Chapter 711: No Matter How You Walk, It's Forward
From the street to that wall, there was only a distance of about ten zhang.
Wanting to walk over, however, was so difficult.
If it was too hard to walk over, then burn over.
A straight line of fire suddenly appeared, blazing flames melting all the wind and snow into steam, then turning into blue smoke.
At the very front of this line of fire was Chen Changsheng, or more precisely, this line of fire originated from the sword in his hand.
This was the second sword style Su Li had taught him—the Burning Sword.
Xiao De's cultivation realm was extremely high, his battle experience incomparably rich, yet even he was still somewhat caught off guard by this sword of Chen Changsheng's.
This sword used the final sword intent of the Li Mountain Sword Method, too resolute, too reckless with life.
Xiao De had not expected Chen Changsheng to use such a mutually destructive powerful sword in the very first move.
But this was something Chen Changsheng had already planned long in advance.
His true essence was now abundant, his divine sense stable, but compared to the true experts at the top of the Carefree List, there was still an insurmountable gap.
If he wanted to defeat these experts, he needed to catch them off guard, to push his unknown abilities to their limits—because once those unknown abilities and battle tactics of his appeared, they would never work against these experts again.
This meant that for the same battle tactic, he could only use it once.
In the National Academy, he had used the Black Stone and the Thousand Swords to defeat Old Man Lin, but he could not use the same method to defeat other experts of the same level.
He knew that if he wanted to kill Zhou Tong, he would certainly have to face many true experts, so these days, he had done many deductions, designed many contingency plans, simulating battles against Xiao De, Xiao Zhang, Zhou Tong, the Prince of Zhongshan, the Prince of Xiang...
He had even considered how he should act to find a sliver of opportunity if he had to fight Wang Po.
A person who liked reading, liked thinking, liked taking notes, liked solving problems would always be more prepared than his opponents, and would often achieve many incredible victories.
Wang Zhice began his cultivation in middle age—why did he rarely fail from the moment he stepped onto the stage of history?
Why did everyone feel that Gou Hanshi could break through and defeat a Star Gatherer while he was still in the Penetrating Obscurity realm?
Chen Changsheng was also this kind of person.
So he also succeeded.
The success spoken of here did not mean he had defeated Xiao De, but rather that he had brought this battle into the scope of his deductions.
As the strongest of the younger generation of the demon race, Xiao De's reaction speed was incredibly fast, and at the time, it seemed extremely correct.
When Chen Changsheng's sword arrived before him with that resolute intent, his left hand pierced through the snowy air and grabbed directly at it.
His body's toughness was harder than iron or stone; ordinary weapons and cultivators below the middle Star Gatherer realm simply could not harm him at all.
But he did not know that Chen Changsheng's sword was sharper than described on the Hundred Weapons List, and that Chen Changsheng's sword path and true essence quantity far exceeded those of ordinary early Star Gatherer cultivators.
With a soft hiss, the short sword sliced through his palm like a stiff paper edge cutting through a sticky rice cake, then sank into his body.
A roar filled with wild fury burst from his lips.
Even at this moment, he still believed his reaction was correct.
—Although Chen Changsheng's sword had passed through his hand and stabbed into his chest and abdomen, it likewise could not leave, at least not at this moment.
His fist would fall, and it would certainly smash Chen Changsheng's face into pulp.
Chen Changsheng truly could not dodge, let alone leave, even if he abandoned the short sword in his hand, even if he used the Yaksa Step.
Because he had charged too fast, his momentum was exhausted; since he had advanced so firmly, how could he retreat? It looked as if he was delivering himself to Xiao De's fist.
However, Xiao De's fist did not land on his face.
A somewhat old paper umbrella was opened in his left hand, the umbrella surface spreading out like real lightning, shielding his body.
Xiao De's fist landed on the umbrella surface.
An extremely muffled crashing sound rang out!
The umbrella surface sank deeply but did not tear.
An unimaginably vast power transmitted from Xiao De's fist to the yellow paper umbrella, then to Chen Changsheng's body.
This clash of power allowed for no cleverness; it was entirely a manifestation of true realm. Chen Changsheng could not withstand such immense force and took a step back.
With a crack, the ice and snow beneath his feet shattered, and the street surface below shattered as well.
A mouthful of blood surged into his throat, somewhat sweet.
So one step was still not enough.
He took another step back.
Still not enough.
The power transmitted from the yellow paper umbrella was so terrifying, so domineering.
He continued to retreat, his boot soles leaving the ground, flying through the air like a stone.
...
...
Xiao De's fist seemed simple, but it contained his lifetime of cultivation and hard training.
A full-force strike from an expert on the Carefree List—how terrifying was that?
Chen Changsheng was directly blasted away, his speed not much slower than when he had used the Burning Sword to charge forward.
Fortunately, he was knocked back so quickly that he narrowly avoided those dozen or so sharp sword intents.
At least his vital points were evaded, though several tears were left on his clothes.
He landed on the snow, already on the other side of the street.
His body swayed, as if he might fall at any moment.
Determined to advance all the way, he had struck first with the Burning Sword as a surprise attack, yet could not win, forced to retreat one step, two steps, all the way to dozens of steps.
To anyone watching, this was a great setback.
But Chen Changsheng did not see it that way.
Xiao De also did not see it that way; he vaguely sensed that Chen Changsheng had done it on purpose.
That he could avoid the attacks of those dozen sword intents was not luck, but the result of prior deduction and calculation.
This feeling made Xiao De very displeased.
When he felt the deep pain in his chest and abdomen, this displeased feeling grew even stronger.
With an angry roar, he charged through the wind and snow toward the street.
But he charged at nothing.
Blazing light radiated from the Stainless Sword, and a violent sword intent pierced the entire street.
Chen Changsheng used the Burning Sword again, and at the same time activated the Yaksa Step.
This time, he did not bravely charge forward as before, but pierced through the falling wind and snow, sweeping diagonally forward.
Like a wisp of smoke, or lightning.
There was another wall there; behind it were not the bare branches of the crabapple tree, not that courtyard—unknown where it was.
Chen Changsheng crashed through that wall and burst inside.
Then, the sound of walls being broken echoed continuously among the buildings on the side of the long street.
There were many courtyards and residences here, none of which were where he needed to go.
But the buildings were all separated by walls; as long as he kept breaking through those walls, he would eventually break into the place he needed to go.
That courtyard with the crabapple tree.
Moreover, he had always known where that courtyard was; he had never lost his direction.
Retreating, or taking a detour, sometimes did not mean giving up, but another way of moving forward.
This was what Chen Changsheng thought, and this was what he did.
The starry sky always showed mercy to those young people who were prepared and courageous.
He succeeded again.
The crabapple tree came into his view, and following it came a sword shadow.
Stardust flickered in that assassin's sleeve—another Star Gatherer realm cultivator, no doubt also from the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.
Facing such a treacherous and terrifying sword, Chen Changsheng did not stop, nor did he slow down even a bit.
With a hum, the yellow paper umbrella opened, blocking the debris falling from the crabapple tree and also blocking that sword.
A trace of sword intent slipped past the edge of the umbrella, tearing the clothes on his shoulder.
A sword light flashed from his hand, and shielded by the yellow paper umbrella, it cut a very deep bloody gash under that assassin's throat.
That assassin from the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion clutched his throat and fell.
This assassin might have killed many famous people before; if anyone knew his true identity, they would be very shocked.
Yet Chen Changsheng did not even glance at him, continuing to rush forward swiftly.
Not because he was very familiar with the world's greatest assassin and the third greatest assassin.
But because what he needed most right now was time.
Xiao De should catch up very soon.
Xiao Zhang might appear at any moment.
Those experts could surround the courtyard again at any time.
Most crucially, how long could Wang Po hold off Iron Tree on the street?
He did not know.
The crabapple tree swayed, no leaves fell, only two or three broken branches dropped.
From the alley outside the courtyard came Xiao De's angry roar.
Dozens of powerful auras were rapidly approaching from all directions.
Chen Changsheng had already arrived before the stone steps.
Above was a large armchair.
In the chair sat a person.
That person wore a deep red official robe.
As if in a sea of blood.
It was Zhou Tong.