The Warrior of Love

"Most ghosts are like wild beasts, so your ability will probably come in handy. However, there are also some tenacious ghosts, and this ability is by no means invincible. If you think you can stand alone with this, you are wrong."

Feng slowly took a stance, slowly pulled the sword to the side of his body with his right hand, and brushed the back of the sword with his left hand, preparing to thrust.

"Instead of doing this little trick, you should focus on the battle, kid."

Concentrate?

Feng's unintentional words made Jiang Liu suddenly realize something, and then his eyes became determined.

"call……"

Exhaling a long breath of hot air, the black-haired boy stood up again in the snow, took a step forward and got into a stance, holding the hilt of the sword tightly with both hands, staring at Dao Lintang Feng calmly and intently.

Gradually, the boy's eyes became indifferent. Although he did not lose focus, he seemed to have discarded everything unnecessary, leaving only a cold fighting consciousness.

At the same time, the aura emanating from Jiang Liu changed. Strictly speaking, it was completely "restrained". Feng was standing opposite him but he could not sense any murderous intent or anger, as if there was only nothingness in front of him.

However, the boy's presence was so strong, his still posture was like a sharp and straight sword, which could not be ignored.

The restrained aura and the sharp figure - these two contradictory things coexist in him at this moment.

"What is this?" Feng was surprised for a moment, then soon laughed with interest.

"As expected of someone I have chosen. Have you found the trick so quickly?"

Grow up quickly—Feng said secretly.

After all, she doesn't have much "time left". The faster Jiang Liu grows before then, the more skills she can pass on.

For a swordsman, sword skills are like the genetic genes of animals. The closer they are to death, the more they want to pass them on.

Chapter 15: You want to learn? I'll teach you.

It is no longer about attacking others, but about concentrating all mental strength, guiding and restricting one's own will, devoting all one's energy to a certain goal, and turning from flowing water into hard steel.

Simply put, it is "self-suggestion".

However, it is not ordinary self-suggestion, but the concentration of mental power several times that of ordinary people in one place, surpassing the ordinary "mental concentration" and achieving a state of almost forced selflessness.

Originally, self-suggestion was a skill that Jiang Liu learned in "The Light Messenger". He used this method to calm himself down from the "dream talk" of the Great Evil God, but he never thought that he could use it in combat.

But Feng's words just now gave him a hint. Since using mental power to attack others will be weakened by the material world and result in poor results, would it be effective to use it directly on oneself?

Judging from the results, he succeeded.

Feng's expression also turned serious: "After half a year, you finally show the expression of a swordsman... Grit your teeth!"

The silver flash of the sword cut through the silent world of snow. Feng's sudden outburst combined with the strange ninja steps was beyond the dynamic vision capture of ordinary people. He disappeared in the venue that was obviously without any obstacles.

Jiang Liu's body also moved at the same time. He did not look around to search for the other party with his eyes, but raised his long sword and swung it into the sky without any pause.

In an instant, a red-haired figure descended from the sky, and the cold blade stabbed towards Jiang Liu. The incoming blade swung away, and the two long swords crossed each other, and glittering iron flowers scattered in the air.

Feng's body was like a puppet controlled by silk strings. He performed all kinds of incredible movements and danced nimbly on the snow. However, a dangerous blade was hidden in every dance.

Those human body movements almost violated the laws of physics, the acceleration, stopping, and changing directions in the breath, and even the weird jumps like a spider, which exceeded the limits of what humans can cope with.

That was undoubtedly the skill she taught Jiang Liu during the past six months, but the effects they produced were completely different.

On Jiang Liu, these were individual moves, but on Feng it was a continuous dance of blades!

Clang, clang, clang, clang——

Jiang Liu waved the sword with indifference and concentration. There seemed to be nothing else in his eyes. He just poured his soul into the blade, blocking attacks from any direction, even from blind spots.

His body was far less flexible than Feng's, but his perception ability was extraordinary. He integrated all the combat information in a state of full concentration, and made judgments in an instant as if he were a prophet. He perfectly resolved the offensive of the red-haired heroine with relatively slow movements.

It was almost like his sixth sense surpassing his five senses. He followed Feng's battle rhythm based on intuition alone and flexibly displayed all the techniques he had learned. All the awkward parts became smooth and skillful in the battle, as if they were melted into one in a furnace.

Faced with Feng's swift stabs and blind-angle attacks, Jiang Liu sometimes couldn't cope with it. At such moments, he would decisively defend the vital points and ignore the pain of the superficial injuries.

I don’t know if this state of “full concentration suggestion” also has the effect of numbing the sense of pain, but Jiang Liu was not hindered by his injuries when he fought.

There was a clear gap in combat experience between the two, and Feng had the upper hand in terms of technique, but the battle was dragged into a stalemate by Jiang Liu's tenacity.

She has grown again - the more Feng fights, the more frightened and anxious she becomes. If she continues like this, she will fail.

It’s not that she will lose to Jiang Liu, but she can’t force Jiang Liu into a desperate situation under a "controllable" state.

Now, she has lost this composure!

"I never thought I would be forced to this point!"

The boy was pushed back by the horizontal slashing. She leaned forward and lowered the blade to the left side of her waist. All the preparatory movements were completed in an instant. There was only indifference in the red-haired heroine's one eye.

"Secret Sword——"

Too late!

Jiang Liu made a judgment instinctively, but his body had not yet gotten rid of the inertia of the previous sword. Even if he wanted to retreat to defend, he would definitely not be able to catch up with Feng who had already prepared everything.

So he chose to attack!

He took a step forward and mercilessly swung the blade that could cut through a tree trunk at Feng—

However, Feng's figure had disappeared.

呲!

Light and thin, like the sound of wind, it cut through clothes and skin, and bright red blood spurted out and spilled onto the snow.

And Feng's breath has already come behind Jiang Liu.

"Uh..." Jiang Liu half-knelt on the ground, covering the wound on his side with his left hand, and supporting the sword with his right hand to prevent himself from falling.

I didn't see her movements at all, and at such a close distance I didn't even realize how the attack was launched.

“Is this the realm of ‘looseness and tightness’…”

It's like a spring that's compressed to the extreme and then suddenly released, or a bowstring that's stretched to the extreme and suddenly breaks, or like a heart that pumps blood out of the body.

The instantaneous transformation unleashes extreme power. Relaxation is the prerequisite for tension, which is the essence of power.

This technique combined with the sword-drawing technique creates a wind sword that even Jiang Liu cannot resist!

"Alas... that's it."

Feng sighed in disappointment, and slowly walked behind Jiang Liu, holding the bloodstained sword high: "Are you ready to die?"

——Of course, it was impossible to really kill his own disciple. But Feng had indeed done it perfectly, and the fierce killing intent was also conveyed.

This was the most perfect scam that the teacher had done for his disciple - Feng would only attack the evil ghosts without hesitation, and he could not really kill Jiang Liu, with whom he had been together for such a long time.

But even if it was a lie, Jiang Liu was unable to tell the difference, and felt an oppressive feeling that was infinitely close to real death!

However, at this moment, Jiang Liu, who was half-kneeling on the ground, suddenly turned the blade, and a ray of refracted sunlight from the blade shone into Feng's eyes.

No matter how you train yourself, it is difficult to suppress the biological instincts of the body. Just like when your nose itches and you want to sneeze, or when you are exposed to strong light and want to blink...

If it were any other opponent, even this would not be enough to reverse the situation, but Feng had a fatal physical defect, and a subconscious blink was enough to deprive her of all vision.

This was also one of the very few weaknesses of Feng that Jiang Liu could find in the five months of living together, and he even trained secretly for this.

This short snap of the fingers was enough for Jiang Liu to turn around while keeping his kneeling position - there was no room for him to stand up again, the victory or defeat had to be decided in this instant!

As he turned around, he pulled the sword tightly held in his right hand out of the snow and put it back at his waist as if it were being sheathed.

The knife that Feng had swung before flashed subconsciously in his mind... Jiang Liu didn't actually see it clearly, but for some reason it appeared so clearly in his mind.

In addition to the continuous bleeding, the long and thin wound also stimulated Jiang Liu's body, giving him the most profound experience of that knife attack.

When the mental power is fully concentrated, everything in the world seems to have stopped, and every change in the body can be perceived clearly and distinctly.

Jiang Liu's mind was clearer than ever before.

The muscles that were tense due to the pain inexplicably relaxed at this moment, and all returned to the most natural posture, like a relaxed bowstring.

——Tighten instantly!

Harder than any steel, hotter than any fire, unimaginable power erupted within the river.

Draw the knife!

An elusive trajectory flashed through the void, and a trace of blood spilled on the shining blade...

Feng's body suddenly stiffened, and his one eye gradually regained focus as he looked at the wound on his waist. Although it was not deep, an extremely complicated expression appeared on his face.

"We have finally arrived here... It is your victory, Toyama-kun."

Jiang Liu looked up in surprise: this was the first time she added "Jun" after his name.

Feng and he looked at each other, their eyes intertwined and each had a different meaning. Suddenly, the red-haired heroine picked up the sword and placed it next to Jiang Liu's face.

The young man did not resist, he already knew the tradition of this school - it seemed to be a ritual passed down from the ancestors of the Feng family. Even Feng, as a woman, had experienced it, but that half of her face had long been disfigured and could not be seen.

Now, he only felt the cold blade slowly passing by, leaving a shallow blood mark...

"This is the "proof" of our school. Each generation will be left with a wound by the previous generation. Remember the feeling of the knife just now, just like this wound is firmly engraved on your body. From today on -

I will teach you all the sword skills!"

Chapter 16: Ashina Heartless Style

"The skills of a ninja are killing and stealth, but a ninja cannot defeat a samurai in a head-on battle."

In the Buddhist temple full of vicious Rakshasas, Jiang Liu, who had changed into training clothes and bandaged his wounds, sat opposite Dao Lintang Feng.

"Ghosts will not be defeated by ninja's tricks. The only way to kill a ghost is with sunlight, or by chopping off the head of the evil ghost with a sun blade. Therefore, swordsmanship is the most important skill for a ghost hunter."

Jiang Liu nodded, but then asked, "What about the breathing method?"

"Total Concentration Breathing... It's a technique that tricks the body into pushing past the human body's limits."

Feng frowned: "It is difficult to fight against ghosts with our own strength, but using breathing techniques can gain physical strength equal to or even surpass that of evil ghosts. However, this requires a price."

"cost?"

"Although there is no direct evidence... the body ages very quickly, and the period during which combat effectiveness can remain at its peak is very short."

Feng thought for a moment and said, "The current 'pillars' are mostly young people in their twenties or thirties. Perhaps this is the reason. Although this job is dangerous, it may be that the high death rate is the reason why most of them are young people. However, there are almost no older people who are still on the front line."

Jiang Liu agreed with this deeply, as it was consistent with his imagination of the breathing method.

After all, the humans in this world have nothing to do with "mystery", and this is the only way to fight against non-human existences.

"Although the principles of breathing techniques are the same, they are divided into several schools according to the specific routes, rhythms, and methods of exerting force. For example, water breathing, wind breathing, thunder breathing, etc."

This was information Jiang Liu knew in his previous life, and he also knew the breathing methods that looked very cool in the animations. Those fire, lightning and the like were actually all special effects added to the animations. In fact, these breathing methods would not really produce flames, water, or lightning.

This special effect is added only to show the properties of this breathing method. It is still a physical attack in essence.

"What about Miss Feng's style?" Jiang Liu asked with interest.

"I?"

Feng scratched his head and grinned: "My grandfather combined the breathing method with his own skills and made some improvements. It has only been passed down to me for two or three generations. It can't be called a school. If I have to say it, it's probably the nameless school."

"Nobody..." Jiang Liu was speechless.

This doesn't sound as cool as Water Breathing or Fire Goddess Kagura!

"Well... but speaking of it, my father seemed to have found something in the ancestral scroll, and once wanted to give our school a name, but I thought it was inexplicable and refused." Feng seemed to have thought of something.

Jiang Liu was startled: "Inexplicable?"

"I can't figure out what the special meaning is. It seems to be just a place name."

While Feng was recalling, he said two words that made Jiang Liu's face change drastically.

"Ashina Mushin-ryu?"

"What?"

Jiang Liu was struck by lightning and suddenly felt that something was wrong with his worldview!

-

At the end of the Warring States period, a civil war broke out in the small country of Ashina. The swordsman Ashina was determined to overthrow the original ruler with his overwhelming force and established a new country of Ashina.

During the Tokugawa Shogunate, the unification of the world was irresistible. Isshin gradually grew old and could no longer protect Ashina. His adopted son Genichirō therefore began to covet the "power of immortality" in the hope of changing the fate of Ashina's demise...

[Sekiro o Shadows Die Twice]!

An action game that was once very popular, it also spawned a large number of famous scenes and memes.