Sword Drawn

As previously mentioned, after the battle between Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong concluded, Wang Ming proposed a challenge.

Both Hong and Huang immediately hesitated for a moment.

Huang Rong understood the situation at a glance, her eyes darting around before she smiled slightly. "Sir, my father and Master just fought a battle and consumed a massive amount of energy. To cross swords with you at a time like this, even if you win, you would be saddled with the reputation of taking advantage of someone's vulnerability."

Wang Ming suddenly blushed. He had only been thinking about getting to spar and impatiently proposed the challenge, completely forgetting about their exhaustion. It truly easily gave the impression of preying on the weak.

Of course, Wang Ming was not someone who cared about such things; what he loved most was seizing the chance to end someone while they were down.

However, coming to Mount Hua this time was to test his own learning and seek new directions, so playing those kinds of tricks was meaningless.

He immediately apologized to the two of them. "Pardon me. Watching the two of you duel just now, my heart surged for a moment and I forgot about this. I'm sorry."

Hong and Huang did not mind either, exchanging a few polite remarks.

Huang Rong suddenly spoke up again. "Since the sir is so eager, Rong'er has a method. It can allow you all to duel quickly without the suspicion of taking advantage of someone's vulnerability."

Everyone asked in unison.

Huang Rong confidently put forward her idea. "You can spar with Brother Jing. Let's see who can defeat Brother Jing the fastest; whoever uses fewer moves wins."

Hong and Huang immediately showed signs of agreement. Fighting someone on the same level carried a genuine risk of damaging friendly relations, and furthermore, without the "Nine Yin Manual" as a bargaining chip this time, their competitive spirit wasn't that high.

Wang Ming, however, was unwilling. Huang Rong had already proposed this method in the original story, but Guo Jing's strength actually fell far short of the Five Greats, and both Hong and Huang had held back when fighting him.

Moreover, this ran counter to his original objective.

He immediately chimed in before Hong and Huang could nod in agreement. "That was also my lack of foresight earlier. The two of you go ahead and meditate to recover; me waiting a bit doesn't hurt."

Then, turning back to Guo Jing, he said, "Jing'er, although I haven't taught you martial arts hand in hand, I still count as half a master to you. Let me see how much you've grown over these years."

"Mochou! Go and spar with your martial brother," Wang Ming called out behind him.

Wang Ming did not want Huang Rong to continue manufacturing drama for Guo Jing, so he immediately found her something to do.

Li Mochou had watched the duel between Huang and Hong, and it had completely crushed her spirit, so she was trying her best to remain invisible and avoid being noticed. She had heard that Hong Qigong loved punishing evil and promoting good, and having done quite a few foolish things in her early years, she was terrified of catching Hong Qigong's attention. To her dismay, she was still called out by her master.

Naturally, Li Mochou feared Hong Qigong, but she feared her master even more.

She immediately stepped out, walked to a spot not far from Guo Jing, and said, "Martial Brother, please enlighten me."

Guo Jing had always been a good youth who respected his teachers and valued the Dao. Raising no objections, he engaged Li Mochou in combat right on the spot.

Although the two had spent a period together, their journey all the way back from Mongolia had been an escape for their lives, leaving them zero time for sparring. Once they reached the Central Plains, they had parted ways.

Huang Rong, however, watching their harmonious dialogue and mutual glances, suddenly took a dislike to Li Mochou.

Perhaps women simply disliked the appearance of outstanding women near their beloved.

Li Mochou opened with the "Jade Maiden Swordplay", launching a continuous series of attacks against Guo Jing as a form of probing.

After exchanging a few moves with her, Guo Jing steadily suppressed Li Mochou.

The "Jade Maiden Swordplay" was no inferior to the "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms". Pity that Li Mochou had been expelled from the Ancient Tomb early on, acquiring only the sword techniques without the matching internal cultivation method. Fortunately, Wang Ming later gave her the "Nine Yin Manual - Internal Cultivation Chapter". The "Nine Yin Manual" was hailed as the general compendium of all martial arts under heaven for a reason, and its internal energy could indeed harmonize with the "Jade Maiden Swordplay".

However, Li Mochou had practiced the "Nine Yin Manual" for only a short time, and besides, she was not the protagonist.

Protagonists were unreasonable creatures; they only needed to stay alive while leaving everything else to heaven. Cars, houses, money, and maidens would all naturally belong to them.

Having observed the battle between Hong and Huang, Li Mochou already possessed a profound understanding of the "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms", and now she had also tested Guo Jing's skill level.

Guo Jing's "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms" was still a far cry from Hong Qigong's level of breaking myriad techniques with a single palm strike. His internal energy was indeed stronger than hers, but she was not afraid of him.

Without hesitation, Li Mochou drew the Gentleman Sword she carried with her, employing a fused version of the Jade Maiden Swordplay and Quanzhen Swordplay.

Wandering the Ends of the Earth.

The two swords, one orthodox and one bizarre, calculated every single one of Guo Jing's moves down to a T. No matter how he altered his stances, he would inevitably be struck by one of the blades.

Several times he was nearly disarmed by a swipe to his palm. The observing Huang Rong felt her heart grip with intense tension, terrified that her beloved would suffer harm.

Though Huang Rong did not care for practicing martial arts, she possessed a discerning eye, and thought to herself, If this continues for thirty moves at most, Brother Jing will undoubtedly suffer a complete defeat. No, fighting empty-handed is too much of a disadvantage.

Huang Rong asked her father for his iron flute, channeled her strength, and tossed it into the dueling arena.

Huang Rong shouted at the top of her lungs, "Brother Jing, catch it!"

Hearing her, Guo Jing smoothly caught the iron flute.

Even with the iron flute in hand, how could he possibly close the distance to counterattack?

He was never naturally skilled at wielding weapons, but ever since Ouyang Feng had forced him through exchanges on the stone cliffs of the Western Regions, his swordplay had already improved immensely.

Martial arts typically balanced offense and defense, yet the weapon techniques Guo Jing practiced were eighty percent defensive and twenty percent offensive.

One had to know that the weapon techniques taught to him by the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan could hardly be considered supreme martial arts. When he subsequently advanced his studies after acquiring the "Nine Yin Manual", it was inside that stone cave in the Western Regions. At that time, his sole pursuit was self-preservation without the luxury of injuring enemies, using a long sword to parry Ouyang Feng's wooden staff. Through this, he researched numerous self-defense and momentum-neutralizing methods, so wielding the flute like a sword to fend off Li Mochou's exquisite swordplay proved remarkably effective.

Neither Huang nor Hong had completely ignored the exchange between the two Li's, and they were quite astonished by the sword technique Li Mochou displayed.

They slowed down their pace of recovering internal power, dedicating the majority of their energy to watching Li Mochou's swordplay.

Initially, the two of them had not really taken Wang Ming seriously, believing that although this person possessed decent strength, posing a threat to them would require at least another decade.

As a result, the sword technique Li Mochou suddenly unleashed completely shattered their preconceptions.

No matter how they racked their brains to devise a counter-strategy, the ultimate outcome was always failure.

This sword technique could be called flawless; attempting to crack it through mere moves was simply impossible.

The swordplay featured one orthodox and one bizarre blade, one yin and one yang, mutually compensating for each other's flaws.

Attack the weak point of the yang sword, and you would foolishly march to your own death, delivering yourself straight to the blade edge of the yin sword, and vice versa.

In the end, the two men reached a unanimous conclusion: if Wang Ming deployed this sword technique, one should avoid entangling with him, opting instead to directly crush wisdom with sheer force through brutal, violent counter-attacks, or drag the fight out until his internal energy was completely exhausted.

Guo Jing ultimately failed to withstand Li Mochou's offensive, losing under her swordplay.

Wang Ming had anticipated this outcome long ago and felt zero surprise.

Twenty years later, the Golden Wheel Monk and Guo Jing possessed comparable strength, only to be easily defeated by Little Dragon Girl.

You must understand that before using the joint sword technique, neither Little Dragon Girl nor Yang Guo combined could match the Golden Wheel Monk, yet the moment this sword technique appeared, the tide instantly turned.

From that alone, you could tell how terrifying the boost this sword technique provided to one's combat power truly was.