Pathetic and Ridiculous

In Azure, there was a course called Violating Physics. The section on dead iron addressed two properties: toughness and hardness. In classical physics, once materials reached a certain threshold of strength, these two traits could rarely coexist. As the saying went, what was too rigid would easily snap. Under normal conditions, the harder an object was, the more brittle it became, and its toughness decreased accordingly. Yet the existence of dead iron violated classical physics in precisely this way. Beyond being the only known material capable of conducting and bearing the impact of source energy to a certain extent, it achieved an astonishing value in both hardness and toughness simultaneously. At this moment, the dead iron spear bent into an arc in Wu Xu's hands. Driven into a curve. Although the bend did not look immense to the naked eye, the sheer power coiled and stored within it was terrifying to contemplate. Wu Xu had no other choice. The imprint of Yu Yindou's invincible might had been branded far too deeply into him. Seeking battle now, he fought with the resolve to risk death, pouring everything into his opening move. This was a technique he had learned in Nepal from Han Qingyu's Rusty Sister Dimple Slash, which he had since evolved into his own. Correspondingly, the watching Yu clan war slaves were not fools either. Pausing in the midst of slaughter, with a moment to think, they could not help but wonder: Wu Xu has only been away from the Yu clan for a short time—how has he become so strong?! Such thoughts were exceedingly dangerous for Yu Yindou. He was forced to speak up: "Where did you pick up such parlor tricks to make a fool of yourself before this old man?!" The old man spoke in a style that, like the secluded Yu clan village itself, was frozen in a bygone era. In fact, aside from the children's binoculars hanging against his chest right now, his entire person was pretty much like that. Clang! His twin greatswords clashed together as he struck his stance. The blades Yu Yindou wielded were broader and thicker than traditional Huaxian swords, making the two-handed grips appear slightly undersized. As for the man wielding them, he was naturally no weakling. Even over the past few decades, when the clan's source energy was in desperate scarcity, Yu Yindou's own supply had almost never been interrupted. Wu Xu did not say a word. He simply moved—striking out against his former master, the man once branded into his mind as unbeatable. "Beng—hum..." Two continuous resonances rang out. The black spear's motion through the air had seemed like moving through viscous liquid—not fast by the standards of source energy apparatuses, but heavy and dense. The spearhead reversed from right to left, passing behind his back, bending into an arc throughout the turn. And in this instant, it suddenly sprang loose. To the watching war slaves, the black spear moved like a swimming fish rounding a corner: on its final flick, it whipped its tail violently from right to left, straightened its body, and shot forth like an arrow. The colossal power pent up in the shaft propelled it forward with unbelievable speed. The spear shaft vibrated continuously, its spiraling vortex of source energy rendering its trajectory bizarre and unpredictable. Light flashed in Yu Yindou's eyes like lightning, yet he dared not swing—he could not even track the spearhead. Crossing his greatswords into an X before him, he scrambled into a hurried parry. Ding! Due to its toughness, clashes of dead iron rarely produced a crisp ring; they were usually dull thuds. Yet this strike rang extraordinarily crisp. The swords were fine weapons, so they did not shatter. The man, however... With that crisp chime, Yu Yindou felt as though struck head-on by a bolt of lightning. His body was shoved straight backward, the shoes beneath his feet instantly shredding against the friction of the ground. The sleeves on both his arms did the same, exploding to pieces. Whoosh! At this moment, to the watching Yu clan war slaves who had shared Wu Xu's lifelong imprint—a god was collapsing, and a god was being erected. Yu Yindou had not fought for far too long. When the source energy surge inside him finally caught up, the old man exerted every ounce of strength to brace against the strike, finally shifting his body to the left to pull open a sliver of distance. His own source energy surge was inherently much denser and more robust than Wu Xu's. Parrying the spear aside, he swung his blade downward, seeking to cleave the shaft out of the air. Yet a hand caught the butt of the spear. A loose grip. Holding his weapon, Wu Xu did not alter the spear's vibrating trajectory; he merely shifted the spearhead slightly and thrust it once more toward Yu Yindou's chest. Dang, dang, dang, dang... The twin swords blocked repeatedly. The thunderous momentum of the Binggu spear was finally nearing its end. Wu Xu tightened his grip. Whoosh! Thrusting forward, his wrist twisted, sending the shaft spinning violently like a frenzied drill. Clang, clang, clang... Sparks flew where the spearhead ground against the blade faces. Pfft! With a sudden sound, the spearhead finally slipped past the blade edges and plunged into the hollow of Yu Yindou's shoulder. His momentum spent, Wu Xu pulled back his spear. He paused in a daze. "He can be killed?!" At that moment, not only was he stunned, but everyone froze—Yu Yindou, the Yu clan war slaves... especially Yu Fengzi. The Young Mistress's expression was completely frozen. She had once driven a sword into Wu Xu's shoulder hollow as well. Back then, that slave... Father said he could kill Yuan Qing in three moves... Could Wu Xu really be that much stronger than Yuan Qing?! "Time is short! Are you waiting for Azure's reinforcements to arrive so you can die?!" Yu Yindou knew the danger of his predicament and roared at once, "Attack together! End this quickly! Kill—" The war slaves twitched in conditioned reflex. "Why did you raise us to be deathsworn soldiers, yet lack even a shred of resolve to fight to the death yourself?" Wu Xu asked with utter seriousness. Yu Yindou's source energy surge was actually far more substantial than his own; Wu Xu could sense that clearly. Yet Yu Yindou could hardly seem to unleash it. Yu Yindou averted his eyes. "Don't waste words on him! Kill!" This time, he charged in first. Yet this time, the vast majority of the war slaves present did not move. In the end, only five or six Yu clan loyalists—mostly older men who had already broken free of the war slave rank—rushed forward alongside him. An encirclement... Wu Xu leveled his spear to meet them. It was still a dire crisis, and he was still at a disadvantage. Yet inside, he felt an unprecedented exhilaration. Compared to Han Qingyu's demeanor in every battle he had witnessed, Wu Xu now looked at Yu Yindou and saw only a scurrying rat. "This old man will take back your life—" "You. Are. Not. Worthy!" Boom! One against seven, Wu Xu fought to the death. He had once covered the Yu clan's retreat, standing alone on the Nepalese trial grounds to hold off over twenty Sha'ah source energy warriors so Yu Fengzi and the others could escape, never asking for help, only obeying blindly. Now, it was different. *** Bu Mang was carrying a piece of cured pork in its mouth. It had worked very hard to find this meat. The kitchen was empty, so Bu Mang had leaped from the stove toward the only slab of cured pork hanging in the air that someone had forgotten to put away, trying and falling many times. Twice along the way, it had even gotten caught and dangled there, only pulling the meat down after great effort. Wagging its tail with the cured pork in its jaws, Bu Mang trotted back, eager for its master's praise. Clang! Two corpses already lay on the ground. Wu Xu was covered in blood. Sweeping away Yu Yindou with a frontal thrust, he swung the spear backward to parry three blades slashing toward his back. Rip! Another wound opened across his back. Without a sound or a moment's hesitation, Wu Xu spun with the spear, driving it straight backward through one man's belly. Yanking the spear free, his body swayed slightly. Facing the enemies rushing in again, he met them head-on once more. With a longsword in her hands, Yu Fengzi trembled as she slowly circled toward Wu Xu's back. She knew that if they did not kill Wu Xu today, everything would be finished. Smack! The cured pork dropped to the ground. Bu Mang let out a howl and lunged toward Yu Fengzi. "Woof! Woof, woof!" Yu Fengzi started back in fright, glancing down. "Brute!" The Young Mistress raised her sword to cut down a dog. Whoosh! Hearing the noise, Wu Xu spun and leaped into the air, swinging his long spear forward from behind to strike down at Yu Fengzi. Yu Fengzi froze on the spot. Behind him, Yu Yindou cried out in anguish, "Xu'er, spare her!" Even as he spoke, he leaped up as well, thrusting his sword toward Wu Xu's heart from behind. Combat powered by source energy apparatuses was ever fleeting as lightning. Over the next two seconds: Wu Xu flicked his wrist, whipping the spearhead around to send Yu Fengzi flying with the spear's butt. In the very next instant, just as Han Qingyu had taught him, Wu Xu abruptly severed his source energy surge. His body plummeted downward like a stone. Squelch. Yu Yindou's left-hand sword, aimed at his heart, stabbed into his shoulder blade instead. Swish! Almost simultaneously, Wu Xu's long spear drove backward and upward from beneath his armpit, piercing straight into Yu Yindou's chest. Skewered on the spear, Yu Yindou wailed, raising his right-hand sword to stab down. With his back to him, Wu Xu merely twisted his wrist, driving the spear shaft into a violent spin inside Yu Yindou's chest, tearing open a gaping bloody crater. He wrenched the spear free! Thud. Thud. Wu Xu's body swayed. Yu Yindou crashed onto his back on the ground, not yet dead. Looking down at the bloody hole in his chest, he wailed while desperately scrambling backward. Wu Xu turned around, unhurried, looking down at Yu Yindou struggling on the ground. With a desolate look in his eyes, he said softly: "If I said that just now, reversing my spearhead was me pulling back my spear... Master, would you believe me?" Those words. Carried an immense sorrow. Wu Xu felt himself pathetic, hateful, and ridiculous... Yet Yu Yindou was even more pathetic, and even more ridiculous.