Amidst the whirling leaves of swords in the sky, Fang Ming and Ye Chen stood facing each other in the void, about seventy to eighty feet apart.
After entering Void Heaven Sword Valley, all True Qi Skills of the sword cultivators and other means of attack became ineffective, apart from their inherent flight abilities in the Spirit Sea Realm. Their means of attack were reduced to swordplay alone.
The Sword Fighting tournament was all about the swordsmanship!
"Ye Chen, my friend, shall you make the first move, or shall I?" Fang Ming called out to Ye Chen from across the void.
Ye Chen smiled, "If I make the first move, I'm afraid you won't get a chance to strike at all."
"That's quite domineering," Fang Ming retorted with an unconvinced smile and with a "whoosh," he drew a cyan treasure sword from his hand.
"In that case, let me test just how formidable you really are, Brother Ye Chen!"
Boom!
The tip of Fang Ming's sword pointed at Ye Chen, and from the void, a tremendous sword intent erupted wildly from him. In an instant, the swirling leaves in the sky, under the control of his sword intent, transformed into countless streaks of sword light, charging towards where Ye Chen stood.
Controlled by Fang Ming, these sword lights made from sword leaves emitted a blinding brilliance like the scorching sun, causing the entire space to flicker with a white haze!
It wasn't just the dazzling light; these sword leaves and sword lights carried boundless lethality. As they flew towards Ye Chen, they carved the earth with astonishing sword marks tens of feet long.
In just a moment, Ye Chen was entirely engulfed within the endless sword light's slaughter.
Fang Ming, ranked thirty-ninth on the Void Heaven Sword Ranking, deployed a powerful high-tier sword formation technique with his first move!
This technique was so formidable that many sword cultivators in the Void Heaven Sword Valley would not be able to withstand it, and would likely be defeated by Fang Ming in a single exchange.
But now, Fang Ming was facing Ye Chen, the top-ranked individual on the Void Heaven Sword Ranking!
Not to mention this high-tier sword formation akin to a mid-grade Heavenly martial technique, even if Fang Ming's sword formation's lethality increased several times over, it would pose no threat to Ye Chen.
During the Sword Fighting tournament, in this middle stage of the Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area, there were over two thousand sword cultivators fighting. Naturally, Ye Chen would not waste time on Fang Ming.
As Fang Ming's endless sword formation enveloped Ye Chen, the latter, who was trapped within, simply pointed with his finger, and the myriad of sword leaves that had been flying towards him were suddenly controlled by him. In the blink of an eye, they merged together, forming a sword of sword leaves that shot back towards Fang Ming with explosive force.
Boom!
This sword of sword leaves, unlike the dispersed, countless individual strikes made by Fang Ming earlier, merged into one. It was like a single point of Void Heaven Sword Qi, piercing through the void with inconceivable speed and reaching Fang Ming in a flash.
Fang Ming had not anticipated that his attack would be taken over by Ye Chen.
This clearly showed that Ye Chen's understanding of sword intent was much deeper than his, allowing him to wrest control of the sword leaves from him!
Seeing the point of Void Heaven Sword Qi rapidly shooting towards him, Fang Ming's expression changed. He had just prepared to dodge swiftly, but the point of sword light had already sliced through the void and struck him.
Bang!
With a single move, just one move, Ye Chen sent Fang Ming, ranked thirty-ninth on the Void Heaven Sword Ranking, flying through the air.
As Fang Ming was sent reeling, he was shocked to find that half of his Void Heaven Sword Qi had flown towards Ye Chen.
According to the rules of the Void Heaven Sword Valley's sword fighting, this Void Heaven Sword Qi would only fly to the other party when faced with an irresistible and deadly threat.
Fang Ming was horrified. The fact that his Void Heaven Sword Qi flew towards Ye Chen indicated that if this were a real life-and-death battle, Ye Chen's point of sword light would have already pierced through and killed him instantly; he would have stood no chance against it.
Otherwise, his Void Heaven Sword Qi wouldn't have flown away!
Otherwise, he would have had a chance to counter!
Not feeling the power of Ye Chen's move, yet being instantly defeated by it, was even more astonishing for Fang Ming. It meant that he had utterly failed to grasp the true potential of Ye Chen's technique before losing!
"I have lost."
"Since the beginning of the Sword Fighting Tournament, the true powerhouses have emerged. As the accumulated Void Heaven Sword Qi on each person is continuously taken by victorious competitors, the amount of Void Heaven Sword Qi possessed by these true powerhouses has become more and more astonishing!"
Chapter Discover:
"The final battles will be the battles of these real powerhouses, and the majority of sword cultivators will soon be swept away by them!"
On the Void Heaven Sword Ranking, with Ye Chen at the top, there were also many sword cultivators who saw the number of their Void Heaven Sword Qi rapidly increasing, drawing everyone's attention at this time.
"In the early-stage Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area, there are three people whose Void Heaven Sword Qi numbers are soaring the fastest, obviously, they have been continuously defeating other sword cultivators without a single loss!"
"In the late-stage Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area, Lu Xiaojia, Mo Beiling, Fang Luohan, Xiao Feng, and other favorites to win the championship are likewise sweeping through the other sword cultivators!"
"Good heavens, after defeating more than twenty sword cultivators, Jiang Yao's amount of Void Heaven Sword Qi is about to surpass Ye Chen! In the late-stage Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area, there are many strong competitors, and they have more Void Heaven Sword Qi, so the amount Jiang Yao has seized is even more than what Ye Chen has!"
"That Liu Qingmei is also impressive, having not suffered a single defeat!"
When the eyes of the spectating warriors moved past the early-stage Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area and the late-stage Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area, many people's gaze returned once again to the mid-stage Spirit Sea Realm sword fighting area where Ye Chen was.
"In the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, Ye Chen is unstoppable. After entering the Void Heaven Sword Valley, he was in the southern part of the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, and by now, he has already defeated more than a hundred Sword Cultivators in the south!"
"Besides Ye Chen, there is another person in the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone who is also unstoppable. This person, who previously had an equally astonishing performance in accumulating Void Heaven Sword Qi, is ranked sixth in collecting Void Heaven Sword Qi and hails from the Ice Palace Snow Plains of the far north. She is Murong Qiqi!"
"Ye Chen is advancing from the south of the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, while Murong Qiqi is pressing forward from the north. Both of them, one from the south and one from the north, have defeated all the Sword Cultivators they encountered!"
"This Murong Qiqi's use of advanced sword formations doesn't seem any less powerful than Ye Chen's. Seeing her composed demeanor suggests she hasn't even resorted to her more formidable techniques!"
"Looking at it this way, in the end, it will probably be Ye Chen and this Murong Qiqi who contend for superiority in the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone!"
Amid the discussions of the martial artists, looking through the light screen towards the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, one could indeed see two figures standing out, fighting their way through and proving invincible.
One of those figures was indeed Ye Chen.
The other figure was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl in green, her face veiled with a light covering, revealing only a pair of exceptionally spirited eyes. What's more, the girl wore a snow fluff headdress, from which hung numerous snowy white beads.
This girl in green was none other than the very person the martial artists were discussing fervently, Murong Qiqi, from the Ice Palace Snow Plains of the far north.
The martial artists watching from outside could see through the light screen that in the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, both Ye Chen and Murong Qiqi were sweeping through the other Sword Cultivators.
As Ye Chen and Murong Qiqi continued to defeat opponents in Sword Fighting, they also sensed that, aside from themselves, there was another person in their Sword Fighting zone who was constantly increasing their count of Void Heaven Sword Qi.
With the aid of the spheres of Void Heaven Sword Qi, it was possible to sense the locations and the status of Void Heaven Sword Qi of all opponents within the Sword Fighting zone.
When the number of Sword Cultivators in the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone had dwindled to just a few hundred, their sensing of this formidable opponent became even more distinct.
At this moment, within the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, Ye Chen and Murong Qiqi were still more than two thousand li apart.
"The Ice Palace Snow Plains? Murong Qiqi?"
Ye Chen looked up at the Void Heaven Sword Ranking, finding the name of the one he sensed accumulating Void Heaven Sword Qi at a rapid pace in the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone, defeating other Sword Cultivators just like him.
At the same time, Murong Qiqi seemed to sense something and cast her gaze toward the top position of the Void Heaven Sword Ranking.
The girl's eyes sparkled faintly, "So, the other person in the Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage Sword Fighting zone sweeping through others and seizing their Sword Qi is Ye Chen, ranked first."
"Interesting, truly interesting."
"Defeating this Ye Chen, I could take half of his Void Heaven Sword Qi. Perhaps, without needing to go to other Sword Fighting zones, I might climb to the first place just here!"
"Since that's the case, I should see just how formidable this Ye Chen really is!"
After murmuring to herself, the girl ignored the other Sword Cultivators and, sensing Ye Chen's location, she burst forth directly towards him.
It seems that Murong Qiqi, even when facing Ye Chen ranked first, is quite confident in her ability to defeat him!