Chapter 18: The Honorable Duel (2)

  Jia Yuan took a deep breath and readied himself. He

  unsheathed the sword he had brought from the 3rd floor, and settled the

  first stance on the scroll housing the Song of Swords. In fact, this stance was

  the starting point for the Fire Dance.

  The Song of Swords was truly a magnificent Song. Not only

  did the Song of Swords allow the cultivator to train in all four elements, but

  even provided four starting points for the Dance of each element.

  Not only could you switch readily from one starting point to

  another, but the stances were made so that you could even switch to one easily

  from the middle of the dance of another element.

  Even though Jia Yuan couldn’t use this specialty of the Song

  of Swords now, it would be an important part of his future battles.

  The man opened a door on the side of the table, and pulled

  out an axe. After swinging the axe around a few times, he settled into his own

  stance, then charged towards Jia Yuan, while thrusting his axe back in

  preparation for a strong forward slice.

  This was the way the stronger members of the Fire Kingdom

  usually fought. They were very forthright and fought with power.

  An inexperienced fighter would make the mistake of trying to

  meet them head-on, and would simply be overpowered. However, Jia Yuan’s Dance

  of Fire not only embodied this explosive power, but was also encouraged the

  fighter to be mobile. As such, it was very easy for Jia Yuan to dodge the

  forward slice of the old man. At the same time, his Song began to start in

  earnest.

  Jia Yuan had dashed past the old man to dodge the forward

  strike of the axe, and was unharmed. He shut his eyes, and let the Song subconsciously

  guide his dance.

  Jia Yuan gripped the sword with two hands, and dashed back

  toward. To add to his speed and power, he sent raging flames behind him to push

  himself forward. At this time, he raised his sword, and was clearly preparing

  for an overhead strike. This move is an overly forward move that gave the defender

  no questions about the motive of the attacker.

  It would be a contest of power.

  Of course the Song of Swords would choose to put Jia Yuan in

  a battle of power. After all, the cultivation of the old man was currently suppressed

  to also be at the 3rd level of Absorption. Given that the two

  cultivation bases were the same, there were only three factors that could

  decide the outcome of this duel.

  The First: Strength and speed of the body.

  The Second: Proficiency with weapon.

  The Third: The quality of each cultivator’s Song.

  The man was very old. As such, even though his body may be

  strong from the result of his cultivation, it was only so much stronger than

  that of Jia Yuan’s when his cultivation was being so heavily suppressed.

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  A forward and direct clash between the two weapons, meant

  that proficiency with one’s weapon was minimized. Which only left the third

  factor. The quality of each cultivator’s Song.

  In fact, the old man knew that it would be possible for a

  challenger to try to negate the first two factors.

  The reason why he still issued the challenge, was because he

  was confident in the quality of his Song. After all, he was an important figure

  in one of the biggest Merchant Guilds on the continent, and had cultivated in a

  high level Song.

  But what kind of Song was the Song of Swords? It was simply

  unmatched.

  As Jia Yuan’s sword came crashing down, a long streak of flame

  followed it. The full strength of this blow came crashing down towards the old

  man’s head.

  The old man sighed and said rather wistfully “Some of these

  new kids are truly frightening. It looks like the old guard will have to

  prepare for the new era, haha…”

  The old man, upon seeing the power behind this attack from

  Jia Yuan, knew that it would be impossible for him to defend against it using

  the power he had at the 3rd level of Absorption. “I really wonder

  what level Song this kid is cultivating…”

  He stopped suppressing his own power and raised his axe

  toward Jia Yuan’s sword, and easily blocked the blow.

  Jia Yuan was knocked back, but was unharmed.

  “Ha! You had to raise your cultivation in order to block

  that blow! I win!”

  “Indeed, young one, you win. Now, can you let this old man

  see your black and gold Currency Card?”

  Jia Yuan dropped his sleeves to his side to be able to

  secretly withdraw the card from his ring. After doing so, he raised his arm

  back up and handed the card over to the old man.

  The old man took the card and walked back to the lone table

  in the room. He opened the side of it again, and took out another Currency

  Card. However, this card was entirely made of gold, and the engravings on it were even more detailed than the black and gold counterpart.

  With the black and gold card in his left hand and the gold

  card in his right, the old man closed his eyes for a few seconds. He then

  opened them, and handed the gold Currency Card to Jia Yuan.

  “Here, young one. Your 9 thousand large fire shards are

  still in it. I’ve decided to not charge you for the sword. Furthermore, I will

  give this gold Currency Card to you. With it, you can buy any item from any

  Black Wing Merchant Guild Hall for 30% off.”

  “Now scram, kid. I need to continue to examine the make of this axe…” said the old man as he walked back towards the table with the axe

  on it, when he suddenly stopped and turned around.

  “Oh right, young one, what is your name?”

  “Jia Yuan.”

  “Good name, good name. Remember my name, Jia Yuan. My name

  is Guo Huo.”