Refining the Heavens 4 (炼天四)

Chapter 24: Northern Star Array: Arhat Pantheon

The two one metre plus gashes on him are deep enough to reveal the bones.

Tommy who somehow managed to protect his vitals in time felt his body wrecked with pain. His eyes widened with a blended swirl of confusion and shock. His trial would've ended prematurely had he reacted a moment slower.

His enemies did not give him the time to figure out what happened and continued their assault.

Sword Slave struck first. His slimmer weapon allowed him to fully utilise his speed. Lashing out with his right hand, a single strike broke past the sound barrier and created a sonic boom while he aimed at Tommy's head.

A grin appeared on his face as his sword slashed across the boy's throat. His target wounded and slow, coupled with the suddenness of his attack, the swordsman was certain that the fight is over. But, as the gleaming steel cut past his target, the smile on his face froze.

He twisted his head to the left at a flitting shadow he noticed at the edge of his eyes. What he had struck slowly flickered and dispersed into electric sparks.

Afterimage.

"No wonder my hit felt light."

Tommy had dodged so fast that what Sword Slave cut down was mere air.

Against them, he dared not be careless and this time, he made certain to avoid the attack completely.

Swordy caught up quickly and cleave downwards with his giant blade, but just like before it was another afterimage.

The thing about barbarians are, they lose their heads very quickly in battle, and that is both literally and figuratively. Once they are dropped into action, the combat takes over their head and incite them to descend into madness. Out of a battle-frenzy, however, they know fear like any other man.

They attacked relentlessly, in their fury they are stronger and faster but they did not lose their martial form. The battleground shook with their every blow. Each slash was aimed to kill but all they could cut was air.

At the same time, Tommy was carefully observing every detail.

The strokes of their swords is always followed by a gush of wind. Although there are no outward display of elements or Ki, Tommy was certain that the distance of the slashes are more than meets the eye.

He looked downwards without fully letting the two barbarians out of his sight, and noticed that there are indeed small scratches on the ground.

Tommy had learned to fight without depending on his Soul Perception because in return for acquiring the details of everything around he will be flooded with unnecessary information, not to mention how draining it is over time.

His eyes squinted as an unsettling thought came to mind.

"These guys are using sword mastery! No, it's definitely not the first form of the sword, or the second. It's quite different from how Internal Ki Cultivators fight. Is it the third or fourth form?"

From his knowledge, the art of sword combat consists of but not limited to the following:

The first form, with the sword becoming an extension of the body, Body-Sword.

The second form, with the sword becoming freely wielded as the heart's desire, Heart-Sword.

The third form, with the sword projected by one's internal energy, Soul-Sword.

The fourth form, with the projected sword energy becoming one with the user, Spirit-Sword.

However, from the third form onwards, external practitioners who are not adept at projecting their Ki take on a different path and that is what he is seeing right now.