Chapter 131 – The Sword of the Land
“Bi Fan, you’re the best! You’ve got to beat Mo Nan!”
“Mo Nan! Defeat Bi Fan, you can’t lose to a guy who just started out, ah.”
Obviously, most of the new-entry disciples were already worshipping Bi Fan, and were supporting him wholeheartedly.
While, the older disciples were mostly friends with Mo Nan, and since quite a few of them were envious of Bi Fan’s rise, a vast majority of them were supporting Mo Nan.
As far as Bi Fan and Mo Nan were concerned, they were so focused on their contest, that they weren’t about to get distracted by these cheers.
Both, Mo Nan and Bi Fan, were taking this fight very seriously, since the outcome of the contest largely depended on this fight.
“Nice to meet you!”
Both, Mo Nan and Bi Fan, started with the ‘Fufeng Double-edged Sword’. The ‘Fufeng Double-edged Sword’ was a very elegant and subtle skill, but the end result was very different as both fighters had changed the skill to suit their personal characteristics.
On one hand, Bi Fan’s ‘Fufeng Double-edged Sword’ was strange and crafty, while Mo Nan’s was compact and serious.
In reality, Bi Fan had watched Mo Nan’s fights several times during the course of the tournament, owing to which he had already memorized his fighting style to a very large extent.
However, Mo Nan was progressing every day, and with every pa.s.sing fight, which is why his fighting style had also seen a major improvement, and many of his previous flaws, were now, no longer existent.
So far in the fight, both men had already exchanged hundreds of strokes with each other, but neither seemed to gaining any advantage over the other.
Mo Nan and Bi Fan were enveloping the entire contest stage, and the two men appeared like dazzling b.u.t.terflies, as their silhouettes danced around the stage, exchanging blows in quick succession.
“Marvelous, Bi Fan and Mo Nan’s fight is going to be very interesting.”
“I practice the same ‘Fufeng Double-edged Sword’ technique, then why is the gap so big? I know that my technique is very powerful, but why are these guys able to do it so much better….”
“Ha ha, if you were as good as them, then you wouldn’t be sitting here with me…”
“Laugh at me all you like, you’re not the same as me.”
Both Mo Nan and Bi Fan, were adept with a sword, and were giving it all they had, so naturally the fight was beginning to become a wonderful spectacle to watch.
As they continued to learn from each other’s movements, they started to change their own styles, and started applying the same technique with different variations in effect; a change in angle, a change in force. Slowly, and steadily, the power output of their respective styles, started to increase even further.
As the saying goes, a smart man learns more from a knowledgeable opponent, than from a foolish friend.
They weren’t trying to imitate each other’s skills blindly, but were trying to adapt each other’s best qualities, to suit their own styles.
But, what was a best fit for their own style? The nature of creation takes its own course; as their strengths rise, they will learn more about themselves, and will eventually figure out the best skills to suit their strengths and preferences.
For example, Bi Fan, for the time being, hasn’t formed his characteristics yet, and prefers to use a more tricky form of combat, but still, likes to use his formidable strength from time to time, to deliver amazing power outputs.
Which is why, he spent a great deal of time learning martial skills which were both crafty and powerful at the same time.
Jing Feng is very different in this perspective, as he has completely abandoned the Quinyang methods of combat. Jing Feng focusses his attention on his marksmanship, and tries to add a flavor of overbearing strength to his skill set. The skills that Jing Feng displays are a far cry from the Quinyang way of martial arts.
If Jing Feng was able to lift up his physical strength, then the final outcome, owing to his overbearing Hegemon Pike, would be formidable, and magnificent.
Mo Nan on the other hand, prefers using a very compact and calculated style of martial arts, and his martial skills, are usually the least flawed ones.
As the battle progressed, Bi Fan realized that his style had a few innate issues, even though his knowledge was very complex. He would need to deepen his knowledge of his skills, in order to overcome these problems, since they were stopping him from using his skills to its true capacity.
Ji Ying Lan, for example, had been concentrating his entire practice on learning and understanding the ‘Fufeng Double-edged Sword’, owing to which, he was able to match the skill up to much superior skills like the ‘Floating Sword’ technique.
“If I can blend all these skills together and somehow come up with a new skill, then my strength will start to rise even faster.” Bi Fan had been harboring this idea for a long time now, but knew that it takes a long time to study and research a technique, before it’s possible to create something new.
However, Bi Fan was not in a hurry, and his top priority, at the moment, was to learn as many skills as possible. With a deep knowledge of sufficient skills, he would be capable of creating his own style.
Bi Fan had been slowly working on this idea, and knew, that sooner or later, with the help of the right approach, he’d succeed.
Bi Fan firmly believed, that he’d be able succeed, given he was patient, and continued to work in the right direction.
In this respect, both Jing Feng and Bi Fan were quite peculiar, since, even though they cast out the same martial skill again and again, the effect would always tend to differ a bit.
The ‘Fufeng Double-edged Sword’ display was over, and neither of the two men had been able to gain any advantage over the other.
Both of them switched their skills, and started to cast out the ‘Floating Sword’ technique and its various variations.
Mo Nan had a much deeper knowledge of the ‘Floating Sword’ technique, and as the contest progressed, Bi Fan quickly started to get suppressed.
Mo Nan’s attacks were rigorous, heavy, and he kept launching one wave after the other, as he tried to press harder and harder.
Bi Fan didn’t want to compromise, and made a lot of efforts to resist, but Mo Nan’s ‘Floating Sword’ was much more powerful than his own.
Bi Fan, eventually, was forced to retreat, as things started to get harder for him.
Bi Fan’s physical strength was far more powerful than Mo Nan, which is why, no matter how hard Mo Nan pressed; Bi Fan was somehow able to hold his own, as he continued to defend himself.
Unless Mo Nan was able to overpower Bi Fan, it would be very difficult for him to win.
As the battle raged on, Bi Fan started to find ways to cope up with Mo Nan, and started finding his foothold again.
“Brother Bi Fan, you obviously want to win the championship. But I won’t be making it easy for you.” Mo Nan’s eyes were extremely determined.
“The Sword of the Land!” Mo Nan resorted to using a very strange style of sword-play.
Mo Nan’s sword-play suddenly became even more powerful, and it was almost as if his sword was bringing the power of a mountain with it.
Bi Fan was completely enveloped in the attack, and was already finding it difficult to breathe.
During Mo Nan’s fight with Jing Feng, he hadn’t used this technique, which obviously meant, that he too was keeping his own secrets. Of course, there was another angle; maybe Mo Nan had just learnt this skill, and wasn’t very proficient and skilled with its usage yet.
No matter which way it was, Bi Fan was caught in the attack, and was running out of luck.
‘The sword of the land’ was one of the most powerful techniques that he had ever faced.
This was no ordinary sword-play, and Bi Fan was beginning to really enjoy this fight now.
“Excellent Sword-play! That’s definitely worth learning.” Bi Fan increased his efforts, as he continued to resist the attacks, but at the cost of being battered again.
Bi Fan wished to create his own martial skills; so naturally, he wanted to learn as many skills as possible.
‘The Sword of the Land’ was clearly not a Quinyang Sect martial skill, and since he had the opportunity now, Bi Fan obviously was trying to memorize as much of it as possible.
Even though he may not be able to practice the skill at present, memorizing the skill would surely pay dividends in the future.
“d.a.m.n it! Mo Nan is a lot stronger than I thought. He’s been hiding his true strength, and didn’t cast that out against me. Had he used this one against me, then the fight would have been a h.e.l.l lot closer to call.” Jing Feng was completely surprised by Mo Nan’s display.
In reality, Mo Nan hadn’t used this skill before, because he wasn’t fully equipped to use it earlier. But over the course of his fight with Jing Feng, and now against Bi Fan, his knowledge had increased, which is why he was now able to use the skill in combat.
Mo Nan’s knowledge of ‘The Sword of the World’ wasn’t very profound, but the skill was already being cast out in the most marvelous of ways, and it was evident that skill was of a much higher rating than the ‘Floating Sword’ technique.
On top of that, since Bi Fan had never seen this skill before, he was running short of ways to counter it.
Mo Nan continued to cast out one wave after the other, as he switched the gears, while Bi Fan’s tale of helplessness was being depicted by his tattered clothing.