A Powerful Swordsman

Mobius's words startled them, leaving them unsure how to respond. Were they really going to risk their lives? They had almost died just now.

Mobius smiled dismissively. If they didn't even have the courage to risk their lives, then they weren't qualified to be swordsmen.

With that, they turned and left.

The swordsmen named Jedi and Linden remained silent, watching them leave.

On their way back, Mobius and his companions encountered Teach and Pito. Teach was carrying a bag of rum and holding a bottle, though the cap was already open, as Teach drank it as he walked.

Pito was carrying a bag of snacks, and he was putting something in his mouth, chewing it with relish, making a crisp "crunch crunch" sound.

After sensing that their battle was over, Teach wasn't in a hurry to come over.

"Mobius, did something happen?" Teach asked with a smile.

"Nothing much? Just two troublesome swordsmen." Mobius shook his head. "Don't underestimate them. They just lack experience. With their foundation, they'll soon be capable swordsmen on their own." Teach laughed. "You'll be under a lot of pressure facing their attacks, won't you?"

Admittedly, Mobius nodded, and Wos's face remained expressionless, but he knew what was going on in his heart.

Even though he wasn't a swordsman, he could tell that these two swordsmen had very strong basic swordsmanship, putting a lot of pressure on them. However, they lacked combat experience. Once they made up for this deficiency, it wouldn't be so easy for them to win next time.

"Haha, I'm sure they'll come looking for you again, so take it seriously," Teach laughed, then turned and walked towards the hotel to go back with Mobius and the others.

In Teach's eyes, these two swordsmen have great potential and have mastered the basic swordsmanship, but they lack combat experience. He believes they must have a good teacher who can lay a perfect foundation for them and prepare them for further breakthroughs in the future.

It is important to know that once a swordsman breaks through a barrier, his strength will increase by leaps and bounds.

The two young swordsmen, Jedi and Linden, split up after a period of silence and began challenging other swordsmen along the way. Although their basic swordsmanship was very solid, they lost more often than they won. However, they were slowly accumulating combat experience and improving their skills through continuous battles.

They rallied, but the memory of their defeat at the hands of Mobius and his team kept replaying in their minds.

As evening fell, the two of them returned together to a small courtyard near the palace, and couldn't help but lower their heads to look at their teacher.

An old man was sweeping the ground with a broom, constantly sweeping away the leaves blown down by the wind. The two stood there silently without speaking. Jedi seemed to want to say something, but Linden forcibly stopped him, grabbing his hand and gesturing for him to be quiet and not to speak.

The old man slowly swept the ground, making sure all the leaves on the ground in the courtyard were swept away. He gently leaned the broom against the wall and turned to look at them.

"Everyone experiences failure; no one can remain undefeated all the way to the top," the old man said with a slow smile.

"But, for some reason, I still feel a bit unwilling to accept defeat at their hands," Jedi finally couldn't help but say. They knew that their teacher must have been paying attention to their situation, so he knew what had happened to them.

"You're being a bit unreasonable. Didn't they all refuse to fight?" the old man said, his expression turning serious. "Besides, a loss is a loss. They weren't swordsmen to begin with, so it's normal for them to have different methods. Don't blame others; it's just that you lack combat experience."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but sigh. His two disciples had great talent in swordsmanship and were very measured in their usual sparring, but their lack of experience became apparent in real battles.

He had already witnessed the performance of Mobius and Wos; their strength was no less than that of his disciples, but they had more combat experience and were more decisive.

To test his disciples' performance, he secretly intervened and helped his two disciples break free of the ropes. However, they still disappointed him somewhat. They lacked the courage to face death, and the indomitable determination and willingness to sacrifice everything of a swordsman. This was a flaw in his teaching, and something he found difficult to teach, requiring them to learn it themselves in battle.

He had to guide them, and he had great confidence in his disciples, believing they could definitely become true swordsmen.

Jedi and Linden looked ashamed. They knew they had disappointed their teacher. "A swordsman, besides aiming to become Great Swordmaster, must also have the determination to give up everything and the conviction to cut off everything, even his own life. That is what makes a swordsman."

"You lost, but not because of the outcome of the battle, but because of your beliefs and your determination. You retreated; you didn't even have the courage to fight." This was what truly disappointed him, and it was what he wanted to instill in the hearts of these two disciples.

They are not yet true swordsmen; the road to becoming a true swordsman is long and arduous.

The old man's words jolted the ashamed Jedi and Linden awake. They hadn't lost to anyone else, but to themselves. They had been frightened by Mobius's words and lost their courage to fight.

Linden clenched his fists, made up his mind, looked at the old man, and said firmly, "I understand, teacher. I will challenge that guy again tomorrow. I will never give up."

Jedi felt the same way, wanting to challenge Mobius again and settle the score.

Seeing his two disciples like this, the old man couldn't help but nod, a slight smile on his face, quite satisfied.

"What are you all standing there for? Have you finished today's training?" Before Jedi and Linden could recover, the old man interrupted them, shouting loudly, which startled them and made them revert to their strict teacher persona.

Watching Jedi and Linden begin their training, the old man stood at the gate of the courtyard, suddenly raised his head, looked in one direction, as if looking at someone, and making eye contact with someone.

On the other side, a look of delight flashed in Teach's eyes. He was eager to see what was going on and wanted to check on the two swordsmen. However, he did not expect that his Observation Haki would be noticed immediately. It was an extremely powerful aura that put him under great pressure. This kind of terrifying aura, which was ready to be unleashed, was five or six times stronger than that of Erik, or even higher.

This was a Great Swordmaster of Admiral rank. Teach could sense that beneath the calm surface of the water lay a terrifying Sword Qi that seemed capable of burning the heavens.

I never imagined that such a powerful swordsman was hidden in this country. The environment of this country is indeed suitable for a swordsman to live in seclusion.

The two had just collided briefly from a distance, an unseen contact without any real exchange of blows.

This is a Great Swordmaster of the Flame Style, perhaps even the strongest Flame Style Great Swordmaster in the world right now. Fighting him would greatly help improve Teach's Swordsmanship. Teach's Flame Style greatly enhances his attack power, while his Lightning Stream enhances his explosive power, speeds up his body, and strengthens his penetrating power, much like the Lightning Chakra Mode in Naruto, where lightning stimulates the body to explode. Teach can do this for a short time now, but he cannot fully master it.

Teach's two styles of swordsmanship have always been relatively balanced, but his Flame Style Swordsmanship is subtly stronger. Now that he has obtained the Thunder Stone, his Lightning Style Swordsmanship will improve rapidly. It has already surpassed his own Flame Style Swordsmanship, and he needs to strengthen his Flame Style Swordsmanship.

If the clash between the two swordsmen, a collision of their sword intents from a distance, was a boundless, fiery hell for Teach, then his own swordsmanship was a three-headed dragon tens of meters tall, its body intertwined with lightning and fire, corresponding to Teach's ordinary swordsmanship, Flame Flow Swordsmanship, and Lightning Current Sword Technique, the three combined to form the lightning-flame flow swordsmanship. Teach's years of accumulation were incomparable to the decades of accumulation of that Great Swordmaster; the difference in their levels was enormous.

This invisible exchange was something that Mobius and his peers couldn't possibly detect, and they continued their training.

Teach consciously adjusted his state of mind, unusually refraining from training his strength, and instead took out a heavy sword to practice his basic swordsmanship.

Although Teach hasn't given up on swordsmanship, Teach now spends most of his time training his physique and strength, paying little attention to swordsmanship practice. This is because at his current level, even basic swordsmanship is no longer very useful; he needs constant combat to quickly become stronger.

He had already made up his mind to seize that opportunity to learn from that swordsman in order to improve his swordsmanship.

The épée is essential for Teach to practice basic swordsmanship. In the process of practicing basic swordsmanship, it can also help him train his arm strength. However, it has been gathering dust next to Teach for several days now.

It was a blunt sword, its blade unsharpened. Teach held the sword with both hands, the blade slicing through the air as he practiced basic swordsmanship.

Early the next morning, after a warm-up session, Teach led Mobius and the other two to the courtyard where the Great Swordmaster lived. His main purpose was for himself; Mobius and the others were merely byproducts. By this time, the Great Swordmaster already knew of Teach's arrival.

"Open the door, we have guests." The old man sat in the courtyard, closed his eyes, took a sip of tea, put down his teacup, then opened his eyes and said to the two disciples who were training in front of him.

"Hmm? Guests." The two men were somewhat puzzled. Not many people had come here over the years. When they arrived at the gate and opened it, they were surprised to see Teach. "It's you!" they exclaimed. Their eyes were fixed on Mobius and Wos. They had originally planned to challenge them today, but they hadn't expected them to be their teacher's guests.

However, since they are guests, let's put the fighting aside for now and invite them in first.

As Teach walked in, he saw the powerful Great Swordmaster was two meters tall, not very strong, and had some gray hair, but he possessed an astonishing and terrifying power within him, like a volcano about to erupt, ready to unleash a world-destroying force at any moment.

Teach couldn't help but sigh. Besides the powerful figures who appeared in the original world now and in the future, there were many monsters hidden among the common people.

Teach didn't say much, directly stating the purpose of his visit, which the Great Swordmaster surely knew. "Marshall D. Teach, I hope to learn some swordsmanship from you."

Teach didn't know his name; he was a swordsman who had gone into seclusion, and probably few people on the high seas knew of him anymore.

They initially thought he was a guest, but it turned out he was there to challenge them—that was Jedi and Linden's idea.

Mobius and the others were also very surprised. The old man in front of Teach looked very ordinary, yet he was worthy of Teach's challenge. However, Teach had his reasons for doing so, and he did not say anything to disturb them.

The old man smiled and looked at Teach. He could tell at a glance Teach's swordsmanship level. He was young and very talented. To reach such a level at such a young age, he was willing to teach the younger generation since they had come.

Teach's swordsmanship is also very interesting, combining lightning and fire. Teach has developed his own way of swordsmanship, fusing the two styles together and forging his own path. He has a high probability of becoming Great Swordmaster. However, it is a pity that Teach is not a pure swordsman.

"Since you're here, please have a seat and watch the younger generation's battle. Let them go first," the old man said with a smile.

Teach smiled, nodded, and let Mobius and the others fight first.

Mobius and the others understood the old man's words: let them fight first, and then Teach would fight the old man.

Since Teach had agreed, Mobius and the others didn't want to refuse.

They stared at each other, Jedi and Linden extremely excited. They were determined to defeat Mobius and his team and avenge their previous defeat.

"My name is Jedi." "My name is Linden." Jedi introduced himself to Linden. "Mobius." "Wos." They found the swordsman's introduction a bit troublesome, but seeing the serious look on the other side's face, they still introduced themselves and said their names.

They stared at each other. "I will definitely defeat you this time," Jedi said, staring at Mobius. "Take another three years of training," Mobius replied ruthlessly.

"I won't let you catch me this time," Linden said firmly.

"Stop deceiving yourself, watch how I crush you." I sneered, drawing his short sword and thrusting it at Linden. Linden raised his knife to block, then swung his sword back at Wos, but Wos easily dodged it.

He wanted to defeat Wos. After practicing swordsmanship for so long, he had developed some powerful sword techniques. "Flying Blade Slash!" He unleashed a Flying Slash, charging directly at me. I was afraid of dying, so my speed was a bit slow. After dodging, Wos rushed forward.

After being counseled, the two threw themselves wholeheartedly into the battle, and their attacks became extremely aggressive. Mobius, who was being suppressed by Jedi in the head-on fight, was not going to show weakness and directly used his Snake Hand.