297 Humble Attitude

Clang—

With a shrill cry, a cold glint flashed across the corners of Lin Ran’s eyes, and a strand of hair on his temples was cut off.

The Ten Miles Dragon Roar was knocked away and shot into the thick metal wall.

Lin Ran looked at his empty hand in shock, his mind blank.

Ye Shixiao actually knocked the Ten Miles Dragon Roar away with one strike. This had never happened even when Lin Ran fought Liu Hongshan!

“Has he been hiding his realm?”

Lin Ran’s heart skipped a beat. Then, he scanned Ye Shixiao with his divine sense. He was at the seventh level of the Martial Master Realm, which was by no means high given his age.

Lin Ran couldn’t believe this outcome, but if Ye Shixiao wanted to hide his realm in front of him, he had to at least be on par with him. This was clearly impossible.

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Lin Ran raised his hand and called back the Ten Miles Dragon Roar. With a straight face, he pretended to be calm and said, “I was careless just now. Again!”

Ye Shixiao nodded silently and made an attacking pose again.

However, with the previous lesson, Lin Ran did not underestimate his enemy this time.

“Get ready, I’m coming!”

Lin Ran reminded and waved his arm to attack, but this time, before he could even slash out with the Ten Miles Dragon Roar, a cold light flashed in front of him.

Clang! Swish— Whoosh!

Touching his sideburns, which had clearly become much thinner, Lin Ran became serious. “Again!”

Clang! Swish— Whoosh!

Clang! Swish— Whoosh!

Clang! Swish— Whoosh!

…

After an unknown period of time, Ye Jin, who was watching them spar, yawned, feeling sleepy. Lin Ran finally rubbed his neck tiredly and waved his hand. “I’m done! You must have cheated!”

Ye Shixiao frowned. “What right do you have to say that I cheated?”

Lin Ran rolled his eyes and said angrily, “We agreed to only use sword technique, but you secretly used your internal energy!”

“You saw it?”

Lin Ran was speechless. After a few seconds, he said stubbornly, “You’re only at the seventh level of the Martial Master Realm. If you didn’t activate your internal energy, how could you slash out so quickly?”

“I told you you don’t know anything about swords!”

Ye Shixiao snorted and turned his body to face the air. “Watch carefully. I’ll only demonstrate it once.”

With that, Ye Shixiao assumed that attacking posture again. This time, Lin Ran saw it from the side and almost immediately noticed something.

When the two of them were sparring, he tried almost every angle of attack. Although the speed of Ye Shixiao’s sword was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, Lin Ran was never able to get close to him.

Just as Lin Ran was thinking about it, Ye Shixiao suddenly attacked.

Lin Ran originally thought that Ye Shixiao must have secretly used his internal energy to cheat, but after seeing his sword move, Lin Ran immediately realized that it was not the case.

When ordinary martial artists drew their swords, be it slashing or stabbing, their movements were basically straightforward. However, Ye Shixiao was different.

The moment he attacked, Ye Shixiao would gently raise the sword and use his finger to make the sword spin in his hand.

At the same time, Ye Shixiao’s arm would swing forward like a whip. Even without using any internal energy, he could still slash out a cold light!

Clang—

The sword blade tore through the air with a light sound. Although there was no sword energy, it gave Lin Ran a feeling that was even more shocking than the first time he saw the sword mark of the Ten Miles Sword God!

“What a fast sword move!”

Lin Ran couldn’t help but exclaim. He hurriedly went to Ye Shixiao’s side and asked humbly, “I’ve never seen this saber move. Is this the saber move used by the martial artists of the Great Yong Dynasty?”

“Yes and no.”

Ye Shixiao nodded and shook his head. “You’re right about one thing. This is indeed not a sword move, but this is also not a saber move used by the martial artists of the Great Yong Dynasty.”

Lin Ran frowned to show that he didn’t understand, but Ye Shixiao didn’t continue to explain. After putting down the Yin-Yang Sword, he picked up a small hammer and swung it at the forging anvil in the same posture as before.

With a clang, sparks flew everywhere. Lin Ran suddenly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had been practicing sword moves for so long, but in the end, they were not as comparable to a hammer strike.

“Don’t underestimate this move.”

As if knowing what Lin Ran was thinking, Ye Shixiao said seriously, “This is the wisdom of craftsmen for thousands of years. Forging iron is a hard job. If one doesn’t have skills and only rely on brute force, one will be crippled in less than a day.”

Lin Ran nodded repeatedly. On this point, he agreed with Ye Shixiao.

“Therefore, the craftsmen created this posture, so that they can use the least strength to swing the heaviest hammer.”

As Ye Shixiao spoke, he swung the hammer a few more times. The angle and speed of the hammer landing on the anvil were different, but each swing caused a lot of sparks.

Lin Ran praised, “Impressive.” Then, he frowned and said in confusion, “But what does this have to do with your sword move? The situation when we fight is unpredictable. Your reaction speed is a little too fast.”

“Actually, it’s related.”

Ye Shixiao shook his head and said seriously as if he was teaching a disciple, “An iron blank is quite impure.”

“The parts with more impurities need to be hammered heavily, and the parts with less impurities need to be hammered lightly. It’s even more so when adjusting the shape of the saber. The speed at which the hammer falls is very fast. You have to use the strength of your wrist to adjust the angle.”

“As for the reaction speed you mentioned…”

At this point, Ye Shixiao suddenly paused, as if he did not know how to explain. After a few seconds, he continued, “After the iron blank is pulled out of the furnace, it will quickly cool down, so you have to observe and hammer it at an extremely fast speed.”

“I see…” Lin Ran nodded thoughtfully.

Recalling his habit of drawing swords in the past, Lin Ran seemed to understand something. Just as he was thinking seriously, he heard a faint cracking sound.

Then, Lin Ran clearly felt something in his body begin to move restlessly!