Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter 141: Is the Outcome Without Suspense?

Li Bai's action and shout undoubtedly caused everyone present to cast their gazes toward the sky, but because Su Dingfeng was riding his sword far too high, they could not see clearly.

Soon, a flurry of discussions arose among the onlookers: "What? Asking Chen Chang'an to fight Nagato Takuya, who is at the eighth-rank life-and-death realm?"

"Why does Senior Li feel a bit unreliable? Chen Chang'an is only at the third-rank art-initiation realm. How could he possibly win a battle against Nagato Takuya?"

Ye Lin pulled back his hanging snot with a dumbfounded expression, his face stiffening as he muttered, "What the heck? A third-rank against an eighth-rank! I thought he would pick either of the two deputy commanders, or even... even any of the three Black-Clothed guards of the Xuan rank. How is this any different from Chen Chang'an just directly surrendering?"

Ruan Jingchu guessed, "Maybe... maybe Senior Li heard that yesterday Chen Chang'an defeated Prince Jing'an, a pseudo-eighth-rank post-Xuan, while only at the third-rank, so he chose him!"

"But..."

Ye Lin grumbled, "That was completely different! Prince Jing'an had to use sixty to seventy percent of his energy to maintain the operation of the thirty-fifth original art, Spirit Prison, leaving only thirty to forty percent to deal with Chen Chang'an."

"Besides, Prince Jing'an was already injured upon entering the Spirit Prison. But Nagato Takuya is different; who knows how refreshed his spirit is right now! Even if he suppresses the realm-induced pressure and doesn't use it, his pure practical experience and sword techniques are dozens of times higher than Chen Chang'an's!"

Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong exchanged glances and chimed in together to dissuade, "Senior Li, isn't choosing Chen Chang'an a bit inappropriate?"

"No! No! No! Among everyone here, he is the most appropriate!"

Li Bai waved his hand confidently, looked up again, and shouted loudly, "Chen Chang'an, what are you dawdling for? Why aren't you coming down quickly?"

Amidst the clouds, Chen Chang'an wore an expression of utter exasperation and muttered curses, "I suspect he's trying to get me killed."

Su Dingfeng crossed his arms over his chest and replied, "Be confident, drop the word 'suspect'!"

Chen Chang'an: "..."

If he didn't show up, people would definitely look down on him in the future. He had no choice but to draw the hidden-name blade from his waist, cautiously glance down at the hundred-foot void below, and say with a trembling voice, "Brother-in-law, send me down, preferably in a very cool way."

"Alright!"

Su Dingfeng nodded. The next second, he cleanly and decisively raised his foot and kicked Chen Chang'an squarely in the rear, sending the latter screaming as he carved a vertical parabolic trajectory through the high altitude.

"Thud!"

Plummeting heavily to the ground, Chen Chang'an carved a human-shaped deep crater into the earth.

The crowd: "..."

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Stumbling as he crawled out from the pit, he looked around and grinned sheepishly to diffuse the awkwardness. Li Bai nodded in satisfaction and asked, "How is it? Isn't this opportunity I found for you to spar with a high-rank martial artist quite good?"

Quite good indeed. Listen to me say thank you, because of you, the four seasons are warm... Chen Chang'an cursed inwardly and asked in rhetorical protest, "Can I refuse?"

Li Bai hummed and said, "Yes, you can. Rest assured, your colleagues among the Black-Clothed Guards, the two deputy commanders, myself, and even Bench-sama himself will not laugh at you!"

Chen Chang'an: "..."

A flurry of black lines instantly crossed his forehead. He gripped his blade and walked over to stand opposite Nagato Takuya.

Nagato Takuya maintained his previous polite and gentlemanly posture with both hands folded over his lower abdomen, speaking with a calm voice, "Little Brother Chen, we've met before. We certainly have some affinity."

"Baka!" Chen Chang'an blurted out.

Nagato Takuya's brows furrowed instantly as he stared at him, his expression gradually growing complex.

Chen Chang'an squeezed out an incomparably pure and innocent smile and explained, "No... well, what I mean is... is... Mr. Nagato, please show mercy."

"In other words, you do not refuse Li Bai's selection?" Nagato Takuya asked in a deep, resonant voice.

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"Yes!"

Chen Chang'an raised his hidden-name blade to indicate his stance: "I don't refuse!"

Given this situation, how could he possibly refuse? He had already been pushed to the forefront of the storm. With Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong present during a physical bout, there was no way they would let him face mortal danger anyway.

A minor martial artist at the early third-rank art-initiation fighting an eighth-rank ceiling powerhouse—as long as his life was preserved, what did it matter if he lost? Wasn't that completely normal? But if he avoided the fight out of cowardice, it would touch upon a matter of personal character, making people think he was timid and afraid.

"Very well, since that is the case, Little Brother Chen, please!"

As he spoke, Nagato Takuya slowly drew from his waist the slender, straight blade unique to Yingzhou, raised it above his head, and staggered his legs forward and backward, gathering momentum to leap forward at any moment.

At this time, Chen Chang'an raised one hand vertically in front of him to signal a pause: "Mr. Nagato, even if we suppress our realms for this spar, your seventh-rank physique is fundamentally superior to mine. If it drags on, you'll still hold the advantage. So let's make it a hundred blows as the limit. A friendly match ending upon the appointed count, how about that?"

The faint black stubble under Nagato Takuya's nose twitched slightly. For him, fighting a third-rank art-initiation martial artist to decide the victor in sword technique wouldn't require a hundred blows at all. However, without saying much else, he nodded and said, "Of course. You and I shall take a hundred blows as the limit."

"Alright!"

Chen Chang'an responded, lifted the hidden-name blade in his right hand, and hurried over to Li Bai's ear to chatter: "If I survive today, the glory is mine. If I don't survive, I'll tell everyone that your blade is no good!"

Li Bai: "..."

Having said that, he didn't care about the reaction of Chang'an's top chivalrous hero, locked eyes with Nagato Takuya, and said, "Begin!"

"Alright!"

The single word uttered, Nagato Takuya stepped forward *da-da-da*, his wooden clogs striking the ground and producing crisp sounds. The distance that could have been easily crossed with a mere flash of thought was shortened through the rapid movement of his physical feet.

Not using realm-induced flashing pressure did give Chen Chang'an a chance, but that chance was clearly slim, almost negligible.

Opposite him, our Mr. Chen channeled power through the Xinglang demon bone in his right arm and swung his blade in defense, though he only used a tiny fraction, not daring to urge too much.

Otherwise, what would happen if the opponent noticed and directly erupted with the terrifying methods of a true eighth-rank post-Xuan?

*Clang-clang-clang!* Trembling metallic vibrations echoed endlessly in the air. The two blades of different lengths in their hands rapidly clashed and separated, drawing a string of dazzling sparks before they crossed past each other, concluding their very first exchange.

A flash of surprise crossed the corner of Nagato Takuya's eye, and he thought to himself, *I didn't expect that despite his youth, his physical strength is actually quite decent.*

As for Chen Chang'an, the blade in his hand hummed with a mosquito-like whine and trembled slightly. His entire arm felt numb, as if he had been electrocuted. Fortunately, he had secretly channeled the Xinglang demon bone just in time; otherwise, relying solely on his own physical strength, the hidden-name blade would have been knocked flying long ago!

How utterly damned awkward this was, and this was only the first blow.

Chen Chang'an secretly bewailed his misfortune. The Xinglang demon bone could only be channeled to this extent; pushing the output any higher would cause it to spark with lightning and expose him. Thus, the remaining ninety-nine blows would undoubtedly become increasingly difficult to parry. Setting sword technique aside entirely, even without realm pressure, he simply couldn't match the other party in sheer physical strength.

"He's too strong, and his physical power is too immense. The accumulation of his journey all the way from the first rank to the eighth rank is right there. Without fancy realm techniques and just engaging in pure mutual hacking, I can't even out-hack him!"

"I really don't f***ing understand what goes on in the mind of that old fogey Li Bai. Did he deliberately want me to die in battle so he could rightfully take back the hidden-name blade?"

"Little Brother Chen, pay attention, the second blow is coming!"

At this moment, Nagato Takuya spoke. The next second, he raised his blade with both arms, his entire body turning into a straight line as he spun rapidly in place 360 degrees. When the wind he whipped up formed a natural, realm-free vortex of air around him, he let out a great shout and lunged straight forward.

"Holy shit!"

Chen Chang'an hurriedly swung the hidden-name blade wildly while retreating step by step. 0.05 seconds later, with a *clang*, the sharp edge of the hidden-name blade in his hand collided with the opponent's once again, sending sparks and stray stars flying in all directions.

With a *whoosh*, the hidden-name blade slipped right out of Chen Chang'an's grip.

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"Damn it, landing means losing!"

He spat out national curses, hurriedly turned around in mid-air to re-grasp the weapon. Almost simultaneously, Nagato Takuya switched to a single-handed grip, and his third blow cleaved vertically downward, aiming straight between Chen Chang'an's brows.

"Ah!"

Chen Chang'an could feel that this blow carried several times more force than the previous ones, but the Xinglang demon bone had already reached its output limit. Increasing the power any further would cause it to crackle with lightning and expose him... Cursing "holy shit" aloud, he let out a long cry, flipped the blade edge upward, and used his other hand to brace against the back of the blade, gritting his teeth and exerting force for a limit-breaking output.

"Clang!"

Even so, when Nagato Takuya's straight blade struck with its immense, boundless, and pure physical power, descending with the momentum of a thousand jun, Chen Chang'an's arms ached so intensely that his entire face wrinkled into a crumpled mess. His two standing legs bent past forty degrees without suspense, nearly forcing him to his knees as sweat poured from him like rain.

*Crack, crack, crack...* Countless fractures split across the ground centered around his feet.

As spectators, Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong exchanged glances, their expressions looking equally terrible. They simply couldn't figure out why Li Bai would choose Chen Chang'an to fight Nagato Takuya. Regardless of whether realms were used or not, victory and defeat had no suspense whatsoever.

The three Xuan-rank Black-Clothed guards shifted their gazes toward Li Bai from initial reverence and worship to sheer bewilderment.

Ye Lin sighed mournfully, "Although removing the realms indeed reduces an eighth-rank post-Xuan martial artist like Nagato Takuya to an ordinary person, an ordinary person of that caliber is still not something a third-rank Chen Chang'an can contend with!"

Ruan Jingchu nodded in agreement, "After all, having cultivated from the first rank to the eighth rank, his physique has been tempered countless times. Plus, having had practical combat experience with peers like Commander Wang and my uncle, his experience is vast. Chen Chang'an cannot possibly have a chance of winning."

Ahead, our Mr. Chen stubbornly endured for over forty seconds, mustered every ounce of strength in his body, and gave a fierce heave to momentarily jar Nagato Takuya's straight blade upward, quickly darting out from underneath.

"Humph!"

Nagato Takuya curled the corner of his lips into a disdainful smile and immediately pressed the attack. *Clang, clang-clang-clang*—he tightly entangled Chen Chang'an from all sides. Without a single spatial flash or displacement, he continuously and rapidly thrust forward without any flaws from different angles at high speed, unleashing a dense, overwhelming barrage of attacks.

Chen Chang'an flailed his hands blindly in front while his consciousness chased frantically behind, parrying laborantly as he racked his brains trying to think of any cheats he could use. But after much thought, none of them seemed viable. Whether it was Elder Tao Hua's peach allure or soul-pulling spells, to a certain degree they all belonged to supernatural and superhuman functions. Using either would risk the suspicion of breaking the rules first, thereby provoking Nagato Takuya into unleashing his realm.

As for Youwei's Xuan-heart communicating-beast grand art... it was even more useless.

"Whoosh!"

Nagato Takuya's thirteenth blow came sweeping down head-on, carrying rolling, boundless might.

"Clang!"

Chen Chang'an thrust out the hidden-name blade to parry, and was directly sent flying back dozens of meters.

"It seems this must be your limit!"

Nagato Takuya let out a sharp cry. The muscles on his arms bulged and intertwined, the bursting blood vessels tearing through his sleeves to reveal the robust, full, and beautiful lines beneath, while the straight blade in his hand emitted a piercing, sharp howl.

"The final blow. It's time to end this!"

The *da-da-da* sound of wooden clogs treading the earth echoed once more, as if every single step resonated synchronously and precisely with the nodal points of Chen Chang'an's heartbeat, making his breathing increasingly stuffy and his expression growing heavier and heavier.

Fighting to this point, Nagato Takuya struck with the blow carrying his absolute maximum power.

Yet Chen Chang'an was physically exhausted and drained of strength, completely unable to swing his blade again.

Two people, two extremes!

Victory and defeat seemed already sealed.

As the person who picked him, Li Bai watched from afar and shook his head in direct disappointment, "Sigh, what a fool! He only knows how to brute-force it. Why doesn't he understand such a simple principle, especially having been born in such a great era!"

*(End of Chapter)*