"Then which Sword Bearer do you think poses the greatest threat to you?"
Le Yu glanced at Ning Xinyuan. He wasn't surprised that she knew about the Sword Quest for Succession—most of the teachers at the Imperial Academy were well aware of it. At most, they simply knew more or less. The only teacher who might not know was Lou Yinhai. He didn't care.
"Then do you know who the other Sword Bearers are?"
"Teacher Nieruo, Mietangya, the Thousand-Faced One who appeared on the leaderboard, and..." Ning Xinyuan hesitated. "Cai Nü and Yin, whom Little Yi mentioned to me."
Le Yu nodded. He thrust the glow lamp into a patch of grass beside the path to see if any wild Blood Essence Stones were hidden inside, and said casually, "I used to think the Thousand-Faced One was the biggest threat. Now I think everyone poses the same level of threat."
"Why?"
"It was because the Thousand-Faced One could transform into countless people, and might turn into someone beside me at any moment to attack me. He could even use other people's identities to create schemes and conspiracies." Le Yu said, "His strength might not be the greatest, but he could definitely cause the most damage."
"But that's based on the premise that the Sword Bearers are in a life-or-death struggle with one another."
Ning Xinyuan froze. "Aren't they now?"
Le Yu shook his head. "At first, I thought the Sword Quest for Succession would ultimately rely on violence to decide the winner, and might even force us to slaughter one another. But the Sword Bearer didn't do that. The first game was the All-Knowing Eye exam, and the second game was searching for Blood Essence Stones."
"Although we're competitors, and although there can only be one winner, it isn't 'kill