Will's sudden offensive caught his opponent by surprise.
'Amusing.'
Jingsung Ha's face was expressionless, but his countenance betrayed his expression.
It was as if Will had materialized in front of Jingsung Ha. Will didn't have the ability to force people to blink like Jingsung, but he had his own tricks. One of the raindrops in front of Jingsung's eyes exploded. A small mist was produced. This mist surrounded Jingsung.
'This mist, it's suffused with Water Intent of the Confusion Concept. All my Basic Senses are useless here!'
Jingsung could not help but laugh inside. He made Will blink, so Will took away all his Mortal Senses in return.
'According to the script, what happens next is...'
Jingsung moved like thunder! He used his free hand to draw his other sword and adjusted his stance so he could cover his back.
Clang!
A clash of swords resounded. His time Will didn't bounce back. Not that he wanted to, but he couldn't.
'The Dao of Water, Water Pressure.'
The Duo was surrounded by rain from the clouds and splashes of water from the turbulent waves smashing against the cliffs. There was water all around them.
Will felt as if he was submerged in Water at extreme depths. His muscles started tearing and his bones started to creak.
."You are not the only one who has a way with the Dao of Water."
Will didn't respond to his opponent. He was too busy trying to survive. He was a True Water Meister, yet someone of the some level was oppressing him. To Will this was absurd.
His body felt as if it was an incarnation of Atlas. Cursed to hold up the skies for all eternity. There was nowhere to escape. Even his yuan turned sluggish within his body.
Jingsung Ha was happy with his work. But as the wise sages had said, never underestimate your opponent. As soon as Will felt a slight drop in killing intent, he made his move. .
Will was already extremely sensitive to Killing Intent due to the passive ability of Bloodlust. This was not an ability Will could switch off, but he could control the sensitivity somewhat.
Jingsung went from feeling as if he had Will in his palm to have a blade edge go for his left foot. Will had escaped from the Dao Suppression and had approached the feet of Ha, aiming for his feet with a horizontal sweep.
'He escaped by using the Formless Concept!'
The Dao of Water was known as the Dao with the most applications, and the reason for this was this Concept, the 'Formless' Concept!
To Jingsung, it felt as if he was griping ice in his palm, only for the ice to melt in his palm. The water slipped through the cracks, results in Will freeing himself.
'To be able to apply it like this, he must have and battle experience.
Earlier on he used the Confusion Concept. 2 Water Dao Concepts at level 99. Not bad.'
Water could affect ones senses and beguiled them. It is formless in liquid and gas form. It is also heavy and produces incredible weight. A liter of pure water is a kilogram, in other words, a thousand grams. These are all traits of water that Martial artists can manipulate to their advantage.
Martial Concepts are aspects of a Dao that allow Martial Artists and Mages to manipulate the laws of nature. Concepts are a higher power that requires incredibly sensory talent to even perceive. This talent was called Sensory Perception.
With Sensory Perception one gains many of the abilities above, from Higher Senses like Truth to Concepts such as 'Formlessness' to Parallel Processing.
'But you are merely scratching the surface. Either he had a poor teacher or he is from a weak planet. Most likely a Lower World.'
Jig sung jumped to avoid the horizontal sweep. Causing Will to miss. Mid swing Will materialized an Ice Blade and forcefully changed his body's axis, in preparation for...
'That stance, a vertical strike from there?'
Jingsung heart beat sped up in anticipation. And Will didn't disappoint. Not only was it a vertical hit, it was also a True Strike. The power of Truth laced the blade as the strike approached Ha's foot.
Will wasn't confident that it was already his victory, but he had no intentions of taking it easy..
He pushed his body to the extreme to perform this sort of rapid movement. This plus successive use of Concepts had taken a mental toll on Will. And it wasn't light.
Will wasn't expecting to touch flesh with his blade, but he was still stunned by what transpired. Instead of a sensitive surface that was easy to tear, he felt as if he was cutting and oiled up ball of rubber. His blade slid off Jingsung like it was laced with a viscous lubricant. It was an odd sensation to Will.
'The Formless Concept can also be used this way?'
His True Strike was redirected and blasted into the sky. Jingsung Ha rebounded using the energy from the contact. He had in a most literal sense, skated on a blade light. Will could help but whistle mentally.
He had already landed by the time Will had recovered himself.
'This won't be easy. Something tells me that this guy has a lot of tricks in his bag of surprises.'
Jingsung Ha smiled and started to walk slowly toward Will.
"Judging from your emotional state, you must not be used to seeing your Truth dealt with in such a manner."
Will looked at his opponent and raised a brow in suspicion. He didn't know the dude, but Ha did not seem like one to strike up a conversation mid battle.
"You must be from a Lower World. Then let me tell you a little secret. There are countless ways to deal with such an incomplete Truth.
'Incomplete, I know it's not amazing but that's a rather specific term. Besides, my expression should be stiff. How can he measure my emotional state? Does he have ability similar to the passive state of Bloodlust?'
Bloodlust gave Will many passive abilities one of which was an increased understanding of his opponent.
'If he has something like that...'
Will was that shocked that his True Strike seemed useless, but he was worried about being completely seen through.
Will immediately reduced his killing Intent.
"I'm glad you lowered your Killing Intent. It makes you stronger, but it also makes you easy to read.'
These words stunned Will, but before he could register more, Ha continued.
"But more importantly, having Intent gushing out like that makes you a target. Now please prepare, I'm striking."
Will felt a chill up his spine the moment Jingsung started talking. He leapt back without registering anything. Mid jump his Aqua Sense had told him that the air in front of his body, in other words, where he had just been standing, had been shredded by dozens of blade lights.
As Will was landing, another impending sense of doom overtook him but he was quick to react.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
A storm of swords. Jingsung Ha had turned into an asura of the battlefield. It was as if he had many arms like a bodhisattva, with each hand carrying a sword and raining down a barrage of attacks. But Will did not disappoint.
'You think you are the only one who can track people's movement through Killing Intent?'
It seemed impossible, but Will was blocking every attack. Stroke for stroke, blade for blade, Will was matching Jingsung.
'Amusing. The boy is truly meant for the sword. In that case.'
Ha's previously dead eyes gained a dull light as he increased the intensity of his attacks. His figure started to dart around Will who seemed stuck in one place.
The Ice Katana and the Rusty Katana danced about in Will's arms as he danced about in a battle he had never had before.
'A battle against a real swordsman!'
Will had never received any true or formal training in sportsmanship. He had been left to his own devices. To top it all of he had no peers. Talent was good but sometimes it resulted in a painful loneliness.
Will was well aware that many users on earth could beat him as he was, but he was confident that none, not even Musashi, we're close to him in understanding the Dao of the Sword.
So this was a first for Will. Meeting a superior swords man. One he could learn from. So Will changed how he viewed the battle. His gaze changed from 'I want to defeat you' to 'Come, give me everything you have'.
Jingsung snickered and continued his barrage. He planned to give Will what he was asking for.
Hey guys. Thanks for reading. For those of you who want to support our Patreon the tiers and Link are below!
Cultivator (Tier I)
$1/month
Ask any question (the answer will be a sentence long at minimum) and we’ll reply in 72 hours:
• Curiosity about the setting.
• Ask about possible future events
• Updates on all projects on the Patron Community Chat
• Replies within a week for all inquiries :)
Benefactor (TIER II)
$5/month
Ask any question(s) (the answer will be a paragraph long at maximum) and we’ll reply within 24 hours!
• Curiosity about any character;
• Curiosity about the setting.
• Updates through the Patron Community Chat
• Ask about possible future events
• Weekly shout outs
• Clues about future events
• Access to character designs, hidden gems and more
King (Tier III)
$10/month
Ask any simple questions (the answer will be a paragraph long at maximum) and we’ll reply within 24 hours. Ask any question detailed questions (the answer will be at least 100 words minimum) and we’ll reply in 3 days:
• Curiosity about any character;
• Curiosity about the setting.
• Updates through the Patron Community Chat
• Ask about possible future events
• Weekly shout outs
• Clues about future events
• Access to character designs, hidden gems and more
• Involvement in weekly podcasts on Spotify and other platforms
This are only the first three tiers. I will reveal the next tiers next chapter