Fenglin

Inside the Defense Department command post, a monitoring operator said, "Commissioner Liang, we have a situation." Commissioner Liang looked over. "What is it?" The operator said nervously, "We've spotted Nagahide Miyahide of the Outer Ocean's Fenglin Dojo. His group consists of five third limit fighters, and they have intercepted Captain Chen's squad." Commissioner Liang's expression tensed. *Nagahide Miyahide of Fenglin Dojo?* His gaze turned thoroughly grim. *This is troublesome.* This was the most renowned third limit fighter among the younger generation in the Outer Ocean. For Chen Chuan's squad to cross paths with him while already outnumbered, simply protecting themselves would be an accomplishment, to say nothing of rushing over to that fissure. He gave a decisive order: "Reassign the three nearest emergency response teams and have them make for that fissure at maximum speed! Even if they can't deal with Chang Kuanghai, they must retrieve the split offspring as quickly as possible!" "Understood!" On the open clearing in front of the estate, shattered rifts split the sky, dyed by scarlet clouds that resembled sunset glow—a scene blending ruined devastation with magnificent grandeur. Chen Chuan's party of four stood facing Nagahide Miyahide's group of five. Nagahide Miyahide glanced up at the view above and remarked wistfully, "If I were to duel Mr. Chen here and have it recorded by a chronicler, it would surely become a chapter worth remembering." A flicker of his eyes caught Yuan Qiuyuan's feet shifting outward. Abruptly raising his still-sheathed blade, he slashed downward toward that direction. Before the blade touched the ground, a resonant hum rang out, and a wave of saber jin surged forth. The ground instantly shattered and extended forward across a distance of twenty meters straight to Yuan Qiuyuan's feet, cutting off his path. Drawing back his blade, he looked toward Chen Chuan. "Mr. Chen, a duel requires witnesses. Wouldn't you agree?" Chen Chuan noted the semi-circle formed by the figures behind him, clearly aiming to prevent his squad from slipping away easily. He rolled his wrists. "Then let's begin. I'm on a tight schedule." The Fenglin Dojo fighters glanced toward Yuan Qiuyuan and the other two, evidently having no intention of merely watching from the sidelines, but preparing to strike as well. At five against four, they held the advantage. Chen Chuan glanced over. Nagahide Miyahide smiled slightly. "Mr. Chen, although we hold a slight numerical advantage, if you cannot eliminate this distraction, I will only think less of you." "And what if you add me to the mix?!" Both groups looked to the side to see a blade-bearing figure walking over from the distance, his hair tied in a topknot and wearing Outer Ocean fighting attire. Sancheng Huang of Langtao Arena. One of the Fenglin Dojo fighters turned to face him and shouted, "Sancheng Huang! Was Junior Brother Huishilang defeated by your hands?" Sancheng Huang gave a brief nod and answered solemnly, "Indeed." The fighter said in a heavy voice, "Then later on, please allow me, An Zhongkan, to test your skills on Senior Brother Miyahide's behalf." Sancheng Huang said with a solemn expression, "I accept your challenge!" With that, he stepped over to Chen Chuan's side and faced the Fenglin Dojo group. Nagahide Miyahide revealed an intrigued smile. This duel was growing more interesting by the second. It was precisely these unpredictable twists that made battle rich with uncertainty. The fighters from Fenglin Dojo held their ground instead; with equal numbers on both sides, a melee would be far too volatile, so it made more sense to await the outcome between Nagahide Miyahide and Chen Chuan first. Chen Chuan gestured with a hand, prompting his three squad members to step back and clear the space. Yuan Qiuyuan whispered, "Who do you think will win?" Su Wei looked ahead and said, "The captain." Yuan Qiuyuan chuckled. "Heh, damn right, definitely the captain." He waved away several flying bugs. "Damn it, these bugs are obnoxious." Su Wei observed them and said, "These things can lay eggs under your skin. Be careful not to get bitten." Chen Chuan gazed at Nagahide Miyahide. He could sense that the man's field was erratic and elusive; though he clearly stood right there, he seemed somehow displaced from that exact spot. Right then, a thunderous boom erupted not far from the two of them, accompanied by a flash of bright light as an unstable fissure tore open. It was not alone; casting a glance across the area, the entire street and the open grounds were scarred with fissures flickering into and out of existence. Their emergence stirred up fierce gusts of air, filling the sky with an increasing swarm of frantically darting insects, while whipping up the hair and clothing of the two men standing at the center. Chen Chuan raised his blade, his left hand grasping the scabbard and flicking it aside. Yuan Qiuyuan caught it with a crisp snap. Chen Chuan then spun the blade and leveled the point forward. Nagahide Miyahide looked at the gleaming, snow-bright blade and praised, "A fine blade. Might I ask its name?" "Xuejun," Chen Chuan said. "The Xuejun Saber." Nagahide Miyahide raised the weapon in his hand. "This blade is named 'Liuruoqie'. Soon, I shall ask Mr. Chen to appreciate its quality." With that, his expression hardened. He took a lunge forward and spread his fingers, gripping the hilt at his waist without drawing the blade. Gusts of wind billowed his sleeves, exposing a length of his forearm. He stared fixedly at Chen Chuan. As a tailwind blew from behind, carrying strands of his hair forward, he chanted softly, "First Form of the Sword: Steaming Stance..." With a ringing shink, a flash of blade light broke out. In the very act of drawing his sword, he crossed the twenty-meter gap in the blink of an eye, arriving before Chen Chuan to bring his two-handed grip crashing down in an overhead cleave! Chen Chuan's eyes remained deep and serene. He brought his saber up to parry. With a resonant clang, two tremendous forces collided. A boom detonated a blast wave beneath them, sending a visible ripple tearing outwards that swept passing insects into a whirlwind and pulverized them all. Suspended midair, Nagahide Miyahide met Chen Chuan's deep gaze and narrowed his eyes slightly. Urging the jin through his blade, he retreated with a swift burst, landing back where he had started. With his feet split fore and aft, his center of gravity lowered, torso leaning forward, and his sword lowered by his waist with the tip pointing back, he settled into Fenglin Dojo's Swallow Stance. That single exchange had already tested Chen Chuan's foundation. He was indeed a formidable opponent. The strike unleashed through the Steaming Stance was essentially Fenglin Dojo's most unyielding sword technique, yet Chen Chuan had absorbed it one-handed while rooted firmly in place, demonstrating superlative strength. *Against an opponent like this, I cannot clash head-on.* Just then, a fissure split open nearby. He immediately stepped sideways, positioning himself right before the flickering glow of the crack, before pivoting sharply to slash his blade toward Chen Chuan across more than twenty meters. With a roar, the swirling currents pulled by his motion churned toward Chen Chuan, grinding sand and stone to dust and cracking the pavement as they surged. This was "Chanting Wind Saber Jin," which channeled his own jin into the wind currents while allowing him to leverage the swirling air to accelerate his momentum. By throwing his whole body into the gale, his attacks would only grow faster and more forceful. The turbulent environment was the ideal setting for his style. After unleashing that wave of saber jin, he rode the raging vortex and charged Chen Chuan once more. Watching the howling wind bear down, Chen Chuan raised his hand and slapped to the side. With a boom, the concentrated jin shattered and scattered outward in all directions. By then, Nagahide Miyahide was already upon him, unleashing nine consecutive slashes, each faster than the last. Unlike Langtao Arena, Fenglin Dojo placed greater emphasis on physical destructive jin rather than spiritual applications, treating the mind solely as an aid to attack. Every sword stance was paired with a corresponding mental presence. The Swallow Blade he employed was a style honed to the limits of agility and lightness; its swings drifted like the wind, elusive and erratic, yet striking with lightning speed. The instant he sensed Chen Chuan's blade preparing to parry, he steered clear, refusing to make contact and redirecting his strike to ensure the unbroken continuity of his sword momentum. At the same time, countless currents converged around him, pressing inward to constrict and disrupt Chen Chuan's movements. This was the Air Sealing Method: once the sword momentum peaked, it could whip the surrounding air into a binding shroud. Watching the flickering blade shadows and the inward-crushing currents, Chen Chuan's breath suddenly flared scorching hot. He slashed into empty space, and with a crisp clang, accurately arrested the elusive blade shadow. Immediately following the block, however, a ferocious surge of power flooded along the blade. Nagahide Miyahide hung in the air, eyes wide and lips parted in a slight grin, the muscles of his two sword-wielding arms bulging as Liuruoqie bore down atop the Xuejun Saber. This strike was called the Startling Wind Slash. Operating on a principle similar to Langtao Arena's layered jin, every previous strike had been a buildup—avoiding all contact so that more swings pooled greater force. Once intercepted, that accumulated might detonated in full; though only nine slashes had been loosed, their strength coalesced into a unified blow. Chen Chuan's footing sank as a series of cracking fractures rippled out across the pavement in a wide ring. Yet he held fast, maintaining his guard with just a single hand. Then, lifting his eyes as if completely unimpeded by the staggering recoil, his free hand shot out to snatch Nagahide Miyahide by the front of his lapel. In the next breath, he hauled the man upward and slammed him violently into the earth! A deafening roar sounded as the ground caved inward, fractures spiderwebbing in all directions amid an erupting cloud of dust. Yet Chen Chuan could feel that in the instant of the slam, a cushion of air seemed to support the man's back, and upon making contact with the ground, his entire jin contracted into a unified barrier protecting his body. As Chen Chuan smoothly pressed his blade toward the exposed neck, Nagahide Miyahide took fright. Twisting his torso, he brought Liuruoqie up to parry. At that very instant, a fissure tore open beside them with a roar. Countless insects surged out, instantly swarming both men as a violent blast of wind roared through. With a sharp clang, Nagahide Miyahide blocked the pressing Xuejun Saber, using the force of the howling wind to twist and slip out from beneath it. He rolled sideways, kicked off with his lower back, and flipped backward to put distance between himself and Chen Chuan. Throughout this maneuver, his jin erupted outward, repelling every insect the moment it tried to bite his skin. Even after backing away, swarms continued to close in. He flicked his hand lightly, channeling his jin into a spiraling whirlwind that swept the insects away from him. Looking forward, he saw Chen Chuan completely engulfed by insects, resembling a grotesque, swollen figure made of bugs, with still more swarming toward him from all around. Yet in the next moment, the insects suddenly froze, then sloughed off in massive sheets to form a thick mound on the ground. Chen Chuan emerged fully into view, completely unscathed. He slowly straightened his posture. Now, the mutated tissue within his body was fully unleashed. Shifting his gaze sideways, he looked toward Nagahide Miyahide a short distance away. A sudden jolt of warning flared in Nagahide Miyahide's mind. In the next instant, Chen Chuan vanished from where he stood—and a flash of cold light was already upon him! ... ...