Supreme strength and unbeatable physique.
All brute force and no skills.
It was a strong body that had earned him the victories of every battle he participated.
Somehow, Lu Chen realized that his dream of becoming a suave and debonair Swordsman grew increasingly further apart from reality.
However, that didn't discourage Lu Chen. Although it was nice to look cool, survival was more important. Lu Chen was very satisfied with his strong body and high Vigor.
A true Swordsman is one who has an unsurpassable body and strength!
While the cogs were turning in his mind, Lu Chen was still in a stalemate with the black umbrella.
In stark contrast to Lu Chen's excitement, the umbrella's situation grew more perilous every second. In fact, it was scorching red in heat as Lu Chen's blood has covered almost all of its body.
It couldn't hold much longer.
However, Lu Chen's memories of his near-death encounter moments ago were still fresh.
Hence, even though he knew the umbrella's end was nearing, Lu Chen refused to let his guard down as long as the system message doesn't prompt him of his victory.
He grew more focused and tightened his clench on the umbrella while continue to direct his blood toward it.
As he had a high Constitution, the huge blood loss didn't seem to bring him any discomfort.
Another minute passed, the umbrella was ninety-nine percent covered in his blood.
Even so, Lu Chen didn't let his guard down which was the right choice to make as the umbrella did have something up its sleeves.
As his blood covered the umbrella, the wraiths it contained were also wiped clean by Lu Chen's blood.
At its final moments, the black umbrella suddenly closed itself and trapped Lu Chen inside of it.
This time, it didn't let out any black mist as it seemed to finally understand the mist had no use against Lu Chen.
However, it didn't give up its resistance. After trapping Lu Chen with its canopy, it transmitted a vision through the shaft into Lu Chen's mind.
It wasn't a wraith or anything like that. It was purely a vision that looked just like an ordinary picture.
But naturally, how could the final trick to save its life be that simple?
Sure enough, it wasn't simple.
The vision from the umbrella went right through his Vigor and entered into Lu Chen's mind clearly. In an instant, all of Lu Chen's attention was drawn to it.
The vision was about a suave swordsman who dressed in a robe white like snow, he was holding an umbrella above him and walking with his back to Lu Chen. The sky was dark and it was raining, blurring the outlines of the swordsman's figure and the surroundings.
Even so, Lu Chen's eyes teared the moment he "saw" the swordsman, it felt as if there were swords poking into his eyes.
This isn't a puppet the umbrella controls, it's the umbrella's old owner.
Somehow, Lu Chen just had the feeling so.
But soon, Lu Chen didn't have the time to think about it anymore.
In his vision, the swordsman sensed the prying eyes from the back and suddenly stopped to turn back around.
As he moved, a sense of horror appeared in Lu Chen's heart.
If he sees me, I'll die!
As soon as the thought came into his mind, Lu Chen disregarded everything and shouted at the top of his lungs.
Back in the material realm, a mouthful of blood was spat out from his mouth and splashed on the umbrella. At the same time, a dominating aura blasted out from Lu Chen's mind at the vision he saw.
Honestly speaking, the Conqueror's Haki was extremely powerful, but Lu Chen was too weak to fully unleash its prowess. Even after he activated the Conqueror's Haki, Lu Chen was still not fully comfortable yet as the feeling of death still lingered in his heart.
Thankfully, Lu Chen's opponent wasn't the suave swordsman but an umbrella that the swordsman once wielded. Moreover, the umbrella was most likely just a tool the swordsman randomly took by the side of the road and it had also left the swordsman countless years ago.
The blood spat out by Lu Chen painted the black umbrella fully red while the Conqueror's Haki shattered the umbrella's last thoughts.
[System Message: Host has killed a Black Coffin Vicious Specter (Totem-Suppressed) and earned 400 Mastery Points.]
Undergraded Broken Soul, White Wander Roaming Spirit, and Black Coffin Vicious Specter. These were the grades of the ghosts Lu Chen learned from Ah'Chen's knowledge.
I didn't expect it to be a Black Coffin Vicious Specter. Well, that makes sense. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be so hard to deal with even when it was suppressed by the totem pillar.
Even though he was surprised that there would be a Black Coffin Vicious Specter around the village, he was relieved that it was now dead. On the other hand, the battle rewarded him with lots of Mastery Points.
However, before Lu Chen throw and leave the umbrella on the ground, a cold voice suddenly appeared in Lu Chen's mind.
"Interesting!"
The sudden voice shocked Lu Chen.
"How is it possible? The umbrella is dead, why have you not yet dispersed?"
He didn't need to guess and already knew the owner of the voice being the swordsman he saw in the vision.
Lu Chen couldn't express how terrified he was. After he killed the umbrella, the vision it left in his mind was also fading. But somehow, the swordsman that appeared in his vision was talking to him.
Immediately, Lu Chen squinted his eyes and thought, Is the Evil is alive?
It was as if he knew what was on Lu Chen's mind, the white swordsman chortled, "Don't compare me with that inferior. Of course I'd sense you when you called me."
He who must not be named. This is a god!
As soon as he heard the white swordsman's comments, Lu Chen immediately thought of a high-level existence.
However, before Lu Chen's feelings get to him, the vision turned blurry again.
"This time, it's my… mistake, I didn't thought.... an umbrella to also be affec-… turn an Evil."
"Whatever, since you helped… clean up, I am not…, give you… rewards, how much.. you learn… up to you…"
The swordsman faded away before finishing his sentence. However, the mist didn't fade and instead, rammed into Lu Chen's soul.
Boom—
In that instance, Lu Chen felt as if his mind was going to explode from the massive amount of information that was squeezed into his head.
Blood flowed out from Lu Chen's mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils, and he collapsed straight down to the ground.
"Ah'Chen…"
"Are you alright? Ah'Chen…"
"Quickly get to Master Wuzu!"
…
On the top of a hill, a young man was practicing his basic sword moves, swinging his sword out and then bringing it back to his waist one time after another.
Day or night, sunny or rainy, whatever day whatever time, the young man could always be found practicing on the same spot.
In the passage of time, trees grew and withered, seasons came and left; but no matter what, the swordsman never stopped his training.
As time passed, he grew from a young man to an adult but the one thing that never changed was him honing his swordsmanship.
In fact, the time he spent training only increased.
He started from 3,000 swings a day, then increased to 5,000. When he was at the end of his youth, he was already doing 10,000 swings a day, and when he hits adulthood, he was doing 100,000 swings a day.
Every day, he would swing his sword out forward and brings it back to his waist, and repeating the same action for another 99,999 times. At some point, his sword turned virtually invisible, one could only see a blank space filled the afterimages of the sword.
Suddenly one day, the afterimages of the sword decreased in number from 100,000 down to 10,000, then 5,000, to 3,000, and eventually, just one.
Ever since then, the swordsman would stand on the top of the hill for a whole day just to swing his sword once a day.
When his arm moved and the sword swung forward, the sword…
"Ahhh…."
Lu Chen abruptly sat up from the bed while shouting in pain and then breathing heavily.