Free Web NovelChapter 17: Chapter 17: Swordsman Duel
Gu Yun had no way of knowing about the heated discussion in the stands.
He was focused on watching the fights of the other Outer Sect Disciples from below the stage.
Some fighters on the stage used petty tricks and minor schemes. It was a real eye-opener for Gu Yun, who couldn’t help but marvel at the depth of their tactics. ’It’s just a fight between two people,’ he thought. ’Is it really necessary to be so flashy?’
But his complaints aside, Gu Yun also broadened his horizons considerably.
Everyone who could participate in the Profound Celestial Sect’s Outer Sect Competition had at least some measure of strength, and each Cultivator had their own specialty.
Whether it was attacks relying on Talismans, explosive clashes between Magical Artifacts, or the fierce collision of Magic and Martial Techniques.
As time slowly passed, the arena battles concluded one by one, and the top fifty from each group were determined.
In other words, the first day of the Profound Celestial Sect’s Outer Sect Competition preliminaries had already eliminated half of the Outer Sect Disciples.
...
「The next day」
The preliminary rounds of the Outer Sect Competition continued.
The elimination rate for today’s matches might not be as high as yesterday’s, but they would be far from easy.
After all, having gone through one round of eliminations, everyone who ranked in the top fifty of the thirty groups possessed a certain level of strength.
Once the Elder on the platform finished his speech, the second round of the Profound Celestial Sect’s Outer Sect Competition began.
There were still seven arenas in use. Gu Yun, number twenty-four, stood waiting below the stage.
Just then, however, his attention was captured by the figures on one of the stages.
"Group Seven, number twenty-one Li Xingyue versus number ten Jun Buxiu," the Deacon Referee ordered.
On the stage, two figures faced each other from a distance. Both were at the Spiritual Martial Realm Ninth Layer Early Stage.
Li Xingyue stood with his back ramrod straight, his expression placid, like a sharpened blade.
Jun Buxiu stood with his hands clasped behind his back, an unruly arrogance about him. "Heh heh heh... You seem quite strong," he sneered. "Worthy of me making a small effort."
Li Xingyue said coolly, "Oh? Is a small effort the best you can do?"
As he spoke, Li Xingyue drew his sword. With the blade in hand, his entire aura sharpened. His gaze became as piercing as a sword’s gleam, and an air of razor-sharpness radiated from him.
Meanwhile, Jun Buxiu placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword.
SWOOSH!
Jun Buxiu moved. Like a drawn sword, he shot toward Li Xingyue at incredible speed.
"Shadows!"
Multiple afterimages of his blade appeared, making it impossible to tell where he would strike.
Li Xingyue struck. The angle of his attack was ingenious, like a stroke of divine inspiration. Moreover, Gu Yun noticed that Li Xingyue’s sword was incredibly thin—a thinness born from extreme condensation, which made the blade all the more sharp.
CLANG!
Jun Buxiu’s first strike was blocked, accomplishing nothing. This was within his expectations. Just as he was about to launch a second attack,
Li Xingyue struck first. A flash of Sword Qi materialized from the void, heading straight for Jun Buxiu’s chest.
Jun Buxiu’s expression changed. He took a step back and slashed horizontally with his white longsword.
Li Xingyue’s eyes sharpened. With a twist of his wrist, his sword light erupted in a tight space, unfurling in overlapping layers like ocean waves and surging toward Jun Buxiu.
’Not good!’ The oncoming sword light felt like successive mountains, their overlapping peaks assailing his very spirit.
At that moment, Jun Buxiu began to take his opponent completely seriously, not daring to underestimate him in the slightest. He instantly shot into the air and slashed down with his sword.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...
As their sword lights met, the floor tiles of the arena were shattered and sliced to pieces.
The entire exchange happened in a flash. Many in the audience couldn’t even see how they had fought—it was terrifyingly fast.
"That was just too fast! I couldn’t see a thing!" a shocked disciple at the Spiritual Martial Realm Seventh Layer exclaimed.
"Every strike is so dangerous. A duel this thrilling... you don’t even have time to react," a patriarch from a small clan in the audience said, his heart pounding.
Jun Buxiu’s figure drifted back, landing lightly on the ground. He looked at Li Xingyue in the distance, his expression grave. "Your strength is enough to make me go all out!"
As he spoke, sharp Spiritual Qi erupted from his body. He lunged at Li Xingyue with overwhelming force. The black light of his sword became terrifyingly intense, staining even the formless air a deep, inky black.
"Hundred-Slit Soul Sword!"
Jun Buxiu had unleashed his ultimate technique, the Hundred-Slit Soul Sword. No longer daring to underestimate Li Xingyue, he attacked with his full power.
A torrent of black energy swept forward with the sword light. Li Xingyue remained fearless. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, his gaze was like two beams of Sword Qi, tearing through the void.
"Break!" Li Xingyue shouted, slashing his sword from a miraculously deft angle.
On the Elders’ platform, Bai Wushuang opened his eyes. "Sword Momentum!" he said, slightly surprised. "Although it’s only at the beginner level, to grasp Sword Momentum while still in the Spiritual Martial Realm... this boy is quite promising!"
BOOM!
The Sword Qi, infused with Sword Momentum, was so sharp it tore through the black energy and terrifying sword light as easily as a knife through tofu, flashing past Jun Buxiu’s side.
Jun Buxiu froze, stunned. If his opponent hadn’t shown mercy just now and deliberately altered the attack’s trajectory, that single stream of Sword Qi would have sliced him in two.
PFFT!
Then, Jun Buxiu spat out a mouthful of blood. He collapsed forward, stabbing his sword into the ground with his right hand to catch himself in a half-kneeling position.
He no longer had any strength left to fight.
"Li Xingyue wins!" the Deacon Referee announced loudly.
Li Xingyue turned and walked off the stage.
"Damn, that kid’s gotten so much stronger in just half a year," Gu Yun remarked from below the stage, slightly surprised.
Clearly, Li Xingyue must have had some sort of fortuitous encounter to improve so much in half a year, but Gu Yun had no intention of prying into others’ secrets.
Gu Yun had his own trump card, after all. He was confident he wouldn’t lose to anyone.
As he was lost in thought,
the Deacon Referee’s voice rang out from above: "Number twenty-four, Gu Yun, versus number forty-nine, Chen An!"
’It’s time!’
At those words, Gu Yun’s feet moved. His figure vanished, and in the next instant, he reappeared on the stage.
He saw the Cultivator opposite him, the one called Chen An, leap into the air and fly dozens of yards to land on the stage.
However, when he sensed his opponent’s Realm, Gu Yun couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
’Spiritual Martial Eighth Layer Middle Stage? I had wanted to toy with my opponent for a couple of moves, but I hadn’t expected to be matched with someone I could finish in one.’
Meanwhile, when Chen An on the other side saw Gu Yun and sensed his unfathomable aura, a wry smile appeared on his face as well.
’My luck is terrible! My opponent is at least a full major Realm higher than me. How am I supposed to fight this?’
’I’m not some protagonist from a mortal storybook who can fight and win against someone a whole Realm higher. Do people really think fighting above your weight class is that easy?’
’I much prefer fighting people with lower Cultivation, like the one at the Spiritual Martial Seventh Layer Middle Stage I faced last round. I could crush someone like that with ease.’
’What a shame. It looks like my winning streak is about to end.’
However, these thoughts merely flashed through Chen An’s mind.
Even though he had encountered the worst-case scenario, he still had to fight.
"Senior Brother Gu, please guide me." Before the match, Chen An earnestly gave Gu Yun a cupped-fist salute.
Gu Yun was a little surprised, but he didn’t overthink it and politely returned the salute.
"Please!"
