Section 43: A Hundred Flowers Blooming, Crushing Failed, Only to Be Crushed!
By Gu Zhenren
February 9, 2013
“How can a saber be so fierce!” Only through personal experience could Hua Ying understand why previous challengers, even knowing how to counter Chu Yun’s saber techniques, had all fallen.
Saber techniques also depend on the wielder.
Even an ordinary saber, in Chu Yun’s hands, transforms into a peerless weapon that sweeps across the land!
Facing Chu Yun’s onslaught, Hua Ying felt waves of powerlessness and despair, his spirit utterly captivated. This was the gap.
One, a flower grown in the Academy, the other, a blade master who had navigated the brink of life and death for over twenty years!
“No, I absolutely cannot lose! I still have trump cards, I still have my newly refined Cultivation Method!” The powerlessness and despair deeply wounded Hua Ying’s pride. He roared and instantly retrieved five or six arrows from his Immortal Pouch.
These arrows were young Demon Soldiers. Their shafts were pink, their tips sharp, and their fletching as soft as petals.
“A Hundred Flowers Blooming!” Six arrows were nocked, the bow drawn taut like a full moon, and they were unleashed in a simultaneous volley.
The arrows exploded mid-air, transforming into a rain of pink blossoms. The petals, like spinning blades, whizzed through the air, covering everything in a breathtaking display of lethal intent.
“Upper grade Cultivation Method!” The spectators gasped, their hearts palpitating at the power of the Hundred Flowers Blooming technique.
“The cub tiger charged forward!” The crowd was shocked again. Chu Yun was too brave, treating fearsome deadly intent as if it were nothing.
His legs powerfully pushed off the ground, Chu Yun’s eyes, like a hawk’s, locked onto Hua Ying. His sharp gaze was like saber light, impossible to meet directly.
“Your heart is already chaotic, any upper grade Cultivation Method is useless! Xue Ya, open for me!” Chu Yun shouted. The Drunken Snow Saber in his hand surged with saber light, brilliant and silver, suddenly expanding to three times its size.
The saber light solidified, appearing as though Chu Yun’s Drunken Snow Saber had abruptly grown larger.
The saber energy was as cold as ice. Hua Ying’s face turned ashen; the casual demeanor he had moments ago vanished. He retreated, step by step.
As he approached the flower rain, Chu Yun swung the Drunken Snow Saber, a horizontal slash.
*Boom!*
Beneath the gleaming saber light, the sky full of petals swirled and withered.
With another swing, a vertical slash.
*Boom!*
The fierce saber light made the flower rain sway.
*Boom!*
The third saber strike cleaved a path through. Chu Yun emerged unscathed from the curtain of flowers and dashed forward like lightning, once again before Hua Ying.
Hua Ying gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. A vine arrow was already nocked on his bow, ready to be loosed.
“Half Moon Slash!” Chu Yun’s great saber sliced through the air, and with a swish, a snow-white saber light tore through the air, shooting forth.
Hua Ying stumbled, barely dodging, his composure completely lost.
Chu Yun struck again with another Half Moon Slash. Hua Ying’s posture was chaotic as he desperately evaded, no longer possessing his earlier calm confidence.
With Chu Yun’s third Half Moon Slash, Hua Ying’s hand trembled. He dropped the vine arrow, reversed his grip on the Hundred Flowers Bow, and focused solely on dodging.
“Damn, that cub tiger is too brutal! He suppressed archery with saber techniques!”
“Chu Yun is unstoppable, even Elder Hua Ying’s Hundred Flowers Blooming was split open by his three saber strikes!”
“So ferocious, even the renowned Hua Family’s archery of the Archipelago couldn’t hold him back.”
The onlookers let out exclamations of awe, their shocked expressions frozen as they watched Chu Yun relentlessly pursue Hua Ying.
The situation was utterly beyond their expectations. They had anticipated a protracted battle, but in just a few rounds, it had devolved into a chase.
Hua Ying felt like vomiting blood from frustration. He was completely suppressed by a lower grade Cultivation Method like the Half Moon Slash. Now, he was forced to flee in a desperate attempt to create distance and regroup.
How could Chu Yun allow him that?
Seizing an opportunity, he activated his movement technique, “Charge.” His speed instantly surged as he charged violently behind Hua Ying. Without a word, he raised the Drunken Snow Saber and brought it down with immense force.
“Ah!” Hua Ying cried out in alarm. In his desperation, he could only raise the Hundred Flowers Bow to block.
*Bang!*
The saber blade scraped against the bow, leaving a white mark. Hua Ying staggered back, his hair disheveled, utterly disheveled.
Chu Yun pounced again, this time activating Xue Ya. The Drunken Snow Saber grew three times its size, its saber light like snow, chilling onlookers to the bone.
The colossal saber blade carved a bright arc through the air, exuding an overwhelming might. Countless people gasped simultaneously.
Facing such an attack, Hua Ying’s pupils contracted to the size of needles. His heart skipped a beat, and he braced himself, using his bow to meet the blow.
*Boom!*
A massive explosion sounded, the brilliant saber light dispersing and blinding everyone’s eyes.
Hua Ying felt an irresistible force surge through his arms. His hands went numb, and he could no longer hold onto the Hundred Flowers Bow. He watched helplessly as it flew out of his grasp.
Simultaneously, his vision spun violently as Chu Yun sent him flying with a saber strike. His body tumbled a great distance through the air before landing on the ground with a thud.
He then became a tumbling ball, rolling for who knows how many turns before finally coming to a halt. His head spun, stars danced before his eyes, his pristine white clothes were covered in mud, and the muscles in his handsome face twitched. His body felt as though it had fallen apart, every inch aching, causing him to gasp.
He struggled to get up, his pale, dazed face a stark contrast to his earlier elegant demeanor and cheerful conversation, evoking deep sighs of pity.
Suddenly, he felt a shadow fall over him. He looked up, his pupils immediately constricting to the size of needles.
Chu Yun stood before him. His expression was impassive, his sharp gaze colder than the Drunken Snow Saber.
Hua Ying knelt on the ground, his face pale and panicked, looking up at Chu Yun. He felt an oppressive weight, as if Chu Yun had become a mountain, blocking his path!
This mountain was too immense; Hua Ying had never felt so small.
“You lost,” Chu Yun said slowly, sheathing the Drunken Snow Saber. His calm tone struck Hua Ying’s heart like three sharp arrows.
“Lost? I actually lost!?” Hua Ying’s body stiffened, unable to move, his eyes vacant. He could not accept the devastating blow of this brutal reality.
The entire venue erupted!
No one had expected the battle to unfold in such a manner.
“The number one person, the Academy’s number one! No one is Chu Yun’s match anymore!” someone shouted in astonishment.
“That cub tiger is too fierce, his saber strikes are like thunderous tsunamis, all offense, never once on defense,” someone trembled, their gaze towards Chu Yun filled with deep apprehension.
“Most importantly, his saber skills are unfathomable! How many saber techniques does he know? These techniques connect seamlessly, each strike tearing through the air, as if splitting the heavens and cracking the earth,” another marveled.
“How could this happen! How could this happen?!” The most shaken was Ning Yiyi.
She stared at the scene on the field with wide, disbelieving eyes, her usually beautiful and charming face looking somewhat strange.
“Impossible! The script wasn’t supposed to go like this!”
She recalled how Hua Ying, clad in white, Elegant and graceful, had spoken to her about the Dao of three wins and three losses. How had it come to this so quickly?
Ning Yiyi felt like she was having a nightmare. Was the disheveled, dazed figure kneeling on the ground truly the Hua Ying from moments ago?
“Within two rounds, this young master can gain the initiative. In about four rounds, I can suppress the opponent. In eight rounds, I will expand my advantage. In ten rounds, I will secure victory!”
In Ning Yiyi’s mind, Hua Ying’s face, as beautiful as jade, eyes shining with Divine Light, exuded confidence and certainty of his victory.
But now?
Hua Ying was covered in mud, his face as pale as paper, making it hard to believe he was the same person as the dashing and talented Hua Ying from before!
“The script wasn’t supposed to be like this!” Ning Yiyi screamed inwardly. The script had collapsed from the very beginning; as soon as Chu Yun made his move, the initiative of the entire situation fell into his hands.
Was Hua Ying?
More often than not, he wasn’t shooting arrows, but being chased by Chu Yun in a disorderly retreat!
The air was filled with mocking roars. Hua Ying painstakingly turned his head, only to see the scholars pointing at him.
Pain!
His heart felt as though it had been pricked by needles.
Agony!
His pride was severely wounded, and a surge of anger erupted from the depths of his heart.
“Ah! I am not reconciled, Chu Yun, let’s fight again!” With a strength he didn’t know he possessed, Hua Ying straightened up.
“Can’t take a loss,” Chu Yun uttered these three words, but did not draw the Drunken Snow Saber. Instead, he swung his right fist and, with a bang, landed a heavy blow on Hua Ying’s handsome, fair face.
This punch, potent and heavy, immediately caved in his nose, causing bright red blood to gush out. The pain brought tears to his eyes.
*Thump.*
At twice the speed, he fell backward, his head hitting the ground.
“I’m not reconciled!” Hua Ying’s former elegance was completely gone. Unable to stand, he stretched out a hand futilely into the air, trying to grasp something.
“Then I’ll make you reconciled.” Chu Yun stepped forward, grabbed Hua Ying’s outstretched hand, and with a yank, pulled him up.
*Bang!*
His right fist once again slammed fiercely into Hua Ying’s face, this time knocking out his teeth.
*Bang!*
Another punch, and Hua Ying’s body jerked as if electrocuted.
*Bang!*
Yet another punch, and Hua Ying rolled his eyes back, his senses reeling from the beating.
*Bang bang bang!*
Chu Yun held Hua Ying’s right arm with one hand, while his right fist moved with the power of a storm.
The sound of flesh meeting flesh with each blow sent a tremor through the onlookers. Unknowingly, the entire arena fell silent.
Everyone watched with bated breath as Hua Ying was beaten into a pulp by Chu Yun, an icy chill coursing through their veins.
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