"Wang Lu, although we in Spirit Sword Sect fully trust you, just because of this, you should think twice before you do things."
In the face of the crowd of people around the training field, the Fourth Elder of Spirit Sword Sect Zhou Ming looked bitter. He hated his fellow brothers who said something come up and thus they couldn't come, but in fact, they had actually shamelessly sold him. He also hated himself for being careless and didn't notice the latest announcement and thus carelessly ran into this cross-stage confrontation.
There he met his own precious nephew. His face immediately turned dark.
"This fight, regardless of who wins or loses, would put a stain on the reputation of Spirit Sword Sect… Did you ever consider the tragedy of massacring your own sect in designing the plan?"
With a heavy heart, Wang Lu replied, "I just considered that I would not lose, I didn't think of the situation that I would entangle my own Elder on the first day of fighting."
"Alas, you have to learn the lesson of this in the future." As soon as he finished saying that, Zhou Ming immediately felt that something was not right. "... Wait a minute, the way you say it, could it be that you think you can beat me?"
Wang Lu explained, "Disciple does not dare." At the same time, a trace of differential and good-natured smile appeared on his face.
Just as Zhou Ming secretly nodded, thinking that this kid actually knew how to respect his elder...
"But at the same time, disciple does not dare lie to Uncle, so I can only smile but did not speak. As for the true meaning inside, I hope Uncle can understand."
"Damn, what is the difference between this and saying it directly! I was such a dotard that I even had some positive expectations on the moral integrity of you, the people from Non-Phase Peak! Very well, over the years, toward a genius like you, we thought that we should let nature take its course. Thus we indeed did not put enough care on you. Unexpectedly, you've grown so inflated like this, so much that you don't even know the immensity of heaven and earth."
With that, Zhou Ming summoned out two spirit swords. One was ice and another one was fire. The blue and red colors lingered around them.
There was the high-rank spiritual treasure that had accompanied Zhou Ming for nearly a hundred years. When the two swords merged, the resulting sword was even comparable to that of immortal treasure. The body of the two sword spirits appeared half translucent and half real as they drifted around the sword body. One was beautiful and picturesque while the other one was cold and elegant. Both were beautiful girls with outstanding qualities.
Seeing this formation, Wang Lu was greatly surprised. "Fourth Uncle, unexpectedly you are this kind of person!"
Zhou Ming angrily glared at him. "What do you regard sword spirit as! Moreover, aren't your sword spirit also a woman? And you still have the face to tell that to me?"
Wang Lu blinked his eyes. "I'm from Non-Phase Peak."
"You're abandoning yourself in despair!"
The more he talk, the more irritated Zhou Ming was. From the start, he disapproved of this fight among one's own sect thing, but Wang Lu was so annoying that he was really unable to put up with him any longer.
Thereupon, Zhou Ming gently breathed and his immortal heart inside his Jade Mansion slightly moved. Suddenly, like his sword spirit, his own body also became half translucent and half real.
"Brilliant Sword Heart?" Wang Lu narrowed his eyes. He knew that his Fourth Uncle had begun to make his move, so must be extremely cautious.
After decades of getting along with Liu Li, he was already familiar with Brilliant Sword Heart. A brilliant and clear sword heart in exchange for an incomparably pure sword. Under brilliant sword heart, the sharp and nimble characteristics of the sword would be displayed to the extreme, and nothing could stop it once it flew out.
Liu Li was born with pure and brilliant heart, clear and transparent, stainless, and thus, her attainment in brilliant sword heart was also extremely high. Her cultivation progress had often been praised by Zhou Ming such that he even felt ashamed of his own inferiority.
Were it not for the sword spirit of Liu Li's Skybreaker who had already lost, the title of the strongest attack power in Jindan Stage would not belong to Qiong Hua and her Kill Immortal Sword. And that Liu Li was already not a threat to the current Wang Lu.
However, an Elder was, after all, an Elder. Inheriting the inheritance of the golden generation, once he turned serious, his strength was completely not on the same level as a disciple. And this brilliant sword heart… in Zhou Ming's hand, was obviously several levels higher than that of Liu Li's!
This half translucent half real body was clearly a transformation caused by the sword intent to turn the body into half entity and half intent. It not only retained the super explosive attack power of Brilliant Sword Heart, it also overcame its shortcoming on the defense. This was a realm that countless sword cultivators could only dream of.
Zhou Ming's transformation also caused an uproar in the crowd of audience.
Although it had long been known that the group of Yuanying Elders of Spirit Sword Sect' Heavenly Sword Hall were all monsters, and that any one of them had the ability to easily challenge those that were higher stage than them; they simply could not be regarded as ordinary Yuanying at all. However, this kind of transformation was beyond many people's imagination.
"When I saw him fighting against his fellow cultivators that are his peers, I never saw him use this skill, could it be that he has been hiding his strength all this time?"
"Even when hiding his strength he is still able to be rated as one of the most powerful Yuanying Stage cultivators in Nine Regions… How exactly do those people in Spirit Sword Sect cultivate?"
"However, previously when against the other Yuanying Stage opponents he did not use this skill, instead he used it against his own sect's disciple… It seems that the rumors that the people from Non-Phase Peak are the universal detestation in Spirit Sword Mountain are true."
"In short, looks like Wang Lu is sure to lose. He really reaps what he has sown. He is the one who came up with the punishment, and now he is going to taste the feeling of wearing female attire and entering the beauty contest. Hey, fellow daoist, why are you blushing?"
At the same time, on the training field, Wang Lu furrowed his brows.
"It's a bit tricky, but…"
If it was Zhou Ming in Peak Yuanying Stage, Wang Lu would not even be able to pick up even one sword. However, this was a fight in Jindan Stage after all, so it was impossible for Zhou Ming to come up with all of his skills. Turning the flesh into the sword intent which was a feat that was almost impossible to accomplish in Jindan Stage. Thus, it was impossible for him to sustain it for long. Moreover, the sword power would not be completely unstoppable.
Therefore, this was a battle of perseverance. As long as he could survive the barrage of the opening attack from his Fourth Uncle, he would be able to see the dawn of victory.
Wang Lu took a deep breath and then held his Rouge Tears in his hand with the tip of the sword pointing down. "Please make your move, Uncle."
Before his voice even fell, a white shadow had already appeared behind Zhou Ming. Appearing like a ghost, Autumn Beam sent out four condensed primal chaos sword qis through her right hand.
This sneak attack came extremely sudden. Wang Lu was a bit stunned at the beginning, but when he made his move, his momentum was like a powerful thunderbolt, such that it even caught many Yuanying and Deity Stage cultivators in the crowd by surprise.
They thought that since Wang Lu was known for his defense, he ought to defend the attack from Zhou Ming. No one expected him to actually do the opposite and bravely chose to attack Zhou Ming!
Four primal chaos sword qis, each contained the full-blown attack of Wang Lu. Only Autumn Beam, this immortal sword spirit, who could save them in advance and hold them. No one in Jindan Stage or lower could take lightly of these four sword qis.
Zhou Ming, who had transformed his physical body into sword intent, could not block them. Wang Lu's move was so quick that he could not make the most timely response due to the Stage limitation.
However, the two sword spirits besides him actually had the foresight to go into action. The ice sword spirit gently spat out orchid ice, which turned azure icy wind and whistled forward, which actually froze those four primal chaos sword qis in mid-air. At the same time, the fire sword spirit sent out a flaming fist with her right hand and smashed those frozen solid sword qis.
Working in tandem, they smoothly thwarted the joint attack of Wang Lu and Autumn Beam. However, Wang Lu had expected as much. When the two sword spirits were concentrating on the sneak attack, he lifted his Rouge Tears and stepped forward. In one step his original magical ability came out, another step and the primal chaos heaven splitting sword qi that split the heaven and earth apart appeared.
Zhou Ming pointed his finger forward and his figure disappeared. A thin white line infinitely stretched forward from where he stood and pierced Wang Lu's chest before his primal chaos heaven splitting sword qi was unleashed.
The last to respond, the first to arrive the attack.
However, after being pierced, Wang Lu did not fall down. Instead, like a smoke, he spread out and disappeared without a trace along with his primal chaos heaven splitting sword qi.
After a moment of silence on the training field, some of the onlookers suddenly exclaimed and pointed at the sky.
Wang Lu's original magical ability had not disappeared. The sky above the training field was still red, and from within those bloody clouds, thousands of remnant swords rained down like a meteor shower. Wang Lu himself stood in the middle of that rain on his flying sword, propping up his Non-Phase Sword Defense with copious amount of magical power. He used the binding power of the sword defense to unite the countless remnant swords, forming a huge meteor-like sword.
If this meteor hit the ground, the explosive power might be comparable to Qiong Hua's Kill Immortal Sword. This stunned countless of the onlookers. Unexpectedly, the offensive force of Wang Lu, who was known as an expert in defense, had actually progressed to such a state!
However, in the face of this terrifying blow, Zhou Ming was not panicked at all. Instead, he lightly let out an incantation and his two sword spirits linked their arms together, spun, and merged into one, forming a simple sword with half of the side ice and the other half fire. Then the sword flew to the sky, rushing straight against the falling meteor.
Attacked an attack? How could a cultivator of Brilliant Sword Heart possibly avoid such a challenge?
The next moment, the sword and the meteor collided head-on and the mighty meteor shattered into countless fine sands in the air. The blood colored clouds also broke away from the sky.
Zhou Ming's sword of ice and fire had directly broken Wang Lu's personal magical ability!
However, after that exchange, Zhou Ming's countenance slightly sank.
Unlike the onlookers around the training arena, he had no feeling victory at all. Just now that sword strike… was not a victory after a head-on collision. What actually happened was that, just before the collision, Wang Lu resolutely withdrew his strength… Thus, Zhou Ming's all-out attack only broke a layer of empty shell.
Wang Lu this kid was too slippery, he had completely seen through his only current weakness—it was difficult for him to fight long in this state in Jindan Stage. Thus, he tried every possible way to delay the time.
Just using Non-Phase Sword to completely focus on defense would certainly make him end up losing, so he had no choice but to attack… or to feign attack. Every attack seemed as if he went all out, but every time, right before the impact, he promptly pulled everything back. His timing was simply flawless.
This was by no means due to his instantaneous reaction. Since they were both on Jindan Stage, Wang Lu's reaction could not be faster than Zhou Ming. The only explanation for this was that, Wang Lu had already had some guesses about Zhou Ming's action before he even made his move and thus he was able to give the correct response in advance.
However… was this even possible? Even though he had been closed to Liu Li for more than twenty years and thus had already familiar with Brilliant Sword Heart, the styles of the Brilliant Sword Heart of Zhou Ming and Liu Li were completely different.
Although both of them had lived on Spirit Sword Mountain for more than twenty years, Zhou Ming and Wang Lu didn't deal with each other often and moreover, they never had a serious sword fight prior to this. Yet, Wang Lu was so precise with the details in this fight. Could it be that this kid...
Could it be that, previously, he had been secretly paying attention to Zhou Ming?
Thinking of this, cold sweat unwittingly broke out from Zhou Ming's back.
"Wang Lu, is your punishment plan to cross-dress and enter the beauty contest out of personal interest? Have you, as expected, lost your hope on women because of being tortured too hard by that Master of yours?"