Chapter 103: Where is there absolute fairness?

"Don't!" Lu Yu was truly startled and hurriedly said, "Wang Shu, please don't change your weapon."

Wang Liang's face showed reluctance, and his tone was full of concern: "But if it keeps going like this, it's too unfair to you."

Lu Yu looked serious and said earnestly, "Wang Shu, a battle between Martial Artists isn't a competition in an Arena that follows rules; where is there absolute fairness? Besides, the more difficult the situation, the faster I grow."

"That makes sense!" Hearing Lu Yu's words, Wang Liang couldn't help but be moved. From Lu Yu's firm gaze, he saw a determination to forge ahead without fear of difficulty.

He pondered to himself that perhaps it was this persistence and fearlessness toward the Dao of martial arts that allowed Lu Yu to progress so rapidly on the path of martial arts.

"Then let's continue." Lu Yu nodded, feeling a secret sense of relief in his heart.

Although it was true that being suppressed and beaten by Wang Liang all this time made him feel stifled, seeing the proficiency of 【Basic Blade Technique】 growing at a speed visible to the naked eye made him feel it was all worth it.

12.1%, 12.8%, 13.4%... Every time Wang Liang's spear was blocked, the proficiency would increase by about 0.7%. The most astonishing instance was when Wang Liang thrust five or six times in a row; this series of exchanges caused the proficiency to soar by 5.5% all at once.

And this happened in just a few seconds. If Wang Liang had switched to using a blade for the sparring, the speed of the proficiency growth definitely wouldn't compare to now.

Lu Yu took a deep breath, gathered his Spirit, and charged toward Wang Liang again like a fierce tiger.

For a time, dense clashing sounds rang out on the field again, the crisp noises echoing one after another in the surroundings.

Before even ten minutes had passed, Lu Yu felt a faint warm current surge within his body, but this warmth vanished in a flash; before he could even feel it carefully, it had disappeared without a trace.

【Basic Blade Technique: lv3, traits, Powerful lv3, Fierce Attack lv3】

The Basic Blade Technique had successfully leveled up, but this time no new trait was unlocked.

However, the level 3 Fierce Attack trait doubled his blade speed, and this increase was already quite considerable.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Lu Yu suddenly freeze for a moment, Wang Liang asked with concern, "Do you need to rest for a while?"

"No need!" Lu Yu grinned; the speed at which his Basic Blade Technique was improving far exceeded his expectations.

At this rate, he might even reach his goal tonight, and perhaps even level up one or two more times.

The higher the level of the Basic Blade Technique, the less time it would take to complete the Cultivation Method.

"Wang Shu, I'm coming again!" As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Yu gathered his strength and charged forward again.

Seeing this, Wang Liang flicked his long spear, and the spear tip thrust toward Lu Yu's chest like a poisonous snake flicking its tongue.

With a crisp "Click," Lu Yu was quick-witted and used his blade to parry the long spear, then immediately took a step forward, closing the distance between him and Wang Liang from three meters to about two and a half.

"Oh?" A flash of surprise crossed Wang Liang's eyes; he keenly sensed that the speed at which this kid used his blade seemed to have become a bit faster.

This couldn't help but remind him of the last time he sparred with Lu Yu on spear techniques, where Lu Yu also kept improving during the process.

However, just with this bit of progress, wanting to break into his close-combat range was still not very realistic.

Wang Liang pulled his spear back slightly, and then, "Swish, swish, swish," he thrust several times in rapid succession.

This series of attacks was fast and fierce, and Lu Yu was suddenly a bit flustered, only managing to block all these strikes with great difficulty.

But when he steadied his stance, he found that the distance between him and Wang Shu had been pulled back to over three meters.

"It seems I still need to find a way to close the distance." Lu Yu hurriedly withdrew his attention from the Skill bar.

Just now, when he blocked Wang Liang's first strike, the proficiency only rose by 0.3%, less than half of what it was before.

But after he successfully closed the distance by half a meter, every subsequent block saw the proficiency approach 1%! He pondered to himself, if he could close the distance to within two meters, or even one meter, wouldn't the proficiency gain double?

Of course, trying to take a shortcut by having Wang Shu intentionally go easy wouldn't work; only by relying on his own true ability to close the distance to Wang Liang could he achieve such an effect.

Lu Yu calmed his rapid breathing and gathered his courage to charge forward again.

Seeing Lu Yu's actions, a faint smile appeared in Wang Liang's eyes.

Last time it was his own negligence that let this kid charge forward half a meter; this time, he wouldn't give him another chance.

One minute passed, ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed... Every time Lu Yu attempted to charge forward, he was precisely blocked by Wang Liang at the three-meter mark, finding it almost impossible to move forward even a fraction, with only a few rare occasions where he successfully charged within three meters.

This was indeed very difficult, but every time he successfully charged in, the gains he received were also enormous, with proficiency increasing by at least 3%, and up to 7% or 8% at most. In just these few times, the proficiency had cumulatively increased by nearly 30%.

"Clap, clap, clap!" The spear tip kept striking the blade, and Lu Yu was again shaken back several steps, his eyes full of regret.

He was just that little bit away from breaking through Wang Liang's defense and successfully charging past.

However, just at this moment, that familiar warm current rose in his body again, and a strange feeling surged into his heart.

Lu Yu felt a burst of wild joy in his heart; there was no doubt that 【Basic Blade Technique】 had leveled up again, and it looked like it had unlocked a new trait.

【Basic Blade Technique: lv4, traits, Powerful lv4, Fierce Attack lv4, Fierce Slash lv1】

【Fierce Slash: Every time the Skill levels up, the blade power increases by 30%】

"So that's it." Lu Yu's heart stirred, and he immediately adjusted his grip on the blade. His entire posture underwent a subtle change; at this moment, he was like a fierce tiger about to hunt, his whole body exuding an aura of being ready to strike.

"?" Wang Liang narrowed his eyes slightly. In this very instant, he saw a familiar shadow on Lu Yu.

That was one of his good friends, a person extremely proficient in blade techniques, who used single blades, double blades, and long blades with Pure Perfection.

And the most formidable was his blade-and-Shield technique. Wang Liang remembered that he had sparred with this friend many times while holding a long spear, and at most, he had only won seven times; other times it was basically a draw, or six wins and four losses.

And that was in a competition held in an open field; if it were in a narrow street or alley, the outcome would be even harder to predict.

"Wang Shu, I'm attacking again!" Lu Yu shouted and lunged toward Wang Liang like an arrow released from a bow.

Almost at the same time, the sound of air being torn apart suddenly rang out, and Wang Liang's spear tip arrived in front of Lu Yu in an instant.

Lu Yu's right hand, gripping the blade, suddenly launched a Slash at an unexpected angle.

With a crisp "Clap," the shaft of the spear in Wang Liang's hand trembled violently. Lu Yu seized this opportunity, took a step forward, and successfully charged forward another half meter.

The next moment, the sound of wind whistled again, and Wang Liang's spearhead left several Shadowless images in the air, thrusting fiercely toward Lu Yu like lightning.

Lu Yu took a deep breath and no longer just used the blade body to Block, but actively used the blade in his hand to meet the opponent's spearhead.

After all, the Fierce Slash trait could only exert its effect when attacking.

A series of even more intense clashing sounds rang out again; this time, the noise was louder than before, as if it were about to shatter the surrounding air.

"Little Yu seems to have improved a lot, right?" Gao Yang widened his eyes and said with a face full of surprise.

"Indeed, before he was always suppressed and beaten by Old Wang, with almost no power to fight back. I didn't expect that this time, not only did he successfully charge past, but he could also trade blows back and forth with Old Wang."

"Little Yu, this child, is truly amazing!" The people around exclaimed one after another.

Chen Guodong stood to the side, and a look of pride couldn't help but appear on his face.

"This kid, isn't his progress a bit too fast?" Wang Liang narrowed his eyes slightly. Now that he was only using the strength of Body Tempering First Layer, it was truly becoming strenuous to force Lu Yu back beyond three meters; even forcing him back to two and a half meters had become very difficult.

At this moment, the two of them were like participants in an intense tug-of-war centered around a distance of two meters.

However, in Wang Liang's eyes, there was mostly gratification.

After all, the essence of the blade lies in offense; the wielder of a blade should press forward courageously and possess the courage to face death in order to survive.

Some blade technique experts can make an opponent feel a sense of fear from the bottom of their heart with just a casual slash; this is what is known as momentum.

Even so, Wang Liang still held a certain advantage.

Because Lu Yu's physical stamina consumption was clearly much greater than his.

In fact, this was indeed the case; at this moment, Lu Yu's breathing was rapid, and the speed of his slashes was gradually not as fast as before.

Soon, Lu Yu was poked by Wang Liang's spear, and he stumbled back several steps.

"Let's take a break," Wang Liang said upon seeing this, putting away his long spear.

"Mm." Lu Yu smiled somewhat awkwardly; he indeed needed a few minutes to recover his stamina.

【Basic Blade Technique: lv4...】 In just a short few minutes, the proficiency of Basic Blade Technique had grown from 0 to nearly 20%. While the closing of the distance certainly contributed to this, it was mostly because Lu Yu had taken the initiative to attack.

When the two were two meters apart, if he parried once with his blade, the proficiency gain was less than 1%, but if he successfully slashed the spearhead, the proficiency would directly surge by more than 2%.

Moreover, after hitting the spearhead, he could use this brief moment to close the distance a little more, and in this way, the proficiency increased even more.

At this rate, raising Basic Blade Technique to level 5 tonight was basically a sure thing.

A few minutes later, Lu Yu gripped the wooden blade tightly again.

"Recovered?" Wang Liang asked.

"Mm, Wang Shu, I'm going to attack again!" The corners of Lu Yu's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a confident smile as he charged toward Wang Liang once more.

This time, just like before, he easily charged into the two-and-a-half-meter range, and then, an intense tug-of-war unfolded again.

After repeating this several times,

Basic Blade Technique finally leveled up again!

【Basic Blade Technique: lv5, traits: Powerful lv5, Fierce Attack lv5, Fierce Slash lv2】

Almost at the same instant as the level-up, the wooden blade in Lu Yu's hand suddenly accelerated, leaving a blurred afterimage in the air, and then it fiercely slashed onto Wang Liang's spearhead.

The long spear was swung far away by this powerful force, emitting a violent trembling sound.

"!" Wang Liang's eyes widened abruptly, his face full of disbelief. This kid, his blade technique actually improved again?

In this split second of Wang Liang's daze, Lu Yu had already arrived before him like a ghost, the wooden blade in his hand thrusting out fiercely. This was the first time in nearly two hours that Lu Yu had the opportunity to attack Wang Liang.

Wang Liang was not flustered, quickly holding the spear body horizontally in front of him.

"Clack!" The blade tip was instantly blocked by Wang Liang.

Lu Yu was not surprised by this and immediately changed the thrust into a wipe.

Wang Liang hurriedly leaned his neck back while simultaneously raising the spear body, precisely blocking this sharp slash from Lu Yu.

However, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the momentum of offense and defense between the two had already reversed.

Wang Liang tried to use the spearhead to force Lu Yu back, but Lu Yu simply wouldn't give him the chance; every slash was fierce and fast, and he became more courageous the longer he fought.

"Is Wang Shu going to lose?" Li Yang said in disbelief, his mouth agape with surprise.

"It looks like that might really be the case," Liu Kai also responded, stuttering.

As the saying goes, one inch longer is one inch stronger, but one inch shorter also has one inch of danger.

"Brother Yu is too amazing; it feels like Wang Shu is almost unable to parry anymore."

"How long has it been? I remember just a moment ago Brother Yu was still being suppressed and beaten by Wang Shu, unable to move."

"Yeah..." Everyone clearly remembered the previous scene, but now, the situation had undergone a 180-degree reversal.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one would dare believe it.

"..." Not far away, Qin Hai, who had been watching this sparring match, clenched his fists involuntarily, a huge sense of pressure welling up in his heart.

This guy, it was one thing that his Arrow Technique was better than his own, but he hadn't expected his newly learned blade technique to be so exquisite as well.

If one day he were to be closed in on by him, wouldn't he be completely defenseless?

"No! I have to go practice a short weapon too!" Qin Hai secretly made up his mind.

"Alright, I concede." Wang Liang leaped, jumping out of the sparring circle, and said with a wry expression on his face.

Lu Yu was slightly stunned, confused as to why there was suddenly no one in front of him. After hearing Wang Liang's words, he smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "Wang Shu, you are too polite; it is I who took advantage of the Realm."

After all, Wang Liang had only been using the strength of Body Tempering First Layer to spar with him; if he had switched to Body Tempering Second Layer or Body Tempering Third Layer, the final outcome would be hard to say, and it would even be questionable whether he could have attacked Wang Liang at all.

"That's not entirely true." Wang Liang shook his head and said seriously, "Your progress is indeed astonishing; there is no doubt about that."

Lu Yu chuckled and looked at the skill bar impatiently.

【Shadowless Great Fast Blade: Not Even a Clue】

【Collection progress: 36%】

【Completion conditions: Body Tempering Third Layer, Basic Blade Technique lv5, already achieved】

【Time required for completion: 24 hours, complete it?】

"One day?" Lu Yu pondered to himself; it wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. However, being able to complete the Cultivation Method in the shortest time was naturally the best.

Thinking of this, Lu Yu looked at Wang Liang and asked, "Wang Shu, how about we continue?"

Wang Liang gave him a meaningful look and said, "Alright, your blade technique is already quite proficient now; I will use the strength of Body Tempering Third Layer to have a proper bout with you."