Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A National Guardian was someone capable of taking on an army alone, and such a one-man-army figure was no joke.
While it was not to say that taking them down would be impossible, but the losses incurred would have been too great, making anyone intending to take such a person to weigh the pros and cons again and again.
That was why the best way of dealing with cultivators was simply to rally other cultivators of similar levels and gang up on them.
But with Lu Xuan around, what happened in his past life would not happen again.
“This is getting interesting.”
Lu Xuan took a look at Aida Ryosuke. While his opponent was a Level Seven National Guardian, he remained unfazed, and not even the slightest hint of tension was seen in him.
Despite being fellow National Guardians, the difference between both of them was simply too great.
The difference was so great that they were hardly even considered to be of the same level.
Such a difference would have only gotten greater in the future instead of getting closer. The difference resulting from factors such as physicality, lineage, and talent would only become more pronounced.
Lu Xuan had been through a lot in his past life in order to catch up to the best among those of similar levels. He suffered many hardships before turning himself from an ugly duckling into a phoenix.
Now, it was time for others to catch up to him instead.
Aida Ryosuke was able to tell immediately that Lu Xuan was not someone he was able to mess with. That judgment came almost instinctively.
He took a single forceful step and came right before Yun Sheng, drawing his katana. He brought a dazzling torrent down on Yun Sheng’s arm.
He intended to cut Yun Sheng’s arm down yet again and take the case away instead of fighting Lu Xuan.
His decision spoke of his awareness of the power difference between him and Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan was just too fearsome for any fights between them to end quickly. If reinforcements from Huaxia were to arrive later, he would have probably be killed as well.
“You actually dare to play tricks in front of me!”
Lu Xuan laughed and leaped up, blocking the incoming attack in the nick of time.
Clang!
The blades clashed yet again, bursting with the booming sound of metal clashing.
Aida Ryosuke was thrown several steps back, feeling his entire arm trembling. Lu Xuan looked frail and squishy. His muscles hardly even looked defined and toned. He looked as if he was not even a cultivator, to begin with.
Yet, such a figure was able to burst with such a level of power, making him truly frightening.
Lu Xuan did not move in any further, seemingly waiting for Aida Ryosuke’s next move instead. What he did suggested to Aida Ryosuke that he did not even consider him to be a threat at all.
Despite his mind being tempered at such a level of cultivation, he was getting very irritated.
“You insolent Chinese! You shall now witness the essence of my lineage!”
Aida Ryosuke made a move right away, dealing yet another terrifying slash just like he ambushed Yun Sheng earlier. However, he followed up with another two slashes at the same time he delivered the first.
All three flashes of the blade seemed to have arrived at the very same time, locking down every direction Lu Xuan was able to move in.
“Tsubame Gaeshi!”
That was the extremely renowned sword technique in Japan—Tsubame Gaeshi, the Turning Swallow.
It was an unparalleled technique invented by one of the most esteemed swordmasters in Japanese history—Sasaki Kojiro. The heart of the technique was its speed. One slash was delivered quicker than the previous, with three slashes being enough to kill swallows capable of moving with incredible agility.
That was why the technique was named as such.
In the case of Japanese martial artists, the ability of the hidden technique that was the Tsubame Gaeshi almost became one of the standards of measuring the height of their training.
Only kendo practitioners capable of performing the Tsubame Gaeshi could earn the title of being a grandmaster in the art.
The difficult thing about dealing with such an attack was blocking three slashes at the same time.
Many were killed by the technique before they were even able to tell what had happened, giving it the reputation of a technique that no one was able to survive.
However, Lu Xuan simply took a look at it and swung down with his blade.
Voom!
Intense vibrations came from the bronze sword, making it burst with a loud hum.
That attack then brought down all three slashes coming at him right away.
Aida Ryosuke was sent flying back right away, spinning in the air several times before landing.
At that moment, the only thing seen in his eyes when he looked at Lu Xuan was utter disbelief.
It was as if he had seen a ghost.
There had never been anyone capable of breaking that ultimate attack of his ever since he came to master it.
Anyone capable of even dodging the attack and not being killed right away definitely was at the pinnacle of being a master in combat.
He had never seen anyone like Lu Xuan before.
Even the other two of the three top tier masters of the sword in Japan would not be able to pull what Lu Xuan just pulled.
Yun Sheng only came to his senses at that moment. A cold sweat broke out all over him. He backed away immediately, not daring to stand where he was any longer.
All the others, including Yang Chengsi and Monk Buyi, backed away as well.
All of them were able to tell that they had become dead weight and would get in Lu Xuan’s way if they were to stick around. There was nothing they could do to help.
None of the people present were common folk. All of them were seasoned cultivators, yet all of them watched the battle between the two behemoths in awe.
The fight between Lu Xuan and Aida Ryosuke hardly looked intense, yet every move had proven shockingly devastating. Every attack demonstrated had been extremely fearsome. If anyone else present were on the receiving end, they would have probably ended up being killed in less than a second.
“He is indeed a National Guardian!”
Yang Chengsi was finally able to confirm that Lu Xuan was indeed at the National Guardian Level.
That explained why Lu Xuan had been able to make short work of him, to begin with. He felt extremely lucky that he had been able to survive after offending a National Guardian.
Everyone else who heard that was indescribably shocked deep down. They had initially thought Lu Xuan to be a Martial Arts Legend to be at the very extreme end of the level. Nobody had actually expected that he was actually at the National Guardian level.
Or rather, none of them dared to verify it, even if they had thought about it.
All of that was simply due to Lu Xuan being too young.
He was so young that they found it all to be impossible.
No one would have been able to get that far, even if they had begun training while in the womb!
But then again, it was not like any of that would have mattered much, since be it Martial Arts Legends or National Guardians, those were not people they could fight to begin with.
“So that’s what you called the ‘Tsubame Gaeshi,’ eh?” Lu Xuan said with a grin.
Lu Xuan took a single step and came right before Aida Ryosuke afterward, bringing down the bronze sword in his hand.
Two more strokes were brought down at the same time as the first.
One slash was quicker than the previous one.
All three slashes struck Aida Ryosuke at the very same time.
“Tsubame Gaeshi!”
Aida Ryosuke’s eyes were thrown wide open; it was as if he had just seen a ghost. What happened before him was unbelievable.
He had put an unbelievable amount of effort into mastering the technique. It took him years to master that ultimate technique of Japanese swordsmanship.
Yet, the very technique that he painstakingly mastered was picked up right away by a Chinese kid in his late teens after taking only a single look at it.
He had only thought of resisting after seeing the slashes coming, but it was simply too late. The only thing he was able to do was put his katana before him to block the attack, yet the weapon was immediately shattered by Lu Xuan’s sword. His head was sent flying in an instant.
Aida Ryosuke maintained a defensive stance even at the moment of his death, not able to react due to Lu Xuan’s attack coming in too fast.
Lu Xuan remained deadpan as he executed his attack. While the Tsubame Gaeshi was lauded as a godly technique, it was simply because it was extremely fast.
There was hardly any technique in it worth mentioning.
Lu Xuan’s physicality was leagues above that of Aida Ryosuke, making him able to perform sword strokes twice as quickly as what Aida Ryosuke had shown.
Copying Tsubame Gaeshi, or whatever, is a piece of cake so long as I know of its internal workings, Lu Xuan thought.
