Astral Douluo

Chapter 21 - Training and Sweet Time with Gu Yue

Inside Tang Xingxi's soul realm, two figures clad in black were clashing with blades. Both holding dual blades with what seemed to glowing circuits, they rushed towards each other leaving trails of light and black smoke.

One of them left a trail of blue light, and the other, trails of red, orange and green. The blades of the figures clashed as a cloud of smoke obscured all prying eyes from the battle.

Clang! Clang! Bam!

Two flashes of colour came from within the black fog before pieces of debris shot out from the middle of the cloud.

The two figures retreated. Wiping their mouths to find a drop of blood, both figures looked at each other and grinned menacingly.

Looking closer at their faces, one could see that they both looked like Tang Xingxi.

Indeed, they were. The only difference between the two would be that the one with a multicoloured glow is real, and the one in blue is his exact copy, a.k.a., his soul generated sparring partner.

Rushing forward once more, both Tang Xingxis started clashing. After what seemed like hours of slashes, stabs, punches, kicks, et cetera, the original started gaining the advantage.

Landing a heavy hit with his dual blades now turned staff, Tang Xingxi forced his copy backwards.

Noticing his predicament, Tang Xingxi's copy retreated, disintegrated his swords and collected smoke in front of him.

Mana circuits spreading out from the collected smoke, they quickly formed an oddly shaped shield.

The first part of it looked like a normal circular shield, but big enough to cover half a person's body. However, the part in front of it was what made it stand out. Looking similar to a Christian cross, it stood almost twice as tall as its user. With mechanisms for rotation, turning into a standard rectangular shield and ejecting spikes out it's edges, it looked menacing while giving a safe sense of security to the person behind it.

Meanwhile, Tang Xingxi decided to finish his attack. Not noticing the fact that his copy was creating a noble phantasm, he created a Pudao[1]. Twirling it to gain momentum, he rushed towards his copy. About three meters before he got to his copy, Tang Xingxi jumped, still continuing to twirl his weapon.

"Aegis!" the copy shouted.

Tang Xingxi, already in the air, struck down with the combined momentum from his fairly long runup.

Boom!

A shockwave pulsed as soon as Tang Xingxi struck Aegis, repelling himself back into the air.

Backflipping into the air, he landed while reequipping his dual blades. Looking towards his copy, Tang Xingxi sneered as his copy did the same.

Rushing towards each other, they both started chanting. (I will refer to the copy as C)

"I am the bone of my sword" (C/TX)

A small gale started to form around their bodies as they rushed forward. Getting into range, both of them started clashing blades.

Continuing on for a moment, both of them discovered an opening on their necks. Both of them taking advantage of said openings, it seemed they were both met with mutual destruction.

"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood" (C/TX)

As if on cue, they blades they held hit their necks right as the first half of the phrase was said. The sound of metal cutting flesh was expected but never came.

Clang!

Instead, the sound of metal hitting metal was heard. However, at this moment, one could see that the movement of the two people slowed down significantly and their bodies began to lose colour.

Upon the utterance of the second half of the phrase, their bodies sped up even faster than their normal speed. Color returned to their faces as they started to fight with renewed vigour.

"I have created over a thousand blades" (C/TX)

The almost unnoticeable gales emanating from their bodies increased in size and power.

"Unknown to death." (C/TX)

"Nor known to life." (C/TX)

Lightning sparked from the bodies of the two figures.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons." (C/TX)

"Yet, those hands will never hold anything." (C/TX)

Finishing one last clash, both of the figures tossed their weapons away and finished.

"So, as I pray, UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!" (C/TX)

Cracking the ground beneath them, both of them summoned reality marbles.

Thousands upon thousands of blades were created, destroyed, and created again as they clashed with each other with the intent of destroying the opposing reality marble.

Standing at the back of the battlefield, Tang Xingxi rushed towards his copy while summoning Excalibur. Seeing his copy do the same, he started to twirl Excalibur while secretly summoning Enkidu.

Stopping at about a hundred meters from his copy, Tang Xingxi said with an authoritative voice, "Enkidu"

Shocked to find himself bound in chains, Tang Xingxi's copy tried to escape before realizing that he was trapped by Enkidu whose sole purpose is to restrict gods.

Deciding to finish off his copy in a cool manner, Tang Xingxi summoned his two dual blades and connected them into a bow the same way Emiya does. Summoning Gae Bolg, Tang Xingxi placed the spear as a stand-in for an arrow. Firing upwards whilst aiming for his copies heart, he released the spear.

Seeing a red trail aiming at his heart, the copy smiled in acceptance as the spear impaled his heart.

The war between both reality marbles ending, Tang Xingxi was thrust back into his training area. Looking at his copy disintegrating into light particles, Tang Xingxi wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.

'That was hard. Limiting myself to my secondary martial spirit and only using it for those last thousand fights really opened my eyes. Well, at least I'm even more unbeatable now!' Tang Xingxi thought as he reentered his soul realm.

Looking at the library to his left, Tang Xingxi suddenly realized something and slapped his head.

'Ugh, I literally could have combined every single freaking martial art in the universe to perfectly fit my abilities,' he thought.

Deciding to do just that, he entered the centre of the library where a pedestal was erected. Looking at it, he realized that instead of the golden page function, there seemed to be a search and combine function similar to google.

Deciding not to be nitpicky, Tang Xingxi decided to let this slide. After all, this would actually be more useful to him than the golden page.

'Although, seeing a floating book just squash someone to death would be pretty damn cool,' Tang Xingxi thought whilst turning around.

Deciding to let the AI do all the work, he calls out, "Aura!"

"Yes Master," she replies out of nowhere.

Realizing he was actually talking to something without a definable source, Tang Xingxi facepalmed himself and asks, "Um, could you show yourself to me. It's a bit unnerving talking to someone I can't see."

"Alright Master," she says before specks of light converge in front of Tang Xingxi. Forming a feminine figure, the light specks suddenly burst outwards revealing someone who looked like a cross between Jibril from No Game No Life and Asuna from SAO without wings. With stunning purple hair, cute fluffy alien-like ears, lovely amber eyes and a lavish figure, most men would kill to have her as a genuine love interest.

Turning around, Tang Xingxi who was trying to erase all naughty thoughts from his head said, "Aura, compile and merge all books about martial arts both with and without weapons into one book and also do the same with all books about scientific, mathematical and mechanical study, all books related to blacksmithing and moulding, all books about agriculture and production, all books about programming and hacking, all books about optic arts, all books about cultivation, all books about soul arts, all books about crafting, all books on anatomy, diseases and medicine, all books about music, sound and musical instruments, all books about poison and all books related to cooking, butchering, gastronomy and food itself."

Smiling slightly, Aura gracefully lifted her hands. A radiant light faintly glimmered on her fingertips as millions upon millions of books converged in twelve spots.

"Already done," she said with a sultry voice. Looking into her eyes, Tang Xingxi was mesmerized.

Realizing he was mesmerized by the looks and actions of the admin of his soul, Tang Xingxi snapped out of it.

Walking down to get his books, Tang Xingxi thought to himself that he probably shouldn't just treat her as an AI and said, "Thanks," before continuing on downwards.

Collecting the books, he sat down and started absorbing the knowledge within said books at an immense rate. However, the fact that the knowledge compiled from an almost infinite amount of universes would be incredibly immense and profound, Tang Xingxi took a very long time absorbing the knowledge.

During this time period, Tang Xingxi started to rise in soul rank and gain mental and spiritual power. His spirit and mental power took a huge leap and while his soul power didn't increase, it became exceedingly pure, dense and powerful. It was as dense as a spirit sage's and could actually be brought out to physically augment items while his spirit power could physically manifest and 'create' items or creatures.

Solidifying his progress, Tang Xingxi opened his eyes causing an invisible wave of power to reverberate thought his soul realm.

Calling out for Aura, Tang Xingxi asked, "What time is it outside."

"It is six in the morning Master," Aura replied, appearing Tang Xingxi's side.

'Huh? Did I get that right? Six in the morning!?' Tang Xingxi thought.

"U-um, could you repeat that again please," Tang Xingxi asked, disbelief written all over his face.

"Okay master, I said, 'It is six in the morning Master.' Are you okay master?" Aura said, her face changing from annoyed and prideful, to teasing and playful.

"Shoot! Shoot! I need to get up. It's almost time for school to start!" Tang Xingxi said before exiting his soul realm and leaving the room

Greeting his eyes as Tang Xingxi 'woke up' were Zi Hui, Xie Xie and his brother. Upon noticing that I was awake, all three of them simultaneously dragged Tang Xingxi out of bed (literally) and shoved him in the shower.

Opening the door, Tang Xingxi looked the best he possibly could. He was planning on having a date with Gu Yue after class and getting his badges.

"A-a-alright. We understand. Sorry for taking your time," said the messengers from the Mecha Designer and Maker Associations after having a 'chat' with Wu Zhangkong.

'Hahahahaha! Oh man, getting Wu Zhangkong to scare those guys off was such a good idea. Oh, remembering the faces of everyone at the measuring machines, everyone looked like their brains were going to burst!' Tang Xingxi thought to himself with a big grin on his face. Throwing up his two Nine-star Mecha Designer and Mecha Maker Badges, Tang Xingxi caught them before stuffing them in his pocket.

Deciding to make his move today, Tang Xingxi went around to find Gu Yue.

Finding Gu Yue by the school gate, Tang Xingxi stopped in his tracks. Before his eyes, lay a stunning black-haired beauty. Her purple eyes accentuated by the scarce rays of sunlight missed by the big camphor tree, Gu Yue sat on a wooden bench right below the tree. Focused on the five balls of elemental light twirling around her fingers, anyone looking at this scene would be captivated.

Tang Xingxi was no exception. Staring at her, captivated by her beauty, he sat by the tree opposite the one Gu Yue was.

After some time, putting away her elements, Gu Yue refocused on her surroundings before locking eyes with Tang Xingxi.

Blushing slightly, Gu Yue kept her gaze locked on Tang Xingxi for a while before looking away and saying, "U-uh, y-you can come here."

'Such a cute hajidere[2]' Tang Xingxi thought before slowly getting up. His hair ruffling in the wind, and his eyes giving an intent gaze, Tang Xingxi slowly got up. Making a beautiful and meaningful smile, he started walking towards Gu Yue.

Gu Yue, on the other hand, was extremely nervous. 'Aaaah! He's coming here! Ugh, why did he give me that smile, why is he looking at me so intently!? We haven't even actually solidified a relationship…wait! Am I already in love! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossi—', Gu Yue thought before her mind completely blanked out. The only thing she could register was the swirling tongue in her mouth which inexplicably caused her emotions to go wild.

Breaking off from the kiss, Tang Xingxi looked straight into Gu Yue's beautiful eyes before chuckling a bit and saying, "So, I guess I don't have to warm you up to the mood anymore huh?"

As if a switch was flipped, Gu Yue broke out of her trance as soon as those words were said. Only a small, "Huh?" left her lips before she heard Tang Xingxi say it.

"Gu Yue, would you like to go out on a date with me?" (TX)

'Hah? HAH! HAAAAAAH!?' Gu Yue thought, while involuntarily saying, "Y-y-yes."

"What was that?" questioned, teasing her. Although he didn't have any experience with girls in his past life, he did watch enough anime and read enough novels to guess that this was the best next action to take.

"Y-y-Yes," Gu Yue said, a little louder.

"Come again? I don't think I heard it," said Tang Xingxi, egging her on.

"Y-Yes! I would like to go on a date with you!" Gu Yue said, louder than she meant it to be.

Smiling, Tang Xingxi whispered in her ear, "Alright, let's go now," before gently grabbing her hand while walking to the gate.

"So, where to?" Tang Xingxi asked.

"Um, how about we grab a bite," Gu Yue replied, still a little nervous.

"Alright," Tang Xingxi said before pulling her in closer. Embracing her slim figure with his right arm, they walked off of campus to revisit the street where they and Xie Xie ate at.

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[1] - Pudao/ Chinese Swordstaff - dragonsports.eu/en/11567-guan-dao-hallberd-6-guan-yue-coppered.html

[2] - Hajidere/ character who is very nervous and embarrassed around their crush. They will easily blush near their love interest, and might even feint from being so bashful (I am not going that far)

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Could you help me fill out the ubw (Unlimited Blade Works) chants for these:

[Solar Chant]

[Astral Chant]

[Dark Chant]

[Sea Chant]

[Life Chant]

[Death Chant]

[Dragon Chant]

[All Knowing Chant]

[Eye Chant]

[Vampiric Chant]