Battle

The sun rose as usual the next day.

The Di Army's war drums thundered as usual, too.

Li Jinshui stood atop the city wall, watching the mass of Di soldiers surging in the distance, and tightened his grip on the Black Iron Blade.

The blade was pitch-black and heavy, yet it gave him a peculiar sense of security.

Below the walls, the two armies formed ranks once more.

At the front of the Di Army stood a single figure, hovering in midair—Huyan Zhuo.

Huyan Lie was nowhere to be seen.

He stood on a high platform behind the Di Army, his face deathly pale and his chest wrapped in layers of bandages. His old wounds had clearly reopened, leaving him unable to fight.

The Seventh Prince sat in a war chariot before North-Rejecting City. Watching the figure on the high platform, he curled his lips into a faint smile.

"His injuries are serious."

Elder Chen stood beside him, his back still hunched, but his eyes were fixed on Huyan Zhuo across the way.

"Huyan Zhuo won't fight to the death today," Elder Chen said calmly. "His younger brother is badly wounded. He can't kill me alone, so there's no point dragging this out."

The Seventh Prince nodded. "How long can we hold out?"

"That depends on him," Elder Chen replied. "If he wants to fight, we fight. If he wants to retreat, I can't stop him. The Di people's escape arts really are fast."

The Seventh Prince fell silent for a moment, then smiled.

"Then let's fight. We'll fight until they don't want to anymore."

The war drums thundered.

The two armies clashed once more!

Li Jinshui charged into the enemy ranks at once.

With the Black Iron Blade in hand, he seemed like a different person altogether.

The first Di soldier, a Body Forging ninth-layer cultivator, raised his blade to block—

"Crack!"

Man and blade were cleaved in two!

[You killed a Northern Di squad leader, Body Forging ninth layer. Points +9]

The second, at the early stage of Inner Strength, swept at him with a curved blade—

Li Jinshui neither dodged nor evaded. He brought the Black Iron Blade down straight at the man's head!

"Clang!"

His opponent's curved blade snapped in two. The blade cleaved from the top of the man's head down to his chest, and his corpse hit the ground!

[You killed a Northern Di squad leader, early-stage Inner Strength. Points +10]

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

He was like a red-hot blade cutting through butter. Wherever he passed, Di soldiers fell in droves.

[+6]

[+8]

[+3]

[+12, killed a Northern Di soldier, mid-stage Inner Strength...]

His points began to climb wildly.

Thirty paces ahead, that familiar aura locked onto him again.

Li Jinshui spun around and raised the Black Iron Blade across his chest.

Tuoba Feng stood three zhang away, holding the gleaming curved blade and staring at him coldly.

The wound on his chest had been treated and bandaged, but blood still seeped faintly through. His eyes, however, were colder and fiercer than yesterday.

"Li Jinshui," he said, each word deliberate. "Today, you won't make it back alive."

Li Jinshui wasted no words and charged straight at him!

The Black Iron Blade tore through the air with a low howl!

Tuoba Feng raised his blade to block!

"CLANG—!!!"

The two blades collided, sparks flying!

This time, Li Jinshui's blade didn't chip.

A flash of surprise crossed Tuoba Feng's eyes, then he sneered. "Changed weapons? Then let's try again!"

His blade shifted, growing even more fierce!

The two clashed once more!

Blade-light crisscrossed and force surged in every direction. The soldiers within ten zhang hurriedly backed away, not daring to approach!

Tuoba Feng's swordsmanship was indeed refined. Every strike had been tempered a thousand times over—swift, accurate, and vicious. The blade in his hand was no ordinary weapon either. Even when it clashed with the Black Iron Blade, it didn't chip.

Li Jinshui unleashed the White Tiger Blade Technique to its fullest, one strike after another, each heavy and powerful, fierce beyond compare.

They met force with force. Neither gave ground!

Ten moves.

Twenty moves.

Thirty moves.

A mid-stage Inner Strength cultivator should, in theory, have less internal energy than someone at the late stage.

In a contest of stamina, Li Jinshui should have been unable to keep up.

But twenty moves passed, then thirty, and his internal energy remained abundant, showing no sign of running dry.

After reaching minor mastery in the Evergreen Art, his internal energy had become far denser than that of others at his level.

He now had more than three times the internal energy of an ordinary mid-stage Inner Strength cultivator.

Tuoba Feng noticed it, too.

The longer they fought, the more shocked he became.

Thirty moves had passed, yet his opponent's internal energy hadn't weakened at all?

How was that possible?

He cultivated the Wolf God Mental Method, a martial art reserved for the Di Kingdom's royal guards and one of the kingdom's finest internal cultivation techniques. Facing a mid-stage opponent at the late stage, he should have held an overwhelming advantage in internal energy.

Yet the man before him seemed to have an endless supply, and the force behind each strike only grew stronger!

"What internal art do you cultivate?!" Tuoba Feng couldn't help asking.

Li Jinshui didn't answer. He only attacked more fiercely!

The White Tiger Blade Technique flowed more smoothly in his hands with each passing moment, every strike more powerful than the last.

He could feel the technique growing rapidly in the midst of battle. Many changes he hadn't understood before now came to him naturally.

Add points!

He gave the command in his mind.

[Points: 127]

Put everything into the White Tiger Blade Technique!

[Spent 100 points. White Tiger Blade Technique proficiency +100]

[White Tiger Blade Technique: Great Mastery (0/300) → Great Mastery (100/300)]

Boom—

Fresh insights into the blade technique surged into his mind!

He grasped the White Tiger Blade Technique's deeper essence. The changes that had once felt awkward suddenly clicked into place!

His blade work changed.

It was still the White Tiger Blade Technique, but the force, angle, and timing of every strike had become more exquisite—and deadlier!

He struck, and Tuoba Feng had to summon all his strength just to block. The impact sent him staggering back a step!

"You—!" Tuoba Feng's expression changed abruptly.

He could feel it. His opponent's blade technique was improving in the middle of the fight!

And improving so quickly, so unmistakably!

What kind of monster was this?!

Li Jinshui gave him no time to catch his breath. His blade flashed again!

White Tiger Blade Technique: Tiger Pounce!

Tiger Roar!

Tiger Sweep!

Tiger Devour!

Four strikes in succession, each fiercer and faster than the last!

Tuoba Feng blocked desperately. Each time he stopped a strike, his face grew paler!

When the fourth strike fell, he could no longer hold out—

"Clang!"

His curved blade nearly flew from his hand. He staggered back five steps, the web of his hand split open, blood streaming down the hilt.

He looked up at Li Jinshui, his eyes full of disbelief.

"You... your blade technique... just now, you couldn't even—"

Li Jinshui didn't answer. He simply kept swinging.

Now, he had Tuoba Feng on the back foot.

He couldn't kill him—Tuoba Feng was, after all, at the late stage of Inner Strength, with a solid foundation, so killing him quickly was nearly impossible—but he had seized the absolute advantage.

Tuoba Feng fought as he retreated, utterly battered.

He couldn't understand it.

Yesterday, he'd held the upper hand. How had everything turned around today?

His opponent's blade technique was improving too quickly, far faster than made sense.

More terrifying still, his opponent showed no sign of running out of internal energy, while he himself was nearly at his limit.

Just then, a tremendous boom echoed through the sky.

"BOOM—!!!"

Elder Chen and Huyan Zhuo parted once more.

Both had sustained fresh injuries, and their breathing was ragged, but their fighting spirit remained undiminished.

Huyan Zhuo glanced down. The Di Army had suffered heavy casualties, and Tuoba Feng was being driven back by that Zhou Army brat, utterly battered.

He gritted his teeth and ordered in a low voice, "Retreat!"

The horns sounded.

The Di Army began to withdraw.

Tuoba Feng shot Li Jinshui a resentful look, then clutched his wound and backed away.

"Next time," he said, each word deliberate. "Next time, I'll kill you for sure."

Li Jinshui lowered his blade and looked at him.

"Next time, you still won't be able to kill me."

Tuoba Feng's face turned livid, but he had no answer.

He turned and disappeared into the crowd.

The army of North-Rejecting City didn't pursue them either.

Once again, the battle ended in a draw.

On the way back to the city, Li Jinshui brought up his panel and took a look:

[Name: Li Jinshui]

[Realm: Inner Strength Realm (mid-stage)]

[Arts: Evergreen Art (minor mastery 12/500), Rock Body (minor mastery 60/200), White Tiger Blade Technique (great mastery 100/300), Iron Thread Fist (minor mastery 0/100), Inch Step (minor mastery 0/100), Marching Step (minor mastery 0/80), Iron Shirt (complete), Wolf Killing Seven Forms (complete), Tiger Walk (complete)]

[Points: 27]

The White Tiger Blade Technique had advanced again.

He was still 200 points short of perfecting it.

Soon.

General's Mansion.

The Seventh Prince leaned back in his chair, his face pale and his forehead slick with cold sweat.

Elder Chen stood before him, bandaging his own wounds.

"Elder Chen, could you have killed him today?" the Seventh Prince asked.

Elder Chen shook his head. "No."

The Seventh Prince frowned.

Elder Chen continued, "I can beat him, but I can't kill him. That brat Huyan Zhuo runs as soon as he starts losing. He's faster than a rabbit. The Di people's escape arts really do have something to them."

He paused, then said calmly, "Unless he stays and fights me to the death. But he isn't stupid."

The Seventh Prince was silent for a while, then gave a bitter smile.

"So we just keep dragging this out?"

Elder Chen nodded. "We drag it out. We wait for his younger brother to recover, or until they decide they can't take North-Rejecting City and withdraw on their own."

The Seventh Prince sighed and looked out the window.

Outside, the setting sun stained North-Rejecting City a deep blood-red.

In the distant Di camp, wisps of cooking smoke rose into the sky. It looked unusually peaceful.

But he knew that even more brutal fighting lay hidden beneath that calm.

Li Jinshui returned to the barracks, laid the Black Iron Blade across his knees, and wiped it again and again.

A few faint white marks marred the blade. They had been left by its clashes with Tuoba Feng's weapon.

He wiped it slowly and carefully.

Monkey walked in, looked at him, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Jinshui, you had that kid on the ropes again today. Why didn't you kill him?"

Li Jinshui's hand paused.

"I couldn't," he said. "His foundation is solid, and his inner strength isn't much weaker than mine. To kill him, I'd need at least another hundred exchanges. There's no time for that on the battlefield."

Monkey stared at him for a moment, then said nothing more.

Li Jinshui continued wiping his blade.

Outside the window, night deepened.

In the distance, bonfires flickered in the Di Army's camp, like countless eyes.

Li Jinshui watched the flames, his hand slowly tightening around the hilt.

Next time.

The next time they met, he would be stronger.

Strong enough to kill that man within a hundred moves.