With the Blade

Du Chengfeng once thought he understood this world well enough.

This wasn’t the first time he had such a sentiment. In fact, each time he felt he should have a comprehensive understanding of this world—after all, beyond living, he nearly dedicated all his energy to this matter. This dedication was also the foundation of maintaining his formidable combat strength.

Ordinary warriors only need brute strength. They just need naturally large fists to defeat those who disobey them.

More skilled warriors often have their own unique techniques. They might not be very strong physically, but their special skills are enough to let them use strategy to overpower larger opponents. Ordinary warriors often easily fall when encountering them. These individuals can be deemed as dangerous elements, beyond common reasoning.

As for the next level, these people have seen too many unconventional things, so they won’t be easily defeated by strange, unique moves anymore. They’ve even reserved plenty of techniques to counter those suddenly appearing masters. By then, they no longer insist on single techniques. The understanding of various techniques and ways to become stronger, this information itself becomes their shield and spear.

As for Du Chengfeng, it’s clear he’s long stepped into the third stage. He explores various innovative fighting styles and tries tactics he’s never encountered before, expanding his repertoire of skills. Of course, most of the time, these new fighting styles are unused, but when faced with a confrontation, he can always bring out a set of targeted strategies.

On the exterior, this manifests as him always winning, never losing, having nearly no record of defeat along the way.

"How is that possible? It’s just that outsiders don’t see me struggling when practicing."

When teaching kids martial arts, Du Chengfeng said this.

Of course, talk is cheap, but it’s precisely due to such abundant knowledge reserves that Du Chengfeng’s combat strength is always at the forefront of this world—not bragging, but to keep his strength in the first tier, to get some basic sense of security in this unfamiliar world, and to have minimal control over his fate in this bloody world.

However, plans always can’t keep up with changes.

Whenever Du Chengfeng thought he understood this world well enough, he would encounter some new trick.

"So what is this really about?"

After yet another try with a new move, Du Chengfeng became increasingly puzzled.

"Can such things really work?"

"Why not let me give it a try?"

On the other side of the yard, Cui Yuan, who had been specially called over, spoke up.

Cui Yuan was called over as a sparring partner. Presently, only he and Du Chengfeng in Forget Sorrow Village have combat power. Of course, considering material, perhaps Wooden Man Li Mujiang could also be a sparring partner, but having that old brother as a wooden stake to beat isn’t quite suitable.

More importantly, Cui Yuan indeed is more fitting as a sparring partner, since this swordsman can also try moves.

"Then you give it a try."

Du Chengfeng motioned with his hand, then patted his chest.

"Come, hit as comfortably as you feel."

"Alright, I will take action then."

After signaling a move, Cui Yuan drew the broken sword from his waist.

Immediately, the blade of the broken sword pointed towards Du Chengfeng.

...

A long pause.

"...Can’t say it."

Cui Yuan lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry, I couldn’t help, after all, this kind of thing is really..."

"Come on, you can do it."

Du Chengfeng tried hard to encourage Cui Yuan.

"You can surely manage, right?"

"Then... I’ll try again."

Cui Yuan raised his sword once more.

...

A long pause.

"Did you actually say something earlier?"

Du Chengfeng started scratching his head.

"I didn’t hear clearly, could you say it again?"

"Sword, sword, sword..."

Gritting onto the hilt, Cui Yuan finally managed to squeeze out some voice.

"Sword, Sword Brightens the Nine Provinces."

...

Du Chengfeng looked down at his chest.

All good, not even the clothes were torn.

Or rather, earlier on, he essentially hadn’t been attacked at all.

The experiment with new technology ultimately failed. The issue wasn’t with the technique itself, as they hadn’t even reached the point of experimenting with it—just yelling the move’s name turned into a disaster for both him and Cui Yuan.

Indeed, like Cui Yuan, he couldn’t shout out the move name, such an outrageous act.

As for the reason...

They both wanted to save face.

Something like this is too embarrassing no matter how you look at it, particularly when focusing on the move itself to achieve holistic harmony—doing such an endeavor almost equals stripping naked in a public square. If one must state the difference, shouting out the move name removes more than just clothes.

"Simply put, you need to envision an extremely unbelievable, extraordinarily powerful move impression, first deem the move as unbeatable, then shout it out with such vigor that the opponent hears it too."

Du Chengfeng summarized this approach.

"How is this different from streaking? Difficult in thinking I should shout ’Big Bird Spin Spin Spin’ when punching?"