He not only sliced the enemy's neck, but also cut away that time.
Later, when they reviewed the footage in slow motion, they discovered that although it was a strictly regulated strike, the man's performance made it as beautiful as a dancer gracefully moving behind a beaded curtain, his hand wielding the knife as gentle as if he were about to draw a girl's eyebrows.
What an exquisite and delightful swordsmanship!
However, this is only the perspective of onlookers. For Gu Hanzhou, who is at the center of the storm, the experience is naturally quite different.
He felt the man before him suddenly change his demeanor, transforming from an observer gazing at distant mountains into a captain wielding the mast, like a white bird leaping from the forest and swiftly landing on the water's edge. The air was thick with murderous intent, yet it possessed a poetic quality, like a monk sweeping flowers. There was an extreme slowness within extreme speed, as if a moment in time could be buried within it.
This is no longer just about the realm of swordsmanship; it also carries a philosophical meaning of compassion.
Gu Hanzhou felt the wooden sword pressed against his neck and realized that there was not only a difference in skill between him and his teacher, but also a gap in their levels of understanding. He was not wronged in his defeat!
Duanmu Ci withdrew the wooden sword and shook it in a manner reminiscent of "tilting the tip of the blade to disperse the water on the umbrella," supposedly to shake off the blood clots on the sword—though of course, the blood was nonexistent, merely Duanmu Ci's imagination. Then he sheathed the blade, slowly pushing it into the scabbard with a graceful movement, like a dance.
This is the complete "Iai".
At this moment, the two adversaries were still basically in a kneeling position, with at least one knee still on the ground, but the battle was over.
Gu Hanzhou snapped out of his daze, resumed his upright sitting posture, took the unsheathed longsword from his waist, placed it neatly between the two of them, and then leaned forward and prostrated himself on it, saying, "Teacher has won this battle, and student concedes defeat."
Suddenly, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd, shaking the rooftops, and the crowd's faces flushed with excitement.
Although the battle lasted only a fleeting moment, it was still incredibly memorable! The graceful movements and overwhelming momentum were truly breathtaking! Gu Hanzhou, hailed as the school's top swordsman, couldn't even withstand a single move from Teacher Duanmu… no, half a move! This major news story is enough for the witnesses to brag about for half a year!
What's more, both sides in the final battle are incredibly good-looking!
"What a worthwhile trip!" everyone exclaimed in their hearts.
With both stunning looks and exceptional swordsmanship, this battle will surely become a legend for Haishan University.
Gu Hanzhou straightened up. "There's something I'd like you to know. Our kendo dojo used to have an instructor who was Japanese. He taught Japanese at the Foreign Languages Institute and his name was Minamoto no Mitsuki."
“Yuan Weiyue?” Duanmu Ci raised an eyebrow.
He also came to China?
...
...
P: I deliberately waited until noon to post this chapter so that everyone could read it carefully.
I hope no readers will mind me occasionally writing about Japanese classics... Writing about Chinese classics in an urban setting is difficult... Fantasy, historical fiction, and martial arts are fine... but this is urban... it might feel a bit contrived...
Moreover, it is said that Japanese Kendo developed from a lost Tang Dynasty sword technique, or something like that...
I've found that Japanese people really have a hard time distinguishing between swords and knives. They might be using a knife but insist on calling it kendo, so I've had to switch between "knife" and "sword" sometimes...
Thank you to the readers [朽木屑], [诸葛加菲], [章根硕], and [有时、花开花落] for their generous donations!
Please vote for me... or something...
Meimeixia Book Club:
Congratulations on this book reaching number one on the list of new books by contracted urban fiction authors!
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