Bai Wei's body collapsed. Though his life was not in danger, Chu Hao's four precise sword strikes had severed the tendons in his arms and legs, leaving him utterly unable to stand.
"How... how could this be?"
Bai Wei turned his head, staring fixedly at Chu Hao.
"Your speed is indeed formidable. Were it anyone else, they wouldn't have been able to react to your swiftness. But I am different from them. I observed the movements of your body, every minute action, every tiny detail. Thus, the moment you struck, no matter how quick, it was utterly useless. For I didn't need to match your speed; I simply anticipated your every move."
Chu Hao retracted his sword, speaking calmly.
A true master could discern and predict an enemy's actions with merely a glance, and Chu Hao was precisely such a person.
"So that's how it is..."
Bai Wei curved his lips into a smile, though it was a rather desolate one.
"Bai Wei, three Qi Refining Realm stages higher than this fellow, and he even struck first, yet he still failed!"
"What's more, he was defeated in a single exchange!"
Many who had disbelieved in Chu Hao's victory found their scorn transformed into loud, clear gulps.
Evidently, they were utterly astonished by this outcome.
Liu Ji Ya wore an expression as if she had already foreseen this scene. In her eyes, the moment Chu Hao drew his sword, his image mirrored the instant he had taught her swordsmanship not long ago.
"A sixth-stage Qi Refining Realm cultivator, defeating a ninth-stage Qi Refining Realm cultivator in one blow!"
Liu Qian was deeply shocked, for she knew how vast the three-stage disparity truly was.
Even Liu Ji Ya, when she was a sixth-stage Qi Refining Realm cultivator, could only draw with an eighth-stage Qi Refining Realm cultivator. And Liu Ji Ya was already acknowledged as the top genius of the Liu family, even the foremost talent in Jade City.
Meanwhile, Chu Hao hadn't employed any other means to bridge the gap; he had relied solely on his swordsmanship!
Did this not imply that Chu Hao's potential was even higher than Liu Ji Ya's?
In this entire Jade City, she had never heard of anyone with such a battle record—overcoming a three-stage realm difference with a single strike against a higher-stage cultivator.
"Swordsmanship uses willpower to perceive and control, so the sword can accomplish anything the will allows!"
To the side, Liu Ji Ya gazed at Chu Hao as if beholding an immense treasure.
She now understood that swordsmanship also had its own realm divisions. This realm was unrelated to a cultivator's cultivation realm or their cultivation techniques, but rather concerned how swordsmen wielded their swords.
The realms of swordsmanship encompassed three distinct stages.
The first stage: For these swordsmen, the sword was merely a tool. Though prolonged practice could lead to proficiency and mastery in sword usage, fundamentally, it was still a matter of "habitual action" rather than truly wielding the sword.
A true sword master, however, belonged to the second stage of swordsmanship: Sword and Swordsman United. In the first stage of swordsmanship, no matter how diligent the practice, one could not deny the truth that the sword was merely an external tool. The will controlled the body, and then the body controlled the sword—this was an inherent flaw.
Hence, "Human and Sword as One" was born. Swordsmen in this realm no longer regarded the sword as an external tool, but as an extension of their own body.
Such swordsmen, whether in speed or destructive power, far surpassed those of the first stage. Countless individuals cultivated swordsmanship in the world, but among thousands of swordsmen, perhaps only one could reach this realm.
Liu Ji Ya herself had already stepped into this realm of swordsmanship, which was why she could glimpse Chu Hao's swordsmanship realm.
That was the third stage: To Command the Sword with Will!
When a weapon left the hand, it was as if control was lost. Even swordsmen of the second stage, who viewed the sword as an arm, would lose control of it if that arm were severed. Only in the third stage of swordsmanship did the sword become one with the swordsman's will, and how could will ever be severed?
Because will was the sword, anything—even a single leaf or a blade of grass—could become a sword! As long as the swordsman's will deemed it so.
Of swordsmen who had reached this realm, Liu Ji Ya knew only one person in Jade City, and that cultivator was already a tenth-stage Great Grandmaster Realm expert.
Chu Hao was the second person Liu Ji Ya had seen achieve the third stage in swordsmanship.
"Senior Zhou Zi Ya cultivated swordsmanship for nearly a hundred years, befriending his sword daily, caring for nothing else but swordsmanship. His sincerity towards the sword was unmatched. Only such a person could attain the third stage of swordsmanship. Yet he... is still a youth!"
"At eighteen, I reached the second stage of swordsmanship and deluded myself into thinking I was a genius swordsman. Now I see how ridiculous my thoughts were then. Compared to him, I am no different from those onlookers."
"Who is he, truly? Was he born with a sword in his soul?"
Liu Ji Ya mused, her heart surging with turbulent waves.
At this moment, Chu Hao's value to her had increased tenfold!
Compared to Chu Hao, the pathetic Bai Wei lying there was but a speck of dust; even a hundred Bai Weis could not compare to Chu Hao.
"To think this Chu Hao is so formidable."
Ning Peng gulped. Of course, his gaze could not be as discerning as Liu Ji Ya's; he hadn't perceived Chu Hao's swordsmanship realm.
The others only saw the result of Chu Hao defeating Bai Wei; as for the process and how he achieved it, all were utterly bewildered. Only Liu Ji Ya, with her Great Grandmaster Realm cultivation and second-stage swordsmanship realm, could truly discern and comprehend the genuine reason for Chu Hao's victory.