High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

A cold, mechanical system prompt sounded in his mind.

Xu Wuyi felt his body "sink," then "rise."

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a space of pure white.

Above, below, left, and right were all endless white. There was no ground, no sky; he was simply suspended in mid-air.

But gravity existed. He could feel the familiar pull.

A hundred meters ahead, a human figure slowly coalesced.

It was a man in simple gray clothes, appearing to be around thirty years old. His face was ordinary, his gaze serene.

He held a sword in his hand.

The blade was long and narrow, entirely cyan, and without any adornment—just like the man himself, ordinary to an extreme.

But Xu Wuyi’s intuition was screaming alarms.

Danger!

Extreme danger!

The sword was merely held quietly in hand, yet it felt as if it had already pierced through all defenses to point directly at the space between his brows.

The Illusion did not speak, only watching Xu Wuyi quietly.

It seemed to be waiting for him to get ready.

Xu Wuyi took a deep breath.

In his sea of consciousness, the great, dark-gold marsh began to "breathe," its rhythm of contraction and expansion steady and powerful. The Golden Crow Illusion floated at the marsh’s center, its flames contained, poised to strike.

He raised his hand. The Power of Heart Image surged, and the Liaoyuan Long Spear coalesced in his palm.

The spear’s shaft was dark red, its tip a glint of gold.

"Come on," Xu Wuyi said.

The instant the words left his mouth—

The Illusion moved.

There was no warning, no build-up of power, not even the process of "moving."

It simply went from "stillness" directly to "killing."

The hundred-meter distance vanished in a thousandth of a second.

Xu Wuyi’s pupils contracted sharply.

’Fast!’

’Too fast!’

It wasn’t a matter of speed, but of "time" itself being compressed.

The Illusion’s figure left a series of afterimages in his perception, but the real blade was already at his chest!

Xu Wuyi had no time to think.

In that sliver of a moment between life and death, his body’s instincts took over.

’Gravity Field, maximum contraction!’

With him at the center, the gravity within a fifty-meter radius instantly surged to twenty times its normal strength!

This wasn’t to suppress the enemy, but to change his own "state."

Under twenty times the gravity, Xu Wuyi’s body sank downward. The movement was slight, but this insignificant dip was just enough for the blade to graze past his chest.

SHNK!

His Battle Armor was sliced open with a smooth cut, and a cold, stabbing pain came from the skin underneath.

A single bead of blood floated up, strikingly conspicuous in the pure white space.

In an instant, Xu Wuyi’s back was soaked with cold sweat.

’So close...’

If his Gravity Marsh hadn’t already reached Great Success, allowing him to instantly alter the local Gravity Field, if his control over Gravity wasn’t precise down to the millimeter... that last strike would have pierced his heart.

The Illusion’s figure solidified ten meters away.

It remained serene, its eyes as still as an old well, as if that fatal strike had been nothing more than a casual flick of the wrist.

Xu Wuyi tightened his grip on his long spear, his breathing slightly ragged.

’The first sword strike.’

’I almost didn’t block it.’

They were both level 47, and his opponent’s power didn’t exceed that level, but the purity and speed of its Sword Technique, along with its timing, had reached an unbelievable degree.

’So this... is the opponent that twenty-seven Grandmasters couldn’t defeat?’

The Illusion moved again.

This time, Xu Wuyi was completely focused.

His Spiritual Power spread out like a spiderweb, sensing the subtlest changes in every inch of space.

He "saw"—

The Illusion’s figure was moving, but its trajectory wasn’t a straight line. It was a series of discontinuous "points."

Between each point, space seemed to subtly fold, drastically shortening the actual distance traveled.

’Spatial manipulation?’

’No, it’s more than that.’

’It’s integrating Sword Intention into its Body Technique, using the sword to break through space and Intention to control its body.’

The Illusion’s second sword strike came.

Still simple, still direct.

A cyan glint on the sword’s tip magnified in his vision.

Xu Wuyi thrust his long spear, the tip aimed precisely at the flat of the blade.

He intended to use a change in weight to interfere with his opponent’s application of force.

The instant the spear and sword were about to collide, the Illusion’s sword trembled slightly.

It was this very tremble that made Xu Wuyi’s prejudgment miss its mark.

The spear tip struck empty air, while the cyan blade had already circled around the spear shaft and was thrusting toward his throat.

Xu Wuyi twisted his body violently. Pushing his Quicksand Step to its limit, his form slid backward like a scattering of sand.

The blade grazed past his neck, leaving a bloody line.

’Fall back again!’

Xu Wuyi retreated continuously, each step creating invisible ripples in the pure white space.

The Illusion followed like a shadow.

The third strike, the fourth, the fifth...

The light from the sword was like a ceaseless rain.

Every strike aimed for a vital point, every strike was concise to the extreme, with no superfluous movements, no wasted power.

Xu Wuyi could only dodge, block, and retreat.

His long spear danced, forming a dark red curtain of light. He coordinated it with micro-adjustments of his Gravity Field, struggling to hold on amidst the rain of sword strikes.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

The sound of metal striking metal was as dense as a downpour.

With every collision, Xu Wuyi could feel a terrifying vibration transmitted through the shaft of his spear.

It wasn’t the crushing force of superior strength, but a kind of "penetration."

The Illusion’s sword seemed capable of ignoring all defenses, striking directly at the essence of things.

The tenth strike.

Xu Wuyi finally seized an opportunity.

In the subtle gap as the Illusion’s Sword Momentum shifted, he spun his long spear, its shaft carrying the mountain-heavy Mental Realm as he swept it outward.

"Profound Nether Celestial Spear—Mountain Suppression!"

With this thrust, he utilized the "activity" he gained after his Heavy Water reached Great Success.

As the spear swept out, its weight changed three times in succession: light, heavy, light.

When light, its speed exploded. When heavy, its potential energy accumulated. When it became light again, the spear’s velocity reached its peak.

The Illusion seemed not to have anticipated this change.

It raised its sword horizontally to block.

The spear and sword collided.

A deep, tremendous sound echoed through the pure white space.

The Illusion slid back three steps. This was the first time it had been knocked back since the fight began.

Xu Wuyi did not pursue.

He stood his ground, his chest heaving, sweat beading on his temples.

’Ten moves.’

’In just ten moves, I had to use my full strength just to push it back once.’

But the Illusion remained serene.

It glanced down at the sword in its hand, then looked up at Xu Wuyi.

For the first time, a subtle change appeared in those calm eyes.

Was that... a hint of approval?

Immediately after, the Illusion raised its sword again.

This time, the blade lit up with a cyan glow.

It was no longer an ordinary Sword Technique, but a strike that contained a kind of Mental Realm.

Xu Wuyi’s pupils contracted.

He felt the surrounding space begin to "solidify."

It wasn’t being suppressed by Gravity, but sealed by Sword Intention.

All escape routes, all avenues of retreat, were sealed off by the intangible Sword Intention.

He could only receive it.

Receive this one strike.

Xu Wuyi took a deep breath. In his sea of consciousness, the "breathing" of the dark-gold marsh came to an abrupt halt.

Then, it contracted to its absolute limit.

All the Power of Heart Image gathered at the tip of his spear.

The Flame of the Golden Crow flowed along the meridians of his Heart Image, compressing and fusing with the weight of the Heavy Water.

At the spear’s tip, a pinpoint of dark gold light ignited.

Within the light, flames flowed and weight fluctuated.

A preliminary fusion of "Weight" and "Incineration"—

"Come!"

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