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Chapter 234 Raising Hand to Slash the Sword
Ji You's arrival naturally attracted a lot of attention.

The first to look over was the Little Master of Lingjian Mountain, who had come to "watch the duel between the second sons of the Hua family's collateral branch." She was sitting on the second-floor viewing platform, still expressionless, but she couldn't help but lean forward slightly, staring intently at the strange man watching below.

While scrutinizing Ji You, Zhuo Wanqiu also stole glances at the appraiser, thinking to herself that no matter what his expression or tone was, she couldn't help but want to keep looking at him.

Then there were Ding Yao, Yu Shiliu, Huang Rou, and the three ladies from Yunzhou.

Ji You was extremely handsome, dressed in white and carrying a sword, he certainly had a dashing and heroic air about him.

However, compared to the Tang young master in fine clothes opposite him, he still appeared somewhat plain, especially the long sword he was holding, which was just a mass-produced item of moderate price.

Meanwhile, the supervisors jointly selected by the seven major immortal sects appeared at the edge of the high platform. They looked up at the sun and then gently waved to the two of them.

Tang Jingming was the first to stand up and step onto the stage. He turned slightly to the side, lowered his eyes to look at Ji You, and his eyes were already beginning to brew fighting spirit.

He had heard many rumors about Ji You and was not as ignorant as those women.

However, as a proud cultivator, Tang Jingming felt that even if Yan Hao stood in front of him, his Dao heart would not falter, let alone Ji You.

Moreover, he felt he had no reason to be afraid before the battle.

This was his first duel in the Heavenly Dao Tournament, and no one could stop his surging fighting spirit.

Upon seeing this, the entire Tang family couldn't help but admire his clear and enlightened mind, while others nodded in agreement, feeling that the Tang family's son indeed possessed extraordinary bearing.

Then everyone turned their attention to Ji You, who also came up on stage in a white robe, his eyes lowered and his expression becoming slightly solemn.

Seeing this, Yu Shiliu nodded slightly, thinking to herself that even if Ji You had acted relaxed a few days ago, he probably realized that Tang Jingming was no simple character like Liu Qichen or Wu Zhen. Even if he didn't say it, his serious expression couldn't be hidden.

Ding Yao shared the same thought and breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that as long as the young master did not underestimate his opponent, the chances of winning were still greater.

The only one who found it strange was Cao Jingsong. He noticed that Ji You's solemn gaze was not directed at Tang Jingming, but at the ground of the platform.

Wen Siyuan had just left the round platform and returned to this place when Cao Jingsong called him back.

Why is Ji You staring at the ground?

"My junior brother just asked me if this ground is made of the same material as the Ascension Jade Platform in our Heavenly Academy."

Why is he asking this?

"On the day he arrived, he asked me if I would have to pay for anything that was broken in the room. I said yes, so he was a little worried that if he damaged the dojo, he would also have to pay for it."

"???"

As Ji You, with a solemn expression, stood on the high platform, silver-blue light began to flash continuously from all around, then converged upwards in a semi-circular arc.

A moment later, the barrier above the round platform became perfectly sealed, as if formed by nature, amidst a surge of light.

Canglang!

With a slight tremor, Tang Jingming on the round platform suddenly raised his hand, drew out a two-handed longsword, and hurled the scabbard off the platform like a meteor. In an instant, the spiritual energy around him surged like a raging tide, roaring and churning wildly.

The battle has not yet begun, but the intention has already been set in motion.

Tang Jingming gripped the sword with both hands, raised his eyes to look at Ji You: "I heard that although you are a disciple of the Heavenly Academy, you are most familiar with the swordsmanship of the Spirit Sword Mountain?"

Ji You drew his longsword and shifted his gaze from the high platform to him: "That is indeed the case."

“I went to watch Yan Hao’s first match yesterday and found that the swordsmanship of Lingjian Mountain is indeed terrifying. A slight mistake can result in serious injury. But I have at least three ways to break his heavy sword. I know you went yesterday too. Have you thought about how to deal with that heavy sword?”

"I only want one."

"It seems I'm slightly better than you in this respect. Let me see yours later; I might need it later."

Tang Jingming spoke very politely, but the subtext was sharp and cutting.

Because this phrase will be used later, it means that he is bound to win this match.

The remaining onlookers, seeing this scene, all sat up straight, their eyes becoming focused.

Suddenly, a gong rang out, and a rushing, whistling energy surged forth.

Tang Jingming, who had been secretly gathering his strength, took the initiative to attack. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and swung his blade. The cold light exploded instantly, and the blade, carried by spiritual energy, slashed away. The once calm platform was instantly cut by the wind and waves as the blade whistled through the air.

With a clang, Ji You, facing the iron knife, directly blocked it with his own sword.

As the weapons clashed, sparks flew everywhere.

Although the strike did not cause any damage to Ji You, Tang Jingming's swift and fierce attack was still impressive and drew admiration from onlookers.

Especially those individual tourists who had watched the previous matches here immediately felt that this match was quite different from the previous ones.

Deng Deng Deng!
Tang Jingming strode forward, pressing his blade forward as he did so. His spiritual energy surged like a burst dam, and then, using the momentum, he reversed his blade. A bright silver blade, carrying a sharp intent, slashed down like lightning. The sound of the blade's cry was sharp and piercing, soaring into the sky.

This strike drew even more admiration from the crowd, and even the white-haired supervisor couldn't help but nod, secretly praising it as a fine blade.

Tang Jingming was slower to develop his talents than his peers. He was a quiet and unassuming person from a young age, and it took him a long time to awaken his spiritual power. His subsequent cultivation was also slow and steady, which is why he missed out on joining the Immortal Sect.

But then, his cultivation speed began to increase, gradually surpassing those who had attained enlightenment earlier than him, personally proving that being late to enlightenment does not mean having poor talent.

He didn't have a fight yesterday, so he spent the rest of the time watching other fighters: Yan Hao, Zhu Yao, Wei Yingmeng, Yu Shiliu...

He never missed a single duel involving any of the most outstanding talents from the Immortal Sects.

Before coming to the Heavenly Dao Assembly, he had always had a question in his mind: were the scions of aristocratic families really inferior to the scions of immortal sects?

Yes, this is the general situation.

Since most of the disciples with exceptional talent were selected for the Immortal Sect, those who were not selected were the group with poor talent, which is a well-known fact.

However, generality does not represent all. After watching those immortal sects' duels, Tang Jingming felt that they were nothing special, and that even if he used all his strength, he might still have a chance to win.

With boundless ambition and an aura of unstoppable force, the son of the Tang family bent low, took a deep step, and swung his sword through the air.

clang!clang!clang!
After several swift and unexpected attacks, Tang Jingming keenly noticed that his expressionless opponent suddenly stepped back, then abruptly raised his sword, seemingly intending to counterattack while Tang Jingming was withdrawing his blade. Tang Jingming immediately parried with his own sword.
This was actually within his expectations, because if the opponent only defends, the duel would lose its meaning. A true duel is one with both offense and defense, with back and forth exchanges!
Hmm? I feel a tingling sensation all over my body?

Bang!

From everyone's perspective, Ji You, who had blocked the knife twice, suddenly raised his sword when Tang Jingming countered with another strike, and then slashed down fiercely, hitting Tang Jingming's knife in one fell swoop. The whole action was like cutting vegetables, and a buzzing sound exploded, drilling straight into people's minds.

Even those watching felt as if their vision went black for a moment.

When the world returned to normal, the Tang family discovered that Tang Jingming had inexplicably abandoned his previous offensive rhythm and was now frantically swinging his sword before the round platform.

Straight slash, diagonal slash, circular slash.

Pick up the knife, chop backwards, and slice horizontally.

An endless wave of blades pressed forward fiercely.

The Tang family was greatly puzzled when they saw this scene, because they knew that Tang Jingming's advantage did not lie in speed, but that the sword's momentum required the accumulation of spiritual energy before it could unleash its power.

But at this moment, Tang Jingming disregarded everything and swung his sword wildly with both hands, slashing left and right, his feet moving in a rapid, urgent manner, as if he was trying his best to prevent his opponent from drawing his sword.

Looking at Ji You again, spiritual energy surged beneath his feet, leaving a bright blue-silver trail. Amidst the fluttering of his white robes, he landed several times on tiptoe, then leaned back and retreated, occasionally using his iron sword to block and parry back and forth. However, his expression was very cautious, as if he dared not draw his sword casually.

That's why every time he tried to retreat, a blade would quickly follow.

This continuous sword strike was indeed not strong, even weaker than his previous opening strike. The only difference was that it was as swift as the wind and never stopped.

The Tang family stared at him for a long time, thinking that Jingming must have realized the opponent's weakness, which was why he suddenly changed his attack method.

What they couldn't see was the terror in Tang Jingming's eyes, which was like a surging tide, one wave after another, his black pupils contracting sharply, almost condensing into a pinhead-sized point.

clang!clang!clang!
After several more clashes of swords, the Tang family members' eyes, which had relaxed slightly, froze once again.

As Tang Jingming unleashed a swift and powerful slash, they suddenly noticed a drop of blood dripping from his fluttering robes. The blood was darker in the center and lighter around the edges, indicating that it had just fallen and had not yet fully soaked into the fabric.

Jingming is injured?
Or was it splashed from the opponent's injury?
The Tang family members exchanged glances, their eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty. Just then, the spiritual energy beneath Ji You's feet suddenly surged, and he leaped away, raising his sword again expressionlessly.

With a loud thud, the air vibrated again, and as the simple iron sword slashed down fiercely, everyone around felt a chill run down their spines.

This posture is actually very casual, like holding up a wooden stick, without any dramatic movements.

In their sight, Tang Jingming swiftly raised his sword to meet the attack, accurately blocking the descending sword, but still fell to his knees with a "thud," the iron sword in his hand beginning to tremble uncontrollably, the clanging of metal against metal echoing continuously.

Upon seeing this, the audience members in the stands were instantly stunned.

Then Ji You raised his sword again without any skill, his muscles bulging and veins bulging, like a fully drawn bow. He slashed down again with the ease of a monk striking a wooden fish, making a sizzling sound in the air, like a branding iron being plunged into water.

Then there was another clang. Tang Jingming, who was holding the knife and bracing himself against the wall, trembled violently and stood stiff for about three breaths before collapsing to the ground with a thud and never moving again.

In fact, the duels between cultivators are extremely fast, with flashing swords and shadows.

From the moment Tang Jingming brought down his blade until now, only a few breaths had passed.

Three swords.

Within those few breaths, Tang Jingming's blade flashed countless times, but Ji You only made three sword strikes, each one a simple raising and lowering of the hand.

At this moment, an eerie silence filled the entire venue.

Three noblewomen from Yunzhou stood frozen in mid-air, their teacups dangling from their cups.

Huang Rou looked dazed.

Ding Yao stood there, stunned, on the second floor.

Zhuo Wanqiu looked on in surprise.

Yu Shiliu's face suddenly turned pale.

And the supervisor whose stroking motion froze halfway through.

Everyone slowly rose in a daze, their eyes glazed over, but they still didn't utter a single word.

At this moment, the fierce wind emanating from the sword pressure still raged on the round platform, stirring up the surrounding air and forcefully whipping up Ji You's white robe.

The snow-white robe billowed and fluttered in the wind.

In a short while, the sword wind began to subside, the whistling sound gradually weakened, and then dissipated into the air. Ji You's white robe slowly fell down, gently clinging to his body.

At this moment, the Tang family members seemed to wake up from a dream, and roared in disbelief. In an instant, they surged onto the stage like a tidal wave and hurriedly helped Tang Jingming up.

Among them, the head of the Tang family raised his trembling left hand and used two fingers to probe his son's breath. After a long time, he finally felt a little relieved.

Just then, the head steward of the Tang family, who was serving beside him, called out "Master" to him twice, which brought the head of the Tang family back to his senses.

Following the direction the butler was looking down, the Tang family patriarch looked at his son's hands and discovered that both of his tiger's mouths had been torn open, and blood was gushing out continuously.

The head of the Tang family clenched his fist, then lifted his son into his younger brother's arms. He raised his hand, which was adorned with a jade thumb ring, grabbed Tang Jingming's sleeve, and pulled it up forcefully. After shaking it twice, he pulled it all the way up to his shoulder. He saw that his son's two arms were red and congested with blood, with bulging veins and slightly protruding blood vessels.

Logically, when a person loses consciousness, their muscles should relax and their veins should quickly deflate. However, at this time, those blood vessels appear extremely grotesque and show no signs of diminishing.

Blood stasis and varicose veins.

The head of the Tang family stared at it, his eyes filled with a mixture of shock and anger.

After an unknown amount of time, Ji You left the round platform and then walked off the field with Cao Jingsong, Ban Yangshu, Wen Zhengxin, and Pei Ruyi.

Wen Siyuan followed behind them, remaining silent the whole way, seemingly still not recovered from his previous daze.

Meanwhile, the battle at Jingyang Dojo gradually subsided.

He Lingxiu secured her first victory, defeating her opponent in one fell swoop. In addition, Chai Ze displayed a level of strength and skill that drew gasps of amazement from the audience.

Disciples from Lingjian Mountain and Daodao Sect also achieved victories.

As the crowd filed out, they discussed the battles of the past few days as they walked out of the congested area.

People who had gone to other dojos to watch the battles also gathered here, sharing the news with each other.

The first victory for Yan Shujing, personally taught by the Peak Master of Lingjian Mountain; the first victory for Jiang Chenfeng of the Daowen Sect; the first victory for Huo Hong of the Shanhai Pavilion; and the first victory for Xiao Hanyan of the Tianshu Academy…

In addition, Zhu Yao, the first to win at the Tongxuan Realm of the Daodao Sect, Wei Bo, the son of the Wei family of Yongzhou, who had been hiding for many years, Zhuang Zixin, the younger brother of Zhuang You, the chief disciple of Tianjian Peak, and Wei Yingmeng, the daughter of the branch master of Shanhai Pavilion, also won their first victories.

And Murong Yu, the daughter of the Murong family of Yuzhou, won her first victory; Li Yunlang, a member of the former royal family of Zhongzhou, won his first victory...

The Heavenly Dao Society has been going on for two days now. Although there haven't been any particularly fierce battles, and some people are still holding back their strategies, many people feel that the spots for entering the Holy Land of the Sages will likely be chosen from among them.

At the same time, Princess Chang Le also stepped out from the crowd, followed by Princesses Jia Ren and Chang Jing.

They were all deeply impressed by today's match, and continued to discuss it as they left.

However, when she reached the vicinity of the Cangwu Dojo, Zhao Yunyue couldn't help but stop and glance inside.

She knew that Ji You had her first battle today, and she even knew that Ji You's opponent in her first battle was Tang Jingming, the son of the Tang family.

It is said that Tang Jingming was a bit late in developing his talents, but in reality, his talent was not weak and was much stronger than that of ordinary scions of aristocratic families.

Some people say that Tang Jingming is actually qualified to become an inner disciple of the Immortal Sect.

She didn't want Ji You to be well; in fact, she vaguely hoped that Ji You would suffer a major setback, so as to temper his arrogant and haughty attitude and let him know that he, a rural cultivator, was nothing special compared to all the cultivators in the world.

However, because she wanted to be close to the disciples of Lingjian Mountain, she did not come to watch Ji You's battle.

But then she glanced at the sun and realized that, given the normal pace of a fight, Ji You should be on the arena right now.

Although you can't see the whole process if you go in now, you can still see the result.

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Yunyue stepped into the Cangwu Dojo, only to find that the two people fighting on the stage were not familiar to her.

Has it not started yet?
Or perhaps it was postponed for some reason?

After thinking it over, Zhao Yunyue was a little confused, so she turned around and found a minor official from the Immortal Supervisor who was staying at the Taoist temple.

The affairs of the Heavenly Dao Society are handled by the Directorate of Immortals, so each Daoist temple will have someone stay behind to guard it.

Although the Directorate of Immortals and the Pro-Immortals faction are adversaries, a minor official is not so high-ranking as to treat a princess without any courtesy.

As the princess approached, the minor official from the Imperial Observatory couldn't help but bow to her: "What are your orders, Princess?"

"Tell me, which match is this today?"

"Your Highness, this is the last match of the day."

Zhao Yunyue frowned slightly after hearing this: "The last match? What about the duel between Ji You and Tang Jingming?"

Upon hearing this, a minor official from the Imperial Observatory spoke up: "Young Master Ji's duel had already ended earlier."

"When did it end?"

"About... half an hour ago."

Zhao Yunyue did some mental calculations and glanced uncertainly at the minor official in charge of the Immortal Bureau.

As far as she knew, half an hour ago should have been when Ji You and Tang Jingming's battle had just begun.

Without thinking too much about it, Zhao Yunyue asked again, "So what was the result of the battle?"

"Of course, Young Master Ji won."

"..."

(End of this chapter)