A/N: This chapter may not be everyone's cup of tea. But, I tried my best to make their conversations as organic as possible for this chapter. It may or may not be good, but I tried my best.
'Sword Intent?!' Everyone above the Spirit Emperor rank was paralysed with shock when they felt it.
As for why they were so shocked? The reason was simple really.
Sword intent had long since disappeared from the Douluo Plane at this time. Even during the time when the Thousand Hands Douluo, Tang San, had roamed the world, sword intent had long since disappeared.
The only reason they could know that what Huang Yu used was sword intent was because of the descriptions they had of it.
From several scriptures from the ancient era, it had been stated that when sword intent was used, a unique feeling completely different to all other sword techniques would be felt.
Most have thought that it was just a myth, but who would have thought that although it was weak, that it would reappear today!
The main reason sword intent more or less went extinct throughout the ages was because it was far too difficult to obtain. To their knowledge, the method of obtaining sword intent wasn't a matter of how, but it was a matter of if they could obtain it.
The way to obtain sword intent was all laid down to a matter of chance.
However, in exchange for such a low chance at obtaining it, sword intent was incredibly overbearing.
Not even a Limit Douluo would mess around with a Titled Douluo with sword intent back during the ancient era.
Of course, Huang Yu naturally wasn't that lucky to obtain sword intent by chance. He had cheated a little.
Unlike the natives of this world who didn't have much of a clue of what sword intent truly entailed, Huang Yu had read several Xianxia novels that information that actually translated pretty well into this world surprisingly.
Sword intent was the crystallisation of your 'intent' to cut something. Hence, instead of just slashing something using your own energy, you make the world attack with you. That was why a person could summon far greater firepower than they ever could normally with sword intent.
It sounded pretty simple from the explanation, but it was anything but.
Huang Yu had to use the King's Wisdom to study on how to reflect his intent upon the world. While he could do it by using his spirit power, true sword intent didn't require it.
It was called sword 'intent' and not sword energy for a reason.
After a myriad of attempts, Huang Yu finally made a minor breakthrough in the past few days. Unknown to others, his attack wasn't true sword intent yet, but it was slowly getting there.
Perhaps in around 5 years, could he truly master it through his own efforts.
Today had been the first time he had revealed his sword intent. At first he hadn't wanted to reveal it, however, after going through the advantages and disadvantages of showing it off, he decided to do it.
Why? Well since sword intent was such an unknown, in the future, he could use the King's Wisdom more and just pin everything on his sword intent's mysterious qualities.
No one could say that it wasn't one of sword intent's abilities. Knowledge about it from the scriptures of the past had been too vague for them to say anything conclusive about it.
Also, unlike revealing he had a special bloodline, where people would try and dissect him, they most likely wouldn't do anything if they found out that his abilities came from sword intent.
Sword intent was just a technique to them. No matter how much you dissect someone, you couldn't figure out a technique, much less one that appeared from chance.
In any case, people would be far more likely to try and suck up to him to get into the good graces of a person with sword intent. This would be very beneficial in the future for networking when he tried to expand Nox.
They wouldn't try to ȧssassinate him. They were smarter than that. People here were smart. As long as there wasn't a complete chance of success, they wouldn't do it.
Everyone in the surroundings merely stood there without moving as they watched Huang Yu sheathe his blade before unsummoning it. Their worldviews had been distorted today by Huang Yu.
Huang Yu promptly turned around to see the shocked faces of all his classmates as well. Although it was subtle, he could also notice a hint of fear on their faces on all of them other than Gu Yue.
Sword intent, although incomplete, was far too overbearing. Gu Yue was fine because he had shielded her from most of the side effects of his unleashing of it.
He walked up to his classmates. "Let's go back. You guys have already lost." Then he turned to Gu Yue. "Let's have a long talk about this week later ok?"
Gu Yue nodded her head absentmindedly.
With that, they all left.
Although both teams had shown incredible strength and prowess, the star of the show on this day was one person.
And his name quickly spread.
– – – –
Back at the hotel, Wu Zhangkong pulled Huang Yu to the side before hurriedly asking, "When did you get sword intent?"
"Not really that long ago. Around yesterday."
Hearing this Wu Zhangkong stiffened up. Then, a gentle smile appeared on his face as he sighed. "You really are the greatest monster I've ever seen, you know that Huang Yu?"
Huang Yu gave a toothy grin in response.
"Also, about the spirit fusion attack just now, did you do something else to it?"
Oh? Huang Yu hadn't thought that Wu Zhangkong would notice that.
The giant tree from the spirit fusion attack had been attacking them at high speeds. Hence, Huang Yu had purposely slowed down its approach so that he could prepare his sword intent.
He had also definitely been worried about Gu Yue at that moment of course. That attack could have killed her if it hit.
However, he also could have just stopped it from the audience area. The reason he went up was to test his sword intent and unknowingly, he somehow managed to mend his relationship with Gu Yue.
It's funny how things work out like that.
"I sliced it in half Teacher Wu." Huang Yu feigned ignorance.
Wu Zhangkong raised an eyebrow hearing this. "No, I'm talking about–" He suddenly paused. "Nevermind, forget it. Let's just stop talking about this for now."
"However, come to me if you think anything bad happens during your cultivation of sword intent. I might not be able to use it, but I still might be able to help if anything goes wrong."
Huang Yu nodded his head in affirmation before giving his thanks.
As Wu Zhangkong walked away, Huang Yu thought that although Wu Zhangkong tried to hide it behind a cold and uncaring mask, he cared for all his students a lot.
Was this called being a tsundere?
He hadn't really liked Wu Zhangkong when he first met him, but his impressions of him had changed over time.
Smiling, he left the area to find Gu Yue to have a little talk about her behaviour for the past few days.
– – – –
"I'm sorry."
Those were Gu Yue's first words when Huang Yu went into her room.
Gu Yue, who had been looking downwards as she apologised, tilted her head up slightly to look at Huang Yu's response to her apology.
After saying sorry, she didn't really know how to continue. She hadn't ever been put into a scenario like this before.
Despite the fact that she was the Silver Dragon King who had lived for an unimaginable amount of time, she had spent most of her life in a deep slumber. Hence, that was the reason she acted quite like a child at times.
She just didn't have enough human life experience to deal with all the nuances that came with being one.
Huang Yu, noticing her nervousness, decided to break the ice to ease her mind a bit. "You know, this is the second time today a girl has apologised to me. If I didn't know better, I would think that my popular phase was starting today." He joked.
It was a corny one, but it did the trick.
The nervousness Gu Yue felt quickly faded away as she giggled a bit.
Huang Yu let out a chuckle of his own as well. "As for your apology, I'll accept it." he said before his expression turned a bit more serious. "But on one condition."
Seeing this, Gu Yue felt a hint of apprehension creeping up on her. "What is it?"
"You have to tell me why you suddenly started acting like that."
A self-derisive smile appeared on Gu Yue's face before she sighed. "It's just that...I've been feeling a little insecure… I..."
Huang Yu waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. She seemed to be stuck in a dilemma on saying something.
Hence, he decided not to push her too much. "Stop. If it's something really private to you, you don't have to say it." Gu Yue felt a huge amount of gratitude the moment Huang Yu said those words.
"I know that you're hiding some things–"
Gu Yue's eyes widened in shock.
"–but we all have our own secrets right?" Huang Yu smiled as he said so.
At those words, Gu Yue felt a complex and indescribable feeling inside herself. She subconsciously clenched her hands, her nails digging into the skirt she was wearing.
"In a relationship, the most important thing is communication. If you don't try to communicate, misunderstandings will always occur. That will be the real killer of relationships."
"If you ever feel like you're down, just talk to someone about it. Having a shoulder to rely on will always help. If you shoulder all your burdens alone, you'll break down eventually."
At this point, Huang Yu had realised that he had been saying too much.
He really couldn't help it. In his past life, so many of his friendships had been broken because his friends chose not to communicate with him.
Instead, they allowed misunderstandings to occur, making their relationships break apart. It was something really frustrating to him.
Huang Yu scratched his head and chuckled softly. "Sorry. I'm just rambling now."
"No, it's fine. Your words… I'll take them to heart." Gu Yue seemed to be stuck in thought as she said so.
After this, the two of them didn't speak. Instead, they sat in the room quietly, enjoying the silence.