806 The Whetstone (1/2)
When Gao Qianyuan used the escaping technique, the invisibility of his body was not consistent because of the gaps in the fog at the exit of the tunnel. Knowing that his trace had been found, Gao Qianyuan revealed himself. Holding a sword-shaped token in his right hand, he too let out his furious aura and stared into the eyes of Meng Qi in the dark.
In an instant, four streaks of electric lights were colliding with each other and releasing sparks in the void.
Gao Qianyuan took a step forward, looking alert and cautious. He then said in a calm and steady voice,
”It's true that you're strong, but you're not strong enough to overpower a person from the guru domain. Moreover, I have the Token of Sword Spirit in my hand. It's hard to tell who will win in the end. Why don't you leave me alone?”
Gao Qianyuan had witnessed how Meng Qi stayed calm in front of the Demon of the Realm of Self and got the information he wanted eventually. Therefore, he already had a whole new understanding of the power and state of mind of Meng Qi. Putting aside his pride and the disbelief of the young enemy's power, he understood that the rumors were true. Meng Qi had already grew into a powerful figure who was feared by many gurus. However, Gao Qianyuan was an experienced guru. Given that he was aided by the Token of Sword Spirit that was almost similar to a Heavenly Weapon, he could even escape from a Dharmakaya of Half-Step, let alone Meng Qi.
Meng Qi was still sitting cross-legged on top of the tent. His right hand was grasping at the blade handle at a slow speed, but he was giving people a false feeling of moving quickly. His movement had let out an oppressive aura that felt like the proverb, ”The whirling wind forebodes an impending storm.” He then spoke in a calm voice,
”You're not placing your hope on your own ability. Instead, you place it on a weapon. This is your first problem.”
”Something is wrong inside your body, hence you're not fit for a long fight. This is your second problem.”
”You appear to be tough on the outside, but on the inside you're thinking to escape from the battle. This is your third problem.”
Meng Qi put his right hand on the blade handle and looked at Gao Qianyuan with deep and quiet eyes.
”With these three problems, killing you is as easy as killing a chicken or a dog.”
Stung by every single word of Meng Qi, Gao Qianyuan felt that the words were like a huge hammer striking on the bell. At first, he wanted to sneer at Meng Qi, but he was stunned after he listened to the end. His body shook slightly and his countenance got serious. He felt as though all his problems were exposed and nothing could be hidden from the eyes of Meng Qi.
It was true that the body of Gao Qianyuan had been having some hidden problems, therefore he had to draw support from the Token of Sword Spirit in order to attain the Formless Sword Spirit of a higher level. This fact could be known from the previous battle between them. However, a few moments ago, he had just came out with an idea to escape from this battle. He was planning to strike an attack as a way of defending himself, then retreat far away immediately after that. How could Meng Qi possibly know his plan?
Was this the Ancient Heart mentioned by Meng Qi and the Demon of the Realm of Self?
Gao Qianyuan calmed himself down. Without showing a sign of cowardice, he said, ”Humans are different from the beasts in a sense that they are good at making and using tools. I don't find any problem with me using the Token of Sword Spirit.”
”It's so powerful that it can almost be transformed into a Heavenly Weapon and make a great guru feel threatened. I can't find a reason for not using it.”
As Gao Qianyuan enunciated each word slowly, his aura had resurged and confronted Meng Qi.
”It's not wrong to make use of the tools, but you need to be able to gain control over them. Otherwise, the tools will be manipulating you, as opposed to you manipulating them. Would a three-year-old kid be able to use a two-thousand-kilogram hammer as his weapon? It might be hard for me to defeat the Token of Sword Spirit, but defeating its owner - which is you - is as easy as turning over my palm.” As Meng Qi grasped the blade handle, purple electric lights and blue thunder - which looked like flowing streams - were clinging tightly to the body of the blade.
After some time of adjusting his mindset, Meng Qi had been clear about two things that needed to be done. The first one was to secretly seek for the opportunities to get rid of the mighty people. Secondly, he would nourish his heart and blade through battle experiences. By winning the powerful people, an invincible bladesmanship and an invincible faith would be formed. He would be refining his own spirit with the victories. In this way, when the opportunity came, he would be confident to wield the blade in his best state of spirit. Using the sharpest long blade, he would cut off the casual connections and karma and live a carefree and unrestrained life!
He would start the journey of forming the invincible bladesmanship and invincible faith by defeating Gao Qianyuan!
Zeng!
The body of the blade was shaking and making a sound of a dragon roar. Meng Qi leaned his body forward and pulled out the long blade with his right hand. The thunder was overflowing from the blade like several blinding streaks of lightning.
The first strike!
Attracted by Qi Ji, Gao Qianyuan was holding the Token of Sword Spirit in his hand. Along with the appearance of a form of a giant blue maggot on his back, his body had collapsed, as though he was a sand sculpture that had broken up into just sand. Every grain of sand had become a light-blue maggot that was inhaling the sword power. In a split second, they had turned transparent and merged themselves into the Vigor Ocean.
Instantaneously, the area within dozens of miles was filled with killing intent. The maggots were gathering at the areas that had strong vigor. Some of them were spewing sword power in all directions, whereas the others were trying to invade Meng Qi's body through his breathing. On the other hand, a few of the maggots were swimming away from the battle area silently to escape to the other places.
Just then, Meng Qi had slashed his blade, the Heaven's Pain. The slash - with a shape of a lightning bolt and an extremely sharp edge - went across hundreds of feet of distance. It cut through the air silently.
The speed of the slash was fast at the beginning. It gave a feeling of breaking free from the constraints and seeking for freedom. However, the further it went, the slower the speed was. As the speed got slower and slower, the surrounding had gradually become darker. The void was shrinking toward the long blade. At the same time, the vast energy of the Vigor Ocean was also circulating, contracting and crumbling on Meng Qi who had been united with his blade as a whole. It was as though the energy of the Vigor Ocean was going to be condensed into a small point. A point that was not placed anywhere, nor did it have a past or a future.
The surrounding was dim and dark. The energy was compressed in layers and condensed rapidly into a solid substance, which then turned into ambers that trapped the maggots. Gao Qianyuan felt that the void around him had been obstructed, which made it impossible for him to escape. As his sword power could hardly move an inch forward, the power had dissipated quickly. The Vigor Ocean had completely merged together with Meng Qi as Gao Qianyuan could not even access a tiny bit of it. The realm of Meng Qi had supported with his bladesmanship perfectly!
Gao Qianyuan thought to himself, I can't let this slash evolve anymore! Just then, he felt a sharp pain in his Primordial Spirit. Knowing that the current situation was extremely dangerous, he had no choice but to harm himself by condensing his body forcefully and unleashing the full power of the Token of Sword Spirit.
At the next second, the highly condensed energy of the Vigor Ocean had been released. It turned the surroundings into a broad ocean of cyan-blue color. Every drop of the water in the ocean had been transformed into maggots. With the help of the contraction force, all the maggots had surged toward Meng Qi in a way that was more aggressive than a thousand swords striking at once. The maggots were like sharp-edged weapons that were capable to wipe out vitality.
It was indeed a threatening counter-attack of Gao Qianyuan. The previous slash of Meng Qi that had already slowed down was going to be a big trouble!