Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God (Web Novel)
chapter-3766

Chapter 840 – Unthinking Technique

“Challenger! Quickly make your choice!” the two-horned Demon urged when he saw Shi Feng still looking through the list. “If you do not select an opponent in thirty seconds, you will be randomly assigned one, and you may not proceed to the next floor until you achieve victory or your opponent admits defeat!”

At the Demon’s reminder, Shi Feng studied the list at a quicker pace.

The information the Tower of the Abyss provided on each opponent was incredibly detailed. The information included not only a brief biography and the greatest achievements of each opponent, but also their preferred combat style.

Because of the differences in the weapons, equipment, and techniques each player possessed, everyone had their own preferred style of combat. Some players preferred to fight defensively, some preferred to fight proactively, some preferred to overwhelm their opponents with one powerful attack, some preferred to overwhelm their opponents with weaker but more numerous attacks, etc. Naturally, if players sought to improve, the quickest way would be to spar against opponents with a similar combat style.

It seems he is the only one who fits my style perfectly, Shi Feng thought as he considered a Swordsman named Hope.

Besides being a dual-wielding Swordsman whose strength lay in his Law Projection, Hope was also one of the few listed Swordsmen close to reaching the World Tower’s seventh-floor standard. He was a peerless existence during his era. Even when fighting against other sixth-floor experts under the same Basic Attributes, nobody could last more than ten moves against him.

Although the list had another Swordsman comparable to Hope, the other party used a greatsword. Thus, it would be more beneficial for Shi Feng to learn from Hope.

Subsequently, Shi Feng chose Hope as his opponent.

As soon as Shi Feng made his decision, a Level 200 Swordsman appeared a short distance away from him. The Swordsman had a deep cut running through one of his eyes, and his Basic Attributes were exactly the same as Shi Feng’s.

“As a fellow Swordsman, it is unwise for you to designate me as your opponent,” Hope stated as he stared at Shi Feng. He behaved like he understood why Shi Feng had chosen to fight him. “I am not your match in my current state. Let us meet on the fifth floor.”

After saying so, Hope turned around and walked out of the arena. Seeing this, the two-horned Demon promptly announced the conclusion of the match.

“Victor: Black Flame!” After announcing the outcome, the Demon turned to Shi Feng and said, “Your opponent, Hope, has requested to fight you on the fifth floor. Do you wish to head to the fifth floor directly? If not, you may head to the second floor and choose a new opponent.”

“I will head to the fifth floor,” Shi Feng answered without hesitation.

He was already at the fifth-floor standard. Since the difficulty of the Tower of the Abyss’s floors corresponded to the World Tower’s floors, he would merely be wasting his time if he fought on the first four floors.

…

Tower of the Abyss, Fifth Floor:

The fifth floor was set on a large island. The island was devoid of any energy, and players could rely only on themselves to fight.

Currently, Hope sat in the middle of the island with his eye closed, behaving like he did not notice Shi Feng’s arrival.

Is this him at the fifth-floor standard? Shi Feng’s heart shuddered as he looked at the one-eyed Swordsman a hundred yards away.

Although Hope’s physical appearance remained the same, he felt completely different compared to when he was on the first floor.

If the first floor’s Hope were described as a human infant, the fifth floor’s Hope would be an adult dragon. Even though the one-eyed Swordsman was just sitting there, Shi Feng dared not move even a step closer to him.

“Since you have chosen to meet me here, I won’t hide anything from you,” Hope said as he opened his single eye. Even so, he remained seated and showed no intention of standing up. “I have mastered only one move in my life. If you can block it completely, you win.”

The instant Hope finished speaking, Shi Feng instinctively activated Void Barrier, rendering a 100-yard radius immune to all damage for 30 seconds.

Boom!

Before Shi Feng’s senses could even react, a crack had appeared on the defensive barrier protecting him. However, that was not the end of Hope’s attack, as the sword light that cracked the defensive barrier did not fade. Instead, it persistently tried to pry open the barrier like a walnut.

Without hesitation, Shi Feng cast his Miniature Abyssal World and executed Sword’s Orbit in an act of self-preservation. Fortunately, his desperate attempt paid off, and he blocked the sword light in the nick of time. However, he failed to neutralize the attack completely as he stumbled by a step.

This is within the fifth-floor standard? Shi Feng was in disbelief as he stared at Hope, who remained seated on the ground.

When Shi Feng arrived on the fifth floor, the Tower of the Abyss had indicated to him that his opponent was restricted to the fifth-floor standard. Logically, there shouldn’t be any fifth-floor experts who could threaten him. After all, he had defeated even Garuda, who was at the Half-step Mortal God standard.

Yet, when Shi Feng faced Hope’s attack, he felt death descend upon him. Additionally, Hope’s attack was so unbelievably fast that Shi Feng didn’t even sense when the other party had executed his attack. If Shi Feng hadn’t activated his Miniature Abyssal World to weaken Hope’s attack, his fate would have been sealed.

However, before Shi Feng could recover from his shock, many other cracks appeared on his Void Barrier. Five seconds later, Shi Feng was back in the Tower of the Abyss’s first-floor hall.

What an incredible attack!

Shi Feng felt amazed when he recalled Hope’s unstoppable sword light. Despite using the Gold-ranked Sword’s Orbit and the Miniature Abyssal World, he had still failed to keep up with Hope’s Attack Speed and ultimately died from a stab to his heart.

Fortunately, Shi Feng didn’t get tortured for nothing.

The reason Hope’s attack was incredible wasn’t because the other party had executed an almighty Peak Gold Combat Technique. From Shi Feng’s analysis, Hope should have only executed an Advanced Gold Combat Technique. As for how Hope had managed to exhibit such frightening speed with an Advanced Gold Combat Technique, it was because he had executed it without thought. This, in turn, allowed him to complete his technique much faster than someone who executed an Advanced Gold Combat Technique with conscious thought.

In the past, I only thought about pursuing powerful sword techniques and achieving the power of Advanced Gold Combat Techniques in every move. I thought this was the correct way to reach the sixth-floor standard. But looking at it now, it seems I was mistaken, Shi Feng thought. Then, he recalled Garuda, who was at the Half-step Mortal God standard. Garuda has already developed himself to the limit in all aspects. Logically, he should have reached the sixth-floor standard already. Yet, he did not. I previously suspected his Concentration might have needed to undergo a qualitative transformation for him to achieve Manifold Executions and reach the sixth-floor standard, but it seems Concentration was never the key. Instead, the key is to merge Gold-ranked techniques with the Unthinking state. Only then can one freely use Gold-ranked techniques!

Thinking up to this point, Shi Feng excitedly spent another 100 units of Seven Luminaries Crystal to challenge Hope.

Previously, Shi Feng was clueless about how players could reach the sixth-floor standard. He only knew that sixth-floor experts could multitask to an extreme extent. An example would be Ink Crystal, who could accomplish the unbelievable task of executing a Twofold Peak Gold-ranked technique.

However, after his fight with Hope, Shi Feng finally learned the direction he should take to reach the sixth-floor standard. Now, he only needed to train in this direction.

…

In another part of the Tower of the Abyss’s fifth floor…

Red Frost wielded her spear in darkness as she stood before a human female with short hair and an indomitable expression. Like Red Frost, the human female was also a spear user. Currently, though, she had a hole in her heart, and her HP was at zero.

“Victor: Red Frost! You may proceed to the sixth floor!”

…