Chapter 308: Intercept
The competition made Yan nervous but when she saw Zen's smile, she obediently nodded. Her brother said that he had a solution in mind, so she brought out the Cloud Return Sword and gave it to Evan.
Evan stretched out his arms and took the sword. He gently stroked its snow-white body, which was made of a special material. It looked like wood, not gold or iron. However, a metallic sound could be heard when the blade was touched.
"Alas, I have no choice. I couldn't use my life vitality. With this broken mysterious weapon, I can't continue the contest. Now, it will be better after I take my Cloud Return Sword!
I think this sword wouldn't break again. I'll see how you will resist it, Zen!" he declared.
After that, Evan lightly turned his hand and the snow-white sword's shadows formed consecutive trochal disks, which ceaselessly spun around his hand.
In turn, Zen lightly shook his Streamer Sword.
“Take action,” he casually said.
Evan lifted the Cloud Return Sword and shook it again, then the snow-white sword released a torrent of snow-white sword radiance.
“Defeat it!” Evan shouted.
Layers upon layers of snow-white sword radiance rolled back and forth like clouds.
Then they rushed towards Zen, the killing intention hidden well within it.
Since they were only allowed to use the sword at the competition, and no usage of life vitality or other cultivation methods was acceptable, Evan was unable to strengthen his sword, a mysterious weapon with life vitality. He knew his weapon was fragile and would suffer when it resisted Zen's fairy weapon, so he always restrained his strength and didn't dare release all of it.
Now that Evan had the Cloud Return Sword back and didn't have any hesitations, he attacked more quickly and forcefully.
When the battle ensued, Zen still defended and resisted with the circle parry!
Twang...
Twang...
A muffled sound, like a woodpecker boring a hole into a tree trunk, was heard when the Cloud Return Sword chopped Zen's Streamer Sword.
“You look confident and I think you've found a way, but for some reason you still defend passively. You disappoint me,” Evan said with a frown as he inclined the sword radiance in his hand.
“If you go on, you will drag out your feeble existence at most. If you're forced to the edge of the competition field again, you will surely lose. Don't waste anymore time. Just admit defeat, you'll even look better,” Evan chuckled in a low voice.
Sword radiance after sword radiance spread like clouds from his hand once again. He waved the sword freely as it was a leisurely thing to do.
Meanwhile, Yan, who stood not far away, was confused.
Her brother appeared confident and must've found a way to resist the Falling Flowers Sword, which had endless sword radiance like falling flowers--so why hadn't he changed his move yet?
Why did he still use the circle parry to resist Evan's attack?
The spectating crowd only shook their heads when they saw that Zen still tended to lose after Evan changed his sword.
After all, many people expected to see a good performance from Zen. They hoped that he would become more powerful when he resisted a strong opponent and defeat Evan with sword moves.
However, Zen had only forced Evan into a difficult position with the basic swordsmanship in the beginning. After Evan drew the sword, he continuously suppressed Zen, who couldn't hit back.
It turned out that way since they still had a huge difference in strength.
Now, everyone in the crowd waited to see Zen be defeated.
Zen continued to move backward to the left of the competition field. Five steps, ten steps, fifty steps, one hundred and fifty steps…
As he did so, he secretly counted his steps.
The whole competition field was two hundred steps wide, and there were less than thirty steps behind him now. However, his face remained stoic and he continued to calmly resist with the circle parry.
One hundred and ninety steps...
One hundred and ninety-five steps...
One hundred and ninety-seven steps...
The smile on Evan's face got wider. When he had forced Zen to the last step, he laughed harshly and said, “Go down, Zen. You have lost!”
When Evan was about to chop with his sword, a blast of power suddenly surged from his waist, through his shoulder and arm then to his wrist. Zen had unsheathed the Streamer Sword like a dragon that slithered out of a cave.
Crack!
The Streamer Sword's blade successfully blocked the three-inch part of the Cloud Return Sword's blade.
Since the Streamer Sword had blocked it, Evan's well-prepared sword radiance was destroyed.
A frown formed on Evan's forehead. He tried to shake off more sword radiance with his backhand, but Zen seemed to have expected his move and waved his Streamer Sword again. Zen chopped on the three-inch part of the Cloud Return Sword in the same way and resisted Evan's attack once more.
“Intercept!”
This move was one of the basic swordsmanship moves especially used to intercept the opponent's sword move.
It was impossible for Zen to directly resist the Falling Flowers Sword with his current strength. The move was so complicated that he couldn't clearly see its true moves.
After he thought hard for a long time, Zen finally figured out a way.
It was true that he couldn't resist the Falling Flowers Sword, but he could resist the sword before the radiance appeared.
Zen ensured that Evan wouldn't be able to use this swordsmanship. Every time Evan tried to raise his hand, Zen's “intercept” blocked the Cloud Return Sword in advance. Zen's swordsmanship was smooth, steady, and accurate.
“You!” Evan exclaimed.
Now it was his turn to feel desperate.
Whenever he started to use the swordsmanship, which was always ready, it was blocked by Zen. He was so frustrated.
It felt like when he wanted to scream, someone would cover his mouth every time before he could even do it.
His voice was held back, so it was impossible for him not to feel annoyed.
The problem was, it didn't happen just once or twice. Evan had waved his sword a dozen times, but Zen blocked it all with numerous intercepts in a short time. Evan was so angry to the point that he almost spat blood out after Zen destroyed his well-prepared swordsmanship.
Thus, Evan wanted to move backward and stay further away from Zen.
However, if he moved ten steps backward, Zen would follow him with ten steps as well like a shadow and keep the three-inch distance from him. Evan thought that he couldn't get rid of Zen unless he summoned the life vitality.
Evan had the higher cultivation level than Zen. It was common knowledge that his body strength should be more powerful. Therefore, he hoped to get rid of Zen's sword with his great bodily strength and forcefully use the Falling Flowers Sword.
However, when Evan started to release his strength--he found that Zen's sword was as heavy as a small mountain and he couldn't get rid of it.
How was that possible?
Why was this guy's strength so powerful?
Even didn't know that Zen's terrifying strength had shocked many people too, and he wasn't the first one.
He was going crazy!
Evan was truly humiliated indeed!
He was unexpectedly defeated by a junior at grade two of the nature level, with the basic swordsmanship!
He was always shameless and out of his mind, but he didn't take the way of martial arts lightly. Otherwise, how could he be ranked number one in Cloud Sect?
It could be said that the martial arts was his greatest pride!
Everyone could laugh at his idiotic mannerisms, but nobody could look down on his cultivation on the way of martial arts.
However, what could he even do if he was depressed? Zen made sure Evan couldn't use the swordsmanship so he couldn't attack at all.
If he could summon the life vitality, he would have forced Zen's sword away and chopped him to pieces with it. However, the point was the rule had already been set and he would lose if he used the life vitality.
'Am I really inferior to Zen in the swordsmanship?' Evan thought subconsciously.
The people began to exclaim and chatter excitedly among themselves.
“Things have changed! Zen truly defeated Evan in swordplay!”
“Zen's basic swordsmanship is truly strange. If I can learn the basic swordsmanship, I can also defeat Evan with only the sword move, without using life vitality!”
“You're just bragging. Can you go up there and try?” one countered.
He added, “Everyone thinks that Evan is an idiot, but if you take him as a fool, you will be a fool. It's not a coincidence that Evan has been the number one.”
Zen had successfully turned the tables, and it was beyond the hundred thousand spectators' expectations. After all, Zen was forced by Evan's sword to the left side of the competition field, then to the right, then left again. Zen was so patient and calm that he only hit back when it was almost his last step.
In the crowd, Yan couldn't help but nod appreciatively as she watched her brother's performance. She didn't misjudge him--he had found a way, but she didn't expect that he would resist so strongly that Evan lost the power to fight back.
This time, it was Zen's turn to force Evan to the corner of the competition field.