Stranger Danger

If the sword art from before was a fish in the sea, now it truly resembled the great tides.

Slowly, a coastal wind blew from the east, and vapor rose from the sea. The wind entered the sword force, and the sea the sword intent.

Every time he swung his sword horizontally, it was like the crash of a great tidal wave.

Every time he swung his sword vertically, it was like the ebbing and flowing of tides.

Xiahou Qi was like a small boat attempting to weather the majestic, magnificent storm that was Chao Haisheng’s sword force. At first glance, it looked like he would capsize and perish at any moment.

In reality, Xiahou Qi was fine. In fact, he showed no signs of decline at all.

Those who looked closely would discover that Xiahou Qi—despite fighting with his bare hands and using plain, simple techniques—flashed red with every move he made. He could always pinpoint a weak spot in Chao Haisheng’s techniques and destroy its sword force with ease.

Seeing how easily Xiahou Qi had blocked his assault, Chao Haisheng slowly but surely became angry. He changed his technique and launched seventy two strikes in a row.

Each swing was stronger, heavier, and loftier than the last. His immense sword qi transformed into tidal waves that stood equal to the sea, and his infinite sword intent seemingly merged with the sea and rose with the tides.

When the seventy two strikes descended, his sword qi aligned with the sea, and his sword force rose with the tides.

At that moment, it was as if Chao Haisheng was the sea, and the sea was Chao Hai Sheng.

This was the ultimate technique of the “Rising Tide Sword Art”, “Rising With The Tides”.

“What a ‘Rising Tide Sword Art’, what a ‘Rising With The Tides’! Chao Haisheng deserves his fame!”

The crowd was quite impressed by his neverending, ebbing and flowing sword force, but Xiahou Qi was still doing the exact same thing as before. He continued to fight barehanded using the same techniques as before.

“This is a bit too arrogant even for Xiahou Qi, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Who doesn’t know that the ‘Rising Tide Sword Art’ in a sword art focused on the ebbing and flowing of tides and unending, growing pressure? Each attack is only more powerful than the last. When his assault reaches full swing, it would truly become as unstoppable as the raging sea!”

“Tsk tsk… that’s how youngsters are. They are too arrogant for their own good.”

“When are you going to use your saber, Xiahou Qi?” Chao Haisheng noticed Xiahou Qi’s laxness and could not help but raise his voice, “Are you looking down on me?”

“Correct.” Xiahou Qi said indifferently, “You don’t deserve my saber.”

“You are courting death!”

Enraged, Chao Haisheng stopped holding back and held Rising Tide in front of him. The blade was pointed downward, and the spine was facing forward. Then, he pushed. ᚱàŊố𐌱ÊṢ

The push was the convergence of the sword qi, sword force, and sword intent of the seventy two sword strikes. The sword qi turned into the sea, and the intent the waves. At that moment, a sea took form, the waves churned, and the world darkened.

The attack was named “Joined With The Sea”. It was, in fact, not a sword technique in the “Rising Tide Sword Art”.

There were only seventy two techniques in the “Rising Tide Sword Art”. “Joined With The Sea” was the ultimate technique Chao Haisheng invented after mastering the “Rising Tide Sword Art” and observing the ebb and flow of the tides for thirty years. It was a technique that combined the sword qi, sword force, and sword intent of all seventy two strikes of the “Rising Tide Sword Art” into one.

Of course, if “Joined With The Sea” was executed individually, then it would not nearly be as strong as it could be. But if it was used after the seventy two strikes of the “Rising Tide Sword Art”, if it was able to mold all of the sword qi, sword force, and sword intent into one, then it possessed the power to destroy heaven and earth.

Rumble…

The next moment, Xiahou Qi was engulfed by the tidal wave of sword qi.

“Gulp… what a terrifying strike!”

“It is quite terrifying. I wonder if Xiahou Qi can block it?”

“I know. It’s one thing if he’s injured, but if he’s dead, then Chao Haisheng might have forfeited his life as well.”

“Agreed. The Martial Sovereign would probably bury the Canglang Island with him.”

The surrounding crowd was astounded by the strength of Chao Haisheng’s attack and worried for Xiahou Qi’s safety. However, not a single one of them thought that Xiahou Qi would win.

The next moment, a beam of light shone out of the dark tide of sword qi.

The light was dark red like a candle flame in the night or a light tower in the sea: weak, lonely, but bright.

Slowly, the light grew bigger and brighter. The sword qi couldn’t stop it, and the unending tide could not blot it out.

The crowd could only stare in astonishment as a bloody sun rose out of the tidal waves and into the sky, its heat waves and bloody light dyeing the sky in red instantly.

The sword qi receded, the sword force dissipated, and the sword intent melted under the bloody sunlight.

In just the blink of an eye, the tidal wave of sword qi was no more. All that remained was a bloody sun and a bloody light that illuminated both the land and the sea.

It was only now the people realized that the bloody sun wasn’t an actual sun. It was a man, and the bloody light came from the dark red patterns on his body.

The man was of course Xiahou Qi.

Xiahou Qi’s upper torso was bare. His skin color was dark red, but it was smooth and flawless like lapis lazuli. Dark red patterns were etched on his jade-like skin, and together, they looked like the sun. As the sun rotated, waves of bloody light washed out of Xiahou Qi and conjured all sorts of magnificent illusions. It made Xiahou Qi look like a demon or a god.

Someone exclaimed in surprise, “The Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body! It’s the Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body!”

“To think that Xiahou Qi had already reached the adept level of the ‘Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra’. No wonder they call him the Junior Martial Sovereign.”

Everyone was exclaiming in surprise and echoing their sentiment.

The so-called Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body was a true body a practitioner attained when they reached the adept level of the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra”.

The “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra” was a godly body-tempering martial art passed down within the Xiahou Clan. The practitioner would temper their body using the pure yang essence of the red sun so that their vigor was strengthened, and their internal organs were nourished. When someone had reached the end of the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra”, the practitioner’s internal organs would circulate like the sky, their vigor would become as vast as the red sun, and their body would be tough everlasting.

Originally a deep and profound Grandmaster-stage body-tempering martial art, it became much stronger after Xiahou Zun perfected it, improved it, and innovated it.

Back in the day, it was thanks to the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra” that Xiahou Zun became invincible under the heavens and world famous.

In fact, the large majority of people knew that Xiahou Qi practiced the legendary “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra”. Since he was an accomplished Grandmaster, it made sense that his attainment in the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra” was great. However, they thought that he was still a long way from reaching the adept level of the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra” and forging the Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body.

Back then, Xiahou Zun was praised as a once-in-a-century talent. He was born with a flawless body with all meridians unlocked and an exceptionally strong body. However, even he did not reach the adept level of the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra” and forge his Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body until he was near his forties.

That was why everyone was surprised. It had taken Xiahou Qi almost half the time to reach his father’s previous level.

Of course, this by no means meant that Xiahou Zun’s talent was inferior to his son’s. Back in the day, the Xiahou Clan was in decline, and their resources were lacking. No one was able to reach the adept level of the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra”. Despite Xiahou Zun’s astounding talent, he was greatly limited by his circumstances. He had had to forge his own path and gather the cultivation resources he needed to advance to the next level himself. That was why his cultivation speed was slower than expected.

On the other hand, Xiahou Qi did not need to suffer like his father had. He simply needed to follow the path his father had blazed ahead of him, nor did he have to worry about cultivation resources. Of course his cultivation speed was faster than his father’s.

That said, Xiahou Qi’s accomplishment was still stunning. The fact that he managed to reach the adept level of the “Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Sutra” and forge the Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body in his twenties proved that his talent was at least on par with his father.

Xiahou Zun didn’t have only one son. He had countless disciples as well. However, none of them had managed to forge the Red Sun Everlasting Treasured Body at the same age as he. This was proof that Xiahou Qi’s talent was no joke.

In the future, it was possible that Xiahou Qi might become the second Martial Sovereign.

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