At this moment, she understood again that Qi Yan's words were not an exaggeration at all.
Those who couldn't wield a sword saw him like a frog in a well gazing at the moon in the sky; those who could wield a sword saw him like a mayfly seeing the vast sky.
She thought that half a year of diligent training had narrowed the gap between her and Qi Yan, but now it seemed she had completely overestimated herself.
Looking at him now, Qi Yan was still so unfathomable.
"I lost!...Thank you!"
Erza realized that with Qi Yan's strength, she would likely still be defeated in one move, but he had demonstrated all his sword techniques from beginning to end, clearly wanting her to learn.
"I want to know, how many times was I hit in total?"
"Hmm...eighty-one times."
"Eighty-one times?!"
Erza couldn't believe it; she had been attacked eighty-one times, and the most crucial thing was that she hadn't even noticed.
Erza didn't know that Qi Yan had understated it; to be precise, Qi Yan had attacked Erza a full eight hundred and ten times.
There's an old saying: among all sword techniques, none is unbreakable, only speed is unbreakable.
Besides its exquisite precision, Tsugikuni Yoriichi's sword technique was also incredibly fast, extremely fast.
In the anime, when Muzan Kibutsuji encountered Tsugikuni Yoriichi's fatal attack, to save himself, he was forced to self-destruct, his body fragmenting into over 1800 pieces.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi cut over 1500 pieces in an instant, and Muzan survived with the remaining 300 fragments.
"My sword techniques have thirteen forms. The Thirteenth Form is created by continuously releasing the previous twelve sword forms to create a continuous attack loop."
"If you can comprehend the previous twelve forms, then you can create your own Thirteenth Form."
Erza's pupils dilated, and she murmured, "...continuous release...attack loop..."
What a brilliant idea, what profound swordsmanship! Those seemingly independent sword forms were suddenly linked by a bond. Perhaps true swordsmanship was never meant to be independent; it should be continuous like this.
Erza looked at Qi Yan with eyes full of admiration.
"Oh oh oh oh oh oh!!"
"So amazing! Truly amazing!"
"So cool!!"
"Manly—!!"...Qi Yan's magnificent sword forms left everyone in awe. Erza was already incredibly strong, but there was still a significant gap between her and Qi Yan when he displayed his true power.
"He's really a monster!"
Natsu and Gray muttered quietly.
What they didn't know was that the strength Qi Yan displayed was only the tip of his iceberg. Qi Yan's most powerful attacks were still the slashes he unleashed with magic, attacks capable of breaking even dragon scale defenses.
Soon, the banquet continued, and the atmosphere grew even more lively.
The banquet lasted until one in the morning before everyone reluctantly dispersed, making sure to clean everything up before leaving.
Qi Yan also took a shower and went to sleep, waking up only when the noon sun hit his backside.
He habitually opened his system panel, saw no changes in the data, and then closed it.
After lying in bed for a while longer, feeling a bit hungry, he got up and headed to the guild.
The guild was still bustling, with many people discussing the duel between Qi Yan and Erza the previous night. When they saw Qi Yan arrive, they all enthusiastically greeted him, and Qi Yan responded to each one.
"Mira! I'm hungry, bring me some food!"
"Coming!"
Mira placed the food in front of Qi Yan. Mira knew exactly what Qi Yan liked to eat.
"Erza! Let's have a showdown!"
At this moment, Natsu jumped onto a table and challenged Erza. He had seen Qi Yan and Erza duel yesterday and also wanted to fight, but Erza had just finished fighting Qi Yan, so he hadn't made a move then. Now that she was rested, he challenged her.
Gray was startled by Natsu's words: "Hey...hey!! Don't be reckless!! Do you want to die?!"
Elfman also advised: "That's right! Don't be reckless! That's Erza! Even if she lost to Qi Yan, she's not someone we can casually provoke!"
Erza shook her head: "No, I'm tired."
"Here I come, take this!"
Natsu, his fists wreathed in flames, rushed towards Erza recklessly.
Erza sighed helplessly: "Honestly."
A large hammer appeared in Erza's hand, and she swung it with force.
Boom—!
Natsu was sent flying by the hammer, crashing into the wall and falling unconscious.
"I can't do anything with you. Let's start then."
Happy shouted: "It's already over!"
"Hahahaha, Natsu, you're so unlucky!"
"As expected, Erza is amazing! Natsu, you still need to practice!"...Seeing Natsu instantly defeated by Erza, everyone in the guild burst into laughter.
Just then, Makarov sensed something: "Hmm?"
"What's wrong, Master?"
"Nothing, just a bit sleepy. It's that guy."
"This is!"
"So sleepy!"
One by one, everyone in the guild fell asleep.
Qi Yan also felt a strong wave of drowsiness. He resisted for a moment, but ultimately couldn't hold on and fell asleep.
At this moment, a person completely wrapped in black cloth walked in, heading directly to the request board. He took down a subjugation mission with a reward of 1,000,000 J, came before Makarov, and showed it to him.
"I'm leaving first."
"Undo the sleeping magic!"
Mystogan turned: "Five, four, three, two, one..."
As Mystogan finished counting, he vanished from the guild entrance.
Whoosh!
Everyone in the guild suddenly woke up.
"This feeling...is it Mystogan?"
"That scoundrel!"
"That sleeping magic is as powerful as ever."
"Mystogan?"
Lucy was a bit puzzled, another new name she'd heard.
Gray said: "He's one of the candidates for the strongest Mage in Fairy Tail. For some reason, he doesn't want people to see his face, so every time he comes to take a mission, he makes everyone fall asleep like this. So, besides the Master, no one has ever seen Mystogan."
"What, that's too strange, isn't it?"
Suddenly!
An arrogant voice came from the second floor: "Hmph...I know, you know."
Everyone heard the voice and looked up to see a young man with golden hair, wearing a leopard print top, headphones, and looking very rebellious, standing on the second floor.
"Laxus!"
"You're here?"
"You're actually here?"
Gray, looking annoyed, introduced Laxus to Lucy: "This is another candidate for the strongest."
Laxus propped his chin, smoking a cigar, and looked down, saying: "Mystogan is a very shy person, so you shouldn't dig too deep."
Natsu's ears twitched when he heard Laxus's voice. He jumped onto a table and shouted at Laxus: "Laxus, let's have a showdown!"