Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

“Long Chen, you’ve seen the photographic jade I sent you, right?”

Hua Biluo pulled Long Chen a certain distance away from the others. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the people by his side, but that she was worried about her own people.

“Yes, I saw it.”

“I want to hear your thoughts.”

Long Chen pondered for a moment before saying, “From the current power the two of you have displayed, Han Tianyu is a slight level higher than you. However, if I haven’t misjudged, you’re someone who focuses on defense and should be suited to battles of attrition. Attacking isn’t your strength. So no one would be able to predict the exact odds of who would win if the two of you fought.”

In their last fight, Hua Biluo had intentionally just been trying to probe Han Tianyu’s abilities, while Han Tianyu had also seen through her thoughts, and so neither of them had used their true skills. However, Long Chen had still managed to see that she specialized in defense, causing her to feel some amazement. Long Chen’s sudden rise was not the slightest bit coincidental. Just this sharp vision was admirable.

“Brother Long is correct. My Hua family’s core technique relies on defense and to gain victory through a drawn-out battle. However, Han Tianyu is also crafty and managed to see through my intentions. He only let out random blows, not revealing the slightest bit of his true abilities,” sighed Hua Biluo.

If Guo Ran and the others were to hear this, they would definitely be scared to death. That kind of terrifying fight had just been probing blows?

“What are your thoughts on Han Tianyu?” asked Hua Biluo.

“Profound and unfathomable.” Long Chen’s expression became slightly grave. “He attacks without any sign so you can’t predict his actions. And did you notice? Each time you exchanged blows, he was only looking into your eyes. He was able to easily predict every single one of your moves.”

Hua Biluo nodded. “That’s right. Each time I tried to attack, he seemed to know exactly what kind of move I was making and was long since waiting for me. That was extremely discouraging. Could it be he really knows a mind reading skill?”

Thinking of that, Hua Biluo’s expression became a bit unnatural. In their previous fight, her confidence had been shaken as Han Tianyu was just too strong.

The most terrifying thing about him was his accurate predictions. It was as if he could see through all her abilities.

“Mind reading skill?”

Long Chen smiled. He thought of a certain beautiful face with its soul-stealing eyes that could bring about the fall of a nation. At that time, he had also said such words.

Mind reading was a kind of legendary divine art. To be able to read your opponents' every thought while fighting, it was unstoppable and was one of the most terrifying kinds of abilities.

It was precisely because it was terrifying that there was no one who would want to be enemies with such a person. If whatever they wanted to do was known by their enemy, would they even have a chance at surviving?

“First, let’s not discuss whether there really are people in this world who have mind reading skills. I can guarantee that Han Tianyu does not have that ability,” smiled Long Chen.

“What? That’s impossible. Through some secret channels, I heard that Han Tianyu truly did spend a great deal of time on mind reading skills. It seems he obtained some armor and managed to comprehend something from it. Furthermore, those who fight with him always have the feeling that all their thoughts are seen through, the exact same feeling as mine,” said Hua Biluo.

“For now, I won’t doubt your source. But I am sure that he definitely doesn’t know how to read minds.”

“Did you notice something?” Hua Biluo was taken back by how sure Long Chen seemed.

“It’s just my guess. My guess is based on two things: first, when Mo Nian fought against him, he didn’t have that kind of feeling. Mo Nian is my good brother, and when he told me about his fight against Han Tianyu, he didn’t feel anything strange like that.”

“Oh?” Mo Nian was also a peak expert, and so she naturally knew who he was. Furthermore, it was no secret that Mo Nian had exchanged blows with Han Tianyu. However, she was surprised that Mo Nian hadn’t sensed anything strange.

“Could it be that Han Tianyu was intentionally not displaying that skill?” questioned Hua Biluo.

“If he dared do something like that, I guarantee Mo Nian would have shot him through. You should know that Mo Nian’s archery skills are unrivaled, and no one would dare hold back like that against him,” said Long Chen confidently.

Although he hadn’t interacted with Mo Nian for long, Mo Nian’s archery skills were practically supernatural. Even Long Chen felt admiration for them.

“That was my first clue. The second one is that when he fought with you, he was constantly looking into your eyes. At first I found that a bit odd, but then I realized: this idiot is starry-eyed for you,” laughed Long Chen.

Hua Biluo blushed and rebuked, “Don’t make jokes.”

Long Chen put away his smile and returned to the topic. “In truth, at our level, we don’t fight with our eyes. Our eyes are just supplementary tools that we can’t trust too easily, as eyes are too easily deceived.

“When experts fight, we always trust our spiritual perception and reactions more.

“Since sight is not so important, why would Han Tianyu look at you like that? It’s because as long as he does that, many people, including you, end up being deceived by him.”

“Deceived?”

“Yes. Those so-called mind reading skills are just little tricks. When people blindly bet, there will always be winners and losers. But once someone bets right, their opponent becomes afraid,” said Long Chen.

“But that’s not right. I’ve already investigated, and everyone who ends up fighting with him has this feeling of having all their moves predicted. That’s not just a one time gamble.”

“Good point. Then let me ask you a question. Why is that those people you investigated had that feeling, but Mo Nian did not?

“That is what made me doubt it. Why was that Han Tianyu’s ‘mind reading skill’ failed when facing Mo Nian?

“Let me make a brazen guess: Han Tianyu is simply proficient in almost every kind of martial weapon, and based on the faintest of clues, such as the eyes, shoulders, waist, elbows, and other things, he is able to guess what an opponent will do.

“However, Mo Nian is not a close-range fighter. He has all kinds of ways to use his bow and arrow; he can use the bow itself as a weapon at close range and can shoot out arrows at long range. Due to that, others cannot predict what he is going to do,” said Long Chen.

“Then you mean…” Hua Biluo came to a sudden comprehension.

“There is a ninety percent chance that Han Tianyu is simply a master at using the various martial weapons. The only thing he is unfamiliar with is the bow and arrow. As amongst cultivators, there are exceptionally few who use the bow,” said Long Chen.

Hua Biluo was silent for a long time. Although she found this hard to believe, Long Chen’s analysis was completely accurate.

“If what you’re saying is true, then Han Tianyu really is frightening. Just how much fighting experience does he have to be able to do that?” exclaimed Hua Biluo.

“The reason experts are able to become experts is because they have the determination to get stronger. If you have that kind of determination, then you can come up with all kinds of moves. There was one thing that you said that is extremely accurate: Han Tianyu really is frightening. He purposely made up this secret of him knowing how to read minds, when in truth, that was just used to conceal his ultimate killing blows,” said Long Chen.

“His ultimate killing blows? What are those?”

Long Chen shook his head. “How could I know that? It’s not like I know how to read minds. However, just think about it. He used this kind of trick, managing to deceive even you.

“There must be many people who have been deceived like this. Why would Han Tianyu waste so much time to set up the illusion of him knowing how to read minds?

“Isn’t the only possibility that he doesn’t want to reveal his true strength? Just this one fake mind reading skill is able to cause countless people to retreat from him. He can subdue all those people without even fighting them. That’s the most superior battle tactic.

“As for his strongest techniques, other than himself, there is only one kind of people who know that.”

“What kind of people?”

“Dead people.”

Although it was just two words, they caused a chill in Hua Biluo’s heart. Those two words contained many things.

If Long Chen’s guess really was correct, then Han Tianyu’s thinking was terrifying. He was actually able to use such a trick to deceive so many people. Even she had believed that Han Tianyu possessed something along the lines of a mind reading skill.

That itself had been a blow to her. If you fought with that kind of mentality, then your combat strength would drop by at least thirty percent. What chance would you have of defeating a monster like Han Tianyu? 

This also meant that at this point, there was no one who knew Han Tianyu’s trump cards. The only ones who did were the ones Long Chen had just pointed out: dead people.

Thinking of that, Hua Biluo’s scalp turned numb at the thought of Han Tianyu’s profound scheming. At the same time, she practically prostrated herself in admiration towards Long Chen for his ability to see through it.

Han Tianyu had hidden his scheming so profoundly, but from just a single photographic jade, Long Chen was able to see through Han Tianyu’s intentions.

When compared to Han Tianyu and Long Chen, her and Yin Wushuang’s petty little tricks were truly just laughably childlike.

“Let’s go back. It seems experts have appeared on both sides.”

Long Chen and Hua Biluo returned to their camps. Quite a few faces had appeared amongst the Righteous and Corrupt paths. On the side of the Corrupt path, there were four new people standing beside Xue Wuya. That made Long Chen feel a chill. Obviously, they should be people on the same level as Xue Wuya. Even if they were a bit weaker, it wouldn’t be by that much.

As for the Righteous side, quite a few experts had also appeared. Their auras surged, causing space to uneasily twist around them.

In particular, there was a certain mustached man that drew Long Chen’s attention. This person was over six feet tall and had a tough and stocky build. On his back was a broadsword just as tall as he was.

When he walked, the ground would tremble with each step. That broadsword on his back had to be shockingly heavy.

But the thing that surprised Long Chen the most was that he sensed a familiar aura from this large man. However, he was sure he had never seen him before.

This person walked alone, not interacting with anyone else. Furthermore, a baleful aura came from his body that made it seem like he was a murderous god from hell, making it so others wouldn’t dare approach him.

“This person is very terrifying. How is it that no one has heard of him before? It’s a good thing he’s a Righteous disciple.” Hua Biluo was also filled with shock when she looked at him.

Long Chen was just about to reply when suddenly, cheers erupted amongst the Corrupt side. Long Chen quickly turned over to look, a strange expression appearing on his face.

“He’s finally come.”