Time's up, the battle begins.

Similar individuals need not speak much.

Eyes meet, intentions clear.

A sword cuts horizontally, its blade wreathed in wild flames.

In that instant, Uesugi Jin moved abruptly; her unparalleled swordsmanship transformed into fiery sword strikes, intent on cleaving her opponent in two with a single blow.

Qi Sha, on the other hand, erupted with battle spirit; facing this aggressive attack, he extended his arms in a flowing, palm-like stance, gently pushing outward, managing to deflect the angle of the slash upwards, diverting it just above his forehead.

"Deflection..."

"Jūken, is it..."

As their ultimate moves met for the first time, both silently recognized the other's technique.

And they were both correct...

Uesugi Jin had indeed mastered "deflection." In the current [Sengoku] team, there were three who could use this technique, and she was one of them.

And what Qi Sha used was indeed "Jūken"...

After S2 ended, feeling that his "Gōken" had reached a bottleneck, and that his strength and realm would stagnate if he didn't explore new areas, Qi Sha went to learn the art of overcoming strength with softness, strengthened his ground techniques, and also practiced advanced energy manipulation...

Now, he could be called a "master" in the field of martial arts; he himself was a deadly weapon—as fluid and ever-changing as water, and as unyielding and strong as a diamond.

"Hmph... Not bad, but... you can't win against me!"

A second later, the two of them, in perfect unison, coldly snorted and spoke the same words.

Clang—

Before the words faded, palm and sword connected once more, emitting a scalp-tingling sound of battle spirit friction.

Immediately after, the two figures dissolved from reality into illusion within the vortex of intertwined battle spirit, and another round of ultra-high-speed offense and defense unfolded amidst bursts of energy collision sparks.

"These chaotic moves are indeed hard to adapt to..." As the fight progressed, Qi Sha couldn't help but think, "If I hadn't studied her recordings beforehand, I probably wouldn't have lasted even ten moves..."

He was very glad that he had taken the time to do some "homework" before the match; although he only had one day, Qi Sha had still managed to watch all the available, higher-level match recordings of the seven members of [Sengoku].

Among them, Uesugi Jin undoubtedly left a deep impression on him.

Because... Uesugi's "fighting style" was very strange in the eyes of orthodox martial artists.

The weapon she used, "Sada Naga," was an extremely special weapon, its greatest characteristic being its extraordinary "length"; the entire weapon, just the hilt part, was longer than a short sword's scabbard, and with the blade, it was taller than her when stood upright...

To wield such a weapon, Uesugi Jin naturally had to abandon most conventional fighting routines and create a set of martial arts specifically designed for Sada Naga.

At first, she was also very unaccustomed to this change and had even considered "giving up this 'unwieldy' weapon and switching to something else"... But after a long period of training, Uesugi was now able to use this ultra-long katana, which ordinary people couldn't even hold steady, as if it were her own limbs.

And the uniqueness of this "weapon" and "fighting style" allowed her to gain an advantage in the fight against masters.

Ting—

A moment later, a flash of blood suddenly appeared in the wind, accompanied by an unusual sound.

The two fighters in the midst of their exchange both paused.

In this instant... even viewers with poor dynamic vision could clearly see that Sada Naga's blade had struck Qi Sha's shoulder and neck area... Although the wound wasn't deep, it had undoubtedly torn the latter's trapezius muscle.

"The timing of being hit... is earlier than expected..." At this moment, Qi Sha didn't feel any nervousness, as if this situation was already anticipated; however, he still sighed inwardly, "Alas... perhaps this is the bottleneck of my kind of 'orthodox' martial artist... Through countless practices, muscle memory has formed... This determines the inevitable reactions I will make in some extreme states; if it were someone with no martial arts foundation, they might quickly adapt to the opponent's mode of action and counterattack."

As he thought, his movements didn't stop; while thinking, his body had already leaned forward, taking advantage of the momentum to do a front flip...

This clever move not only dissipated the remaining force of the slash, allowing the blade to leave his shoulder, but also caused his heel to spin around, falling like a battle-axe straight down on the opponent's head.

"Tch..." Before Qi Sha's foot had completely landed, Uesugi Jin knew... that this slash had not only failed to gain her any advantage, but had also brought about a very serious problem, so she couldn't help but click her tongue.

Since Sada Naga had the advantages of a wide attack range and high power, it would definitely have corresponding disadvantages—namely, after hitting a target and stopping, the speed of retracting and re-establishing momentum was too slow.

Qi Sha had seen through this point and used the cost of taking a sword on his shoulder to successfully bring the battle into the "close-quarters combat" rhythm that he was best at.

Chi—

As the wind pressure generated by the "foot-axe" brushed past her nose, a burning sense of oppression rushed towards her.

Although Uesugi Jin took a step back to dodge this attack, she had lost her balance... and it was very unfavorable for her to have her opponent break into Sada Naga's blind spot between swings.

To put it in a metaphor, Uesugi Jin was now like someone holding a machine gun straight out with their arm; and her opponent, although only holding a small knife, had already rushed to a distance parallel to her wrist.

"Láng Yá..." After completing the front flip foot-axe, Qi Sha ignored the pain coming from his shoulder and immediately stepped forward like a ghost, not giving Uesugi a chance to adjust her posture, "... Fēng Fēng Quan!"

With the start of the move, murderous intent appeared.

Qi Sha's fists were like wolf fangs, his style like a swift wind.

Uesugi retreated rapidly with her blade, blocking with its edge.

Having fought with Sada Naga for so long, Uesugi obviously knew how to deal with the situation of being rushed up close like this... The moment the [Láng Yá Fēng Fēng Quan] came, she suddenly stepped back on the ground, and her arm retracted the blade diagonally, using a circular motion to deflect the force... Although she couldn't reorganize the situation, she could barely resist the damage of the attack.

Clang—

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Qi Sha had stopped his fist technique, changed his move, and used two fingers of his right hand to clamp Uesugi's blade in front of her.

"Two-Finger Vacuum Grip?" Uesugi Jin had seen Qi Sha use this move when watching the recording, so she shouted the name of the move in her heart without the opponent needing to speak; however, what she wanted to know more at this moment was... "What does he want to do? This move is not used in close combat at all, does he intend to use this skill to defend against projectiles and break my weapon?"

That was of course impossible... Even with [Lingxi Finger], a legendary weapon couldn't be broken, let alone with [Two-Finger Vacuum Grip]?

Qi Sha's move wasn't to break Sada Naga, but to temporarily restrain the opponent's blade... even if it was only for a second.

Because one second... was enough for him to use the [Ura 108 Shiki: Yami Barai] with his left hand.