Chapter 457

: Southern Sector’s Number One Sword Artist
Translator: Swammped Editor: Hitesh_
The black sword light abruptly swirled backward as Black Sword Artist was blasted away by his own strike. Just like the profound skill Black Dragon Wave, this strike’s trajectory was unfathomable. His opponent couldn’t resist it, neither could he. Ironical, wasn’t it?
Spraying out blood as he shot back, Black Sword Artist smashed into the Zhen Yuan wall of the pavilion put up by numerous spectators, setting off a circular shockwave from the wall’s rear.
A lot of spectators stood up from their seats, and even more felt their bodies faintly trembling. Be it the former or the latter, they all were left absolutely stunned.

Unbelievable! To suddenly cleave Black Sword Artist’s strike in half and counterattack… How powerful must his determination and sword arts be to accomplish this?


When he first said that the blood spilling might be the other’s and not his, I thought he was just saying for the sake of talking. But, it seems that he really did it.


It can’t be denied that his cultivation of Sword Dao is already above Black Sword Artist’s.

If there were some puzzlement and bewilderment in the amazed expressions of others, the astonishment of Life Seizer Sword Artist Leng Zhuo showed a clear understanding and realization. As his title Life Seizer implied, his sword arts were completely ruthless, and he walked a tricky road. One wouldn’t be able to see his sword’s path and trajectory, and by the time one saw his sword, one would be already dead.
Although he hadn’t learned an attributed sword intent, and thus, was somewhat inferior in terms of offensive power compared to Black Sword Artist, he made up for it with his sword skills. He had comprehended three peak earth grade sword skills, all cultivated to the peak. Furthermore, he had cultivated a low grade profound sword skill to forty percent. All of these skills were made for killing at their core, with which, even if he were to face Black Sword Artist, he wouldn’t be afraid by one bit. From his perspective, the chances of victory would be fifty-fifty. If the fight played out for long, he would be overpowered by Black Sword Artist; and if the fight happened to end quickly, he could gravely injure the latter in one strike and claim victory. There was no third possibility.
His original plan was to challenge whoever won amongst Black Sword Artist and Ye Chen, but he had no intention of challenging Ye Chen now.
The latter’ sword arts were the kind that Leng Zhuo feared the most: perfect and without any flaws. Of course, perfect sword arts didn’t imply that he could beat any sword artist with flaws in their sword arts. But, it was still the type he feared the most. From his perspective, sword artists with perfect sword arts like Ye Chen suppressed the sword artists with berserk offense throughout the fight, as in case of Black Sword Artist. This was something he couldn’t accomplish. If it had been him instead of Black Sword Artist, he wouldn’t have fared any better most likely.
Especially after Ye Chen used the Reverse Style Sky Thunder Cut, he knew he didn’t have the slightest chance. Not to mention defeating his opponent in one sword strike, it might be him getting defeated in one strike.
Releasing his clenched palms, Leng Zhuo’s body relaxed as he gave up on challenging Ye Chen.
Puff!
Kneeling on the ground with one knee, Black Sword Artist spurted out a mouthful of blood; his face was extremely pale.

How can you return my Black Dragon Wave?

His astonishment wasn’t without reason. He could accept that Ye Chen could break his Black Dragon Wave, but to return it back and injuring himself? He couldn’t accept it at all.
Ye Chen glanced at the Thunder Sword on his left shoulder and said,
A flash of realization, thanks to you.

The Reverse Style was something he had created in passing. After all, his proficiency lied in two major mentalities: Thunder Mentality and Wood Mentality. These two mentalities needed corresponding treasured swords to employ. Regardless of how quick Ye Chen’s sword changing speed was, it would always waste some time. Therefore, amidst of a flash of realization, he slashed out a reversed Sky Thunder Cut through the Thunder Sword with his left hand.
‘Thunder slashes upside into the sky; it chops swiftly like a peerless treasured sword, possessing an irresistible sharpness.’
Reverse Style was to make Sky Thunder reverse its course; from underneath towards sky. It was like reversing of Yin and Yang, like the concept of ‘sky no longer the sky, and earth no longer the earth’. Not only could it sever the opponent’s strike, it could even hurl it back toward the latter.
It seemed simple in words, but was not so easy to apply.
The reverse style Ye Chen used the first time wasn’t the true reverse style. It did nothing other than severing the strong point of the strike. But, he made it work the second time. By relying on his powerful soul, Ye Chen managed to reverse the Sky Thunder Cut by making the moment of drawing the sword the most powerful point of the offense, and the moment when the strike was fully issued the weakest one- the exact opposite of normal Sky Thunder Cut. Be it the normal style or reverse style, they were both the same in essence. Otherwise, Ye Chen had no way of creating a new sword move surpassing the Sky Thunder Cut.
The reverse style was a counterattack move, but at the same time, also an offensive one. However, it was a somewhat strange counterattack, impossible to defend against effectively.
It could be said that the reverse style of Sky Thunder Cut had eased Ye Chen’s embarrassment to some extent.
He had to admit that the lack of powerful sword moves was his biggest weakness. Others had the support of big sects, so they could learn peak earth grade sword skills one after other as they pleased, and even challenge difficult profound sword arts.
Up to this point, he had only inherited the Green Lotus Sword Arts, which was honestly exceptionally powerful. It was exceptionally powerful compared to most of the peak earth grade sword skills, almost at the pinnacle of earth grade techniques. However, due to this reason, learning its ninth style was exceptionally hard, disgustingly hard in fact. Ye Chen even doubted that he could have comprehended a low grade profound skill to thirty percent completion during all this time.
Although once he cultivated the ninth style, its might would be unparalleled and might even surpass his imagination, he currently hadn’t achieved it; and thus, it couldn’t’ change his current situation.
Apart from the Green Lotus Sword Arts, Sky Thunder Cut was something Ye Chen had created one step at a time from the very beginning.
Aside from these two, Ye Chen had no other sword moves to work with.
The addition of Reverse Styled Sky Thunder Cut was undoubtedly a huge relief. Ye Chen had been in dire need of sword skills. At equivalent strengths, the importance of martial skills was actually too huge; it could mean the difference between life and death.
Hearing Ye Chen say ‘flash of realization, thanks to you’, Black Sword Artist almost coughed out another mouthful of blood. Although he didn’t cough out blood, his face had turned quite unsightly. His opponent had the time to create such a powerful move amidst a fierce battle with him; this was nothing different than slapping him in the face.
Flash of Realization! Anybody could have a flash of realization, but it couldn’t simply be applied immediately. After all, they were not some mortal realm martial artists who could abruptly make a comeback after a flash of realization; they were peak Astral Reaching experts. The flash of realization that required no time and effort to make use of was basically useless to them. Ye Chen’s flash of realization which basically left him half-dead was way too different from that.
Therefore, Black Sword Artist didn’t have much belief that this sword move was created by Ye Chen after a momentary flash of realization. It had to be his hidden ace.
As he thought up to this point, he felt much better. To lose to a hidden ace of a move, he could somehow barely accept that, though his face was still a bit unsightly.

I’ll fight you again after the Tea Gathering.

The Black Sword Artist firmly decided that he would first comprehend Black Dragon Wave to forty percent completion before wasting so much time on the Slaughter Sword Intent. If he had comprehended the Black Dragon Wave to forty percent completion, he wouldn’t have lost to Ye Chen. Of course, he didn’t know that if he didn’t have the Slaughter Sword Intent, he wouldn’t have been able to stand before the latter at all.
Drawing support from his huge black sword, Black Sword Artist stood up and wordlessly returned to his seat.
Thunder Princess attentively watched the Black Sword Artist leave, then let out a sigh and declared,
This match goes to Ye Chen!

Hearing these words, everybody at the side of South Rudra Region had strange expressions.
Mo Lingfeng was ecstatic. Unexpectedly, Ye Chen wiped Black Sword Artist clean at the final moment. That sword strike was simply too stunning.
Silong Sheng sneered coldly; it was unknown what he was thinking.
Ye Sixth and Ye Seventh by his side laughed bitterly. They had no choice but to admit that they were not Ye Chen’s match.
The others had relatively normal expressions. They were used to seeing Ye Chen concealing his strength. Who knew how many more powerful moves he had still concealed.
Among the seats of Gold Sand Region, the bewitching purple-haired girl beside Astral Spirit son turned her head and said,
Leng Zhuo, you’re not going to challenge him?’
Wearing purple clothes, the average looking Leng Zhuo was just as his name implied: cold-looking. It seemed as if nothing had anything to do with him. At the same time, it seemed as if his cold eyes were observing everything without a change in expression. He spoke neither coldly nor amicably,
I’m not as good as him!


Interesting!

The purple-haired girl was somewhat astonished. She was not a sword artist, so her understanding towards such a high-level sword battle was not too deep. However, she knew Leng Zhuo. This sword artist had his own distinct one-shot-kill sword style. Even if he were to confront a much stronger opponent, he wouldn’t fear them. As a proof of this, he somehow managed to kill a sword artist much stronger than him a few years ago. In the Gold Sand Region, he was called the Life Seizer Sword Artist.
The purple-haired girl thought that he would be challenging Ye Chen for a fight. But unexpectedly he directly said that he was not as good. This meant that he was not referring to just the latter’s strength, but his overall battle power and aura. In other words, he didn’t have the slightest chance of winning.
After defeating Black Sword Artist, Ye Chen sensed his Zhen Yuan consumption. He then cupped his hands and said,
I’ve fought four battles in a row and consumed a lot of Zhen Yuan. I’ll head back to rest a bit.

After speaking these words, he turned around and headed towards his seat.
Watching his departing back, many people had admiring gazes. One man winning four consecutive battles with his sword… Moreover, his battles were not against some nobodies. This accomplishment would likely cause a sensation. Because of this one man, South Rudra Region had ascended to level two from level one, and for the time being, was unparalleled amongst level two regions.
Regardless of how the gathering proceeded from hereon, the title of Southern Sector’s number one sword artist had been claimed by Ye Chen. In a few days, the entire populace of Southern Sector would know his name, and his fame would spread across the whole sector for the first time.
Number One Sword Artist!
Entire Southern Sector!
What kind of honor was this?
Apart from the title of number one sword artist, everybody believed that Ye Chen had the strength to be in top ten. Top three wasn’t too possible, but fourth, fifth, or sixth was not out of the question.

This is what they call making one’s name under the heavens overnight!
Many sighed with emotions.
After Ye Chen left the stage, the following matches seemed a bit dull. However, everybody was looking forward to the upcoming fiery matches. After all, there were still many powerful characters who were yet to make their move, especially Thunder Princess, Edict Prince, and Astral Spirit son.