Close Combat Mage

Chapter 283 – Tagan Desert Pt. 1

To Xiang Yun, any wound made it inconvenient for him to skillfully move around for a while. But with Suo Jia’s Moisture Technique, his wounds could quickly heal and recover completely. According to the speed just now, a wound could pretty much be entirely healed right after it’s inflicted. This meant that Xiang Yun could continue fighting with no restraint, which would also greatly boost his chance of survival.

Seeing how excited Xiang Yun was, Suo Jia could only smile wryly. “Please, this is only the lowest level magic a water mage can do. Actually, as a water mage, I have many skills. You’ll gradually realize them later; they’ll definitely shock you.”

Xiang Yun nodded excitedly and reached out his right hand, “I’m really too honored to be able to have a companion as mystical as you!”

Suo Jia reached his hand out to grasp Xiang Yun’s and he calmly replied, “We’re also very honored to have a comrade as powerful as you.”

“Ok, ok, ok…” Nicole said from the side, “Are you two done yet? Why all the artificial etiquette? I get goosebumps just from watching. I beg of you two to please spare me.”

Suo Jia and Xiang Yun rubbed their heads in embarrassment, and exchanged forced smiles. After all, they didn’t really know each other well yet, so there was a lot of etiquette that couldn’t be avoided. Otherwise, it was easy to give rise to misunderstandings with their unfamiliarity.

To gloss over the awkwardness, Suo Jia suggested for everyone to speak while walking. As for where they were headed, it was obviously a pub. As men, there was no place more suitable to become acquainted with a new person than a pub was.

After three rounds of wine and dishes of all flavors, everyone gradually became less reserved around each other, and began to laugh and talk. Nicole’s laughter in particular hadn’t ever ended. Her silver bell-like laughter could be heard even from those on the streets.

Ever since her siblings had been successfully freed by Suo Jia, Nicole seemed to have become an entirely different person. No matter what happened, she’d be exceptionally cheerful. She’d also become less and less formal around Suo Jia, not seeming anything like a captive.

Suo Jia knew that the reason Nicole had gotten more blunt around him was because he’d become like one of her family, which meant there was no need for formalities. It was completely opposite to the behavior of the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes, who from beginning to the end, were always so polite. They couldn’t possibly be Suo Jia’s family.

Nicole cupped her chin with her hands and curiously looked at the bunch of weapons on Xiang Yun’s back. “Xiang Yun, why are you carrying so many weapons for no reason? Aren’t they heavy?”

Suo Jia subconsciously stopped his own eating. He’d wanted to ask this question a while ago as well, but had felt it too awkward to do so. Seeing as Nicole had gone ahead and asked first, he obviously wanted to listen well.

Suo Jia and Nicole waited. Xiang Yun gently placed his glass down and reminiscently looked out the window at the setting sun and slowly said, “There was a place called Jianghu in my hometown. Our Xiang home was a well-known family of blade-users in Jianghu. With our hegemonic blade techniques passed down for thousands of years, our Xiang family was the most influential family in Jianghu. My father was also the leading figure of the martial arts circle!”

“Wow…” Suo Jia bitterly smiled and said, “Don’t tell me…your entire family was trapped in some dark conspiracy plot, so as a result your family became destitute and homeless. Your father also lost his throne as the leader, and only you alone were able to escape. You search for experts everywhere to train your own blade techniques to go back for revenge. Right?”

“Haha…” Xiang Yun shook his head with a smile and replied. “Although that’s more or less correct, there are some incorrect details. We weren’t framed by any dark conspiracy plots. In reality, my family fell because our Xiang family’s hegemonic blade techniques were unraveled. They justly and honorably used their strength to force us to collapse, making our family lose completely!”

“Oh?” Suo Jia looked at Xiang Yun inquisitively and pressed, “Quick, hurry up and explain further, what exactly happened?”

“Mm…” Xiang Yun nodded and picked up his glass. After taking a light sip of wine, he continued, “My father was the best blade-user in Jianghu. They all gifted him with blades and called him with titles of respect. It could even be said that among the hegemons in this world, nobody was equal to my father.”

Xiang Yun’s expression twisted as he said in a pained voice, “However, suddenly, two great experts appeared in Jianghu one day—Sword Demon and Immortal Evil Blade. They challenged my father one right after the other.” Xiang Yun had an agonized expression on his face, already unable to continue speaking any further.

Xiang Yun suddenly stopped at this crucial point. Suo Jia couldn’t help but anxiously urge him to continue, and Xiang Yun finally gathered the courage to painfully finish, “Is there really any need to speak further? My father lost the two battles in a row. The most influential family, the greatest expert, the best blade-user, number one…all those brilliant lights faded away. Our family’s prestige and status crashed completely, and my father fell into depression.”

“But…” Nicole looked at Xiang Yun in confusion. “You’ve talked all this time, but what does it have to do with your carrying of so many weapons? It seems like your answer’s irrelevant!”

Xiang Yun helplessly looked at Nicole and explained, “I’m just telling you the antecedents. In order to revive my family’s blade techniques, I resolutely left home at the age of 15 to call upon various experts in all different countries. I only had one goal: Under all costs, I had to use the hegemon blade as a foundation to draw out the strong points of different techniques and combine them into one, creating the most powerful blade, and the number one hegemon of the blades, Xiang Yun!”

Nicole could only sigh as she said bitterly, “Please, can you hurry up and get to the main point? I just want to know why you’re carrying so many weapons! I don’t really care much about your ideals or your aspirations.”

Xiang Yun patted his head and said in embarrassment, “Actually, I have nine blades on me in total. 7 of them are on my back, one is the soft sabre at my waist, and the last one, hehe…aside from me, only dead people have ever witnessed it.”

Xiang Yun paused, and looked straight at Nicole. “These 9 blades all have extensive histories. Each one represents an extremely terrifying blade-user, as well as their blade techniques. Now…I’ve already completely reproduced their skills. I’ve also added my own discoveries and knowledge onto their original foundations, creating nine entirely different blade arts!”

Xiang Yun couldn’t help but grow excited. “These nine blades are all different from each other in shape and characteristics. Each one has special traits that none of the others have. Moreover, this is combined with strange techniques. It can be said that these 9 blades and their respective techniques have already bound together all blades and skills in this world!”

“I see, you came out to target experts in order to perfect those nine blade skills, right? Suo Jia guessed.

Xiang Yun shook his head, “That’s not all. Actually, the reason for my journey is pretty complicated. I need to search, train, familiarize, master, change, create, and perfect these nine blade techniques, then combine them all into one. This will become the most powerful blade technique, one that only represents me!”

Suo Jia couldn’t help but feel intrigued by Xiang Yun’s words. He pressed, “Currently, we’ve already seen your Half Moon, Aqua Moon, and Severing Moon Blade Techniques. What…are the other 6?”

Xiang Yun didn’t bother keeping it a secret. He smiled and answered, “At the moment, the nine I have are Waning Moon, Aqua Moon, Severing Moon, Half Moon, Full Moon, Chasm Moon, Glittering Moon, Cold Moon, and Pursuing Moon. The final objective is to use the dominant blade technique as a base and combine these nine arts together, reconstructing a hegemonic blade technique that is unrivaled in this world!”

“Great!” Suo Jia immediately applauded upon hearing Xiang Yun’s grand dreams. His eyes glowed as he looked at Xiang Yun, and he firmly declared, “To be unrivaled under the heavens, to have such an overpowering blade technique…don’t worry, we’ll definitely help you to the best of our abilities and make your dreams come true. You’ll remake the hegemonic blade technique and become the most powerful blade-user in the world!”

Seeing the two males speak such hot-blooded words, Nicole refused to remain left out. She added on, “I will also revitalize my family’s fame as well to become the strongest treasure hunter in the world!”

Nicole glanced at Suo Jia and said, “Also you, since your comrades all have such great ambitions, you can’t fall behind either. If you don’t become the world’s number one mage, we won’t recognize you as our companion!”

Suo Jia and Xiang Yun exchanged a glance…and then they simultaneously threw their heads back and laughed heartily. Although Nicole’s words sounded childish, Suo Jia and Xiang Yun had already firmly established this seeming impossible goal as their ambition.

“Oi!” Seeing that neither of the two males continued speaking, Nicole turned around and spoke to Xiang Yun, “You’re not a girl, why leave your hair so long? Moreover, it covers your face. Your face can’t be unfit to be seen, right?”

Suo Jia couldn’t help but gasp sharply. These words were too rude. If everything was fine, then it wasn’t a problem. But if Xiang Yun’s face was actually one that couldn’t be exposed…

TL Note: So…I’m sure some of you know this, but I absolutely hate naming things. So when the nine blades suddenly appeared out of nowhere with no descriptions for most of them, I SOSed Deceptioning for help, and well…our conversation went like this…and in the end I made up some names >.>