Fusang Sword Heart Diagram

Chapter 81 The Battle for the Championship
Ning Fusang and Jia Bufan, an outer disciple in the same group, each took a Xuan Tie sword and went up on stage.

A cultivator's appearance tends to change slowly as their cultivation level increases. Jia Bufan, like Ning Fusang, is at the early stage of the third realm and is actually forty-three years old, but he still looks like a young man.

He tightened his grip on the sword, took two steps forward, and swung the sword with his right hand, sending a gust of wind rushing towards Ning Fusang.

Ning Fusang swept his longsword, and the two swords clashed, their blades meeting in a fierce parry, creating a surge of energy. Then, Ning Fusang swiftly changed his move, his gleaming blade flashing past Jia Bufan's eyes.

Jia Bufan suddenly felt a sharp sword wind strike his face, causing a slight stinging pain. Fortunately, he leaned back slightly to avoid it.

With his longsword supporting him on the ground, Jia Bufan lightly touched the ground with his toes and leaped diagonally upwards, using the height of his body to slash down several sword energies!

After dodging several sword strikes, Ning Fusang swung her longsword, its light sealing off several feet of space around Jia Bufan. Unable to dodge, Jia Bufan had no choice but to parry the sword.

The exchange of blows was swift and agile, so fast that those with lower cultivation levels couldn't even see the swords of the two fighters.

Clang clang!
The sound of clashing swords echoed continuously within the barrier. Jia Bufan struggled slightly amidst the dense, rain-like sword strikes. He gritted his teeth, unleashed his spiritual power, dodged left and right, and unleashed several swift sword strikes.

Ning Fusang parried with her sword, the force of which made Jia Bufan's wrist go numb. He shook his hand, and the longsword trembled, bursting out a sword aura that went straight for Ning Fusang's brow!
The surrounding atmosphere became stagnant. Ning Fusang raised her sword and slashed, instantly dismantling Jia Bufan's attack. Jia Bufan felt a chill on his neck; the cold iron sword was already pressed against his neck.

"You lost," Ning Fusang said calmly.

Jia Bufan pursed his lips, sheathed his sword, conceded defeat, and walked off the stage.

Ning Fusang secured her first victory in the second round, making her entry into the inner circle virtually a certainty. Zhu Zi's expression was somewhat grim.

She had just watched Jia Bufan and Ning Fusang fight, and she was certain that their swordsmanship was superior to hers.

She will be the one who gets eliminated.

Zhu Zi's fingernails dug deep into her flesh, yet she felt no pain whatsoever. If she had been luckier, she would have had a chance to enter the inner sect in this year's outer sect competition, but instead, she drew two third-level cultivators! Zhu Zi was incredibly frustrated.

During their rest period, Jia Bufan and Ning Fusang were both recovering their spiritual energy. Their injuries were minor, and after taking a healing pill, they were almost completely healed.

In the third match between Ning Fusang and Zhu Zi, Jia Bufan undoubtedly won against Zhu Zi. Both of them lost a match, but Jia Bufan had one point, while Zhu Zi had zero points.

In the final match, she needs to defeat Ning Fusang so that the three of them are tied in points, only then will there be room for maneuver.

On the arena, Zhu Zi's expression turned serious. She had just watched Ning Fusang's match and remembered her sword-wielding habits, so as soon as she stepped onto the arena and finished her greetings, she attacked Ning Fusang with her sword.

Ning Fusang slightly curled her lips, and with a slanted sword, she blocked and shook the sword. The residual power of her spiritual energy collided with the Zhu Zi sword, and she was shaken back by the force!

The sword shadows were like a riot of colors, dazzling the eyes. Zhu Zi could only rely on instinct to block, and was forced to retreat step by step.

"Damn it, how can she be so strong!" Zhu Zi cursed under her breath as her sword was almost knocked away.

As she retreated and looked back, Zhu Zi realized that one of her feet was almost on the edge of the arena. She immediately stopped with her sword, used the momentum to land gracefully in the center of the arena with a backflip.

Ning Fusang swung her sword horizontally, the sword energy skimming the ground as it struck Zhu Zi. She leaped into the air, only to be slashed down by Ning Fusang's sword!
boom!
The turbulent wind spread outwards. Zhu Zi raised her sword to block, and the next moment, Ning Fusang changed her sword from pressing down to thrusting. A layer of spiritual energy armor on her body exploded like shattered jade!

Even more critically, Zhu Zi could sense that her spiritual energy was almost depleted.

The sharp sword thrust straight at him, and Zhu Zi immediately shouted, "I surrender!"

call--

The blade pierced the air near Zhu Zi's ear, bringing with it a cool gust of wind.

Ning Fusang carried his sword on his back and walked down from the arena.

In the second round of the competition, although there were fewer people in each group, and each of the A and B groups only had to play three matches, the smaller disparity in strength meant that each match lasted longer.

At the end of Shen Shi (3-5 PM), the second day's competition concluded, and those who remained were all inner disciples.

Yang Ruo did a quick count and found that only five of the new students—Ning Fusang, Ke Rong, Xu Qiu, Xu Jianjia, and Jiang Xin—made it into the top forty.

The number of people who entered the inner sect is slightly less than that of the previous session.

Jiang Xin was the youngest, and her swordsmanship was actually a little weaker, but she was lucky. There were no three-stage cultivators in her group, so she got the crucial point.

Yang Ruo called out to the group, "The second round of the competition is over, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. It just so happens that we have a day off today, so I'll treat you to something to eat at the market!"

Ruan San Niang came to watch the battle, and when she heard that Yang Ruo wanted to hold a victory celebration banquet, she left on her own. Yang Ruo called out to her, "Junior Sister Ruan, where are you going? Come with me!"

Xiao Qiu chimed in, "Yes, Third Sister, let's go together. It'll be more fun with more people. Anyway, it's Senior Brother Yang Ruo treating, he has plenty of money, so you don't need to worry about saving for him."

As Gu Pingsheng's personal disciple, Yang Ruo received not only the spirit stones provided by the sect, but also subsidies from Gu Pingsheng. In short, personal disciples were never poor.

Ruan Sanniang hesitated and said, "But I don't know how to fly on a sword."

It was getting late, and everyone was heading down the mountain. They would definitely be using their swords to fly down, but she hadn't reached the second level of the cultivation realm yet and hadn't learned the art of sword flight.

Yang Ruo waved his hand and said, "Is this a big deal? I'll take you."

After Ruan San Niang nodded in agreement, Yang Ruo went to ask Ning Fusang separately and gave her two spirit stones. Only then did Ning Fusang reluctantly nod in agreement.

The group went to the Fangshi Restaurant, which Yang Ruo had always wanted to visit, but there were no private rooms available, and the main hall was packed. Yang Ruo scratched his head and asked everyone, "Can we wait a bit?"

As soon as Yang Ruo finished speaking, a man and a woman walked in. The woman wore a white veil, obscuring her face, but her voice was like heavenly music as she slowly spoke: "Junior Brother Yang Ruo, I have reserved a private room on the third floor. If you don't mind, you can join us."

There were too many people downstairs, so to avoid blocking the way, Li Jinzhen finished speaking and went upstairs.

Yang Ruo's eyes darted around, and she asked everyone again, "You don't mind, do you?"

"I don't mind," Ke Rong replied.

Xiao Qiu watched the white figure disappear around the corner of the stairs, then looked away and said with a grin, "No need to wait in line, and it's a private room, of course we don't mind, right, Miss?"

Xu Jianjia nodded.

Inside the private room, Jiang Xin finally saw the woman's face and was utterly astonished. This was truly the look of a fairy!
Facing everyone's curious and scrutinizing gazes, Li Jinzhen smiled gently, appearing very easygoing.

Yang Ruo noticed that Li Jinzhen's aura was slightly different from before: "Senior Sister Jinzhen, have you broken through to the ninth level?"

Immediately, everyone in the private room except Ning Fusang looked up at Li Jinzhen.

Her smile was serene, and her tone gentle, as if she were talking about something very ordinary: "Yes, I've reached the ninth level."

In fact, three years ago, Li Jinzhen broke through to the ninth level of the realm at Guanyue Peak, but this news was kept secret and outsiders were unaware of it.

Jiang Xin was shocked. This Senior Sister Li looked to be only in her early twenties, but she was actually a ninth-level expert!

It should be noted that many elders of the outer sect have not yet reached the ninth level of the realm.

Yang Ruo showed no surprise. Li Jinzhen, the senior sister of the Southern Star Sword Sect, was a well-known genius. At the age of eighteen, she was already at the peak of the eighth level of the cultivation realm, just one step away from the ninth level. Three years later, it was perfectly normal for her to successfully break through to the ninth level.

Yang Ruo was more concerned about other questions: "Senior Sister Jinzhen, where have you been these past three years since you left the sect?"

Li Jinzhen smiled slightly and slowly said, "Brother Shaoqing and I went back to Yangchi Prefecture."

Wei Shaoqing's name is also well-known in the Southern Star Sword Sect because he is Li Jinzhen's acknowledged fiancé.

Countless disciples within the sect felt that he was unworthy of their senior sister, who was as bright as the moon, and that he was a stain on Li Jinzhen's otherwise perfect life.

Although Yang Ruo didn't share the extreme views of those people, she secretly felt that Wei Shaoqing and Li Jinzhen were not a good match.

Cultivators have long lifespans, but Wei Shaoqing only has a hundred years to live. How can they stay together?
However, since Senior Sister Jinzhen approved, Yang Ruo respected her decision.

Within the Southern Star Sword Sect, Yang Ruo was considered one of the few who didn't have much prejudice against Wei Shaoqing.

Li Jinzhen picked out some of the major events in Yangchi Prefecture to talk about. In the western part of Zhongling Tianxia, ​​Buddhism is highly revered, and Buddhist sects of all sizes are located there. Secondly, there is the widespread practice of sound cultivation, while swordsmanship is declining.

Everyone listened intently, and time passed by unnoticed. In the end, Li Jinzhen paid the bill for the meal.

She asked the shopkeeper to pack up the spiritual fruits and distribute them to everyone.

Ruan San Niang no longer lived on Chaoyang Peak, so she parted ways with everyone long ago. Touching her storage bag, she muttered to herself, "Senior Sister Li is not only beautiful and kind-hearted, but also so powerful. How wonderful."

Not far away, a few faint lights flickered as Ruan San Niang followed the path back to her courtyard.

*
The next morning.

The final day of the outer sect competition. A total of forty disciples, divided into groups of four, will continue to compete in rotation within their groups. The disciple with the highest score will advance to the top ten. The remaining thirty will be ordinary inner sect disciples. In case of a tie, the winner will be determined by head-to-head results.

Ning Fusang's group can be described as a death group. Including her, there are three people at the third level of the cultivation realm, and the only one at the second level is Hua Yue.

The remaining two, both at the third level of cultivation, were old acquaintances. Upon seeing this grouping, they both gave bitter smiles.

If the three of them, all at the third level of cultivation, were distributed among ten groups, they might all be able to enter the top ten at the same time and become personal disciples.

But now, despite his high level of cultivation, he can't gain any advantage.

Regardless of the circumstances, having two instances of the third realm means he is destined to become an ordinary inner disciple.

Hua Yue was in a good mood, because with her strength, she was already very satisfied to become an inner disciple.

If there were only one person at the third level of cultivation in the group, she would naturally want to compete for the status of a personal disciple. However, with three people at the third level of cultivation, Hua Yue knew that she had absolutely no chance.

In the third round of competition, Ning Fusang maintained his perfect record.

So far, she has a record of nine wins out of nine matches.

Once the top ten are announced, they will be divided into two groups for intra-group competition. The top team from each group will advance to the final round to compete for the championship.

Ning Fusang was placed in Group B in the fourth round and won all four of his matches. The first place in Group A was Shen Tu Lei, who advanced to the finals with a record of three wins and one loss.

Shen Tu Lei's cultivation level was one level higher than Ning Fusang's, at the mid-stage of the third realm. He had fought all the way to the finals and lost a single match, while his opponent had not lost a single match from beginning to end. Shen Tu Lei narrowed his eyes and sized up Ning Fusang.

The girl was dressed in ordinary outer disciple attire, her black hair cascading down her back and tied back with a simple ribbon. At the end of the ribbon were two delicate blue feathers that fluttered in the wind.

"Shen Tu Lei".

"Ning Fusang".

The two introduced themselves and, before the competition began, performed a sword salute, then straightened their backs.

Shen Tu Lei took a step forward, gripped the Xuan Tie sword, and made the first move.

From the mere clash of their swords, Ning Fusang knew that Shen Tu Lei was the most formidable opponent she had encountered in the outer sect competition.

Not only was his spiritual power more abundant than his own, but his swordsmanship was also highly refined, and he followed the path of the heavy sword.

With the first probing strike, Ning Fusang sensed the savage and domineering nature of the opponent's sword.

Shen Tu Lei looked up in surprise and glanced at Ning Fusang. She looked so thin, yet her strength was comparable to his own.

However, her winning streak should end with her.

A layer of pale blue light appeared on Shentu Lei Sword, which was covered by spiritual power. If Ning Fusang did not want the sword to break, he had to inject spiritual power into the sword as well.

The cyan sword energies intertwined, waxing and waning. Shen Tu Lei charged out, creating a long rainbow sword shadow in the air, slashing towards Ning Fusang.

It was a mighty and imposing force.

Ning Fusang did not dodge, but chose to take the sword strike head-on. However, she used minimal force to deflect the sword energy, making it appear somewhat light and effortless.

Shen Tu Lei continued to pass the sword, and suddenly thrust it.

Ding!
The tip of his sword touched the horizontal bar of the black iron sword. Shen Tu Lei quickly withdrew his sword and resumed his stance, but Ning Fusang's reaction speed was faster than he expected.

Shen Tu Lei's eyes flashed with cold light, and sword shadows danced incessantly. He sneered inwardly, "A mere trick!"

A surge of powerful spiritual energy erupted from the sword, approaching Shen Tu Lei's intricate sword shadows, only to vanish in an instant.

He unleashed several powerful sword strikes, each imbued with the same spiritual energy. Several sword shadows attacked Ning Fusang simultaneously, vaguely resembling a sword formation.

Ning Fusang raised an eyebrow slightly, a few strands of spiritual energy wrapped around the tip of her sword, and with a slight push forward, it exploded like a flower.

A single sword strike splits the flowers!
Shen Tu Lei's pupils dilated slightly as he immediately focused his attention on defending against the attack, but he was still sent flying by the terrifying sword energy.

His sword touched the ground, supporting his body, and he managed not to fall off the stage. Shen Tu Lei stood up and regained his footing.

The long sword pierced through the air.

He flicked his sword to the side, twisted his waist slightly, and moved to the other side of the arena, but a corner of his robe was cut off by the Xuan Tie sword.

The two exchanged blows for over a hundred rounds, nearly deciding the outcome several times, but each managed to save the situation. As time went on, both Ning Fusang and Shen Tu Lei began to experience a decline in their spiritual energy.

Shen Tu Lei thought dejectedly, "It's too unreasonable that I, a dignified mid-stage Third Realm cultivator, and someone at the early stage of the Third Realm both ran out of spiritual power at the same time. Or is her calculation of spiritual power just that precise?"

His profound spiritual power was completely wasted, which is truly frustrating.

(End of this chapter)