Chương 58: Dual Blades

During this period, Jieluo has experienced many battles. Although the intensity was not very high, he has gained a more systematic and comprehensive understanding of his own abilities and roughly figured out where he stands.

Jieluo slowly drew the Onikiri from his waist, tossing the sword back and forth between his left and right hands. He held it in each hand for a moment, and finally settled into a two-handed grip, starting with a mid-section stance, the sword tip pointing upwards in front of him, aimed at the opponent's throat, possessing both offensive and defensive characteristics.

"Be careful, dual-wielding style. If you get slashed by my sword, even your soul will be severed. You won't recover easily from the injury, and all basic healing methods will be ineffective." Jieluo kindly explained, "This is an ability that targets opponents with high self-healing abilities and immortality. The sword is called Onikiri."

Is that out of kindness?

"What a dangerous sword." The consequences of being cut by it would be very serious, even lifelong. Mito's eyes were filled with caution. She raised one hand and gently touched the pendant on her ear. With a flash of light, two swords appeared. Mito held one in each hand. As chakra was injected, the blades of both swords emitted a faint blue light of chakra.

Those are truly two formidable knives.

Seeing this, Jie Luo raised an eyebrow.

The chakra dagger Jieluo knew about it, but he had never actually seen a chakra ninja sword before.

A faint light flashed on the ninja sword, and then two cold beams, each about a foot long, shot out from the tip of the blade.

Wind Release: Nature Transformation, Chakra Wind Blade.

Suddenly, judging from their size, the two swords became two nodachi (Japanese swords).

"These are just some ordinary tricks, Wind Release: Nature Transformation, I won't go into detail," Mito said.

"Since it's a dual-sword style, why do you only have one sword?"

"Holding a sword with both hands, are you not going to form hand seals? Are you really a ninja?" Jie Luo asked. Among ninjas, it is rare to find one who holds a sword with both hands; most use one hand, and many lack the strength to slash.

"Take a guess," Mito said with a smile.

"Then why don't you take a guess?" Jieluo said.

The two faced off, the waves surging and rising on the sea, their figures bobbing up and down with them. Time seemed to stretch on endlessly.

Lucy, who was watching the battle, stared wide-eyed, but it seemed to last a very long time. Her mind wandered, and she couldn't help but wonder.

Why are you two not moving at all?

Both sides were trying to read each other's sword energy, but to each other, they only felt emptiness. This ability requires extraordinary talent; those who can do it will do it, and those who can't shouldn't even think about it.

"First of all?" Mito asked tentatively.

The three "firsts" in swordsmanship are: first before first, second before first, and first before first. These three represent three different time differences in consciousness. Second before first emphasizes defense and counterattack, and is half a beat slower than first before first in execution. First before first is a striking technique, which is called counterattack while dodging. Most ninjas' swordsmanship, and even the Uchiha, are stuck at this level of consciousness.

While "Xianxianzhixian" is a defensive counter-attack, it is a step faster than "Zhixianzhixian".

To achieve this, one must be able to read the opponent's sword energy and anticipate their intentions to launch a preemptive attack before they even make a move.

In gaming terminology, this is called pre-reading.

If you don't take action, you won't read anything.

Jieluo nodded.

There's no other reason than that both sides are waiting for the other to make the first move.

The defender can easily counter this move by switching from offense to defense. If both sides do this, it will create an awkward situation where they have to wait for the other to make a move.

"This..." Mito brandished the sword in his hand and laughed, "What a coincidence, don't we learn the same swordsmanship?"

"Ancient swordsmanship is perfectly normal..." Jielu shook his head.

During the Warring States period and even before, exchanges between samurai were very frequent. It was common for them to bring their swords and go to each other's homes to learn swordsmanship. Through fighting, they could understand and learn each other's swordsmanship concepts and techniques, and thus improve their skills. In particular, in the ninja world, without a ruler issuing a decree to limit the use of swords, the development of swordsmanship styles was unrestricted and grew almost wildly.

Until recently, with the end of the Warring States period, samurai were forced to lose their livelihood, but they continued to develop swordsmanship. Ninja swordsmanship was practiced not only by samurai but also by ninja clans, so they would inevitably steal some techniques from others.

"It's actually a merciful swordsmanship like the Living Man Sword," Mito said.

"Yura, you have a kind heart."

"You're mistaken, Mito," Yura said.

"A sword is a weapon of death. Regardless of the style of swordsmanship, it is a technique for killing. A sword that kills can also save lives, and a sword that gives life can also take it."

"You're right." Mito smiled slyly and said, "Since I'm a year older than you, I'll let you go first."

Since neither side can sense the other's sword energy, there's no possibility of either side gaining the upper hand. Therefore, the battle becomes a matter of who gains the upper hand first, and the decisive factor is...

Jieluo nodded indifferently and said, "I'm going to go."

Mito's face darkened, and he said, "Come on!"

The classic opening of a ninja battle involves mutual intelligence gathering and probing with small skills. Ninjas usually start with conventional ninjutsu.

But it's too slow in a sword duel.

The battle had already begun.

Jieluo switched hands again, first wielding the sword in her right hand, then instantly switching back to her left...

At that moment, Mito's pupils contracted slightly. Left hand?

Among samurai, there is an interesting phenomenon: holding a sword in the right hand signifies friendliness and no hostility. The reason behind this is that if you hold a sword in your right hand, you cannot draw it with your left hand. Without a sword held in the left hand, it is basically harmless.

Almost all existing swordsmanship styles in the ninja world are designed for right-handed swordsmen. Against left-handed fighters...

That's really an unorthodox fighting style. Am I going to play it?

Mito focused some of his attention on Yura's hands, and if he wasn't careful, he could easily lose his sword path when his opponent switched hands.

Jieluo specifically reminded Mito twice to be careful when she switched hands, and Mito noticed.

It wasn't that Yura meant well; rather, it was a deliberate reminder to Mito to distract him.

The next second, he switched back to wielding the sword with both hands, and with a mid-range attack, Jieluo said, "Do you have the confidence to block my two-handed slash with one hand?"

"Well..." Mito said, "Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm actually quite strong."

Oh, how would that compare to a monster's body, which feels no pain and has completely lost the safety valve that restricts muscle exertion?

But since they both use two swords, their strength must be considerable.

It's quite difficult to assess the sheer muscular strength of ninjas in the ninja world.

Yura is not a yokai known for its great strength. Its strength is relative to that of humans, and it does not have a significant advantage among yokai.

Abandoning the mystical concepts of swordsmanship, swordsmanship has never been a contest of strength and agility, but rather a game of skill, tactics, and psychology.

"However, facing two swords at the same time," Mito laughed, "are you confident you can block the combined strikes of two swords with just one?"

This is the advantage of dual-wielding: one sword defends and blocks the opponent's attack, leaving the enemy unarmed, allowing the other sword to deliver a fatal blow.

"Just a knife, Mito?" Yura said with a light smile.

"Then you'd better take a good look."

Mito raised an eyebrow.

"You think you can conjure a knife out of thin air?"

It's clearly just one.