Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

With a SWISH, the scholar’s robe flew up, obscuring Jiang Ran’s vision.

A hand suddenly shot out from behind the robe, striking straight for Jiang Ran’s face.

Jiang Ran shifted his feet to dodge. The claw-like hand grazed past his face, then abruptly chopped down, its five fingers aiming for his wrist.

”Hm?”

Jiang Ran glanced down. ’He’s already calculated the position of my next attack.’

He immediately shot out a kick, only to find that Zhuge Mingyu had kicked even faster.

The tip of his toe tapped precisely at the Zusanli acupoint on Jiang Ran’s calf.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran snorted. He abruptly brought his foot down with a THUD, bending his leg into a lunge. As he activated his Fortune Heart Sutra, the kick aimed at his Zusanli point was redirected, forced to strike his knee instead. But less than an inch from his kneecap, the kick was blocked by his Gang Qi, unable to advance any further!

The next moment, his power flared.

Zhuge Mingyu instantly felt a rebounding force surge back up from the tip of his toe.

He staggered back several steps.

When he looked up again, Jiang Ran was already charging toward him.

He unleashed the Kun Character’s Thirteen Mad Demon Claws.

Zhuge Mingyu, however, showed no sign of panic.

”The techniques of Tu Wulang... Power rising from the earth, boundless and infinite!”

His figure spun, his palms like blades. While dodging Jiang Ran’s grasp, he launched a continuous assault on Jiang Ran’s lower body.

Jiang Ran looked down and executed the Celestial Nine Steps, his figure multiplying into a series of elusive, unpredictable afterimages.

However, Zhuge Mingyu’s Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture truly lived up to its name as the ultimate art of Qianjun Academy.

Every single footfall of the Celestial Nine Steps was perfectly within his predictions.

Up to this point in the exchange, though their techniques had been numerous and varied, Zhuge Mingyu had anticipated every single move, seizing the initiative each time.

Jiang Ran couldn’t help but admire the power of the Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture. ’It truly is one of a kind.’

Zhuge Mingyu, for his part, was also inwardly shocked by Jiang Ran’s Inner Strength and martial arts.

’His Inner Strength is profound, simply unfathomable. He transitions between techniques with effortless mastery.’

’Even though I’ve calculated every critical juncture of his attacks, it still feels like I’m walking on thin ice over a deep abyss.’

’Jiang Ran can afford to be out-calculated a thousand times, to fail a thousand times.’

’But I only get one chance...’

’If I make a single mistake, I’ll be the one severely injured and utterly defeated.’

Sweat beaded on Zhuge Mingyu’s forehead. He knew he had fallen into a situation that was completely to his disadvantage.

The most important thing for him now was to find a way to escape.

But Jiang Ran pressed him relentlessly, leaving him no room to consider anything else.

The slightest lapse in concentration could lead to a crushing defeat.

But if he didn’t lose focus, he would just have to keep calculating... calculating until he was dead...

Just then, the Ghost King was finally unable to hold back all the Evil Ghosts, and a few of them broke free.

Some charged toward Luo Qingyi, others toward Li Tianxin, but the majority rushed at Jiang Ran.

This finally gave Zhuge Mingyu, who had been under enough pressure to feel like he was about to explode, a moment’s respite.

Seeing that he was now surrounded, Jiang Ran put his hand on his hilt, about to draw his Shattered Gold Saber.

But then came the ring of a drawn blade. A figure in black burst into the fray, his blade weaving with perfect ease. With a few crisscrossing flashes of steel, the charging Evil Ghosts were sent flying.

Jiang Ran glanced at Li Tianxin.

Li Tianxin snorted.

”What are you looking at?”

”...”

Jiang Ran was speechless.

”Are you going to show your true colors?”

”Nonsense... Now hurry up and take down this scholar!”

Li Tianxin turned away, no longer looking at Jiang Ran. Instead, he stood guard to the side; anyone who dared to charge would have to get past him first.

Jiang Ran shook his head slightly, his hand never leaving the hilt of his saber.

His blade flashed, striking straight for Zhuge Mingyu’s left shoulder.

Jiang Ran’s blade reflected in Zhuge Mingyu’s eyes. For a split second, his Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture raced, but in the next moment, his gaze filled with stunned disbelief.

”I can’t calculate it...”

If he couldn’t calculate it, he dared not move.

In that moment of hesitation, a sudden coldness washed over his right arm. He stared down at his right side in disbelief.

”How could this be...”

His arm had fallen to the ground.

For a moment, both men were stunned.

Jiang Ran had grown used to the man’s Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture and its ability to predict everything. He never expected this strike to actually land.

Zhuge Mingyu, however, stared at the severed arm on the ground and muttered to himself:

”It struck my right side... How could it be my right side?

”What is this saber art?”

He seemed to feel no pain, completely unconcerned that his right arm had been severed. He just looked up at Jiang Ran.

”Why... Why couldn’t I calculate it?”

Jiang Ran paused in thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

”If you can’t calculate it, then keep calculating... And watch my blade!”

Zhuge Mingyu’s pupils contracted. As he looked up, the gleam of Jiang Ran’s saber flashed again.

But Zhuge Mingyu seemed to have lost all his martial prowess, staring blankly as the blade descended, with no idea how to evade it.

SHINK! A gash appeared across his chest.

Jiang Ran’s blade didn’t stop, and Zhuge Mingyu stood as still as a wooden training dummy.

He allowed Jiang Ran to hack at him repeatedly, and in the blink of an eye, he had already been struck seven times.

Blood streamed from his wounds. His face was deathly pale, but he only stared at the gashes, his expression one of utter disbelief.

”This is impossible... A saber art like this shouldn’t exist in this world...

”Why? Why can’t I calculate it?

”The Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture can calculate everything under heaven... So why can’t it calculate your blade?”

He staggered back. With seven cuts on his body, Jiang Ran’s saber intent, infused with the power of his Fortune Heart Sutra, had invaded Zhuge Mingyu’s system. While his meridians weren’t completely shattered, he could no longer muster a single ounce of strength.

Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed.

’If you can’t calculate where the blade is aimed, you don’t even know how to use your martial arts anymore?

’You’re a strange one...’

”What do you know!?”

Zhuge Mingyu looked up at Jiang Ran. ”The art of calculation is the supreme principle of heaven and earth! Martial arts are but a trivial path in comparison. This blade of yours... how could it exist outside my calculations? It’s impossible... Unless. Unless the Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture has yet to reach its ultimate peak.

”So there are martial arts in this world that lie beyond the predictive power of the Thirty-Nine Calculation Scripture...

”What could they be? What else is there?”

”I don’t know what they could be, or what else there is... I only know one thing.”

Jiang Ran casually flicked his Shattered Gold Saber.

”You’re about to die.”

A brilliant flash of golden light filled the air. With a soft THUD, a head rolled across the ground, its face still frozen in an expression of academic curiosity.