Chapter 653: Chaos

Zhao Qingwei froze for a moment before recovering her wits. She walked toward Lin Jianyi and bowed respectfully. "Teacher Lin."

Lin Jianyi waved his hand, signaling her to sit.

Zhao Qingwei sat down by the stone table, her gaze shifting back and forth between Xu Wuyi and Lin Jianyi. A trace of doubt welled up in her heart. She wondered why her teacher had called her here to offer guidance and why Xu Wuyi was also present.

Lin Jianyi picked up his teacup, took a slow sip, and set it down.

"Qingwei, has your Sword Dao improved since you graduated?"

Zhao Qingwei gathered her Heart and Spirit, replying respectfully, "Teacher, I have been training bitterly since graduation, but I feel as though I’ve hit a bottleneck. My path of speed seems to have reached its limit, making it hard to advance even an inch."

Lin Jianyi nodded without comment and looked at Xu Wuyi.

"Xu Wuyi, are you confident in controlling your Flame of Order?"

Xu Wuyi pondered for a moment. "I have no problem controlling it, but I lack practical experience. If I could have a suitable opponent to let me test it repeatedly, I should be able to master it faster."

Lin Jianyi looked at Zhao Qingwei again.

An ominous premonition suddenly welled up in Zhao Qingwei’s heart.

"Qingwei," Lin Jianyi said, his voice as flat as ever. "For the near future, you will act as his sparring partner."

Zhao Qingwei was stunned. Spar? Spar with Xu Wuyi? She looked at Xu Wuyi, then at Lin Jianyi, opening her mouth but finding herself at a loss for words.

"His Heart Image recently had a breakthrough, and he needs actual combat to stabilize it," Lin Jianyi continued. "Your sword is fast, which is perfect for helping him test the limits of his new abilities.

"His Heart Image has already touched the Grandmaster level. Coming into early contact with power of this caliber will also greatly benefit your own comprehension."

Zhao Qingwei fell silent for a few seconds. She didn’t mind being a sparring partner, especially since the other party was a true Quasi-Grandmaster, only one step away from the Grandmaster Realm. Such an exchange would indeed be immensely helpful to her as well, perhaps even enough to shake her own bottleneck. Her silence was only due to her surprise that Xu Wuyi had reached this point in just over a year of not seeing each other. As his classmate, living in the same era as him truly left her with mixed feelings.

"I understand, Teacher Lin."

Lin Jianyi picked up his teacup and took a sip before saying, "Then we will start today. There is an empty clearing behind the courtyard, which is spacious enough for you two to go all out."

After speaking, he stood up and walked deeper into the courtyard.

There was indeed an empty clearing behind the courtyard. It wasn’t large—about the size of half a football field—and was paved with smooth bluestone. Several old locust trees grew around the perimeter. The branches were covered in snow, and occasionally, clumps of it would slide off, making a soft RUSTLE.

Lin Jianyi walked to a locust tree at the edge of the clearing, sat down cross-legged, and nodded at the two of them.

Xu Wuyi walked to the center of the clearing and planted his Liaoyuan Long Spear into a crevice in the bluestone beside him. Then, he turned around and looked at Zhao Qingwei. "Let’s begin," he said.

Zhao Qingwei stood ten meters across from him and slowly unsheathed the longsword at her waist. The blade was slender and snow-bright, gleaming with a cold luster under the afternoon sun. This was her personal sword, "Frost," which had accompanied her for many years and was already inextricably linked with her mind.

She tightened her grip on the hilt, her Sword Intention surging around her. If they were going to spar, she would take it seriously. She wanted to see just how strong Xu Wuyi’s new ability really was.

"Come on," Xu Wuyi said. "I’ll only use the standard of around level 40."

Level 40 was the intensity of just entering the Innate Level, whereas the current Zhao Qingwei had already surpassed level 43.

"Be careful," Zhao Qingwei warned. As soon as her voice faded, her figure blurred.

A flash of sword light erupted. It was fast. Unbelievably fast.

Zhao Qingwei’s Fast Sword was incredibly swift. She walked the path of extreme speed, and under Lin Jianyi’s guidance, she had pushed the path of speed to a whole new height. In the past, when she was in the Martial Artist Realm, she could use her sword to seize a person’s Heart and Spirit. Now that she was an Innate Martial Artist, she no longer used this move. The opponents she encountered nowadays often possessed powerful Spirits that were difficult to shake. Since her former methods were no longer effective, she had returned to ultimate speed—embodying the principle of Returning to the Essence.

The sword light flashed like lightning, arriving in an instant. The tip of the blade thrust straight toward Xu Wuyi’s left shoulder at a tricky angle and with astonishing speed.

Xu Wuyi didn’t move. He simply raised his right hand and pressed lightly forward.

A minuscule wisp of blue flame rose from his palm, forming an almost imperceptible curtain of light in front of him. The moment Zhao Qingwei’s sword pierced into the light curtain, she suddenly felt an indescribable sense of weirdness.

Her sword had slowed down.

It wasn’t a decrease in physical speed, but a deeper kind of slowness. It was as if a smoothly flowing river had suddenly been dammed; the current lost its direction and could only scatter aimlessly. Her Sword Intention, her Qi and Blood, and her Spirit all fell into a strange state of chaos at this moment. It was as though an originally orderly set of rules had suddenly been thrown into disarray.

The tip of her sword stopped three inches from Xu Wuyi’s left shoulder, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch further.

Zhao Qingwei’s pupils constricted slightly as she wondered what was going on.

She gritted her teeth, retracted her sword, and thrust out again. This time it was faster, more ruthless, and more precise.

But the result was exactly the same. The moment the sword light pierced into the blue curtain of light, everything was thrown into chaos. Her Sword Intention fell into chaos, her Qi and Blood fell into chaos, and her Spirit fell into chaos. Even her thoughts began to experience a slight state of confusion. Her sword once again stopped in front of Xu Wuyi, unable to advance an inch.

Xu Wuyi retracted his right hand, and the blue flame dissipated. He looked at Zhao Qingwei with calm eyes. "This is my new ability, the Flame of Order. It can burn away the Order within an opponent’s body, plunging everything into chaos."

Zhao Qingwei remained silent for a few seconds before speaking slowly. "Again."

She was unwilling to accept this. She had cultivated the sword for fifteen years and was renowned for her speed. Among her peers, there were very few who could withstand three of her sword strikes. Even when facing a Quasi-Grandmaster, she still had the strength to put up a fight. But now, with Xu Wuyi only using a level 40 standard, she couldn’t even get close to his body. She refused to be reconciled to this.

Sword light erupted once more. This time, Zhao Qingwei went all out.

Her sword strikes were like shocking thunder, and her sword light resembled a torrential downpour. She pushed her speed to the absolute limit. Every thrust was so fast it was difficult for the naked eye to capture, and every strike carried a lethal Will. The sword light cascaded down, completely enveloping Xu Wuyi.

Xu Wuyi stood in place, his right hand continuously pressing out in midair. Wisps of blue flame rose from his palm, weaving together into an impenetrable net in front of him.

The moment every flash of sword light pierced into this net, it was thrown into chaos.

Zhao Qingwei’s sword grew faster and faster, but her heart sank lower and lower. She realized that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break through that blue curtain of light. The light curtain was like an invisible wall, completely shutting her sword out.

What was even more terrifying was the realization that her condition was deteriorating. The circulation of her Sword Intention grew sluggish, the flow of her Qi and Blood fell into disarray, and the fluctuations of her Spirit became erratic. Even her thoughts began to experience a slight daze.