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Looking at Zoro approaching him, Flame Silence's past experiences flashed through his mind.
He still remembered that when he was a child, he was often isolated by his peers as a freak because of his love for sword dancing.
Fortunately, he wasn't alone. He had a younger sister named Yan Xue.
With Yan Xue's company, he didn't care about the criticisms of his peers.
His outstanding talent in swordsmanship naturally attracted his parents' attention.
As a long-standing family, the Yan clan's branch actually possessed treasures passed down from their ancestors.
A pair of magic swords.
Frostmourne brings sadness, fire brings joy.
No, wait.
Drifting Ice and Blazing Fire.
The two magic swords—one red, one blue—were passed down to him and his sister Yan Xue respectively.
Peaceful days passed for a while, and the brother and sister gradually grew up.
However, although the Yan family had a long history, it had already declined in recent years and hadn't produced any powerful cultivators for a long time.
Every husband is not guilty, but possessing jade is his crime.
The wealth accumulated by the clan over the years naturally attracted the covetousness of evil people.
On a day that couldn't be more ordinary, disaster struck.
A group of masked bandits raided the Yan clan's headquarters.
The flames rising into the sky and the wailing of his clansmen continued to irritate Yan Ji's nerves.
After hiding his sister, he clenched Blazing Fire tightly, ready to fight these bandits to the death.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw his parents lying on the ground—not breathing—and a thug looking at him with a grim smile.
"Hey, there's still one alive here."
Even after he became a card, this sentence still haunted his mind like a nightmare.
However, when the young Yan Ji saw this situation, anger instantly controlled his actions.
He charged at the villain with Blazing Fire in hand.
Unfortunately, he was no match for his opponent. Having no real skills, after just one exchange, Blazing Fire was knocked to the ground.
He fell, looking at the shining sword stabbing toward him, and closed his eyes.
However, the expected pain didn't come. Instead, there was a sound of something heavy falling to the ground before him.
When he opened his eyes, the scene made him freeze.
It was Yan Xue.
His sister had blocked the sword for him.
Looking at his dead sister, the world in Yan Ji's eyes instantly fell into darkness.
He struggled to crawl to his sister's body and held her in his trembling arms.
"...What a shitty sword—it can't protect anything!"
A hysterical roar sounded.
At this time, the villain was looking at the brother and sister before him with a mocking expression, not noticing the red and blue swords constantly shaking on the ground.
But when he was ready to end Yan Ji's life...
When Yan Ji regained consciousness, he found himself standing in a sea of blood and corpses, surrounded by the shattered bodies of masked bandits.
He looked blankly at the red and blue swords in his hands, not knowing what had happened.
A sudden feeling of exhaustion came over him, and he fell in the pool of blood.
Am I going to die?
That's fine.
Just as Yan Ji's consciousness was gradually fading, a shrill sound of wind came from the sky, followed by a shout mixed with anger and surprise. "Brother Yan?!"
When Yan Ji woke up again, he found himself sleeping in a quiet bedroom.
The lingering scent of calming incense soothed his anxious mood.
The door was pushed open, and a young man he'd never seen before walked in. "Awake?"
Yan Ji huddled in the corner of the bed, alert.
Seeing this, the young man spoke of his identity with a complicated expression.
It turned out the young man was called Lin Yifeng—a friend of his father. He'd come that day at his father's request to bring him to join the Shuiyue Sword Sect.
Unfortunately, he'd been one step too late. When he arrived, Yan Ji was the only one alive in the Yan family.
After saying this, the young man left, only telling Yan Ji he could call for him again when he'd rested well.
Yan Ji listened to everything in silence. He caught a glimpse of the red and blue swords, sheathed, placed on the table.
He silently got up, held the two swords in his arms, and retreated to the corner of the bed.
I'm the only one left.
Just as Yan Ji was thinking this, he felt as if someone was hugging him from behind—cold but warm.
At the same time, a gentle female voice sounded in his ears. "Don't be afraid, brother. I will always be with you."
Since then, Yan Ji—the orphan of the Yan family—disappeared, leaving only the Shuiyue Sword Sect's...
[Mad Blade · Flame Silence]
The memories ended here. Flame Silence took a deep breath and clenched the two swords in his hands. "This time, I will not lose."
"Xiao Xue."
As he called softly, a cold palm covered his left hand. "I'm here, brother."
Looking at the blue tiger already close at hand, his eyes went cold.
CLANG!
SIZZLE!
The five weapons intersected in an instant. The sharp sword waves whistled and tore the surrounding ground into pieces.
His strength has greatly improved.
After fighting for such a long time, Flame Silence could naturally notice that the weapons in Zoro's hands had undergone tremendous changes compared to before.
If he could easily break the three weapons with the Ice and Fire Swords before, he couldn't do it now.
And it wasn't just the weapons. As the green-haired swordsman's hands were gradually covered with a dark unknown substance, his strength was also greatly enhanced.
It's really difficult.
Flame Silence thought so as he kept dancing the two swords in his hands.
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!
The sound of swords clashing rang out continuously.
Zoro frowned slightly. He felt that the young man with two swords had improved a lot in strength compared to before.
A dazzling spark flashed by. The cutting wave shot out and instantly cut a nearby villa in half.
Taking this opportunity, Zoro fell far backwards.
"Hm?"
However, as soon as he stood still, he was stunned.
In his eyes at this moment, Flame Silence only had the blazing red sword in his right hand. As for the icy blue sword...
It was held in the hands of a female figure floating behind him.
[Residual Soul Guarding Heart].
The green-haired swordsman raised an eyebrow at this sight and couldn't help but mutter internally. What kind of fruit is this?
Even Brook can't do this.
Thinking of the skeleton who'd eaten the Revive-Revive Fruit on the ship, Zoro was speechless for a moment.
If Brook could really do that, wouldn't he be able to summon all the crew members who died on his previous ship?
Putting aside the chaotic thoughts in his mind, the green-haired swordsman took a deep breath and rushed toward his opponent again.
Looking at the three swords coming at him again, Flame Silence's expression remained unchanged. He just crouched down, held his sword in a reverse grip to block Zoro's attack.
At the same time, the female figure holding Drifting Ice behind him suddenly thrust toward Zoro.
Seeing this, Zoro pulled back his sword and took a step back—but didn't retreat. "You also call this Dual Sword Style?!"
"Santōryū · Tatsumaki!"
The powerful sword pressure instantly formed a terrifying tornado.
SLASH!
The already messy ground was now cut into pieces like tofu.
Flame Silence wasn't paying attention for a moment. His chest was torn into several gashes.
He stepped back quickly, but at this moment a green-haired figure broke through the tornado and rushed toward him.
"Santōryū · Gyūki · Yuzume!"
There was a scarlet light flashing in Zoro's eyes, like a demon.
Flame Silence's face darkened. "Fire Dance!"
The brilliant sword dance, wrapped in red flames, instantly illuminated the dark night sky.
The huge flaming sword energy swept across the surroundings without restraint.
WHOOSH!
The slashing wave released by Zoro only slightly blocked the flaming sword energy, but it was enough for him to adjust his position.
He rolled over and landed in the distance. Ignoring the blood slowly flowing from his abdomen, he looked solemnly at the sword-wielding young man not far away.
This kind of strong man...
In the world of One Piece, he'd also be a top-ranked swordsman.
At this time, the noise of the two fighting attracted the attention of the cardmakers present.
Simon raised his eyebrows slightly. He hadn't expected the green-haired card could fight his trump card to this extent.
You have to know—he'd spent countless efforts and put in a lot of Red-quality materials to create [Mad Blade · Flame Silence].
"Tsk." Looking at Zoro, whose body was covered with wounds, he sneered. "So what if he can block it once?"
In his opinion, Zoro's defeat was a foregone conclusion.
On the contrary, the battle on Tiger Slayer's side was going very badly.
Melee warriors with no means of breaking defense would be killed by mages.
Fortunately, as long as Flame Silence could resolve the battle quickly, the final result wouldn't change.
What Simon thought was exactly what Zayne thought.
The Director of the Public Security Office of the East-Haven Cardmaker Association—a spy planted by the Spirit Begging Society in the Association—felt like he was on a roller coaster in a short period of time.
Previously, he'd thought Frieren's elimination of Nangong Ce was a good sign.
But the current situation had taken a sharp turn. In a short while, the balance of victory seemed to tip toward Simon again.
Glancing at the silent Kai in the distance, he couldn't help but feel anxious. My lord, won't you give the order to retreat?
Do we really have to fight to the death?
In his opinion, this was totally unnecessary. After all, there was no conflict between the Society and the Association—there was no benefit in fighting to the death with the Association.
It was a pity he was a Society member. No matter how unreasonable his actions were, he couldn't even run away as long as Russell didn't give the order to retreat.
Moreover, there was no possibility of reconciliation between Russell and Simon. The two sides had already reached the point of fighting to the death.
At this moment, Zoro, standing on the ruins, took a deep breath.
His best option right now was to wait for Frieren to kill Tiger Slayer and then support him.
But don't forget—this operation was an assassination mission.
Although it was less than half an hour since the action began, it was enough time for the East-Haven Cardmaker Association to start mobilizing cardmakers.
Perhaps Emerald-rank could crush East-Haven, but it was obvious that they at Gold-rank couldn't.
So...
There wasn't much time left for them.
"One strike."
"I'll defeat you!"
The green-haired swordsman's momentum gradually increased. A scarlet light flashed in his eyes, as if an Asura had descended to the mortal world.
The next moment, he rushed toward Flame Silence like a cannonball.
"Nine mountains and eight seas make up one world, and thousands of worlds together make up a 'small thousand world.'"
Flame Silence was stunned. Here it comes again...
Just like before, the strange three-sword swordsman opposite him would shout out the name of his move every time he attacked.
He couldn't understand what the point of this was. It was of no use other than notifying the opponent.
There were only two kinds of people who did this—either they had chuunibyou, or they were absolutely confident in their own abilities.
"This world is threefold, and there is no self that is not continuous."
However, feeling Zoro's gradually rising momentum, Flame Silence gradually became serious.
He wondered—could shouting the names of moves really increase their power?
And weren't the move names a bit too long this time?
"Santōryū Ōgi."
"Ichidai Sanzen Daisen Sekai."
At this moment, the expressions of the cardmakers and cards belonging to the Association suddenly changed.