Su Xin drew his sword, and the power of the first level of the Primal Energy Realm gathered within the low-grade spirit sword in his hand, transforming into a layer of sword qi that made the weapon look larger and more powerful!
The sword technique he used also followed a mighty, heavy-handed path. He hacked toward Xia Wuji's sword, as if a mountain were crashing down.
This was the Su family's secret art—the Yellow Rank, top-grade Mountain Splitting Sword Style Fifteen Forms.
As Su Xin's sword came slashing toward him, a cold gleam flashed through Xia Wuji's eyes, and the Jinghong Sword instantly left its sheath.
"Swish!"
Su Xin only felt a dazzling sword light flash before his eyes. In the next moment, a stabbing pain appeared in his throat.
He instantly broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly stopped, not daring to make the slightest movement.
A sharp, icy edge had already pressed against his throat, piercing his skin. If he took even half a step forward, the sword would completely run through his neck.
Everyone was stunned.
None of them had seen how Xia Wuji had drawn his sword. They had only seen a dazzling streak of sword light, and then things had become like this.
"Fast!"
"Too fast!"
"He gripped the sword, drew it, and struck in one fluid motion, all within the blink of an eye. The timing and angle of that strike were both absolutely perfect!"
"What an incredible sword technique!"
Exclamations rang out one after another.
"Let our young master go!"
"Take back your sword, or don't blame us for being impolite!"
"Do as we say immediately!"
Su Xin's guards were all extremely tense. They drew their weapons one after another and surrounded Xia Wuji.
Xia Wuji merely looked coldly at Su Xin and said, "Tell them to get lost."
As he spoke, the sword edge trembled lightly, releasing a sliver of sharpness. The wound on Su Xin's throat split open wider, and blood began to flow downward.
Su Xin's legs trembled. His Adam's apple rolled up and down with difficulty, and his entire body was drenched in cold sweat. He hurriedly shouted, "Get lost! All of you, get farther away..."
This was the first time he had felt death so close.
His life was in another person's hands with a single thought.
Su Xin's guards retreated some distance.
Su Xin looked at Xia Wuji and said, "Brother, they say that people only get acquainted after a fight. Why don't you put down your sword and let's talk this out?"
"Get lost!"
Xia Wuji suddenly withdrew his sword, then viciously whipped out with the flat of the blade. With a sharp smack, the side of the sword struck Su Xin across the cheek.
"Ah!"
Su Xin let out a scream and was sent flying sideways.
"Young master..."
"Young master!"
A group of Su family guards hurriedly rushed toward where Su Xin had landed.
Su Xin lay on the ground, already unconscious. The spot where the sword had struck his face bore an extremely conspicuous bloody mark three fingers wide.
"Where did that kid go?" one of the guards roared.
"He's gone..."
"Let's get the young master back and treat his injuries first!"
"Wait!"
"Where's the young master's sword?"
"I didn't see it... Could it have fallen somewhere in a corner? Hurry and look!"
A moment later.
The group of guards exchanged bewildered glances.
Su Xin's low-grade, first-tier spirit sword... was gone!
Elsewhere, Xia Wuji took advantage of the chaos to leave the troublesome place.
He naturally knew of the Su family of the Great Chu Dynasty. Its reputation was immense, no less than that of the Lin family where Lin Piaoxue came from. Moreover, the Su family had an extremely close relationship with the Great Chu Imperial Family.
Today, the Su family's second young master, Su Xin, had provoked him in the street. But since Su Xin had offered up a low-grade, first-tier spirit sword, Xia Wuji only needed to teach him a small lesson.
Xia Wuji found an inn in Qingyun City and stayed there.
After entering his room, he took out Su Xin's low-grade, first-tier spirit sword.
"Although the Jinghong Sword is still only a quasi-spirit sword, it's enough for me to use for now. I'll continue strengthening the Sword Seed!" Xia Wuji muttered, immediately circulating the Eternal Sword Canon.
In his dantian, the Sword Seed hummed, radiating light and sharpness.
The radiance contained within the low-grade, first-tier spirit sword in Xia Wuji's hand gradually dimmed, and its sharpness also began to wither.
After a quarter of an hour.
The low-grade, first-tier spirit sword had turned into something resembling scrap metal.
"With the Sword Seed's current strength, when I use Man-Sword Unity, I can hold it for at least a quarter of an hour now."
"But I'm still quite far from releasing sword intent."
After sensing the changes in the Sword Seed, Xia Wuji took out the Earth Core Fire Stone.
The Earth Core Fire was a Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire. The Earth Core Fire Stone had merely absorbed a trace of its aura, but even so, it was still tremendously useful.
Xia Wuji formed hand seals with both hands and used the Sky Burning Art, a technique for controlling fire, to refine the trace of Earth Core Fire aura within the stone.
The temperature throughout the room rapidly rose. In the next instant, the Beast Fire Xia Wuji had refined suddenly burst from his fingertips.
The aura of the Earth Core Fire slowly merged into the Beast Fire.
The Beast Fire flickered violently, its flames leaping. Within the fiery radiance, the tiny phantom image of a Blazing Flame Tiger seemed to be roaring.
Suddenly, the flames surged, and the temperature soared. Just as the room was about to be ignited, Xia Wuji abruptly withdrew the hand seals of the Sky Burning Art.
The scorching heat no longer spread, and the leaping flames quickly stabilized. A tiny flame burned in Xia Wuji's hand.
"Low-grade, first-tier spirit fire!" Xia Wuji looked at the tiny flame, delight blooming across his face.
The fire he had possessed before could only be considered inferior and unranked. Now, it had finally entered a proper tier and gained a grade. Whether used for alchemy or artifact forging, its effects were dozens of times better than before.
It also possessed considerable destructive power in battle.
With a thought from Xia Wuji, the low-grade, first-tier spirit fire returned to his dantian. It coiled around the Sword Seed and burned, tempering it and constantly increasing its strength.
Over the next two days, Xia Wuji remained at the inn and cultivated in peace.
After consuming the useful resources in his Storage Ring, his cultivation realm broke through once again.
The fifth level of the Sea of Qi Realm.
On the third day at the inn, Xia Wuji stopped cultivating and walked out, because today was the registration day for the Azure Star Academy's examination!
As Xia Wuji walked through the streets, he saw many talented young people from different places all heading in the same direction.
Just then, a voice filled with delighted surprise rang out.
"Brother Xia!"
Xia Wuji followed the voice and discovered that it was Huang Hu and Xu Lan.
Huang Hu brought Xu Lan over to Xia Wuji at a brisk pace.
"Brother Xia, I finally found you! After that night, people from the Azure Star Academy arrived first thing in the morning and took us to Qingyun City, but you went after the Bloodfire Demonic Cult scum... I was worried sick."
Huang Hu was an extremely warm and sincere person.
Xia Wuji smiled faintly and said, "I entered Qingyun City three days ago, but I was unfamiliar with the place, so I found an inn and stayed there. I didn't come out again."
Beside him, Xu Lan also nodded at Xia Wuji with a smile. "I've heard Big Brother Huang say many times that Young Master Xia saved him three times while breaking out. I finally get to meet Young Master Xia today."
"If Brother Huang hadn't brought his guards to look after me, I might have met with misfortune that day as well," Xia Wuji said.
Huang Hu laughed. "Brother Xia, let's not bother with such polite words between us. Come on, let's go register together!"
Xia Wuji hummed in agreement.
As the three walked together, Huang Hu introduced the matter to Xia Wuji. "Brother Xia, have you heard the rules for this examination?"
Xia Wuji's eyes flickered. "Do you know them, Brother Huang?"
He truly had never paid attention to them.
Huang Hu said, "We have a great opportunity this year because the Azure Star Academy has expanded its admissions. In previous years, it only recruited ten people, but this year, the quota has been increased to thirty!"
"Moreover, I heard that if we can make it into the top three in this examination, we'll have a chance to quickly advance to Inner Court Disciple status!"
"At the Azure Star Academy, disciples are divided into several levels: Outer Court Disciples, Inner Court Disciples, Core Disciples, and True Disciples."
"Normally, anyone newly entering the Azure Star Academy is only an Outer Court Disciple."
"The cultivation conditions for Outer Court Disciples are undoubtedly the worst. The cultivation conditions for Inner Court Disciples are more than ten times better than those of Outer Court Disciples!"
At this point, Huang Hu rubbed his hands helplessly and said, "Of course, we should just strive to enter the top thirty and become Outer Court Disciples. As for the competition for the top three, we can simply watch the excitement."
Xia Wuji smiled faintly when he heard this but said nothing.
Before long, the three arrived at the Azure Star Academy's examination registration site.
Before you continue