Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 344: Sword Discussion
Shi Yunhao tapped on the chessboard. Although this person had completely ruined the game, it didn't seem to have frustrated him.

On the contrary, it aroused a bit of interest.

"..."

He muttered something to himself, then stood up and strolled leisurely toward the more bustling sword-fighting area in the center of Qingjiangping.

This night banquet on the river was, after all, a relaxed and lively event, so the swordplay was mostly limited to casual exchanges and showing off skills, with very few people risking their lives in a fight.

After all, that would be a bit too ugly.

Although the sword competition has begun, cultivators who have not yet had their turn can still eat, drink, and watch the other cultivators' duels at the banquet.

On Qingjiangping, Li Yi swung his halberd, forcing back a young Foundation Establishment cultivator from Xuanjian Mountain.

The man didn't dwell on it and quickly admitted defeat.

This person seemed to know Li Yi, so after the duel ended, the two chatted for a few minutes.

"Wow, this Li Yi, I heard he entered the Dao from an ordinary martial artist, could it be true?"

"That halberd strike just now was incredibly powerful and fierce. That senior brother from Suspended Sword Mountain couldn't even last ten rounds. In my opinion, Li Yi has already secured a place in the top three!"

From the audience seats, a monk spoke with certainty.

"Li Yi is indeed extraordinary, and Song Yan is no simple man either. I wonder if we will be able to witness the astonishing brilliance of the sword in the clouds on Dragon Pool Mountain today."

"Not too possible."

"However, in my opinion, these two, Li and Song, have probably already reserved two spots for the enlightenment."

These words immediately drew agreement from many cultivators around.

"indeed so."

An older cultivator remarked, "The Dongyuan Sect is truly blessed with good fortune in this generation."

"Such prodigies, two such talents have emerged in one generation."

"And don't forget, Dongyuan Sect has more than just these two. In the previous generation, there were also Qin Ying and Xu Ziqing."

"The Qin family of Southern Chu is currently enjoying unparalleled influence. I've heard that Qin Ying, the pearl of the Qin family, has already established her Dao foundation. Her talent and comprehension are probably no less than those of the Li Song dynasty."

Soon, it was Song Yan's turn to take the stage.

His opponent was a disciple of the Spirit Talisman Sect.

Speaking of the Spirit Talisman Sect, many cultivators at the banquet sighed with regret.

Since the upheaval at Longtan Mountain years ago, which resulted in the loss of a Golden Core cultivator, the Lingfu Sect, despite still possessing the foundation of a major sect, has begun to show signs of a talent gap.

"Song Yan of Dongyuan Sect versus Ye Yin of Lingfu Sect."

Song Yan remained calm and gave Ye Yin a slight nod in greeting.

"Brother Song, please enlighten me!"

Ye Yin gave a low shout, and before he finished speaking, his hands were already moving rapidly like butterflies flitting among flowers.

"Duh!"

In an instant, more than a dozen rays of spiritual light condensed around him, transforming into talismans of different colors, each with its own unique effect.

In an instant, under the night sky, fiery meteors and frost-covered winds rushed toward Song Yan.

Not only that, Ye Yin slowly condensed a longbow in his hand, and a golden talisman ignited, transforming into dozens of arrows that shot out in a continuous stream.

Ye Yin was well aware of Song Yan's formidable strength, so he launched a fierce and relentless attack.

The talismans flickered, spiritual energy surged, and the scene was quite frightening.

The onlookers held their breath, all staring at Song Yan's figure.

Everyone wanted to see what level of strength he had reached and how he would deal with the situation.

Nangong Ming leaned back on the mat, his eyes fixed on the scene. His two daughters, Nangong Wang and Nangong Shu, looked on with curiosity.

However, Song Yan, though expressionless, was not careless. He pointed his fingers like a sword, and countless sword energies burst forth from his body.

The swords condensed into more than a dozen white sword shadows, neutralizing Ye Yin's attacks one by one.

Seeing that his first attempt had failed, Ye Yin summoned more than a dozen spirit talismans.

This was completely different from the previous offensive, which, though powerful, was chaotic and disorganized.

This time, the combined power of more than a dozen Five Elements talismans was faintly converging, resembling a powerful array.

This is precisely the combined attack talisman array technique of the Spirit Talisman Sect.

The aim is to unleash an overwhelming offensive using formations to suppress the opponent.

However, Song Yan was not idle either, and immediately struck again with his sword.

"Om-!"

A clear and melodious sword cry rang out from the sky.

Countless sword shadows swirled and danced in the night sky, disrupting the array of runes, before rapidly rising and disappearing into the clouds.

The next moment, a strange sight appeared.

In the night sky, clouds surged, countless sword shadows converged, and starlight and moonlight shone upon them.

If you look closely, you can see countless sharp sword energies contained within the clouds.

The entire sea of ​​clouds seemed to transform into a flying sword pressing down on the sky.

Ye Yin, who was the one who truly faced Song Yan directly, naturally felt it the most deeply.

Unprecedented pressure.

Although the sword light had not yet fallen, the invisible sharpness of it was already like a thorn in his back, locking him firmly in place.

The talisman array that they were originally so proud of actually seemed somewhat fragile in the face of this sword aura that was as powerful as heaven and earth.

Song Yan gently swiped his finger downwards.

"fall."

Sword energy cascaded down like a waterfall.

The talismans that were flying and gushing on the ground were instantly disintegrated and melted away, turning into scattered points of spiritual energy, just like ice and snow under the scorching sun, when touched by this cloud waterfall.

The whole process was incredibly fast, and watching it was like watching clouds and water flowing smoothly and calmly.

In the blink of an eye, the talisman killing array that Ye Yin had set up was completely washed away, as if it had never existed.

However, Ye Yin felt the overwhelming sword energy gradually receding and settling around him, the sharpness within the clouds completely disappearing.

The clouds dispersed, and the moonlight shone down once more.

Song Yan remained silent, but Ye Yin collected the remaining talismans one by one and then bowed.

"Thank you for your mercy, Fellow Daoist Song. I humbly admit defeat."

"Concession."

After a brief silence, cheers and exclamations erupted on Qingjiangping.

"This Song banquet truly lives up to its reputation."

"Although neither of them has probably used their full strength, it is clear that this person is just doing something casually, and their strength is unpredictable."

Soon, the topic of discussion among the cultivators shifted back from Song Yan to the Dongyuan Sect.

There's no need to elaborate on the Lingfu Sect. Although Lanxi Cave has recently risen to prominence and its young master Jiang Ming is considered a prodigy in the immortal path, his foundation is still shallow and he relies heavily on Senior Jiang Chaosheng.

In recent years, the Xuan Yuan Sect has kept a low profile and remained quiet. Although its foundation is still strong, many disciples in the sect feel that it is lacking something and it is probably difficult to regain its former glory.

With this ebb and flow, the rise of the Dongyuan Sect is now unstoppable.

If they were to have a bit more luck, and within a hundred years some of their disciples were to advance to the Golden Core realm, the Dongyuan Sect would already be poised to become the leading sect in the Chu Kingdom.

Li Yi crossed his arms and burst into laughter, his voice booming: "Junior Brother Song's swordsmanship is still as impressive as ever!"

The drifting clouds scattered across Qingjiangping.

Li Qingfeng casually picked up a strand and held it in his palm.

A faint wisp of azure spirit fire ignited for a moment, instantly transforming the wisp of cloud into a pill.

He leaned closer to smell it, then casually let it go. Li Qingfeng was somewhat surprised: "What a freak."

"My aptitude isn't much different from his, and I also have cultivation techniques to help me..."

"If I remember correctly, it has only been less than ten years since Old Song established his foundation."

"This aroma... it's like someone about to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment."

After an ordinary cultivator establishes their foundation, no matter how reckless and disregardful of the consequences, it takes about ten years to break through to the middle stage and another twenty years to break through to the late stage of the foundation establishment realm.

As for attaining the Golden Elixir, that takes at least a hundred years.

How old is Lao Song now?
Not yet thirty, twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

After much deliberation, Li Qingfeng concluded that if Old Song were to truly attain the Golden Elixir a hundred years from now, he would likely break the record left by the Qingyan Immortal.

Although Cen Qinghe and Gu Qingqing, who were beside him, had witnessed Senior Brother Song's swordsmanship before, no matter how many times, they always felt that his strength was unpredictable.

After the two finished their duel and left the arena, the swordplay competition continued in turn.

Ye Yin felt that Song Yan was not arrogant and was quite easy to talk to, so she took the initiative to come forward and ask him for some advice on cultivation.

Perhaps because the Lingfu Sect is now in a state of decline, some ambitious disciples are naturally unwilling to let go of any opportunity to become stronger, hoping to revive the sect's glory starting with themselves.

Song Yan frankly admitted that he was not qualified to teach others about cultivation.

However, after their exchange, he realized that the rune array Ye Yin had used still had some shortcomings.

Rune formations and sword formations, to put it simply, are all variations and evolutions of formations.

Although Song Yan is not formally trained in sword formations, he has gained some experience after studying them for many years.

Moreover, he had just gleaned a tiny bit of insight from Jin Guiren's sword illusion.

While it may not be considered instruction, a friendly exchange with Ye Yin can help one review what they've learned and gain new insights.

However, for Ye Yin, it was not that simple at all.

Many of the suggestions Song Yan made went against his original focus of cultivation.

Upon closer reflection, however, it suddenly dawned on me that this was indeed how it should be.

This exchange truly benefited him greatly.

The same applies to Song Yan. Many things that were not understood before became clearer and more logical as she explained them to him.

However, Song Yan's expression soon turned somewhat surprised, as did Ye Yin's.

Many of the people watching the sword fight were like that.

In the recently concluded sword duel, Li Yi, who was highly anticipated by everyone, actually lost.

He lost to an unknown rogue cultivator.

This person is named Shi Yunhao.

It was the same person who had just played a game of chess with Song Yan.

Song Yan was utterly shocked. The battle that had just taken place was completely devoid of any fancy moves.

At first, it was Li Yi's halberd and Shi Yunhao's scarlet chains that were locked in a fierce battle.

But soon, it seemed as if the two had clicked, and they simultaneously withdrew their weapons and began a clash of physical strength, spiritual power, and fighting spirit.

Song Yan was somewhat surprised that Shi Yunhao, like Li Yi, also possessed the will to fight!
The two fought fiercely, and Li Yi laughed heartily before conceding defeat, citing exhaustion.

Everyone was stunned, and those who were interested began to inquire about Shi Yunhao's background.

Unfortunately, no one knows.

Nangong Ming and his wife, Madam Lin, were somewhat taken aback. They had originally thought that the final showdown might be between Song Yan and Li Yi.

No one expected that Li Yi would lose halfway through.

It seems we underestimated the heroes of the world.

In fact, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that this isn't Li Yi's true strength.

But he has his own understanding and judgment regarding victory and defeat.

His swift and decisive surrender caught many people off guard.

Many of the favorites to win this sword competition were assigned to Li Yi's side, including Jiang Ming, the young master of Lanxi Cave.

Song Yan's side did have several strong fighters, but after a few exchanges, they all conceded defeat.

Although everyone only touched upon the swordsmanship during the Jiangtian Night Banquet, the rankings were not insignificant due to the substantial final rewards.

They are all cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage. Apart from those trump cards that they hold in their hands and cannot use unless in a life-or-death crisis, everyone will know who is stronger after just a couple of moves.

Persistence and relentless pursuit only made him look foolish and caused him to lose face in front of all the heroes.

Song Yan is on a winning streak, and even had a bye in one game.

Having finished all the matches in this group, they advanced to the final showdown with a perfect record.

In the opposing group, the final showdown was between Shi Yunhao and Jiang Ming, the young master of Lanxi Cave.

Looking at that person's figure, Song Yan felt somewhat elusive.

This person was previously unknown and unnoticed.

However, ever since his duel with Li Yi, he has always tested the waters with his opponent first.

Then, defeat your opponent in their area of ​​expertise.

When facing Li Yi, he confronted him head-on with his physical body and fighting spirit. Later, when facing a cultivator skilled in Taoist magic, he also used magic to defeat him.

So far, apart from those three red and white chains, he has not truly demonstrated his fighting style.

This is a very terrible thing.

This means that this person may not be serious at all.

Judging from the spiritual energy fluctuations he displayed, he was a cultivator in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Everyone was speculating about when such a figure had emerged in the cultivation world of Chu.

Is he a disciple of some hidden sect or a young master of some hidden family?
No one knows.

While the group of cultivators were pondering, the duel between the two had already begun.

To be honest, Jiang Ming truly deserves to be a top disciple of a Golden Core cultivator; his methods are indeed remarkable.

He possesses a pure and agile water-based Daoist technique, and also wields a flying sword of mid-grade spiritual weapon quality.

Sword light flashed, and Daoist incantations were performed.

"Ode to the Vast Waves".

Suddenly, huge waves surged on the Lingyang River, creating a tremendous roar.

The huge wave transformed into a giant water dragon, into which a rain of swords poured down, charging forward with overwhelming force.

However, Shi Yunhao remained expressionless, raised his hands, and chains swiftly emerged from his sleeves, wrapping around and clinging to the flying sword in an extremely cunning trajectory.

The strange fluctuations in spiritual energy instantly disrupted the operation of the spiritual energy on the flying sword, locking it firmly in place.

At the same time, before Jiang Ming could react, Shi Yunhao clasped his hands together.

"Mysterious Yin, Heavy Water Incantation".

An extremely condensed water-based magic technique was formed. The dark blue water light, carrying a chilling aura, struck first and pierced through the water dragon on the river.

It shattered Jiang Ming's protective aura.

Jiang Ming groaned, staggered back several steps, and turned deathly pale.

All of this happened so fast that even Song Yan was quite surprised.

"I'm tired of these boring tricks."

Shi Yunhao retrieved the chains, looked at the defeated Jiang Ming, and his words carried a deep sense of disappointment.

Is this all you've got?

(End of this chapter)