As the saying goes, everything is understood without being said; at this moment, silence speaks louder than words.
After the earnest and fully committed Liu Yunduo and Yagyu Munenori stepped onto the stage, there wasn’t much wasted talk—they simply drew their swords and faced each other.
The moment the two moved, the previously noisy and clamorous kendo hall instantly fell silent. Everyone held their breath, watching the center of the dojo with rapt attention.
This was a battle that concerned the honor of their entire island nation’s kendo world—whether that honor would stand or plummet into the abyss depended on this one fight. They all hoped that Yagyu Munenori could cut down that ignorant little girl Liu Yunduo, who didn’t know her place, with just a single sword strike!
Whoosh!
Yagyu Munenori’s figure moved—
No, using the word “moved” to describe Yagyu Munenori wasn’t quite accurate. Using the word “vanished” would be more appropriate.
Yagyu Munenori’s body indeed seemed to suddenly disappear from under everyone’s gaze. Many of the skilled masters in the kendo world present couldn’t even react in time; their eyes couldn’t follow Yagyu Munenori’s movements, so it felt as if he had vanished into thin air.
As the target of the attack, Liu Yunduo also narrowed her eyes sharply in that instant, her gaze turning cold and focused as she watched the trajectory of Yagyu Munenori’s movements with full concentration. For her, whose strength had already crossed into the Danjin level, Yagyu Munenori’s speed was indeed fast—but not so fast that she couldn’t see him clearly.
If that were truly the case, there would be no point in continuing this fight. She might as well just concede—there would be absolutely no chance of winning.
But even though she could see clearly, Liu Yunduo was still extremely cautious in her heart: “He really is… very powerful!”
Seeing that Yagyu Munenori came onto the stage already carrying a weapon rather than bare-handed, Liu Yunduo was quite happy in her heart. Because this showed that Yagyu Munenori was indeed prepared to go all out and wouldn’t hold back. Only by defeating Yagyu Munenori in this state would Liu Yunduo feel no regrets.
But Yagyu Munenori going all out also made her feel the gap between them was too great.
Yagyu Munenori pounced over like lightning, and Liu Yunduo also rapidly closed in.
Both held their weapons tightly during the sprint, not yet unsheathed. Their long robes fluttered, clothes rustling loudly. Both wore serious expressions, lips slightly pressed together, eyes fixed unblinkingly on each other. They took in every tiny movement—the tilt of the shoulders, the bend of the arms, the twitch of the muscles… all of it was noted, predicting what moves the other might make.
The distance between them shrank rapidly. When there were still five meters left—
Swish!
A crisp sword cry suddenly rang out as the long sword in Yagyu Munenori’s hand abruptly left its sheath.
Like a bolt of lightning in the sky, like a flash of startling brilliance, it came from above to below, sudden and swift, as if splitting the sky open and carving a gap, slashing down from above Liu Yunduo’s head.
If this sword strike landed true, a living person would absolutely be split in two, with no room for recovery.
Iai Battōjutsu!
Yagyu Munenori truly wasn’t holding back in the slightest—his very first move was the Iai school’s strongest killing technique, the technique that had made him famous.
The Iai Battōjutsu school, as the name suggests, is strongest in battōjutsu—the art of drawing the sword.
When Yagyu Munenori unleashed this move, Jiang Fei and the Lion King, seated in the special VIP section at the edge of the arena, both raised their eyebrows and their bodies trembled. Their hands lightly pressed on the railing, and they nearly couldn’t resist leaping out to intercept Yagyu Munenori’s strike.
Both of them had crossed swords with Yagyu Munenori and knew just how powerful this move of his was. Now that Yagyu Munenori’s cultivation and strength had broken through again, this move was even more terrifying—how could an ordinary person possibly withstand it?
It was quite possible that, just as many of the watching island nation spectators guessed, Liu Yunduo would be defeated by Yagyu Munenori in a single move.
The blade fell, and sword aura surged across the sky. Like a well-woven fishing net descending from the heavens, it sealed off all the space in front, leaving nowhere to escape.
A single move of battōjutsu—just one slash—yet it could seal off all escape routes. If it allowed people to easily flee and dodge, how could it kill?
Swish! Swish!
Just as Jiang Fei and the Lion King were sweating nervously for Liu Yunduo, the swords in her hands also suddenly left their sheaths at that very moment. Twin swords side by side before her chest, arms slightly spread, wrists angled downward, then thrust out like lightning.
At this critical moment, Liu Yunduo’s left-hand and right-hand swords both accurately found the position of Yagyu Munenori’s battōjutsu, producing two crisp sounds of collision—”Ding! Ding!”
The sound wasn’t very loud, but the fluctuations it produced were earth-shaking. The collision of sword aura against sword aura was like two fierce tigers crashing together, erupting with a sizzling “chi chi” sound in the air.
Boom!
But after the impact, the two didn’t separate upon contact as in ordinary circumstances. Instead, their weapons remained stuck together. At this moment, Yagyu Munenori’s momentum suddenly climbed steadily, continuously expanding, and stuck to Liu Yunduo, making it so that as long as she didn’t discard her twin swords, she couldn’t break free.
This too was Iai Battōjutsu!
Just like when Yagyu Munenori dueled Jiang Fei at the summit of Emei, he had also used this move.
Iai Battōjutsu differed from the ordinary island nation kendo battō schools. Although it also emphasized the most ferocious opening move to defeat the enemy in one strike, seeking to concentrate all explosive power into the first move to catch the enemy off guard and kill them—the opening of Iai Battōjutsu was slightly longer, and its explosive process was also slightly extended.
His first slash was indeed earth-shattering and ghost-weeping, but it hadn’t reached its strongest point yet. This slash was continuous and cumulative—it would keep building momentum, keep rising, and only after a while would it reach its most powerful moment.
Liu Yunduo had also noticed this. After struggling once and finding she couldn’t break away, she decisively chose to face it head-on.
“Hah!”
Liu Yunduo let out a low cry, and the internal energy within her body erupted with a boom. Her twin swords pushed forward with all her strength—but ultimately the gap between her and Yagyu Munenori was too great. When that overwhelming destructive force came crashing in, her body was like a leaf in the wind, blown about and sent flying backward.
She retreated a full ten meters or so before her delicate body slammed into a tree trunk planted inside the dojo. Her body shuddered before she finally stabilized. She gripped her twin swords with both hands, still in a defensive posture, but her arms were already trembling slightly—the aftereffect of forcibly resisting enormous power.
Her originally fair and tender cheeks also began to flush red, her qi and blood unstable, and she nearly coughed up blood.
“Hmph.” Liu Yunduo let out a soft grunt before suppressing her churning breath. She looked at Yagyu Munenori with a cold, sharp gaze.
This move—she had thoroughly lost, and had even suffered a slight internal injury.
Of course, this minor internal injury was nothing serious. It didn’t affect her much and wouldn’t impact her combat ability. She could continue fighting.
Yagyu Munenori’s full-powered strike—and a very powerful killing move at that—Liu Yunduo had managed to receive it. This move also confirmed her strength: she had truly and genuinely crossed into the Danjin level and could not be underestimated.
“Yield?” Yagyu Munenori asked calmly, holding his long sword and looking at Liu Yunduo. He was quite impressed by Liu Yunduo’s strength in his heart—so outstanding at such a young age. Even if she wasn’t as good as Jiang Fei, among the younger generation of their island nation’s kendo world, there was still no one who could match her.
This made Yagyu Munenori feel somewhat melancholy.
After all, China was vast and rich in resources, with too many people—and thus many masters and geniuses, each generation stronger than the last. Their island nation’s martial world, however, had a feeling of talent withering away, somewhat like the sun setting in the west.
If only one or two rising stars could appear in their island nation’s kendo world—not asking for someone as monstrously abnormal as Jiang Fei, but just reaching Liu Yunduo’s level, reaching the Xiantian level at such a young age without taking the wrong path—then their island nation’s kendo world would never have to worry about having no successors!
Liu Yunduo let out a long breath before looking at Yagyu Munenori seriously, her eyes showing no fear. She said, “You are indeed very powerful. More powerful than me. But right now… I still won’t concede! Even if I’m going to lose, I have to lose to your even more powerful moves. Let me see clearly just how big the gap is—then I’ll be satisfied!”
Yagyu Munenori nodded and said, “Good!”
With that, Yagyu Munenori’s body disappeared once again. And when he reappeared before everyone’s eyes, his body had already split into several!
That’s right—Clone Slash!
One of Yagyu Munenori’s strongest ultimate techniques. In terms of weirdness, it was even harder to defend against than his earlier Battōjutsu, and its lethality was no less either. If one couldn’t find a way to break this move, then basically all that was left was to wait for death.
Back at the summit of Emei, Jiang Fei had ultimately closed his eyes at the critical moment and relied on his powerful perception to break this move.
Even though Liu Yunduo had learned the left-hand sword technique, with left and right hands complementing each other to form a beautiful balance—doubling both her defensive and offensive capabilities—her ability to break sword techniques was far inferior to Jiang Fei’s Dugu Nine Swords.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Each of Yagyu Munenori’s clones was lifelike and vivid, and the sword techniques they displayed even seemed different from one another, slashing at Liu Yunduo from different angles in different forms—all seemingly in an instant.
This time, his Clone Slash clearly had more shadows than at the summit of Emei, and they were more solid and vivid, making it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake.
“This guy’s strength really has improved by a large margin.” Jiang Fei frowned as he watched Yagyu Munenori’s move from the sidelines, his brows knitting together.
If Yagyu Munenori had possessed such strength back at the summit of Emei, Jiang Fei couldn’t guarantee he would have been able to win.
“However, he still hasn’t fully entered the Xiantian realm these past few days—he’s still half a step short. In his sword techniques, he occasionally condenses a trace of gangqi, but it’s clearly uncontrollable and he can’t utilize it. Otherwise, that first Battōjutsu move just now wouldn’t have been something Liu Yunduo could receive.” The Lion King beside him also offered his assessment.
Jiang Fei nodded in agreement.
Yagyu Munenori indeed hadn’t fully entered the Xiantian realm—he had merely improved compared to that day at Tsukahara Bokuden’s secluded residence.
“But regardless, Liu Yunduo receiving the first move was already not easy. And this Clone Slash—she definitely won’t be able to receive it.” Jiang Fei sighed. At the same time, he secretly circulated his energy, preparing to act at any moment if Yagyu Munenori showed no mercy.
Rationally, he believed Yagyu Munenori wasn’t a despicable person—that he would keep his word and wouldn’t kill Liu Yunduo, since killing her would bring him no benefit either. But just to be safe, Jiang Fei still thought it better to be careful.
Just as Jiang Fei finished speaking, Yagyu Munenori and Liu Yunduo clashed once again.
In terms of breaking this kind of weird sword technique, Liu Yunduo was indeed far inferior to Jiang Fei’s Dugu Nine Swords. She had no way to close her eyes gracefully and “show off” like Jiang Fei, responding calmly. She could only grit her silver teeth, wield her twin swords to the extreme, and strive to defend every direction tightly, not giving any “Yagyu Munenori” a chance to stab through.
Ding ding ding!
Bang bang bang!
Everyone only saw Liu Yunduo standing in an open space, busy as a high-speed spinning electric motor, her twin swords tracing circles, while Yagyu Munenori transformed into one shadow after another, continuously slashing, thrusting, or sweeping in from different directions.
Liu Yunduo would scatter one shadow, and immediately another shadow would come from another direction.
She roughly held out for about two breaths before Liu Yunduo was completely overwhelmed and unable to cope. One of Yagyu Munenori’s “shadows” found an opening, and the long sword stabbed down from high above.
Chi~
Yagyu Munenori’s sword tip was slightly stained with blood—it had torn through the clothing on Liu Yunduo’s shoulder and cut her skin.
Swish!
Yagyu Munenori, having landed one strike, didn’t continue. His body immediately rose lightly and retreated a few steps. He said nothing, just looked at Liu Yunduo.
Liu Yunduo looked at the wound and the traces of blood on her shoulder, her gaze somewhat heavy. After a long while, she sighed, cupped her fists toward Yagyu Munenori, and bowed slightly: “I’ve lost.”
Actually, it was more than just losing. With that sword strike just now, Yagyu Munenori had already had the opportunity to directly slit her throat and kill her. It was only because Yagyu Munenori showed mercy and shifted a few centimeters outward that he left a modest wound on her shoulder instead.
Yagyu Munenori nodded slightly and sheathed his long sword, signaling the end of the battle.
The two quickly retreated from the arena in opposite directions.
Jiang Fei, who had been watching the situation nervously from the sidelines, also breathed a sigh of relief.
This Yagyu Munenori was indeed a man of his word—he hadn’t gone for the kill. If Yagyu Munenori had been determined to kill, even Jiang Fei wouldn’t have been absolutely confident he could save Liu Yunduo at that critical moment.
As for the many island nation kendo masters gathered in the kendo hall, they all cheered excitedly one after another. They had ultimately defended the dignity of their island nation’s kendo world—they hadn’t been swept aside by a little girl!
