210: Chapter 21 The Great Battle Is About to Begin!

The next sword qi came, carrying a scorching and violent will, as if it intended to incinerate everything.

Lu Yin advanced instead of retreating, the blade of annihilation tilted upward in a lifting motion. The moment the sword's body made contact with the sword qi,

his wrist trembled slightly, guiding that violent intent toward the upper side.

Simultaneously, the sword tip pressed downward with the momentum, landing precisely on the 'joint' point where the sword qi's power flowed.

*Sshh!*

The sword qi deflected with the sound, grazing past Lu Yin's ear and crashing into the energy barrier wall of the training ground, stirring a circle of ripples.

'Redirected seventy percent of the force.'

Lu Xun halted his offensive, took a swig of wine, and a smile appeared on his face. 'That one, you've finally touched the threshold.'

Lu Yin gasped for breath, fine sweat beading at his temples, but his eyes were bright.

In that instant just now, he had truly sensed a wondrous 'rhythm'.

It wasn't passive defense, but actively intervening in the flow of the attack, guiding it toward the direction he desired.

With this kind of parry, even if a perfect block isn't achieved, it can still weaken most of its force, thereby reducing the damage he himself receives.

Lu Yin took a deep breath, settling the insights from moments ago into his heart.

He understood that the essence of this 'parrying' lay in the control of the battle's rhythm and a deeper perception of the enemy's attacking intent.

This wasn't merely a technique; it was the embryonic form of a combat realm.

'Continue.' Lu Yin spoke up proactively, the fighting spirit in his eyes burning even brighter.

Lu Xun laughed heartily, hung the gourd at his waist, and his figure suddenly blurred.

This time, he no longer merely released sword qi, but came attacking personally, sword in hand.

Although it was only a wooden training sword, in Lu Xun's grasp,

it seemed to transform into a divine weapon, carrying a heavy sword intent that returned to simplicity.

The wooden sword appeared to thrust forward slowly, yet it sealed off all of Lu Yin's dodging routes.

Lu Yin could sense that the 'intent' contained within this sword was no longer singularly sharp or soft.

Rather, it was a 'momentum', a vast, overwhelming force like a mountain collapsing, impossible to stop.

A hard block would mean certain defeat!

Lu Xun's wooden sword appeared slow, but in reality, every inch of its advance carried a pressure akin to heaven and earth overturning.

Lu Yin could feel that this wasn't a purely physical attack.

It was the resonance of sword intent with the surrounding space, the materialization of 'momentum'.

'Perceive the flow of 'intent', guide the direction of 'momentum'...'

Lu Yin's mind echoed with Lu Xun's teachings from moments before.

The blade of annihilation did not meet the wooden sword head-on. Instead, it vibrated slightly with a strange frequency.

The sword tip tapped lightly, not at the wooden sword, but at the empty air three inches in front of it.

*Ding!*

A crisp sound like jade striking jade rang out. Although there was no physical contact, a visible ripple of energy spread out within the training ground.

The trajectory of Lu Xun's wooden sword hesitated slightly, and that vast, overwhelming momentum showed a minute, almost imperceptible disturbance.

Now!

Lu Yin's body slid sideways like a swimming fish, the blade of annihilation slipping into the gap within the disturbed 'momentum'.

The sword's body slid along the side of the wooden sword, his wrist turned, and a soft force was released.

A gleam of light flashed in Lu Xun's eyes. The wooden sword changed its move accordingly, shifting from a thrust to a sweeping slash.

The sword intent transformed from heavy as a mountain to long and continuous like water, flowing like a river, penetrating everywhere.

Lu Yin advanced instead of retreating, the blade of annihilation drawing countless fine, dense arcs of sword light in front of him.

Each arc precisely cut into the gaps within the 'flowing water'.

He no longer sought to completely block it all. Instead, like a master butcher dissecting an ox, he decomposed, guided, and deflected the continuous sword intent.

Within the training ground, the figures of the old and the young intertwined.

Lu Xun's swordplay alternated between grand, sweeping movements and subtle, profound intricacies, each type of sword intent containing a different philosophy of combat.

Lu Yin, meanwhile, was completely immersed in that wondrous state of perception. His parries became more and more natural, more and more precise.

For him, this was an upgrade on a different level.

Just as Lu Yin was immersed in improving his combat skills, near the Abyssal Passage,

the sky was like a ruptured blood vessel, flowing with turbid streams of energy.

The earth cracked, and from the fissures oozed a viscous black substance, emitting an aura of decay and madness.

At the passage's entrance, an Abyssal vortex with a diameter now expanded to a kilometer slowly rotated, like a demon's pupil gazing at this world.

*ROAR!*

*HISSSS!*

Countless twisted Abyssal Monsters surged forth from it.

There were giant beasts ten meters tall, covered in bone spikes, each step causing the earth to tremble.

There were crawling species that slithered on the ground, fast as lightning, weaving through the horde of monsters.

And there were Eye Demons, floating mid-air, emitting waves of mental pollution.

And at the center of the monster army, a disciplined formation of demonic soldiers advanced slowly.

They were clad in dark red heavy armor, wielding weapons burning with abyssal flames, cold soul-fires dancing in their eye sockets.

And at that very moment, an unprecedented, terrifying pressure, like a tangible tide of darkness, surged forth from the depths of the Abyssal Passage.

The first to step out were four figures, each with a different form, yet all exuding an aura that froze the soul.

On the left was a Demon King nearly three meters tall, clad in savage bone armor, with curved giant horns on its head.

It dragged a serrated greatblade burning with black fire, each step leaving molten, lava-like footprints on the scorched earth.

He was known as the Blaze-Hell Demon King, representing the Abyss's wrath and destruction.

On the right was a slender figure shrouded in shifting shadows.

Only two points ofDark Purple (yōu zǐ) soul-fire burned quietly where the head of the shadow should be.

It had no fixed form. The scenery around it warped slightly, and light dimmed.

The Shadow-Wraith Demon King, symbolizing deceit and erosion.

Half a step behind the Blaze-Hell Demon King, a massive figure assembled from countless squirming living metal and dark red flesh slowly moved.

Dozens of tentacles covered in barbs and suckers waved unconsciously at its sides.

Wherever it passed, even space was left with brief corrosive marks.

The World-Devourer Demon King, symbolizing greed and assimilation.

The last one stood quietly beside the Shadow-Wraith Demon King.

Its appearance was the closest to human, shrouded in a tattered long robe.

Beneath the hood was a depth of darkness. Only the occasional pale fingers extending from the robe proved there was a physical entity within.

The Mourning-Curse Demon King, master of curses and decay.

The four Demon Kings stood on either side like four pillars holding up the dark firmament.

Between them, three Abyssal Hellhounds wreathed in crimson flames slowly pulled a bone chariot out from the Abyssal Passage.

The bone chariot was pieced together from countless pale, twisted bones of varying sizes.

Some were thick as beams, bearing the marks of claws.

Others were slender like human arm bones, densely inlaid to formrelief-like (fú diāo bān de) faces of agony.

The three Abyssal Hellhounds pulling the chariot were each as massive as a small hill, dark red muscles rolling beneath their burning fur.

Drool dripped onto the ground, corroding it with sizzling pits.

Pure flames of destruction leaped within their eye sockets, and the breath they exhaled warped the very air.

On the bone chariot was spread some kind ofHuge and smooth (jù dà ér guāng huá de), pitch-black scales, exuding an aura of cold, unbreakable hardness.

A figure reclined lazily upon the seat made from those scales.

The three Hellhounds suddenly halted, lowering their heads with a low growl.

The four Demon Kings simultaneously inclined their heads slightly toward the chariot. Even the mostberserk (kuáng bào de) Blaze-Hell Demon King restrained the flames around its body.

This was reverence for absolute power within the laws of the Abyss.

The figure on the chariot slowly straightened up, revealing its true visage.