Chapter 576: Sparring (2)

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: Dr.Lock

Proofreader: Arya

As Ilya was forced backwards; she twirled and stably landed on the ground.

“Excellent swordsmanship, you must’ve put quite a bit of effort in it” Ilya commented.

Her two daggers began dancing around her fingertips like fluttering butterflies.

“You praise me too much” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“I’m going to get a little bit serious now, it’ll be hard to hold myself back so try not to get yourself killed”

While saying so, Ilya slowly shortened the distance between her and Gu Qing Shan.

The two dancing daggers were swiftly caught in her hands.

Dozens of afterimages appeared around where the daggers were, making it impossible to judge where they were going to strike.

Gu Qing Shan was also itching to try as well.

Having an expert assassin of this degree lower their own power to spar with was something that happened maybe once in a blue moon.

Gu Qing Shan stepped forward.

“Please” he said.

Ilya understood his sentiments and smiled.

Like a shadow or a mist, her body moved forward at unpredictable stretches, brandishing her gleaming sharp daggers.

Gu Qing Shan thrust his sword forward.

Oong—

The two daggers parried his strike, giving off a screeching grind of metal.

This time it was Ilya who parried his sword with her daggers!

In that split second, she opened her mouth to release a tiny dagger that aimed straight for Gu Qing Shan’s throat.

Clang!

The Earth sword appeared from thin air, knocking the dagger away.

Seeing the sword parrying her dagger before slashing towards her, Ilya retreated.

Gu Qing Shan held the Earth sword in hand.

He was now dual-wielding.

“Again?” he invited.

“Dual wielding? It’s quite difficult to use two swords at once to an agreeable degree” Ilya observed the Earth sword and spoke.

Gu Qing Shan replied:” This sword might be heavy, but it’s linked to my mind and flexible to use”

“Very well”

Ilya shook her head as her presence increased once more.

As the power she could use increased, so did the power and speed of her strikes.

Without saying another word, she brandished her daggers once again.

This time, they exchanged over 100 attacks in just the blink of an eye.

Seeing an opening, Gu Qing Shan suddenly thrust his sword.

This attack struck where Ilya couldn’t help but defend with her daggers.

With a slight push, the strike knocked Ilya away.

“Very well done”

Ilya stroked her chin.

Having swordsmanship of this caliber, it’s easy to see how he managed to protect Laura this far.

It was essential to know that a high proficiency of swordsmanship wasn’t something you could achieve through blind practice.

An expert swordsman wasn’t only skillful, their mind must also be sharp and flexible as well.

Because that was the nature of the sword, only those with talent could truly manifest its power.

Gu Qing Shan put his swords away, saying: “We can stop now”

“Not continuing anymore?”

Gu Qing Shan smiled bitterly: “If you increase your power further, I won’t be able to keep up with pure swordsmanship, the battle will cause a huge commotion that will attract the attention of the ghosts”

Ilya nodded and put her daggers away as well.

“In the cultivation civilization, there exists a type of cultivator who only cultures the sword, called sword cultivator—— you are one such sword cultivator, are you not?” she asked.

Gu Qing Shan silently nodded.

“Laura told me that you came from a Scattered world, but from your swordsmanship, I can see a deep understanding and grandness that simply cannot be used by someone who hasn’t seen a fair share of the worlds”

She fell in thought as she evaluated him.

“I feel that your swordsmanship is being held back by your current level of power, unable to demonstrate its full potential”

“From how you fought with the ghost army, you could already control flying swords, which meant you should have already reached the level Sword Saint by a sword cultivator’s standard”

“Just now, my power level was about twice as much as yours, but you still managed to win, even though we only sparred with pure skill and techniques, it was still a very impressive feat”

“With your talents and temperament, if you are able to keep improving yourself at such a rate, in a few hundred years’ time, you will be able to surpass the level of Sword Saint and take another step forward”

“If that’s the case, it isn’t a bad thing for Laura to have a friend like yourself”

She showed a friendly expression before concluding that.

So that was the true reason why she tried to probe Gu Qing Shan’s strength.

But she didn’t know that Gu Qing Shan was an exceptionally talented sword cultivator who was reliving his life, and he had already received some pointers from Bai Hua Fairy.

In the entire cultivation world, Bai Hua Fairy herself was the very cream of the crop, if it weren’t for the Laws of the world limiting her, she would’ve already reached a much higher realm than she was now.

From back then, Bai Hua Fairy had already concluded that Gu Qing Shan would definitely become a Sword Saint.

After leaving the cultivation world, Gu Qing Shan went through so much hardship, experienced many tough battles, then received all of the Asura King’s battle experience and techniques in Huang Quan.

That was why Gu Qing Shan’s vision, skill and experience all received an extremely potent boost.

If it weren’t for his cultivation limiting him, his swordsmanship alone would make him vastly stronger than most people of his peers.

Hearing Ilya’s comment, Gu Qing Shan didn’t act humble like he usually does.

Because he caught a few crucial words in her evaluation.

Gu Qing Shan’s expression turned serious, clasped his fist and asked: “Just now, you said I can surpass the level of Sword Saint and take another step forward?”

Ilya nodded.

“Might I ask, what is the level above Sword Saint like?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“It’s still too early for you to ask this” Ilya shook her head.

“The only thing I can tell you is that you’re still limited by your own cultivation, unable to fully demonstrate the power of your swords”

“If one day, you are able to use your swords at 200% capacity as freely as breathing, only then can you break through to the next level”

“The next level…”

“Yes, that is so-called ‘using them at will’, only once you’ve completely released the power of your swords can you begin to think about how to converge its power”

“Converge? Why would I converge?” Gu Qing Shan was surprised.

Ilya thought briefly and told him: “Then I’ll ask you this, the wind sword array technique that you used to eliminate the ghost army, was it strong?”

“It was strong. That is my most powerful strike” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Then imagine for yourself, what kind of power can it demonstrate if you converge all its power into a single, explosive strike?”

Gu Qing Shan froze.

He had never heard of this kind of idea and theology before.

After becoming a Sword Saint, there was no longer anyone who could teach him anything.

So far, what he had achieved was what he found out himself.

And now, someone stronger than him had put forward a new idea about his own swordsmanship.

The 32-fold Taiyi Sword Array, turning into a single strike?

Gu Qing Shan went silent for a bit as his expression gradually changed.

“If that was the case… this strike would be able to cut through anything and everything…”

Gu Qing Shan muttered.

“Correct. Convergence is much harder than release. When you can converge and release the power of your swords at will, that will be the phase when your swordsmanship reaches its pinnacle, when you can finally surpass the level of Sword Saint!” Ilya concluded.

Hearing that, Gu Qing Shan felt like he was being infused with power.

He clasped his fist sincerely: “Thank you for your teaching, I will remember this favor”

“No need to thank me. You’ve saved Laura, which is the same as saving our Bramble Bird Kingdom, consider those words of mine as thanks for your efforts”

“Not to mention, these aren’t my words, but rather the words of a sword-user friend of mine from 1000 years ago”

“Can I ask who that friend——”

“He is currently at the Strife Zones, the battlefield of all races, the cradle and grave of countless Professions and Combatants. Back then, Barry and Kitty also went there to rise up and finally become Lord-class Combatants”

“If you have the time, you can try going there to battle and cultivate, it’ll be very good for you” Ilya said.

Since she now recognized him, she decided to worry for his sake and informed him all he needed to know.

“Thank you for the teachings”

Gu Qing Shan nodded and said.