Volume 2: Thick and Thin Winds and Clouds Chapter 43: Gun Techniques vs. Iai

  Facing the snow powder that was slapped on his face, Shī Gāng Yī Yu's exterior remained calm as usual, but his inner astonishment was hard to add. Looking at Li Xiao's extremely sharp gun, he knew he had greatly underestimated the opponent in front of him. With this shot's momentum, Shī Gāng Yī Yu knew that this Ming country person was absolutely an opponent who could match himself.

  Snow powder still interfered with Shi Gang Yuyi's line of sight, and when he saw Li Xiao's gun route clearly, the opponent's gun tip had already approached within half a meter of his chest.

  Shi Gang swiftly raised his scabbard, sealing off Li Xiao's path of attack.

  "What a strong arm!"

  Even though he had parried the opponent's attack, Shishio Iwao felt that under the impact of this blow, his arms were trembling with numbness and the tiger's mouth holding the sword was starting to go numb.

  And Li Xiao's offensive with this spear was not over yet. Seeing that Shoka had sealed his move, Li Xiao immediately used his left hand as an axis and swung his right arm violently.

  Li Xiao's gun head suddenly changed direction, like a giant python that missed its first strike and flipped back to bite again. The entire length of the large spear suddenly curved and arched, with a whistling sound coming from the spearhead, and a fierce gust of wind was whipped up, as if a giant whip was heavily lashing down at Shi Guang's body.

  Bang!

  Shioka Ichinose, although quick to react, used the scabbard to block the attack again, but was unable to withstand the residual force of the gun. His center of gravity became unstable. Under the impact of the gun's recoil, Shioka Ichinose was sent flying backward, his feet leaving the ground, and his shoulder heavily collided with a large tree behind him, causing him to fall to the ground.

  Wow!

  The snow on the tree was knocked down by Shigekuni no Uta's single blow, and it all fell off with a rustling sound, piling up on his body and half-burying Shigekuni no Uta in the snow.

  Li Xiao saw an opportunity and was delighted, of course he wouldn't let it go, and with a fierce thrust, his spear pierced towards Shi Guangyue. But just as the spearhead was about to touch Shi Guangyue's body, the opponent suddenly burst out of the snow and narrowly dodged Li Xiao's spearhead at the last moment.

  Seeing Li Xiao being beaten miserably, Shi Yue's eyes seemed to be enraged, with a fierce glint flashing in his eyes, revealing a ferocious look.

  Li Xiaoxin said it was no good, and hastily retreated while withdrawing his large gun to protect himself. However, Shigekuni Ichimonji's movements were even faster, as he stepped on the wooden clogs under his hakama with both feet, treading out extremely fast small steps in the snowy ground, while his left hand supported the scabbard at his waist and his right hand grasped for the hilt of the sword on the scabbard.

  Li Xiaotang's pupils contracted slightly, and Shigekuni Yamamoto's current movement was exactly the same as when Yamamoto Kansuke was about to use Batōjutsu.

  Li Xiao didn't hesitate, took a big step forward and turned around to run quickly, left hand abandoning the gun, only leaving his right hand grasping the tail of the gun, then dragging the large gun on the snowy ground.

  At this moment, Li Xiao and Shi Guang were two figures chasing each other in the snowy ground. As they ran, the tip of Li Xiao's gun scratched the ground, leaving a deep snow mark.

  The snow suddenly fell heavily, and the strong wind also started to blow, making people's faces ache. Island Sheng Meng, who was watching from the side, could hardly see the movements of both sides, only seeing blurry shadows swaying, but he knew that Li Xiao's situation was quite unfavorable at this moment.

  The two men ran for over ten meters, Li Xiao saw that there was a big tree in front of him, and he had no choice but to retreat. Shi Jianyue saw this, gave a cold laugh, and quickened his pace, closing the distance by another step in the blink of an eye.

  At this moment, Shigekuni's feet moved swiftly, but his upper body remained still, unaffected by the movement of his feet. His left thumb lightly lifted, and his right thumb and index finger grasped the hilt of the sword, while his other three fingers spread out, slowly and steadily lifting upwards. In an instant, the icy cold blade slid out of its scabbard!

  Iaijutsu has only one move. The moment you see the blade, it's either you die or I perish. The moment of victory or defeat has arrived!

  Li Xiao knew this, but he was still running and didn't slow down at all. He rushed straight towards the big tree in front of him, and with his current speed, he would definitely crash into it head-on.

  Just then, Shigeki Ichinose had caught up with Li Xiao and let out a loud shout, drawing his sword from its scabbard. The speed at which the blade emerged from the scabbard grew faster and faster, creating high-speed friction at the kissaki position, spewing forth yellow sparks.

  Li Xiao had already rushed to the front of the big tree, his legs meeting the trunk in a kick, using the momentum to spin himself back around. At this moment, Li Xiao's entire body was leaping through mid-air, while the large spear had returned to both hands.

  Li Xiao faced the sword blade that had just been unsheathed by Shi Guang, and his mind was surprisingly calm. His breathing and heartbeat seemed to have stopped at this moment, and his eyes only saw Shi Guang. The opportunity was fleeting, and just as Shi Guang made his strongest move with his Iaijutsu, Li Xiao's shoulders slightly shrugged downwards.

  Li Xiao didn't hesitate, and in this brief moment, like a giant dragon turning over, he formed a face-to-face stance with Shigekane. Turning around, twisting his waist, shaking his gun, Li Xiao's gun vigorously thrust towards the opponent, the entire gun head and body forming a straight line together.

  This is Li Xiao's final move, an ancient Chinese general's technique for beheading and killing enemies - the Reverse Spear!

  And at the same time, Shioka's right hand knife blade drew a bright light in the snowy ground, and this lightning-fast draw was the life of Iai.

  "A single horizontal stroke." Shishou let out a loud yell, heavily drew his sword and slashed horizontally, swinging it in a circular arc.

  Crack! A crisp sound of wood breaking, followed by a splatter of blood.

  The outcome has already been decided, but who is the winner? This thought flashed through Shimada's mind as he rushed forward. This Sakuya was absolutely the strongest swordsman Shimada had seen in years of traveling around, far surpassing any famous swordsmen he had ever met. The opponent's movements and sword techniques were much faster than anyone he had ever seen before.

  Of course, Li Xiao's marksmanship was also one of the strongest he had ever seen. However, when facing Shizuka Iori, one of Tsukahara Bokuden's proud disciples, his chances of winning against Li Xiao were not very high. Nevertheless, since Li Xiao was now on his side, he naturally hoped that Li Xiao would emerge victorious over his opponent.

  In fact, excluding the worries about winning or losing, Island Victory understood that this was absolutely a match between two top-notch marksmen and two top-notch swordsmen, and the process would be legendary.

  In the snowy land, the snow is falling non-stop.

  Li Xiao and Shi Gang Yu were facing each other from a distance, both covered in a layer of snow powder. At this moment, the two people's mouths and noses were emitting long white air, their bodies constantly heaving up and down, clearly the previous blow was a fusion of their most peak skills.

  Although the two men had only exchanged blows for a brief moment, both sides had exhausted their strength, resulting in extreme physical exhaustion.

  Who won in the end?

  Shima Katsuo was stunned after seeing the scene in front of him, Li Xiao's large sword had been cut off, his right hand grasping the remaining hilt, while the entire blade had been severed by two-thirds. Shima Katsuo knew about the toughness of Li Xiao's large sword, but Sagano Ichimonji's drawing technique had actually cut it off with one slash.

  In contrast, the current situation of Shi Guang Yiyu was that the other two-thirds of the spearhead that had beheaded Li Xiao were now piercing his right shoulder, and fresh blood instantly dyed half of his sleeve red.