CHAPTER 182: ALL THERE IS TO IT

The young female interpreter glanced at Wang Sheng, then conveyed everything he said in a calm and deliberate tone.

The oppressive atmosphere hanging over the Sakura Island delegation became even heavier. Unable to hold back any longer, several young cultivators began to rise from their seats.

Wang Sheng slowly retreated a few steps, allowing himself a better view of those standing before him. As his celestial-grade flying sword floated gently around him, he casually planted his longsword into the ground. He then clasped his hands behind his back and fully unleashed his cultivation realm. From the Illusory Core Realm, it reached all the way to mid-stage Illusory Core Realm.

A few of the Hua Republic's Daoist masters looked somewhat surprised, even more so the dozen or so experts of the Sakura Island delegation who were roughly on the same realm as Wang Sheng.

"Come at me."

If Wang Sheng were only considered an average cultivator among the younger generation, such a taunt would have sounded unbearably arrogant. However, the aura that he had unleashed—which was by no means inferior to the strongest members of the Sakura Island delegation—gave his declaration truly substantial weight.

After a few moments of silence, the leader of the Sakura Island delegation—one of its strongest members—finally said in strangely accented Chinese, "In that case, allow these two young women, who have trained in special arts, to spar with you."

He gestured for two young girls in kimonos and wooden clogs to stand up. Just as they had declared earlier, it would be a two-on-one fight.

Wang Sheng frowned slightly but didn't say anything. He simply stood in the middle of the field, neither bowing nor speaking.

The two girls entered the arena and then bowed lightly to Wang Sheng. Wang Sheng sensed two distinct attributes within their auras, which were around the mid-stage of the Seed Formation Realm. One was of fire, the other of wind.

They removed their clogs and walked forward while loosening the sashes around their waists. Their kimonos slowly slipped from their shoulders, revealing skin as fair as polished jade. Underneath the kimono, they were wearing a cropped top and a short pleated skirt, the hem of which barely covered the tops of their thighs.

Their long, slender legs were also clad in fishnet stockings. Two sharp knives were strapped to their calves, and five kunai were tucked into each side of their skirts' belts.

"Woah..." Shi Qianzhang softly exclaimed in admiration, his eyes gleaming.

Liu Yunzhi shot him a glare, warning him not to embarrass the cultivation world. Meanwhile, Huai Jing was completely unmoved. Despite their displays of allure, they were nothing more than skeletons in rouge in his eyes.

The two girls walked away from each other and took up positions at Wang Sheng's flanks. If one were to draw lines between their positions and his, it would form a perfect right triangle.

Nevertheless, Wang Sheng remained completely still.

The girls slowly crouched down and drew their knives, preparing to dash forward. Glancing at each other, they subtly nodded and then lightly burst forward three or four paces at a speed that made them seem nearly ghostly. They appeared to have turned into two streaks of swift and deadly black smoke.

Wang Sheng's eyes lit up, not because he admired their talent or felt pressure but because their footwork technique seemed familiar—as if he had seen them before. He didn't have time to think about it, though. The members of the Sakura Island delegation were already smiling confidently.

Just before reaching him, the girls sprinting toward Wang Sheng altered course. One veered to the front, the other behind. With a swing of their arms, streaks of dark light shot toward Wang Sheng's throat, temples, and other vital points.

Wang Sheng snorted lowly. Do you think I'm some kind of puppet?

He casually took half a step forward. Four kunai zipped past him from the front and behind, crossing in midair.

Wang Sheng slapped the hilt of the nameless treasured sword with his right hand, making it leap from its scabbard into his grasp. Following the positions of the Seven Stars, he simultaneously swung his sword at the girl in front of him and formed a sword finger behind his back with his left hand. Unleashing radiance, the celestial-grade flying sword flew like a meteor toward the black smoke behind him.

The two girls tried to retreat even faster than when they had attacked as starlight bloomed under Wang Sheng. Blurring like a phantom, he rapidly closed the gap between him and the girl in front of him.

Just then, a muffled grunt came from the edge of the arena. The celestial-grade flying sword had already gotten past the other girl. She didn't even have time to dodge or block. The sword brushed past her cheek, making her freeze in terror; looped around; and then pressed its blade lightly against her neck. Within the domain of his spiritual consciousness, footwork techniques alone weren't enough to outrun his celestial-grade flying sword.

Meanwhile, Wang Sheng unleashed the full power of his Seven-Star Footwork. He drove the other girl to the front of the Gelan delegation, leaving her no room to retreat. When she tried to fight back, sword radiance flared before her. The Seven Stars connected, and a sword seemingly pierced through the moon!

The girl had no time to even block with her knife. Though their footwork was certainly swift and mysterious, it was all they relied on. They couldn't even withstand a head-on clash against Wang Sheng.

Before his attack could cut her down like a flower and spill her blood, Wang Sheng veered his sword aside, grazing her neck and slicing off a lock of her hair. The flat of the blade then hit her shoulder.

As if struck by lightning, the girl went limp and collapsed to her knees before Wang Sheng, who had temporarily sealed her meridians with a trace of Pure Yang True Essence. Panic filled her eyes.

Wang Sheng had easily handled and defeated the two women.

Still looking calm and collected, Wang Sheng slung the longsword behind him. He then walked slowly back to where he had planted his sword and looked at the Sakura Island delegation.

He wasn't done yet.

The reason he had drawn his sword was not only to shatter the confidence of the Sakura Island cultivators and assert the might of the Hua Republic's cultivation world.

The footwork technique that the two girls had just used was from the same lineage as the nurse who had ambushed Shi Qianzhang with the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect's young master and Blade Slave while Wang Sheng was confined at a hospital due to broken legs.

"Is that all there is to this art you call special? Do you not have anything more advanced? The footwork and positioning that those two girls used are pretty common and basic in the Hua Republic's cultivation world—it's merely a simplified version of the Eight Trigrams Escape Technique. You must have learned so many cultivation methods in the Hua Republic thousands of years ago. Have they all been lost to time?"

Qing Yanzi looked at Wang Sheng in slight astonishment. He had never taken his disciple as the type to meaninglessly mock his opponents.

Meanwhile, the other Daoist masters looked a bit embarrassed. The footwork technique that Wang Sheng dismissed as nothing impressive had seemed quite profound to them only moments ago.

The leader of the Sakura Island delegation slowly stood up. "Aren't you being far too arrogant?"

Wang Sheng just smiled calmly in response.

Resting a hand on the katana at his waist, the man stepped into the arena. The two young girls had already retreated to the back of the delegation with their heads lowered, not daring to look up.

The aura of the Sakura Island leader—a short and stocky square-faced man in his fifties—steadily rose until it seemed capable of faintly suppressing Wang Sheng. He then unbuttoned his suit jacket and took a side-facing bow stance. As he slowly grasped the hilt of his sword, he locked coldly onto Wang Sheng.

"Okamoto Nichikawa."

A Daoist master from the Hua Republic had just started to rise when Qing Yanzi gestured for him to stay seated.

"Wang Sheng," Wang Sheng answered, accepting the challenge.

"Yaha!" Okamoto Nichikawa roared as he drew his katana with a sharp snap. A violet-blue arc of light shot straight toward Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng's expression remained unchanged. With a graceful twist, he flipped over the arc and rained down over a dozen sword energy beams in response.

The whistling sword energy forced Okamoto Nichikawa to evade sharply to the left, stopping his advance. The explosions created two neat rows of craters, arranged in the shape of the Seven-Star pattern, and blasted sod everywhere.

With a light tap of his foot, Wang Sheng shot forward. Forming a sword finger with his left hand, his celestial-grade flying sword shrieked through the air beside him.

Okamoto Nichikawa could only feel the sword's sharp aura approaching. He slashed horizontally with his katana, sending a violet-blue wave crashing into the flying sword and temporarily forcing it back.

However, Wang Sheng had already closed in. Using the Seven-Star Footwork, he stepped lightly and brandished his nameless sword. In the blink of an eye, seven phantasms appeared and simultaneously targeted all of Okamoto Nichikawa's vital points with a different sword technique.

Seven-Star Sword Formation!

Okamoto Nichikawa had already lost the initiative. Due to the nature of his expertise—the so-called "One Sword Style"—he was forced completely on the defensive against Wang Sheng's onslaught. He didn't even get the chance to unleash his full strength.

Such was the might of the Shu Mountains' Sword-Controlling Art.

Had there been no interference from the celestial-grade flying sword, this swordsman—who had devoted himself to the way of the katana—could have put up a stronger fight in this duel. Even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't have been driven to such a humiliating position.

However, Wang Sheng was well-versed in the Sword-Controlling Art. He naturally made full use of it! In just a few dozen moves, he had already cut Okamoto Nichikawa several times!

Though a prominent figure in Sakura Island, Okamoto Nichikawa could bend or yield when necessary. With Wang Sheng's assault growing fiercer by the second, he decided to retreat for now.

While backing away, he tossed a small black iron ball at Wang Sheng. When Wang Sheng slashed it apart, it released a puff of black smoke that momentarily obscured his vision.

Wang Sheng swiftly leaped back as he sent the celestial-grade flying sword forward once more. Having precisely anticipated Okamoto Nichikawa's retreat, the flying sword grazed the man's scalp, trimming another two centimeters off his already half-inch hair. Had Wang Sheng intended to kill, his opponent would have already been lying on the ground.

Wang Sheng stood at the center of the arena, his Daoist robe still spotless. Unlike him, the leader of the Sakura Island delegation looked thoroughly disheveled.

Seeing the man prepare to attack again, Wang Sheng sighed quietly. Still, if the other party insisted, it suited him just fine.

"I haven't even used half my strength. Why don't you all just fight me already? If you can force me to use my strongest sword technique, I'll admit defeat here and now. How about that?" Wang Sheng taunted.

An interpreter wasn't even needed. Okamoto Nichikawa's eyes widened with rage.

Nevertheless, Wang Sheng simply stood with his hands behind his back. Had he not realized that the cultivators of Sakura Island were connected to the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect, he might have spared them some face. However, now that they were enemies, he saw no reason for courtesy.

While the situation didn't allow him to directly capture them, provoking more of them to take up arms could just reveal more information.

Okamoto Nichikawa raised his hand and gave a signal to his delegation. A dozen or so of his members immediately stood up and entered the arena. Half were katana-wielding swordsmen, while the other half were slim and agile ninja.

"What the hell? Are they trying to bully us just because we're outnumbered?" Shi Qianzhang complained. He was about to leap up in protest when Qing Yanzi casually pressed him back down, making him collapse into his seat.

Meanwhile, Wang Sheng let go of his longsword, making it hover beside him and spin in the air along with the celestial-grade flying sword. He then rested his right hand on his sword case.

With a snap, Spiritless shot out and landed gently in his grasp.