57: Chapter 56: The opponent can't break through the defense?

The Jinyang Li Family valued martial arts, and the people under their rule were also fiercely militant.

As Sun Po drew his broken sword and cast it down, the onlookers who had long been watching the commotion quickly stepped back, clearing a large open space.

A few old men even hastily hauled out some campstools, seizing the prime spots.

Sellers of melon seeds, fruit vendors, sesame cake makers, dice gamblers, and fortune-tellers all swarmed over.

It felt like the crowd was thoroughly experienced in watching duels.

The dice gamblers reacted the fastest; their original dice and dice cups had already been cleared away.

A red-and-blue tablecloth was spread over a long table. On one side stood a QR code sign for Yanhuang, and on the other stood a QR code sign for Sakurajima.

The shrewd-looking boss shouted loudly, "Yanhuang VS Sakurajima!! The pinnacle showdown between a Dongying samurai and a Yanhuang swordsman!!"

"Bet red for Yanhuang! Bet blue for Dongying! Place your bets and no changes allowed!!"

Only then did Sun Po witness what an international metropolis was truly like.

Fake or real, the gimmick was maximized first!

Yanhuang Swordsman?

Isn't this damn well a pure marketing account!?

Marketing is marketing, but only a fool passes up money!

Liu Jianren shifted left and right, and finally, combining with Sun Po's, the two of them scraped together only 300k with all their worldly possessions.

He dashed forward in a single bound and shouted, "I'm betting three hundred thousand!!"

Beep beep, scan the code,

Payment complete.

But the spectators were not nearly as optimistic.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what a pity. How could this out-of-town student possibly beat the young master of the Yagyu Shinkage-ryū? Still, he's a real man of our Yanhuang, so I'm betting on him!"

Immediately afterwards,

the sound of "Paid 49,569.3 yuan" rang out.

Down to the last decimal, it felt as though a college student had staked their entire living expenses.

"Young master my ass! They're just a few out-of-work bums from Sakurajima coming to our great Jinyang to beg for a living. I think this kid can do it! I'm buying him!"

A thick-waisted, broad-shouldered big brother covered in dragon and tiger tattoos strode up to the gambling table with a heroic expression.

Then, he slapped down a hundred-yuan bill and swaggered proudly back into the crowd.

"This split-haired Sakurajima brat shouldn't be underestimated. He's also a seeded player who broke into this year's Gaokao provincial qualifiers."

More people still rationally scanned their money over to Sakurajima's side.

For no other reason than the gap in hard power was simply too huge.

Could a civilian Card Maker wearing a uniform from some small town defeat a swordsmanship family with centuries of heritage without relying on cards?

Nobody believed it, not even Uncle Gao.

...

The massive crowd quickly jammed the surroundings until it was airtight,

and even a dozen or so slicked-back hair punks dressed just like Yagyu Ichiro gathered around.

When one of the older men with slicked-back hair saw the purple-robed old man sitting on a chair nearby, his expression changed drastically, and he hurried forward to kneel.

"This humble one pays respects to Great Uncle Gao~"

The older man with slicked-back hair looked very much like Yagyu Ichiro in the arena; he must have been the uncle he mentioned.

However, Uncle Gao leisurely sipped his tea without answering, letting the man kneel there just like that.

Uncle Gao couldn't even be bothered to give the kneeling man a glance.

He took a sip of tea, looked at Sun Po's figure, and sighed:

"Kind words cannot persuade a ghost hell-bent on dying. Come over and sign the death pact."

As his voice fell, Sun Po and the resolute-eyed Yagyu Ichiro stepped forward respectively to sign their names.

Yagyu Ichiro truly lived up to being a samurai who had undergone rigorous training since childhood; even though his mindset was affected by Uncle Gao's words, he quickly adjusted.

After all, matters of life and death at sword-point permitted not the slightest distraction.

Of course, not everyone thought that way.

To be honest, Sun Po found it really hard to muster any focus toward him.

Even if Sun Po's combat power was 5, at most Yagyu Ichiro's combat power would reach 100, about that.

If you told Sun Po that a human like Yagyu Ichiro could crank his combat power up to 4500? Sun Po wouldn't believe it even if he was beaten to death.

This time, Sun Po mainly wanted to test the power of the [Black Rhino Armor].

Unlike cards like [Changyou], the [Black Rhino Armor] was a proper MOD that Sun Po added to himself.

During combat, one needed to feel and adapt to it themselves; therefore, actual combat was extremely important.

Furthermore, Sun Po himself hadn't fully grasped the performance of the [Black Rhino Armor] yet, so he harbored some thoughts of using this to drill troops.

As the crowd dispersed, the onlookers also took their respective places.

Sun Po and Yagyu Ichiro put some distance between them.

Sun Po had originally thought the opponent would launch a preemptive strike; after all, Lu Shan's wild bombardment earlier had left a deep impression on him.

In combat, whoever seized the initiative usually had a better chance of winning.

But Yagyu Ichiro wasn't like that. After putting distance between them and Sun Po, he instead struck a strange posture.

His left hand loosely gripped the front of the hilt, while his right hand firmly grasped the rear of the hilt.

At the same time, his entire body lowered, his right forefoot lightly tiptoeing like a dragonfly skimming the water, and his left foot supporting his body's center of gravity.

Then, after a brief buildup of strength, he burst forward like a cannonball.

"[Taiyin Secret Sword: Rain Flow Return]!!"

Sun Po only felt as if a cool rain was rushing towards his face; what fluttered within the sword light didn't seem like sword qi, but rather resembled a pool of blue water rolling backward.

This was an extremely beautiful sword stance, but beauty often implied danger.

The blue water wasn't ordinary water; it was Yagyu Ichiro's Yin sword qi condensed over many years into liquid form, making it extremely vicious.

Back then, he had once used this sword qi to slice through twenty sets of iron armor, possessing terrifying lethality.

However, as a numerical monster with 4500 combat power, Sun Po was obviously not afraid of this.

No matter how flashy the enemy's skill was, he had only one move:

"[Black Rhino Armor]!! Combine!"

A heavy, menacing dark armor gathered out of thin air, condensing and enveloping Sun Po's entire body.

The entire dark armor was full of metallic texture, and the bright yellow transparent eye-mask flickered with a faint glow.

[Rain Flow Return] seemed truly like a pool of clear water, merely giving the [Black Rhino Armor] a cool rinse before dissipating.

At this moment, everyone's gaze was attracted by the [Black Rhino Armor].

"What is this? Why have I never seen such a handsome armor before?"

"Lacking in exposure, aren't you? Condensing spirituality into weapons and armor—there's only one family that fits this method: the Jiuli Chi Family.

But it seems a bit different; this one is indeed much handsomer."

"Who would have thought this kid is actually a scion of a major clan coming out of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains!

Then why was he acting like a poor high school boy? I lost a fortune!"

Instantly, cries of lamentation filled the crowd.

Aside, Uncle Gao's originally calm and breezy expression suddenly turned solemn.

...

In the arena, Sun Po really didn't want to fight back.

He watched blankly as the opposite side went from full of confidence, to showing doubt, to looking panicked, and finally to complete breakdown.

Yet Sun Po really didn't do anything.

He just stood there, letting the opponent hack and slash.

"[Rain Flow Return]!!"

"[Locking the Dragon Palace]!!"

"[Water Hazy Moon]!!"

"[Yin Prison of Absolute Despair]!!"

"Why aren't you dodging?!! Are you insulting me?!"

"Noshita!*?!! Ahhhh!!!"

In a mere three minutes, Yagyu Ichiro had almost as many skill names as Zoro.

Yet the more he fought, the more broken down and helpless he became, driving the kid so anxious that his native language came out.

At this moment, Sun Po stood in place, feeling the surging power and listening to the clinking music.

He was intently staring at the progress bar of the [Power of the Abyss], not looking at Yagyu Ichiro at all.

After he hard-tanked the opponent's first attack, Sun Po discovered:

The opponent couldn't break through his defense!!

Yes!

This was the true value of an orange-tier MOD!

It was also the strongest combat power Sun Po had ever crafted! This thing genuinely didn't even have a single scratch on it.

So much so that the thrilling Yanhuang-Sakurajima duel completely turned into a bland, tasteless cup of cold water.

Later on, Sun Po couldn't even be bothered to dodge; he just used Yagyu Ichiro to test his attack power.

To his disappointment, Yagyu Ichiro attacked with all his might for a full five minutes, yet the progress bar of the [Power of the Abyss] didn't budge an inch.

Well, if it couldn't break through the defense, how could it move?

Sun Po was very disappointed. The little Jap was screaming quite fiercely,

yet making him budge even a little was a struggle; it had completely failed to achieve the effect of troop training.

Sun Po yawned:

"You asked why I'm insulting you? Isn't my insult obvious enough?

Forget it, the farce is over."

Following that,

the [Black Rhino Armor], which hadn't moved for a full five minutes, finally moved.

Sun Po tried twisting his wrists and performed a classic action.

Finally, he bent his arm and threw a punch.

Using as much strength as possible, simple and straightforward.

A fierce gale swept out, blowing away several old men who were sitting on campstools eating melon and watching the show.

Yagyu Ichiro's head instantly exploded, red and white matter splashing everywhere, leaving only a headless corpse that collapsed dejectedly.

Looking at the bloodstains on the fist of the [Black Rhino Armor], Sun Po shook his wrist in disgust.

Tsk tsk, dirty hands.

"Clang."

Yagyu Ichiro's treasured sword clattered to the ground as a gentle breeze swept past.

Yagyu Ichiro, dead!