Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 903 - 722: I’ve Got It

As if he hadn’t seen the scene of his two companions’ miserable defeat, Huai Zhisu walked into the arena holding the sword sent by Tenmoku.

Relaxed and leisurely.

He drew the sword and swung it twice, unable to help but sigh.

In terms of weight, length, and even ease of use, it’s far inferior to Grudge.

Not very good.

"This must be quite old, right?" He turned and asked, "Rather than calling it a weapon, it seems more like an antique. Looks expensive, shouldn’t it be well preserved?"

"Once a sword becomes an antique, it loses its meaning. It’s best to use it until it’s worn out while it can still be used."

Tenmoku waved his hand indifferently, "It’s the so-called letting things serve their purpose. If tools are not used to the point of breaking, don’t they lose their meaning?"

As an experienced tool user, Huai Shi felt the profound malice of the world.

He held the knife in his hand and swung it twice again, producing a buzzing sound from the blade.

It felt like a stick of this length would be much more convenient to wield. He completely didn’t realize how clumsy his posture appeared in the eyes of professionals.

Across from him, Xiangqu Yilang couldn’t help but frown.

A famous blade gathering dust, entrusted to the wrong person... This probably describes the situation, right?

"Enough."

Huai Shi nodded, fully acquainted with this particular weapon, then looked up and smiled, "Let’s begin."

Beside him, the attendant brought over a brand new set of protective gear, but Huai Shi didn’t even glance at it, waving his hand dismissively, "No need for such cumbersome things."

As soon as he spoke, everyone frowned.

Tenmoku’s expression stiffened for a moment.

At the back, Arakawa even displayed a mocking expression.

"Humph, courting death..."

Huai Shi shrugged indifferently, then finally lifted his head to look at his opponent, "Xiangqu Yilang, is that really your name? Never mind, a false name is also fine..."

He stared at the solemn and cold face and suddenly said, "You’re using deceit, aren’t you?"

Xiangqu Yilang remained expressionless, as if he hadn’t heard.

Or, he simply couldn’t be bothered to respond to the words of an amateur.

Huai Shi looked down, gazing at the remaining bloodstains on the ground, and suddenly chuckled softly.

"If he wasn’t wearing armor, Jiechuan wouldn’t have been defeated so quickly..."

He said, "Though that self-sacrifice sword just now was too rough, difficult to watch, it shouldn’t have been so pitiful. Even without Qi合, he wouldn’t have fallen so quickly.

White Butterfly’s defeat was too fast. You put too much pressure on him, leading him astray, making him think you were unfathomable, but he completely failed to realize the darkness under the lamp—"

White Butterfly’s downfall was so swift, he hadn’t had time to notice, only hearing the wind.

But just now, the battle with Jiechuan, he saw it crystal clear.

Jiechuan seemed to seize the initiative and gain the upper hand.

But in reality, he completely fell into his opponent’s trap.

Xiangqu Yilang deliberately waited, waited for his opponent to make a move, waited for them to expose a flaw—then, with his advanced skills, he calmly exploited the false while hitting the true, ultimately achieving a decisive strike, determining the outcome instantly.

With the elimination of all Source Substance applications, this pure swordsmanship duel is merely an application of physics and physiology.

Admittedly, power, speed, nerve reflex, etc., are all important, but wherever there is a flaw, the final result could be entirely different.

But most importantly, it’s experience!

For a samurai like Xiangqu Yilang with deep knowledge, everything before him follows established patterns—since ancient times, all the variations in swordsmanship have been walked by his predecessors.

It’s said that any duel in any dojo today can be traced back to countless similar cases in extensive records.

Every maneuver can find an appropriate method and optimal solution.

Like in Go, Shogi, and Chess and similar games, once you inadvertently fall into an old pattern and allow the opponent to seize the thread, you’re basically out.

This is the so-called overwhelming reason with power.

The moment Jiechuan raised his self-sacrifice sword, over ten thousand countermeasures emerged in his opponent’s mind, requiring no thought.

Pure muscle memory makes the most appropriate reflex.

Just like Huai Shi daring to use Drummer and Yu Step before Luo Xian, ultimately will only get beaten soundly. Those are things others are bored with playing, it’s just like showing off an axe at Lu Ban’s door.

This match, in the eyes of amateurs, is unfairly three against one.

In reality, quite the opposite.

From the start, the outcome was heavily skewed.

Xiangqu Yilang was almost in a position of assured victory.

"Of course, even without the hindrance of armor, Jiechuan’s reaction might still be unable to reverse the situation, but if he had chosen a defensive and conservative approach from the start, even if he couldn’t win, he wouldn’t have lost so swiftly and wretchedly."

After hearing Huai Shi’s words, Xiangqu Yilang still remained expressionless, yet his gaze toward Huai Shi turned somewhat unpleasant.

"You, really don’t understand swordsmanship, do you?" He finally made a sound, full of cold indifference.

"Yes, that’s right."

Huai Shi candidly nodded, "I’ve never learned it."

He doesn’t understand fake or real, remnant heart, practice.

He doesn’t know stances, blade muscles, or footwork!

"But as for dueling, I’ve seen plenty in comics and TV shows—" he said in a booming voice, "Rounding up, it’s equivalent to me knowing how to!"

"..."

Xiangqu Yilang’s eye twitched, unable to hide his anger and murderous intent.

No matter who it is, hearing something they’ve poured their life’s blood into being so belittled and scorned would be hard to take calmly. It’s not just him—other people in the audience also booed. If it weren’t for the inappropriate setting, they might have started to jeer.

Yet Huai Shi continued his outrageous talk: "Your swordsmanship is indeed very impressive; the foresight and ability to respond late and hit first are also strong—no, extremely strong...almost no gaps or flaws!"

He paused for a moment, suddenly smiling: "But you haven’t noticed, you have a fatal flaw—"

Saying this, Huai Shi raised his hand and pointed to his own face.

"—Have you noticed that I am taller than you?"

In an instant, the sublimators observing were nearly floored, even the audience struggled to suppress their rage, almost ready to throw their teacups.

"Don’t joke around, you bastard!"

"Stop wasting time, fight already!"

"Blabbering on, are you even a man?!"

"Go, Xiangqu-san, kill him!"

Unlike those angry spectators, Xiangqu Yilang froze for a moment and then his expression turned grim.

Because Huai Shi was right.

This really...is his flaw.

Huai Shi originally stood at 175 cm, but after a sublimator’s development phase and a year, his height stabilized at 186 cm, and with shoes, he could reach 188 cm.

Among sublimators, it’s not particularly tall nor particularly short—a moderate range. His weight was relatively light, and with this height and weight, he could best utilize the agility and explosive specialties of Yin Soul.

And Xiangqu Yilang’s height was 183 cm.

A mere five-centimeter difference.

But height was just the most superficial difference—the truly fatal flaw it caused...was the reach!

Huai Shi’s arm span was three centimeters longer than his!

An inch longer, an inch stronger!

Now, amidst the audience’s noisy jeers, Huai Shi slowly took off his suit jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing his forearms.

He slightly spread his legs, stood firmly on the ground, and then raised his hands, gripping the sword hilt, lifting it high.

In Sword Dao, this was an unmistakable upper stance.

The Tang Bamboo Type, ready to strike!

Indeed, the chopping action had completely distorted from swordsmanship and was far from qualified!

But no one could deny that under such a strange stance, Huai Shi’s height and arm length advantage was maximized.

With his height, arm reach, and the advantage of his sword-holding posture, his attack range was ten centimeters longer than Xiangqu Yilang’s!

"How about it, Xiangqu Yilang?"

Huai Shi smiled: "How does it feel to be ensnared by your own web?"

A duel excluding all Stigma and Source Techniques?

What a joke!

The upcoming confrontation had nothing to do with swordsmanship!

If the opponent wanted to rely on his rich experience to remain undefeated, then what Huai Shi needed to do was forcefully drag the opponent out of the domain of swordsmanship and defeat him with his rich rascal experience!

When Xiangqu Yilang discarded miracles to eliminate variables, the outcome of the battle had already been dictated by cold physical laws.

Now, when both sides’ neural reflexes had reached their peak and were on the same level, the changes in moves were meaningless.

What remained was nothing but simple math problems.

Knowing that Huai Zhisu’s height was 188 cm, arm span 193 cm, the length of the sword he held 75 cm, with the neural reflex speed negligible, and the maximum initial speed...

Through a series of calculations, when Xiangqu Yilang stepped into this ten-centimeter disparity between them, how should he avoid defeat?

It was like Xiaoming sitting in front of a swimming pool, watching water flow in one end and out the other, utterly helpless.

Could you kindly help him?

"Come on, Xiangqu Yilang."

Huai Shi stared at his opponent, curiously asking, "Why aren’t you moving?"

"No matter if it’s the Xiangqu Shindo Style, Yagyu New Yin Style, Ittoryu, Kasumi Style, or Mud Rock Flow, whatever it is, bring it on!"

Now, having discarded all irrelevant thoughts, he had become a pure machine, waiting for his opponent to enter his attack range.

The outcome hinged on these ten centimeters.

In the gradually approaching deathly silence, he smiled and softly declared: "By the way, my next target of attack...is also the face!"

"You bastard!"

Xiangqu Yilang’s face was ashen, enraged, his sword blade lifted, and he stepped forward fiercely.

But Huai Shi didn’t budge, expressionless.

Like a clay sculpture, wooden carving.

No reaction at all.

Not even his gaze rested on him but fell into some void space, discarding all distractions, leaving only the purest reflex response.