Chapter 50#

Before the Liangyi Hall#

Yan Wushu pressed close to Xiao Man. As he spoke, his warm breath puffed entirely against Xiao Man’s neck, making Xiao Man feel even more uncomfortable.

This man’s tone was so lost and aggrieved, carrying strands of earnestness. The premonition lingering in his heart became flustered and helpless at this moment, but Xiao Man was powerless.

He couldn’t give a reason.

The previous life was just the previous life. For this life, those things had not happened, so they could not serve as a reason to treat or punish Yan Wushu harshly. But for Xiao Man, the previous life was the previous life; it wasn’t a nightmare or an illusion born of absurdity.

Burning his soul to activate the secret art was truly painful, and that cold white snow on Xueyi Peak almost burned his eyes.

So he had to stay away from Yan Wushu; he had to sever the premonition and the emotional bond between them. If Yan Wushu wouldn’t let go, he could only force him to.

Having made this decision, a crimson pattern immediately appeared on Xiao Man’s forehead.

In the next instant, the Phoenix True Fire was unleashed, burning directly toward Yan Wushu’s face!

The True Fire came with great momentum. Even though Yan Wushu was a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Upper Taixuan Realm, the Phoenix True Fire was inherently pure and infinitely powerful. Back then, Xiao Man had relied on it to kill people across two realms.

At this moment, it was burning a fragile part like the face. Yan Wushu had to let go of Xiao Man and fly to a distance of one sword’s length away.

Xiao Man then stood up, flicked his sleeves, turned, and walked out of the Dao hall.

Yan Wushu followed for a while, but eventually his pace slowed until he came to a halt.

This was the front courtyard of the Dao hall. Beside him was that rocking chair he was used to lying in. Diagonally opposite in the clear pond were the fish Qu Hanxing had caught. Looking back at the backyard where they had just been, the firewood on that corridor hadn’t stopped burning.

“So angry he used True Fire to burn me, does this count as still having me in his heart?” Yan Wushu stood by the rocking chair for a long time, lowered his eyes, and whispered to himself.

The wind passed silently through the courtyard. Time leaked through his fingers bit by bit, and in a flash, it was the beginning of the hour of Shen.

The peak masters or elders of each peak arrived with their disciples. Xiao Man stood with Qu Hanxing. Yan Wushu had set out a chair and sat lazily under a tree not far away.

Xiao Man scanned the people present. When his gaze met Wei Chuyun’s, the latter gave him a gentle smile, and he nodded in response. Mo Juntian waved to him, and Qu Hanxing grabbed Xiao Man’s shoulder, waving back to Mo Juntian on Xiao Man’s behalf as well.

Scanning around, among their batch of disciples who had apprenticed to various peaks from Baihua Peak, only the four of them—he, Qu Hanxing, Wei Chuyun, and Mo Juntian—were present. The rest were senior brothers and sisters.

The Sect Leader, Shen Yiru, had not arrived. The person who came forward to preside was an elder from Mingguang Peak whom Xiao Man hadn’t met. Before he could speak to announce the rules, Yan Wushu moved himself and his chair to a position diagonally in front of Xiao Man.

Xiao Man glanced at the back of the man’s head, not wanting to pay attention or guess what he wanted to do. Only Qu Hanxing respectfully said, “Does Master have any instructions?”

“Your master has no instructions; I just wanted to change places.” Yan Wushu didn’t look back, gently waving his folding fan, his tone faint.

The elder from Mingguang Peak stepped forward and said loudly: “This competition is divided into three rounds. In the first round, the twelve people will compete in pairs, with opponents decided by drawing lots. The winners will obtain the qualification to represent us in the Guangling Trial, and the losers will enter the next round. In the second round, the six losers will compete in pairs, with the rules being the same as above. In the third round, the three losers will compete separately, and the one who wins two matches will obtain the final spot for the Guangling Trial.”

After speaking, he lightly flicked his sleeves and placed a lot-drawing cylinder in the void.

Xiao Man and Qu Hanxing walked over one after the other and drew “three” and “five” respectively.

“Good, good. Brother Man, we didn’t run into each other.” Qu Hanxing breathed a sigh of relief, then poked his head out to see what Mo Juntian and Wei Chuyun had in their hands. The former had “six” and the latter had “one.”

Qu Hanxing gave another round of “good, good.”

“It seems I’m the first one to go on,” Wei Chuyun said.

“Except for us, everyone else is a senior brother or sister. I just took a look, and they all look tough to deal with.” Qu Hanxing lowered his voice extremely low.

Mo Juntian raised a hand and patted his shoulder: “Be confident. We are all in the Guiyuan Realm. In terms of realm, it’s not that much of a difference.”

Mo Juntian was already in the Middle Guiyuan Realm, and Qu Hanxing was the only one present in the Early Realm. Hearing this, he didn’t feel encouraged but became more nervous. He couldn’t help but look away to find Yan Wushu.

But he saw Yan Wushu looking up, throwing his folding fan into the air and catching it, completely ignoring him.

“First group, step up!”

There wasn’t much time for small talk. Mingguang Peak announced the start of the competition.

Wei Chuyun plucked a leaf stuck in Xiao Man’s hair before walking into the field.

No one noticed that Yan Wushu’s hand gripping the folding fan tightened a bit.

Tan Wenzhou came to a spot three feet away from Yan Wushu, waving his feather fan, sounding a bit emotional: “My Xingyun Peak and your Xueyi Peak have never had a very harmonious relationship, yet I didn’t expect that my disciple and yours would be good friends.”

“Fate is such a thing, who could have guessed?” Yan Wushu said.

Tan Wenzhou smiled: “Peak Master Yan’s words are quite profound.”

There was no emotion in Yan Wushu’s words: “Peak Master Tan can think whatever he likes.”

Clang—

The elder from Mingguang Peak struck a small bell, and the competition officially began.

Wei Chuyun and his opponent each drew their swords. Sword light exploded on the field, and the wind turned fierce at this moment.

“Upper Guiyuan Realm against Upper Guiyuan Realm. Who does Peak Master Yan think will win and who will lose?” Tan Wenzhou asked.

Yan Wushu didn’t even look at the two on the field and closed his eyes: “This kind of thing should naturally be left to the two competing parties to decide.”

On the field, Wei Chuyun’s sword moves were swift and beautiful. Facing an opponent with similar cultivation and more years of experience, he didn’t show the slightest panic.

The wind blew his light blue Daoist robe, and the sword light flickered before his eyes, his gaze calm and composed.

The opponent was clearly testing his style, so he let them. After parrying dozens of moves, the opponent thought they had understood his moves, and a slight smile flashed on their face.

The sword light suddenly turned sharp. The opponent used their most proud move, wanting to defeat Wei Chuyun right then. Unexpectedly, Wei Chuyun had anticipated this. With a beautiful spin, he didn’t let even a corner of his clothes be touched.

At this moment, the opponent realized they had been lured into using that move!

But it was too late. Wei Chuyun had already flashed behind them, aiming his sword at their heart.

Competitions within the sect focused on stopping at the right moment. The elder from Mingguang Peak struck the small bell again and announced the end.

“Xingyun Peak, Wei Chuyun wins.”

Xiao Man was the third to go on.

He didn’t use that ‘Seeing the Mortal World’ sword. What he held in his hand was still an iron sword for beginners. The grade of ‘Seeing the Mortal World’ was too high and naturally had a chilling aura. Using it at this time, Xiao Man felt it would be a somewhat unfair victory.

The person he faced was in the Upper Guiyuan Realm. Seeing the sword in his hand, a feeling of anger arose. “A mere low-grade iron sword, and you want to use it against me?”

Xiao Man looked at the sword in his hand, then at the opponent, thinking these words were quite unreasonable, and didn’t respond.

The person in the Upper Guiyuan Realm became even more annoyed. When the small bell rang, they struck out indignantly.

They were one small realm higher than Xiao Man, so they were full of confidence. Without any testing, they immediately used a relatively strong move from the sword techniques they had learned.

Xiao Man had stayed on Gushan for a hundred years, reading Buddhist scriptures and also books from the sect. Even though he had only practiced the nameless sword technique for these ten years, he could still be described as familiar with Gushan’s sword techniques.

This person’s move came with a roaring fierce wind, causing the surrounding trees to shake and the ground to be covered with flying stones and sand. The momentum was not small. The sword intent was surging, and the sword light that exploded, while not reaching the sky, was still dazzling and eye-catching.

If someone else were standing in Xiao Man’s position, they would probably have retreated or avoided it.

But Xiao Man didn’t move.

He had practiced the sword for ten years. Before, watching swords was just talk on paper, but now, watching swords was seeing every weakness and flaw hidden beneath the brilliance!

Xiao Man’s lack of movement was seen as cowardice by the person in the Upper Guiyuan Realm.

He hadn’t seen this person before, so he naturally didn’t know Xiao Man’s name or master. He thought he was some cowardly person and couldn’t help but mock him inwardly. Which peak sent out such a coward? Fortunately, he had met him; otherwise, if he were sent to Guangling to participate in the competition, wouldn’t it make people laugh at my Gushan for no reason?

the sword wind from the Upper Guiyuan Realm pressed toward Xiao Man’s face, making his sleeves and hair flutter.

The mockery in his heart turned into a cold smile. It was at this moment that Xiao Man finally made a move.

Xiao Man raised his hand, and the iron sword flicked up from bottom to top.

This movement seemed very slow, but the reaction of the person in the Upper Guiyuan Realm was not slow—could anyone who was recommended for the Guangling Trial be slow in their reactions? But by the time he reacted, Xiao Man had already struck a certain point on his sword blade.

Xiao Man’s spiritual power flowed on the iron sword, gathering at the point where the weapons met. With a clang, the sword of the Upper Guiyuan Realm was cut into two and fell to the ground.

A fierce sword strike, yet that sword was already broken.

If the sword is broken, where is the sword intent? Where is the sword wind?

The momentum just now suddenly stopped. Xiao Man turned his wrist, and the iron sword landed beside the opponent’s neck.

Also stopping at the right moment.

The winner was decided. Xiao Man turned and left.

The person in the Upper Guiyuan Realm looked at the broken sword on the ground, then at the ordinary iron sword in Xiao Man’s hand, his face full of disbelief.

He was stunned on the spot for a while, then stumbled after Xiao Man’s back and asked: “What is your name?”

The one who answered with a smile was Qu Hanxing. He placed his left hand on Xiao Man’s sword and made a thumbs-up gesture with his right hand before saying to the person in the Upper Guiyuan Realm: “With such a handsome posture, it’s naturally my Brother Man, Xiao Man of Tingyun Peak.”

“Ting-Tingyun Peak?” The person in the Upper Guiyuan Realm exclaimed. “You-you are the Little Grandmaster?”

Qu Hanxing was the fifth to go on. Perhaps it was a matter of luck for several of them, but the opponents they drew were all in the Upper Guiyuan Realm.

When the referee elder struck the bell, Qu Hanxing’s opponent rushed out with their sword.

This person also used a strong move right from the start. Even though Qu Hanxing had secretly tucked a Haste Talisman under his shoe, he couldn’t avoid it.

Qu Hanxing’s chest took a solid sword strike, and the person immediately followed up with a second move, beating him until he almost knelt. Qu Hanxing struggled to respond, retreating step by step, and finally retreated out of the competition field, ending in failure.

After coming off the field, Mo Juntian comforted him: “There are still the second and third rounds.”

“Bless me to draw an easy one next time. These people from Qingyun Peak are truly fierce. Didn’t we say stop at the right moment? It hurts so much.” Qu Hanxing put his hands together and made a bowing motion toward the sky.

“People from Qingyun Peak?” Xiao Man frowned almost imperceptibly.

Qu Hanxing nodded: “Yes.”

Xiao Man gave an “Mhm,” looking thoughtful.

Qu Hanxing didn’t think much of it and ran back to his master again, bowing twice to Yan Wushu and saying: “You old man must bless me to draw an easy one next time.”

Yan Wushu had been keeping his eyes closed—except for Xiao Man’s match. Hearing Qu Hanxing’s words, he lifted his eyelids and asked: “How many times did that person from Qingyun Peak hit you?”

“Thirteen times?” Qu Hanxing counted, not understanding why Yan Wushu asked this.

Yan Wushu didn’t explain, only gave a “Good.”

In the following competitions, Mo Juntian also defeated the Upper Guiyuan Realm as a Middle Guiyuan Realm. However, the process wasn’t as easy as Xiao Man’s. The two sides fought for nearly a quarter of an hour before the result was determined.

In the second round, perhaps Qu Hanxing’s prayer to his master took effect, and he drew a Middle Guiyuan Realm.

He remembered Yan Wushu’s previous evaluation of “not stable enough, vacillating,” so he simply covered his eyes and let his intuition decide. Finally, he won narrowly and didn’t enter the final round.

Seeing several friends successfully pass the competition, Xiao Man didn’t continue watching. He bid farewell and went back to Tingyun Peak. Yan Wushu stood up and followed him. Xiao Man didn’t bother to care and let him. This person was thick-skinned enough to actually follow him all the way to the Dao hall at the peak.

Shen Juan and Shen Jiankong were sitting in the hall playing chess.

The former wasn’t surprised at all to see Yan Wushu. But just as he was about to cross the threshold and bow to say “Grandmaster,” he smiled and said to Xiao Man: “Disciple, a long time ago, I gave Little Tan an egg. I suppose he hasn’t hatched anything out of it. Go and get it.”

Then he turned to Yan Wushu: “Good grand-disciple, you come over and play chess with me for a while.”

Yan Wushu ground his teeth almost imperceptibly: “Grandmaster’s chess skills are extraordinary; this grand-disciple feels inferior. Xingyun Peak is a long way off; I’ll accompany Xiao Man there.”