40: Chapter 40 Reversal! [Water Release: Water Mirror Technique]!!

[Return of Ten Thousand Swords] is the signature martial art of the Xu Family. It could be said that only members of the Xu Family who know [Return of Ten Thousand Swords] are considered true members of the Xu Family. This phrase was spoken by the first patriarch of the Xu Family.

Therefore, the ultimate pursuit of every Xu Family member must be that representative move of the Xu Family—[Return of Ten Thousand Swords].

"Ten Thousand Swords" is the first half of the technique, which many people in the Xu Family can execute.

"Return" is the second half, and in the vast Xu Family, only Xu Xiu and her father can perform it.

For this second half, aptitude is secondary; the most crucial requirement is the ability to enter a state of Sword Heart Clarity.

Legend has it that once a member of the Xu Family enters this profound and mysterious state, the power of their moves will increase drastically.

Therefore, those present with some discernment knew that with the state of Sword Heart Clarity combined with the empowerment of the [Heart Sword], this single strike could never be blocked by any purple card.

Even the orange card [Heavenly General] acting as security felt greatly strained, and summoned yet another helper.

The aqua-blue giant sword was not falling fast, but that terrifying aura firmly locked onto [Changyou], rendering it unable to move.

At this moment, [Changyou] actually took the initiative to withdraw the energy sphere of [Three Points Return to Origin Qi],

and simply widened its golden eyes, staring fixedly at the giant sword as if it had been stunned silly.

"Sigh, Sun Po's monkey is still quite strong, but unfortunately, it's being hard-countered."

"It can be considered a glorious defeat. For a civilian Card Maker to reach this step is already good enough; after all, there are provincial tournaments to play."

"This monkey isn't even dodging anymore; it has probably given up."

The blue giant sword was already slashing toward the top of [Changyou]'s head, looking as if it would grind this tiny monkey to powder.

Just when everyone thought [Changyou] had completely given up, and even the host was preparing to announce the winner,

[Changyou] suddenly moved.

Its right paw's index finger tapped lightly, and the air rippled like water waves.

Immediately afterward, its golden eyes continued to stare fixedly at the giant sword without blinking, while the index finger of its right paw began to trace emptily in front of it from top to bottom.

The trajectory seemed to form a circle.

By the time [Changyou] finished drawing this circle, the huge blue light sword was about to slash down onto the top of its head.

Everyone present thought that [Changyou] was undoubtedly dead,

as if they could already see the scene of [Changyou]'s monkey head being split open and turning into a card.

But Sun Po did not think so. As [Changyou]'s master,

he was exceedingly clear about what [Changyou] was doing, yet he still had to marvel at [Changyou]'s battle IQ.

Shortly thereafter,

a mirror suddenly appeared in front of [Changyou].

That was a shimmering water mirror, which clearly reflected Xu Xiu opposite it, with her eyes slightly closed and in the state of Sword Heart Clarity,

as well as the huge forty-odd-meter light sword in her hand!!

[Changyou] forcefully pushed down the water mirror it had traced out in the air before it.

The next second, something that shocked everyone happened.

Under [Changyou]'s downward push, the water mirror shattered abruptly, turning back into a pool of clear water.

Yet in the process of shattering, that pool of clear water transformed into a young girl wearing a First Middle School uniform, with bright eyes, white teeth, long legs, and a slender waist. With her eyes slightly closed, she slashed down holding a huge blue light sword.

Her appearance turned out to be identical to Xu Xiu opposite her!!

The two huge blue light swords crashed fiercely into each other, releasing intense energy fluctuations.

"Clang!!"

"Clang!!"

"Clang!!"

The two [Heavenly General]s at the side of the field shouted "Clang" eight times in succession.

The protective shield of the auditorium was forcefully increased to 9 layers before stabilizing without shattering.

Furthermore, the two giant blue light swords were identical in appearance, and their power seemed to be identical as well.

The two Xu Xius seemed to have identical abilities. Both wielded the [Heart Sword] in the state of Sword Heart Clarity, and both executed the second half of the strongest sword technique, [Return of Ten Thousand Swords].

In the end, the two giant blue energy swords reached a stalemate, dissolving into all-sky aqua-blue light dots amidst the deadlock, and the Xu Xiu transformed from clear water also quietly dissipated.

Just like that, Xu Xiu's strongest sword technique, [Return of Ten Thousand Swords], was completely neutralized by [Changyou].

Silence, pin-drop silence.

Then the auditorium suddenly boiled over completely.

"What move was that? Did you understand it?"

"No, I've never heard of it!!"

"The Xu Family's reputed signature skill [Return of Ten Thousand Swords] was broken!? And without a single scratch?!"

"Maybe that monkey isn't as relaxed as it looks?"

"I don't understand! I really don't understand!"

Not to mention the audience, even the Lu Family father and son and the Hu Family mother and daughter in the high-level private box didn't understand what had happened.

In the private box, Lu Shan laughed and said:

"Dad! I really shouldn't go look for trouble with them anymore, right? This monkey has five or six skills, each more powerful than the last. When they hit me, they didn't take it to heart at all."

The head of the Lu Family laughed even more happily:

"No need, no need. Taking a complete [Return of Ten Thousand Swords] head-on at the same level without injury—that Xu girl must be in a much bigger panic than me!"

...

The one who couldn't figure it out the most was, of course, Xu Xiu.

Although her face was still as cold as an iceberg, inside, she was already going crazy.

You-know-what do you call this a [Changyou]?!

Can your family's [Changyou] draw a water mirror to block my [Return of Ten Thousand Swords]??

Where did my huge, massive greatsword go?!

Her sword was named [Water-Severing], which inherently had extreme suppression against water,

yet in front of this [Changyou], she always felt restricted, as if she couldn't bring out the traits of [Water-Severing] at all.

Now, even her family's signature skill [Return of Ten Thousand Swords] had been thoroughly broken. How could this not drive her crazy?

But as [Changyou]'s master, Sun Po naturally saw everything crystal clear.

He couldn't help but admire [Changyou]'s battle IQ; even if he were to control it himself, it would be hard to do better.

During the process of releasing [Three Points Return to Origin Qi], [Changyou]

had noticed that after the opponent's flying sword shattered, the energy did not dissipate, but instead returned to empower that [Heart Sword].

[Changyou] judged by intuition that this was a skill of first consumption followed by an outbreak.

Facts proved that [Changyou]'s judgment was correct. When that giant sword slowly condensed and formed, [Changyou] had already thought of a countermeasure.

It was precisely [Water Release: Water Mirror Technique], the unique ninjutsu of the Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi from Naruto,

which had once defended against the combined attack of Sage Mode Naruto and the Eight-Tails Killer Bee.

[Water Release: Water Mirror Technique] did not provide a direct defense against enemy attacks like [Water Release: Water Formation Wall].

Its defense principle was more like a counter-attack, somewhat resembling an instant trap card.

It required generating a water mirror at the exact split second of the enemy's attack, precisely reflecting the opponent's strongest posture during the attack.

Then, shattering the water mirror would generate a water-composed copy of the enemy.

This copy would replicate the attributes, skills, and state of the enemy at the time of the attack.

In the original work, it could even copy Naruto in Sage Nine-Tails mode and the Rasengan he released.

Theoretically, the copy's attack was completely identical to the enemy's attack, so they would cancel each other out.

However, this [Water Release: Water Mirror Technique] required attention to the timing of its release.

If it was too early or too late, it would cause a mismatch in strength between the copy and the enemy target, thus failing to achieve a perfect defense.

Controlling this timing was extremely difficult, and very few people could do it perfectly, but [Changyou] with [Golden Eyes Exorcising Evil] could.

[Golden Eyes Exorcising Evil]: Changyou could circulate the divine light of its golden eyes to see through the enemy's weaknesses while also breaking illusions.

When the giant sword was about to descend, [Changyou] activated [Golden Eyes Exorcising Evil], perfectly capturing the node of Xu Xiu's strongest attack.

The final result was the combo skill of [Golden Eyes Exorcising Evil] + [Water Release: Water Mirror Technique], perfectly cracking the Xu Family's signature skill [Return of Ten Thousand Swords].

[Changyou], having loaded a dozen or so MODs, was also beginning to show its edge.

But onlookers other than Sun Po did not know these details; they only felt that Sun Po and his [Changyou] were becoming increasingly unfathomable.

Careless of what others thought, Sun Po only knew that the time for [Water Bubble Technique] was almost up, and it was time to end the match.

"[Changyou]! We don't have time to fool around with her anymore!

Let the Sword Immortal of the Xu Family witness your [Water Element Summoning Technique]!!"