The Current Breaker was just over a meter in length. It bore the hallmark of master weaponsmith Taōtsuka a few hundred years ago. It had been the prized possession of a great swordmaster during the Edo period and ended up in the hands of Takemiya Hiro nearly a hundred years ago. He had carried it with him during each and every battle in his life, big and small and had witnessed Takemiya Hiro’s unbroken win streak.
Takemiya Hiro didn’t have to use his legendary blade very often since he was able to deal with any opponent who was under the Immortal State level using the Blade Qi alone.
His internal force was extremely solid and condensed and once they were shot out of his system, it was as powerful as any well-made weapons. His Blade Qi attack would be an even headache for Erika, Lei Qianjue and Hua Yunfeng.
To Takemiya Hiro’s surprise, Chen Fan’s True Essence was much more powerful than his Internal Force, especially when it was combined with the Azure Wood Qi Blade. When Chen Fan was at the early-stage of Ethereal Enlightenment, the Azure Wood Qi Blade could deal with at the most mid-stage Transcendent State cultivators. However, now Chen Fan was confident to defeat even a late-stage Transcendent State Cultivator using the same technique.
“Clank!”
A flash of lightning pierced the night sky above the Tokyo Tower.
This flash of lightning was seen across the city. Many citizens of Tokyo looked up to see if it was going to rain. The night sky was covered by dark clouds and none of the onlookers underneath the tower knew what was going on at the top.
Everyone except for Erika and the martial artists around her.
They knew that the momentous battle had finally begun. Red Sparrow looked troubled. Chen Fan’s defeat would be a huge blow to the Chinese Martial arts community. After all, he was the future of Chinese martial arts.
Once Takemiya Hiro unsheathed The Current Breaker, he regained his composure.
Holding the blade in one hand, he looked haughty and overwhelming as a Sword Sage should be.
Takemiya Hiro lifted the blade with both hands and swinging it around in a flat sidearm slash. Another silvery Blade Auras lightened up the dark sky. This time, Takemiya Hiro didn’t spread out his Internal Force, instead, he concentrated them within the shimmering silvery blade.
“Ka-Ka-Ka.”
As the Azure Wood Qi Blade and the Silvery Blade Qi collided, they let out a series of crisp sounds.
The Azure Wood Qi Blade started to waver after a few rounds of exchange. The impact had put great strain on it and threatened to put it out. Chen Fan heaved a sigh in his mind. Azure Wood Qi Blade was made out of True Essence, and therefore could not endure repetitive direct impacts against real weapons infused with internal force. Although the Azure Wood Qi Blade was able to break any ordinary weapon, the Current Breaker was nothing but ordinary. Worse, this extraordinary weapon was wielded by an extraordinary warrior: Takemiya Hiro.
Takemiya Hiro swung the blade around to his side as he turned his body in the same direction. Before he had finished his motion, a dozen blade auras had already shot out from the spinning blade at Chen Fan from all directions.
Suddenly, Takemiya Hiro flashed out of view and reappeared mere inches away from Chen Fan.
Chen Fan was unfazed by the series of strikes. He punched readily.
“Kaboom!”
A deep thunderous rumbling came out from the Void Dimension. It sounded like two giant stones grinding against each other. Chen Fan’s punch didn’t break the hypersonic barrier, but it was extremely fast. Force rippled from his fist and seem to have sent a tremor throughout the Void Dimension, threatening to tear away the boundary between reality and the other dimensions. Chen Fan doubled down on his attack, bringing more energy into the fist until it was so powerful that it could punch a hole through Mount Tai. It would have terrified and stupefied any ordinary Grandmasters.
However, Takemiya Hiro was not just any Grandmaster, he was only a half-step away from Immortal State.
He held the blade tightly in one hand and started to work on diminishing the overwhelming Qi Energy using all sorts of sword techniques: poking, hacking, jabbing, blocking, sweeping, knocking and so on. In a blink, he had rained a dozen different attacks on Chen Fan and was able to drain away half of Chen Fan’s Blade Qi. In the end, he unleashed the final strike by combining all forms of attacks into one and the attack landed squarely on Chen Fan’s fist.
“Clang!”
The impact made a blaring din that sounded like bell chime at close distance. It was the kind of muffled droning, instead, it was an explosive metal on metal clank with sharp reverberation.
The impact was not only a showdown of the two’s internal forces but also their external strength and level of physique refinement. The floor under both fighters gave in at the impact. Two sets of the footprint were deeply grooved into the steel floor of the Tokyo Tower.
Takemiya Hiro staggered back slightly and was shocked once again.
He had never thought that Chen Fan had the audacity to take the brunt of his attack using his body. Worse, Chen Fan was unharmed after the impact. No one should have survived that attack, but Chen Fan did.
As it turned out, his surprise was mutual. Chen Fan pulled his fist back and noticed a white line of slightly grazed skin on the back of his hand where the blade had landed. This was the first time anyone had damaged his Azure Thearch Longevity Body, even though it had done barely any harm.
“Bravo!”
Chen Fan let out a peal of laughter after the promise of a worthy opponent heightened his spirit and made his blood boil.
He punched again, this time he had used less external strength, and changed the tone of the strike. Instead of belligerence, it had an ancient and primordial effect and expressed power that lay in between reality and ethereal, where mortals shall not go. Chen Fan was lead by the power and as if a long slumbering Naga finally awaken by a beacon of light. The dragon sprung up into the sky and chased after the light, twisting and writhing its body as if dancing.
“Naga’s Transform!”
Takemiya Hiro’s face grew more serious by the second. He slowly lifted Current Breaker, one inch at a time and with focus and dedication to the present moment. Then he hacked.
Even as the blade was still coming down from above, it seemed to have changed its form multiple times. In the end, there was no blade, in its place a full circle of Blade Aura brimming with light. The circle had surrounded Takemiya Hiro, its light serene and zenful. At Takemiya Hiro’s level, he could use any secret art that required great enlightenment. His cultivation had granted him the degree of perspicacity required to understand the fundamental inner-workings of any art on earth.
“Bang!”
The Blade and the fist clashed again. The Ring of Blade Aura was shattered and Takemiya Hiro winded. He staggered a few more steps back, as Current Breaker shivered on the verge of shattering. Chen Fan didn’t seem to use any more strength than his last punch, but the technique he used was sublime. Much to Takemiya Hiro’s dismay, he had realized the ineffectiveness of his art moments before the impact. Therefore, he had to take the burnt of Chen Fan’s force using his body.
That, proved to be a grave mistake.
“No bad, come again!”
Chen Fan let out a shout, his voice pierced through the night sky and invited a gust of wind. His Long flowy hair fell loose over his shoulders, and the loose fold of his outfit flapped against the wind. An azure fire rekindled in his eyes and his body taut with belligerence. He reached out both arms to form a circle, as if he intended to grope the entire night sky above Tokyo, including the moon and the stars. Energy started to roil about him: dark and powerful energies.
“True Martial Thirty-Six Forms, the first form: Skyfall Hammer!”
A tsunami of Qi Energy turned the Void Dimension upside down and bore down at Takemiya Hiro from above. An azure fire could be seen burning inside the deluge of dark current. Takemiya Hiro hunkered down for the blow as he charged up his Internal Force. He moved his Katana slowly in a circle, dedicating every nerve and muscle to the task. He didn’t want to face Chen Fan’s attack, but he had to.
“Bang!”
Takemiya Hiro backed away right before the punch landed on him. The Fist Qi smashed into a steel truss and knocked it off of the tower. Chen Fan launched himself into the air again and spread out both arms as a bird would. Then he suddenly closed both arms, turning them into a pair of scissors and shot out a pulse of Azure energy.
“Second Form, Humble Cloud Hand.”
Takemiya Hiro lifted the Current Breaker with both hands and hacked right in the middle of the Azure energy. The impact spat a wave of energy at him, forcing Takemiya Hiro to take another few steps back.
“The third form: Void Dimension Shockwave!”
Chen Fan didn’t stop and kept ton raining attacks on his opponent. Takemiya Hiro barely had time to gather himself and scrambled to deal with the next attack.
“Fourth Form, Naga’s Transform”
“Fifth Form, Heaven Trampling!”
…
“Seventh Form, Mountain River Cut!”