I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress

Chapter 345: Exchanging Swords

"Well, for the Heart Test, as I’ve already told you before, Brother Chen, the main objective of the test is to check whether the person is truly suitable to walk the arduous path of cultivation or not.

In order to check this, we are made to go through a series of mental tests to gauge the required qualities." Zhou Mei stated with a subtle frown evident on her face and continued.

"...While I know that this might sound vague, given the nature of the test, the right way is to focus on one’s innate qualities as a cultivator, which we think would help us later on in this journey...that’s what Sister Lan had told me back then."

"I see..." Yi Chen nodded in an understanding manner even though the answer wasn’t exactly what he had asked her.

Therefore, he framed it again in a more understandable manner, "Then may I know how you are working on improving these qualities?"

The subtle frown on Zhou Mei’s face disappeared when she heard the question, as she answered the next second, "Oh, that... I’m doing so by meditating for an hour or so every day, and while at it, I’m mulling over a lot of personal things like the things that I love, I hate, I’m afraid of, I regret and the like."

"Ah, so that’s how it is." Yi Chen nodded in realisation now that he got a more concrete answer to work with.

’To mull over these kinds of things, huh...’ Yi Chen thought to himself as he soon realised that throughout this period, he had never actually given himself enough time to do something like that.

Even when he was cultivating with his eyes closed, his mind had always been occupied with the Qi movements.

In the Frozen Ice Realm too, it was the same case. He had always been thinking of one thing or the other, never really giving time to sit silently with his thoughts there as well.

"...I’m sorry if my answer is a bit vague. The Heart test is truly mysterious, so all the help I’ve received so far has only amounted to this much." Zhou Mei said with a bitter expression.

"What’s there to be apologetic about? In fact, I’m glad that I asked you as it showed me the direction I should be focusing on," Yi Chen said while patting her shoulders.

"Then I’m relieved...hehe." The unsure expression on Zhou Mei’s face immediately turned to a smile when she heard those words.

Yi Chen too smiled back, seeing this, as the next second he turned his head to look out of the window.

"It’s evening already, so how about we exchange a few moves with our swords before calling it a day?"

"Alright! Let’s do that." Zhou Mei answered with a bright smile.

A few moments later, they were at the duelling grounds situated just behind Zhou Mei’s residence.

Since the place solely belonged to Zhou Mei’s family, there was no one else there at the moment apart from the two of them.

With swords tightly grasped in their hands, they were standing a few feet away from each other, with seriousness evident in their eyes.

"Ready?" Yi Chen saw that Zhou Mei’s breath had stabilised the next second.

"Y-Yes." She answered after a brief pause and nodded.

"Start then." Yi Chen stated while taking a defensive stance as the very next moment, Zhou Mei’s figure somewhat blurred and she launched herself in his direction with all her might.

CLANG!

Her downward strike aiming for Yi Chen’s head was easily blocked by Yi Chen’s blade as he pushed her away using just a little bit of his strength.

"A direct and obvious strike like that is the easiest to predict. Bring variety in your strikes."

The next second, Yi Chen took a defensive stance and said, "Try again."

Seeing this, Zhou Mei’s ego was naturally stirred as she once again rushed towards Yi Chen with all her might.

However, this time, unlike the previous attack, she angled her slash in an attempt to make it more difficult to defend against.

CLANG!

"Better, but it’s still visible."

Yi Chen pushed her away just like before while gesturing for her to try again.

Gritting her teeth, this time her sword flashed in Yi Chen’s direction once again.

This time it was a powerful upward slash targeting Yi Chen’s left waist with the intention of going all the way to his right shoulder.

CLANG!

However, this too was easily blocked by Yi Chen as he pushed her away yet again.

"I can still see it. Try again."

Yi Chen stated with a subtle disappointment evident in his face.

Seeing this, Zhou Mei, who was already brimming with frustration, finally lost her cool and exploded, "Just what can you even see? The sword?! Do I have to make it invisible or what?!"

"Aren’t you quite impatient for someone who follows the path of swordsmanship?" Yi Chen chuckled, seeing that Zhou Mei had lost her cool only after three exchanges.

To these words, Zhou Mei snorted in annoyance and countered while glaring at him, "I can ask the same question to you too. Isn’t Brother Chen quite infuriating for someone who practices the way of the sword?"

Hearing these words, Yi Chen couldn’t help but grin widely, feeling a sense of pride at her sharp counter.

"Alright, alright. I’ll answer your question then. What I meant was this..."

As Yi Chen said those words, he put forward his sword, and the next second his figure disappeared and appeared right next to Zhou Mei’s figure.

The sword that he had been holding in his hand all this while immediately rushed towards Zhou Mei’s chest the next second.

"!!!"

Not expecting something like this at all, Zhou Mei’s eyes widened because of the sudden surprise attack.

She instinctively raised her sword to defend against Yi Chen, only to find his sword slithering past hers, and its tip stopping just a few inches away from her neck.

She couldn’t help but take a deep breath before freezing in panic as a result.

Seeing the menacing glimmer his sword was giving off as it rested just beside her face, she subconsciously swallowed a small gulp of saliva.

It was exactly at that moment that Yi Chen finally retracted his blade and asked, "Did you see any difference in my strike compared to yours?"

Finally breathing normally, Zhou Mei took in a few large gulps of air as she answered Yi Chen’s question in an annoyed manner, "Isn’t that obvious? Yours was much faster."

"Wrong. I deliberately matched my sword’s speed with that of yours." Yi Chen shook his head at these words.

"That’s impossible! I clearly saw it." Zhou Mei exclaimed with a frown evident on her face.

"See what?" Yi Chen asked the next second.

"That at one moment you were aiming for my chest, but the next second you instantly directed it towards my neck!

If you had the same speed as I do, then I would have clearly seen through that strike." She answered with full confidence in her voice.

"That’s where you’re wrong." Yi Chen said after a brief pause, "Neither did I target your chest nor did I ever target your neck."

"Bu-"

Zhou Mei was about to argue back but was stopped by Yi Chen’s palm as he continued, "What do you think I had in my mind when I was attacking you earlier?"

"What you were thinking? You were most likely thinking of how you were going to pull a feint in order to strike my neck at the end." Zhou Mei said while rolling her eyes.

"Nope. No such thoughts were going on in my mind at that moment. In fact, my mind was completely clear as I wasn’t thinking anything, and that’s the reason why you couldn’t see it, my sword’s flow." Yi Chen answered.

"How can that be possible? You are bound to think of something while attacking. Otherwise, how will you even strike?!" Zhou Mei didn’t buy his words at all and asked, "Moreover, what’s this sword flow you just mentioned? I’ve never heard about it before..."

Seeing the apparent confusion on her face, Yi Chen just smiled and explained, "You asked earlier about what exactly I was able to see in your previous three strikes, right? I was talking about this, your sword’s flow."

Yi Chen paused briefly as he swung his sword to his right, as it zipped past the air the next second.

SWIIISH!

"When one has a clear target in one’s mind, that’s when the sword’s flow becomes evident to experienced eyes.

That’s also the reason why before I completed my strike you already knew the direction in which my sword would be travelling. You were able to, right?" Yi Chen asked the next second.

"Y-Yes..." Zhou Mei slowly nodded her head in thought. It was fairly obvious that he was going to strike downwards earlier.

"Mhm," Yi Chen nodded, hearing this, and the next second said while readying his sword for the next strike.

"Try blocking this strike now."