59 IN THE PITCH-BLACK NIGHT, VENGEFUL TALONS CARVE BLOOMING FLOWERS IN THE AIR (1/2)
After a brief pause to recollect his thoughts, the axe-wielding youth replied with an understanding tone, ”Same goes for me. I wish you luck in our fight, young one!”
As soon as the above words were uttered, the man's eyes lit up and the battle-axe magically flew up from behind him to hover at his side. He firmly grasped the handle and began breathing in and out regularly from his mouth. With that, he had fully entered his comfort zone. A faint white mist began to appear around the axe's edge and a faint pressure made the blades of grass below his feet bend over slightly…
Beneath her azure mask, Xiao Wu's eyes focused seeing this and her attitude grew solemn. A slim black blade in the shape of an elongated triangle appeared at her left side. Her once delicate fingers, now covered in small cuts and bruises, closed around the hilt with expertise in a reverse hold. She then entered a low stance, with her knees bending forward and her front foot firmly planted on the ground, as if she could dash over at any moment.
Under her breath, she then began chanting: ”In a moonless night, a veil of blackness will descend and cover the lands…”
The bulky youth examined this stance cautiously as the mist swirling around his axe grew thicker and thicker with each moment that passed. The moment the blade couldn't be clearly seen any longer was the moment that he struck! A metallic gleam surrounded in white mist flashed in a curved trajectory, any trace of the blade hidden within the swirling haze.
Unbeknownst to the axe-wielding youth however, a shiny orb enshrouded in a purple glow had suddenly appeared overhead!
”…because even in those moonless nights, my Purple Moon will still remain in the sky, and allow me to see the lands; a world clad in purple moonlight!”
Witnessing the other hiding his weapon within the foggy mist, Xiao Wu merely smiled under her mask as a moonlight foreign to the world dyed her emerald-green irises violet: in the Purple Moonlit World reflected in Xiao Wu's eyes, not even the thickest mist could hide the flow of Spiritual Energy! Without the least suspense, the iron sword in Xiao Wu's hands slashed and met with the mist, striking the axe hiding within it head-on.
Sparks flew as Xiao Wu jumped to one side to disperse the impact, having easily seen the trajectory of the blow with her emerald eyes now glowing purple: to the burly Vacant disciple's astonishment, his blow had been easily parried, achieving little more than making the girl's hand ache slightly from the clash.
”Ah!” At this time however, a fierce black gleam made all blood drain from the face of the burly cultivator, a lone blade having appeared at some unknown time just a few inches away from his upper-left chest!
However, how could Xiao Wu let him achieve that when she had him at the ropes?
Immediately, her feet kicked off the ground and she dashed forward, the blade she held in a reverse grip in her left hand slashing horizontally as she brushed by him, not leaving him a chance to recover! Xiao Wu had shot forward like an arrow, quickly passing by the bulky cultivator.
The youth, managed to somehow parry the blow, even if just barely. Despite having blocked the blade in his opponent's hands, however, he felt dread as a second and third metallic gleams appeared out of nowhere and went after his heart!
At this time, the High Level Inferior Stage cultivator could only pour the Spiritual Energy gathered in his consciousness into his muscles: the ethereal energy helped his motions to go beyond the limits of a human's physique. Like so, the axe in his hands forcefully swerved from its original path and magically deflected both sneak attacks with the flat of its blade: clearly, despite being far from those 'geniuses', the man's battle experience was still nothing to scoff at.
Once again, the flying blades trembled slightly after the clash before being retrieved: in a matter of instants they had dashed out of sight, hiding behind the azure-masked fighter's short and slim body. As for 'Night Challenger' Xiao Wu, she wasn't in the least concerned that the youth had parried her consecutive blows. Her only response was to wave her hand and add another sword from her Heaven\u0026Earth Pouch into the mix, increasing the amount of Vengeful Talons deployed to three in total… before dashing over once more!
Xiao Wu turned into a streak of azure, black, and metallic-silver as she danced about on the battlefield, drawing patterns in the air with her black blade and carving the night air with her Vengeful Talons.
And then, after three waves of attacks were resisted, the fourth talon was added in!
Up to that point, the youth in his late teens had been barely hanging on!
Perspiration was inundating his back as if he were dousing in a spring, and the axe in his hands appeared to transform into a swallow as it rose and dove nonstop, the techniques he had refined over many years of cultivation showing off their worth against an overwhelming opponent.
However, the moment a fifth, final talon was added, it became the straw that broke the camel's back.
Under the onslaught of one-plus-five blades slashing and stabbing at him from all directions ceaselessly, the Inferior Stage youth only managed to hold out to the first wave of five Vengeful Talons. After blocking the counterattack of the one hand-held edge and five flying blades once, the weapon in his hands had lost all momentum.
Even as he witnessed the next attack incoming, he did not manage to recover enough strength into his upper body to do anything: taking advantage of this one moment of weakness, the Black Dragon Blade in Xiao Wu's hand smashed the axe aside, breaking his stance open!
With an exquisite pirouette, in a fashion that sought to imitate Cheng Hao's flashy footwork from way back when, Xiao Wu twirled right by him and at the same time pointed forward with her finger: following her command, the five gleaming talons of the Black Dragon that had been hovering on the spot she had been standing on just earlier immediately shot forward, clawing into the exposed chest of the Inferior Stage youth!
Stab!
The burly cultivator felt a prickly sensation as the five flying weapons, under the emerald-eyed girl meticulous control, ground to a sudden halt as soon as they had tasted blood. The blades solemnly withdrew in an orderly fashion while leaving behind five shallow marks on the now bloodied flesh, resembling wounds from the vicious claws of a beast. Although they did look quite painful and worrisome at first glance, Xiao Wu had made sure they wouldn't cut so deep that they would pose any threat to her opponent's life; after all, it was just a practice match with a fellow disciple, not a fight to the death with an enemy. So long as they could avoid it, she would be sure not to inflict any fatal wounds for no reason.
Xiao Wu let out a breath and recalled her two Martial Ways -the Black Dragon Blade in her hand and the Purple Moon hanging overhead- back inside her Pseudo-Core and collected the five other flying weapons in her Heaven\u0026Earth Pouch.
Still in a state of shock, the young man clutched his wounded chest bitterly and wiped away the traces of blood at the corner of his mouth. Immediately afterwards, he bowed his head in defeat, ”I thank senior for steadying your hand back then. Is it possible for me to know senior's name?” He asked hopefully.
Xiao Wu's pristine laugh came out as she retorted, ”If I could easily give my name away just like that, I wouldn't wear a mask, don't you think?”
”Indeed, that was my mistake, I apologize…” the other agreed.
”That's fine, I understand your curiosity.” The emerald eyed girl waved her hand dismissively. ”Unfortunately, my current situation is a difficult one where I can't disclose my true identity, so I can only do things in this roundabout manner…”
After some hesitation, Xiao Wu eventually pointed out somewhat awkwardly, ”Also, you should not be calling me senior, seeing how I am younger than you by quite a bit…”