Soured

Seeing Ning Qi stay silent.

Chubby Kid Zhuang Chen switched on chatterbox mode.

"Ning Qi, really, just go down."

"Ning Qi, that wasn't all my strength just now."

"Ning Qi, why are you ignoring me?"

"Ning Qi, are you not very smart? Sigh, if you won't go down, then I'll go a little lighter."

When Zhuang Chen finally could not help saying those words, everyone's expressions turned strange.

The corners of the Divine Sword Sect's Eldest Senior Brother's and the Divine Sword Elder's mouths twitched.

Dragon Mountain Daoist smiled.

This Chubby Kid was oddly amusing.

Ning Qi looked at Zhuang Chen speechlessly, and finally spoke: "If you keep talking, your master is going to beat you."

Zhuang Chen turned back to look, and when he saw the Divine Sword Elder's gradually darkening face, he could not help sucking hard at his runny nose.

He reached out and drew the Mystic Black Wooden Sword from his back, and his entire aura gradually changed.

A sense of sharpness rose and Entangled around him, making Ning Qi slightly surprised. Only facing him in person did he realize there truly were people whose before-and-after changes could be so great.

If the previous Zhuang Chen had only been a silly, gluttonous little chubby boy, then the current him already had something of the embryonic form of a peerless swordsman.

"Ning Qi, are you empty-handed?"

Zhuang Chen's voice was solemn, unlike before. In this state, he seemed to have seen that Ning Qi was not simple.

Ning Qi raised his brows slightly.

"I use a sword too."

He had not specialized in the Sword Dao, but he had read no small number of sword manuals. With his Comprehension, whatever he obtained casually surpassed countless bitter years of cultivation by ordinary people. Besides, once one method was mastered, ten thousand methods were mastered; the Myriad Manifestations Fist was also the Myriad Manifestations Sword. Chubby Kid could be called a peerless genius of the Sword Dao, but in front of Ning Qi, he was still a little tender.

Battle intent rose in Zhuang Chen's eyes.

"Then why aren't you taking a sword?"

As his words fell.

Ye Qinghe's voice had already sounded from the True Martial Sect's side:

"Junior Brother, catch the sword."

A wooden sword suited to Ning Qi's height shot over. Ning Qi did not turn his head, merely grasped casually, and the wooden sword, as if it had a spirit, landed perfectly in his palm.

To ordinary people, it seemed perfectly unremarkable, but the Divine Sword Elder's eyes narrowed instantly.

He was somewhat startled and uncertain.

As if he had sensed that Ning Qi was not simple, Zhuang Chen could not help laughing. Practicing the sword was his greatest hobby, and being able to exchange moves with different Sword Dao experts made him very happy, but in the Divine Sword Sect, there was no one his age who could fight him, nor anyone a few years older.

"Ning Qi, be careful!"

His chubby body possessed an agility that did not match it. Clearly, he had already reached Tendon Refinement. The Tendon Refinement stage was the tempering of the sinews, granting resilience and flexibility beyond ordinary people, enough to let the human body make all sorts of inconceivable movements.

For example, right now.

Zhuang Chen stabbed over with his sword. With a flick of his wrist, more than a dozen sword blossoms flashed into being, and waves of uproar and gasps of admiration came from below the stage.

Zhuang Chen's expression was solemn, unlike his previous foolishness, and sharpness surged in and out of him.

Those sword blossoms seemed light and drifting, yet they carried a sense of heaviness, like a great cauldron, like a boulder.

"Lifting Light as Heavy!"

Qin Yun enunciated each word.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Earlier, Zhuang Chen had already displayed the profound realm of Lifting Heavy as Light, able to release and withdraw as he pleased. Now, with casual ease, he had swung more than a dozen strikes of Lifting Light as Heavy. Such a Sword Dao realm was hard to imagine appearing in an Eight Years Old child.

"So this is the Inborn Sword Bone?"

Qin Yun was silent inwardly.

Originally, he had somewhat dismissed the Divine Sword Elder's words, but now, he fell silent.

Ning Qi held the wooden sword casually in his hand.

Now his Physical Body was without leakage, and with a shake of his arm he had strength of one hundred thousand jin. If he went all out, he could flatten Chubby Kid with a casual slap. Even Dragon Mountain Daoist did not know he had such an exaggerated foundation.

Not to mention that Ning Qi's Sword Dao realm also far surpassed Zhuang Chen's. The two had never been on the same level to begin with.

But there was no need to show off so ostentatiously.

Ning Qi made his move.

First, he had some interest in that Dragon Owl Sword; after all, it was the personal sword of a Gang Yuan Realm expert. Second, he was merely fighting for some face for his sect. When the master had something to do, the disciple bore the labor; Ning Qi had to win this face back. As for whether Dragon Mountain Daoist wanted it or not, that was his own business.

I'll just use a physical strength about the same as Chubby Kid's?

This was no difficult matter for Ning Qi.

The sword-light closed in.

Ning Qi still did not move.

This left everyone from the Divine Sword Sect puzzled.

But Zhuang Chen felt an unprecedented pressure. Ning Qi opposite him had yet to draw his sword, clearly only standing there loose and slack, yet he felt as if he were facing tens of millions of Invisible Swords. Beads of sweat had already broken out on his forehead.

He had never seen an opponent like this before.

Zhuang Chen shouted.

At last, he could no longer withstand the pressure.

He went all out. More than a dozen sword-flowers vanished, and the wooden sword thrust straight forward in an utterly ordinary motion, yet the sword-hum that split the air was incomparably clear.

Even Dragon Mountain Daoist could not help exclaiming:

"This is... Human-Sword Unity?"

Although, judging by the situation, Zhuang Chen had only just glimpsed the threshold of this realm, it was still astonishing enough.

This time, Divine Sword Elder was not smug, because he had seen something even more astonishing on Ning Qi. A look of shock gradually rose in his eyes.

Ning Qi finally moved.

He looked calmly at Zhuang Chen, raised his hand casually, and cut out with his sword, like a light breeze brushing willow branches.

Its speed and power were not astonishing. It was even slightly inferior to Zhuang Chen's, but it carried an intoxicating beauty and artistic conception.

In Zhuang Chen's eyes, the sword in Ning Qi's hand was like a wisp of wind, a drifting cloud, light and airy, yet everywhere at once, with nowhere to hide from it.

Zhuang Chen's eyes widened, nearly going blank.

By the time he came back to himself, he realized the sword in his hand had fallen to the ground at some unknown point, while Ning Qi's sword was touching his chubby belly.

Ning Qi smiled as he tapped Chubby Kid's belly with the sword. "A sword should be used like this."

Looking at Chubby Kid, who stood there as stiff as a wooden chicken, he always had the guilty feeling of bullying a child—and the refreshing satisfaction of it.

At this moment, the Martial Arena had fallen utterly silent.

Everyone around stared blankly at the scene. The people from the Divine Sword Sect found it somewhat hard to believe, unable to accept that Zhuang Chen had actually been instantly killed outright.

Among the True Martial Sect, those disciples who had never seen Ning Qi make a move were all incomparably stirred.

"So Ninth Uncle-Master (Ninth Senior Brother) was this amazing all along!"

Ye Qinghe secretly stuck out her tongue.

"Little Nine is truly a monster. Even I can barely understand his sword realm."

She had originally thought Ning Qi would rely on overwhelming strength to defeat him head-on and give Chubby Kid a brutal beating, but she had not expected him to suppress the other party with the Sword Path instead.

In an instant, Ning Qi had unmistakably become the focus of everyone present.

Qin Yun looked at this scene with a complicated gaze.

There was joy, and also a trace of sourness.

Stormy waves surged through Divine Sword Elder's heart.

At this moment, he finally understood why Dragon Mountain Daoist had only marveled earlier, without envy.

With a disciple like this, who would still envy someone else's disciple?!

He forcefully endured the envy and jealousy in his heart, his tone faint and filled with incomparable sourness. "To comprehend Sword Intent at such a young age, and walk out onto his own Sword Path—Sword Saint Posture indeed... Dragon Mountain old bull's nose, what kind of dog-shit luck did you step in..."

Dragon Mountain Daoist laughed loudly, pretending to be relaxed.

"Divine Sword Brother overpraises me, overpraises me."

In truth, he was also somewhat stunned.

He had only known that Ning Qi's Body Tempering progress was incomparably exaggerated, but he had never seen Ning Qi reveal his Sword Path before. Today's one sword had likewise refreshed his understanding.

"A Sword Path monster like this is somewhat wasted in your True Martial Sect..."

Hearing the envy and covetousness in Divine Sword Elder's words, Dragon Mountain Daoist grew vigilant. This old fellow had set his sights on his family's precious treasure! "I'm warning you, don't get any crooked ideas!"

Divine Sword Elder curled his lip slightly. He had only said it offhandedly.

He looked toward the Martial Arena.

Ning Qi was calm and unruffled as wind and clouds. Then he looked at his own foolish disciple.

The sourness in his heart could not help welling up again.

At this moment, Zhuang Chen had already recovered from his daze. Incomparably blazing heat surged in his eyes, and with a thud, he hugged Ning Qi's trouser leg. "Ning Qi, what was that sword just now? Teach me, all right? I can take you as my master!"

Divine Sword Elder's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

This rebellious disciple!