Chapter 161 – Eyes Closed and Unseeing; A Hundred Blades Arise (2/2)

In order to prepare for the Grand Examination, from the start of the Ivy League gathering, he had trained incessantly, preparing for today’s match, even though Chen Chang Sheng’s performance could be considered superb it still made him feel disappointed.

Chen Chang Sheng was breathing rather heavily, with his successive use of Discerning Steps and the pushing of his speed to its maximum, the True Essence in his body that was already deficient, was currently near spent.

Due to his calculations of star positions and footwork, his divine sense had become exhausted, the most troubling thing was, Zhuang Huan Yu’s blade was too swift and fierce, though he could narrowly dodge it, he couldn’t attack his opponent; this would eventually lead to a defeat.

He didn’t want to lose, he absolutely needed to attack.

At the same time Zhuang Huan Yu said those words, Chen Chang Sheng’s right leg once again stepped onto the sand before himself, but this time, he didn’t make use of Discerning Steps, concentrating as much power as he could into his step.

That terrifying strength he had bizarrely acquired after meeting the Black Dragon that night, instantly caused the ground to fissure under his foot, his body became a blur and whistled out.

A loud cracking sound erupted; Zhuang Huan Yu’s blade silently struck out, but the sword flash cutting through the air gave off a clean reverberation.

At this moment, Chen Chang Sheng’s speed was fast beyond imagination, it could be seen that he was on the verge of colliding with the sword flash, but suddenly, he disappeared.

He had actually concealed the motion technique of Discerning Steps within his charge.

Within the sand, his figure flickered by, in an instant, Chen Chang Sheng had arrived before Zhuang Huan Yu.

This was the first time he had gotten so close to Zhuang Huan Yu, close enough for him to finally make an attack against his opponent.

His left hand held onto the scabbard, while his right grasped onto the sword hilt, on the verge of drawing the blade.

It was at this moment, Zhuang Huan Yu’s arrow like brows twitched upwards, his eyes revealing signs of pity, a single fist struck out explosively.

Zhuang Huan Yu’s right hand held onto his sword, while his left was by his side, alas, it had actually been steadily amassing True Essence.

A seemingly casual punch, but it had actually been storing power for an exceedingly long time.

A loud ringing sound rung out, akin to a bell strike.

A powerful force followed his punch and billowed outwards, shockwaves in the air spread out in all directions.

Chen Chang Sheng was sent flying, spinning in the air multiple times, akin to a hurtling boulder, landing upon the ground at some distance away.

A loud cracking sound could be heard and he heavily landed upon the floor, but it wasn’t falling, as his bare feet were the first to touch upon the ground, landing upon the sand; half crouched upon his knees, stably staying in place.

The short-sword was held out horizontally in front his eyes, it was this blade that blocked the punch Zhuang Huan Yu had been preparing for so long.

His hands that were holding onto the short sword lightly trembled, though his strength was great, against a strike that was imbued with such an abundant amount of True Essence, it was still rather damaging.

“So it’s only to this degree?”

Zhuang Huan Yu headed towards him, repeating those words once again, he then said: “This really has made me feel somewhat disappointed.”

Witnessing Chen Chang Sheng’s ability, was one of the most important aims for his participation in the Grand Examination.

From when he was still outside of Li Palace, to the Hall of Zhao Wen, River Qu, then the woodlands outside of the Tower of Purging Dust, seeing the scene of Luo Luo and Chen Chang Sheng together made him feel enraged, then calm; the more enraged he was, the calmer he also became.

Chen Chang Sheng stood up, looked at him and said: “Hit me first before saying anything.”

After these words, his figure once again disappeared.

Sand billowed everywhere within the tower, as if it was a blizzard.

He forcefully wrung out the last of his True Essence reserves, his divine sense calculating the positioning at an unbelievable speed.

Within the blizzard-like sand, his figure flickered in and out of view, sometimes in the East, sometimes in the West.

In just an instant, countless footprints appeared, covering the floor, densely, akin to the myriad of stars in the night sky.

He followed the positioning of the Twenty-Eight Mansions in his movement, his footwork erratic to the extreme, extraordinarily difficult to grasp, as if in the next moment he would appear before Zhuang Huan Yu and deliver a decisive blow.

No matter how fast, swift and powerful the Sword of Hithering Light was, it couldn’t catch up with Chen Chang Sheng while he was in this state.

Chen Chang Sheng did not keep track of Zhuang Huan Yu’s sword, nor did he care for his surroundings, he only concentrated on his own movements through Discerning Steps.

Discerning Steps traversed the stars, making use of the blizzard to cover its tracks, it was sure to eventually arrive before Zhuang Huan Yu.

It seemed to be an exceedingly brilliant method of countering.

Every time the curved sword flashes were about to land upon his body, they would inevitably just brush past his shoulders.

Zhuang Huan Yu’s expression became severe, but didn’t seem anxious.

He couldn’t tell where Chen Chang Sheng’s position was, neither could he predict where Chen Chang Sheng would appear.

Therefore, he closed his eyes.

He wasn’t using his divine sense to perceive Chen Chang Sheng’s position, because even if he was to perceive it, his sword would not be able to land in time.

The Sword of Hithering Light was released from his hand and pierced into the sand covered ground, lightly quivering.

He spread out his hands, dark hair swaying, True Essence exploding outwards.

The Sword of Hithering Light’s quivering immediately became intense.

*CHI**CHI**CHI**CHI**CHI*

Several hundred sword forms left the sword, instantly inundating the space within the Tower of Purging Dust.

In the next moment, several sword forms that were in the Northwestern area suddenly stalled.

Chen Chang Sheng was struck by those sword forms; his body heavily pounded upon the wall, then slid down onto the floor, raising a cloud of dust.

Upon his body, there appeared three wounds, blood slowly flowed.

“Right now, I have struck you down,” said Zhuang Huan Yu, opening his eyes and looking at him calmly.