Akatsuki Ran smiled slightly at him, then prepared to twist in midair and snap the arm.
Shangshan Che grinned similarly.
In half a breath, his entire body erupted in bluish-purple lightning, allowing these winding thunder serpents to burrow into Akatsuki Ran’s body in an instant, paralyzing all her muscles.
Five Thunder Technique · Qi Union!
The gap in physical qualities between Shangshan Che and her wasn’t qualitative, so under the premise of not affecting his own actions, this sudden lightning could only paralyze Akatsuki Ran for a moment.
But a moment was enough!
He slammed the fully stiffened and trembling Akatsuki Ran onto the sand ground, making her cough up another large mouthful of hot blood.
Shangshan Che raised his hand, and the Plain Spear materialized, but in the instant it fell, Akatsuki Ran’s figure turned into shadow and dissolved away again.
But this time, the situation was already different.
Two-Foot Adult, already waiting in midair, waved her fingertips, sending dozens of gray-white bullets raining down like iron.
Even though Akatsuki Ran reacted immediately and dodged, she was still pierced through the body by several gray-white bullets.
Shangshan Che turned, took a deep breath, twisted his waist and hips in one fluid motion, and hurled the Plain Spear like a javelin.
The Plain Spear carried pure white qi waves forward, instantly piercing Akatsuki Ran’s abdomen from behind and nailing her firmly into the sand ground.
Gushing blood mixed with pale bone fragments poured endlessly from Akatsuki Ran’s mouth.
She lay on the ground as if drained of strength, eyes rolled back white, toes still twitching.
The surrounding audience seats fell deathly silent at this sight.
No one could have imagined the True Sword Match’s first round ending like this.
One side was Obscure Moon Hall’s second disciple Akatsuki Ran, with countless practical combat records; the other was some previously unknown guy named Shangshan something.
Originally, most people thought the battle would undoubtedly be one-sided.
Now, the battle had indeed gone one-sided.
But to the other side.
This was an outcome none of the audience had anticipated.
Shangshan Che picked up the previous Plain Spear from the ground—this length of Plain Spear, he only had three in total, so he wasn’t at the point of discarding them casually.
Shangshan Che narrowed his eyes, not relaxing his vigilance in the slightest.
—He always felt that Akatsuki Ran had lost too quickly and too easily.
—From the start of the battle until now, besides exposing “position-swapping with shadows” and the ability to extend the Bone Dagger, she hadn’t shown anything else belonging to Obscure Moon Hall…
As Shangshan Che thought this, he suddenly heard Akatsuki Ran’s voice drifting lightly from all directions.
“Got… you… ~”
A massive shadow like the abyss maw of some Giant Beast rose from the arena’s ground, swallowing Shangshan Che, who had stepped into the center of the shadow, in an instant.
On the sand ground, Akatsuki Ran, pierced through the abdomen by the Plain Spear, arduously turned over, yanked out the Plain Spear, and gently pressed down the pale bone blade protruding from her knuckles.
She chuckled lightly: “Boom~”
In the viscous shadow, hundreds and thousands of nearly identical bone spikes—differing only in color—shot out, surging toward the central Shangshan Che like a tide.
On the nearby audience seats, Hattori Ayako, who had just shown a pleased expression, froze, slightly panicked as she wanted to run to the unmoving Nanjo Emi’s side to beg for help on her behalf.
Lili Zi placed a hand on her shoulder, her voice very calm.
“He hasn’t drawn his blade yet.”
As if responding to Lili Zi’s words.
The next instant, a straight white slash cleaved the writhing viscous darkness in two from the center!
Sorrow of Parting devoured the endless darkness at extreme speed.
Shangshan Jun slowly walked out with only a faint blood hole added to his neck, staring straight at the sighing Akatsuki Ran nearby, slowly sheathing Kaga Kiyomitsu.
“Didn’t expect even this move to be useless against you, Shangshan Jun.” Akatsuki Ran stood holding her abdomen, nodding candidly at him. “Looks like I lost, huh.”
Shangshan Che remained unmoved, simply walking silently toward her.
—Unlike ordinary matches, in a True Sword Match, even if one side doesn’t kill the other for various reasons, at least one side must lose basic mobility.
So verbal surrender doesn’t count.
Unless Akatsuki Ran now voluntarily exits this circular arena—the True Sword Match’s boundary.
Seeing Shangshan Che actually walk slowly to her front, within reach despite her impaired mobility.
Akatsuki Ran exhaled lightly and stared straight at him: “You’re really confident, Shangshan Jun.”
Shangshan Che clenched his fist, maxing out the Corona Breathing Technique’s efficiency, causing a muffled V8 engine-like roar from within his body.
He said flatly,
“Just holding back, wanting to win handsomely, that’s all.”
“Handsomely, huh.”
Akatsuki Ran laughed, and bone spikes mixed with shadows extended from her feet, burrowing through the sand to suddenly pop out behind Shangshan Che toward his heart.
Crackle!
The bone spike shattered to pieces.
Two-Foot Adult, descending from the sky holding a gray-white Shield, said seriously: “I’ll protect Che Adult’s back!”
But at the same time, Akatsuki Ran had once again incarnated as a Phantom charging at Shangshan Che.
In an instant, thousands of real-and-illusory silver-white streams of light rose up.
Shangshan Che indifferently raised his eyes, thrusting the hand wrapped in Qi Barrier and lightning straight forward!
Ignoring the attacks slicing his flesh, he seized Akatsuki Ran’s throat.
Then, smashed downward!
“Ugh—”
Akatsuki Ran suddenly felt the entire world dim.
But her palm still gripped the Bone Dagger tightly, stabbing through Shangshan Che’s arm.
The fine bone fragments on those Bone Daggers hadn’t yet proliferated wildly in Shangshan Che’s body as before when they were all turned to Soul Ash by the serene flowing lightning.
Then, Shangshan Che landed another merciless heavy punch on Akatsuki Ran’s abdominal wound, tearing open the wound that was nearly filled with gray-white bone matter, along with the nearby liver.
A sickly flush instantly surged from her neck to Akatsuki Ran’s cheeks.
Her pink tongue dangled loosely outside, corners of her mouth grinning, unable to hide an expression of extreme pleasure.
“Shangshan Jun…”
She murmured dazedly while vomiting blood: “I think… I kinda like you…”
Shangshan Che ignored it, swinging fist and leg to beat the throat-grabbed Akatsuki Ran until she completely lost the ability to stand or resist.
After a storm-like dozen seconds, Shangshan Che tossed the fully unconscious, mud-like Akatsuki Ran onto the sand ground.
Then he drew Kaga Kiyomitsu, using the blade to lightly slice the tiny, barely noticeable wound that had just appeared on his fingertip.
Sorrow of Parting devoured his partial flesh and several undiffused lethal toxins, then was retracted to the surface by the extremely intelligent Kaga Kiyomitsu.
“Well done, Little Jia.”
After patting Kaga Kiyomitsu’s hilt and sheathing it, Shangshan Che silently looked at Akatsuki Ran on the ground, where only the slight rise and fall of her chest proved she was still alive.
—Perhaps, including her “Death,” everything was to deliver this toxin into his body at his most relaxed moment.
Staring at this disheveled face covered in flush and sweat, Shangshan Che finally couldn’t help praising his recent opponent.
“A qualified assassin through and through.”
Without Sorrow of Parting and the somewhat sentient Kaga Kiyomitsu, Shangshan Che might really have fallen to this.
After all, poison can be an extremely unreasonable thing at times.
But Akatsuki Ran’s move nicely reminded Shangshan Che that he still lacked complete resistance to “toxins.”
—Later, if Soul Ash is plentiful, maybe summon Katsumi to buy items to supplement that aspect.
When Shangshan Che’s thoughts ended, he realized the surroundings were still silent.
He looked up puzzled: “No one’s announcing the winner of the first match?”
On the notary seat, Tokugawa Hoshi, who had been staring at him intently, tsked, turned her head, and saw an even more dissatisfying sight.
—As Obscure Moon Hall Dojo’s Dojo Master and Akatsuki Ran’s Master, Kujo Obuya was actually dozing off in the main seat.
And seemed to be in deep sleep, oblivious to everything in the arena.
Tokugawa Hoshi flicked her finger, sending a Qi Sword at Kujo Obuya, finally making the latter wake as if from a dream and announce,
“First match, Special Affairs Office’s Shangshan Che wins.”
At these words, Kujo Shingo on the notary seat stepped out, jumping directly into the arena to carry the barely breathing Akatsuki Ran to the back for urgent healing.
The surrounding audience remained very quiet, at most whispering between friends.
On one hand, shocked by this brief yet intensely twisting True Sword Match full of reversals.
On the other, because of the full-body-scaled-yet-expressionless Shangshan Che in the arena.
No one thought Shangshan Che looked ragged; instead, from these fine wounds, they sensed an abnormal… grandeur and kingly aura.
After a long time, until Shangshan Che sat at the edge pouring Awakening Spirit Mist into his mouth, the arena finally regained its lively noisy atmosphere—
“Could it be… this Special Affairs Office newbie Shangshan Che is really going to win? That momentum is too domineering!”
A local Dojo Master educated by Obscure Moon Hall shook his head: “No no no, he’s already panting from just beating Akatsuki Ran, let alone the Karatorishigure not weaker than her and that terrifying Ge leaf woman later.”
“Getting this far is already the limit.”
A Three-Star Onmyoji calmly evaluated: “Just beating Akatsuki Ran, I could do it too!”
“You’re right, but White No-Maku little Shikigami is cute and handsome, full of gains from one battle! Ready for a photo book already!”
“The one up front, remember to pay copyright fees, or watch that Shangshan Che punch you into a boneless soft-legged shrimp.”
“Then I’ll send him a collector’s edition first!”
After the discussion quieted slightly, a small novice monk draped in a Kesa, face slightly tense, loudly proposed,
“—This Shangshan Jun enduring the first match is already no small feat; even if defeated in a few moves later, please show mercy with words, and continue watching with a ‘no loss already’ mindset.”
The many audience members pondered briefly, then recalled the tightly linked fierce battle, and chorused back,
“Indeed it should be so.”
—Retracting his gaze from Huiming his junior brother acting as shill in the audience seats, Huijue casually asked beside him,
“Benefactor Tokugawa, do you know Benefactor Shangshan too?”
“Hmph.”
Tokugawa Hoshi said displeased: “This brat, after the True Sword Match ends, watch me beat him soundly.”
Huijue not only didn’t stop her but curiously leaned in, even stopping fiddling with his Sarira: “Oh, why is that, Benefactor Tokugawa?”
Tokugawa Hoshi didn’t answer further—family matters aren’t convenient to publicize, especially not to this one-time acquaintance monk beside her.
Seeing her expression, Huijue’s eyeballs spun, then he asked,
“—Could it be because of Benefactor Tokugawa Ririko?”
Hearing Lili Zi, Tokugawa Hoshi sat up straight, asking seriously: “Master Huijue, you know my Little Sister?”
“Of course.” Huijue smiled. “I’ve met both of them.”
Tokugawa Hoshi: “Both of them!?”
Huijue nodded: “Yes, though only once, but Benefactor Tokugawa Ririko achieving such State of Mind Cultivation at her age is truly astonishing.”
Tokugawa Hoshi smiled uncontrollably upon hearing this, her mouth nearly splitting to the sky.
“Of course! After all, she’s my Little Sister!”
Mentioning Lili Zi, Tokugawa Hoshi couldn’t stop her chatter.
She chattered nonstop to the nearby freshly met bald donkey she hadn’t planned to talk to again about Lili Zi matters.
Every word revealed her fondness for Lili Zi.
“My Little Sister comprehended Clear Sword Heart at just eighteen; in the future, she’ll definitely surpass us, beat that so-called Sword Saint into the dirt, and become the world’s top Swordsman!”
—Lili Zi’s sincerity, effort, love, and purity toward Kendo, Huijue had seen since she was very very young.
And Tokugawa Hoshi had believed since then that Lili Zi only lacked one opportunity.
—Now, the opportunity had come when Little Sister was out of her sight, and Little Sister had seized it perfectly.
So.
Tokugawa Hoshi crossed her arms: “How could my Little Sister be matched with a pretty boy like Shangshan Che!”
She critiqued: “Though good-looking and muscles barely passable, this slick-tongued kid, who knows what weird method he used to trick my single-minded cultivation Little Sister!”
Tokugawa Hoshi ground her teeth viciously: “Not worthy, completely unworthy!”
Nearby Huijue held back laughter, thinking Tokugawa Hoshi was just short of saying “Little Sister, don’t go!” for perfection.
……
Underground arena back area.
“Useless senior sister.”
Karatorishigure stood on the back of a crow with massive purple pupils, looking down indifferently at Akatsuki Ran being treated by Kujo Shingo.
Though saying so, he extremely seriously scanned Akatsuki Ran’s entire body several times, only relaxing inwardly after confirming no life danger.
Karatorishigure turned and left wordlessly.
Seconds later, a vast crow flock surged out from the passage, rising to block all light in the underground arena.
