Chapter 147: Xu Jingming vs. Liu Hai (2)
Translator: CKtalon
After stabbing out with his strongest ninth strike, Xu Jingming’s subsequent moves inevitably suffered a decline in momentum, and their might became inferior to the ninth strike.
“Hmph.” Liu Hai took a step and closed in domineeringly. His saber flashed agilely, affecting Xu Jingming’s spear and his retreating speed.
Not good! Xu Jingming immediately sensed that things were going south and wanted to retreat.
However, Liu Hai’s saber technique had undergone a transformation. Once his saber touched Xu Jingming, his strength would be affected, and he wouldn’t be able to retreat at full strength.
Liu Hai kept advancing.
The shield in his left hand blocked Xu Jingming’s counter-attack, and the saber in his right hand flashed, sticking to Xu Jingming’s blocking weapon time and time again. At the same time that it touched the weapon, an invisible fluctuation transmitted to Xu Jingming’s body, affecting his speed.
What kind of saber technique is this? Xu Jingming felt uncomfortable. He could only grit his teeth and forcefully execute his spearmanship in a bid to force Liu Hai back. However, he couldn’t send the transformed Liu Hai into a retreat.
He was stuck! They were in close range!
Even though Xu Jingming’s spearmanship changes were extremely fast, Liu Hai forced his disciple into a panic after just ten strikes with the combination of his saber and shield. A saber beam sliced across Xu Jingming’s chest, slicing through his light armor and causing blood to seep out of his chest.
Liu Hai retreated after striking out and smiled at Xu Jingming.
Xu Jingming helplessly tapped his personal interface to recover.
“Master, I lost,” Xu Jingming said helplessly. Then, he couldn’t help but say, “Master, your saber technique improved greatly in the end. Not only did you block my spearmanship, but you even prevented me from escaping. You even managed to slice open my protective armor with a single strike.”
He also had a Transcendent 99% body, so the light armor was heavier and had excellent defense.
“I have to thank you.” Liu Hai chuckled and was very happy. “I nearly lost to your nine consecutive strikes, especially the ninth strike at the end. My potential was forced out at that final moment. With a flash of inspiration, my saber technique broke through… and I blocked that strike.”
“That saber technique is extremely fast,” Xu Jingming praised. “Moreover, it’s good at sticking to weapons, affecting the opponent to a certain extent.”
“My saber technique uses the Taiji lineage as its foundation,” Liu Hai introduced. “I obtained the legacy and possessed a cosmic legend, so I gained quite a lot. I just comprehended deeper profundities of my saber technique. My strikes are divided into Yin and Yang, and it’s extremely fast and powerful. Moreover, Yin and Yang fluctuations can mess up the delivery of the enemy’s physical strength.”
Xu Jingming fell into thought.
“Your spearmanship is impressive enough. If a slightly weaker person were to fight me, just striking his weapon will result in the Yin-Yang fluctuations entering his body, causing it to lose control,” Liu Hai said.
Xu Jingming nodded slightly. “I know that Taiji is primarily about controlling oneself before the enemy, but it’s ridiculous that one strike can make the enemy lose control.”
“Just like your nine martial arts classes, this is actually also a transmission of strength,” Liu Hai said. “When I strike out, the Yin-Yang force transmitted is an oscillating force. This force exceeds the enemy’s level of control, so the enemy’s body will naturally lose control.”
“Impressive.” Xu Jingming sighed with emotion. “I admit my loss.”
His Beam Transformation also borrowed the force of strikes. He kept borrowing force and eventually fused it into his ninth strike.
However, the control of strength in Liu Hai’s saber technique was clearly more profound.
Of course… he couldn’t be envious. After all, Liu Hai had studied martial arts his entire life and had an extremely solid foundation. The legacies and cosmic legend he possessed were all compatible with him as well. All of these fused into Taiji, allowing him to have such a saber technique.
Meanwhile, he had his own path. His Beam Transformation’s nine-hit combo was also a very strong move, but in a situation where both of them were at Lv. 4 99%, he was still inferior to his master in actual combat.
“I’ve been training several decades longer than you, but I still won so narrowly. I’m afraid I won’t be your match the next time we fight. After all, you improve quite quickly in terms of honing your will, but my improvement is slow.” Liu Hai tapped the interface gently, and a stone bench and table appeared beside him. There were also fruits, wine, and food on the table.
“Have a seat,” Liu Hai said.
“As long as there’s improvement, we will eventually break through,” Xu Jingming said and sat down.
Liu Hai smiled at his disciple. “This battle today has helped me quite a bit. My saber technique has broken through, and my mind and will have improved greatly.”
“It’s the same for me; I’ve made some breakthroughs.” Xu Jingming smiled and was in a good mood. To be able to deliver nine consecutive strikes… On the one hand, it was an improvement in his spearmanship, and on the other hand, it was a reflection of his mind and will’s strength.
Only with a sufficiently strong mind and will could he deliver that strike.
Now that he could sense all the cells in his body more clearly, he felt that it should be considered as ‘sensing all cells.’ It wouldn’t be too far from that.
“It’s naturally a good thing to have a breakthrough,” Liu Hai said. “After all, what’s in front of us is the greatest obstacle for planetary lifeforms—breaking through to Lv. 5.”
Xu Jingming nodded slightly.
To break through to Lv. 5, the first step was to ‘clearly sense all the cells in the body.’ He had almost completed this step! Even if it was lacking, it wasn’t that bad. He just needed three to five days to consolidate his insights.
Now, it was the second step—he had to begin to control every cell consciously!
Controlling was also a very difficult step. After all, there were too many cells in one’s body. It was impossible to multitask a billion tasks and control every cell separately—this was unrealistic.
He had to uniformly mobilize every cell to a certain extent before he could be considered a Lv. 5. If he could perfectly mobilize every cell, it would be Lv. 5 99%.
A cell-level body control. Xu Jingming knew what he had to do next.
“As long as you can successfully break through to Lv. 5, it won’t be difficult to become a cosmic lifeform.” Liu Hai sighed with emotion. “Jingming, the legacy you received has also mentioned cosmic lifeforms, right?”
Xu Jingming nodded. “Yes. All of us, including countless people on Earth, can only be considered planetary lifeforms.”
“Long lifespans, ability to fly, the ability to travel the cosmos with just a body of meat and flesh, inedia, and the ability to absorb stellar light and the energy from all kinds of radiation…” Liu Hai sighed with emotion. “It’s indeed much stronger than us. Only at this level can one be considered a cosmic citizen. We weak planetary lifeforms aren’t considered cosmic citizens. We don’t enjoy the protection of the Cosmic Human Alliance’s laws in the universe.”
“The Cosmic Human Alliance’s laws?” Xu Jingming was surprised.
“This is the information I came into contact with when I possessed the cosmic legend,” Liu Hai said. “Many of the people from that cosmic legend’s hometown are still planetary lifeforms. If they aren’t cosmic citizens, they won’t be protected by the Cosmic Human Alliance’s laws! They can only be protected by their homeworld’s civilization!”
Xu Jingming nodded. “I possessed a cosmic legend and learned that the cosmic legend was a councilor of the Cosmic Human Alliance when he was at Lv. 10.”
Although many secrets were prohibited from being leaked, including the exchange list, those who had received the legacies and had read the exchange list knew the secrets. They could discuss it.
“Jingming.” Liu Hai sighed and said, “From the information I’ve come into contact with, our civilization on Earth only controls one human-inhabited planet—Earth. Other planets in the Solar System can’t accommodate humans, so they can only be treated as mineral planets. A civilization like this is indeed very weak with just one inhabited planet and several mineral planets.”
“It’s very weak,” Xu Jingming agreed. “When a Lv. 10 expert I possessed was at Lv. 9, the large factions were willing to pay him ten administrative stars and the stellar systems that came with them when they roped him in. In other words… the civilization on Earth is inferior to a single Lv. 9 existence.”
“Earth’s civilization is very weak, but we are even weaker,” Liu Hai said. “You and I can be considered the top forces on Earth these days, but we aren’t even considered cosmic citizens. Cosmic citizens are the most basic threshold to travel the universe and deal with other civilizations; it’s something we haven’t reached!”
“Therefore, the Earth Alliance spared no expense to allow everyone to enter the virtual world and learn evolutionary methods,” Xu Jingming said. “Only by becoming a cosmic lifeform can we have the right to truly interact with the outside world.”
Liu Hai nodded. “I’ve seen and experienced a lot in my life. I understand a certain principle: Individual strength is the most important! Relying on external forces isn’t sustainable.”
Xu Jingming agreed. “You’ll get beaten if you fall behind.”
“Earth is very weak. We are considered talented, so we have to work harder,” Liu Hai said. “If you and I can reach Lv. 9… it will probably improve the strength of Earth’s civilization greatly.”
“Yeah.” Xu Jingming nodded. “Work hard and become a Lv.. 9.”