Chapter 198

Before the words had faded, whistling airflow rushed toward them; the tall body over two meters tall shattered the ground, almost instantly crossing the distance between the two sides, roaring and waving the axe-sword in his hand.

"Boom!"

With a loud bang, Saber held the invisible sword to block the axe-sword.

The whistling airflow turned into a wild wind and swept away; Tohsaka Rin's calves showed cyan circuits, holding her sister and jumping backward, landing on the tree branch where Archer was hiding.

Emiya Shirou rolled on the spot, picked up a broken branch, and while strengthening the wooden stick, shouted at the top of his lungs without looking back:

"Run!"

Bai Bai Zeming didn't hesitate, immediately turning on the propulsion device and flying toward Ryudou Temple on the mountain.

He didn't worry about the outcome of this battle, or more accurately, this distribution of actions was intentional on his part.

Because in the original work, there had been a similar battle, and this battle was quite important, relating to whether Illya could develop interest and favor for this nominal younger brother Emiya Shirou.

He specifically left the Tohsaka sisters and Emiya Shirou behind just to replicate this battle.

If possible, he could take this opportunity to brush up Illya's favor and pull her into the alliance as well.

Even if something really went wrong, it didn't matter; anyway, there was still an invitation letter, and he could invite a big shot to turn the tide at any time.

Holding such thoughts, Bai Bai Zeming and Zhao Yun rushed to Ryudou Temple.

Arriving at the stone steps in front of the mountain gate, Bai Bai Zeming stopped slowly.

Zhao Yun also stopped below the stone steps, the silver spear in his hand horizontal in front of him, looking at the figure on the stone steps with a calm expression.

Following his gaze, he saw a swordsman in a purple robe standing there, holding a five-foot-long katana, his deep blue eyes full of joy looking at Zhao Yun below.

The cold night wind blew over the stone steps, rolling up the fallen leaves on the ground.

The swordsman stuck the long sword in his hand into the ground, raised his hands full of smiles, and bowed to Zhao Yun, who was in silver armor and holding a silver spear below, with the standard Central Plains Jianghu etiquette.

"A junior student, greets General Zhao!"

The fluent Chinese came out of his mouth, making Bai Bai Zeming full of surprise.

"You actually know Chinese?"

"Of course!"

The swordsman lowered his arms, grabbed the long sword again, looked at Bai Bai Zeming in the air, and smiled lightly: "I was born in the fourth year of Bunroku; converted to the Central Plains Ming Dynasty at that time, it was the Wanli period..."

So that's how it is!

Bai Bai Zeming suddenly realized.

According to the plot he knew, this pseudo-Assassin's true name was Sasaki Kojiro, a legendary swordsman in the island country, an ancient swordsman whose true identity was unknown.

He could freely wield the five-foot-long sword called 'Monohoshizao', which is one of the synonyms for island country sword skills.

In folk legends, he is described as the nemesis of the island country's 'Sword Saint' Miyamoto Musashi.

But unlike Miyamoto Musashi, who was not born wealthy, Sasaki Kojiro was a wealthy playboy who grew up in support and praise, and the people he contacted were all dignitaries.

And in that era, the Central Plains were still the center of the world, and surrounding countries had been influenced by Confucian culture for thousands of years; almost all so-called upper-class people who were slightly wealthy knew Chinese characters.

Sasaki Kojiro was born wealthy, so naturally, he mastered fluent Central Plains official language.

Seeing that Bai Bai Zeming seemed to understand something, Sasaki Kojiro smiled slightly, immediately turned his head, and a pair of blue eyes stared at Zhao Yun somewhat fanatically.

"Although I ended up with a not-so-good Master, being able to see the General in the present world, and even having the opportunity to fight the General, is already not a wasted trip for me!"

As he spoke, his expression became serious, the long sword in his hand raised flatly, his gaze looking at Zhao Yun coldly and seriously:

"This sword is named Bitchu Aoe, alias Monohoshizao, blade length five feet, forged from refined iron."

"The one who wields this sword is the nameless swordsman of Ganryu, Sasaki Kojiro... please enlighten me, General!"

Hearing the other party's solemn self-introduction, Zhao Yun, who had been keeping silent, suddenly inserted the long spear into the ground, instead pulling out the bright Qinggang Sword from his waist, saying with a calm expression:

"The sword is named Qinggang, made by a famous craftsman in Yuzhou, blade length three feet six inches, hair-cutting sharp, cutting iron like mud."

"Back then at Changban Slope, I captured this sword from Xiahou En, a general who carried it for Cao Cao, and held the sword to charge through ten thousand armies."

"Where the green blade passed, hundred-refined armor cracked like plain silk; the blade was tested on cattle and horses, cutting a hundred beasts without damaging the edge..."

... Is it this one?

Sasaki Kojiro stared straight at the bright treasure sword, listening to Zhao Yun's slow description.

In a trance, he seemed to have come to the Changban Slope of that year, seeing that white horse and silver spear figure.

"Good, good, good!"

Sasaki Kojiro came back to his senses, his eyes looking at Zhao Yun happily and fanatically:

"General Zhao, please enlighten me!"

The next instant, Sasaki Kojiro's figure disappeared suddenly like a gust of wind.

The one-meter-five-long katana seemed to tear the airflow, colliding with the Qinggang Sword with a sharp whistle, one above and one below, instantly sparking a large amount of sparks.

Feeling the terrifying power coming from the sword, Sasaki Kojiro's face became increasingly joyful.

Without any hesitation, his hands holding the hilt turned slightly, actually strangely turning the blade, slashing diagonally along the blade of the Qinggang Sword again.

"Chhh—"

A large amount of sparks sparked between the sword spine and the blade.

Zhao Yun exerted force from his feet, twisted his waist and hips, and while avoiding the slash of the long sword, the Qinggang Sword in his hand swung a rounded arc, stabbing straight into Sasaki Kojiro's open chest and abdomen.

"Clang!"

The equally long hilt blocked the sharp stab of the sword tip.

Sasaki Kojiro kicked the sword spine, flicking the Qinggang Sword from bottom to top, then jumped backward to distance himself from Zhao Yun, confronting each other.

"As expected of the famous Changshan Zhao Zilong!"

He looked at Zhao Yun with bright eyes, not stingy with his praise: "Even if you abandon the spear and hold the sword, your skills can be called reaching the pinnacle!"

"You too."

Zhao Yun swung the long sword in his hand, pointing diagonally at the ground, looking at him indifferently: "I originally thought that in a remote place, a barbarian, there wouldn't be any decent figures, but I didn't expect there to be a master like you who has entered the hall!"

"Hahaha!"

Sasaki Kojiro laughed heartily, seemingly not ashamed but proud of Zhao Yun's words.

"Come again!"

In an instant, his figure disappeared again, colliding with Zhao Yun below.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The crisp sound of swords colliding echoed fiercely on the stone steps.

Bai Bai Zeming looked at the two figures confronting fiercely below in surprise, seemingly not expecting this so-called island country sword master to be able to fight Zhao Yun to a draw.

After a little thought, he used the Master permission to look at Sasaki Kojiro's ability values.

"Strength C, Endurance E, Magic Power E, Luck A, Agility... A+!"

Bai Bai Zeming looked at the last two values in astonishment.

Especially Agility, actually even above Zhao Yun?!

This is actually nothing to be surprised about; as a legendary figure widely circulated in the island country, Sasaki Kojiro has a great local popularity bonus in the island country, and his ability values have also been strengthened because of this.

If the two were replaced by real historical figures, the result would be completely different...

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

With the fierce collision between the katana and the Qinggang Sword, Zhao Yun gradually figured out the other party's routine.

The next second, his sword style changed suddenly; the originally lightning-fast Qinggang Sword suddenly became as heavy as a mountain, actually ignoring the exquisite strength contained in the katana, slashing down while sticking to the blade.

Sasaki Kojiro's pupils shrank, and he swung the hilt to block without hesitation.

But just as the hilt was about to touch the sword peak, the heavy sword body changed again, as if stabbing toward the open chest like lightning.

"Pfft—"

The sharp sword and the hilt brushed past each other, leaving a scarlet bloodstain on that light purple kimono.

The two distanced themselves again, Zhao Yun swung the Qinggang in his palm, spilling a line of blood on the ground.

Sasaki Kojiro raised his head suddenly, staring at him with bright eyes: "What is this?"

"Just a simple change of lightness and heaviness."

Zhao Yun said with a calm expression: "Blindly pursuing speed will eventually be biased; a true sword master should integrate all kinds of changes into one sword, achieving lightness as heaviness, and heaviness as lightness..."

"In this regard, Wang Yue of Liaodong is the only master-level figure I have ever seen in my life."

"With your extreme sword skills now, if you meet him, you definitely won't be a match for three rounds!"

Wang Yue of Liaodong...

That legendary Sword Saint of the Eastern Han Dynasty?!

Sasaki Kojiro's eyes became increasingly bright.

"General's good words, I have learned!"

"Since the General is in a hurry, how about we decide the winner in one move?"

Sasaki Kojiro shouted loudly, immediately changing his stance instantly, holding the katana high above his head with both hands, and slashing down toward Zhao Yun with the momentum of splitting a mountain.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sharp long sword danced into phantoms invisible to the naked eye, continuously suppressing Zhao Yun with a violent offensive like a storm.

But this was only the appearance; in fact, Zhao Yun's face didn't change at all, the Qinggang Sword in his hand remained stable, dealing with it with ease.

Just then, Bai Bai Zeming, who was watching the battle with relish above, was suddenly stunned.

The next second, his figure disappeared instantly, as if swallowed by something, instantly disappearing above the stone steps.

Zhao Yun noticed the departure of his Master, and his heart was shocked, then anger rose from his heart; the Qinggang Sword in his hand suddenly increased in speed, swinging away the five-foot long sword with power far exceeding before.

"Hum!"

Accompanied by the light sound of the blade and sword, Sasaki Kojiro staggered back two steps, looking at Zhao Yun in astonishment.

Zhao Yun glared, switched the Qinggang Sword to his left hand, stretched out his right hand, and pulled out the bright silver Dragon Gall Spear from the ground.

"Wait, General Zhao!"

Sasaki Kojiro cherished this opportunity for a sword duel, so he hurriedly defended: "General Zhao, calm your anger; this matter was definitely not done by me, it should be the means of that mother fox!"

"Mother fox?"

Zhao Yun's face eased slightly, turning to frown.

Sasaki Kojiro nodded sincerely, telling the intelligence he knew.

"So, it was Caster who used space magic to transfer my Master?"

Sasaki Kojiro said sincerely: "It should be!"

Zhao Yun frowned: "Since that's the case, Zhao has no time to entangle with you anymore..."

"Wait!"

Sasaki Kojiro said seriously: "Since the General is in a hurry, how about we decide the winner in one move?"

"I have a sword technique, which I mastered by chance when I wanted to cut down a flying swallow."

"Although it's not a powerful move, it is a technique I am quite confident in; please be sure to appreciate it!"

Zhao Yun frowned, inserted the silver spear in his palm back into the ground, and looked at Sasaki Kojiro indifferently:

"I'll give you three breaths of time..."

(End of chapter)