Man and Sword as One

I drew my sword from my spatial pouch and parried Jin Lei's thunder spear…or Divine Thunderbolt, as he named it. The impact of his blow tossed me back several paces, and my opponent followed up his strike with several lightning bolts that I was forced to cleave apart. They were a lot faster and more powerful than his usual Swift Lightning Fingers or even Golden Thunder Light Quake.

If I hadn't hacked them apart with my sword, I probably would have been fried by them. I wasn't able to dodge them nor was I able to withstand them. Well, I probably wouldn't die if I got hit by them, but I would be seriously hurt.

And nobody was dumb enough to let themselves get injured if they could avoid it.

"Hah!" Jin Lei crowed and spun his spear about. Above him, golden thunderbolts materialized in the heavens before descending upon my location. I cut them apart as best as I could, and weaved through the relentless barrage to evade the rest of the numerous golden spears.

Heaving, I dove through the merciless bombardment and rolled through the golden storm, bringing my sword up to cleave apart another couple that I couldn't avoid.

Then Jin Lei plummeted, thrusting his spear at me. I parried it to the side, wincing as sparks scattered from the colliding metal. The weapons screeched as blade squealed against blade, and I was spun away by the impact.

Jin Lei slammed one foot on the ground and whirled about, using the blunt end of his spear to whack my head. Fortunately, I was able to lift my left upper arm up to block the blow. My limb screamed in pain, but at least my head was protected from the otherwise concussive blow.

If that had connected, I probaby would have suffered from a serious concussion and spent the rest of the match swaying about dizzily, unable to mount a proper counterattack.

For now, I parried his next blow and allowed the momentum from his attack to hurl me to the side. Rolling to my feet, I braced myself and raised my sword while retreating as hastily as I could.

Jin Lei snarled and twirled his Divine Thunderbolt about, pointing the sharp blade at me. At first, I wasn't sure what he was doing. He certainly was too far away to hit me with his spear from that distance. But lightning bolts exploded out of his speartip and lanced toward me. I was barely able to block them in time with my sword, but even so the numbling, electric impact hurled me several paces backward. I stumbled for a moment and fell over with a grunt.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Jin Lei roared in laughter, amused by what he perceived to be an embarrassing moment for me. Unfortunately for him, I was too busily trying to stay alive to be embarrassed. I didn't care if I had to roll around like a clown as long as I could avoid a serious injury.

Without wasting any more time, Jin Lei sent another barrage of lightning bolts at me. I was barely able to get up in time to block them, and I could see my flesh burning. There was a momentarily flash of heat before the numbness set in and I stumbled back with a curse.

Jin Lei closed in to deliver the finishing blow, which sent me skidding another few paces back. Our weapons locked, he leaned in with a triumphant grin, electricity crackling along the length of his weapon.

"Are you seriously trying to fight my treasure weapon with an ordinary sword?"

"Um, well…"

I wasn't given a chance to finish answering. Electricity exploded and sent me hurtling several meters away, my body smoking. I landed on the grund and coughed, half rising to my feet and swinging my sword wildly to deflect the lightning bolts that battered me.

"Just give up!" Jin Lei taunted. "You cannot defeat me!"

"If I had a penny for every time a cultivation story antagonist or peanut gallery tells the protagonist that he cannot defeat him, I would be a millionaire by now," I muttered.

"I'm just stating facts!" Jin Lei sneered as he launched another electric onslaught. I shrugged.

"I've to admire your confidence, if anything."

My opponent scowled and raised his spear, which continued to crackle with more lethal lightning. "Are you mocking me?"

"No." I took a deep breath and raised my sword. "Earlier, you called my katana an ordinary sword, didn't you? Did it not occur to you that I also know Man and Sword as One?"

"Hah! Of course you don't!" Jin Lei exclaimed confidently. "If you did, you would have already used it!"

"You've a point. I wonder why didn't I use it from the start? I've been watching too much Bleach."

"Huh? What the hell is Bleach?!"

"An animation about Shinigami and Zanpakutou. Oh, and the final season is coming out October this year (since it was 2022 when I was transmigrated). Based off one of the most popular manga serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump."

"Rambling about nonsense that nobody understands…just die already!"

With a roar, Jin Lei charged, his blurring body and streaking spear accompanied by countless thunderbolts. In response to his charge, I placed my left hand along the side of my blade.

"Darken, Abyssal Edge."

My ordinary looking katana transformed into a sword that was as black as the night, its dark blade emanating a dangerous air. Jin Lei's eyes widened, but he was committed to his attack. Yelling defiantly, he thrust his Divine Thunderbolt forward.

I parried his blade with my black sword. Then I infused Abyssal Edge with my qi and unleashed Shadow Sword Strike at pointblank range.

"Ugh!"

Jin Lei was blasted by nightmarish black qi, his spear too thin to block the devastating attack. His body smoking, he was hurled backward before he flipped himself about to land on his feet. Even so, his momentum sent him skidding a few paces back. Gritting his teeth, he rammed his spear into the ground and forced himself to a halt.

"Cheap little tricks!" He growled and yanked his spear out of the ground. Pointing Divine Thunderbolt at me, he unleashed his own cheap little trick. "Divine Thunderbolt Destructive Storm!"

Did he really have to shout out the name of a technique he had been using several times over our match?

I sighed and watched the lightning bolts rain down upon me. Twirling my sword about, I swung Abyssal Edge and countered his technique with Shadow Sword Storm. Black blades rose from the shadows and launched upward like dark rockets, streaking to meet the blinding thunderbolts. Shadows clashed against lightning, black qi colliding against golden qi to explode ferociously overhead.

The spectators gasped, treated to an impressive display of pyrotechnics.

"Amazing…"

"Just what are those techniques?!"

"They seem evenly matched!"

"Of course! They are both Innate Realm cultivators, and both have mastered Man and Sword as One!"

"Who do you think will win?"

Ignoring the chatter from the audience, I raced across the arena while shadow swords detonated against thunder spears overhead, intent on finishing the match once and for all. Sharing a similar opinion, Jin Lei lowered his spear and met my charge. Our weapons collided ferociously, black and gold sparks spraying the arena and scorching the floor with their intensity.

"Ho…your White Herb Sect disciple really surprised me this time, Bai Yao Cai." Cheng Kun leaned forward, his expression dark. "I never thought there would be someone this capable of fighting from a healer-type sect lke yours."

"If we didn't have competent fighters, then we would never have become one of the seven major sects," Bai Yao Cai replied with a shrug. "Just depending solely on healing alone…we would have been bullied."

"That might not be true," Wu Xing said, stroking his long beard. "Only an idiot would bully or suppress healers. Without you, we warriors would be in serious trouble, considering the number of times we get injured. Imagine if we oppressed the healers – when we are injured and seek treatment, you will refuse to help us…might even seize the chance to take revenge while the warriors are vulnerable. Only a fool would mistreat healers, for our lives depend on you. You'll never know when you'll be at the mercy of others."

"Yeah, anyone who espouses the 'might is right' rhetoric are utter fools," Long Feng Meng agreed with an airy wave of her hand. "Or delusional."

"More like they just want to use the logic to justify bullying others, but when they turn out to be the weaker party who is getting bullied, they will suddenly turn around and twist the logic to beg for mercy and appeal to higher morals," Xing Chen said.

"Spoken like true weaklings," Jin Shan Dian muttered, earning glares from the others. Bai Yao Cai shrugged.

"Well then…if your son gets hurt in the match, then surely you have no need of us weaklings to heal him."

"There's no way he'll get hurt by a weakling disciple of yours!"

Jin Shan Dian spoke too soon. Jin Lei was attacking me, the both of us trading blows with our released treasure weapons. I deflected his Divine Thunderbolt with my black blade, parrying his thrusts that only grew more desperate with each passing second. Beads of perspiration formed on Jin Le's face as he impatiently assaulted me, his spear a golden blur.

"Why?" He murmured irritably. "Why haven't you fallen yet?"

I didn't reply with words, choosing to respond instead with my actions. Twisting Abyssal Edge about, I knocked his Divine Thunderbolt aside to force an opening. Using the shorter reach of my weapon to my advantage, I ducked under the wavering length of the spear to get under Jin Lei's guard and rammed my left palm against his solar plexus to unleash Shadow Strike.

"Ugh!"

Blood spurted from Jin Lei's mouth as he folded over, but he determinedly swung his spear down, releasing lightning along the length of his Divine Thunderbolt. I countered his attack with Shadow Sword Strike, my black qi detonating against his golden lightning.

For a moment, both of us tumbled out of the smoke, coughing, but I wasn't done yet. Before Jin Lei could recover, I swung Abyssal Edge. He parried my black blade with the haft of his Divine Thunderbolt, but I executed Shadow Dragon right at that moment.

My black qi leaped out from the blade and took the form of a dragon, bellowing silently as it engulfed and devoured a stunned Jin Lei. He shrieked in agony and tried to burst the dragon apart with his Divine Thunderbolt, lightnings leaving its entire length to electrocute the otherwise intangible shadow dragon. For a moment, he succeeded, his lethal lightning bolts ripping apart the shadow dragon after much effort.

But I surged through the dissipating clouds of qi to swing Abyssal Edge down. He hastily blocked it with Divine Thunderbolt, the two treasure weapons crunching heavily against each other. For a second, it appeared that we were locked in a stalemate.

My opponent never saw my knee coming from below, connecting violently against his gut. He screamed and doubled over, almost letting go of his Divine Thunderbolt. But he held on tenaciously, smacked aside when I swung Abyssal Edge, blocking my deadly black blade. Even so, his momentum had bled out from my blow and he was sent spinning to the side.

There was no way I wouldn't exploit that moment of weakness.

While Jin Lei tumbled, I executed a second Shadow Dragon that was too close for him to avoid. He screamed as the black dragon's jaws caught him, burning away his clothing and scorching his flesh. Blood burst out of multiple wounds while he thrashed about. With a single vicious swing of Divine Thunderolt, he tore the shadow dragon apart with lighting, but he fell to his knees, his eyes rolling up in their sockets. Rivulets of blood streamed down his arms and face, splashing against the ground.

"I…l...I…" he murmured weakly, raising his spear to block my next attack. Again, he could do nothing against my kick from below and was sent crashing to the ground in an undignified heap. He rolled once, and then lay motionlessly on the charred floor.

A few seconds passed by in silence, and I could literally sense everyone holding their breaths.

Then the referee raised a hand. "Jin Lei is unable to battle! The winner is Hei Ye of White Herb Sect!"

"No way! Impossible!" Jin Shan Dian roared, jumping to his feet. But his protests were drowned out by the raucous cheers from the spectators.