Book 3, Chapter 255: Divine Song

Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin used rapiers. Due to the difference in height, their rapiers differed in length as well. They also fought with different styles.

Pan Xiaode went for direct attacks, while Qi Huixin went for swift and peculiar strikes. When both styles were put together, one became in charge of holding back the enemy while the other launched sudden attacks from the side. It was an unusual teamwork, but they worked flawlessly together.

With Chen Chuan’s current level of strength, no matter how much he restrained his power, he couldn’t limit himself to only the abilities of a Second Limit martial artist.

But he noticed that if he used mental energy to guide his body, he could accurately adjust his body to a point where his generation of power stayed at a suitable level.

He could even tone down the sensitivity of his senses to a certain degree.

In the past, he wondered how the powerful martial artists kept their bodies running. After all, the stronger they got, the more calories they burned. They would need a lot more just to maintain their physiological functions, and even more so when they fought.

While Chen Chuan had his second self to lower his strength, what did those people do to keep themselves alive?

Now, he understood. Those who knew how to use mental energy could limit their bodies to a certain level.

In this restricted state, Chen Chuan did not have an advantage in strength or speed. He only relied on his technique.

Even after adjusting his strength to be around the same level as that of Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin, he still had his experience and technique. His observational skills were also as strong as ever. It wasn’t as if he could just tone them down. But fights were never fair to begin with. Or rather, this was what a normal fight should be like.

With a casual fling of his arm, he pushed aside Pan Xiaode’s thrust, but Pan Xiaode seized a chance and thrust forward with the other rapier.

When he attacked the second time, Chen Chuan shifted his center of gravity, as if he wanted to retreat. The next moment, he rushed forward and avoided the thrust to get into Pan Xiaode’s personal space.

Meanwhile, because of Chen Chuan’s sudden change in position, Qi Huixin realized that her own thrust would miss its mark. With no other choice left, she had to adjust her position to chase after him, which caused her great discomfort.

When Chen Chuan was in Pan Xiaode’s space, he reached out and grabbed the man’s wrist. Pan Xiaode retreated immediately and brought his rapier up to cut into Chen Chuan’s arm.

But Chen Chuan seemed to have predicted this. He suddenly brought an arm up to the side and struck the back of the rapier. At the same time, he brought his elbow up. Thinking that Chen Chuan wanted to attack his face, Pan Xiaode was shocked into tilting his head back to avoid the attack.

Yet Chen Chuan just ducked down and stepped into Pan Xiaode’s space even more. He also used Pan Xiaode’s body to block Qi Huixin’s path, who was trying to get closer from behind him, leading to her being unable to deliver her thrust again.

No matter how long they fought, Chen Chuan was able to make sure that he faced only one of them and never let them surround him.

If they insisted on fighting him one at a time and were at the same level as he was, Chen Chuan could have defeated them within three moves if they fought barehanded. However, they had weapons, and they could drag out the fight by working together, like they were doing now.

They worked together as if they had telepathy. Their teamwork was impeccable, and they perfectly brought out their skills.

Tan Zhi had let them have the entire hall on the first floor while he stood on the second floor’s terrace to watch them. From his angle, he could see them constantly moving.

Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin kept trying to get into advantageous spots and surround Chen Chuan or force him into a corner, but Chen Chuan was able to break free before they could form a proper encirclement.

If one of them wanted to retreat and recollect their bearings, Chen Chuan would close in on them and attack. This forced the other to provide reinforcements, leading to them losing the initiative to attack. This happened constantly, and it was due to Chen Chuan being in control of the fight.

Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin had thought about using this to lure Chen Chuan into charging at them on his own, but after trying a few times, they found that Chen Chuan was able to see through them, so they could only stay put and look for chances to seize the initiative.

Tan Zhi was able to understand the flow of the fight and wondered whether things would be different if he joined? Would the three of them have a chance to win against Chen Chuan?

He immediately shook his head at that. Forget it. He knew his own strength and had no teamwork with the other two. If he joined them, he would just be throwing their rhythm off. He might even end up as the weak link leading to their defeat.

Watching it like this was perfectly fine. He could get more experience and save up his strength.

The fight lasted for around an hour. Once Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin gave up, the fight finally ended.

Even though it wasn’t a long fight, they felt as if they had used up a lot of their stamina and brain power. They had to stay focused the whole time and pay attention to the other so that they could work properly together while also thinking about their next step or two against Chen Chuan. That was why they felt so exhausted from this short sparring session. It was something they hadn’t felt for a long time.

They had thought that since Chen Chuan had lowered himself to their level, they would have a chance to win, but he was able to attack their weaknesses and openings, which showed them that their physical abilities weren’t the only thing separating them from Chen Chuan. They were also weaker than Chen Chuan in terms of their judgment, observational skills, experience, and other aspects.

Fortunately, the exchange of attacks was within their realm of understanding, and they felt that they had learned a lot more during the one-hour sparring session than during the past year. Once they went back home to review the fight and dissect it bit by bit, they should be able to improve even more.

Pan Xiaode was ecstatic. “Thanks, Chen Chuan!”

Qi Huixin nodded as well.

“It’s nothing,” Chen Chuan answered with a smile.

Tan Zhi clapped from up above. “Alright. Let’s rest a bit and have a few drinks.”

He took out a few energy drinks and handed them to the trio.

Once they sat down on the sofa, he brought out a deck of cards and said, “The theatre production is at 3 p.m., but we need to go there ahead of time. Have lunch at my place. Once we’re done, we can play a few rounds before going to the theater.”

“What’s the name of the production?” Pan Xiaode asked.

“I can’t remember the foreign name, but it’s called the Divine Song of the Wilderness.”

“That’s the one. I’ve heard about it a few times, but I’ve never gone to see it. What’s it about?”

“I heard that it’s a real story about love and revenge from Norland,” Tan Zhi said and told them the plot. It had happened during the Norland Empire. A knight, fallen from grace, was resting in a cave in the wilderness when he discovered a divine epic passed down from ancient times.

The knight could immediately recognize a martial art from an ancient hero. Delighted, he brought it back to offer it to his king.

The court swordsmasters and nobles couldn’t find anything in the epic and thought that it was just a normal story, so they declared that the knight was lying to them.

Furious, the king ordered to crush the knight’s limbs with stone and throw him into the wilderness, where he was taken in by a kindhearted, mute shepherdess.

The knight refused to give up. Through hard work, he turned the divine epic into song and sang it on the road every day in hopes that nobles and merchants passing by would understand it.

But no one did, and they even laughed at him. As he continued singing, the daughter of a minor noble heard him and understood the martial art.

She approached the knight and was touched by his determination, then promised to fulfill his wish.

After learning all that the knight understood from the epic, the daughter went to the court and got herself the title of a high-ranking noble through her martial prowess. She even brought honor to her family.

Yet after being acknowledged, her heart changed. She no longer wanted anyone to understand the martial art and sent assassins after the knight.

What she didn’t know was that while the shepherdess couldn’t sing, she had quietly learned the martial art in the epic. After capturing the ambushers, she made them spill the reason behind their attack. Enraged and grateful toward the shepherdess, the knight sang the last part of the epic.

The shepherdess then donned the worn down armor of the knight, picked up a rusted bucket, and barged into the palace. The two women then got into a fight that almost brought the court to its knees.

The Divine Song of the Wilderness was a classic. Whenever it was in production, real martial artists would play the part of the protagonist and antagonist. The actors were also chosen from a competition involving thousands of people.

The story didn’t attract the trio’s attention, but they looked forward to the fight between the martial artists. The real selling point of the show was that the epic was passed down from the very same knight who received the epic from God.

The theater production consisted of thirteen acts, and each act had a divine song. It was said that a lot of masters had managed to figure out some secrets from them and gained enlightenment.

Yet no one had been able to figure out its complete contents up to this date. Because of this, it always attracted attention. Forget martial artists, even the average person found the Divine Song of the Wilderness attractive. After all, everyone hoped that they might be able to understand something from the songs.

“This time, a lot of important politicians and company executives are going to attend. We have to go earlier. If we’re late, we might end up getting caught in traffic.” Tan Zhi put a card down.

“I just hope that it’s as good as rumors say it is.” Pan Xiaode followed with a card of his own.

Chen Chuan checked his own cards and put one down. “According to the introduction, the antagonist and protagonist will be played by Third Limit martial artists. That alone makes it worth seeing.”

The trio nodded. That was true.

After eating the hearty lunch Tan Zhi had prepared for them, they headed to Majestic Light District.

The theater production was going to be at Western Wisdom Theater, which could house three thousand spectators. It often had concerts and dance performances. Due to its excellent acoustics, some major programs were also recorded there.

While on their way to the theater, they saw more cars than usual on the road. The advertisements playing on both sides of the road were all about the Divine Song of the Wilderness. They even played some of the songs to show off the performers’ angelic voices.

Even if they left early, they only managed to arrive at the theater at almost 2 p.m..

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep