Chapter 716: I Am Invincible Within the Same Realm
Over the past two years, that rumor had always existed, but no one believed it, and it gradually faded from memory. Because it made no sense. Even if Chen Changsheng’s talent in the sword path was extraordinary, he still had to abide by reason. Today, they finally witnessed the legendary scene and realized that the rumor was actually true. This truly made no sense.
First, you had to possess that many swords. Second, your spiritual sense had to be powerful enough—powerful beyond imagination, stable to an astonishing degree—to control so many swords. Moreover, it couldn’t be simple control; if you could only use your spiritual sense to make these swords slash horizontally or thrust straight, without the ability to execute more complex variations or respond in a more timely manner, it would be meaningless to these Star Gathering realm experts. They could completely ignore it.
Yes, you had that many swords, and your spiritual sense was strong enough to control them as if holding them in your hands, but you also had to know that many sword techniques. These requirements were too high; in theory, no one beneath the stars could achieve them. Yet, these conditions seemed tailor-made for Chen Changsheng. He had that many swords, he could control that many swords—or rather, these swords were willing to obey his will—and then, he knew many sword techniques. So Chen Changsheng could accomplish this seemingly unreasonable feat. Consequently, for the imperial court’s experts, today’s battle became something utterly unreasonable.
Chen Changsheng only needed to simultaneously command these swords in the snowy sky to strike, which was equivalent to dozens or even hundreds of Chen Changshengs wielding their swords. How could they fight against that?
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, landing on Chen Changsheng’s shoulders, coating them with a thin layer of white. At the same time, these snowflakes also fell onto the hundreds of swords around him, adding many white lines to the world. He walked forward, and the hundreds of swords in the air moved with him, silent and soundless. The scene was eerily strange, sending chills through one’s heart.
The hundreds of swords vibrated faintly in the wind and snow, making no sound, only humming and clanging when disturbed by an external force. Several sword lights suddenly illuminated a corner of the wind and snow, and the crisp ring of swords and the dull clash of impacts sounded almost simultaneously. A spray of blood shot out, landing on the snow. A broken sword slanted into the wall, disappearing deep into the shadows. The sword light abruptly faded, and then everything fell silent.
Two imperial court experts who had attempted a sneak attack failed to penetrate the sword net woven by these hundreds of swords; one was wounded, the other retreated. Traces lingered in the wind and snow, faintly revealing the grand outlines of the second form of the National Church’s True Sword and the Evening Clouds Withdraw from the Wenshui Three Forms.
Chen Changsheng walked through this broken courtyard, and the hundreds of swords in the air followed, crossing the walls between courtyards like stream fish surging over stones. In the courtyard over there was a large water vat, its surface covered with thin ice. Chen Changsheng glanced in that direction. The hundreds of swords turned with his gaze, aiming at the water vat. With countless crisp shattering sounds occurring almost simultaneously, the thin ice on the vat’s surface was cut into countless fragments, and the vat itself was also reduced to countless pieces. With a gushing sound, water poured out of the vat, scattering the accumulated snow on the ground, and at the same time, an assassin covered in blood fell to the ground with the water.
The assassin’s body was covered in sword wounds, bleeding profusely, but he seemed to feel no pain, only staring at Chen Changsheng in shock.
“Fall back further!” an official from the Ministry of Justice shouted loudly.
All were Star Gathering realm experts with extremely rich combat experience. They quickly realized that as long as they maintained enough distance, the threat of these swords would diminish significantly. Some had even calculated the approximate safe distance—it should be about eight zhang. Instantly, countless sounds of wind breaking rang out, and dozens of experts revealed themselves, scattering around the courtyard, keeping at least ten zhang away from Chen Changsheng, but they did not leave.
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng’s steps did not pause. He continued forward and soon returned to the courtyard on North Military Commanders’ Lane. The crabapple tree in the courtyard had no leaves left, its bare branches stretching out in the snowy sky, not taking up much space. But when the hundreds of swords entered the courtyard, the space here felt somewhat cramped.
Broken branches were not falling leaves; when they fell from the air, they made no rustling sound. The crabapple tree, which had been moved from the deep mountains on the outskirts of the capital only a few dozen days ago, silently disintegrated into countless wood chips, becoming a pile of debris on the snow. The scene was still eerily strange.
Between the courtyards, swords were everywhere, sharp and fierce. Between heaven and earth, sword intent was everywhere, cold and grim. No matter who tried to break through these swords to attack Chen Changsheng, they would face the full force of this grim sword intent.
On Snow Street, Wang Po had gone his separate way. Wang Po went to fight Iron Tree because he excelled at overcoming the strong with the weak; as it turned out, he indeed succeeded. Chen Changsheng came to this courtyard to kill Zhou Tong because he excelled at facing many with few—that was the principle.
“Finally using your strongest move?” Xiao De said, standing at the stone gate of the courtyard, looking at Chen Changsheng.
At this moment, Chen Changsheng stood on the stone steps. The distance between them was neither far nor near, exactly eight zhang. This distance revealed many things. First, Xiao De was not confident he could face the collective attack of hundreds of swords simultaneously. Second, he seemed very familiar with Chen Changsheng’s methods. Just like his words.
A few days ago, Old Man Lin had been severely injured in the National Academy, shocking many who knew the inside story. Chen Changsheng’s methods were no longer a secret to someone of Xiao De’s level.
“Within the same realm, you can truly be called invincible,” Xiao De said, looking at him with some emotion.
Invincible within the same realm—it sounded ordinary, but in reality, it was not. In the past thousand years, no one had achieved this. Wang Po before breaking through was roughly on par with Xue Xingchuan in strength. When Su Li was at the initial Star Gathering stage, he was once beaten like a dog by a girl from the northern snow plains. Even Zhou Dufu, known as the strongest beneath the stars, everyone knew that when he was at the upper Divine Awareness stage, he was certainly no match for Chen Xuanba, who was famous for his precocious intelligence, even if Chen Xuanba was also at the upper Divine Awareness stage at that time.
Now, Chen Changsheng could truly achieve invincibility within the same realm. He was currently at the initial Star Gathering stage, faintly showing signs of another breakthrough. But not to mention the initial Star Gathering stage, even at the middle Star Gathering stage, no one could be found who could defeat him. Not a single one. It was impossible. Because as many swords as he had, that was how many versions of himself there were. To fight him was to fight countless versions of him. Who could defeat him?
“Fortunately, it’s only invincible within the same realm,” Xiao De sighed and said, “Otherwise, I really would have no choice but to turn and leave.”