Chapter 1382: A Sixth
It was one thing for a Leaving Aperture realm pinnacle cultivator to be able to call forth strength that was on par with a Phantasmal Space realm primary stage expert like him, but more importantly than that, the timing and positioning of the other party's fist was indescribably ingenious. It was timed right in the lapse between the dissipation of his previous surge of might and the regathering of his strength.
In other words, the other party's had managed to see through the flaws in his fighting style despite only having exchanged a single blow!
One must know that the cultivation technique and battle techniques he practiced were no weaker than the top-notch techniques that the core members of the Zhang Clan and Luo Clan practiced!
It would be impossible for even Fei shi to see through such profound battle techniques and cultivation techniques in such a short period of time, and yet, the young man before him was already able to find their flaws and exploit them even.
"But if you think that you can defeat me just like that, you are being far too optimistic!"
Feng Ziyi's shock only remained for less than a tenth of a breath before a sharp glint surfaced in his eyes. He tilted his body slightly sideways in order to bring forth sufficient power to return a fist of his own toward Zhang Xuan.
His fist was directed straight toward the other party's chest, and the latter's punch was directed toward his chest too. He was aiming for a direct showdown!
"Let's see how formidable your defense is!" A hint of callousness flashed across Zhang Xuan's eyes when he saw Feng Ziyi's response.
Without bothering to even change his positions, he drove the Heaven's Path Golden Body, and a slight golden shimmer flowed across the surface of his body.
Peng!
Zhang Xuan's fist smashed into the other party's chest, and in that instant, he felt as if he was punching a boulder. A numbing sensation swiftly crawled from his fingers up his arm. At the same time, Feng Ziyi's fist also smashed into his body, and a stifled feeling welled up in his chest, forcing him to retreat several steps.
"Your physical body..." Zhang Xuan was astonished.
It was due to cultivating the Heaven's Path Golden Body that the resilience of his physical body was on par with half-Saint high-tier artifacts, but to his astonishment, the resilience of the other party's physical body was actually on par with him!
Even though it seemed like their direct confrontation had ended in a draw, the truth was that he had lost out a little due to his limited cultivation.
"Hahaha, wonderful!" Feng Ziyi roared in laughter.
Even in a clash of brute strength, the young man before him was actually able to stand toe-to-toe with him. He flexed his arms a little, and as if someone had blown air into his muscles, his body began bulging out, filling his loose robe.
It seemed as if he had just eaten some kind of incredible tonic that transformed his slender body into that of a bulked up, brawny man in an instant.
Peng!
Taking a step forward, he immediately felt immense pressure weighing down on him.
In just a short instant, Feng Ziyi's aura and strength had actually surged to twofold.
"What kind of secret art is that?" Zhang Xuan clenched his fist tightly in astonishment.
In his past year of journey through the Master Teacher Continent, he had seen plenty of secret arts that gave one an explosive boost of strength, but he had never seen one which allowed an individual to enhance his muscle mass without any side effects at all.
However, he knew that he didn't have the luxury of allowing his thoughts to wander in this moment either. Driving his Heaven's Path Golden Body to its limits, he sent another punch over.
Peng peng peng peng!
In just the blink of an eye, the two of them had already traded more than ten blows. A deafening gale raged within the hall, threatening to tear the entire building down. At this point, Sun Qiang and Zhang Jiuxiao had already backed out of the hall.
Nevertheless, even the lingering air current that escaped from the hall was sufficient to leave them with a stinging sensation all over their body, as if a fearsome inferno was blazing on them.
"It wasn't too long ago that my strength was still on par with Zhang shi... But in just a few months, such a huge gap has been pulled between us!" Zhang Jiuxiao was shocked.
张九霄骇然.
He could still clearly remember the days back in Qingyuan City when they were still an equal match for one another, and there was hardly any disparity in their strength at all. It was in remembrance of those days that he worked exceptionally hard during this period of time, hoping that he would be able to catch up with the other party. Yet, who could have thought that despite all the effort he had put in... the gap between the both of them only grew larger!
With the other party's current strength, even a punch from afar was sufficient to smash him into a lump of meat.
The difference between the both of them was already immeasurable at this point.
Hula!
At this point, Feng Ziyi suddenly flicked his wrist and drew a sword. He slashed it lightly in the air, and the air in the room seemed to flow naturally along with the movements of his sword.
"Why don't we move on to a weaponry battle instead?"
"Sure, why not?"
Zhang Xuan casually tapped his finger forward, and in the next moment, more than a hundred swords suddenly materialized floating around him.
"What are you doing..." Feng Ziyi narrowed his eyes in astonishment, and before he could finish his words, what that could only be described as an entire sea of sword qi suddenly crushed down on him.
Peng! Peng!
He was immediately sent flying by the immense force, and his back crashed right through a wall of the residence. An instant later, the wall was reduced into dust under the furious assault of the sword qi too.
Feng Ziyi flew back for roughly seven to eight hundred meters before the force pushing him back finally alleviated enough for him to regain his balance. At this point, his face was completely pale, and his hands were shaking non-stop. The web in between his thumb and forefinger felt as if it would tear apart at any moment.
He had to take quite a few huge mouthfuls of air before he finally managed to catch a breather and calm down his billowing zhenqi. He turned his gaze toward Zhang Xuan with a look of disbelief and said, "You... J-just what kind of move is that?"
He was a Saint 7-dan Phantasmal Space realm primary stage expert whereas the other party was merely a Saint 5-dan pinnacle expert. Yet, despite their vast disparity in cultivation, the other party was still able to render him helpless with just this single move... Just what technique was it for it to be so formidable?
"It's the Old Sword Maestro's Sea Severing Sword." Zhang Xuan replied calmly.
There was no reason for him to hide this matter. Considering how famous the Old Sword Maestro was, as long as Feng Ziyi were to do some digging up, he should be able to uncover this easily.
"Impossible!" Feng Ziyi immediately exclaimed. "Putting aside Sea Severing Sword, not even the Heaven Desecration Sword wields that much strength!"
The Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters possessed a vast collection of battle techniques manuals from all over the continent. While the Old Sword Maestro's Three Swords of Lingxu wasn't passed down, there was still some brief information regarding it in the library. Through analyzing the Old Sword Maestro's history and sword style, it wasn't too difficult for those who had comprehended an offensive-type Sword Quintessence to make a rough deduction of the prowess of the Three Swords of Lingxu.
Putting aside Sea Severing Sword, not even the strongest sword move of the Three Swords of Lingxu, Heaven Desecration Sword, was able to command such explosive power.
"It's true that the Old Sword Maestro's original sword art didn't wield such power. However, I did some modification to it." Zhang Xuan explained.
To be fair, the Old Sword Maestro's version of Sea Severing Sword wasn't weak, but without a doubt, it paled far in comparison to the current version of it he was using.
The main reason why his Sea Severing Sword was so powerful, allowing him to even sent Jian Qinsheng flying back then, was because he had managed to resolve the hulking number of flaws it was plagued with, thus forming a perfect Heaven's Path Sword Art.
"You did some modification to it?" Feng Ziyi widened his eyes in utter shock.
He could believe it if it was his teacher who had modified the Old Sword Maestro's sword art to such an extent, but the young man before him was only a Leaving Aperture realm pinnacle cultivator! Was it really possible for him to alter the Sea Severing Sword to this level?
"Indeed. Without altering it, how could I possibly send you flying using just a third of its strength?" Zhang Xuan explained with a smile.
"A third of its strength?" Feng Ziyi's cheeks twitched uncontrollably upon hearing those words.
He had to use his strongest means just to fend against the sword art the other party had executed earlier, but even so, he was still sent flying several hundred meters away. He thought that this was already very exaggerated, but this turned out to just be a third of its strength?
Suppressing the urge to spurt blood, Feng Ziyi turned his gaze over to Zhang Xuan and said, "Considering the imposing might that your sword art harnesses, there's no way it could only be a third of its original strength..."
Considering what a close match they were earlier—to be more exact, he was even slightly in the upper hand then—how could the other party possibly be able to suppress him using just a third of his strength just after wielding a sword?
Could this be psychological warfare from the other party in order to crush his confidence?
"This... How embarrassing! I didn't think that you would be able to see through it. Well, I am actually quite a humble person, so I thought that it wouldn't be good for me to brag too much. But since you have seen through my lie, I guess it would be rude for me to continue deceiving you. Actually, I have only used a sixth of my true strength in the earlier attack..." Zhang Xuan scratched his head as he revealed awkwardly.
After all, Feng Ziyi was 'Yang shi's' direct disciple, so he had made sure to hold back a little while making his move. Thus, he only used a sixth of his original strength in the earlier attack.
He was hoping not to shatter the other party's confidence by being a little humbler, but he ended up being exposed instead.
Since that was the case, as embarrassing as it was, he could only admit to it.
On the other hand, upon hearing those words, Feng Ziyi nearly fainted on the spot.
What he meant was that the other party had used his full strength but attempted to pass it off as just a third of his full prowess so as to strike a blow to his morale... but who could have thought that the other party would claim that the inaccuracy was a result of his humility instead!
"Since that's the case, I want you to launch an attack of full might against me. I want to see just how powerful that sword art of yours is in its most powerful form!" Feng Ziyi harrumphed with gritted teeth.
He didn't believe that it was possible for the young man before him to actually be so powerful.
"You want me to launch an attack of full might against you?" Zhang Xuan frowned. "I'm afraid that a lapse in control might result in your death instead."
Part of the reasons why he didn't dare to use his full strength was because the other party was Yang shi's direct disciple, but more importantly than that, if he were to devote his full strength to executing the Sea Severing Sword, he would have to expend all of his zhenqi before the sword art could be stopped... It was one thing when his zhenqi capacity was still lower, but after the alteration he had made to his dantian through the Dongxu Gourd, the amount of zhenqi he had in his dantian rose to fivefold of what it previously had. If he were to lose control of the sword art once more, a huge problem could very well occur.
"Lose control?" Hearing those words, Feng Ziyi gritted his teeth and said. "Don't worry, I am a Phantasmal Space realm expert. I possess many means, such that even if you were to lose control of your attack, it won't be that easy for you to hurt me!"
"This..." Zhang Xuan was still a little hesitant. "I do acknowledge your strength, but we are currently surrounded by the freshmen residences. If I were to let loose here, I fear that I would accidentally destroy the buildings in the area..."
It had barely been half a day since he returned from outside, but he had already brought down the Spirit Awakener Hall and the Shrine of Seers. If he were to destroy the freshmen residences as well, he might very well end up giving away the pinnacle spirit stone in his hand as compensation.
"This..." Feng Ziyi took a look at his surroundings.
Zhang Xuan's residence had become rather tattered due to the battle they had earlier. Considering how the defense formation cast over each residence wasn't too strong, they really just might cause huge destruction if they were to continue fighting like that.
"Since that's the case, let's head to the Hall of Propriety then. It happens that Fei shi has brought the students from the Elite Division there to conduct mock battles today. Do you dare to have a duel with me there?" Feng Ziyi pondered for a moment before proposing.
"Hall of Propriety? Very well then." Zhang Xuan nodded.
The Hall of Propriety was the place where students would fight against one another. There were top-notch defensive formations there in order to minimize the destruction resulting from any battle, and there were even spectator stands and mechanisms to analyze one's stats. Not only was there no need to fear causing unnecessary damage, more important, one would be able to gain an insight into one's current strength and flaws and grow stronger through working on them.
"Let's go." Seeing that other party had agreed to it too, Feng Ziyi turned around and headed straight for the Hall of Propriety.
Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan quickly followed along too.
So far, of the five halls, Zhang Xuan had been to the Hall of Erudition, Hall of Attainment, and Hall of Solidarity, but he hadn't been to the Hall of Propriety yet. If the place was really as sturdy as the rumors put it out to be, he would be able to head there often to try out his skills.