novelraw Chapter 156 : 《Taming Han Shuangjiang》
Chapter 156 : 《Taming Han Shuangjiang》
Chapter 156: 《Taming Han Shuangjiang》
Chu Huaixu's voice rang throughout the entire Martial Arena.
At a time like this, that dead fox just had to start stubbornly calling her "Senior Sister Han" again.
Han Shuangjiang looked at him, immediately boiling with anger once more. But with everyone watching, she could only feel a trace of helplessness.
As someone with dual degrees from 【Red Sleeves Beckon】 and 【Joyous Sect】, she understood all too well. This man before her—he probably had this kind of taste in his bones!
Everyone else naturally assumed this was just a bit of flirtatious bickering between Dao Companions. A little romantic quirk.
In the cultivation world, attitudes were actually quite open.
A junior martial brother and senior martial sister forming a Dao Companion bond was nothing unusual.
Since everyone had longevity techniques, even a master and disciple, or martial uncle and nephew, being together was common.
Moreover, cultivation defied the heavens, and people often encountered secret realms, fateful encounters, trials...
When a man and woman braved danger together, a fleeting romance wasn't out of the ordinary.
Only the higher-ups in the Dao Gate were a bit special—either deathly celibate, full of unrequited longing, or widowed...
Perhaps this was due to the Dao Ancestor being a Pure Yang Body, the strongest virgin of Xuanhuang, subtly influencing things.
On the platform, amid a wave of whistles and jeers, the duel between Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang officially began.
Because they were so familiar with each other and understood one another too well, they fought fiercely from the start, skipping any probing.
Ink-like currents of energy swirled around Chu Huaixu, his protective true qi pairing nicely with his black robe.
Han Shuangjiang, as usual, wore pale blue robes, ice lotuses blooming around her. Her defensive strength actually surpassed his ink currents—her technique was a tier higher.
He once again marveled at the Big Ice Block's talent.
He sincerely suspected, if her talent were listed on the Character Panel, she might have 【Spirit Embryo Attribute 10】, 【Comprehension 9】!
"How long has it been? And she already cultivated this technique to Minor Completion?"
"Geniuses are just like that. Even in real combat, they keep gaining insights."
"Unlike me, who can only grind Experience Points in battle... though I suppose it's the same in the end!"
"How am I not a genius?"
Chu Huaixu held his sword scabbard, letting the ink-black currents block the sword qi from 【Zhegutian】, then performed a movement technique to create distance before firing a burst of Thunder at Fingertips.
Amusingly, Han Shuangjiang's movement technique had been taught by him—and she'd already cultivated it to Minor Completion.
So, she too understood the many properties of 【Flying Profound】.
She knew its strengths. And its flaws.
However, since Chu Huaixu was a body cultivator, his physical body naturally had terrifying explosive power, making his use of the technique different.
"Truly a case of teaching the disciple and starving the master," he thought, sighing.
He had completely forgotten how he once flirted with her through teaching this very technique.
Since Chu Huaixu had promised the Big Ice Block not to go easy on her today, he continued using the 【Heart Sword】 to suppress 【Zhegutian】.
His only kindness was not using the sword-sealing effect, allowing her to freely draw her spirit sword from its scabbard under the eyes of all.
Han Shuangjiang had always minded how easily her Life-bound Spirit Sword was affected by him.
In truth, no sword cultivator wouldn't mind such a thing.
After all, this was a Life-bound Spiritual Artifact, not a Dao Companion!
If it were a Dao Companion, sure, maybe some perverts wouldn’t mind.
The supreme-grade spirit sword 【Zhegutian】 was still heavily suppressed, which let Geng Tianhe, watching from below, realize he wasn't alone.
At this moment, watching the duel on the platform, his mindset had shifted somewhat.
Previously, the first time he saw Han Shuangjiang, he thought her a heavenly being.
When others said she was possibly Dao Companions with a body cultivator, he had scoffed—how could a crude body cultivator deserve such a sword fairy?
Now, this later dead simp from 《Borrowed Sword》 had found complete inner peace.
In a way, one could say Chu Huaixu had redeemed him.
"About time for Sword Intent!" he said below, loud enough for the Sword Sect juniors to hear.
Sure enough, once their warm-up ended, both unleashed their killing moves.
Chu Huaixu's aura changed in an instant.
He no longer concealed it, now like a killing sword unsheathed!
Han Shuangjiang's long ink-black hair began turning silver-white, her sword wrapped in black and white currents.
One gaze held forward-driving determination and resolve.
The other held boundless extinction and indifference!
Chu Huaixu raised the difficulty, throwing out a full-power move immediately.
"Watch out!" he shouted.
Seven sword qi streams from the sword scabbard 【Ding Fengbo】 burst forth.
These pre-stored sword qi were a huge advantage in duels.
They worked like backup energy reserves—spiritual power prepared in advance.
Han Shuangjiang showed no reaction upon hearing his words.
Still as calm and indifferent as ever, her presence only colder.
In a sense, their Sword Intents were quite similar—both were extreme, even radical!
Chu Huaixu embodied a battle intent of "shattered body, no fear."
Han Shuangjiang embodied the Dao's mercilessness: "Heaven and Earth are unkind, treating all beings as straw dogs."
He was very aware that his overall strength exceeded the Big Ice Block’s. Today carried a hint of instructive intent.
So, he would hold nothing back.
The one who ruthlessly crushes flowers—even his own—would spare no mercy!
The seven sword qi came swiftly from seven directions. Han Shuangjiang, silver-haired and holding an ice-blue longsword, fended them off.
She took a half-step back, swept her sword forward, slicing apart two of them. Then with a toe-tap, she leapt into the air.
But Chu Huaixu knew 【Flying Profound】 too well. He'd already blocked that route.
Two sword qi descended from the left and right.
Another had long since circled behind.
And he himself wasn’t idle either.
He wouldn’t just stand around waiting after throwing a big move.
He had to move!
A lotus petal of ice crystal bloomed behind Han Shuangjiang.
It blocked the sword qi, but was shattered into icy dust, beautiful in its dispersal.
Her sword, 【Zhegutian】, sliced at the other two, the surrounding currents splitting in two.
One black. One white. They diverged.
Then clashed against the sword qi.
Chu Huaixu hadn’t expected this maneuver.
"Reincarnation Sword Intent, in truth, holds both creation and destruction."
"Also, I just cast Information Probe—the Big Ice Block is recovering energy fast?"
"Could this be one of 【Reincarnation】’s features?"
"Cyclical renewal!"
"That damned woman—and she didn't tell me?" He was rather annoyed.
He thought, you and I should have full transparency—I know your depths, you know my length.
You big-bottomed woman, and you still keep secrets?
Truly maddening!
He even wanted to smack her plump, round rear with his sword scabbard.
But Chu Huaixu guessed, maybe she'd only recently discovered this in combat.
As for the remaining sword qi—they still posed a great threat to Han Shuangjiang.
She hurriedly raised her sword to block. Though she managed it, the recoil still injured her internally.
Yet after entering that "Heaven-Man State," her face showed no emotion.
Once Han Shuangjiang regained her footing, Chu Huaixu had already charged in under the cover of sword qi.
The Big Ice Block swung her sword in haste, while he raised his scabbard to block.
A body cultivator's close-range explosiveness was fully displayed in that moment.
Han Shuangjiang immediately felt a tremendous force surging from the sword scabbard. Rather than saying he was using it to block her sword, it was more accurate to say he was trying to blast her Spirit Sword away with the scabbard!
A sharp pain burst from her tiger’s mouth, then spread up her wrist and throughout her entire arm.
Within the span of inches—this was the world of a Body Cultivator!
Chu Huaixu held the sword scabbard in his left hand, while his right hand formed a sword-finger stance, thrusting forward with a burst of fingertip sword qi.
Han Shuangjiang had no choice but to activate Ice Lotus!
Moreover, what she unleashed was the final move of her technique—a full-power defense within the limits of her strength.
The previously scattered lotus petals now formed into a complete lotus flower.
A crystalline lotus took shape, and its petals began to fold inward.
This silver-haired girl stood at the lotus heart.
As the petals closed in, they protected her from all directions.
——【Stainless Crystal Lotus】!
During this process, the petals not only shielded the girl, but also enveloped Chu Huaixu’s sword qi and even his right hand.
To Han Shuangjiang, this was a protective technique.
To Chu Huaixu, it was an act of freezing.
“Hmm, that’s interesting.”
“Truly fitting for Big Ice Block.”
He felt the bone-chilling cold of the freeze, yet his expression remained unchanged—he didn’t seem uncomfortable in the least.
With a muffled grunt, he began to exert force. Relying on his monstrously strong physique, he forcibly pulled out his frozen right hand. A portion of the ice lotus shattered and fell onto the platform.
Immediately afterward, Chu Huaixu began pounding his fists against the Stainless Crystal Lotus.
No technique—pure brute force!
“Boom——!”
“Boom——!”
Under everyone’s gaze, he relentlessly punched the ice-blue lotus with overwhelming ferocity.
The audience watched in shock.
“Is this... really his Dao Companion?”
“Every punch looks absolutely ruthless.”
Earlier, he had ruthlessly injured the popular female cultivator with the surname Xu.
Her supporters, watching Chu Huaixu pummel the ice lotus, suddenly felt as though this guy might actually be... impartial?
“Damn, he treats his own Dao Companion like this?”
“Even if he’s a dual cultivator of sword and body, the roughness of a Body Cultivator still sticks!”
“Completely ignorant of pity or tenderness—so violent even to his own Dao Companion.”
“Isn’t this basically domestic violence?”
Chu Huaixu, focused entirely on punching the ice lotus on the platform, never imagined he’d earn the label of an abusive man.
He simply wanted to test how strong the defense of the Stainless Crystal Lotus was—to help Big Ice Block find its limits.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen such a dumb method.
Meanwhile, a thought flickered in Chu Huaixu’s mind: “Then, what is Han Shuangjiang, now protected inside the lotus, doing?”
He remained wary, guarding against surprises.
“Boom——!”
After a dozen strikes, the Stainless Crystal Lotus, known for its formidable defense, began to crack extensively.
It was clear to all—it wouldn’t hold much longer.
People sighed in awe of Chu Huaixu’s physical strength.
Even those who knew him best, like Li Chunsong on the high platform, were shocked at how much his body had improved.
He only broke through two Heavens, yet improved this much?
Little did they know, it was due to the boost from 【Physique】.
On the platform, Chu Huaixu’s eyes narrowed.
“Final punch!” He struck the Stainless Crystal Lotus with a loud boom. The cracks that had formed before now shattered completely.
The entire lotus exploded, revealing the silver-haired girl within, who had been charging her sword strike this whole time.
The moment her protective spell broke, she launched the sword strike at Chu Huaixu.
Her long hair flew back, sword qi surged forward.
An intensely cold aura swept out, frosting the bricks of the platform in a pale layer of frost.
This strike had always required charging time to be at its strongest.
Matched with the Stainless Ice Lotus—it was the perfect setup.
This was the final form of Han Shuangjiang’s Mystic-rank Sword Technique——A Thousand Mountains in Snow at Dusk.
Yuan Haowen once wrote: Boundless layers of cloud stretch ten thousand miles, a thousand mountains shrouded in evening snow—who does the lone figure approach?
At this moment, the elegant figure clearly rushed toward Chu Huaixu—carrying with it an endless tide of sword qi!
【Zhegutian】 was already covered in ice crystals, while the black-and-white Reincarnation Sword Intent swirled beside the blade.
The ink-wash-like currents around Chu Huaixu’s body were instantly obliterated.
But Han Shuangjiang’s sword strike grew slower and slower.
【Ding Fengbo】’s auxiliary effect—akin to sealing a Spirit Sword—began to maximize. When paired with the 【Heart Sword】, its suppressive force was astounding, drastically reducing both attack speed and power.
It suppressed the sword artifact; the Heart Sword suppressed the sword spirit—a two-pronged attack.
Even before 【Zhegutian】 reached Chu Huaixu’s body, frost began to form on his black robe.
As a mid-grade defensive Spiritual Artifact, the Black-Gold Robe finally showed its effect.
A black barrier formed, but it couldn’t completely block the strike—it only held for a moment.
As the black barrier shattered, Chu Huaixu’s fingertip sword qi had already formed.
He first blocked with the sword scabbard to further weaken the sword momentum.
The black scabbard instantly iced over, and even Chu Huaixu’s left hand holding it was frozen.
At that moment, he unleashed the fingertip sword qi from his right hand.
Of the three properties of the 【Fearless Sword Intent】, the most obvious—【Speed】—now manifested fully.
The fingertip sword qi became a trailing shadow, slashing straight toward the incoming A Thousand Mountains in Snow at Dusk.
To ensure he could end it in one blow, he even used a small portion of his Sword Heart’s power!
Since he was fighting Han Shuangjiang, there was no reason for Chu Huaixu to hold back!
If he was going to teach her, he’d show his real skill.
The fingertip sword qi cleaved through like bamboo, colliding with the Spirit Sword. The ice crystals forming along the blade shattered, and the black-and-white Reincarnation Sword Intent was also annihilated.
The shockwave of sword qi scattered all the frost on the ground without leaving even a drop of moisture.
【Zhegutian】, after holding for a few heartbeats, had its sword qi extinguished completely, then was sent flying by a massive force.
The shockwaves of spiritual energy from the clash spread out in waves like currents.
Chu Huaixu’s black robe and Han Shuangjiang’s light blue robe began fluttering in the wind.
The fingertip sword qi didn’t stop—it kept thrusting forward.
The silver-haired girl, staring at the incoming sword strike, had her long hair whipped backward. Her usually cold eyes suddenly contracted.
With the Reincarnation Sword Intent destroyed, her 【Heaven-Man State】 had been half-ruined.
In her beautiful eyes, finally, a trace of emotion appeared.
Below the platform, the spectators collectively held their breath, falling into a stunned silence.
The man long seen as a ruthless flower-crusher—Chu Huaixu—was now striking at his opponent’s vital point!
His twin fingers had never stopped.
“Tap——!”
In the silent Martial Arena, a soft sound echoed.
Han Shuangjiang’s 【Heaven-Man State】 was now completely broken. Her pitch-black eyes trembled slightly.
Two fingers rested on her glabella—the fierce sword qi had been forcibly retracted at some point, causing Chu Huaixu’s breathing to become slightly erratic. His right hand trembled slightly, but he forcibly steadied it with sheer willpower.
He struck a pose, and the soft sound of “Tap——” came from the moment his two fingers lightly tapped Han Shuangjiang’s forehead.
Chu Huaixu held the pitch-black sword scabbard. Autumn wind lifted the corner of his robe.
Slowly, he withdrew his right hand from her forehead, placed it behind his back, gave her a faint smile, and in a calm tone, said four words:
“Let that be all.”
......