"I'm in the Dragon Clan, what the heck is the Naruto Counterattack System?"

It's the same familiar place, the same familiar venue.

However, the training ground for the kendo class had been cleaned up, leaving only Qi Xiuyuan, Chu Zihang, and Old Man Yuan.

Qi Xiuyuan stood quietly in the center of the field, his horizontal sword, gleaming with a bluish light, held across his chest, his deerskin hand slowly brushing against the blade.

This action resembles an executioner silently wiping his long sword, about to behead the victim with reverence.

At this moment, Old Man Yuan was still standing outside the venue, taking out pills from the drawer of the table, swallowing them with a mouthful of water, while Chu Zihang was behind him applying plasters.

Blood pressure medication, stomach medication, eye drops for cataracts, pain relief ointments...

All of these things indicate that he is really very old.

But the old man simply held up the broken sword in front of him with both hands. It was easy to see that if the sword were intact, it would be longer than a typical Japanese katana.

The ten-grip sword, where "grip" is an ancient unit of measurement equivalent to the horizontal length of a fist, is also known as the "ten-fist sword" in Japanese mythology, as it is three "grips" longer than a regular sword.

However, this was the sword that his teacher had broken, and its length was the same as that of an ordinary katana.

Let's end it here.

The old man, having made all the preparations, murmured something to himself, turned around, and stepped onto the battlefield where he had fought countless times, standing before Qi Xiuyuan, who had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Yuan Yixin, please enlighten me."

The old man raised his sword overhead in the standard Japanese swordsmanship stance, exuding a sense of solidity and groundedness, as if the ten-stretch sword in his hand was an integral part of his body.

"Qi Xiuyuan," he said, "please enlighten me."

Seeing Qi Xiuyuan standing still without making any move, the old man did not feel insulted, contemptuous, or angry. He changed his stance from holding the knife in the middle to sheathing it at his waist, and moved his feet lightly to slowly close the distance.

As they confronted each other, the atmosphere froze, the silence was eerily quiet, and even the steady breathing rose and fell.

Only the tender green leaves of the locust trees outside swayed continuously in the wind.

Finally, Qi Xiuyuan let out a deep breath.

"ha!"

The old man, seizing the moment of his alternating breaths, moved. He took a step forward but did not draw his sword. Instead, he shouted loudly, his voice so powerful that it shook the leaves outside the window, causing ripples in the otherwise deathly silent scene.

Roaring is one of the most primitive reactions of living things when faced with danger and stress.

Tigers and lions, apex predators in the food chain, use their roars to demonstrate their power and strength.

The predator's powerful roar is enough to instill fear in its prey, even causing it to kneel on the ground in terror.

This is the "Ki'ai" in Japanese Kendo, which is used to intimidate the opponent while simultaneously mobilizing oneself to quickly enter a period of resistance, allowing the body to reach its optimal state.

Yuan Yixin's aura was completely unlike that of an old man; it was more like that of a lion or tiger, causing eardrums to resonate and vibrate, and a suffocating sense of oppression poured over Qi Xiuyuan.

Bang! !

The next moment, he placed both feet on the ground and shot out like a crossbow bolt, making it difficult for anyone to react.

Sword-drawing technique.

Visual inspection, breathing, incision at the mouth of a carp, extraction, and cutting.

The old man completed the entire process at an unbelievable speed.

He drew his ten-handed sword from its sheath and swung it forward, the curve of the blade resembling an open white folding fan. Anyone caught off guard by his shout would have their throat slashed by this sudden strike.

But Qi Xiuyuan's gaze remained calm, like a stagnant pool of water staring at the old man.

His hand holding the sword remained steady, his breathing was not interrupted, and he didn't even tremble.

Just as the ten-handed sword was about to strike him, Qi Xiuyuan suddenly "collapsed" without warning, passing beneath the bright arc, while the horizontal blade in his hand flashed upwards towards the old man's chin.

Clang!

The old man, who was only testing the waters, suddenly parried with his sword. The blade and tip of the sword collided with a sharp sound, which was the parrying technique of the Suigetsu Kodachi in the Shinto school.

The force of the blade rebounding made their hands go numb; in their first attempt, neither of them gained the upper hand.

Without hesitation, Qi Xiuyuan used the rebound force to deliver a heavy, swift, and fierce strike, like a spring breeze cutting through willow leaves, aimed at the old man's abdomen and waist!

It is easy to attack and defend.

The old man's legs were firmly planted on the ground. No matter where the knife or sword technique is practiced, the lower body is always the most fundamental element.

Bang! !

He drew a line with his hand, and the resulting blade wind was like a stone wall, slashing at the surface of the horizontal sword, causing Qi Xiuyuan's sword trajectory to deviate.

Qi Xiuyuan advanced again, while Yuan Yixin remained vigilant.

Just a moment ago, Gen Isshin was still practicing the defensive swordsmanship of the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu style, blocking Qi Xiuyuan's Spring and Autumn Greatsword from the Bajiquan school.

The next moment, Yuan Yixin tried to seize Qi Xiuyuan's wrist with "No-Knife Take", while Qi Xiuyuan responded with the fast and ruthless "Snake Belly Thrust" from Xingyi Knife Technique.

To Chu Zihang, who was watching the fight, the sword techniques used by the two were dazzling and changed in the blink of an eye.

Qi Xiuyuan was swift and ruthless, as swift as the wind and as fierce as thunder.

With a single-minded focus, he is profound and steady, as steadfast as a mountain and as pure as jade.

Just like their different ages, their swords also have different styles.

Qi Xiuyuan felt as if he were hacking at a stone wall. No matter what kind of attack he launched, it would be bounced back by the wall. Yuan Yixin also felt that his attack was like a storm. Surrounded by the storm, he could only defend and look for gaps.

The indigo cotton clothing tightened around their bodies, offering some protection and cushioning, but it posed almost no obstacle to the knives in their hands.

They were practically dancing on blades; a single cut would rip them open.

Clang!

As the blades clashed again, a piercing clang, almost tearing at the eardrums, rang out.

Blinding sparks scattered and flew as the two men, close enough to look at each other across the back of their blades, attacked and defended simultaneously.

"Old man, you've really learned a lot of different things," Qi Xiuyuan couldn't help but remark.

"That's what I should be saying," Yuan Yixin said, her face twitching. "I don't remember teaching you any of this nonsense."

"You have a few sword manuals in your study. I flipped through them and memorized them when I was bored, and I practice them at home whenever I have nothing to do," Qi Xiuyuan said with a smile.

Even without a teacher's guidance, can one reach this level by simply practicing on their own?

Yuan Yixin could tell that Qi Xiuyuan was still quite unfamiliar with these sword moves at the beginning, but he could also sense that the other party was integrating them into their actual combat.

Yes.

He seemed to have become Qi Xiuyuan's whetstone.

He was being "devoured" by the young man in front of him.

He could already vaguely see the demeanor of a young master swordsman in Qi Xiuyuan.

"That's why," Old Man Yuan gritted his teeth and said hatefully, "geniuses are the most detestable thing!"

呲! !

Both of them tensed up at the same time and drew their knives to the side, the blades tearing and snapping with a sharp, piercing sound.

Immediately, almost at the same time, the two thrust out, viciously stabbing towards each other's hearts!

At that moment, Yuan Yixin looked into the dark eyes that reflected his face. There was not a trace of fear in those eyes, but the face reflected in them showed a hint of terror.

That was his face; it showed him fear.

Almost instinctively, the knife aimed at Qi Xiuyuan stopped, and Yuan Yixin chose to retreat backward.

puff! !

The tip of the scalpel pierced his shoulder, and blood arced through the air.

Even the broken sword with ten grips fell to the ground, making a clear, mournful sound.

"Boring."

Qi Xiuyuan did not continue the pursuit. He stood there and sighed deeply, looking up at Yuan Yixin in the distance: "This is really boring. Old man, he doesn't even have the will to fight to the death. If this is all he's capable of..."

After saying that, the smile on his face faded, and the coldness in his eyes pierced Yuan Yixin. He took a step forward, and the overwhelming power emanating from his body swept over everything.

"Huff...huff..."

Yuan, who was staring at him, was panting heavily. He felt that unstoppable sharpness and felt a sharp pain and spasm in his head. His heart felt like a water pipe was being squeezed, and the blood in his body became stagnant and slow.

"I...I avoided it?" Humiliation and confusion welled up inside him. "Why? Am I getting old?"

No, although he was old, his experience and skills should have been stronger than Qi Xiuyuan's, but he never managed to find a way to break through and win from the opponent's offensive.

This only shows that Qi Xiuyuan has caught up with his level of decades in just a few years, and he can't even match Qi Xiuyuan's determination to win.

Qi Xiuyuan exudes a sharp and tenacious spirit from the inside out, like a bamboo with straight joints that stands firm against wind and rain, constantly growing upwards as if he wants to punch a hole in the sky.

"Then, what about me?" the old man asked himself. "If I were to use a metaphor, what would I be?"

I don't know, I don't know. There's no one left who knew him. There's no one behind him.

Looking at the incredibly young Qi Xiuyuan in front of him, Yuan Yixin could already foresee his defeat, and a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart once again.

In terms of both swordsmanship and the will to win, he had lost completely at this moment.

He could almost feel the strips of cloth that had been wrapped around him day and night, and the expectations that had tormented him day and night, beginning to drift away from him into the distance.

After all, he had failed. He could no longer fulfill the wishes of those who had not yet achieved theirs, nor could he carry out the entrustment. Like his former friends and teachers, he too had to leave the path of kendo.

Perhaps, all that we were so persistent about was just a dream.

All the tangled threads of fate have come to an end; forty years of playing the game have turned to old age, yet it all pales in comparison to a single night of genius.

Now that things have come to this, he should be able to relax, but...

"What do you have left?" Qi Xiuyuan suddenly asked. "Without what you call expectations and obsessions, what do you have left?"

Are you really willing to accept this?

Do you really like swords?

"So, you're really nothing special after all?"

Hearing his emotionless words, Yuan Yixin shook his head, a surge of intense resentment and pain welling up inside him.

When they win, they lie on the ground and shout and laugh with joy; when they lose, they feel as if their internal organs are being trampled on, and they constantly condemn themselves for having lost their value in life.

But even so, he couldn't give up.

How could this feeling possibly be expressed in just a few words!

呲!

Qi Xiuyuan lifted the broken sword with one foot and kicked it over, sending it vertically into the floor in front of Yuan Yixin with a buzzing sound.

"Pick it up," he said.

"..."

Yuan Yixin released his hand from his shoulder, stood up without a word, and gripped the knife in front of him, letting it become stained with blood.

He slowly raised the knife above his head, blade pointing skyward, his left hand gently supporting the back of the blade. His gaze swept across the blade towards Qi Xiuyuan in the distance, his turbid eyes calm and still, devoid of any weakness or hesitation.

The tip of the knife trembled slightly, and with each deep breath, it emitted a soft whistling sound, as if it had transformed into a vengeful demon about to devour its prey.

Feeling that inexplicable chill, Qi Xiuyuan smiled again.

"very good."

The moment after he finished speaking.

Thud! Thud!

Two blue figures rushed towards each other, moving so fast that only two afterimages could be seen, as if two blue scrolls were unfolding.

Qi Xiuyuan slashed out with his horizontal sword, the left horizontal slash he had practiced tens of thousands of times a day cutting through the air with a piercing whistle.

He stepped in, swung his sword horizontally, and completed the movement in one fluid motion.

However, facing the horizontal blade aimed at his face, Gen Isshin exhaled a breath.

呲! !

The broken sword held at his chest was slashed out, the killing intent concentrated on the blade, as if one could smell the stench emanating from it.

Ancient Killing Sword - Heart-Shaped Blade Style - Four Chapters and Eight Phases.

After the Meiji Restoration, swordsmanship, like the tea ceremony, became part of traditional culture.

The clever bamboo sword was invented so that students at the kendo dojo could practice and play with each other. Students graduating from the kendo dojo might only take a group photo with a real sword at graduation.

However, before the Meiji Restoration, those who set up schools were always waiting for someone to come and challenge them, and ronin walked the streets with wolf-like eyes, ready to kill at the slightest provocation.

Whoever carries a knife has the right to kill without being punished by law; human life is as fragile as a cherry blossom.

Therefore, the swordsmanship of that time was sinister, ruthless, and vicious, completely unlike the elegant and dignified swordsmanship of today.

In those days, knife skills were used to kill; only those who survived could live with dignity.

To kill, one can act like a demon, a wolf, or even a rat.

This is what is known as the "Ancient Stream Killing Sword".

The so-called Eight Phases refer to eight terrifying visions, including Crimson Flame, Asura, Rakshasa, and Netherworld. When learning this forbidden technique, one must imagine these eight most terrifying visions in turn.

Moreover, when he fantasized about the crimson flames, a red-hot iron ruler actually approached his back, giving him the illusion that he was being burned by fire.

Students must pass the test of these eight illusions in order to control this unstoppable and ferocious blade.

To unleash this strike, one must be prepared to abandon everything, even if it means rushing into a furnace without fear, and even if there are iron nails underfoot, one will not hesitate to step on them.

In Qi Xiuyuan's eyes, Yuan Yixin seemed to be a hazy phantom in the air, or a gust of wind carrying withered leaves toward the lake.

The sword in his hand lost its shape due to the extreme speed. Only the blade light tinged with a thin halo could be seen. The speed at which he swung the sword was so fast that the whole sword could not be seen. Only the terrifying and sharp whistling of the wind could be clearly heard!

Upon seeing this strike, Qi Xiuyuan's eyes widened, a burning, intense light emanating from them, and an even more delighted smile crept onto his face.

"Ha ha ha ha!"