Eternal Life Begins with Learning

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Seeing the surrounding Inspectors timidly charge forward at Xu Yuan’s command, the burly man grew even angrier.

He roared and swung his greatsword, trying to finish off the charging Inspectors. But alas, the few who surrounded him, including Xu Yuan, were all men who cherished their lives.

The moment things looked bad, they would immediately retreat a great distance. And with Chu Mu tying him down, the burly man didn’t dare to act too recklessly.

But once the situation improved slightly, the Inspectors would close in again. The burly man certainly couldn’t ignore the glint of their several blades.

With the situation shifting like this, Chu Mu undoubtedly felt the pressure ease. At the very least, it was no longer a constant life-or-death crisis.

Only then did Chu Mu have the presence of mind to truly appreciate his Sword Technique in real combat.

The series of life-and-death battles after entering the mountains had caused his Sword Technique Skill Level to leap by more than two hundred points. Of course, there would be changes.

Chu Mu continued to swing his blade, one strike after another, still defending more than attacking.

With each clash of steel, a multitude of realizations flooded Chu Mu’s mind.

So far, the deepest understanding Chu Mu had gained about his Sword Technique was, without a doubt, Power!

It was like an ordinary person without professional training throwing a punch; it’s nearly impossible for them to unleash their full strength. They might even end up hurting themselves.

The same was true for Sword Technique.

This was especially true in actual combat. During his earlier fight with the man in black, under the effects of the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, the exquisite control he had over his own Power—that feeling of deflecting immense force with minimal effort—had undoubtedly shown Chu Mu the way forward.

And that was with just the Power of a normal person. If he were to cultivate True Martial Arts and gain the terrifying strength of the burly man before him, how frightening would his level of exquisite control become?

As he carefully analyzed the fight, Chu Mu keenly sensed that while the burly man’s strength was terrifying, his control over that Power wasn’t very refined.

The crushing weight behind every move was simply due to his innate, terrifying strength.

Thinking back to his fights with the man in black and the youth, Chu Mu realized that they had been the same.

None of them had possessed particularly refined Power control; it was all just raw strength.

’Do the Martial Arts of this world not emphasize Power control?’

The thought flashed through Chu Mu’s mind, but it also seemed to make a certain kind of sense.

After all, the Martial Arts of this world really defied common sense. Anyone with a bit of skill seemed to be a superman, possessing physical attributes far beyond those of an ordinary person.

In that case, neglecting refined Power control seemed normal enough...

As Chu Mu speculated, the blade in his hand never faltered for a moment.

Almost instinctively, he swung his blade again and again, parrying the burly man’s assault while looking for opportunities to attack.

This clash was clearly different from his previous ones. Whether facing the youth or the man in black, Chu Mu had been almost completely unable to resist. The gap in their abilities had been nearly insurmountable.

But now, with his Sword Technique having greatly improved, and with the Inspectors nearby to help and distract, the burly man—though highly skilled—was not so powerful that Chu Mu was completely helpless.

Thus, even though Chu Mu was at a disadvantage, it was a proper back-and-forth fight.

For Chu Mu, such a dynamic exchange was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for tempering himself.

His mentality and his Sword Technique were both slowly improving under the pressure of this confrontation.

The feeling was undeniably intoxicating, almost mesmerizing.

No matter if he practiced his Sword Technique alone a hundred or a thousand times, it would be difficult to experience this sensation—the clash of blades, where life and death hung on a single strike.

In contrast to Chu Mu’s absorption, the burly man was growing visibly more agitated as his prolonged assault failed to yield results.

His anxiety became even more apparent as the surrounding Inspectors restored order, slowly regained their footing in this surprise attack, and even began to counter-attack.

He had launched this desperate counterattack from a position of weakness. Now that it had turned into a stalemate, the possibility of failure was magnified infinitely.

In a life-and-death struggle, it was clear that nothing was more important than one’s state of mind.

Once the mind was in chaos, the Sword Technique would naturally follow.

Chu Mu could sense this very clearly.

Chu Mu was a bit surprised, but after a glance at his surroundings, he seemed to understand.

Chu Mu’s own mindset grew even more relaxed.

’If I can’t win, I can at least drag this out.’

’If I stall long enough, other Inspectors will naturally come to help.’

"Die!"

The burly man grew more furious, his face ashen. His large, Copper Bell-like eyes stared death at Chu Mu, and his volatile emotions were clearly reflected in the swings of his blade.

His already heavy and powerful strikes became even weightier. The clash of Power sent a numbing shock through the webbing of Chu Mu’s thumb.

Chu Mu gripped his hilt tightly, continuing to steadily parry the increasingly frantic assault.

Surrounding the burly man, Chu Mu and the few cowardly Inspectors formed what looked like a fragile yet incredibly sturdy net, trapping the enraged man within and preventing him from advancing an inch.

As the burly man swung his blade again, Chu Mu habitually raised his own to block. But he saw the man feint; the whistling blade arced directly toward one of the timid Inspectors at the side.

In an instant, with a flash of the blade, a head flew high into the air. Blood spurted like a fountain as the body was separated from its head.

With the burly man’s single feint, the once-unbreakable net was torn open in the blink of an eye.

Chu Mu’s heart tightened. His previously relaxed state of mind vanished completely in the face of that single, deceptive strike.

A man decapitated with one blow, a life extinguished right before their eyes. The handful of already cowardly Inspectors were instantly terrified. They scrambled backward, no longer daring to approach.

The situation reversed in a flash. All the pressure was now on Chu Mu.

"You damned official! I’ll kill you!"

An even more frenzied Power traveled up the blade and into Chu Mu’s body. Strike after strike rained down, and in the space of a few breaths, Chu Mu was forced back more than a dozen steps.

But in that same instant, a flicker of something unusual caught in the corner of his eye made Chu Mu immediately change his mind.

His retreat, which had been meant to stall for time, came to an abrupt halt.

Glancing again at the anomaly on the ground, Chu Mu gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

CLANG!

He brought his blade down hard on the incoming strike, then fluidly redirected it, following the momentum into... a downward chop!

HACK! HACK! HACK!

There were no other moves, just a single chopping strike!

Chu Mu roared, furiously hacking with his blade!

The sudden outburst undoubtedly caught the burly man off guard. He was forced back several steps in a row.

He was now only a short distance from the anomaly Chu Mu had spotted.

"Die!"

Chu Mu bellowed, veins popping on his forehead as he used every last ounce of his strength!

CLANG!

A piercing, ear-splitting ring!

Facing Chu Mu’s all-out strike, the burly man still blocked it with ease, without much effort at all.

The only price he paid was being forced to retreat another small half-step.

Just a small half-step. The burly man was full of disdain. Chu Mu... was overcome with relief.

...