Chapter 25

Lu Feixin's face darkened as he shouted, "Which hero will bring that naughty girl down!"

A loud voice rang out from the crowd. "I will!"

A burly man chuckled darkly, bounding through the crowd toward the rooftop like a black bear. His appearance gave the little girl on the roof such a fright that she immediately cried out, "Don't come over!" Startled and terrified, she fell from the roof.

The rooftop was at least four zhang above the ground. Hearing her scream, everyone was already too late to reach out and catch her. They all felt it was a pity—such a delicate young girl was surely going to be badly hurt.

The people on the second floor could have caught her, but no one moved. They merely watched with cold expressions.

The little girl landed butt-first on the stone-paved ground. Somehow, she was unhurt, though the pain still made her sob.

The burly man had rushed over by then. Laughing, he said, "Why are you being so willful, little girl? Did I scare you?!" At least he knew himself well. Out of kindness, he stepped forward to help the girl who was still crying on the ground.

Still crying, the girl looked at the burly man and snapped, "Don't come over!" She kicked out with her little foot. Everyone watched as the iron-tower-like man was sent flying backward, rolling more than ten zhang across the ground. The sight made them all suck in a breath of cold air, secretly shocked by the girl's tremendous strength.

One truly could not judge a person by appearance. She had looked like such a frail little girl, yet that kick had carried more force than an ox—simply appalling.

The little girl's cries gradually weakened. Her fall had scattered the pine nuts in her pocket all over the ground. Sitting there, ignoring everyone around her, she picked them up one by one.

The burly man climbed to his feet and gave the little girl a look as though he had seen a monster. Rubbing his nose, he snorted, "Is it wrong to be ugly?!"

Thus, that little interlude passed.

Lu Feixin said in a deep voice, "Begin!" He had originally intended to say a few more words, but now he did not wish to say even one. His mood had been ruined. As he sat down, the corner of his eye intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—swept over the green-clad girl who had finished picking up the pine nuts. His eyelid twitched.

At this moment, everyone's attention turned to the arena. The green-clad girl squeezed through the gaps in the crowd to the edge of the platform, blinking curiously at the two people above. Yet her hands did not stop shelling pine nuts one after another and popping the kernels into her mouth, eating with great relish.

The Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword rested across Ning Chang'an's shoulder, while Lu Sheng held his sword in hand.

The Lu Family's inherited sword art, the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style, was known for its grace and agility. Its moves seemed careless and unintentional, yet concealed profound mysteries. Countless exquisite transformations lay hidden within.

The martial arts of the world were divided into moves and cultivation methods, with varying levels. External arts possessed only moves, without cultivation methods; Internal Energy Cultivation, Qi Gong, Essence Cultivation, and Divine Cultivation were all cultivation methods, sometimes accompanied by corresponding moves. Those systems of techniques and moves that gathered the wisdom of predecessors had become a standard by which martial arts were judged in the jianghu. The classifications of internal, qi, essence, and divine had extended to martial moves as well, used to measure their intricacy rather than merely describing cultivation methods.

By the standards of internal, qi, essence, and divine, the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style could only be considered a middling Qi Gong. However, Lu Family Manor's cultivation method, the Cloud Qi Art, was an upper-grade Qi Gong. When this Qi Gong was cultivated to perfection, one could Consume Mist and Eat Qi, becoming like an Earthly Immortal.

Unfortunately, since the Lu Family Manor's founding ancestor, none of its descendants had ever cultivated this Qi Gong to such a realm. They could only gaze up helplessly at the legends of their forebears.

When paired with the Cloud Qi Art, the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style became even more powerful. It was the foundation that allowed Lu Family Manor to stand proud in the jianghu without falling.

The Cloud-Emerging Sword Style emphasized drawing the sword. The sudden unsheathing was like white clouds emerging from a mountain ravine, natural and seamless, leaving no trace to follow. The instant the sword was drawn, it had already seized the initiative against the enemy.

Lu Sheng stood proudly upright, his right hand gripping the hilt.

The atmosphere was murderous.

The spring breeze was cold!

A flash of flame—and Lu Sheng had drawn his sword.

Everyone's eyes widened as they cried out, "The Blazing Fire Sword!"

This sword had been passed down from the Lu Family's ancestor. Its entire body was fiery red, and when true qi was poured into it, scorching flames coiled around its blade. It was Lu Family Manor's supreme treasure. To behold its true form was a blessing earned over three lifetimes.

It seemed Lu Family Manor had truly staked everything on this battle. Lu Sheng was determined to win.

The clouds had become fire clouds, blazing red clouds burning fiercely.

Lu Sheng's strike gathered all of his essence, qi, and spirit. Relying on the might of the divine sword, he sought to completely suppress Ning Chang'an within a single move—perhaps even defeat him in one move. The opening move of the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style, Precious Sword Drawn, was so formidable. Countless jianghu swordsmen had been unable to withstand it, defeated by that very first sword.

The sword drawn from its sheath was the soul of the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style.

The Blazing Fire Sword was already before his eyes. Ning Chang'an clearly saw the cold smile on Lu Sheng's face.

Ning Chang'an narrowed his eyes slightly. Feeling the scorching current of air scrape across his face like sparks, he suddenly thrust out his longsword. With a roar, the sword rang out like a fierce tiger roaring in the mountains. His sword emerged as if divinely guided.

Lu Feixin's body trembled, and he abruptly rose to his feet, his expression grave.

Everyone felt their hearts tremble. Their minds were shaken by the bearing of that strike, leaving them dumbstruck.

The Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword met the Blazing Fire Sword point to point.

Lu Sheng's expression changed drastically.

Ning Chang'an's sword pierced directly at the flaw in Lu Sheng's sword art that he had considered least worth noticing. That flaw was the tip of the Blazing Fire Sword, which ordinarily did not count as a flaw at all. Yet the instant the Blazing Fire Sword collided with the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword, Lu Sheng finally understood how fatal that flaw was.

Ordinary weapons could not even touch the tip of the Blazing Fire Sword; contact meant destruction. Thus, Lu Sheng had never cared about that flaw. How many weapons in the world could compare to the Blazing Fire Sword?! Lu Sheng did not know, but he knew Ning Family's Chang'an's Dragon Head Sword could—and the Dragon Head Sword had already been taken away. That should have been enough.

But he had never expected that after Ning Chang'an lost the Dragon Head Sword, he would gain another Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword—and that this sword was no weaker than the Dragon Head Sword, perhaps even stronger.

At that moment, Lu Sheng looked as though he had swallowed a fly, his face incomparably ugly.

Even uglier than his face was his arm, because one of them had already been shattered by the impact. The Blazing Fire Sword flew from his grasp and lodged diagonally in the arena. Lu Sheng's face was deathly pale. Ning Chang'an's sword had carried the force of a fierce tiger, so thoroughly terrifying him that he had even forgotten to scream.

Lu Sheng had actually been defeated in one move. No one had expected it.

Scarlet blood spread across Ning Chang'an's chest. His wound had split open again.

He had wielded that sword stroke with complete, exhilarating freedom, but the price was that the wound Liu Ruyan had so carefully stitched had torn open once more.

"What happened?"

"Ning Family's Chang'an is actually injured!"

"From the looks of it, his injuries are serious..."

Blood spread across Ning Chang'an's chest. His wound had opened, and the pain drained the color from his face. The jianghu figures beneath the arena discussed him with surprise, malice, or apprehension.

While injured, he had defeated Lu Sheng—one of Lu Family Manor's Young Three Heroes, who had held the peerless divine sword, the Blazing Fire Sword—in a single move. Among all those present, fewer than one hand's worth could have accomplished such a feat, and not many dared claim they could receive Ning Chang'an's strike.

Lu Sheng's body tilted as he held his arm, its bones already shattered, with one hand. His pale face held eyes full of terror and resentment as he stared straight at Ning Chang'an.

Ning Chang'an lowered his head and glanced at the blood on his chest. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he looked at Lu Sheng and said, "Lu Sheng, you have already lost!"

His voice was calm, and his tone was not heavy in the slightest.

Yet when Lu Sheng heard it, it felt as though his chest had been struck by a heavy blow! The more calm and composed Ning Chang'an appeared, the more Lu Sheng felt his arrogance and disdain. The resentment in his heart grew ever stronger. A sinister energy immediately surged into his heart, disrupting his qi. He forcibly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Ning Chang'an swung the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword onto his shoulder, turned, and prepared to walk down from the arena.

He knew he absolutely would not be allowed to walk down, but he still had to try.

That movement was, in truth, a signal.

It was like a wounded lion facing a pack of hungry hyenas. When the lion turned to retreat, the hyenas would savagely pounce.

The moment Ning Chang'an turned, two men swiftly leaped onto the arena. Both were disciples of Lu Family Manor. One helped Lu Sheng down, while the other carefully "invited" the Blazing Fire Sword off the platform.

The two came and went with extreme speed. By the time Ning Chang'an had taken three steps, he was the only one left on the arena.

Suddenly, the arena shook as a man landed upon it. Though he was a man, he descended like a small mountain crashing down. The whole platform trembled. Stone slabs shattered beneath his feet, sending chips flying everywhere. His feet sank into the stone, stamping two deep footprints into the hard slabs.

"Ning Family's Chang'an, what ferocious swordsmanship. I, Yuan Meng, shall seek your instruction!"

The man who leaped onto the arena was a hulking giant. Yuan Meng's muscles knotted across his entire body, and his skin was bronze. He stood there like an iron tower, eyes gleaming as he stared fixedly at Ning Chang'an's back. In his hands was a huge saber, a terrifyingly large, blunt-edged heavy saber.

Yuan Meng's saber weighed a full one hundred and eighty jin, without the slightest exaggeration. It was as large as a door panel.

Chang'an slowly turned around, a faint smile hanging on his face. Casting a sidelong glance at Yuan Meng's bronze face, he said, "Give me a suitable reason to hear. My swordsmanship is not for people to seek instruction from."

Yuan Meng raised two thick, long fingers. "First, I have been short of money lately, and your head is worth quite a bit. Second, your reputation is truly too foul, and I want to do something to punish the wicked and eliminate evil. Heh heh, either way, you are going to die. Pick whichever reason you like!"

Yuan Meng was a discarded disciple of Subduing Tiger Mountain. He had been expelled from the sect for committing countless evils and had always drifted through the jianghu as little more than a bandit. Yet now, he had suddenly stepped forward.

Ordinarily, such trash would never have been allowed within half a step of the willow grove.

Lu Family Manor was renowned as a righteous and orthodox school. It conducted the honorable jianghu business of escorting shipments, and had always hated evil as bitterly as an enemy. Its reputation was truly not bad. Ordinary villains and thieves kept their distance out of respect.

Yet today, Yuan Meng had not only entered Green Willow Manor, but had even leaped onto the arena erected by Lu Family Manor.

Ning Chang'an looked up and saw Lu Feixin seated high above, his eyes closed.

Ning Chang'an sneered inwardly.

With a savage roar, Yuan Meng charged forward in great strides, carrying his saber. The heavy blade spun in a full circle, whipping up shrieking gusts of wind that made him appear utterly vicious. He was famed for his tremendous strength and held a certain fearsome reputation in the jianghu. If anyone facing him could not withstand that first saber slash, they would have no chance at all.