67: Chapter 67 A Crushing Domination in Normal Form! Zawarudo!

Night had fallen.

Su Bai stepped out of the cafeteria, carrying a takeout box of fried rice. His phone screen was still lit, displaying the message Li Qingyue had sent half an hour ago.

[Li Qingyue]: [Remember to transform when he attacks you.]

Him.

The Sword Saint of Breaking Seas, Sword Saint Lu Changsheng!

This peerless powerhouse, a mid-tier Rank 9 who once firmly held a spot in the top five individual combatants of the human faction, had once split the Canglan Strait with a single sword strike and held off three Rank 9 Abyss Poison Dragons alone. It wasn't until his right arm dissolved into bone slag and his lower body was left rotting on a stretcher that he fell from a mid-tier Rank 9 to a low-tier Rank 7. He had been in a wheelchair for three years and still hadn't stood up since.

And now, this legendary Sword Saint was coming here in disguise. Su Bai shoved his phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath. It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous; the weight of the words "Rank 9 Sword Saint" was enough to make even someone as thick-skinned as Zhao Dahai tremble!

But nervousness aside, another emotion was surging wildly in Su Bai's heart.

He wanted to try!

During the Monthly Exam, Director He Jin had suppressed his level to 19, but he was just a logistics officer. Sword Saint Lu Changsheng was different. This was a Rank 9 Sword Saint who had fought his way out of piles of corpses, a peerless monster who truly stood at the pinnacle of combat power within the same tier!

"How impressive can a Rank 9 Sword Saint be when suppressed to Rank 2?"

Su Bai muttered as he turned into a small alley. Kyubey squatted on his shoulder, brushing its tail against the back of his neck.

[Su Bai, your heart rate is forty percent faster than usual.]

"That's normal. After all, the opponent is a Sword Saint."

[Do you need me to help you analyze your win rate?]

"No need. It's better to sell after winning."

The alley was narrow, and two magic streetlights on either side were broken. In the pitch-black shadows, a figure leaned against the depths of the alley. He was a square-faced man in his forties, wearing grey robes and carrying a long sword. His aura was so steady that he seemed like a peerless master who had walked out of a wuxia novel.

Su Bai stopped and sized up the "wandering swordsman" before him. Although the disguise mask was quite ingenious, the sharpness emanating from those grey-blue eyes was definitely not something a Rank 2 swordsman should possess. It was the terrifying gaze that only a supreme powerhouse who had truly killed dragons and split the Canglan Strait would have!

"You are Su Bai?"

The square-faced man spoke, his voice as coarse as sandpaper grinding against rock. "I heard you've been quite prominent lately. I'm just passing through and would like to exchange a few moves. Don't worry, I won't kill you. Heh."

Su Bai placed the fried rice on a step and took a deep breath. Several images flashed rapidly through his mind—the scissor strike from Li Qingyue's clone in the Monthly Exam recording and the moment his Mustard Seed Space was cracked.

Even when suppressed to Rank 2, a god-level figure like a Rank 9 would have absolutely zero water in their combat experience and sword intent. He absolutely could not test the waters, let alone hold back. From the moment he started, he had to be in peak condition with full firepower!

"Senior," Su Bai raised his left hand, the purple light of his soul gem flashing brightly on the back of his hand, "Please!"

"You call me Senior?" Sword Saint Lu Changsheng was taken aback. "Do you recognize me?"

Su Bai froze. Right, his master said this Sword Saint Lu Changsheng seemed to be disguised—likely because the Sword Saint wanted to save face. But by calling him "Senior," hadn't he just exposed the other's identity? Oh no.

Su Bai thought for a moment and said awkwardly, "So... should I recognize you... or not?"

"Hmph!"

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's mouth curled into a cold, rigid arc. He didn't think his identity had been exposed; after all, the Sword Saint of Breaking Seas had been in seclusion for many years, and without his legs, he was only traveling now by relying on a prosthetic body. Few of the younger generation knew who he was.

The next second, his sword step exploded instantly!!!

He kicked off the ground with his left foot and pressed his right shoulder forward, his entire body turning into a brutal grey shadow skimming the ground. He charged forward with a terrifying explosive speed that completely defied his Rank 2 stats. He brought his fingers together to form a sword with his right hand, the sword qi condensing at his fingertips, directly tearing through the air with a sharp, piercing whistle!

If people like Zhao Dahai, Lin Xiao, or even Lin Weiwei were here, their expressions would likely change instantly upon seeing Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's movements.

Because this kind of speed was simply impossible for a Rank 2 to unleash!

But the eerie thing was, Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's aura was indeed Rank 2!

This wasn't him cheating; it was the limit of power he had condensed when he was at Rank 2, a state known as "Perfection," now fully unleashed.

Under normal circumstances, a normal Rank 2 would almost be shattered by him in a single encounter.

However—

"Time Stop."

The moment the two syllables fell, the hourglass on his shield suddenly stopped flowing, and the entire world froze with a boom!

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's body was forcibly frozen in mid-air, the sword qi from his right palm stopping less than twenty centimeters from Su Bai's chest. That disguised square face even still wore that high-and-mighty confidence. Su Bai had no intention of circling behind him, because this time it was definitely not a test where one would stop at the point of contact like Director He Jin. Facing a Rank 9 Sword Saint, even if suppressed to Rank 2, Su Bai assumed the opponent definitely had some perverted contingency plan!

So, he immediately opened up his shield's storage space completely!

Six handguns slid out simultaneously, then another six, followed by smoke grenades, flashbangs, and all the heavy firepower projectiles in the shield's storage space that could be activated with a level 19 mana pool. He spent a full three seconds in the world of Time Stop, setting up a terrifying, atrocious web of fire!

A full twelve guns were aimed tightly at Sword Saint Lu Changsheng from different angles, all bullets chambered, flashbang pins pulled, and smoke grenades stuffed directly into the cracks of the floor tiles at Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's feet. Everything was ready!

Then Su Bai stepped back five paces.

He released the Time Stop.

"——?!!!"

The moment time resumed, Sword Saint Lu Changsheng heard the sound that was most impossible and most shouldn't appear in a Rank 2 duel in his entire life!

Twelve guns, firing in unison!

These weren't magic bullets or mana-driven; they were pure, physical, violent gunpowder-propelled projectiles. Twelve streams of bullets poured toward him simultaneously from different angles, different directions, and different heights like a storm. The trajectory of every single bullet had been crazily calibrated by Su Bai down to the millimeter during the Time Stop!!

At the same time, the flashbang that exploded at his feet turned the entire alley into a blinding, miserable daylight, and the thick smoke from the smoke grenades instantly caused him to lose his vision completely!

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's pupils shrank violently to the size of a pinprick!

What the hell is this?!!

Where on earth did a Rank 2 apprentice pull out twelve guns from?!!

And they appeared instantly? What the hell, what kind of card is this?

No, that's not the point. The point is that the trajectories of these damn bullets weren't just blind spraying; they were performing a suffocating cross-fire blockade. Every path of retreat was sealed off, and every dodging direction had a bullet waiting for him like the Grim Reaper!!

This was prediction!

It was a three-dimensional, lethal firepower web tailored specifically to his sword step dodging habits!!

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng forced his body to twist in mid-air, his right hand drawing his long sword by force. Accompanied by the sound of cloth bursting, the sword light carved a curved, violent barrier of sword qi in front of him. Eleven bullets were crazily shredded by the sword qi, while the twelfth grazed his left shoulder, instantly tearing a rip in his sleeve!

By the time he landed, his back was already completely soaked in cold sweat!

But this wasn't over, it wasn't over at all!!

Before his feet could even steady themselves—

"The World!"