The black wooden cases were something Han Qingyu and the others had specially asked the regiment to craft for them to bring to headquarters before they returned from Xilang Peak. There were two of them, one large and one small, made to hold the blue starlight column swords.
Old Geng, the cafeteria uncle at the Regiment 425 base who had hailed from Red Eraser, took on the task and happily busied himself with it for a full day and night.
"Good kid. When you've got good stuff, you really have to hide it away properly." He specifically asked the regimental commander to pass along a message: "The best thing about you compared to our Squad Leader Wang back in the day is right here. Squad Leader Wang was too shy, too concerned with saving face."
Regimental Commander Li Wangqiang said this was high praise.
By now, the fact that a Red Shoulder's column sword was in Han Qingyu's hands wasn't much of a secret anymore, but exposing it openly at an occasion like the All-Army Conference still wasn't ideal after all.
Furthermore, since they weren't in their own nest, leaving something like that in their room didn't feel safe either, so he had no choice but to pack it up and carry it along. Wherever he stood or sat, the long wooden case would be set beside him, standing upright or propped against something.
Han Qingyu was confident that, at least for the immediate future, as long as the thing remained right by his side, no one would dare reach out and demand it from him. He had just rendered such immense meritorious service at Xilang Peak; Azure hadn't even handed out rewards yet, and they were going to take his things first? That simply wouldn't fly.
Besides, outsiders didn't know the exact severity of his wounds. If necessary, he could faint or play dead anytime, anywhere.
As for scientific research, didn't God Lü have one too? His would definitely be handed over.
...
At this moment, Azure Huaxia Front, Sole Witness Legion, Legion Square. The grounds of the Huaxia All-Army Conference had been crashed, and the intruder was none other than Ye Jian.
On the field, the clash where a genius youth brazenly lunged to slash at one of humanity's strongest had already settled its victor in the very first impact, but the reverberations were far from over.
Accompanied by the howling rush of a black wooden case tumbling through the air and springing open... a large blue starlight column sword fell horizontally, dropping right in front of Han Qingyu.
It wasn't over! He was coming again! He still wanted to slash!
Following cries of shock laced with all sorts of emotions, the crowd looked up.
It was a deeply complicated mindset:
*Don't go back in—that's Ye Jian!*
*What if he actually cuts Ye Jian down?*
*That giant sword looks so badass.*
*So cool!*
*Drop-dead gorgeous!*
*Except being cool might actually get you killed!*
"...Are you serious? He even pulled out the giant sword." Seeing this, seeing that starlight column sword, Ye Jian felt somewhat helpless inside. *These little freaks, every single one of them—why can't any of them communicate like normal people?!*
From He Tangtang, who had chased him at Xilang Peak waving a blade and shouting curses, to Wen Jifei, whose shameless antics left him speechless, to those two top-tier elites just now, and now to this Han Qingyu—they all seemed to be from the same bunch.
Everything seemed to pause for an instant. Then—*whoosh!*—the wind rose.
As the column sword began to drop horizontally through the air, Han Qingyu reached out with his right hand to grip it, surging forward at the same time.
His posture tilted slightly to the left with a faint forward lean, the wind whipped up by his speed tearing at his clothes and hair.
As he charged forward, the starlight column sword—which looked disproportionately long and massive by comparison—trailed behind his left flank.
Then, driven by the surging tide of source energy billowing throughout Han Qingyu's entire body, it began to spin clockwise.
At first, the rotation didn't seem fast. Mid-spin, in one fluid motion, Han Qingyu reached out his left hand to take hold as well, shifting from a one-handed grip to a two-handed hold.
*Boom!* The instant his left hand closed around the hilt, a massive explosion of source energy roared.
The column sword's velocity erupted at the exact same moment. The acoustic blast of billowing air instantly transformed from the howling of wind into the roar of an oceanic surge—whipping fiercely, rolling in waves.
A suffocating pressure, like ocean waves gathering deep on the seabed and crushing the surrounding currents, began to spread outward.
This was a horizontal slash unleashed with everything Han Qingyu had.
"This kid is strong... Too bad his opponent is Ye Jian." The higher-ranking officers and some of the veterans present roughly understood how terrifying Ye Jian's strength truly was. Years ago, he had already been horrifying; today, word was he had reached the level where he could challenge the Legion Commander.
"Yeah, his speed is incredible too. If it were me, I definitely couldn't take it... but against Ye Jian, it's not enough. He won't land a hit like this. Prepare to rescue him..." There were top-tier experts present; they possessed both keen eyes and broad experience, so at this moment, what crossed their minds wasn't whether Han Qingyu could cut through defenses, but simply whether he could even connect.
If Ye Jian was set on evading this strike and plunging into the crowd, Han Qingyu would struggle even to graze him.
Yet how could Han Qingyu not know this himself? Facing Ye Jian, he didn't want to fight this battle in the slightest, nor did he indulge in wild fantasies of winning.
All he sought right now was to stall Ye Jian from entering the crowd for just a brief moment, regardless of whether Ye Jian intended to flee, harm people, or take hostages.
As for earlier, in a venue this vast... Han Qingyu had originally planned to honestly lay low in the back and just protect Yaoyao-huanghuang.
Then, not far from him, two others had been standing there panicking. He couldn't bear to leave them, so he pulled them over too. After that, he realized there was still a massive crowd of non-combatants ahead... Unable to look after them all, in a burst of reckless impulse, he had charged straight in.
And as a result, he had been effortlessly battered senseless with a casual slash.
"Wait, something's wrong..." Time was too short, and the top-tier expert who spoke couldn't finish his sentence. What he had wanted to say was: *No, that horizontal slash is bizarre.*
"What the fuck is this?!" As the person facing the strike head-on, Ye Jian naturally noticed it before the veterans did.
He had fought plenty of people stronger than Han Qingyu, but he had never faced such a bizarre trajectory on a slash... It was as if the column sword were following the boy's will, constantly executing minute teleports, shifting angles on the fly.
Was his weapon control terrifying to such an extreme? Or was the sword actively listening to him, changing its trajectory even without relying on the swing of his arms?!
Under these circumstances, Ye Jian couldn't choose to dodge. If he dodged the wrong way and took a hit to the back... He had already had his eyebrows singed today. If he were now wounded on the spot by a junior, and struck in the back at that?!
One had to understand, although his reputation in Azure was terrible, Ye Jian had always maintained his personal image with great care.
At this thought, Ye Jian's body, which had been leaping toward the crowd, shifted its footing in midair in an instant. He chose to spin around and counter-slash—and drew the second blade from his back.
"Come on then!" Short of vitalized source energy, Ye Jian went all out.
*Boom!* The instant the collision occurred, the localized air condensed as though solid. Visible greyish-white currents swept out like a tempest, churning violently from the epicenter of the impact... radiating in all directions.
Those from the Council, the research division, and the medical system who hadn't managed to run far were knocked down in large swathes. Panicked screams erupted on all sides.
*Clang!* This sharp sound, ringing out at almost the exact same instant, was drowned out by the roar of the collision, but Ye Jian heard it himself.
*Pfft!* Han Qingyu's body was sent flying backward once more, vomiting blood in midair.
And this time, he completely lost control of his body.
Just as Ye Jian had said, he was good, but not good enough... He was still far from it.
At the same time, Ye Jian's feet touched the ground.
Both hands hung down, gripping two blade... hilts.
"Fuck..." How humiliating.
Then a collective uproar swept through the crowd!
"What happened?!"
"Ye Jian's blades are gone."
September 1, 1991. The Azure Huaxia All-Army Conference, Legion Square. Twenty-year-old Han Qingyu hacked Ye Jian's blades into nothing.
Chapter 294