Chapter 461 (1/2)
At the instant the Sh.e.l.l of the Black Turtle shattered, Dawn slashed out the Sword Soul she had readied.
This time, s.h.i.+ Xiaobai managed to appreciate the immensity of the Sword Soul from close proximity. He could not help but feel a longing for this third realm of sword techniques.
The moment the Sword Soul landed, white light immediately filled the world in front of them. Tragic wails resounded through the clouds but it only lasted for a moment. The might of the strike had vanquished at least a hundred monsters, while a path had been blasted forcefully from the interior zone.
Logically speaking, the power of the Sword Soul should have consumed a great deal of Dawn’s mental energy, but it did not stop her from immediately charging out after the slash.
As the opening she had forcefully blasted open would very quickly be filled by the surviving monsters, every second was crucial. Every second determined the outcome of their survival.
Dawn’s flash motion technique focused on speed, and when compared to s.h.i.+ Xiaobai’s Crab Steps, its dodging ability was slightly inferior, but its speed was clearly much faster. And even more remarkable was that instantaneous burst of speed she could muster. Its impressiveness took s.h.i.+ Xiaobai’s breath away.
Even though she was carrying him, Dawn was able to rush out to the periphery of the encirclement in the blink of an eye. The surrounding monsters did not even manage to react in time.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai finally understood why the gargantuan had been beheaded in one strike. Other than underestimating the amount of power Dawn’s strike had, a very important reason was that her instantaneous burst of speed was just too sudden.
However, rus.h.i.+ng to the periphery of the encirclement did not indicate their safety. It only meant the beginning of their escape.
As the white light dissipated, the monsters began to react. The monsters in the inner ring immediately surrounded them from the back, while the monsters in the periphery roared while attacking them from the front. The monsters that were circling the skies charged down as they issued sharp screeches.
The monsters inundated them from every direction like a flood. Their overwhelming killing intent seemed to signify the apocalypse.
However, Dawn demonstrated her stunning strength and state of mind at that instant. Her extreme calmness prevented the threat of death from binding her. Amid the densely-packed monsters, she would keenly detect the fleeting cracks in between the monsters. Finally, with a tremendous burst of speed, she would tunnel through them.
If she were to encounter a monster blockade that had monsters being shoulder to shoulder, she would determine the weakest point of the blockade in the shortest possible amount of time and use the power of her Sword Truth to break through the blockade.
And what impressed s.h.i.+ Xiaobai the most was how she would ingeniously use the monsters she attracted as meat s.h.i.+elds against the black beams of light that she was dodging. It sounded simple, but it needed ma.s.sive amounts of observational and improvisational abilities.
This girl, who grew up to become the Hero King, had been deemed to be the strongest person in all of human history. She had perfectly demonstrated the outstanding comprehensive qualities she possessed—fast speeds, impressive bursts of power, mental state of mind that were nearly nonhuman, accurate judgment, excellent observational skills and improvisation.
So despite carrying a person, it was because of all these qualities combined that allowed her to dart through the monsters that filled the world like there were none at all. At a stable pace, she proceeded towards the periphery where there were fewer and fewer monsters grouped together. Gradually, she pulled a gap between the monsters that were in hot pursuit.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was able to acutely sense how powerful she was by being carried by her. He was secretly awed by her. Although he had once traversed a sea of demonic beasts, he had used the dodging and confusing traits of Crab Steps to make his breakthrough. Furthermore, he had used wine with aphrodisiac to cause confusion by making the demonic beasts to go into heat. As for Dawn’s method of progress, it was as smooth as flowing water. She was like a sharp sword that tore straight through the encirclement of the monsters.
All s.h.i.+ Xiaobai could do was try his best to lower his body and ensure that he would not affect the girl under him. Then, he would silently shout the numeric thumbs up, ‘666’.
Due to Dawn’s excellent performance, the escape process became surprisingly successful. They quickly penetrated the most densely-packed interior and middle regions and came to the periphery were the monsters were relatively scattered apart. However, the monsters in front of them did not seem to have an end. After pa.s.sing batch after batch of monsters, they failed to see an end to it. It was as if the entire world was filled with monsters that were gathering towards them.
There was a steady flow of monsters streaming in front of them while there were monsters in hot pursuit behind them. There was no time for her to rest.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai could not help but worry over the girl’s stamina as he whispered, “Put This King down. The periphery is already safe enough. This King will be fine alone.”
“There’s no need.”
Dawn responded in a firm manner, “If you are worried about my stamina, your concern is unnecessary. This bit of expenditure is nothing to me. Your weight does not have any effect on me. The problem you worried about in the beginning about dodging has been resolved. If the inner circle failed to stop me, there is no need to worry about the periphery. If you find it embarra.s.sing to be carried by a girl, why don’t…you carry me the next time?”
Dawn’s voice sounded more energetic and bright than s.h.i.+ Xiaobai had expected. She did not sound exhausted at all and it made s.h.i.+ Xiaobai heave a sigh of relief. From the looks of it, he had underestimated Dawn’s stamina and endurance. Maybe carrying him really did not affect her much.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai decided to abide to her decision this time. He said, “This King will abide to your decisions for now, but try not to force it. If you are tired, honestly tell This King. This King’s strength is about to recover as well. When the time comes, let This King carry you instead.”
“Alright!”
Dawn responded with a clear sense of joy in her voice.
“It’s so boring. Shall we chat?”
Suddenly, she turned her head and said a single sentence. Although she turned her head back the next second, s.h.i.+ Xiaobai had managed to see the yearning in her bright ice-blue eyes.
“Won’t it distract you?”
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai inquired softly. Having a chat in a land fraught with dangers would be considered quite an oddity, but s.h.i.+ Xiaobai did not mind. However, he was a bit worried that it would affect the girl who needed to focus to dodge the monsters and the black beams.
“Of course not. Although I’m unable to triple-task like you, I’m still able to dual-task. If you keep looking down on me, I’ll turn angry. Let me ask you again, do you want to chat or not?”
Probably because they were getting more familiar, Dawn began to demonstrate the feminine side of hers to s.h.i.+ Xiaobai. Her tone had a little emotion in it, and a little willfulness, but it was mostly the coquettishness of a girl.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai naturally did not reject her as he said with a nod, “Alright, what do we chat about?”
Dawn pondered for a moment and said, “Actually, I always wanted to know what is the name of the final strike you produced during that battle with me?”
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai faltered for a moment.
The final strike during the battle?
Wasn’t that Excalibur?
Come to speak of it, the strike’s appearance and name were an imitation of the blond woman’s slash with Lucifer’s Sword in his mind. And that blond woman was the grown up Dawn Li.
The feeling was somewhat strange when the creator asked about the sword technique he imitated.
However, it was clear that Dawn at her present age had yet to create the real ‘Excalibur’. This strike was still a strange and mysterious one to her.
Just as s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was hesitating to reply, he heard the girl mutter, as though she was in reverie, “That strike was really pretty…”
It looked like she really liked that strike.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai chuckled to himself and said, “That strike’s name is ‘Excalibur’. The meaning behind it is to ‘use every bit of strength to produce the final strike that would clinch victory’. The general principle is…”
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai unreservedly described his understanding of ‘Excalibur’ to her. Dawn listened in relish and quickly understood s.h.i.+ Xiaobai’s thoughts. She even began giving her own suggestions.
The clever girl was no doubt a sword genius who had created the ‘Three Thousand Li Sword’ at the age of eight and the improved version of the ‘Hundred-eighty Thousand Li Sword’ at the age of nine. Her understanding of swords was much higher than s.h.i.+ Xiaobai’s, so she immediately pointed out several flaws of s.h.i.+ Xiaobai’s Excalibur as well as where it could be improved.
Using s.h.i.+ Xiaobai’s line of thought when he created Excalibur as the foundation, Dawn was able to constantly add her own ideas to it, making the technique approach perfection.
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was left in shock. His ability to comprehend was equally stunning, but he lacked the relevant knowledge when it came to sword techniques. With Dawn pointing it out, he immediately understood how his Excalibur was indeed a flawed copy.
But, the chance of perfecting it was right in front of him!
s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was also not one who would resign to playing second fiddle. As he listened to her suggestions, he began retorting the mistakes Dawn had pointed out in a logical manner. At times, he would leave Dawn at a loss for words. The two of them seemed like they were working together to improve the technique, but they also looked like they were engaging in an intense debate.