After being reborn, all I want to do is run away.

Chapter 83: Victory in both battles

"Shen Xu, your white mist can only obscure my vision, but it cannot block my sharp edge!"

Streams of extremely sharp sword energy emerged continuously from Jiang Mingqi's side. These sword energies intertwined and swirled around his tall and imposing figure at a dazzling speed.

As the sword energy spun rapidly, the powerful airflow it generated created an almost vacuum-like area around Jiang Mingqi!

Each of the sword energies was imbued with boundless sharpness. Originally formless and intangible, they gradually took on a faint golden glow under the influence of this sharpness.

The mist that had enveloped Jiang Mingqi seemed to have encountered its nemesis, rapidly dissipating without a trace under the relentless and indestructible cutting power of the golden sword energy. From afar, Jiang Mingqi, amidst the clouds and mist, resembled a dazzling golden sun, radiating brilliant and intense light.

Shen Xu remembered that Shen Guangjian had also used this move before, but in terms of the quantity, speed, and sharpness of the sword energy, it was far inferior to Jiang Mingqi's current state.

"Is this a contest of swordsmanship?" Shen Xu couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

"Shen Xu, this time you will have nowhere to escape!" In an instant, the golden sword energy that had been surrounding Jiang Mingqi swept wildly in all directions like a runaway horse.

In an instant, the entire dueling arena was filled with dense, incredibly sharp sword energy. This sword energy intersected and collided with each other, like a violent storm raging through the air.

In an instant, the mist on the entire dueling platform seemed to be mercilessly sliced ​​apart by sharp blades, becoming fragmented and unable to gather again.

To the onlookers, the thick, inky clouds on the dueling platform were being gradually pierced and torn apart by streaks of golden sword light, just as golden sunlight was about to pierce through the clouds and illuminate the entire earth.

"Such sharp sword energy! Just looking at it makes my eyes hurt." The disciples were all horrified as they felt the sharpness of Jiang Mingqi's sword energy.

"It's already remarkable that it has such sharpness, but Senior Brother Jiang can actually create so many and control them so freely. Now, even if Shen Xu can hide his figure with the white mist, he will definitely not be able to dodge the sword energy that sweeps across the entire field."

However, at this seemingly dawning moment, crystal-clear water mirrors appeared out of thin air amidst the shattered clouds.

Shen Xu, amidst this chaos, moved like a nimble dragon, his figure shifting and elusive as he skillfully evaded the crisscrossing, sharp sword energy on the dueling platform. At the same time, he multitasked, precisely controlling the creation and placement of the water mirrors.

Shen Xu had to admit that he was severely restrained by the Wind-type Sword Art "Mirror Flower, Water Moon." If he hadn't wanted to torment Jiang Mingcheng, he would never have used this move so easily. But against a cultivator like Jiang Mingqi, "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" would become their nightmare.

As more and more water mirrors appeared around him, Jiang Mingqi's heart tightened. His intuition told him that these water mirrors were definitely not benevolent. When he tried to use his sword energy to attack the water mirrors, although he could easily slash the surface of the mirrors, he was astonished to find that the water mirrors in front of him could instantly restore themselves to their original state.

No matter how hard he tried, the sword energy he controlled could not cause any real damage to these water mirrors. Worse still, no matter how quickly he moved or changed positions, the water mirrors seemed to be alive, always tightly surrounding him, following him like a shadow, leaving him with no way to avoid them.

Because of Jiang Mingqi's sword energy, everyone was finally able to see what was happening inside the white mist.

"Shen Xu's movement technique is too agile! He can find room to dodge even with such dense sword energy!"

"Moreover, it seems that there is something surrounding Senior Brother Jiang!"

"That was the 'Mirror Flower Water Moon' that Shen Xu used to deal with Jiang Mingcheng!"

Jiang Mingqi knew he was in grave danger, especially as those gleaming water swords kept emerging from the water mirror. Only now did he understand what Jiang Mingcheng had encountered in the white mist.

But he would never sit idly by and wait for his death. Since he couldn't directly destroy these water mirrors with his own strength, he would destroy the people who made them. As long as he could subdue Shen Xu, the problem of the water mirrors would naturally be solved.

Surrounded by numerous sharp golden sword energies, he suddenly flashed forward, rushing towards Shen Xu, who was dodging left and right on the dueling platform, struggling to deal with the crisscrossing sword energies.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Mingqi had already closed in on Shen Xu, and the golden sword light in his hand slashed out like a bolt of lightning that ripped through the sky.

Shen Xu dodged the golden sword light with a sidestep, and at the same time, he swung his longsword, accurately shattering a sword aura that was about to touch his body. Immediately afterward, he moved his feet quickly, creating distance between himself and Jiang Mingqi without hesitation.

At this moment, there were simply too many sword energies attacking him, and each one made Shen Xu's heart tremble. He had to keep his distance from Jiang Mingqi, otherwise he would have to be distracted from dodging Jiang Mingqi's fierce attacks while dodging so many sword energies.

However, this situation was about to change. Under Shen Xu's control, countless water swords shot out instantly, forcing Jiang Mingqi to withdraw some of his sword energy for defense.

But when his sword energy came into contact with those water swords, the feeling he got was so unreal. Looking at the water mirrors around him, Jiang Mingqi's expression immediately turned to horror.

"It's fake!" Jiang Mingqi was shocked. He immediately contracted all his sword energy, trying to use the density of the sword energy to cut the water mirrors back into mist, and also to defend against the water swords that kept shooting at his body.

As Jiang Mingqi withdrew his sword energy, the white mist once again enveloped the dueling platform, and everyone lost sight of it again.

"Did you see what just happened?" Chen Wei couldn't help but ask.

“The water mirrors surrounding Junior Brother Jiang emitted a continuous stream of water swords, forcing him to retract his sword energy for defense,” Wang Ya replied.

"Why not just condense the water sword directly with your vital energy? Why use the water mirror?" Chen Wei continued to ask, puzzled.

“Because he’s going to use illusion magic,” Lu Qingshan replied.

"Now I know what Shen Xu did to Jiang Mingcheng in the white mist," Shen Guangru exclaimed.

Within the white mist, Shen Xu controlled numerous water mirrors to move them away from the sword energy's attack range. When he used the Mirror Flower Water Moon technique on Jiang Mingcheng, he realized that the Cloud Mist Illusion Technique allowed him to transform the mist into illusory water swords with minimal energy.

As he continued to increase the number of real swords in the water mirror, the number of water swords reflected in the water mirror reached a terrifying number.

These water swords densely surrounded Jiang Mingqi's body, stacked layer upon layer, tightly connected to each other, with hardly a gap to be found. At this moment, the "Mirror Flower Water Moon" technique could no longer be described as a rain of swords, but had almost become an impenetrable wall of swords.

However, even with such a dense wall of swords, Jiang Mingqi defended it flawlessly with his sword energy. The real swords in Shen Xu's water mirror were certainly no match for Jiang Mingqi's numerous sword energies, and breaking through his carefully constructed sword energy defense was by no means an easy task.

However, Shen Xu knew that Jiang Mingqi could not accurately distinguish which of his water swords was the real one, so if he did not want to continue to be harmed, he would have to do his best to defend against all the water swords in the Mirror Flower Water Moon.

Otherwise, even the slightest oversight, allowing one of the real swords to slip through his fingers, could result in the complete collapse of his sword energy defense.

However, the level of energy depletion that Jiang Mingqi experienced was on a completely different scale from his own. If the situation continued to stalemate, Jiang Mingqi would eventually be unable to hold on.

All he needs to do is wait until Jiang Mingqi can no longer maintain his sword energy defense before reaping the rewards of victory.

At this moment, Jiang Mingqi was fully aware of the difficult situation he was facing. He knew that even slightly expanding the range of his sword energy would completely expose his body to the enemy, giving Shen Xu an opportunity to exploit.

Therefore, he had no choice but to continuously reduce the excess sword energy surrounding him to minimize the depletion of his vital energy. However, he knew very well that this was not a long-term solution, and he absolutely could not continue to delay with Shen Xu like this!

"The only option now is to fight to the death!" A resolute look flashed in Jiang Mingqi's eyes, and then he unhesitatingly withdrew the sword energy defense around him.

In an instant, Shen Xu's water sword swept across his body like a whirlwind, leaving behind shocking streaks of blood. At the same time, dazzling golden sword energy surged continuously from his body and quickly wrapped around the sword in his hand.

In an instant, the once ordinary longsword burst forth with a dazzling golden light, like a burning golden sun.

Bathed in the raging rain of swords, Jiang Mingqi's already scarred face became even more grotesque and twisted. He gritted his teeth and swung his sword forward with all his might, as if the golden sword in his hand weighed as heavy as a thousand pounds.

In an instant, a massive golden sword aura, carrying an overwhelming momentum and an unstoppable golden edge, slashed fiercely towards Shen Xu! In the blink of an eye, it struck Shen Xu hard, then effortlessly cleaved his body in two.

Even after severing Shen Xu's body, the golden sword energy continued its relentless advance at an astonishing speed, tearing through the air and emitting sharp whistling sounds.

Finally, as the golden sword energy disappeared into the distant horizon, Shen Xu's shattered body also slowly dissipated, turning into wisps of white mist that gradually merged into the surrounding air.

Just then, the rain of swords that had been pouring down suddenly stopped as if controlled by some mysterious force, and the entire fog became silent for a moment, with only the sound of a gentle breeze.

Immediately afterwards, a gray figure appeared abruptly behind Jiang Mingcheng like a ghost. This figure was as fast as the wind and silent, so much so that Jiang Mingcheng did not notice its approach at all.

In an instant, an extremely sharp killing intent suddenly erupted from the gray figure, sweeping towards Jiang Mingqi like a surging tide. Jiang Mingqi was startled and immediately felt a chill rise up his spine.

But before he could react, a sharp, piercing sound of sword energy cutting through the air suddenly reached his ears. He instinctively turned his head and saw a flash of cold light rapidly enlarging in his peripheral vision.

When Jiang Mingcheng finally came to his senses, he felt a slight chill on his neck. Looking closely, he realized that Shen Xu's long sword was already pressed against his neck.

As the fog gradually dissipated, everyone's vision became clearer. Shen Xu stared expressionlessly at Jiang Mingqi, who stood motionless before him. He gently removed the sword from the man's neck, then casually picked up Jiang Mingqi's clothes and carefully wiped away the bloodstains from the blade.

"It seems your true strength is nothing more than this," Shen Xu said calmly, looking at the sword that had regained its pristine shine.

Shen Xu sheathed his sword, and a clear, melodious clang rang out, as if from beyond the heavens, instantly spreading and completely dispelling the thin mist remaining on the dueling platform.

As the mist dissipated, the entire fencing arena was fully revealed to everyone, clearly visible, with sunlight reflecting off the ground and creating dappled patterns.