Chapter 520: Secret Sword Art: Ghost-Drive

At this juncture, everyone hovered universally on the precipice of advancement, rendering it natural that none believed a lone soul could traverse a dungeon of such regal, sovereign malice.

As for skill, this was not the dawn of Counter-Strike when many remained uninitiated to the mysteries of such novel weaponry; the mages possessed a system distinctly its own, yet when it came to the fighters and the ghost swordsmen, no true martial artist would ever be found wanting, and even the gunners had the weapon-studying cultivators playing their part, for the heights of today’s technique had long outstripped the past.

The martial practitioners favored the paths of the ghost swordsman and the fighter, and in the pure art of the blade, should Boss Fang fail to completely synchronize with a character, many a master of profound cultivation would indeed suffer no inferiority to him; since all wielded the same characters and possessed a swordsmanship equal to his, where then lay Fang's advantage?

There was no advantage to speak of.

By what means, then, could one conquer a dungeon of such harrowing peril?

"Oh? Look at that... someone actually joined the group!" a martial artist from the Western Region remarked, his face alight with the anticipation of a good show.

There appeared two unfamiliar faces, fresh novitiates bearing the monikers of Swordsman and Stone, a ghost swordsman and a fighter respectively, both lingering in a state of profound exhaustion.

To the common martial practitioner, the true depths of such high difficulty remained an enigma, nor did they comprehend the bounds of a master's capability; regardless, paralyzed by weakness and unable to do a thing, they thought to venture a chance: "Great master, grant us a passage."

"Has this fellow lost his senses?"

"Does such a fool truly exist?!"

Before the jeers could subside, yet another figure stepped into Boss Fang’s company.

It was a female ghost swordsman, carrying the name: Nalan Mingxue.

Fang Qi recalled that before his transgression into this world, when the female ghost swordsman first graced the realm, advancement was achieved at the fifteenth circle, yet now it had undergone some slight adjustment, requiring the eighteenth circle to begin her true path, just as the other callings did in their earliest days.

"Can you manage?" Nalan Mingxue inquired with an air of skepticism, though she joined the ranks nonetheless.

By this hour, Jiang Xiaoyue had already completed her advancement, while the rest either grappled within the depths of the dungeons or gathered around to witness the spectacle.

Having collected the coin, the sovereign corpse-carriage commenced its journey.

Soon, the company was seen entering the tangled depths of the Grand Flores.

The two novices, arriving solely to play the part of corpses, were frozen in weakness and naturally trailed far behind; otherwise, should the undead surge forward, they would lack even the strength to flee.

Yet they clearly remained ignorant of the truth that the rear was by no means a sanctuary.

The quartet advanced into the heart of the wilderness, arrayed with Fang Qi leading the vanguard, Nalan Mingxue in the center, and the two novitiates bringing up the rear.

From the thick, dismal, and damp canopy of the forest, low growls akin to those of wild beasts drifted from time to time.

Swiftly, the scent of human life was caught upon the wind, and the gathering zombies fell upon the two lagging novices, devouring them as the circle of encirclement gradually tightened.

"So many monsters? Just for two people?" Xiya strolled over to observe, her expression heavy with disdain. "I wager they will falter at the very first wave of the undead."

"Can you truly prevail?" Nalan Mingxue cast a sharp glance at Fang Qi; by now the beasts pressed terribly close, and she was preparing to strike.

In the subsequent breath, Boss Fang was seen first parrying the pounce of a nearby zombie, and then, as if the wind itself birthed beneath his feet, he leapt upward, ascending to twice the height of an ordinary man, perfectly causing every surging corpse to plunge into empty air!

Before Nalan Mingxue could loose her blade, a thunderous shout echoed from the heavens: "Stand clear!"

In a game so intimately close to reality, one's own companions could suffer harm.

Nalan Mingxue had barely stepped aside to evade the strike of a corpse when she beheld Fang Qi wielding a greatsword, bearing a vast curtain of sword-light, hurtling downward from the sky like a heavy arrow loosed with fury!

Ashe Fork!

The destructive force of a greatsword reigned supreme among all armaments, and sustained by the leap-enhancing grace of Leap, this descent carried several fractions more potency than ordinary.

The immense radiance of the blade crashed violently into the clustered throng of zombies.

Boom!

A cataclysmic roar shook the earth, its tremendous force conjuring an earthen-shaking shockwave of steel that upended every zombie upon the spot!

Every onlooker witnessed this single Ashe Fork drive the entirety of the undead to fall toward the same flank.

"Leap coupled with Ashe Fork? A decent train of thought." Not a few chuckled softly, noting that by preventing the monsters from falling behind him, he had indeed acquitted himself well.

Yet it was merely so; soon these thick-hided, coarse-fleshed zombies would rise again, renewing their siege upon Fang Qi.

Only, what followed...

Their eyes blurred, and suddenly they beheld the blade in Fang Qi's grasp exchange places with another.

The inventory within the game took the form of spatial dimensions, for the players of the real world all employed spatial storage artifacts.

Thus, the sudden drawing of another weapon did not appear overly wondrous.

Yet once this blade was produced, they found themselves utterly unable to discern the trajectory of Fang Qi’s strikes, beholding only a dizzying succession of white, ethereal shadows of light.

It appeared as though what Fang Qi held in his hand was not a sword, but a fragment of pure radiance.

Not merely the right hand that originally gripped the hilt, but Fang Qi’s left hand danced in unison, carving out a mesmerizing tapestry of sword-shadows that dazed the eyes.

His steps glided soundlessly across the grass, three strides in total, each step invoking a brilliant flash of sword-light, so swift it defied clear sight.

"Is this... Triple Slash?!" Luo Piaoling cried out in profound bewilderment, never imagining that Triple Slash could be wielded in such a fashion. "The footwork matches, yet the swordsmanship does not... how can it be so swift?!"

Moreover, he discerned that every stroke of Fang Qi’s blade was delivered in a manner that minimized resistance, the edge gliding along the skin of the zombies like a swimming fish rather than delivering a cleaving blow. Had it been a cleave, failing to sever the zombie’s form would merely strike it away like a ball, and likewise, Fang Qi’s blade would slow under the immense friction.

The observers felt only that before Fang Qi, a torrent of flowing light danced, and when the phantom-like Boss Fang returned to his original stance after three sliding steps, the majority of the zombies, rather than being scattered to the winds, showed a tendency to gather toward his position instead.

"What manner of swordsmanship is this?!" Xiya cried in astonishment.

"What blade is this?! To be possessed of such celerity?!" Luo Piaoling also stared at the screen in utter amazement.

A chorus of startled gasps arose continuously from behind Fang Qi.

Fang Qi utilized weapons of the twentieth circle, having advanced to the rank of Blade Master; only after such advancement did a ghost swordsman truly clarify their path, their might far eclipsing what it had been before.

This was evidently a matchless, exquisite dual-wielding swordsmanship, specifically fashioned to complement this peculiar, light-like blade.

Secret Sword Art!

The ghost sword technique formed the foundation of the Blade Master’s art and the core of the sublime skill they took pride in; the dual-wielding lightsabres approached the absolute pinnacle of speed.

It was not merely exquisite; it was magnificent beyond measure!

Too swift it was; the white sword-light danced like a brilliant butterfly fluttering through the air, or a blossom of steel formed entirely of light, blooming before their eyes.

Within that magnificent, elegant, and boundlessly swift radiance, several zombies that had drawn near were hoisted aloft by a single stroke before they could even touch the earth.

As the sword-light danced, the corpses closest to Fang Qi were already torn to shreds, while those of the rear and the vanguard were drawn into a single, compact mass.

Just as they prepared to crawl back to their feet, a blood-red, cruciform sword-light struck the leading undead; the stumbling corpses collided with those behind them, and Fang Qi leapt once more—Ashe Fork!

The dazzling, resplendent sword-light rose anew, transforming into a veritable tempest!

Carving a path into the deepest recesses of the forest, he approached the lord of the domain virtually unscathed.

This no longer resembled the mere slaughter of monsters, but a splendid, beautiful feast of swordsmanship!

To say nothing of the spectating crowd gathered around, even the denizens of the Western Region, who had previously sworn with absolute certainty that Boss Fang could never clear the trial, found their vision utterly dazed.

"Magnificent!"

"Superb!"

"Unrivaled!"

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