AZI Volume 1 Chapter 28

"Cultivation method? Is that your excuse? In that case, my cultivation method is called Beating My Son on a Rainy Day Because I'm Bored."

Having said these words, Long Hua closes the distance and throws out a series of punches and kicks that are either avoided or are blocked by Huang Wu in haste.

"What is this? Losing your sword makes you only know how to dodge and block? Is that it?"

With a sharp roundhouse kick, Long Hua knocks the scabbard of the sword out of Huang Wu's left hand.

"Piss off! If you're a practitioner, why are you fighting like a barbarian?"

Distancing himself from Long Hua, Huang Wu performs a series of incantation gestures and at the point of his index finger—

"Eat this!"

From the tip of Huang Wu's finger, a beam of light shoots forth and towards its approach, Long Hua kicks off the ground to retreat.

"…"

Glancing behind him, Long Hua sees Huang Wu's sword that is stabbed into the ground. Intent on grabbing it, he aligns his right hand with its handle.

(Hmph. That magic treasure has already acknowledged me as its owner, you can't possibly hope to use it.)

Expecting Long Hua to experience a backlash from attempting to grasp the weapon, Huang Wu smirks with contempt on the inside.

"…Oh?"

Pulling the sword out of the ground, Long Hua does indeed feel a discomforting sense of pain in his right hand along with the warmth of his own blood.

Should this pain that is akin to having numerous needles stabbed into one's flesh be prolonged, it wouldn't be strange for his right hand to become crippled.

(Divine Weapon of Tai Xuan!)

Upon Long Hua speaking the full name of Tai Xuan in his head, the pain subsides and with it, a veil of golden radiance emanates from Huang Wu's sword.

Raising the sword, Long Hua divides the beam of light that Huang Wu had fired off.

"Uh?"

As the sword's golden radiance begins to dim, Huang Wu's expression abruptly freezes.

Even from this distance, he can evidently feel that his sword has become a lot stronger than before.

"Kūn, the kun used in kunpeng."

Looking at the sword's black handle that had the character for kun carved onto it, Long Hua nods his head.

"Charming name this is indeed. Long-mou, humbly receives your gift, fellow Daoist."

Addressing himself with his surname that is attached to an honorific, while speaking in an archaic dialect, Long Hua cups his hands together with the sword in his grip, and bows mockingly towards Huang Wu's direction.

With how perfectly this formal bow had been performed; one would surely believe Long Hua to be someone from the same homeland as Huang Wu should he be dressed in a similar attire.

"You…!"

Sensing his connection to his sword severed, Huang Wu holds down the urge to spew out a mouthful of blood as a vein pops on his forehead.

"Just who the hell are you?"

Straightening his posture, Long Hua smiles, and answers—

"Who knows?"

Looking towards the cloud filled skies, Long Hua felt the urge to smash it apart along with the numerous gears that lie beyond the layers.

(Ai, with my strength right now, I can only dream of doing that.)

Redirecting his gaze back at Huang Wu, Long Hua speaks with contempt.

"Your cultivation base should be anywhere between Qi Condensation stage one to stage five; can't be higher than six for certain. Mine… 28 bolts rained on me, so I should be at Qi Condensation stage seven."

"…"

Hearing this assessment, and recalling that 28 lightning bolts had indeed rained upon Long Hua a few moments ago, Huang Wu can't help but turn pale, as the former begins to approach him with a calm smile on his face.

"W-Wait, you said, you wanted my storage pouch, you can have it if you just let me go. Realistically speaking, neither of us have a blood feud with one another. Can't we just sit down and talk like civilized gentlemen? Besides, my household would surely realize my death and they'd-"

Towards Huang Wu's words, Long Hua continues to smile, and answers—

"My shīzūn taught me that come hell and highwaters, trouble can be found anywhere in the pugilistic world—where deaths and betrayals occur on a daily basis over the opportunity to obtain fortune. Greed, hatred, ignorance, contempt, there's numerous words that can be used to describe both the environment and the people involved with this world. If you wish to kill someone, do so with the conviction that they will kill you, and if they bring up their backers as an excuse to let them go…"

Towards these words, Huang Wu gulps down his spit.

"Kill them with the conviction that you shall be chased from one end of the world to the other."

"That's exactly why you shou-"

"However, if I don't kill you, you might leak my identity to your clansmen, and then drag over ten buddies of yours forward to take revenge. I may be able to kill you and those buddies of yours as well, but then…"

With less than a few more meters to cover before he has Huang Wu within the reach of his blade, Long Hua presses his brows together with the flavor of his smile turning cruel.

"I invite myself to have to deal with the old for killing the young."

"…"

"Before I send you off on your way, let me show you how to really use a sword—as taught to me by my shizun."

With a laxed hold over the sword, Long Hua recalls his shizun's Dao of the sword.

(Sword, to cultivate the sword is to cultivate the mind and body—for the sake of seeking out one's sword intent. To this day, my sword intent focuses on the words—sharpness, precision, and flexibility. Even if I am holding a blunt stick in my hand, I am still able to cleave a boulder in half with it.)

Raising the sword with his right hand, Long Hua focuses on the words—sharpness, precision, and flexibility, prior to lowering the sword in an extremely simplistic manner.

"…!"

*…!* despite the small bit of distance separating them from one another, the invisible sword Qi that is fired off the cold blade devours the gap, leaving a straight line that starts 36 inches away from Long Hua's feet until it ends behind Huang Wu's back.

*Thud! Thud!* as Huang Wu's body splits in half, a pool of blood is created.

"…"

Inhaling deeply, the spirit Qi that is erupting from Huang Wu's corpse is absorbed by Long Hua.

(Shizun … I still can't recall his face. As for my own history with him… Tch, nothing comes to mind. Just how did we separate, and how did I end up here? What was I…-?)

Shaking his head, Long Hua approaches Huang Wu's corpse while collecting the sword's scabbard on the way.

Sheathing the sword, Long Hua takes Huang Wu's storage pouch and tosses the weapon in along with the corpse.

(This corpse could be used to make more IB-09s… They call it an elixir in this world, but it's probably something similar to what practitioners call pills, which are concocted through alchemy.)

This magic treasure called a storage pouch—is capable of keeping a large number of items within itself, while maintaining them in a fresh state.

"Ai…"

Folding his legs, and seating himself in lotus posture, Long Hua raises a light sigh.

(Forget it. If I can't remember anything, so be it. That guy mentioned that this world is called Leng Bing… Leng as in cold, bing as in weapon. And this Ling Yuan family…)

Shaking his head, Long Hua dismisses these thoughts and focuses entirely on processing the spirit Qi that he had just absorbed.

(The spirit Qi of this world is far too thin. Unless I kill more practitioners, I can't possibly advance to the Foundation Establishment realm.)

Had he left Huang Wu alive, he may have been able to acquire more information, but it wouldn't be wise to do that if the latter had hidden methods to call for reinforcements.

The truth of this world at this time is unimportant when he lacks the strength to confront that truth, so why bother to expose himself to the risks that accompany it?