293 One Sword Startles the Dragon
"Four Guardians of Heavenly Revelations." Lu Yuzhai balanced the spear in his hand. "I’ve also heard some of their legendary stories when I was a child. Qinglong was Li Xinyue, moon in sword heart. So, the sword in your hand must be the famous fourth-ranked sword under Heaven, the Heart sword."
Lei Wujie smiled and looked at him. "You should be very thankful for such an opportunity to fight a legend!"
"Indeed. To fight a legend." Lu Yuzhai jumped up, raised his spear and attacked Lei Wujie with a thrust of his spear. "Head disciple of Unrivaled City, Lu Yuzhai, welcomes this sword. It is a great honor!"
The moment Lei Wujie swung his long sword, its blade was like a dragon, and in one move, he blocked Lu Yuzhai’s spear.
He stood in place. Lu Yuzhai retreated two steps unhurriedly.
"I have two points to make. First, you’re also using a spear, but you’re several times worse than my Qianluo-shijie and thousands of times beneath my Third shishu."
Lu Yuzhai didn't get angry and smiled instead. "What’s the other point?"
"You’re both da-shixiong, but you’re far beneath my Tang Lian shixiong!" Lei Wujie swung his sword again, and the sword aura was like a tidal wave, frost energy crisscrossing in the air.
Lu Yuzhai was forced to retreat again and exclaimed in surprise, "Such swordsmanship! I didn't expect that you’ve already entered the Unrestrained Earthly Realm. A year ago, you were still some distance away from entering the Vajra Mortal Realm."
"That’s why Snow Moon City is the number one city in the martial world and Unrivaled City can only ever stand behind us!" Lei Wujie declared proudly. He stepped into the martial world over a year ago and even though he was not always reserved, he was definitely not one to show off his abilities. But, he was different today.
Because these people had come to kill Xiao Se!
"Are the likes of you worthy of reclaiming unrivaled under Heaven?" Lei Wujie raised his sword and swung it down. "How absurd!"
Lu Yuzhai was forced to retreat again and again, but he didn't panic. His talent in martial arts was not considered high, and among the Unrivaled City disciples of his generation, besides Wushuang, there were at least three others whose martial skills were above his. But he was still respected by all the disciples in the city because he always acted calmly and with composure, and even martial experts who were in higher realms had previously lost to him. He swung his spear and despite Lei Wujie's attacks that were as powerful as tidal waves, he seemed to be at an advantage and was completely uninjured.
"What sort of spear techniques is this? Tortoise spear?" Lei Wujie taunted.
Lu Yuzhai's spear drew a circle. "You’re not far off. My spear technique is called Black Tortoise spear. It’s not based on attack, but based on defense."
"Xuanwu?" Lei Wujie jumped up, and his sword came down. [1]
Sudden Thunderclap.
A whole layer of soil lifted up. Lu Yuzhai barely managed to dodge this sword, but was starting to look rather bedraggled.
The corners of Lei Wujie's mouth curled up slightly. "Are you worthy?"
"Form array!" Lu Yuzhai finally understood that even if his opponent’s strength was in the Unrestrained Earthly Realm, he actually had plenty of energy in reserve. He yelled furiously and the dozen or so Unrivaled City disciples behind him drew their own swords at the same time. The dozen men wearing the same monotone uniform were all swordsmen, and when they drew their swords simultaneously, their blades gleamed with a deep and cold light.
Lei Wujie stabbed the ground with his sword. "You can’t beat me, so you’re ganging up?"
The dozen swordsmen ignored his taunt and jumped forward, surrounding Lei Wujie.
Lei Wujie picked his ear and flicked his fingers lightly. "I hate these so-called sword arrays the most. Kunlun Sword Immortal once said, the sword is a lone weapon. Swords are alone, swordsmen are also alone. A sword array requires swords to come together. Lame."
Lu Yuzhai smiled and said, "I heard that Sword Heart Tomb also has a sword array passed down the generations?"
"The Sword Heart Tomb has a thousand-sword array used to protect the sacred ground of the Sword Tomb and is invulnerable to attack. How can your fancy skills be comparable?" Lei Wujie said disdainfully, "You really think too highly of yourself."
Lu Yuzhai was still smiling. "According to my information, you’re not someone who talks this much, nor someone who likes to provoke others like this."
"I spent a long time with someone who loves to mock and ridicule others, so I can’t help but pick up some of his bad habits." Lei Wujie shook his head. "I used to be such a humble and courteous young man."
"You’re wasting time on purpose," Lu Yuzhai said slowly.
Lei Wujie’s ploy was found out and he retorted angrily, "You outnumber me by over ten to one, and still won’t let me waste some time?"
"It's useless. Besides our Unrivaled City, there are many people who want him dead. You can waste our time, but that just means someone else will kill him," Lu Yuzhai said. "At least our Unrivaled City will let him die with dignity."
"Regardless of how many people want to kill him, the same number of people will save him." Lei Wujie tightened his grip on his sword and glared at the hostile sword array in front of him. "And I alone can stop a dozen of them. Let him die with dignity? Do you know how he would respond if he heard that?"
Lu Yuzhai raised his eyebrows. "How will he respond?"
Lei Wujie sheathed his sword, straightened his back, and pronounced articulately, "Bah!"
"Array, rise." Lu Yuzhai whistled sharply.
More than ten swords moved in response.
Unlike Lu Yuzhai's Black Tortoise spear which concentrated on defense instead of offense, this sword array was a continuous fierce attack.
Extremely sinister.
Extremely ruthless.
Almost every move was aimed at killing the opponent.
"This was originally prepared for your friend, but since you’re in such a hurry to die," Lu Yuzhai sneered. "Let me send you on your way."
Although Lei Wujie's swordsmanship was swift and fierce, facing a siege of over ten people at the same time, he was getting weaker and his body was becoming bruised and battered. He looked at his torn shirt and laughed. "If that guy was here, he would definitely say, another really nice phoenix flame shirt got ruined like this."
"You’re going to die," Lu Yuzhai said softly.
"Yes. But even if I die, I will die for my friends!" Lei Wujie suddenly raised his sword and shouted fiercely, and the dozen swords in front of him were instantly snatched out of their owners’ hands and flew into the sky. Lei Wujie swung his sword furiously, and smashed down on the dozen swords.
At that moment, the surge of Lei Wujie's sword aura caused Lu Yuzhai to feel a jolt of dread.
The Unrivaled City swordsmen who had the upper hand a moment ago had lost their swords, and one by one, they were hit by their own swords as they rained down on their heads. In an instant, victory and defeat were reversed!
"Do you know what a true heart sword is?" Lei Wujie stood in the wind, his red shirt fluttering. "It means that my sword heart possesses the will to command ten thousand swords. Their swords are afraid of me so they’re no match for me at all."
Lu Yuzhai held onto his spear, silent with a frown on his face.
"I’ve already shown you my ace, but I know if you’re really here to kill Xiao Se, you must at least have brought that person along." Lei Wujie looked into the distance and waited for the figure with the sword casket on his back. He had been looking forward to their reunion for a long time.
There was indeed someone coming from a distance, but he was not the one he had imagined.
The man who came had a long beard and he was as tall and upright as a pine tree. He held a sword without a scabbard, but the tip of the sword was broken.
One sword to break water, stopping a thousand rivers.
They had met each other once before, and this person even gifted Lei Wujie a sword move. At that time, Lei Wujie fainted right after receiving that sword move.
"Shifu." Lu Yuzhai bowed his head.
Song Yanhui looked properly at Lei Wujie and said pointedly, "Half a step to Unfettered?"
Lei Wujie was stunned for a moment, and then he mimicked the other’s tone and replied, "Half a step to sword immortal?"
----
Notes:
[1] Lu Yuzhai's spear was called 玄武枪 xuanwu qiang (Black Tortoise Spear), the same Xuanwu as the four mythical creatures of Chinese constellations and also Tang Lian’s other title, Xuanwu Guardian. In the previous line, Lei Wujie called his spear a 王八枪 wangba qiang (Tortoise Spear), which is an insult.