Chapter 5205 — New Tricks

Had it been Qiu Lingshan and her lot, he would have taken them seriously enough. But since his opponent was Ying Ziyu, a hopeless tail-ender with no real strength to speak of, there was no need for concern at all.

"Will Ziyu be all right?" Qiu Lingshan asked, a little worried. She knew Luo Shasheng's strength better than anyone; at the early Foundation Establishment level alone he was no simple opponent, and if Ying Ziyu could not truly master the counter-moves Wei Zhao had taught them, then with her abilities she would likely find it hard to cope.

"Ziyu, she..." Wei Zhao paused, then suddenly smiled with a meaning all his own. "She's actually quite strong."

Qiu Lingshan and the others were all taken aback, exchanging glances. Wei Zhao's standards had always been high—even with their own performances he had never offered such an assessment. For him to call her strong, could Ying Ziyu actually be an unmatched genius?

At that moment the duel in the arena finally began in earnest, and to everyone's considerable surprise, Ying Ziyu did not follow the enemy strategy and counter-moves Wei Zhao had taught them. Instead she chose to seize the initiative and attack from the very first exchange.

That sight startled not only the onlookers but Luo Shasheng in the arena as well—though he quickly bared a cold sneer. To strike first, one needed the strength to back it up. Did she have it?!

With Luo Shasheng's cold sneer came a slash of his signature weapon, the Shasheng Blade, straight at her face. Yet Ying Ziyu had anticipated it and slipped aside, then in an instant closed the distance and drove a punch at him head-on.

Luo Shasheng was shocked—the spot Ying Ziyu struck was precisely the vital weak point of his current move. How was that possible?!

If it had been a move as famous as the Snow Kill Style, the signature technique of the Snow Sword Sect, having its weak point pinpointed would have been understandable. But the move he was using now, Snow Without Trace, was utterly unremarkable. How could this woman possibly have foreseen it?

Surely it could not be her on-the-spot reaction? That reaction speed would be far too astonishing—and besides, could any ordinary person have studied the Snow Sword Sect's techniques so thoroughly? Even a disciple of the Snow Sword Sect might not be able to pinpoint a move's weak point that quickly.

Fortunately, Snow Without Trace's flaws were far less obvious than those of the Snow Kill Style, and Luo Shasheng hastily changed his move. Ying Ziyu did not change hers, still striking at the original spot—though Luo Shasheng easily blocked it.

"Does this woman not know how to adapt?" Luo Shasheng thought, startled. Before he could react, Ying Ziyu's next move came at him again, a fraction faster than before—only this time it did not target the move's weak point.

Luo Shasheng hurried to block again, but before he could even withdraw his move after the block, Ying Ziyu's third strike came at him faster still, likewise not aimed at the weak point—it looked like an ordinary body part.

"Always picking meaningless spots—what on earth is this woman doing?" Luo Shasheng was instead somewhat baffled. Fast as Ying Ziyu's attacks were—unnaturally so—they were easy to block, and one could say they posed no threat at all.

Only, there had been that earlier case of capsizing in a ditch against Qiu Lingshan. Even if Luo Shasheng looked down on Ying Ziyu from the bottom of his heart, for the moment he did not dare take this bizarre flurry of rapid attacks lightly. In the spirit of holding fast and meeting all changes with constancy, he began to defend himself methodically.

Seven or eight moves passed in this fashion, and Luo Shasheng soon grew impatient. He had seen through Ying Ziyu's true caliber—this woman was indeed weak, and everything before had been pure bluster.

With a shift of thought, Luo Shasheng was about to launch his counterattack—yet before he had even made his move, Ying Ziyu was already charging straight at the weak point of his technique. He nearly scared himself stiff and hastily reverted to his turtle-shell defensive posture.

"What's this..." Qiu Lingshan found the sight rather strange. From Ying Ziyu's performance, it seemed she was using the counter-moves Wei Zhao had taught, yet not entirely—apart from the first move and the one just now, the rest were not counter-moves aimed specifically at the Snow Sword Sect.

"Besides the Snow Sword Sect, Ziyu seems to be using counter-moves for other ancient sects too, boss. What's going on here?" Yu Bing had finally caught on, and could not help asking in a low voice.

Wu Chengtian and the others promptly understood as well. No wonder Ying Ziyu's moves all looked so familiar—they were counter-moves for various ancient sects, only jumbled together, which made them look somewhat motley.

"Just as you see—a mixed-up version of the ancient sects' counter-moves," Wei Zhao said with a smile. He had compiled them specially for Ying Ziyu. Given the exam syndrome she had displayed before, making her use the appropriate counter-moves on the spot like the others seemed a very difficult thing, so he had come up with this method.

No need to think too much—just unleash the entire set of mixed counter-moves during the match. That made things much easier.

"But will that work?" Qiu Lingshan asked doubtfully. So far Ying Ziyu did seem to have bluffed her opponent somewhat, but she had not landed a single scratch on him, and sooner or later he would see through it. Besides, this stance was merely wasting true qi and stamina—there was not the slightest sign of a chance at victory.

"Exactly. When your strength is inferior to your opponent's, snatching the attack like Ziyu is doing easily exposes openings, so one must adopt a strategy of defending and counterattacking—isn't that what you taught us, boss?" Wu Chengtian chimed in.

"That's normally true, but take a good look at what Ziyu is doing right now," Wei Zhao prompted.

At his words the group watched Ying Ziyu closely, and after a moment Yu Bing suddenly caught on. "It seems she's deliberately weakened the power of her moves to raise her attack speed—more precisely, she has no choice but to weaken their power."

"Quite so. They say nothing is indestructible but speed—and speed here means not only movement speed but attack speed as well. Once your attack speed reaches a certain level, your opponent cannot react in time, achieving the aim of using offense in place of defense. So I taught her a whole new way of fighting: close-quarters instant strikes," Wei Zhao explained with a smile.

He had heard of it by chance during his years on the Cloud-Tier Island, but because he possessed powerful moves like the Five Elements Killing Qi and Thunder Burial, there had been no need to trade strengths for weaknesses. Little did he expect it would come in handy with Ying Ziyu this time. (To be continued.)