Trading Blows

This almost unbelievable technique opened the eyes of countless martial artists.

This was another path for the development of the Martial Path: sensing the rhythms of all things, then using Internal Force as a bridge to communicate with them.

Over time, Internal Force would gain a tangible quality. Trained to its utmost, it could allow someone to control objects with Internal Force, just as Lin Haixian could.

Lifeform, Momentum Cultivation, and Object Perception—these were the three branches of the Martial Path that Lu Bai had discovered so far. There were probably more, but he had been in the Martial Forest for too short a time to encounter them.

From what he could tell, mastering any one of these paths could make someone a top expert in the Martial Forest.

Lu Bai watched the flowing water sword and felt a bone-deep chill rise in his heart.

He casually picked up one of the treasured swords he had seized earlier, then focused all his attention.

Perhaps he had invited Lin Haixian here for some other purpose besides simply challenging him to a duel.

But when this old man, who stood at the pinnacle of the Martial Path in the Martial Forest, faced him with a water sword in hand, Lu Bai made the fight his top priority.

"Then, let's go!"

The spectators' eyes widened. They didn't dare even blink, afraid they might miss this extraordinary battle.

After all, no matter what kind of opponent Lu Bai was, this might truly be Lin Haixian's last time fighting in public.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Bai drove the sword in his hand straight into the snow piled on the rooftop.

The blade bent and flicked upward, sending snow flying.

"You've got plenty of little tricks!" Lin Haixian laughed, but he didn't even swing the water sword in his hand. The snowflakes flying toward him quickly melted and became streams of water that flowed into the blade.

Then Lin Haixian took a step forward. His towering frame stirred up howling winds, which he drew into his embrace and beneath his robes, making him seem even larger.

In that moment, he no longer looked frail and old. Instead, he resembled a powerful general, displaying his physical strength like a raging storm.

The next instant, he struck.

He swung the blade in his hand in the simplest of thrusts. As he did, the water sword stretched longer.

The three-foot sword of water doubled in length, becoming six feet.

Like an icicle hanging from the eaves, the crystalline water sword shot toward Lu Bai in an instant.

Though it was water, it was even more bone-chilling than ice and snow.

Because one moment of carelessness was all it would take for that sword to cut to the bone.

At that moment, a pale chill seemed to seep from the water sword. It gathered instantly into a three-foot-long, gleaming blade of cold light.

Though Lin Haixian was still several steps away, the three-foot sword had become a nine-foot sword.

Someone had once said that the art of combat was the art of distance.

Controlling distance was the key to victory.

Lin Haixian's attack had extended from three feet to nine in an instant, throwing off Lu Bai's sense of distance.

If Lu Bai hadn't been intensely focused and noticed something amiss when the water sword lengthened, he would have been struck before he could dodge.

As Lu Bai leaned to one side and evaded the sword's gleaming edge, he swung his own sword.

The water sword was too long. Even if this thrust missed, Lin Haixian could simply sweep it sideways, limiting where Lu Bai could dodge.

The iron sword clashed with the water sword.

"Clang—!"

Lu Bai's sword snapped. But as it broke, the water sword inevitably bent, and the sword light spilling from its blade veered aside as well.

Seizing the opportunity, Lu Bai twisted at the waist and kicked.

The broken blade was about to fall when Lu Bai struck it near the break with his foot, sending it flying toward Lin Haixian.

The sword light vanished, and the bent water sword shrank back to three feet.

Lin Haixian kept moving, holding the water sword. He didn't bother with the broken blade flying at him; he simply leaned slightly to one side and dodged it.

But the next moment, Lin Haixian's step faltered, and he raised his sword in a defensive stance.

After kicking the blade away, Lu Bai hadn't stopped. He stretched his kicking leg to an almost unbelievable limit, then flicked his ankle and sent out another kick.

But this time, he didn't send anything else flying.

He sent his shoe.

Lu Bai didn't have smelly feet. Quite the opposite: since his Vitality Fragrance had emerged, his whole body carried a pleasant scent.

But a sword immortal still had his dignity. Getting hit in the face with a shoe in his old age would be humiliating.

The blade Lu Bai had kicked earlier had only been a feint. He hadn't cared about its meager ability to wound; the shoe was far more effective as an insult.

Lin Haixian flicked his water sword, slicing the shoe in two.

And, just as expected, a large amount of lime scattered out as the shoe split apart.

Unable to tell whether it was poisonous, Lin Haixian could only swing his sword again. Water flowed along the blade, catching all the powder flying toward him.

The once-crystalline water sword had become a sword of white powder.

Lin Haixian stepped forward again, but his presence had somehow weakened.

At that moment, Lu Bai had already kicked off his other shoe. Barefoot, he charged at Lin Haixian.

At the same time, a red glow of blood flared around his body, and the fragrance of blood spread through the air.

Lu Bai's speed surged again. The roof tiles beneath his feet creaked.

As the distance between them closed, power surged through Lu Bai's foot. He stomped down hard on the rooftop. The brick-paved surface split instantly, and the sound of cracking tiles rang out.

In a head-on fight, Lu Bai had little chance of winning.

So if he wanted to win, he had to use every means available to keep disrupting Lin Haixian's attacks and wearing him down.

For instance, he could attack the dueling ground.

The rooftop didn't collapse beneath Lu Bai's stomp, but it became unstable. Lin Haixian's next attack was disrupted, and with his footing unsteady, he couldn't put force into his sword.

Faced with this, Lin Haixian smiled.

That was what fighting was about: using everything you could.

Hadn't he done the same when he was still weak, wracking his brain to survive and win?

Over the years, he had grown stronger, but the pleasure of combat had grown scarcer.

He steadied himself, then swung his sword again.

But Lu Bai didn't dodge this time. They were close enough now. His fist was faster!

"Arararara!"

With a deafening roar, he unleashed a storm of punches.

But the next moment, Lu Bai drew his fist back and looked down at his feet.

A huge gap had appeared in the rooftop at some point. The already precarious structure had now collapsed.

And Lin Haixian, who had been standing on the roof, had been carried out of range of Lu Bai's punches as the building shifted.

That sword of his had been aimed at the building beneath his feet, not at Lu Bai.

"Now my sword is faster!" Lin Haixian's bright eyes seemed to say as he looked at Lu Bai.