Dan Lei's Swallow Cut

Time moved forward a bit. Before Dan Lei and Yan Qing officially began their fight, in the spectator seats of the martial arts arena, the two most powerful individuals on the Luofu Xianzhou were discussing Dan Lei and Yan Qing.

Fu Xuan spoke first.

"Jing Yuan, I thought you asked me out for something special, but it turns out it's just to watch Yan Qing spar with a Sustainer kid? You know I'm very busy. If it's really just to watch a spar, I'll be leaving now."

Fu Xuan was looking at Jing Yuan as she spoke, but Jing Yuan's gaze hadn't left Dan Lei. However, he still tried to appease Fu Xuan verbally.

"Minister Fu, please be patient. To be a General of Luofu, one must first know what young talents our Xianzhou has and what their abilities are, so that we can assign them accordingly."

Hearing Jing Yuan say this, Fu Xuan finally showed a bit of interest. She looked at the two in the martial arts arena and said, "Oh? Yan Qing is one thing, but is this Sustainer kid also a talent of the same caliber?"

After speaking, Fu Xuan immediately connected her third eye to the Qiong Guan Array, retrieved Dan Lei's information, and began to divine.

A moment later, Fu Xuan, looking puzzled, asked Jing Yuan again, "Jing Yuan, have you lost your mind? According to the data, this Dan Lei couldn't possibly defeat Yan Qing. Even if he was glimpsed by the Aeon of Memory and retrieved a cultivation technique from the Sea of Memories, his growth over two years couldn't possibly lead to such a leap in combat power. Yan Qing is a genius you've meticulously cultivated for decades."

Jing Yuan didn't play coy and directly gave Fu Xuan the answer. "Dan Lei possesses a cultivation technique for manipulating life energy. According to him, it seems to have evolved from that Breathing Technique. However, this life energy isn't the life energy as we know it; it's quite miraculous. Furthermore, he possesses the Power of the Path of Equilibrium, and he obtained it completely unknowingly."

Hearing Jing Yuan say this, Fu Xuan understood. Her information on Dan Lei was incomplete, so she naturally couldn't deduce the correct result from the missing data. After all, Dan Lei wasn't being analyzed comprehensively by the Qiong Guan Array at this moment, so errors were normal. Moreover, Fu Xuan understood what it meant to possess the Power of the Path of Equilibrium without being aware of it. Her curiosity was piqued, and she began to watch the battle in the arena closely.

By this time, Dan Lei and Yan Qing had already started fighting. After a round of probing, Dan Lei used magic thread. Fu Xuan analyzed it through her third eye and commented, "Interesting. Life energy can be used like this? What's the principle behind it?"

If members of the Genius Club were present, they might have been able to analyze the nature of the Magic. Unfortunately, neither Jing Yuan nor Fu Xuan were, and with their expertise not aligning, they couldn't figure anything out.

The battle quickly escalated with Yan Qing launching a surprise attack on Dan Lei using [Swallow Returns]. However, Jing Yuan shook his head at this point and said, "Yan Qing is still too impatient. It looks like he's going to lose."

At this moment, Fu Xuan, calculating with the Qiong Guan Array, couldn't reach the conclusion that Yan Qing would lose. However, she didn't question Jing Yuan's judgment. Every time their opinions differed, Jing Yuan was usually right, and after being proven wrong so many times, Fu Xuan had learned to wait and see.

As expected, the situation in the arena quickly changed. Dan Lei, seeing that his attacks couldn't break through Yan Qing's Ice Sword defense with [Swallow Returns] in a short time, declared that he wasn't a fool and wouldn't engage in close combat with an invincible enemy. With lightning flashing around him, he activated the Thunder Breathing technique and instantly created distance with a Thunderclap and Flash.

Seeing that Dan Lei was escaping, Yan Qing didn't hesitate and urged his Flying Sword to pursue him. However, Dan Lei wasn't engaging Yan Qing head-on anymore. He blocked the Flying Sword with his Nichirin Greatsword and obstructed Yan Qing's charge with various elemental attacks, not stopping at all.

After running around the arena for two laps like this, Fu Xuan also noticed something. Looking at Dan Lei's trajectory below, she remarked, "Huh? This Dan Lei is actually using lightning scratches to draw the Imaginary Impact Array used by the Golden Automatons in the arena. How interesting."

Jing Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, Dan Lei's spatial awareness is clearly superior to Yan Qing's, and Yan Qing doesn't understand formations at all. He's going to be at a disadvantage this time."

As Jing Yuan finished speaking, Dan Lei completed the last stroke of the Imaginary Impact Array. In fact, the Imaginary Impact Array was a common thing on Luofu, used in everything from children's toys to the devastating final blow of the Golden Automaton's [Binding]. The one Dan Lei drew in the martial arts arena, though large, lacked the amplification of special metals, so its power wasn't significant. However, Dan Lei never intended to defeat Yan Qing with it; he just wanted to use the large-scale, high-frequency Imaginary Energy impact to break Yan Qing's [Swallow Returns] Ice Sword.

Since Yan Qing had focused all his attention on Dan Lei, he was caught completely off guard when the Imaginary Impact Array activated. The four Ice Swords, which were already showing cracks, were as if thrown into a furnace, rapidly being eroded and shattered by the Imaginary Energy. The Path of the Hunt power that was enhancing him was broken the instant the Ice Swords shattered. At this moment, Yan Qing's strength and speed plummeted as his power of the Path was broken. Dan Lei, naturally, used Thunderclap and Flash to instantly charge in front of Yan Qing, assuming the starting stance of Swallow Cut, ready to end the battle with Kojiro Sasaki's signature move.

Of course, although Dan Lei's Swallow Cut was personally taught by Kojiro Sasaki, it was merely the mortal version. It couldn't unleash the three slashes that transcended time, but rather an ultra-high-speed, all-angle triple strike.

Dan Lei wasn't afraid of injuring Yan Qing. After all, with the Xianzhou's medical facilities, getting cut a few times wouldn't be fatal.

However, even at this point, Yan Qing still hadn't given up.

Yan Qing managed to barely block the first slash of Dan Lei's Swallow Cut with his long sword, but due to the vast difference in strength between them, his sword was directly sent flying.

Then, for the second slash, Yan Qing controlled his six Flying Swords to forcibly block. Although he didn't manage to block it completely, most of the slash's power was offset, and he only sustained a shallow cut on his body.

For the final slash, Yan Qing had no way to dodge and could only turn his back to the sword light, attempting to reduce the damage with his scabbard and gourd.

Naturally, the result was that Yan Qing was directly cut, blood splattering, and he was sent flying.

However, Yan Qing performed a rolling recovery in mid-air, maintaining his stance before his feet dug into the ground, sliding another seven or eight meters.

At this moment, Yan Qing was covered in blood, but his fighting spirit remained undiminished, clearly intending to summon his Flying Swords to fight again.

Yet, when Yan Qing looked at Dan Lei again, the Nichirin Greatsword was already pointed directly at his face. In the next second, his long sideburn on the right was instantly sliced off, and the Nichirin Greatsword flew back to Dan Lei's side.

At this point, the situation was clear. If Dan Lei had intended to be ruthless just now, Yan Qing's head would have already fallen. The outcome was decided.

Seeing this, Dan Lei bowed again and said, "I yield."