Chapter 164: Toppling the Mountain
Chen Changsheng’s clothes were tattered at this moment, with wounds on his chest, making him look as miserable as could be. If Tang Thirty-Six saw him, he would definitely mock him for being beaten like a dog. Yet, under such circumstances, he actually told Zhuang Huanyu to concede—judging by his expression, he wasn’t joking.
His attitude was very serious, his tone sincere, which made Zhuang Huanyu furious, feeling it was a great contempt and insult.
Chen Changsheng had no intention of mocking him; he was merely making a calm judgment.
Whether because of that autumn rain or the enhancement of his physical strength, since burning the starlight hadn’t killed him, it meant that snowy plain could endlessly supply him with true essence. In fact, his true essence was now more abundant than ever before—the biggest gap between him and Zhuang Huanyu no longer existed. Why couldn’t he be confident?
“Why is he so confident?” By the second-floor window, the dean of the Star Plucking Academy frowned and asked.
Even if Chen Changsheng had miraculously undergone a second initial illumination, all the important figures in the capital now knew that he had confirmed his destiny star and begun to use starlight to refine his marrow less than a year ago, while Zhuang Huanyu had been cultivating for over a decade. What made him think his true essence level had already caught up?
Chen Changsheng proved to everyone with facts that his confidence was justified, though the reasoning was unclear.
Zhuang Huanyu stared at him, the Languang Sword embedded in the bluestone slab trembling slightly. Hundreds of sword shadows formed again, attacking him from all directions, as if another storm had risen in the Dust Washing Pavilion.
Chen Changsheng held the short sword in his right hand, but his grip shifted slightly upward, his tiger’s mouth moving to the edge of the scabbard. This meant he was holding both the hilt and the scabbard with his palm, naturally unable to draw the sword.
He didn’t draw the sword, didn’t dodge, and didn’t use his body to withstand the attack. Instead, he swung the sword, scabbard and all, horizontally.
A whooshing sound echoed through the pavilion, naturally stirring the wind.
Several fierce sword winds met the Languang sword shadows coming from all directions, producing muffled thuds, and then those shadows shattered and dispersed.
Using true essence against true essence, they were evenly matched; using a sword to break sword shadows was naturally easy.
The expressions of the important figures by the second-floor window shifted slightly, finally confirming that Chen Changsheng’s cultivation realm was now completely different from before. Whether in purity or quantity of true essence, he was at least no weaker than Zhuang Huanyu.
Mo Yu’s hands, which had been clasped in her sleeves, relaxed. She leaned on the window frame, still expressionless, but her mood wasn’t as light as it seemed.
She didn’t want to show that she didn’t want Chen Changsheng to get hurt, and now she didn’t need to worry about him losing to Zhuang Huanyu. But Chen Changsheng’s performance and his inexplicable burst of true essence reminded her of that night many days ago, when she and the Holy Empress watched the stars on the Sweet Dew Terrace.
That night, the Holy Empress sensed someone in the capital confirming their destiny star. That star was extremely distant, and that person’s divine sense was incredibly calm and powerful.
That person… was it Chen Changsheng?
The important figures by the second-floor window were lost in thought, while the battle in the arena below had already become fierce.
Chen Changsheng, with his sword and scabbard, forcefully broke through those storm-like sword shadows with his true essence. His figure flickered, and the next moment, he was in front of Zhuang Huanyu.
A distance of over ten zhang vanished in an instant. He didn’t use the sword momentum of the Bell and Mountain Wind and Rain Sword but instead used the Yashin Step.
Zhuang Huanyu had now completely calmed down. Chen Changsheng easily breaking his sword shadows surprised him but didn’t make him lose focus again. There was no fear on his face. He extended his right hand, and the Languang Sword trembled more intensely, flying up from the ground with a sharp clang and landing back in his palm.
A series of continuous sword sounds rang out, clatter after clatter.
The Languang Sword seemed to come alive in his hand, its sharp blade cutting through the air with a hiss, thrusting toward Chen Changsheng’s body.
The ground, washed by that autumn rain, still had some damp yellow sand. The sand was lifted by Zhuang Huanyu’s sword, forming dozens of extremely fine sand threads.
Those sand threads were the sword technique—a visible path of the sword’s movement.
Chen Changsheng could use his true essence to break those sword shadows, but to block these lightning-fast sword strikes, he needed more exquisite sword techniques.
The spectators upstairs became intensely focused. They had all seen or heard of Chen Changsheng’s match with Gou Hanshi at the Green Vine Banquet, knowing that this unremarkable national education youth, like Gou Hanshi who had thoroughly studied the Daoist Canon, knew countless sword techniques from various sects. They were curious how he would respond.
Dozens of fine sand threads attacked Chen Changsheng’s body from various angles.
Behind the sand threads was the cold sword edge.
Chen Changsheng still didn’t draw his sword.
His palm gripped the scabbard edge and the hilt, making it impossible to draw.
He held the short sword and struck down like this.
The strike was exceptionally crisp, clean, simple, and powerful.
It didn’t look like a sword technique at all, and there was no trace of subtlety—it was like a woman washing clothes by the river, repeatedly pounding a stone with a wooden mallet.
It seemed like an ordinary, unremarkable strike, but when he raised the short sword and brought it down, at least three of the important figures by the upstairs window gasped.
“Toppling Mountain Staff!”
Yes, Chen Changsheng wasn’t using a sword technique but a staff technique.
Since childhood, he had thoroughly studied the Daoist Canon and read extensively. After entering the National Education Academy, he read day and night, comparing the cultivation books in the library with his knowledge. The Daoist Canon he had read over the past fourteen years was all converted into the knowledge needed for cultivation. In terms of understanding the cultivation methods of various sects, academies, and schools in the world, no one was better than him except Gou Hanshi.
He also cultivated very diligently. In just half a year, he had mastered many sword techniques and other cultivation methods. At the Green Vine Banquet, he guided Luoluo and Tang Thirty-Six to defeat Guan Feibai and Qi Jian using this skill. However, many forgot that his mastery of those sword techniques and cultivation methods was more theoretical.
He knew how to execute the Wenshui Three Styles and the sequence and angles of the Lianshan Seven Swords, but that didn’t mean he could actually perform the Wenshui Three Styles or casually execute the Lianshan Seven Swords. Moreover, his marrow refinement hadn’t succeeded yet, so he couldn’t cultivate, let alone practice swords.
No matter how hardworking or talented he was, it was impossible to master so many techniques in just a few months.
To achieve anything in the way of the sword, one needed at least ten years of hard work.
Whether it was Qiu Shanjun or Guan Feibai, who proved at the Green Vine Banquet that he could use at least a hundred sword techniques, it was the same.
Others might forget this, but Chen Changsheng wouldn’t. He knew very well that he couldn’t surpass Zhuang Huanyu or any of the Four Sons of Lishan Sword Sect in sword techniques. Even if he could think of a move to counter his opponent’s sword, he couldn’t execute it in such a tense and intense battle.
Cultivators at different stages needed different levels of combat methods. He now needed a relatively simpler, more effective combat method. He couldn’t think of any sword technique that could counter the Heavenly Dao Academy’s Dao Sword and that he could master at his current level. So, he moved his right hand down, gripping both the scabbard edge and the hilt.
This grip indicated that he had no intention of drawing the sword.
With this grip, the short sword became a short staff.
He was using a staff technique.
Toppling Mountain Staff.
Three gasps almost simultaneously sounded from the second floor.
The ones who gasped were the two Holy See archbishops and the bishop of the Ancestral Temple.
Because they recognized this staff technique, because they hadn’t seen it in many years.
Toppling Mountain Staff was a staff technique of the National Education Academy. Legend had it that when it was first created, it was used by the academy’s disciplinary officer to punish students who violated the rules.
The National Education Academy had been in decline for over a decade, so this staff technique hadn’t appeared on the continent in over ten years.
Those two Holy See archbishops were important figures of the new faction of the national religion, naturally opposed to the old faction represented by the National Education Academy. Yet, even they, after more than a decade, suddenly saw the famous Toppling Mountain Staff within the national religion and couldn’t help but gasp, their emotions instantly becoming extremely complex.
Xue Xingchuan and Xu Shiji had also seen the glory days of the National Education Academy. They recognized the staff technique Chen Changsheng was using, only slightly later than the three bishops, and their expressions changed.
Toppling Mountain Staff was the disciplinary staff of the National Education Academy, known for its brute force and directness, simple and clear, with the purpose of knocking students down and making them feel pain. This staff technique seemed to have no logic, but it actually concealed a lot of reasoning, much like the academy’s rules—you simply couldn’t avoid it; you could only endure it.
Zhuang Huanyu’s expression was extremely serious, but his sword didn’t slow down at all.
Chen Changsheng’s short sword strike was so direct that it seemed to lack any technique.
It seemed that his sword had plenty of room to strike Chen Changsheng’s body first, but Chen Changsheng’s short sword gave him a feeling that if he did that, no matter how badly Chen Changsheng was injured, his sword would still fall with the scabbard and hit him.
A preemptive strike seemed pointless. Dodge? It seemed unavoidable, so he could only block head-on.
Zhuang Huanyu’s true essence surged endlessly, his sword edge cutting through the air to meet Chen Changsheng’s sword.
Toppling Mountain Staff against Languang Sword was like the National Education Academy against the Heavenly Dao Academy.
The newly revived National Education Academy seemed to have to pass this test to regain its status within the national religion.
The two swords met in the air, then separated, then met again. No matter how unreasonably Chen Changsheng’s sword fell, Zhuang Huanyu’s sword blocked it. No matter how exquisite Zhuang Huanyu’s sword techniques were, they couldn’t break through Chen Changsheng’s sword. In a very short time, the two swords clashed over a dozen times.
Deafening collision sounds echoed through the Dust Washing Pavilion.
Over a dozen white air masses continuously formed around them, then exploded instantly.
Those air masses were the vibrations from the swords clashing.
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!
The two figures suddenly separated.
Zhuang Huanyu grunted, his face slightly pale, his right hand holding the sword trembling slightly.
He hadn’t fully blocked Chen Changsheng’s sword.
At the last moment, Chen Changsheng’s sword, scabbard and all, came down and struck his wrist.
If Zhuang Huanyu’s sword intent hadn’t been directed diagonally at that moment, allowing only the tip of the scabbard to graze him, his wrist bone would have shattered.
In a direct confrontation, sword against sword, he had ended up at a disadvantage.
Zhuang Huanyu simply couldn’t accept this fact, his face turning pale.
The next moment, he threw his scabbard to the ground and advanced again.