Regardless of the sword style school, the Saint level is a watershed moment. Some ordinary people might never reach the threshold of the Saint level in their entire lives. And I am no exception.
At the age of seven, defeating an Upper-rank martial artist and advancing to the Upper-rank of the Water God Style initially made both myself and Izoruti a bit complacent.
However, the latter half of the ranking competition shocked us speechless.
The wildly bombarding attacks, which looked plain yet exuded immense pressure, were sword techniques that left both her and me dumbfounded.
In my heart, I always believed that swordsmanship was a minor art; magic was what was truly versatile. After all, in a world where Gravity Magic and Time Magic existed, swordsmanship would likely be completely defenseless in an Upper-rank battle.
Learning the Water God Style was merely to have an extra means of defense during my weak period.
I never devoted all my energy to studying the Water God Style Swordsmanship. Most of my focus was placed on my own magic research.
That is, until the final match of that competition: the Thousand Waterfall Sword Emperor Yara Yang challenging the contemporary Water God Leda Lia. That battle was not held inside the dojo.
Instead, it was moved to an open-air training ground.
All training equipment was moved away, and spectators were required to scatter five miles away. Even so, some people were still grazed by the shockwaves of sword energy.
Once the fight began, sword energy flew wildly, making it impossible to clearly see how many swings they each made. After the contest ended, the ground near where they fought had sunk nearly a meter deep.
Within the five-mile-wide competition area, scratch marks from the sword energy spread out like two fans, slicing the ground into lines, which was a terrifying sight.
The final result, of course, was the victory of the Water God Leda Lia. The Thousand Waterfall Sword Emperor Yara Yang lost the match at the cost of an arm.
However, the best healing magician from Yars had been invited to be present before the match started. Under the healing of Saint-level healing magic, her severed arm should be able to be reattached quickly.
In the days that followed, we also studied the Water God Style Swordsmanship with greater diligence. After witnessing such an intense match, I finally understood the gap between myself and the world's top masters.
But things went against my wishes; the harder I worked, the more reality deviated from my expectations.
Upon reaching the Upper-rank, the Water God Style requires the use of the 'Kanryu' realm. The principle is to use Ki perception to sense the opponent's breathing and center of gravity, sensing the flow of air, thus reacting faster than the opponent.
In other words, the defense of the Water God Style is built upon perceiving the opponent's every move. If one cannot react to the opponent's attack, then defending against it becomes impossible.
Izoruti learned this part exceptionally well; she quickly mastered 'Kanryu'.
In the matches after she mastered 'Kanryu', I could never defeat her in an active attack again.
For every attack, she seemed to block it with seemingly prescient reactions and counterattack. Even if I changed my move mid-swing, she could respond with an even faster counter-change.
Talent is truly unfathomable. In the ranking competition, the Upper-rank Water God Style swordsman I fought did not react as quickly with his 'Kanryu', and he couldn't keep up with my mid-swing changes.
From this perspective, Izoruti's talent in the Water God Style Swordsmanship is truly much higher than that of ordinary people.
I, on the other hand, was quite frustrated. Without Ki, I couldn't even sense what 'Kanryu' was, let alone use it.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Rexlent
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"