Chapter 26
Duels (3)
Finally the duels ended. There was now two great blade users, one bow user, the dual swordsman, and five regular swordsman besides Chu Shen. Now it was nearing the end.
During the dual swordsman’s fight Chu Shen paid special attention to him. He fought one of the great sword users. First the duel swordsman and great swordsman closed gaps, quickly coming in range.
The dual swordsman immediately started attacking the great swordsman. Each time the great sword was swung at him he dodged it, ducking and bobbing while swinging his dual swords. Small cuts started adding up on the great swordsman.
With the dual swordsman’s skill he attacked from both left and right with a sword in each hand, making it impossible to dodge completely. The great swordsman couldn’t keep up and never actually hit his opponent.
Chu Shen was now excited, he couldn’t wait to fight against this person. He was most definitely a good opponent to duel with. They were once again about to fight.
After waiting for a while the fourth fight ended, now it was Chu Shen"s turn. Before he could go up on stage the dual swordsman got there first.
“Huh. Seems this match will be interesting.” Chu Shen muttered underneath his breath before climbing on stage as well.
Bowing he introduced himself. “I am Chu Shen of the Chu branch Sect Misty Pa.s.s, let us have a good duel.”
The dual swordsman bowed as well. “I am Jian Kuai ⌈1⌋ prepare yourself.”
Chu Shen nodded, it was an appropriate name. Jian Kuai took up a stance with his swords. Suddenly he took off at Chu Shen.
He was startled at the speed Jian Kuai took off with. It was actually faster than the speed Jian Kuai had displayed in his fight earlier.
Realizing letting Jian Kuai get in close would be suicide Chu Shen took out an arrow and threw it towards him.
The arrow bounced off Jian Kuai’s sword. More arrows flew out before being blocked out, however, it did accomplish Chu Shen’s goal. Jian Kuai couldn’t advance forward and block the arrows, there was to many of them.
Chu Shen suddenly stopped throwing arrows but withdrew his hammer from the spatial ring instead. As Jian Kuai ran towards Chu Shen, Chu Shen started to spin in place, becoming a whirlwind of hammer blows just like when he dealt with Tai Long.
Jian Kuai paused right outside of Chu Shens range. He swung both swords in opposite directions from each other. There was no way Chu Shen could block both. As the swords cut down, Chu Shen hit Jian Kuai’s right sword. The impact caused him to become unbalanced, the sword was ripped from Jian Kuai"s hand but because of his strong grip it landed only a short distance away.
As Chu Shen spun around, Jian Kuai swung his other sword around. It left a small cut on Chu Shen’s leg. If it was anyone else, that blow would have gone down to bone. Luckily his skin was tempered by the technique.Disregarding the minor cut, Chu Shen advanced on Jian Kuai. He had his hammer grabbed halfway up the shaft and swung it in short blows at Jian Kuai"s chest. Rolling underneath Chu Shen’s blows he ran towards his sword and picked it up.
Chu Shen stopped rotating. If he had continued then no matter how he tried, Chu Shen would have become disoriented. Taking a stance Chu Shen prepared for Jain Kuai"s next a.s.sault.
Jian Kuai closed in on Chu Shen. He swung his blades while Chu Shen blocked them. Again and again he attacked Chu Shen, the swords were unrelentingly attacking Chu Shen from all directions. By now, he had over a dozen minor cuts over all his legs and arms.
Frustrated, Chu Shen jumped backwards before swinging his hammer in a wide arc, forcing Jian Kuai backwards. By now Chu Shen realized his mistake in letting Jian Kuai get in close to him. Of course, he had realized this to begin with but he thought he could fight at least evenly.
Jian Kuai"s swords were so fast that he didn"t have time to switch his hammer to its heavy mode. If he misjudged it than Jian Kuai would end the fight with a single lightning fast blow while his hammer was slowed down with it"s weight. He needed to switch to a different way of attacking.
Taking advantage of the long range his hammer had, Chu Shen swung his hammer horizontally. Jian Kuai was forced back again. Without pause Chu Shen forced him back, continuously swinging his hammer in wide arcs.
Jian Kuai kept being forced backwards by Chu Shens hammer. Suddenly he rolled forward underneath Chu Shens swing. Springing up he jumped towards Chu Shen.
Startled, Chu Shen stored his hammer in his spatial ring and fell backwards. Jian Kuai missed Chu Shen and jumped over him. As he did, Chu Shen once again withdrew his hammer, clumsily swinging his hammer backwards at Jian Kuai.
He missed the swing as Jian Kuai rolled sideways. Lashing out, Jian Kuai slashed Chu Shen’s arm, forcing him to drop his hammer. Jumping towards Chu Shen he held his sword inches from his throat.
Panting Chu Shen looked Jian Kuai in the eye. “Sigh, I admit defeat.”
Jian Kuai nodded and stored away his dual swords. He bowed towards Chu Shen. “Thank you for the match, you almost had me.”
Chu Shen bowed back. “Thank you as well. If we sparred again I am sure the outcome would be the same.”
Chu Shen walked off stage with Jian Kuai, separating to head over to the eliminated side. A medic came over and gave him a healing pill. When he ate it, a soothing sensation came over him, getting rid of all the aches and sores from the fights.
His bleeding stopped quickly but the wounds themselves didn’t heal completely. “Hey, Chu Shen. Come sit over here.” When he turned around he saw Tia Long waving towards him.
“Oh hey Tai Long. Didn’t expect to see you so soon.” Chu Shen immediately smile and walked towards him.
“Its fine. I didn’t have any serious injuries. I saw who you lost too. He sure is a piece of work.” Tai Long had an amused expression on his face.
“Yeah, he’s pretty skilled. He blocked all my arrows and could dodge very good.”
Tai Long nodded. “I am sure he will advance far in this tournament. He has some very fast swords.”
“Well what do you expect from someone with a name like that.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Lets watch the rest of the exam.”
⌈1⌋ The name Jian Kuai is actually Jiàn kuài (剑快) and means fast sword. Also, I got you all so good. Did you really think some newbie with no actual fighting experience was going to win a tournament? Dream on. It takes more than awesome strength and a good weapon to win, hehehe.