Starting from the Dragon Tribe! - Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Seventh Order Split Second

It was only then that Gen Chisei relaxed, for it was a wooden blade, crafted from fine oak, dulled, rounded, sanded, then soaked in a special oil.

The Inuyama family head’s wooden blade was not one of those mass-produced goods coated with acrylic paint. The hilt was engraved with the word “Yanagi.” It was an ancient Japanese swordsman’s practice, and an old weathered object that remained tough.

Although the wooden sword was still considered a deadly weapon in the hands of the Inuyama family head, at least it meant he didn’t have the intention to kill.

And from across the table, Lu Chen only calmly swallowed a piece of sukiyaki, then locked eyes with the old man.

The girls on both sides of the table also looked at the young man with a bit of surprise. He had been locked on by the world’s strongest Split Second user, and still pretended to calmly gobble food?

The young man and the old man met through the winter plum. The plain long table became a tumultuous sea, and the winter plum at which their gaze met was like a raft that could capsize any moment.

On both sides, the girls all held their breaths, their eyes wide open, trying to capture the collision that may happen at any moment.

Yet, in this moment, the young man spoke up. This was obviously a great taboo during an intense confrontation between two individuals!

“Shinia*, are you not afraid of breaking that artifact?” He placed Red Maple on the table. The old man did not take the chance to attack, but instead smiled. He knew what the youth meant, that in terms of weaponry, it wasn’t fair.

*TL Note: The Japanese term for an elder.

“No harm done,” Inuyama Katsu said with a smile, his left hand holding the bottom of the sword in a false grip, his right hand tightly gripping the hilt, and his body slightly leaning forward. This was the starting stance of Iaido*.

TL Note: Quickdraw.

But the distance of the table between the young man and old man was seven or eight meters long. The wooden sword obviously wasn’t that long.

Lu Chen once again fixed his gaze at Inuyama Katsu, but he did not retrieve Red Maple on the table.

Time moved at a snail’s pace. The girls on both sides of the table had fine beads of sweat on their foreheads, but no one dared to raise their hand to wipe it, afraid that their actions would break some kind of balance and miss the instance of engagement.

Gen Chisei also frowned. He didn’t understand Lu Chen’s intent. The Inuyama family head didn’t act not because Lu Chen didn’t expose any openings, or at least in Chisei’s opinion, Lu Chen was full of openings.

The Inuyama family head did not make a move because he did not want to take advantage of his junior and was waiting for Lu Chen to retrieve his sword, but he did not do anything.

What is the meaning of this? Is he trying to avoid this duel?

The Inuyama family head was not the sort of traditionalist person, he wouldn’t give this chance to young people forever.

The space was terribly quiet, with only the sound of people’s breathing and swords clashing reverberating downstairs.

In the moment that the sound below paused, the winter plum took to the air, its petals fluttering down.

***

[Translator – cheiftanin]

[Proofreader – Karane]

***

An ear-splitting sonic boom sounded. Everything on the table scattered in all directions. The sushi master’s carefully prepared dishes were all dispersed by the gale. Above the table was a blur of extreme speed, like a storm sweeping across the hall.

Seventh Order Split Second, a godly speed of 128 times!

Inuyama Katsu’s running speed obviously couldn’t break the sound barrier, but his sword could!

The angular velocity of a top baseball player’s swing could reach nearly 40 m/s, and Inuyama could do the same, even if Split Second’s actual speed was decreased due to air resistance and physical condition, easily breaking the sound barrier with the tip of his blade.

Fast, the pinnacle of fast.

Gen Chisei had also sparred privately with Inuyama Katsu, and he understood instantly that the family head was serious!

The old sword drew dark red shadows in the air, creating ephemeral frames of flowing lines.

Extreme Iai!

A cracking sound resounded, causing everyone’s hearts to tremble. They all looked at where the young man was.

Inuyama, who was standing behind Lu Chen, looked at the wooden sword in his hand in dismay. The old sword that had once followed in the glory of the Sword Saint was now reduced to a hilt. He then laughed uncontrollably.

Everyone looked at the young man who was still seated. The tremendous amount of kinetic energy generated was transmitted behind him, causing the tatami mats to roll up en masse, yet he was only moved an inch back.

The young man’s right hand was raised with his palm facing inward, holding the part of the blade that was closest to the hilt. The blade was just an inch in front of his shoulder, so Inuyama’s blade did not cut into the young man’s vitals.

Gen Chisei also laughed, but he laughed from a sense of ridiculousness.

Catching a blade with the hand was one thing, but this young man caught it in a reverse grip!

Even if his speed was twice as fast as the Inuyama family head, and the place where he grabbed was the slowest part of the blade, this was still absurd.

This would require not only extremely precise dynamic vision and lightning reflexes, but also the opportune time to grab the blade, and that time was as short as one thousandth of a second!

In addition, wouldn’t the acceleration of a seventh order Split Second combined with the original strength of the Inuyama family head mean an instantaneous force of more than a thousand kilograms? In terms of kinetic energy conversion, wouldn’t at least thousands of kilograms of force be needed to make the blade instantaneously stop.

Lu Chen slowly put the blade down onto the table that was reduced to a mess and looked regretfully at the delicacies scattered all over the ground, “Well met.”

For a while, the girls were all stunned. They couldn’t believe what had happened in front of them.

Inuyama Katsu shook his head, sighed, and sat down again next to Lu Chen. He had been defeated. Even if he climbed one or two orders, he still wouldn’t be this young man’s opponent.

What had happened in that moment made him understand the difference between himself and the other party. The gap in basic physical qualities was as large as a rift in the sky.

Such abnormal power, that allowed this young man to not suffer much reduction in speed when using Split Second, combined with his incredible base speed. Even if he (Inuyama) could climb into the ninth order Split Second, it would only match the other party. However, the other person’s abnormal strength would decide the outcome of the duel the instant their blades met.

He glanced at Gen Chisei secretively. Even though the Gen family head was also excellent and could fight evenly with him, even overwhelming his peak condition, to say whether or not Chisei could defeat the young man next to him was something to consider.

“As expected of Sensei’s new baby. It’s impossible to defy old age,” Inuyama Katsu laughed, but the girls sitting on their knees around them did not dare make a sound. They had no clue what the family head truly felt.

“I just took advantage of my youthful strength. I still have much to learn from Shinia in the area of Kotodama,” Lu Chen humbly said, lifting his cup of sake. He was not merely kissing ass. The old man in front of him was indeed the highest ranked Split Second user in the world. If possible, he hoped to get some pointers from the old man, it might help him figure out how to improve his Kotodama.

Inuyama laughed and the girls around them came back to their senses and refilled sake for the two of them. The two clinked their cups and downed it in one go.

“You can come see me when you have nothing to do during your time in Japan,” Inuyama said, which was equivalent to agreeing to Lu Chen’s request. He, unlike the other families, did not actually hate Anjou. Rather, his feelings were that of someone who was defiant and wanted to prove his worth.

He had sharpened himself for sixty-something years, but he didn’t expect that before he was even able to face Anjou, he had already been folded by the other’s new student.

Sigh—

Sensei, just what realm have you reached now?

Lu Chen’s current speed was far from what the Split Second of the Inuyama family head could compare to. It had increased a bit more after he unlocked his Kotodama. He seemed to be relaxed, but in reality, in that moment, he was extremely tense and concentrated. Grabbing the blade in a backhanded manner with that precision was by no means easy. It was meant to forcibly display his prowess.

But he ultimately was performing his mission at hand. They were to deter the Japanese branch, not start a war, so he had to show the almost hopeless difference in battle power in order to make the other side stop.

Otherwise, as the saying goes, “give an inch and they’ll take a mile.” They might have started a messy war with the kimono girls. He wasn’t scared, but fighting weaklings was so boring.

____