Chapter 222: Beaten the Whole Time
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
When Chen Fei initially perfected the Zhongyuan Sword, he could already completely gather the power of the Zhongyuan Sword onto the blade.
At this point, the Zhongyuan Sword could already unleash its immense strength, demonstrating the combat level that this heritage should possess.
Now, Miao Daoxin is also practicing the Zhongyuan Sword. He’s currently at this position, or rather, slightly more advanced than this stage, but not yet at the true peak, which is the stage of Great Completion.
Some time ago, Chen Fei refined the Zhongyuan Sword to the stage of Great Completion and discovered that he could further condense the sword’s power, focusing it only on the edge of the blade.
This condensed Zhongyuan Sword exhibited exponentially increased power due to the concentration of its strength. As a result, when Chen Fei unleashed a strike, even the Xuanwu Sword Technique, a profound defense technique, couldn’t withstand the force. He had to step back and dissipate the power.
This could be considered the utmost limit of the Zhongyuan Sword’s training. However, it’s unclear whether it’s due to Chen Fei’s mental strength or the meticulous control of the Dragon Suppressing Elephant over his body.
Chen Fei realized that he could continue condensing the Zhongyuan Sword, gathering all of its power at the tip of the blade.
In this state, the Zhongyuan Sword seemed to acquire a key point, possessing a power close to that of the Aperture Tempering realm. Yet, it was only an approximation, not truly reaching the Aperture Tempering realm, but still beyond the capability of warriors in the Visceral Tempering realm to withstand.
Even someone like Shen Tucang, who practiced the Xuanwu Sword Technique, would have their defense shattered if struck by such a sword. After being freed from Chen Fei’s constraints, the Zhongyuan Sword could tear Shen Tucang apart from within.
This was Chen Fei’s current strongest strike, unparalleled yet still beyond his complete control. Once the sword is unleashed, the opponent is bound to die!
Hence, Chen Fei hesitated for a moment and ultimately chose not to use it. The circumstances weren’t right; they were within the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, and Shen Tucang was the second disciple of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect’s true inheritance.
In this kind of competition, Chen Fei could defeat Shen Tucang, even severely injure him or bring him to the brink of death, but he mustn’t truly kill him. Doing so would be a direct affront to the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect.
Even someone as arrogant as Wang Guiwu wouldn’t truly kill disciples from the other four sects when sparring, because that would change the nature of the challenge entirely. At most, they’d inflict severe injuries without crossing the line.
Presently, Chen Fei hadn’t reached a level where he could casually disregard the rules. His strength was still insufficient. Moreover, Chen Fei didn’t hold any personal grudges against Shen Tucang; their differences in stance were the extent of it.
Taking someone’s life would be a step too far.
Shen Tucang stood ready, somewhat shaken by the aura Chen Fei had just exuded. The Xuanwu Sword Technique even warned him continuously, urging him to flee.
Since mastering the Xuanwu Sword Technique, Shen Tucang had never felt this way facing any Visceral Tempering realm warrior, even the first disciple of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect was the same.
However, that momentary intimidation quickly dissipated as Chen Fei’s fierce aura suddenly receded. This left Shen Tucang a bit bewildered, not understanding what had just happened.
“Boom!”
Chen Fei swept his sword down, causing Shen Tucang to retreat half a step before steadying himself. Meanwhile, the power he had accumulated within his body was growing steadily, waiting for an opportunity to strike back at Chen Fei.
Looking at the Qianyuan Sword in his hand, the black radiance on the blade condensed and expanded, yet it couldn’t settle on a fixed appearance.
Chen Fei exerted his full strength to condense the power of the Zhongyuan Sword into a single point. However, his attempt to further condense a part of the black blade’s power was proving elusive.
If the black blade body represented one.
Concentrating the black energy solely onto the edge of the blade was two.
Completely turning the black blade into a singular point was three.
Chen Fei now sought a version between two and three, to enhance its destructive force, but he couldn’t achieve it.
Ultimately, it was a lack of control. Condensing the power into a single point was explosive and manageable but uncontrollable. Achieving two and a half was more challenging than unleashing the full explosion.
This situation felt awkward in a competition since there was the fear of inadvertently causing fatal harm.
Perhaps Chen Fei needed to advance further with the Thousand Origin Heart Locking Technique, perhaps by obtaining the Thousand Thread Technique from the Alchemist Alliance. Or, it might require the Dragon Suppressing Elephant to break through to the stage of Great Completion, allowing for even finer control of the body.
“Boom boom boom!”
Three consecutive strikes, the Qianyuan Sword in Chen Fei’s hand swept towards Shen Tucang. Shen Tucang’s retreat became less pronounced with each strike. By the third strike, his body swayed slightly before coming to a stop.
Lifting the Qianyuan Sword high, as if ready to unleash the fourth strike, Chen Fei suddenly moved his body, executing the Spatial Travel and Soul Chasing Steps to escape from Shen Tucang’s reach.
Shen Tucang was waiting for an opportunity to counterattack Chen Fei. Each step Chen Fei took backward made Shen Tucang hold his breath. He was just waiting for Chen Fei to make that strike so he could unleash the power he had accumulated within his body.
However, the unexpected happened – Chen Fei ran away!
During their engagement, Chen Fei had been in control the entire time. So, when Chen Fei tore through the defensive field of the Xuanwu Sword Technique, Shen Tucang couldn’t react quickly enough. He could only watch as Chen Fei escaped his attack range.
From the moment Chen Fei took the stage, facing Wang Guiwu’s Tianyue Sword, then Nie Haichun’s Astonishing Spirit Sword, and later Luo Mengcai’s Demonsweeper Bow, Chen Fei hadn’t taken a single step back.
He even faced Shen Tucang’s Xuanwu Sword Technique head-on.
But now, suddenly retreating like this caught Shen Tucang off guard.
The Xuanwu Sword Technique was formidable, excelling in offense and defense, even capable of harnessing an opponent’s power and unleashing it together. However, the Xuanwu Sword Technique wasn’t without flaws.
Aside from not being particularly fast, a significant drawback was that when accumulating too much power, Shen Tucang’s already limited speed would slow down further. After all, his body still retained the borrowed strength.
This land of power, much like Chen Fei’s situation moments ago, could be explosively released. Yet achieving complete control over it wasn’t feasible.
In the past, Shen Tucang wouldn’t have allowed an opponent to escape his attack range. However, Chen Fei had seized the initiative just now, leaving Shen Tucang somewhat powerless.
The key point was that Shen Tucang genuinely hadn’t anticipated Chen Fei’s clean and decisive retreat.
Having stopped several dozen meters away from Shen Tucang, Chen Fei looked at Shen Tucang, whose face had turned somewhat red from exertion. A faint smile appeared on Chen Fei’s face.
In his current state, Shen Tucang was at a loss for what to do.
Pursuing would be futile since he couldn’t catch up to Chen Fei in his current condition. The alternative was to disperse the borrowed power right now, which might offer a chance to approach Chen Fei.
But dispersing his power and closing in on Chen Fei would still leave Shen Tucang vulnerable to attacks. Chen Fei’s sword style, without the assistance of borrowed power, would cause Shen Tucang to continuously retreat under the assault.
If Chen Fei took advantage of Shen Tucang’s partial reliance on borrowed power, a moment when Shen Tucang was inconvenienced and continued running away, Shen Tucang would likely be left without a good solution.
It had become a vicious cycle!
Among the onlookers outside the sparring arena, many disciples with lower cultivation levels were still having trouble understanding the situation. They couldn’t comprehend why Chen Fei suddenly retreated when he had clearly been in the dominant position, pressuring Shen Tucang.
However, the true disciples and experts at the Aperture Tempering realm could immediately discern Shen Tucang’s predicament.
Caught between two choices, not knowing where to go next, and from their perspective, they were uncertain how to offer guidance to Shen Tucang.
It all came down to the nature of their techniques, combined with another critical factor: Chen Fei’s displayed combat strength was truly formidable.
Chen Fei was not only strong but also well-balanced in all aspects, without any apparent weaknesses. It was precisely due to this balance that Shen Tucang, possessing the Xuanwu Sword Technique, found himself in a situation where he didn’t know whether to advance or retreat.
Even from the perspective of those at the Aperture Tempering realm, it was hard to believe that if Chen Fei were to directly withstand Shen Tucang’s powered-up attack, the outcome wouldn’t be too unfavorable.
When considering Luo Mengcai’s Demonsweeper Bow, the collective attack of dozens of arrows didn’t actually fall much behind Shen Tucang’s empowered strikes.
Since Chen Fei could withstand the Demonsweeper Bow, there was no doubt he could also stand up to the Xuanwu Sword.
However, it was clear that Chen Fei didn’t intend to confront Shen Tucang head-on.
“All!”
Shen Tucang roared in place, instantly dispersing the borrowed power and making his body much lighter. In the next moment, he charged toward Chen Fei.
After being pushed back and forth by Chen Fei, Shen Tucang felt incredibly frustrated. He refused to be one-sidedly attacked by Chen Fei; he wanted to strike back!
Chen Fei watched Shen Tucang charge towards him, a smile still on his face. He too stepped forward to meet the challenge.
“Clang clang clang…”
The sound of blades clashing resonated again, seemingly not much different from the previous encounter. Even with Shen Tucang’s unleashed maximum power, he still couldn’t withstand Chen Fei’s Zhongyuan Sword.
Just like before, he was forced to step back and dissipate the force.
However, this time, Shen Tucang didn’t intend to fully rely on borrowed power. After borrowing the power of two strikes, he immediately unleashed his own power, preparing for a direct confrontation with Chen Fei.
The two of them resembled giant beasts grappling in the sparring arena. The clash of blades echoed continuously, and the scene appeared exceedingly intense. It felt as though in the next moment, life and death would be decided.
Yet, upon closer observation, one would notice that in this state, it was more about who couldn’t overcome the other. With Chen Fei holding back, he couldn’t break through Shen Tucang’s defense.
On the other hand, Shen Tucang had just been in a compromised state, unsure about how to win even if he wanted to!
The most perplexing aspect for Shen Tucang was how Chen Fei’s body was trained. Even after this intense exchange, Chen Fei surprisingly hadn’t sustained significant injuries.
Comparing Chen Fei’s body after practicing the Xuanwu Sword Technique, it seemed that his condition was on par, if not better?
A quarter of an hour swiftly passed, and the ground of the sparring arena looked as though it had been plowed over, with cracks spreading and gravel scattered everywhere, along with numerous uneven pits and holes.
“Boom!”
Another clash of swords occurred. Chen Fei’s figure flipped backward, landing firmly on the ground, while Shen Tucang retreated a few steps, breathing heavily.
“I suppose this round can be considered a draw,” Chen Fei said, looking at Shen Tucang.
Shen Tucang clenched his teeth, hesitated for a moment, and eventually nodded in resignation.
This was one of Shen Tucang’s most frustrating draws because he had spent most of the match on the receiving end. He even began questioning whether choosing to practice the Xuanwu Sword Technique had been a mistake..