Secret Technique: Sticking Close

The location of this cross-regional challenge was a valley.

The valley was lush with vegetation, but there were no especially tall trees.

In other words, there was little cover here, allowing Nan Feng to perform to his heart's content.

Not far away, Sakura Kojiro, dressed in a tattered shirt and ripped jeans, was slowly walking toward Nan Feng.

Sakura Kojiro's gaze was fierce. "Nan Feng, today I'll make you understand that talking big comes with a price."

Nan Feng raised the Wooden Dagger high and pointed it at Sakura Kojiro in the distance. "Son, watch how your dad teaches you a lesson today!"

"Heh." Sakura Kojiro sneered disdainfully.

Once he saw that Nan Feng's Destined Divine Weapon was a dagger, Sakura Kojiro finally let go of his last trace of wariness.

Before the challenge began, Sakura Kojiro had actually been somewhat concerned.

If Nan Feng's Destined Divine Weapon had been a ranged weapon, winning would not have been so easy for Sakura Kojiro.

At this very early stage, the advantage of range was enormous and could completely make up for the gap in their levels.

Although Sakura Kojiro was confident he could rush right up to Nan Feng and cut him down, there was still risk involved.

Now that he saw Nan Feng was also a melee Chosen One, and that his Destined Divine Weapon was a dagger with the shortest attack range, Sakura Kojiro immediately felt that victory was assured.

"Nan Feng, why don't you kneel and call me Dad right now?"

Sakura Kojiro held a wooden Katana in one hand and strolled leisurely toward Nan Feng.

"If you call me that now, you won't have to call me Dad later in the Cross-District Channel."

"Think about it. How embarrassing would it be to call me Dad in front of everyone?"

"There's no one else here. If you call me that, no one will know. Doesn't that make sense?"

Nan Feng silently calculated the distance between them, while putting on a confused expression. "What did you just say I should call you?"

Sakura Kojiro: "Dad."

Nan Feng: "Good boy, son."

Sakura Kojiro's face darkened. He glared viciously at Nan Feng. "Very good. Let's see how long that sharp tongue of yours lasts."

Sakura Kojiro quickened his pace and charged toward Nan Feng.

40 meters...

35 meters...

35 meters...

Nan Feng hid both hands behind his back, swiftly put away the Wooden Dagger, and took out the Desert Eagle.

From Sakura Kojiro's perspective, Nan Feng looked completely composed, standing still with his hands behind his back, carrying himself like a grandmaster.

"Hmph, putting on airs? Do you think you're some grandmaster?" Sakura Kojiro snorted. "Your body is full of openings. You don't look convincing at all!"

Sakura Kojiro had the right to speak on this matter.

The Sakura Family was a swordsmanship family with a long legacy, producing many masters of the blade—within Sakura Country, there was no especially clear distinction between sabers and swords, so techniques performed with Sakura blades and katanas were collectively known as "swordsmanship."

As for Sakura Kojiro himself, he was a genius of the current generation of the Sakura Family. Since childhood, he had been inseparable from his Katana, and his swordsmanship was superb, surpassed only by his older brother, Sakura One-Sword.

After transmigrating to the primal world, Sakura Kojiro had obtained a Katana as his Destined Divine Weapon right from the start.

Having trained in swordsmanship for many years, Sakura Kojiro comprehended an extremely powerful damage skill on his very first day in this world—Blade Draw.

With this skill, Sakura Kojiro leveled up at a terrifying pace. He killed rats when he encountered rats and slaughtered chickens when he encountered chickens, leaving the other Chosen Ones of District 132 far behind.

Just yesterday, Sakura Kojiro had even slain a level 5 Lord-class ferocious beast alone, with nothing but his blade.

With such strength, let alone Nan Feng merely failing to look convincing, even if Nan Feng really were a grandmaster, Sakura Kojiro was confident he could kill him!

He seems even more careless now...

Nan Feng keenly noticed the change in Sakura Kojiro's mindset, though he did not quite understand why.

But it did not matter. This was good news for Nan Feng.

The more careless his opponent was, the better Nan Feng's chances of winning!

The distance between them was 20 meters.

At this range, Nan Feng's accuracy could exceed 90%!

Close enough...

"Piercing Shot!"

Nan Feng swiftly raised the Desert Eagle. Without aiming with his eyes, he fired at Sakura Kojiro purely by instinct!

The past few days of intense combat had given Nan Feng a hint of gun sense.

The instant the bullet left the chamber, Nan Feng had a feeling that this shot would hit!

The Piercing Shot, condensed from 20 points of mana, shrieked toward Sakura Kojiro.

The moment the bullet was fired, Sakura Kojiro was dumbfounded.

Why the hell did he pull out a gun in the middle of a fight?

Everyone else was using cold weapons, yet this Old Sixth was using a Desert Eagle. Was that even fair?

Shocked as he was, Sakura Kojiro reacted quickly. He raised his Katana and swung horizontally!

Blade Draw!

Clang!!

The Mana Bullet collided with the wooden Katana, producing a crisp ringing impact.

Nan Feng's Piercing Shot was blocked by Sakura Kojiro's blade!

"Heh, cheap tricks."

Sakura Kojiro sneered, feeling that his swordsmanship had improved yet again.

But before he could be pleased for even 0.1 seconds, the Piercing Shot passed straight through the Katana and drilled into Sakura Kojiro's left shoulder!

-158!

"How is that possible?! That's not scientific!" Sakura Kojiro stared in disbelief.

"We've already been transported to another world, and you're talking to me about science? Are you an idiot?"

Nan Feng looked calm, but his heart was anything but.

Nan Feng had 385 Attack Power, and with Piercing Shot's 150% damage bonus, it had only dealt 158 damage? That wasn't scientific at all!

Did Sakura Kojiro have over 300 Defense Power?

That was way too outrageous!

Even more outrageous was that Sakura Kojiro had actually managed to slash a bullet out of the air!

Was this some kind of movie? Nan Feng was starting to suspect the guy on the other side was cheating!

Seeing Nan Feng's expression, Sakura Kojiro seemed to realize something. He sneered. "You didn't know, did you? When a low-level opponent attacks a high-level one, the damage is heavily reduced. This is also..."

Before he finished speaking, Sakura Kojiro dragged his blade forward, his speed instantly reaching its peak!

Flash Cut!

Few people knew that Sakura Kojiro had actually comprehended a charging skill as well—Flash Cut!

This was Sakura Kojiro's trump card. Even against ranged Chosen Ones, he had nothing to fear!

"This is also... the source of my confidence!" Sakura Kojiro grinned viciously as he rushed to within ten meters of Nan Feng. "At this distance, my sword is faster than your gun!"

Nan Feng did not panic. He had already considered the possibility of his opponent getting close last night.

But what did it matter if Sakura Kojiro got close?

Nan Feng's weapon was not a bow, not a slingshot, nor something like throwing darts...

Those weapons needed a certain amount of distance to accelerate before they could gain greater momentum and deal more damage.

Nan Feng's weapon was a gun. Its muzzle velocity was already fast enough.

Getting close not only had no effect on Nan Feng, it could even improve his accuracy!

"Beyond ten meters, guns are fast. Within ten meters..."

"Guns are both accurate and fast."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Nan Feng calmly retreated while raising his hand and firing three shots in rapid succession.

As his level rose, Nan Feng's Agility had increased as well, slightly boosting both his attack speed and movement speed.

This distance of ten meters was enough for Nan Feng to attack four or five times!

miss!

-158!

-158!

Two of the three shots hit—one in the abdomen and one in the lower leg. Not bad.

But what baffled Nan Feng was that his normal attacks dealt the same damage as Piercing Shot.

How exactly was this damage calculated?

On the other side, Sakura Kojiro cursed furiously in his heart. Why does he have such high Attack Power? Why?!

After three shots, Sakura Kojiro had less than 50 Health Points left. He was also bleeding, losing 5 to 8 Health Points every second.

But he did not give up, because he was already less than two meters away from Nan Feng!

Blade Draw! Ikuso!

Sakura Kojiro gripped the Katana's hilt with both hands and unleashed a horizontal slash!

One slash, just one slash!

Having put all his points into Strength, Sakura Kojiro was confident that he could kill Nan Feng in one hit!

That slash was fast—so fast that Nan Feng had no chance of dodging it with his speed.

But he had already thought of a countermeasure. The instant before Sakura Kojiro drew his blade, he plunged headfirst into the other man's embrace!

Secret Technique—Sticking Close!

At zero distance, the 90-centimeter Katana became useless instead.

Sakura Kojiro's lightning-fast slash missed!

"Want to get close to me? Aren't we close enough now?"

Before Sakura Kojiro's stunned eyes, Nan Feng drove the Wooden Dagger he had long since drawn viciously into Sakura Kojiro's heart...