Chapter 1325: One Strike Shatters the Sword

Immersed in the sword techniques left by his ancestors for who knows how many years, Jian Qinsheng was thoroughly familiar with all the variations of this sword art.

That move just now could evolve into eighteen different attack methods, but definitely not from this angle or in this way!

It looked like a gentle thrust, yet it was like a stroke of genius, forcing one to defend while being impossible to defend against!

"This requires perfect timing and a thorough understanding of the opponent's moves to achieve. Even I... would need a long time to think of it. In battle, life and death are separated by a hair's breadth. To do this in such a tense moment..."

Jian Qinsheng couldn't believe it.

This move seemed simple, but it actually combined one's understanding of swordsmanship with a grasp of the opponent.

Even for him, executing it was extremely difficult.

"You..."

As he marveled inwardly, the opposing Senior Brother Xie felt his chest tighten, as if about to explode.

Though he didn't understand the subtlety of the opponent's move, when the strand of hair came at him, his entire aura was disrupted again. If he didn't do something, he would directly collide with it, with no way to dodge!

What the opponent held was just a strand of hair, but infused with true qi, it was no less sharp than a keen sword. If it truly struck, it could easily pierce the throat or even sever the head!

"Fall back!"

Knowing that continuing forward would result in unavoidable severe injury, he gritted his teeth, formed a hand seal with his left hand, and slapped forward.

Slap!

The air produced a sonic boom as he used the force to leap backward.

Because of the sudden change in power, the boiling true qi in his body could no longer be controlled. His internal organs felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, his face flushed red, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Two consecutive moves, without a single clash, and he was already injured...

No one would believe it if told.

"What... is going on?"

"I don't know either. What is Senior Brother Xie doing?"

With their level of insight, they couldn't see the power of Zhang Xuan's move. They only saw Senior Brother Xie gaining the upper hand, yet suddenly retreating, causing a backlash of power. They were all bewildered, unable to understand.

"Could it be... Senior Brother Xie has a tendency to self-harm?"

"That must be it. I remember Senior Brother once pursued Senior Sister Shui, but ended up beaten black and blue by someone."

"Yeah, after that, he never dared to make a move on Senior Sister... But what does that have to do with self-harm?"

"Who says it's unrelated? Everyone knows that a big shot in the academy likes Senior Sister Shui. He still dared to provoke her—if that's not asking for trouble, what is?"

Several junior disciples, supporting their chins, speculated silently.

"You..."

Seeing the expressions of the crowd, Senior Brother Xie knew exactly what they were thinking, and his face turned green.

He had intended to teach this arrogant brat a lesson on behalf of his teacher, but never expected that, wielding a mid-grade saint artifact, he couldn't even harm the guy holding a strand of hair, and instead ended up spitting blood himself.

"If you can block this move, I'll admit defeat!"

Taking a step back, he took a deep breath, and his eyes narrowed.

Swish!

The sword intent within him boiled up like boiling water, and a狂暴 surge of energy shot into the sky.

"It's Senior Brother's most powerful Carefree Sword!"

"This move was created by the teacher—one sword severs all worries, without sorrow or joy. At the same level, almost no one can block it!"

"When the teacher uses this move, he can release ninety-nine sword qi streams in an instant. Senior Brother Xie has the highest comprehension among us, and though he's far from ninety-nine, he still has a full thirty-two sword qi streams!"

"Sealing thirty-two acupoints of the opponent, with the qi mechanism triggered, they won't even have the ability to resist..."

...

The surroundings buzzed with commotion, and even Shui Qianrou's eyes showed concern.

This Zhang Xuan was brought by her; if he got injured by Senior Brother in a spar, it wouldn't look good for her either.

"With his strength, it should be fine..."

But thinking that he had even passed the Yi Character Alley, Senior Brother Xie, though strong, probably wasn't a match.

Zzzz!

As his internal energy reached its peak, Senior Brother Xie's body rose into the air, merging man and sword, and thrust forward fiercely.

"What a formidable martial technique!"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up immediately.

This move, transforming the body into a sword, looked simple but actually fused essence, qi, and spirit entirely into the sword path. Without extremely high comprehension, it was hard to achieve.

With one sword strike, it locked onto thirty-two acupoints of the opponent; any movement would result in injury. Truly impressive.

"Eye of Insight!"

Without time to think further, the patterns in his eyes shimmered. In an instant, the flaws in the opponent's move appeared clearly before him, as vivid as a mirror.

"Impressive power, but still many loopholes..."

Spotting at least a dozen flaws, Zhang Xuan didn't retreat. Choosing one, he raised the strand of hair and met the attack head-on.

"What is he doing?"

"Using a strand of hair to clash head-on with Senior Brother Xie's longsword?"

"No need to watch—he's asking for death..."

...

Seeing his action, the crowd buzzed again.

In their eyes, this newcomer, faced with Senior Brother Xie's ferocious attack, not only didn't dodge but charged forward—clearly suicidal.

Even Jian Qinsheng was somewhat puzzled.

The Carefree Sword was his creation, incredibly sharp and extremely powerful. Even sword techniques of the same level dared not clash head-on. Using a strand of hair to meet it... would easily result in injury, or even instant death!

Swish!

Amidst their puzzled gazes, the longsword and the strand of hair made contact.

Whoosh!

Just as everyone expected the latter to be shredded by the sword qi, the straight strand of hair suddenly curved, bending at an unimaginable angle, and landed on the back of the longsword!

Hum!

A sound like a hammer striking a bell rang out, followed by a dense series of crisp "crack! crack!" sounds.

Everyone was stunned. They quickly looked and saw the longsword, struck by the strand of hair, beginning to crack like porcelain. In an instant, it shattered into countless pieces, falling to the ground.

Pfft!

With the sword shattered, true qi backlashed. Senior Brother Xie's face flushed red, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His body swayed, and he fell from the air.

Though the Carefree Sword was extremely powerful, in the state of man-sword unity, the demands on the sword were very high. When the sword shattered, it was as if his essence, qi, and spirit were severed in an instant. With just that one blow, he was severely injured.

"This..."

The surroundings fell into dead silence. Everyone looked at the young man holding the strand of hair as if they had seen a ghost.

"I lost..."

Taking a pill and standing up, Senior Brother Xie was filled with dejection, but he knew he had indeed lost.

Wielding a mid-grade saint artifact, defeated by a strand of hair...

Even experiencing it firsthand, it felt like a dream, hard to believe.

"You lost without injustice!"

Jian Qinsheng's eyes shone as he looked at Zhang Xuan, as if seeing a treasure: "This young brother's swordsmanship is far superior to yours!"

"Yes..." Senior Brother Xie nodded, his face full of shame.

"We're just sparring and learning from each other. Senior Brother Xie's swordsmanship is also admirable!" Zhang Xuan quickly said.

"Using a strand of hair to shatter his longsword—your mastery of the sword is truly at its peak!"

Jian Qinsheng said: "If I'm not mistaken, that strand of hair of yours should have broken as well, right?"

"Yes!"

Nodding, Zhang Xuan relaxed the true qi at his fingertip.

Whoosh!

The originally straight strand of hair, blown by a gentle breeze, instantly turned to powder and scattered around.

Everyone was startled again.

Infusing true qi into a whole strand of hair wasn't too difficult, but to shatter it like this while maintaining the flow of true qi and shattering Senior Brother Xie's longsword... How strong must his control be?

"Actually, you don't need to be dejected. Your longsword wasn't cut by his hair!"

Confirming his guess, Jian Qinsheng smiled and comforted his student.

Senior Brother Xie was puzzled, and the others were also confused.

They had clearly seen the opponent use the hair to strike the longsword, and the sword broke on impact. How could it not be?

"When you executed the Carefree Sword, the sword qi thrust straight forward, with all power concentrated at the tip, hoping to defeat the opponent. At that moment, the sword body was at its weakest. He struck the hair against a point on the sword body that happened to be a node of force. Upon impact, the true qi within the sword body surged chaotically and became uncontrollable... In simple terms, it was your own power that shattered the longsword. His hair merely found the right spot and timing with great skill!"

To prevent his student from losing confidence, Jian Qinsheng explained, then looked over: "Am I correct?"

"You are perceptive, senior!"

Zhang Xuan nodded.

What the other said was correct. Even infused with true qi, a strand of hair couldn't cut a mid-grade saint artifact. The effect occurred, as he said, by borrowing Senior Brother Xie's own power!

When the true qi was struck by the hair, it scattered everywhere. Under the violent impact, not only did it injure him, but it also shattered the sword body.

Suffering the backlash of power, the hair couldn't withstand it and turned to ash. If not for his pure true qi flowing through it, it might have disappeared just now.

"Finding the flaw in battle, channeling power, and using a hair to shatter the sword body—if I'm not mistaken..."

Looking at him with bright eyes, Jian Qinsheng spoke with excitement and disbelief: "Your understanding of the sword path has already reached the level of True Solution, hasn't it?"

Only by reaching the True Solution of the sword path could one perceive such fine details, clearly judge every direction of sword qi, and make even Senior Brother Xie, who executed the Carefree Sword, far from a match.

"Yes!" Nodding, Zhang Xuan did not deny it.

If he hadn't made a move, he could have concealed it. But after displaying his sword technique, if someone of this caliber still couldn't see it, they would have wasted all those years of sword practice.

"Comprehending the True Solution of the sword path at around twenty years old... Are you from the Zhang family?"

Hearing his confirmation, Jian Qinsheng was full of shock, still somewhat incredulous.

What level of sword talent would be needed to achieve this? Even he, once called a genius, had spent immeasurable effort to reach this realm.

"Zhang family? I really am not..." Zhang Xuan smiled bitterly. Why did everyone who heard his name think he was from the Zhang family?

Could it be that only the Zhang family could produce geniuses?

Couldn't an ordinary person reach his level?

"Not?" Jian Qinsheng was stunned, then burst into laughter: "That's great, haha!"

"This..." Seeing his excitement, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but be startled.

Hearing that he wasn't from the Zhang family and being so excited—could it be that this Jian Qinsheng had a grudge against the Zhang family?