Challenge

The Hanging Sword Kingdom was an island nation in the Western Sea. Though it was far smaller than the similarly island-bound Soaring Kingdom, it still ranked second when looking across the four seas. Like many small nations of the Western Regions, it had only one large city within its borders, also called Hanging Sword City.

Everyone in Hanging Sword City wore swords, while every household in the countryside beyond the city forged swords. In a nation that "considered swords beauty," powerful sword cultivators often emerged. The current Sword Emperor, Chen Erniu, could be called one of the finest rulers in the history of the Hanging Sword Kingdom.

At this time, men and women alike traveled through Hanging Sword City clad in white and bearing swords, as that was the beauty favored by the Hanging Sword Kingdom. Those dressed in other colors were usually outsiders.

"What a true treasure land," a man in a bamboo hat sighed amid the crowd.

Though only a trace of stubble showed beneath his bamboo hat, the line of his jaw and that weathered stubble carried a ruggedly handsome air.

Beside him stood a woman in a plain white dress, likewise wearing a bamboo hat. Though her face could not be seen, her bearing alone made passersby on the street repeatedly turn to look.

These two were the Whale-Riding Immortal and Jiang Yuebai.

They arrived outside the royal palace, where two towering platforms were being built. Though they were called platforms, they looked more like two enormous upright white stone pillars. Their final height would approach a hundred zhang, thrusting straight into the clouds.

That was where Daoist Yan and the Sword Emperor of the Western Sea would fight.

Sword cultivators had never needed flashy methods for Dao Contention. Both sides conversed through their swords, without