Broken Blade

Chen Chuan had already deduced this person's identity. Only the eldest disciple of Anyao Arena could possess such an imposing presence and spiritual cultivation. Shifting his gaze, it settled on Hiroshi Nokane's hips, where two blades—one long, one short—hung slung at his waist. Nodding, Chen Chuan raised his eyes and said, "Purist Faction, Chen Chuan." "Purist Faction..." Hiroshi Nokane felt as though he had heard the name somewhere before, but he didn't dwell on it, nor did he care to think about it. No matter who stood here today, no one would stop him from seizing the fissure. At that moment, movement sounded from behind. The disciples of Anyao Arena entered one after another, their faces showing both shock and suspicion upon seeing him. Hiroshi Nokane still retained a trace of his original appearance, yet he also bore an uncanny resemblance to their master's usual demeanor, especially in his bearing. Had they seen only his back, they might have believed their master had arrived in person. Shiyuan Ba looked at Chen Chuan, stepped forward, and said in a low voice, "Senior Brother, should we..." He instinctively sensed that Chen Chuan was no easy opponent. Anyone the Danliu School relied upon had to be a formidable expert. But inside the fissure, with no outsiders present, there was no need for etiquette—they could simply swarm him together. Hiroshi Nokane paid him no heed, merely watching Chen Chuan. Chen Chuan looked back at Hiroshi Nokane with equal calm and said nonchalantly, "I hope you'll prove a good opponent. Now then, bystanders out of the way." As he spoke, a light flickered in his eyes. At the same moment, a formidable surge of spiritual power radiated from him. Shiyuan Ba's head spun instantly. Behind him came the consecutive thuds of falling bodies. In a single instant, the disciples of Anyao Arena lost consciousness one by one, crashing heedlessly onto the ground. He and a few fellow disciples felt terribly top-heavy, collapsing onto one knee. The world spun before his eyes; he couldn't stand at all, let alone step forward to fight. Sheer horror gripped his heart. *Such spiritual power...* Hiroshi Nokane stood firm in front. Facing the onslaught of spiritual power head-on, he didn't budge an inch. More than that, the spiritual power within his body surged back toward Chen Chuan, seemingly intent on suppressing him in one stroke. Chen Chuan remained completely unfazed. He had known he would face such a backlash the moment he unleashed his spiritual power and had already prepared the Empty Heart Seal. Surprisingly, though the opponent's spiritual power was immense, it lacked cohesion. It failed to disperse even his outer spiritual defenses. Remembering what Uncle Gan had said about spiritual lodgment, understanding dawned on him. Seeing that Chen Chuan was likewise unaffected, Hiroshi Nokane showed a flicker of surprise and a touch of annoyance. He quickly abandoned the attempt and grinned once more. "Impressive spiritual power, but I don't care for such soft contests." He rested his hand on the hilt of the long blade at his waist and slowly drew it out. At the same time, his eyes turned blood-red, as if the pupils had vanished entirely. Chen Chuan stood motionless. He made no move to draw his weapon. Xuejun Saber was not yet fully awakened and could hardly bear and channel his Mind Jin. Besides, he had developed many ideas over the past few days, and this opponent was the perfect test subject. On Hiroshi Nokane's side, the blade was now completely out of its scabbard. Raising it high, he leveled it toward Chen Chuan, slowly lowering it. Yet just before it reached horizontal, he vanished from where he stood. The next instant, he appeared abruptly right before Chen Chuan, the gleaming blade already slashing downward! Chen Chuan watched the glint on the tip of the blade. He could even feel the tremor passing through the ground beneath him from the man's step. At the very moment the blade was about to cleave his forehead, one of his hands had already risen, the edge of his palm meeting the cutting edge. The jin carried by the sword transmitted inward. His feet sank into the ground, but this space was entirely formed by that massive organism and was extraordinarily resilient; the point bearing the impact did not crack or rupture in the slightest. Hiroshi Nokane seemed astounded to see his slash blocked—and with a bare hand, no less. But after that first blow, another slash followed, one after another in rapid succession. The strikes came so blindingly fast that they tore through the air with continuous whistling shrieks, sending reverberations and tremors echoing through the surrounding space. Yet every single strike was deflected with absolute precision by Chen Chuan, using only his forearms to parry. Such fierce, cutting jin slashed against him, yet failed to inflict even the slightest scratch. Where there was offense, there had to be defense. When Chen Chuan had worked out offensive Mind Jin, he had naturally considered defense as well. If the Zhouyuan Jin technique modeled external conditioning jin, it could similarly combine with spiritual power to simulate Mind Jin. This would make his defenses even stronger than before. As it was now, without even employing his Second Self, he was stopping every blow with simulated external conditioning jin. Moreover, beneath the relentless barrage of slashes, insights began surfacing that were difficult to conceive during solitary contemplation. Through constant adjustments, his jin was quietly undergoing a subtle transformation between attack and defense. Though Hiroshi Nokane saw Chen Chuan blocking every strike, he had no intention of stopping. The reason was simple: bare-handed parrying inevitably consumed far more stamina and energy than wielding a blade, leaving no room for the slightest error. Furthermore, empty hands lacked the reach of a sword; under sustained assault, Chen Chuan could not mount an effective counterattack. Fighting like this worked in Hiroshi Nokane's favor, so he saw no reason to change tactics. On top of that, he too was adapting to his newfound strength. With each swing of the long blade, the spiritual power lodged within him shifted from scattered to focused, gradually coalescing with his jin under the guidance of a single will. After dozens of slashes, when he struck once more, an entirely different power was imbued in the blade. Chen Chuan's eyes narrowed slightly. Those fierce slashes earlier had merely relied on extraordinary strength and speed, but this one carried a trace of familiar Mind Jin. *Then let's test it.* Twisting his shoulder, he blocked with his elbow. *Bang!* The two forces collided violently. A jolt of power burrowed into his body, but his simulated external conditioning jin shut it out. A ring of shockwaves erupted from the point of contact; the fabric at his elbow exploded with a sharp pop, and he yielded half a step backward with the momentum. Hiroshi Nokane was not unscathed either. Jarred by this external conditioning Mind Jin, his blade recoiled backward, disrupting the fluidity of his sequence and causing a momentary pause that prevented him from linking into his next attack. Chen Chuan's eyes flashed. He could immediately tell that this man had never fought a combatant who possessed Mind Jin. Lacking experience in such clashes, he had left an opening he never would have otherwise, or at least would have been mentally prepared for. Using the backward step to build momentum, Chen Chuan planted his foot and drove forward with a thundering punch. Before the fist even arrived, a wave of jin surged through the air ahead of it. Hiroshi Nokane's expression changed. Backing away, he brought his blade around in a horizontal slash, cleaving through the oncoming jin. Although his movement looked composed and sharp, Chen Chuan's seamless switch from defense to offense had sliced cleanly through the gap in his assault. Having had no time to prepare for the transition from attack to defense, Hiroshi Nokane inevitably fell half a beat behind in tempo. Following that punch, Chen Chuan seized the lull in Hiroshi Nokane's rhythm to close the distance abruptly. His hands shifted into grappling clutches, reaching out toward the man. Even before his hands made contact, a prickling jin radiated faintly from his fingertips, tingling against the skin. Hiroshi Nokane instantly felt a sharp threat. Provoked by the danger, the spiritual power lodged within him surged outward once more. In a flash, he made the most adept and clever response possible: drawing his elbow inward, he held the long blade horizontally across his chest, while his other hand brushed past his hip in the Turning Yang Stance unique to Anyao Arena. Spun by his fingers, the short blade sheathed there reversed, its backward-pointing tip snapping forward as the scabbard shattered in an instant. Sheltered beneath his other arm, it thrust upward toward Chen Chuan's throat. It was a hidden, sinister counterattack woven inside defense. More than that, a faint mist hovered over the tip of the short blade, exuding an unnatural, piercing sharpness. The moment Chen Chuan perceived it, his spirit registered an impression: if he blocked it head-on, his neck would be pierced straight through. Yet he knew this was an illusion induced by spiritual power. Talu had previously explained the martial techniques of Anyao Arena to him, including their renowned "Mind Action." If he let himself be swayed by this impression and chose to dodge, his own spirit would accept it as inevitable truth. Then, even if the attack would not have pierced him otherwise, the moment it struck next time, the resonance between their minds would turn that belief into reality. Thus, he did not dodge at all. Executing a parting maneuver from grappling arts, his hands drove forward through the middle line, one high and one low. One hand pressed down against the long blade while the other blocked the short blade's path, before he shoved outward with explosive force. The short blade was pinned down, and the long blade was thrust upward. After this parting deflection, an ordinary grappler would slide along the weapons to lock the opponent's neck or arms. Chen Chuan did not do that. Instead, he pressed closer still, transitioning into the encircling clinch of grappling jin. Caught in such a clinch, the opponent would be restrained, but a pure grapple required a secondary burst of force to subdue them, leaving a brief opening that might allow an escape. Yet Chen Chuan took advantage of the Zhouyuan Jin technique's seamless energy transference, gathering momentum during the parting deflection so that the ensuing clinch could strike with full power immediately. Once locked in this bear hug, the opponent's upper skeleton would be snapped clean through, crushed into pulp. Though two distinct types of jin, they transitioned seamlessly in his hands, shifting at will. Intense alarm bells rang in Hiroshi Nokane's mind. Under the influence of that spiritual power, an invisible force flooded his body. Stepping back, he twisted toward his flank; the elevated long blade was dragged downward, forming a vertical shield in front, while his lower hand reversed its grip on the short blade, pointing the tip outward. It was an impeccably timed defense that halted the clinch. Yet while the man could retreat, the weapon used as a shield could not. In the next breath, Chen Chuan's reaching hands clamped onto the blade. Jin erupted from within, and under the collision of two opposing Mind Jins, a sharp crack resounded as the long blade snapped cleanly in two. Hiroshi Nokane's pupils contracted. Taking advantage of the break, he leaped back several paces, swiftly putting distance between himself and Chen Chuan. Chen Chuan relaxed his fingers, letting the broken fragments of the blade clatter to the ground. Looking at Hiroshi Nokane, he remarked, "You seem to have forgotten to bring a proper sword."