587 Sword Will Clash
Wang Wei flew to his seat while ignoring the weird gaze of everybody else. However, as soon as he sat down, Tong Ruobing asked him: “You didn’t really take his scale, blood, muscle, and heart, did you?”
She remembered the conversation on the first day. And based on what she knew about Wang Wei, it would not be below him to do so.
“You sly wench, don’t accuse me of doing such horrible things,” replied Wang Wei with righteousness. “He’s only like that because I placed on some powerful illusion.”
Tong Ruobing sneered; she watched the fight he had with Ji Song and how he essentially cooked the latter in a fit of rage. As such, he would never underestimate this man’s cruelty.
‘His behavior of hiding his fight is weird,’ she thought. ‘Could it be he did not want others to know what he did to the dragon or is there another reason he wants to hide?’
Tong Ruobing decided to wait and observe. Although she wanted to test her strength in comparison to these upper seeded-players and acquire some Destiny and Luck in the process, she also did not want to drag her faction into some conflict beyond their means.
And since she had already detected the loophole in the Dao Oath, Tong Ruobing wanted to be more careful. Maybe, this trial’s inheritance was not worth all the effort. Anyways, during this trial, she has benefited greatly.
Her soul mutated, allowing her to use the power of the Origin Talisman better.
Immortal Child Shi Qian was fidgeting inside despite her calm exterior; she did not have the guts to fight any of these geniuses–even with the oath. Her parents were only two loose cultivators lucky enough to be blessed by a Great Emperor and achieve immortality.
Although she appeared noble due to her birth, her background was the worst among all the people present. With her dad’s death, her background was further reduced.
‘Maybe, I should finally join a sect.’
Her parents have always been proud of the idea of cultivating a mighty Loose Cultivator Emperor. So, she never joined any factions despite always being hunted.
Shi Qian had her pride as a loose cultivator. However, after seeing the participants, she understood the benefit of a powerful faction. It was not just about resources but protection and guidance. If she were from a renowned Emperor Lineage, her mother would not always have to hide and run.
‘No, there is no need for a faction. My father and mother are proud of being loose cultivators, and I will make them happy by proving the Dao as one,’ she thought with determination. However, she also realized she had little chance of winning this inheritance–unless something extraordinary happened in the last mysterious trial section.
And without the inheritance, she had no chance of proving the Dao in her World Community. The only option left for her was to go to a weaker World Community and prove the Dao. But she did not want to do it.
‘Maybe I can ask the final winner to owe them some Karma.’
Light Race Great Emperors had a higher threshold for the number of people they could wash away for. So, she was precious. And if that did not work, she could promise the final winner with her position for Immortal Venerables and Dao Ancestors, thus increasing their factions.
‘It’s decided. Let’s do that.’
Jingwu Hua remained composed, her thoughts only known to her. Although she also wanted to take a bite of Ao Tianyi and get her hands on her bloodline, she did not dare.
Her father was on the upper dimension, and she did not know how he was doing. She did not want to take any actions that could affect or place him in danger. So, she decided just to watch how things unfolded.
Ao Tianyi took his seat with a dazed look; he immediately lowered his head, not daring to look at the opposite side or Wang Wei. Then, Lord Spirit spoke: “Who is the next challenger?”
‘Are you going to challenge Zhang Yucheng?’ asked Wang Wei through Divine Sense.
‘Eh, how do you know?’
‘You’re a swordsman. So, of course, you would challenge him.’
‘I guess that makes sense. But what do you want?’
‘I want to warn you that you are not his opponent. If you want to challenge him, I recommend doing a pure swordsmanship test.’
Wang Wei estimated Ji Lanfang’s strength at the peak of 1-Leaf Immortal Venerable. And this was not his limit. The latter was only Tier 8 like him, and by the time he reached a realm similar to Quasi Emperor, his power should reach 3-Leaf. But even then, he would not be Zhang Yucheng’s opponent.
The swordsman frowned for a moment, pondering. He took a big gulp from his gourd before saying: “I want to challenge the Taoist Priest.”
“Young master Ji, are you sure?” asked Zhang Yucheng.
“I know I may not be your opponent. So, let’s do a battle in the Way of the Sword.”
“That’s fine by me,” replied the young Taoist priest as he flew to the sky, and the drunk swordsman followed him.
“My Myriad Sword Soul Physique allows me to learn and use many different Sword Wills,” Zhang Yucheng said as he took out a black and white sword. “I’ve fought and defeated many swordsmen: I’ve learned from them until I surpassed them.”
“Are you implying I will be the same?”
Zhang Yucheng only smiled in response.
Ji Lanfang shook his head at his opponent’s remark. He took out his own sword, which was completely dark with no designs; it appeared like a normal sword forged by a mortal blacksmith with mediocre abilities.
“My Sword Will is about speed. I believe speed is absolute, and absolute speed is the ultimate path of the sword.”
Zhang Yucheng shook his head as he did not like these pure swordsmen. “Let’s begin with something common: Gold Sword Will.”
Gold is the embodiment of sharpness in the Five Elements, hence a favorite Dao cultivated by many swordsmen. Zhang Yucheng swung his sword to create a moon-shaped slash.
However, he did not use any energy, fleshly body, spiritual strength, or laws. The slash was the physical manifestation of his Sword Dao understanding: the representation of his Sword Will.
Ji Lanfang’s eyes lit up after seeing the attack. “Not bad. But not good enough.” He swung his sword to generate his Sword Will. His slash easily destroyed his opponent before continuing to Zhang Yucheng.
“What a fast sword. Let’s test something else: Earth Sword Will.”
The new slash he created easily blocked Ji Lanfang’s attack.
“Swordsmen are considered the ultimate attackers. Yet, the basic sword moves contained parrying or defending. I do not understand why so many of you are so obsessed with attacks when defending is also a part of the sword.”
“Good question. And the answer is simple: the sword is a weapon for killing,” commented Ji Lanfang before attacking again, this time even faster.
Endless Void, a secret realm:
A hooded individual suddenly appeared before coughing off blood in his hand.
“I thought I overestimated his ability, but I was still wrong. How can a man who reached such height be defined by common logic.”
He blamed himself for not being more careful. Although the hooded person knew the reason for his detection was probably because he was too confident in his hiding method and because he could not control his emotions; he should not have spent so much time staring at the young Fate Domination Emperor.
‘This is a warning to me: I’ve prepared for so long, so I should control my emotions and not make such a mistake.’
The hooded shadow knew this was the opportunity he’s been waiting for. The Empress was not with the young Fate Domination Emperor, and the lower dimension of this Choas World was not blocked, preventing outside interference.
So, after swallowing a few pills, he headed to a house nearby. Inside a secret room, he activated a formation. A few seconds later, dozens of shadowy figures appeared, with no appearances.
“Avenger, what do you want?”
“It’s almost time to act,” replied the hooded figure named Avenger.
“Already? It’s only been 10,000 years.”
“I don’t care about that,” said one of the figures. “What about the things you promised us?”
“I will give you another quarter.”
“What about the remaining half?”
“You can get it after you kill the target,” replied Avenger. Then, he continued in a harsh voice: “Do your best according to the contract. If not, you know the price you’ll pay.”
“Since you have delivered, we will also keep our end of the bargain.”
“That’s good. Remember the plan, be swift and use all your strength. Do not give him time to brief–let alone think or talk.”
“You’re worrying too much.”
Avenger internally sneered. Only he knew how powerful this man would one day become. And with his intelligence, as long as he has less than a nanosecond to think, he will find a way out of any situation.
“If you want the remaining reward, do as I said.”
“Whatever you say.”
Then, all the figures dispersed as if they had never existed.