Chapter 378 375- Battle At The Southern Border: Shi Lei Vs Mu Fan (1)

Mu Fan’s sheath saber coated in his red Blade Intent mixed with his black Metal Qi clashed against Shi Lei’s saber which was radiating terrifying blue blade energy.

The battle was intense from the get-go with the both of them making several exchanges. Their figures blurred in and out of sight with only their weapons clashing to identify where they were on the stage.

Mu Fan’s expression was fierce but Shi Lei’s own was tranquil like a clam lake.

The noise from the audience was at an all-time high. As they watch the battle it was hard to tell whose martial arts and blade skill was superior, they seemed to be on even ground.

But there were a few times that Mu Fan would show why out of everyone in the group, his battle instincts were substantially superior to there’s.

In the countless exchanges Mu Fan had with Shi Lei, there were a few times when Mu Fan swung his saber and his eyes would have this analytical gleam. His hand holding his sheathed saber would then twist itself like a snake and attack Shi Lei from absurd angles.

Shi Lei upon receiving these attacks would stare on dumbfounded. It wasn’t due to there suddenness and Shi Lei being caught off guard, but because Mu Fan’s attacks were exploiting a small window of time where Shi Lei would reveal a weakness in his Ravaging Void Sea blade technique.

All Daoist Magic spells, Divine Abilities, and Martial Arts Techniques have the same stages of proficiency where a cultivator would need to gain enlightenment to move through each level.

Initial Master, Mastery, Greater Mastery, Perfection, Completion.

At Initial Master one would have a basic understanding of the Technique, around 10% understanding where they could only execute a portion of the Technique’s full power. Mastery Stage is where one has a 30% understanding of the Technique and they start to display what the Technique has in store.

While the Greater Mastery Stage is having around 60% understanding and the cultivator could execute around half of the Technique’s full strength. And Perfection is having 99% understanding and at this level, a cultivator was terrifyingly on the cusp of being able to bring out the Technique’s full strength.

As for the Completion Stage, that was when a cultivator reaches a 100% understanding and fully comprehended the essence of the Technique. However, despite only having a one percent difference from the previous stage, reaching the Completion Stage was as hard as moving through all stages previously combined.

There were talks of people being able to go beyond the Completion Stage reaching a legendary realm where you not only understand the Technique and are able to effortlessly use it, but are also able to change it into something else entirely, improving it way beyond what the original creator could imagine.

However, this realm was a legend for a reason as even mastering basic-level martial arts to the Perfection Stage was considered difficult. Even for the original creator of the Technique, he or she might not be able to reach the Completion Stage much less reach this mythical realm.

As for more powerful Daoist Magic spells, Divine Abilities, and Martial Arts Techniques, it would take years, probably decades of enlightenment for ordinary cultivators to even reach the Mastery Stage.

Only geniuses like Shi Lei could reach the Greater Mastery Stage of a Quasi Legacy Cultivation Method, Ravaging Void Sea. But it was due to his current level that there were still some imperfections in his movements, which Mu Fan exploited.

But the fact that Mu Fan could spot these weaknesses despite never having trained in the Ravaging Void Sea, must have meant that he had analyzed all the variations of the Ravaging Void Sea and knew where Shi Lei was lacking.

This type of analytical ability shocked Shi Lei greatly, and even though this didn’t mean Mu Fan was able to instantly learn a technique upon seeing a person using it once, it was really close to that level.

‘No wonder Captain wanted to recruit this person, he must have sensed this person’s terrifying potential. I have to admit I can’t possibly accomplish this even if I wasn’t in the midst of battle. However, if this is all this person can do, I’m afraid Captain is overestimating his abilities.’

As Mu Fan performed one of his many attacks that exploited Shi Lei’s weakness, instead of engaging Shi Lei responded by calmly retreating a step back.

Mu Fan having missed his target almost had a vein pop from his forehead.

He was preparing for a heated head-on confrontation with Shi Lei where they display their saber arts and try to beat each other. But at times like these where Mu Fan had a bit of an advantage, Shi Lei would instead act like a coward and retreat.

As Shi Lei retreated, having Mu Fan’s saber brushing past his collar, he then took a step forward and slashed down.

Mu Fan had a hard time retracting his saber and he barely managed to block Shi Lei’s well-timed counter.

Mu Fan left skid marks on the stage for several meters before he came to a stop.

Lowering his sheathed saber from in front of his face, Mu Fan looked at Shi Lei and coldly said.

“The more I battle you the more I’m disappointing, your nothing but trash for using the saber like that.”

Despite Mu Fan’s insults, Shi Lei only calmly looked at him and replied.

“One must know when to retreat and attack. That’s the essence of my Ravaging Void Sea blade technique. Like the movements of the Sea, I retreat and build up strength when needed and release it when it’s the right time.”

“Bullshit.”

Mu Fan immediately released a curse upon hearing such a thing.

“Why would a saber user need to retreat? The saber is a one-sided weapon, our movements are limited unlike the versatility of a sword so once we retreat we give up any advantage we have. Our only path is to use our Saber Intent to forcibly cut down anything and anyone in our way. If not then why use a fucking saber? Rather use a sword and stop insulting the saber by dancing around like a coward afraid of a confrontation.”

Mu Fan’s words were said with a seriousness he hardly showed. One could tell this was one of his core beliefs while wielding his saber.

However, his words were strangely familiar. Yang Su, Jun, and the others knew where that familiarity came from. Those were the exact words Li Shen had once told Mu Fan himself.

A smile crept on Yang Su’s face as well as the others'. Now that Li Shen was gone, every memory of him and what he taught them was precious to them.

Snort

Shi Lei released a heavy snort upon hearing Mu Fan’s words before he said derisively.

“If your Master was the one who instill such teachings in you, he must be a fool along with yourself for believing him.”

Mu Fan’s face changed upon hearing that, and so did everyone else's down below.

“Take that back, right now.”

Mu Fan’s eyes narrowed and he seemed like a wild beast as growled out those words.

Seeing that his words struck a nerve in Mu Fan, Shi Lei didn’t particularly care.

“Why should I? To have such a rigid opinion of the saber, what could he be called other than a fool?”

Mu Fan’s face turned dark and he took a step forward.

Shi Lei still had on a calm expression as he hosted up his saber in front of him to continue fighting. However, a strong sense of killing intent suddenly washed over him and his body was immediately assaulted with a wave of cold chills. A feeling of intense terror then started to fester in his heart.

Shi Lei was suddenly feeling the threat of death approaching him and it was closer than it had ever been before.

The feeling of going from not being in any danger to feeling as if he was about to die was so sudden Shi Lei’s body was frozen stiff. He could only turn his head to look in the direction where the killing intent was coming from.

There on the other side of the stage, he saw that person with the veil hat.

“Who are you… to call my Master a fool?”

Yang Su’s voice drifted out for all to hear as he slowly rose into the air.

Shi Lei’s body shook and his head started to buzz. He could no longer take being bombarded by such a strong killing intent so he immediately retreated.

“Huh? What’s happening?”

One member of the audience began looking around confused. He started to feel like he was being constricted by the air around him.

As this feeling increased, more and more people in the audience felt it. Some low-level cultivators even began gasping for air as if they were a fish out of water.

The commotion spread across the entire battle arena and everyone began to panic.

Ji Mei from her position silently looked towards Yang Su, her eyes flickering with an imperceptible light. She didn’t hesitate to use her own aura to shield her sister and the rest of the group.

As Yang Su stared down Shi Lei as if he was ready to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Mu Fan on the stage shot a glare at him and barked.

“The fuck are you doing?! This isn’t your fight bastard!!”

At the same time, Jun reacted and his figure vanish to reappear behind Yang Su in the air.

“Senior disciple brother, calm down.”

Jun said as he placed a hand on Yang Su’s shoulder and tried to guide him back to the ground.

Yang Su didn’t budge for a moment, but eventually, he didn’t resist Jun’s urging and he retracted his aura.

The people in the audience felt the suffocation abruptly vanish and all collectively released a sigh of relief.

For everyone below the Core Formation Realm in this battle arena, it felt like their lungs were a desert as they desperately tried to intake a breath of air. Even the Qi in their dantians seemed rattled and unstable.

As for those in the Core Formation Realm, although they could resist the suffocating feeling, they had to circulate their Internal Qi like madmen.

“W-What was that just now?”

A Borderner asked with a shaky voice.

The Celestial Academy from before responded with a pale face.

“It’s the Faceless Demon, it was him.”

The people around who heard that recalled who that was and they all turned to look in Yang Su’s direction.

“I-Impossible, how strong is he for him to be able to suppress so many people? Is he in the Nascent Soul Realm?!”

One man blurted out in shock.

In response, someone else shook their head and said.

“No, he isn’t, I felt his fluctuations and he hasn’t even reached the Core Formation Realm yet. However, what just happened to us was that the Spiritual Qi in the battle arena became unstable. It wouldn’t be weird to think he was in the Nascent Soul Realm for him to have such an ability.”

Upon hearing this everyone’s face in the vicinity changed.

“Not even in the Core Formation Realm? You must be joking. Maybe I would believe it if you said he was some heaven-defying genius that reached the Nascent Realm at such a young age, or some old monster had taken over this kid's body, rather than believing such a tall tale.”

“Believe me or not but as someone in the late Core Formation Realm, I know what I sensed and I didn’t feel any Core Formation fluctuations from that youth just now.”

As the crowd began buzzing with noise because of what just occurred, Yang Su and Jun landed on the ground.

Yang Su’s gaze couldn’t help but travel towards to a certain area in the crowd.

There he saw someone who was wearing a veiled hat similar to his.

Despite being quite some distance away and both of their visions were covered, the two could tell that the other's gaze was on them.

Yang Su frowned a bit.

Meanwhile, back on the stage, Mu Fan’s expression was sour. Turning to Shi Lei he said.

“Don’t get distracted by that bastard, I’m your opponent. I’m going to show you that you’re saber art is flawed.”

Mu Fan after saying that didn’t waste time dashing towards Shi Lei.

Shi Lei in response gripped his saber hilt and calm down by taking in a deep breath. Yang Su’s aura had rattled him but it wasn’t enough to dampen his fighting spirit.

“I’ll show you otherwise.”

Shi Lei said before moving to meet Mu Fan’s saber.