The Almighty Ring

“Strong in attack and defense. What am I to do with you?” Jiang Fei thought to himself. A single moment of distraction granted Dawan a brief one-tenth of a second to react. He flexed his back muscle and jerked his entire body to throw Jiang Fei off his shoulder.

“Crap!” Jiang Fei thought as he regretted not ending the fight right then and there. It was already too late for him as he had lost his footing and was up in the air.

“You are too naive,” Dawan said as he charged toward Jiang Fei and tackled him again.

Wham!

Jiang Fei grunted as all the air in his lungs was forcefully expelled. This time, after he was attacked for the second time, Jiang Fei could now confirm that the force of Dawan’s tackle was comparable to that of a bullet train.

As he was flung across the training room, Jiang Fei flipped around in midair and unleashed a series of sword bursts that were directed at Dawan.

“Hmph,” Dawan scoffed as he saw the attack. Even so, he was not bothered by it. Instead of dodging it, which he could do easily, he stood there and took every single one of it.

“You’re strong,” said Dawan while he gazed at the long straight wound that stretched from his lower neck down to his abdomen. Those sword bursts were Jiang Fei at maximum output, and their damage, however it appeared, was powerful. Even so, it only managed to inflict a surface wound on Dawan, and he was surprised.

“Such a marvelous sword technique,” Dawan praised. Jiang Fei was fighting at a combat level of 2,200,000, yet it was still too weak for Dawan. Nonetheless, he was still impressed by Jiang Fei’s control of the sword.

Defense was Dawan’s forte, and no one weaker than a person with 2,800,000 combat level had ever managed to inflict any kind of flesh wound on him. This mock battle or friendly spar as per Dawan’s inclination was merely a test of strength to gauge Jiang Fei’s true combat power instead of simply reading his combat level.

The one thing that Jiang Fei continuously surprised Dawan with was the sword techniques he had been unleashing. Not only did his techniques utilize a unique blend of energy and physical strength, but Jiang Fei was also able to deliver an attack stronger than Level 2,800,000 when he was only at Level 2,200,000.

It was only when Jiang Fei landed on his feet did he notice the long, red wound on Dawan’s chest. At that moment, Jiang Fei quickly lowered his sword and stopped fighting. He had only wanted to spar with Dawan. Inflicting a wound, fatal or any other kind was never his intention. As such, when he realized he had actually hurt Dawan, Jiang Fei quickly stopped to apologize.

“Please, forgive me. I got carried away…” said Jiang Fei.

“Nonsense. This is but a flesh wound. It is very mild. Nothing serious enough to leave a scar behind,” said Dawan. He stopped for a bit and headed to the side. Out of nowhere, he produced something that resembled a spray can. He applied its contents on his wound, and the long, bleeding wound quickly mended itself. As he said, it was not serious enough to even leave a scar.

“See? All better.” Dawan smiled and tossed the empty spray can to the side.

“Marvelous!” Jiang Fei gasped.

“Haha, indeed! Shall we continue?” Dawan approached Jiang Fei and patted him on the shoulder to show that he was unharmed.

“Yes, we shall!” Jiang Fei answered immediately with the highest enthusiasm.

“Prepare yourself. I’m coming in harder this time!” Dawan said as a large light ax materialized on his back.

Both Jiang Fei and Dawan got into their fighting stance and kicked off the ground at the same time.

Clang!

Jiang Fei’s sword and Dawan’s light ax clashed with each other, releasing a fury of sparks around them. The momentum behind the ax was so powerful that Jiang Fei could feel his legs almost give out. At that moment, Jiang Fei decided to test out a unique kind of skill that he remembered was effective against anyone who was physically stronger than him.

As he pushed his sword harder, Dawan reacted in the same way. Right then, Jiang Fei smirked. Borrowing the power from the ax, Jiang Fei loosened his grip on his sword and had one hand on the sword’s pommel and the other in reverse on the sword’s hilt. The light ax then glided downward. As a result, it gave Jiang Fei a push so strong that he used it as a thrusting spin to swing his sword at Dawan’s back.

“Mind your back,” Jiang Fei said as he charged a sword burst that he was going to release on Dawan’s back.

“Mhm!” Dawan groaned as he took the hit without flinching. With a strong defense, the sword burst landed and inflicted a wound similar to the one he had taken on his chest. Without wasting time, Dawan spun around and greeted Jiang Fei with a hammer he had shaped from his ax.

Wham!

In a split second, Jiang Fei managed to vertically align his sword to his body, protecting himself from the incoming hammer. Unfortunately, the sheer force behind the hammer was too much for Jiang Fei to stop. Like a golf ball, Jiang Fei was knocked away again.

“Hah… Hah….” Jiang Fei panted. He could now taste blood in his mouth. A slightly salty taste mixed with the scent of rusty nails assaulted his senses. His legs and hands were screaming for him to stop, but Jiang Fei did not heed to their calls. He got to his feet, spat out a mouthful of blood and saliva, then resumed his fighting stance. He may not have had any external physical wounds, but he was sure that his insides were all messed up.

“I need to figure out a way to deal with that hammer.” Jiang Fei thought. The entire time, the light weapons that Dawan used were not physically held by him. They were like projections of a certain force with a physical form. He even caught Dawan using the hammer with just a simple flick of his fingers; it was like a homing device and incredibly annoying for Jiang Fei. The light weapons could be used as physical weapons as well as homing projectile weapons. Once hit, Jiang Fei would surely be stunned momentarily or worse, suffer from major internal injuries.

“How can I beat him…” Jiang Fei thought.

It was hard for him to defeat Dawan in a conventional way because if he wanted to win the fight by any means necessary, he could simply use the Zhanlu Sword or the 10th Dimension. Either method could not be used since it was just a friendly spar. The Zhanlu Sword was fatal in every aspect, and a single cut could really kill Dawan. The 10th Dimension, on the other hand, was meant to be kept a secret.

After so long, Jiang Fei understood the consequences of everyone’s actions. If the secrets of the 10th Dimension were made known, what would the Valsalrian Army do to him? At best, he would be promoted and celebrated as the most powerful soldier. In the worst case, he would be forced, coerced, or even enslaved by them. They were, after all, the stronger band of bandits in the entire known universe.

What else could he use against a giant without actually killing him? After he lost sight of the two strongest methods he had, Jiang Fei recalled a move he had just carried out against Dawan: the Feint-and-Bait technique. It was a simple mind trick to bait the enemy into giving up his guard in exchange for landing a direct hit on him. It was a high risk, high return method that he could use against a powerful opponent.

Once he made his final decision, Jiang Fei returned to the fight and fought directly with Dawan in an exchange of swordplay. Not too long into the fight, Jiang Fei purposedly revealed a flaw in his foot play, tricking Dawan into thinking that Jiang Fei was too nervous and made a mistake in his footwork. When Jiang Fei noticed that Dawan had taken the bait, he quickly stopped his attack and made a small jump backward to show Dawan that he needed breathing space.

“Naive again.” Dawan hummed as he took the bait and lifted both of his arms high, wielding a large light hammer that was about to smash Jiang Fei again, ending the fight.

“He’s taken the bait!” Jiang Fei thought. Dawan was now midair with his hammer in his hands, ready to smash down. That was the moment Jiang Fei wanted, a moment when Dawan was completely exposed for any sort of attack.

“You’re… already dead!” said Jiang Fei with a smirk.

“What?!” Dawan grunted when he realized that Jiang Fei had only been baiting him!

In half a second, Jiang Fei took several steps and leaped forward to stab Dawan’s right wrist. When the blade was sunken into his wrist, Jiang Fei unleashed a sword burst and disarmed Dawan’s entire right arm.

“Grahhh!” Dawan groaned in pain.

Pang… Bshh…

The fight was over. When the light hammer was dropped, it dispersed into countless light participles, which vanished like the short-lived fire sparks.

“Are you alright!?” Jiang Fei sheathed his sword and quickly tended to Dawan.

“Bravo!” Dowan smiled as cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He did not flinch or squirm. He only smiled as he accepted his defeat.

After healing himself completely, the two sat down on the ground and rested.

“Your skill with the sword is extremely unique… Such a refined energy influx and an array of unpredicted slashes… Truly wondrous swordplay…” said Dawan.

“You’re praising me too much. It was simply a move that I thought of in the spur of the moment,” Jiang Fei answered.

There was a reason why Jiang Fei did not want to take credit for his own moves. Firstly, the art of the sword that he had been practicing came from China on Earth. If they, the Valsalrian Army, knew about the origin of his martial arts, they might pay a visit to the planet just to have a test of skill. Knowing full well how the aliens behaved and thought, things would turn ugly fast. Perhaps, out of kindness, the grandmasters would be willing to teach them the art of fighting, but the aliens might not simply accept gifts. They were, after all, bandits. They would assume that there were hidden arts being kept secret by the grandmasters. Things would easily escalate, leading to either the destruction of humanity or complete planetary enslavement.

Secondly, Jiang Fei himself did not want to share his art. Right then, his trump card against all other races in the universe was his unlimited strength granting skill, Omnisurge, and his unique martial arts from Earth. He wanted that to be his unique characteristic and not commonly known.

Based on the two aforementioned reasons, Jiang Fei had no intention of revealing anything, and he would put in effort to hide the origin of his skills. This would make the others think that Jiang Fei was the one who created his own fighting technique instead of thinking that it originated from a less technologically-advanced planet.