182: Chapter 182 Wang Lin's Test (Part 7)

The attacks from the Tentacles were as dense as a rainstorm, while Song Zhengchu's sword was like an umbrella; no matter how heavy the rain, it could not drench the person holding the umbrella.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—" The sound of metal colliding merged into one continuous stream.

People in the spectator stands could not see the movements clearly; they could only see Wang Lin's Tentacles attacking crazily while Song Zhengchu's sword defended calmly.

Wang Lin's attacks grew faster, heavier, and denser; the Speed of his twenty-two Tentacles had been pushed to the limit, with each one attacking at a different frequency, like twenty-two drummers beating drums at different rhythms simultaneously.

Yet Song Zhengchu's sword remained unhurried.

The arcs drawn by his sword became smaller and tighter, and his expression remained unchanged.

At this moment, Wang Lin stopped and retreated a few steps: "Is this the Taiji Sword?"

Song Zhengchu pointed his sword tip diagonally toward the ground and looked at Wang Lin: "You actually know about the Taiji Sword."

"Since you know the Taiji Sword, you should know that at the same level, it is very difficult to break through its defense."

"Not to mention that there is a three-level gap between us."

This was a fact. The Taiji Sword was the strongest defensive sword technique among ancient martial arts, using softness to overcome hardness, stillness to control motion, and slowness to strike against Speed.

It did not rely on brute force to block the opponent's attacks, but rather on sword intent to "deflect" the opponent's attacks.

The fiercer the opponent's attack, the greater the force that was deflected.

Under conditions of the same level, almost no one could break through the Taiji Sword's defense.

Yet Song Zhengchu was LV7, and Wang Lin was LV4; a three-level gap was not something that could be made up for by skill.

Wang Lin looked at Song Zhengchu: "You are right; I cannot break through your defense."

His twenty-two Tentacles slowly retracted, shrinking back into his body.

Song Zhengchu said: "What? Are you not going to fight anymore?"

"It's not that I'm not fighting. I'm just changing my fighting style."

Wang Lin's gaze fell on Song Zhengchu's sword: "My only chance lies in the moment you attack."

"The moment you strike with your sword, there will be a flaw in your defense."

"I will seize your flaw the moment you strike and decide the outcome in one blow."

Song Zhengchu laughed: "I didn't expect you to be so rational. Your analysis is also very correct."

"But I won't give you the chance."

Wang Lin smiled: "I know you won't give me the chance. But I will create one."

Song Zhengchu looked at Wang Lin: "Then let's try. Now, I am going to attack. You need to be careful."

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Zhengchu's figure vanished from where he stood.

He was so fast that the naked eye could not capture him; his movement technique was elusive, leaving over a dozen afterimages in the Martial Arts Arena, with each afterimage in a different position, and each maintaining a sword-striking posture.

Wang Lin's spatial perception fully expanded, his consciousness spreading outward to cover all of Song Zhengchu's afterimages.

But his perception told him that these afterimages were all fake; the real Song Zhengchu was not in the position of any of them.

Where was he?

Wang Lin's spatial perception continued to spread, covering the entire Martial Arts Arena.

The ground, the ceiling, the spectator stands, the air, the dust... everything was within his perception, but Song Zhengchu was not there.

No. It wasn't that he wasn't there; it was that he was too fast, so fast that even his spatial perception couldn't keep up.

Wang Lin froze for a split second.

That split second was enough.

Song Zhengchu appeared before him; the black sword thrust out from the void, its tip aimed straight at Wang Lin's chest.

Fast, too fast; so fast that Wang Lin's body couldn't react in time.

Wang Lin had no time to think; his body reacted under the drive of instinct: "Shadow Shapeshifting."

In an instant, his body turned into a mass of black shadow.

The sword passed through the middle of his body, piercing through the black shadow and emerging from the other side.

Song Zhengchu's sword had pierced the shadow, but his expression remained unchanged.

With a twist of his wrist, the sword blade stirred within Wang Lin's shadow before being withdrawn, and he stepped back three paces.

Wang Lin's shadow re-condensed into a human form; he stood where he was and looked down at his stomach.

There was a tear in his clothes, extending from his abdomen all the way to his chest.

On the skin beneath the tear was a faint red line; it wasn't a wound, but a mark left behind after being grazed by sword qi.

Blood seeped out from the red line, flowing down his stomach.

Wang Lin raised his head and looked at Song Zhengchu: "Sword qi?"

Song Zhengchu looked at him without denying it.

"Shadow Shapeshifting can dodge a sword, but it cannot dodge sword qi. The sword is a physical object, but sword qi is not. The sword passed through your shadow, but the sword qi remained inside your shadow."

Wang Lin looked down at the red line on his stomach.

The wound was not deep, but the sword qi was spreading from the wound in all directions, wandering through his body like a knife without direction, cutting through every meridian within him.

That strike from Song Zhengchu had not only passed through his Shadow Shapeshifting but had also sliced through space.

Wang Lin's spatial perception told him that a crack in space had appeared at the spot where he had just been standing.

And his Shadow Shapeshifting had also been sliced apart in front of that spatial crack.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, suppressing the sword qi rampaging inside his body.

Song Zhengchu did not give him time to catch his breath.

His figure moved again, and the black sword carved an arc in the air, heading straight for Wang Lin.

Wang Lin's Shadow Shapeshifting was still on cooldown and could not be used again in the short term.

He could only raise his hands, fully releasing his Vajra Transformation.

A metallic luster covered his arms, palms, and fingers, gleaming with a cold light under the illumination.

Song Zhengchu's sword stabbed into his forearm.

"Clang—" A loud noise rang out, and sparks flew everywhere.

A deep sword mark was left on Wang Lin's forearm, and a cut had been made in the surface of his Vajra Transformation, revealing the skin beneath.

Blood seeped out from the wound, flowing down his arm.

Song Zhengchu's second sword strike arrived, stabbing into his upper arm.

"Clang—" Another sword mark, another wound, and another spray of blood droplets.

The third sword strike stabbed into his shoulder.

The fourth sword strike stabbed into his ribs.

The fifth sword strike stabbed into his thigh.

One sword strike after another, each one precisely stabbing at the weakest point of his Vajra Transformation.

Song Zhengchu's sword did not break the defense through brute force, but through skill; his sword tip could always find the most minute cracks on the surface of the Vajra Transformation and stab into them.

Under Song Zhengchu's sword, Wang Lin's Vajra Transformation was like a piece of porcelain covered in cracks.

It was not that the Vajra Transformation was too weak, but that Song Zhengchu was too strong.

The sword of a LV7 swordsman was not something a LV4 Vajra Transformation could completely withstand.

Wang Lin retreated rapidly, putting distance between them, and stood on the other side of the Martial Arts Arena, gasping for air.

His arms, shoulders, ribs, and thighs were covered in sword marks, with every single mark bleeding, and the blood droplets hitting the ground with a soft pattering sound.

His clothes were already soaked through with blood, sticking to his body and feeling sticky.

The Vajra Transformation faded, revealing his battered hands, which were covered in sword marks and bloody gashes.

Some wounds were deep enough to see bone, while others were shallow but long, as if they had been slashed by something.