"Fuck! What's going on?" The young man had already been moving fast enough, but who could have known that once his speed increased, the Wind of Serenity would truly become wind... His feet gradually left the ground, turning his run into riding the wind. (I love Chinese class. Besides, I know that phrase refers to riding a horse and controlling the wind, but let me misuse it.)
Still, suddenly stepping on thin air was pretty terrifying. It also caused him to violate the principle of "Dao Fa Zi Ran," as well as the "serenity" that this Stigmata absolutely had to possess—in other words, a heart as still as water.
"Shangqing Zhishui can control water, and it can also calm the mind. Its mind-calming effect is like multitasking with one mind. No matter how chaotic things become, you can always remain calm. Do you understand now why I wouldn't let you learn Shangqing Zhishui? Because you aren't calm enough yet. If you could truly multitask with one mind, you would already have reached a state like Shangqing Zhishui." Xiao Yun wasn't as stern as one might imagine. Yet she didn't sound like a teacher instructing a student, either. Instead, she sounded like a caring older sister.
Even if the young man sensed something strange, he wouldn't think in the wrong direction. After all, the age gap... seemed to be far more than ordinary.
"I see... Shangqing Zhishui... Dao Gives Birth to One, One Gives Birth to Two, Two Gives Birth to Three, Three Gives Birth to All Things. All Things Bear Yin and Embrace Yang, the Flowing Qi Harmonizes Them... Ah!" Sure enough, he couldn't manage anything like multitasking with one mind. Not long after trying, he nearly fell hard enough to leave a crater in the ground.
Instead, he did something even more shocking—after getting back up, he didn't even brush the dust off himself before bursting into laughter.
"Wind... I understand now. I've thought of my name! I'll be called Feng Chen! Still as the pure wind, hidden like fine dust!"
Next, he used wind and lightning together and combined them with Time Fracture, crossing several steps to reach Honkai: Crush.
"Dao Gives Birth to One, One Gives Birth to Two, Two Gives Birth to Three, Three Gives Birth to All Things. All Things Bear Yin and Embrace Yang, the Flowing Qi Harmonizes Them..."
"Sword of Serenity. Use stillness to control motion—every enemy moves, while I alone remain still!" Xiao Yun's voice rang out almost simultaneously with Feng Chen's approach to Honkai: Crush.
The Sword of Serenity wasn't a real sword, just as eating didn't mean eating only rice. The Sword of Serenity was a special method of attack. With a heart as still as water, stillness could carry a boat, while motion could overturn it. That was the Sword of Serenity's principle of using stillness to control motion.
At that very moment, time stopped.
"Detected that the host's body instinctively used the martial arts of the Fusion Warrior Hua from the previous civilization era. Since it was performed by accident, this system is specially providing the host with free instruction. Would you like to learn?" (Let's hear it for a lucky protagonist.)
"Learn!" In an instant, images flowed into his mind one after another. Where to exert force, where to withdraw it, where to advance and retreat in the same motion, where to retreat and then advance—all of it was deeply engraved in his memory.
"Death Force Breaks the Sea!"
Feng Chen struck Honkai: Crush with one palm. At the same time, he used the recoil to kick back with his left foot, then pushed off the ground with his right foot and charged forward with another punch.
The poor Honkai: Crush had been reduced to a test subject. Worse, those two strikes had been especially brutal... Unfortunately, Honkai Beasts like Honkai: Crush, which surpassed the Chariot-type but lacked the defensive power of a Temple-class beast, couldn't withstand what came next.
Honkai: Crush's enormous body soon toppled over. It gradually cracked apart, ultimately transforming into Honkai Energy and Herrscher Experience, which Feng Chen absorbed.
"This..." Before crossing over, he had studied some combat techniques and dabbled in martial arts. But those were worlds apart from this move, "Death Force Breaks the Sea." By comparison, they were trash among trash among trash among trash.
"'Death Force Breaks the Sea' is merely one of Hua's martial arts. Whether in the present or the past, she has always been an extraordinary existence. Her Valkyrie armor has no ranged-combat equipment. Instead, it focuses on bringing close-quarters power to its absolute limit. Also, 'Death Force Breaks the Sea' is itself an enhanced attack. Before enhancement, it was called 'Inch Force Fiery Wave.' Compared to Death Force, Inch Force can contract and release freely. For the host's current combat style, which is barely distinguishable from random flailing, it couldn't be more suitable." The system had originally only wanted to tease Feng Chen, but it had "inadvertently" revealed some important information.
"Is this Hua a Fusion Warrior or a Valkyrie?" He truly couldn't understand this system. It had just called her a Fusion Warrior from the previous civilization era, but now it was calling her a Valkyrie. With such an enormous gap in time, even Herrschers couldn't live that long, could they?
"A secret." The system had started playing coy again. It had dug several pits for Feng Chen to fall into, and now it intended to make him fill them in himself.
"Huh? Where's Yae Sakura?" When Feng Chen opened the map again, the pink light that should have represented Yae Sakura had already disappeared. A sense of danger rose in his heart.
"Boom!"
The sounds of the earth collapsing and something heavy hitting the ground rang out at the same time. A gigantic monster, shaped like a samurai and possessing only an upper body, floated in midair as it pulled two katanas from the ground. Its sinister purple eyes stared at Feng Chen while it drew both katanas back to its waist in a crossed stance.
Then it shot forward, swinging both katanas at once! The entire movement took less than a second, so fast that neither Feng Chen nor the system could react.
By the time Feng Chen remembered to dodge, a crossed, X-shaped wound had already appeared on his chest.
"System, what's going on with you?" The system definitely knew what this thing was. It was overflowing with Honkai Energy, and compared to the Honkai Energy on Yae Sakura, it was even greater!
"This is Jizou Mitama, the remnant consciousness of the Herrscher of Erosion within the Twelfth Divine Key! Also, the ability I originally gave the Herrscher of Erosion wasn't this. This is a combination of humanity's Divine Key and the Herrscher of Erosion. Of course I couldn't have known!"
"The consciousness of the Herrscher of Erosion? Then if I use yours, wouldn't that..."
"No!" Before Feng Chen could finish, the system interrupted him. "Yae Sakura is inside that Divine Key. If you use my aura, it may cause some misunderstandings."
Jizou Mitama slashed again, but Feng Chen dodged with the Wind of Serenity.
Another slash came, and Feng Chen knocked it back with Death Force Breaks the Sea.
Finally, the two katanas fell at once in a simultaneous strike.
Within Time Fracture, Feng Chen circled behind Jizou Mitama. Then Jizou Mitama actually turned around as well!
"Warning! The difference in strength between the host and Jizou Mitama is too great. Time Fracture's effects on Jizou Mitama have been severely reduced."
Seeing the two katanas about to cleave Feng Chen apart, Xiao Yun suddenly said, "I'll take over."
Feng Chen's eyes suddenly turned blue, and the blue Stigmata on the back of his left hand sank into them.
"Watch closely."
His raised palm seemed like a smooth piece of jade. The moment it touched the katana, it shifted the blade aside. Jizou Mitama was actually shaken by that force, its entire body thrown off course.
"Upper Clarity: Still Water, Tranquil Shield."
"Upper Clarity: Still Water, Tranquil Wind."
"Upper Clarity: Still Water, Tranquil Sword."
"Death Force Breaks the Sea!"
The four moves happened almost in an instant. Aside from Death Force Breaks the Sea, which Xiao Yun was using for the first time and had yet to master, the other three seemed to have been performed by Xiao Yun's own body.
Before you continue