Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

Rita Roseweather.

Even disregarding everything else, this woman's martial arts skills alone are absolutely not to be underestimated.

The essence of the soul, the heart of the sword, [momentum].

This was the first time Su Qing'an had faced such a mysterious attack. If any one of the factors mentioned above were missing, he could very well have been defeated.

S-rank Valkyries are indeed very dangerous.

Having made this judgment in his mind once again, the boy did not choose to continue retreating and dodging.

If they were to get entangled in this endless mess again, the maid's stealth skills would give Su Qing'an a real headache.

From Rita's perspective, the skill [Momentum] is truly extraordinary.

Rita has experienced many complicated battles in her past life. As an S-class Valkyrie, she has traveled all over the world and constantly solved Honkai incidents. She can be said to be very knowledgeable. However, even Rita, who is like this, has never heard of this ability.

It was as if the king of beasts in the mountains and forests had let out a deafening roar, which would naturally make ordinary people feel terrified and lose their composure.

The reason the Beast King could do this was because it was a display of power and the difference in strength created an unparalleled sense of oppression.

Although Su Qing'an did nothing on the surface, he actually slowed down her sense of time. Caught off guard, her instinctive, smooth breathing rhythm was abruptly broken, causing the scythe to fall a beat slower.

In close combat, the mournful sound of metal echoed.

Rita glanced at the thin blade that had blocked the scythe; even though its speed had been slowed, the weight and potential energy it carried gave her the advantage.

As she exerted force to tilt the weapon further towards her opponent, she asked:

"What is this? Is it also martial arts?"

As Su Qing'an formed a fist with his left hand, he gave an affirmative answer:

"This is momentum, and it is also the way of martial arts."

The force called "Beng Jin" twisted and entangled in that instant, flowing through the entire body and then converging and twisting onto the left fist. This was a complex and delicate process, yet it came so naturally to the boy.

His upper body was in a boxing stance, as if he were drawing a bow, while the movement of his fist striking down was like releasing the bowstring.

The rhythm of fast and slow is beautifully balanced.

Tai Xuan Liu O Beng Jin.

The fist imprint slammed into the weapon in the girl's hand.

This intensely powerful and ferocious posture was etched into the eyes of the viewers watching the live broadcast, eliciting a small cheer.

The immense and boundless force, bridging the fist, was thus poured into the body of the sickle.

The metal vibrated violently, and the surging force, like waves, forced Rita to release her grip on the long handle through the scythe. She knew that even if she continued to hold on to the weapon, the result would not be good.

In Rita's eyes, weapons that cannot be controlled at will are no better than bare hands.

The scythe lost its support and was twisted in mid-air by the spiraling force. Just as it was about to fall and hit the ground after spinning half a circle, the girl gently flicked it with her slender hand, causing it to spin once more in the air before landing lightly in her hand again.

Rita regained her weapon, but in return, the two distanced themselves once again.

Su Qing'an retracted his fist stance and said softly:

"This is explosive force."

Rita had no intention of attacking, and after several rounds of close combat, neither of them showed any change in health on the data screen.

She hadn't used her full strength, but she had witnessed how troublesome and terrifying Su Qing'an was. Even though she might not have seen the full extent of his strength yet, the martial arts he was displaying were already quite exaggerated.

That was a level of clarity so profound it seemed otherworldly.

Still water? A cunning mind?

No, it should be some level slightly above that.

Perhaps the opponent is only at the B-rank level when facing an opponent like a Honkai Beast, but when facing humans, Su Qing'an's danger level cannot be judged by this level.

The fact that this boy could do this without relying on any armor is enough to amaze Rita, but it's a real pity that such talent is hampered by his ability to deal with Honkai energy.

The girl lightly wielded her sickle and said:

"I've heard that Mr. Su's teacher was the venerable Mr. Chen Junxuan, right?"

“I have some knowledge of the Tai Xuan Liu martial arts. Well, don’t be surprised, Valkyries need to learn a wide range of things, and absorbing the wisdom of others to enrich themselves is also one of the qualities of a maid.”

"That's what Tai Xuan Liu is all about: learning from others' martial arts to achieve one's own, while using complex techniques to be able to handle any situation."

"In theory, the Tai Xuan style is only suitable for geniuses, because being comprehensive often means spending a lot of energy and time, and only those with exceptional talent can inherit it perfectly."

"And if it can be successfully passed down, the martial arts displayed by each generation will be completely different."

"It seems that, just as Mr. Chen Junxuan wished, Mr. Su has already found his own path? It is truly surprising and admirable."

Su Qing'an remained unmoved, knowing that with the power of destiny, all his traces in this world could be thoroughly investigated.

Therefore, if someone becomes interested in you, it's perfectly normal for them to learn a little about your martial arts teacher.

He said:

"Master Chen is very powerful, unlike people like me. Everything he has is accumulated little by little over the years. I may be considered diligent, and I have unintentionally created some moves, but I haven't yet."

The boy paused, as if confirming something again, and then said seriously:

"We haven't completely found our own path yet."

After realizing that he was living under a fate manipulated by the gods, Su Qing'an was unable to have the confidence and courage to fully implement the so-called martial arts.

He couldn't bring himself to forge ahead relentlessly.

Therefore, even if he surpassed Chen Junxuan in skill, he was not qualified to say that he had forged his own path.

Ultimately, this is also due to Su Qing'an's inner awkwardness and stubbornness.

For him, the reason to continue on the path of martial arts is no longer simply a means to deal with danger.

Perhaps this was the last spark of hope he was desperately clinging to.

A spark, regardless of its strength.

Su Qing'an walked step by step toward the girl, which was a strange behavior. He had clearly been trying hard to create distance before, but now he was ignoring all his gains.

He said softly:

“Miss Rita, I have only known Master Chen for less than half a year, yet he has completely entrusted the Tai Xuan Liu to me. The only way for me to repay him is to expand and enrich the Tai Xuan Liu to a higher level.”

"You are a very strong person."

"So I think I can learn something from you."

"And the facts are just as I wished."

The moment the words left his mouth, the boy vanished without a trace.

Amidst the ordinary sounds of words and footsteps, Su Qing'an replicated the technique Rita had previously used on him.

There is an ancient martial art that has been passed down in China. Legend has it that assassins who master this technique kill one enemy after another like invisible phantoms. It is a bizarre assassination technique with a success rate of nearly 100%.

The reason why it was said to be close, rather than one hundred percent, is that the person's last assassination attempt failed.

This is a technique that uses special breathing and footwork to slip one's presence into the opponent's subconscious, thus avoiding the opponent's perception.

While it's not confirmed whether Rita uses the exact same technology, the principle should be the same.

This is a martial arts principle that has a scientific basis but is also quite mystical and nonsensical.

Humans are biological beings, so they cannot, like machines, discern everything they see and hear in detail and with precision.

Even if one could actually see and hear those things, it would be impossible for the human consciousness to carefully distinguish each one. If all the things and information received by the senses were observed and analyzed by the brain one by one, the human brain would generate a lot of unnecessary burden, or even overheat.

Therefore, the human brain will stuff low-priority information into the subconscious mind within the conscious mind, thereby reducing the brain's processing load by giving up the identification of this information.

Just like when Rita was carefully observing Su Qing'an's personality details and doing personality profiling, she would ignore unnecessary details because of her focused judgment, which would cause her to have some emotional fluctuations when she saw the boy's appearance.

This footwork technique perfectly utilizes this human trait, allowing one to slip into the opponent's subconscious and thus avoid the enemy's perception. Even if one openly enters the enemy's field of vision, the enemy will subconsciously give up on recognizing them.

This led to a bizarre situation where what should have been visible to the naked eye could not be detected, and ultimately, the situation was silently approached to a fatal distance from which there was no way to salvage it.

But neither Rita nor Su Qingan could do that against their current opponents.

Both of them had reached the level of "mind's eye" in martial arts. In a head-on confrontation, it would be impossible to deceive the opponent for even a moment. Therefore, Rita finally appeared from the left rear. After sliding into Su Qing'an's subconscious, she came behind him and launched an attack.

If she continues to choose to attack head-on, the Still Water Realm will make it impossible for Su Qing'an not to notice the anomaly.

Having experienced this incident, Su Qing'an had a premonition that if the level of Taixu Sword Qi were to improve again, his perception of the outside world would become even more terrifying, at which point such technology would be completely ineffective against him.

If history were to repeat itself, Kenshin would perfectly transmit to his instincts the phenomena of air vibrations, the sound of footsteps, the approaching body temperature, and the warnings of his soul the instant Rita takes those strange steps.

At that point, betraying Su Qing'an naturally became a pipe dream.

In the live stream footage, Su Qing'an walked normally for half a breath before silently circling behind Rita. The maid frowned but kept looking in the direction in front of her, seemingly unaware.

Just like before, when Su Qing'an looked ahead as if ignoring the maid's figure, this was a battle that would be completely incomprehensible without explanation.

Among the Valkyries in the coffee shop, only Kiana, who had witnessed Rita's move, could understand what had happened and comprehend the outrageous actions Su Qing'an had taken.

In less than three minutes of combat, Kiana learned her opponent's signature move, a scene that reminded her of when Su Qing'an learned Raiden Mei's Hokushin Ittō-ryū.

But no matter how many times I've seen this, it always feels abnormal.

Almost immediately in the next frame, the boy unleashed a sword strike.

Rita, who seemed to be caught off guard, swung her scythe back in that instant.

The illusory scythe and sword blade pierced the opponent's vitals almost simultaneously.

On the big screen, the two health bars were instantly emptied to zero.

The live stream was automatically cut off.

The boy, lost in thought, recalled the feel of his hand striking the other's neck earlier, and...

The image of his chest being pierced by a sickle.

Even after successfully learning the technique by stealing it from her, the maid displayed incredible composure and launched an extremely sharp counterattack in the end.

In a real battlefield, that would mean dragging the defeat into a situation of mutual destruction.

The S-rank Valkyrie lives up to her name.

Rita smiled and bowed slightly, saying:

"Then let's call it a draw this time. Rita is very satisfied with this meeting."