I will eventually become a divine being through accumulating constantly

"Clang—"

Another collision of blades occurred, and "Xu Mude" seemed to have an increasingly deft control over the Salted Fish Sword. In the instant that swords met, he flicked his wrist, and the razor-sharp fin on the sword swiveled and slashed, with a clank severing Otogirusu's long sword in his hand.

The Salted Fish Sword continued towards his head, but Otogirusu's expression remained unchanged, intending to use the "Undying Smoke" again to neutralize this strike.

However, this time was different. In the moment his body turned into a stream of impalpable smoke, the Salted Fish Sword also seemed to become intangible momentarily.

"Zzt—"

Several strands of lustrous black hair and a broken black ribbon fell to the ground.

Otogirusu's high ponytail, which had always been tied up, naturally fell loose.

"Wha...!?"

His pupils shrank to pinpoints in an instant, his expression drastically changing, shaken to the core.

It was as if it was not a ribbon that had been cut, but his own head.

He immediately picked up the two pieces of the black ribbon from the ground at lightning speed and started to clumsily tie them back into his hair.

"Whoosh—"

An ominous wind struck from behind, and Otogirusu instinctively leaped to the side. The Salted Fish Sword struck where he had just been standing, and a huge crack appeared on the ground, extending over a hundred meters away.

Amidst the debris and dust, Otogirusu knelt halfway on the ground, barely able to re-tie his hair into a high ponytail with the broken ribbon.

However... Otogirusu's expression darkened.

His body was weakening, limbs gradually becoming slender, some things were disappearing, while others were emerging...

The subtly masculine lines of his face were also beginning to soften...

"This is bad..."

Otogirusu's gaze wandered, looking around him.

There were no others nearby, so at least there was no worry of his identity being exposed...

But the most critical issue at hand was not this.

The physical disadvantages of a female body are extreme, and even under the same weight and height conditions, are vastly inferior to those of a male.

In the realm of martial arts... or almost any field related to the body, women face an overwhelming disadvantage when compared to men.

Even activities like 'flexibility' and 'mental agility,' which in the common perception seem to be the same for both genders or even where females might have an advantage, are in fact areas where males have a significant edge.

At least until a breakthrough, this is an absolute fact.

Without this, her strength would decline by more than half at least.

The more troublesome issue was, she had grown accustomed to her previous state, and now returning to her original form was like a player used to playing with a maxed-out account suddenly having to play a lower-level account, needing to readjust to everything all over again.

And there was no time left for her to adjust.

Through the opening in the clothing around her chest and abdomen, the previously fine abdominal muscles were fading away; while not completely vanished, they were becoming less defined.

The skin was growing increasingly smooth and fair, the waistline was gradually slimming, blossoming into a graceful curve.

In contrast, her hips grew by a size...

The pectoral muscles... the chest began to protrude, and from the opening in the clothing, the southern hemisphere slowly took shape.

'Xu Mude' cocked his head innocently, oblivious to these changes, as the Salted Fish Sword in his hand continued to swing at the 'interesting thing' in front of him.

It was like a naive child playing with insects, not out of cruelty or malice, but out of pure curiosity.

Otogirusu attempted to dodge rapidly, but her weakening body could not keep up with her consciousness, moving just a bit slower than she anticipated.

The sharp fin left a deep wound on her thigh, visible to the bone, and incidentally cut her trousers open, exposing her pale, slender thighs.

The Salted Fish Sword did not pause at all, quickly launching a second strike.

This time, Otogirusu had no space to dodge.

The blade headed straight for her neck, about to slice her in two from top to bottom.

Just in that moment.

"Boom—!!!"

A violent sonic boom cut through the air like thunder, screeching rapidly from afar.

The solid walls of Sky Center were instantly breached, and an ancient long sword wrapped in Dark Flame surged forth, hitting 'Xu Mude' squarely in the chest, sending him flying dozens of meters, and pinning him against a wall.

Otogirusu's eyes widened slightly as she recognized the long sword all too well.

"Suzumaru!?"

No, she just remembered, this knife no longer belonged to her, it should now be called ——

Zhao Ye.

Since the knife was here, it meant its owner was also present.

Otogirusu hurriedly looked around, searching for that silhouette.

At the same time, she instinctively covered her chest with one hand, her face showing signs of panic.

But after searching for a while, she found nothing.

"Xue Jun?"

She asked in confusion, her voice a very soft and girlish tone, even a bit coquettish.

Xue Jun hadn't arrived? Could it be that Suzumaru had sensed its former master was in danger and had come to rescue her on its own?

As she pondered, the ancient long knife suddenly autonomously unsheathed itself from the wall, floated in front of her, and presented its hilt to her.

And the 'Xu Mude' that had been pinned to the wall, now lacking its 'nail,' slowly slid down the wall, leaving behind a trail of pale golden blood.

The fatal wound, a large hole pierced through his heart, seemed to have no effect on him; 'Xu Mude' immediately stood up with little change in expression and walked towards Otogirusu.

Taking a deep breath, Otogirusu reached out and grasped the hilt of the long knife in front of her.

The familiar sensation confirmed that this was indeed her Suzumaru, Xue Jing's Zhao Ye.

Although she didn't know why the knife was here and Xue Jun himself wasn't, now was not the time to think too much about it.

She slowly stood up, her left hand on her waist, loosely holding her palm as a sheath, re-sheathed the long knife, and assumed the posture of Iaido. Your adventure continues at empire

"Suzao Style Secret Technique ——"

"Deity Slaying Strike!"

Layers upon layers of endless blade lights, as though hundreds of Otogirusu were unsheathing their blades at once, in an instant, the Hundred Cuts arrived.

'Xu Mude' stopped in his tracks, standing still.

Fingers, palms, wrists, toes, ankles, calves, thighs, waist, chest, neck, head...

His body began to slowly separate and slide apart, turning into hundreds of pieces of flesh piled together.

Pale golden blood sprayed out, slowly staining an area of several meters around.

Otogirusu maintained her sword-drawing stance, and after a while, she flicked her sword to the side, performing blood shaking.

She then re-sheathed her sword, lingering spirit... a full set of Far Eastern Swordsmanship ceremonial movements, exceptionally standard and graceful.

She raised the long knife, held it before her eyes, and with her slender fingers, gently caressed the beautiful blade, murmuring:

"Thank you, Suzumaru..."

At that moment, with the sound of a sonic boom, a teasing voice approached from afar.

"You should be thanking me, Lu Sang."

The wall of the Sky Center burst open, the intense airflow making Otogirusu's clothes flap noisily, she raised her hand to block the wind and stared intently towards the direction of the breach.

A pitch-black figure was slowly approaching her.

With each step he took, the pitch-black armor on his body gradually burned into Dark Flame, dissipating into the air, and by the time he reached Otogirusu, he had already revealed his true face.

That gentle smile with a hint of jest, a face so perfect it seemed divinely crafted, with an all-too-familiar tone, was undoubtedly Xue Jing.

"Lu Sang, so it's like this, I hadn't expected that you would be..."

Xue Jing began to speak with a smile, intending to tease this woman who had tricked him many times.

But unexpectedly, Otogirusu suddenly pressed her hands together, placed them beside her face, and with an extremely cute smile, said in a coquettish voice:

"Oh my, you must be the Brother Jing that Brother Linglu spoke of, nice to meet you for the first time, I am Shenle, the sister of Brother Linglu."

Xue Jing: "..."

This sentence was half in Far Eastern language, mixed with various 'oni-sama' and 'oni-chan,' which gave the listener goosebumps.

"Lu Sang, what are you pretending to be?"

Xue Jing said speechlessly.

"Gomen~ (Sorry~), my Zhuxia language is not so good, I don't quite understand what you're saying, Xue Jinggiegie~~"

Otogirusu... Yu Ga Shenle grabbed Xue Jing's arm and shook it, speaking coquettishly with a lilt in her voice.

...