Dueling Swords

Draw lots?

Li Fan watched as the Foundation Establishment disciples gathered on the deck. Even the Nascent Soul cultivators surrounding them had stopped ten zhang from the treasure ship instead of attacking, waiting for them to draw lots. For a moment, he had no idea what was going on.

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent says Xiao Yao is following the ancient rules for sword duels. You saw what happened earlier: if they'd attacked as soon as they arrived, everyone would have been dead in the blink of an eye. This is a rare gathering for a killing-tribulation sword duel. It would be a pity to come all this way and not even get to watch the spectacle.

So they're following the ancient rules. Before the masters' grand gathering, the disciples have to be appraised and show off their respective strengths and weaknesses, making a name for their sects. If someone wins three matches in a row, then by the rules, both sides acknowledge them as a promising young talent—a standout of their generation—and they cannot be killed.

The rule was established back then to stop some prestigious sect from using pills to create prodigies and slaughtering all the promising disciples of other sects. So after three duels, a person is forcibly withdrawn.

Since the enemy has arranged everything so carefully, taking advantage of this opportunity, this is your only chance to survive.

But in that case, Xiao Yao certainly isn't asking you to take turns. The other side has only five Foundation Establishment cultivators. Going through just one round of the killing tribulation would be pointless. You have to fight three rounds in a row. If you lose, you'll die, of course. Even if you're lucky enough to win one match, the enemies all around you might take you away to get revenge.

So to finish all three matches, your side would need a master to protect you. But Xiao Yao is outnumbered, and they're just waiting for him to step in so they can surround him. He certainly won't stand by and do nothing.

Still, this is the only option. If he doesn't escape, he'll die in the fight, and you juniors will still be at their mercy. You'll die either way. If you go through with this, maybe someone with a tough enough fate will survive. Perhaps one or two of you might even hold out until reinforcements arrive...

But I'd wager they wouldn't dare set up such a huge formation right at Bamboo Mountain's gates unless they were using the killing-tribulation opportunity to lay out a trap they'd planned in advance. You've fallen right into their hands.

Li Fan said nothing, but he could see the formations clearly. The heavenly army in the north remained still, while the eastern sky was clear and empty. In the west, a pair of fiends from Tiantai Mountain stood with Zhou Sheng, each accompanied by their disciples. In the south, a female general from the Nangong Family had brought three Nascent Soul cultivators and two disciples at the Perfected Realm of Foundation Establishment.

Now that he could see their faces clearly, he spotted a female cultivator standing beside the Nangong general, smiling sweetly like a close friend. She wore a silk, rainbow-colored gown, a flowing immortal dress that looked mist-wreathed and cloud-lit. It fit her well, and she was around a seventy out of a hundred in looks. Aside from being flat-chested and a Nascent Soul cultivator, she didn't have much to distinguish her. She was the sort who could be tossed into a dance gala and vanish from sight the moment you blinked, a background dancer with no role beyond making the Nangong general beside her look more valiant. She was probably just a friend...

One of her disciples, however, was more striking. He looked only fourteen or fifteen, with narrow, long eyes and a snow-white, oval face. He wore fine clothes and a pale moon-colored robe, his dark hair tied up beneath a crane crown. He had the air of an elegant young gentleman, the sort of picture-perfect boy-band idol you'd see in showbiz. People who didn't like him might think he looked like a sharp cone; his fans would be screaming, Ahhh, kiss me, hug me, I'm dying! Either way, it was rare to be born with a face that looked like a plastic surgeon's ideal template.

The other two Nascent Soul cultivators were probably twin brothers. They looked remarkably alike, both with square faces and thick brows. Their attire was quite different from that of Li Country cultivators, leaning more toward the xianxia style. They wore a mix of immortal robes and treasure armor, so it was hard to tell whether they were Daoists or warriors. One held a saber, the other a pestle. From the gleam, both looked like top-grade junk.

Behind them followed a wheat-skinned youth about Zhang He's age. He had the same square face and thick brows. He wasn't exactly handsome, but his eyes were bright, his shoulders broad, his legs long, and his build athletic. He looked like no ordinary talent.

The cultivators who had come with the Nangong general looked calm and showed no particular enmity toward Ink Bamboo Mountain. Perhaps they really had just accepted an invitation to take part in the sword duel.

"They challenge, and we answer. You will take the field in the order you drew. Fight with everything you have. If any of you is a heaven-gifted talent whose fate hasn't run its course, I'll risk my life to get you out. Even if you lose, there may be a wandering cultivator over there who takes a liking to you and accepts you as a disciple." Yao Xuanzhou spoke calmly as he passed the draw tube around to the disciples.

The Foundation Establishment disciples understood how serious things were and fell silent. They knew Yao Xuanzhou was only trying to comfort them. The wandering cultivators had come to watch the spectacle; why would they risk offending the Immortal Palace by rescuing them? And if they fell into the hands of the Immortal Palace or Tiantai Mountain, being killed on the spot would be the least of their worries. The methods immortals used to punish people were enough to make children cry themselves to death.

So drawing a lot meant going to their deaths, and refusing to draw meant waiting to die.

The enemy had their eyes on everyone from Ink Bamboo Mountain. It was only a matter of who they killed first; either way, they were trapped in a dead end.

Early or late, death was waiting for them. At most, they could buy a little time. Perhaps if they delayed things, they might have a chance to fight back. They could at least hold on to that hope.

After all, who knew? Maybe a miracle would happen.

So none of the disciples refused. One by one, they silently drew lots.

They were all in the same boat, so Li Fan drew a lot too. He got "Nine."

Considering there were over thirty people aboard, that counted as a bad draw.

Yao Xuanzhou glanced at Li Fan but said nothing. He didn't take the draw tube below deck for Yuan Xuanbao, Lu Qi, and the others who were locked up. He must have figured the disciples on deck had a better chance of winning three matches in a row. Or perhaps he still hoped that, once the duels were over, the Immortal Palace might spare the Bamboo Mountain disciples who had made mistakes...

Li Fan didn't have time to think about it. Zhou Sheng had tossed the jade tablet in his hand into the air. It grew into a flat jade platform, apparently meant as an arena for the Foundation Establishment disciples who couldn't fly.

"Zheng Hua of Ink Bamboo Mountain requests a match!"

The black-robed disciple who had drawn lot number one sprang up, gathered his breath, stepped onto the ship's rail, and leaped onto the jade platform.

Li Fan had never interacted with Senior Brother Zheng Hua and didn't know what he was capable of. He looked like a young man. If he had also reached Foundation Establishment at sixteen, then he'd probably spent some time honing himself at the Perfected Realm. Since he'd gone up so decisively, perhaps he wasn't weak.

There was no need to guess who his opponent would be. Naturally, Tiantai Mountain would make the first move.

"Go." Cijing, the nun with a white snake coiled around her arm, pushed out her hand and sent the strongman beside her flying onto the jade platform.

"Yuan Lang of Tiantai Mountain is here to take your dog's life!" Taking advantage of the force of her push, the strongman flipped out a pair of drum-beating golden hammers and brought them down on Zheng Hua's head with the weight of Mount Tai!

Come to think of it, though, the nun's disciple was an eight-foot-tall, broad-shouldered, muscular strongman. Was he really her disciple? Was she teaching him the Joyful Zen, or bedroom arts? Ahem...

In any case, the pair of hammers were as big as pumpkins and coated in gold. They looked so heavy that they couldn't be met head-on. Zheng Hua immediately dodged to the side, striking with his bamboo sword at the same time and shooting Bamboo Mountain Sword Qi at range.

The strongman's hammers missed, and two holes were pierced in his body by the sword qi. Enraged, he surged with bloodlust. His muscles bulged, and he grew another fifth in size as he swung his hammers in a roaring barrage. Golden light flickered around him, and the fierce winds he raised were so strong that even the sword qi couldn't pierce through. It left only faint white marks on his muscles. He was apparently cultivating a body-tempering method that focused on brute strength.

Zheng Hua wasn't about to back down. He attacked with his right hand while making hand seals with his left and firing off various spells in retaliation. Sparks of every color flew as the two traded moves back and forth, locked in a fierce stalemate. It was a thoroughly ugly fight—almost painful to watch...

There was no helping it. Li Fan had just watched a long cutscene, full of flying swords, magic treasures, and sword qi sweeping across the sky in a breathtaking spectacle. Then the two of them started their gameplay demo, and the particle effects were barely there. That alone was bad enough, but they were dropping frames too? This was it? This was it? This was it?

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent says, now you can understand what it's like when I spend all day teaching children to play in the mud.

Ah, he really could.

It wasn't that he looked down on Zheng Hua's skill. To be fair, Foundation Establishment cultivators only had so much mana—cough, true qi—to work with. How many exquisite techniques could they use? They could only trade one move for another. Besides, the fight was buying them time. If they kept it going, reinforcements might arrive. That wasn't a bad thing.

Yao Xuanzhou watched with a deep frown. Not far away, Zhou Sheng looked perfectly at ease, chatting and laughing with Cijing. The contrast between them was stark.

Zhou Hao had probably guessed that Ink Bamboo Mountain was using the ancient sword-duel rules to stall for time. It was obvious he still had more tricks up his sleeve. So he didn't care about the fight in the arena and even drifted over to the south to greet the cultivators the Nangong Family had brought along. He wasn't the least bit worried that Ink Bamboo Mountain could slip out of his grasp.

After the two men had exchanged moves back and forth twenty times or so, Master Yao suddenly spoke. "Don't drag this out. End it quickly."

The cultivators who had been watching the low-level duel without much interest paused, then turned toward the jade platform.

Zheng Hua had been using the Bamboo Mountain Sword Method to trade blows with the strongman's twin hammers. Suddenly, he stopped dodging, drew back his sword, and made a sharp turn. He pushed off on his toes and charged straight back at Yuan Lang, accelerating tenfold!

The sudden change caught Yuan Lang off guard. He hadn't even brought his golden hammers back around before Zheng Hua's sword pierced his golden body!

And that wasn't all! Zheng Hua suddenly roared, spitting a bolt of purple lightning from his mouth and nose! It blasted straight into the sword wound carved by the wooden sword!

With a series of crackling, popping explosions, the purple lightning blazed the way while the sword struck behind it. Zheng Hua merged with his sword, the lightning and blade smashing through Yuan Lang's chest and leaving a bloody hole clear through his body! He was almost drenched in blood!

The thunder and swordfire blazed with astonishing force. One explosive strike was enough to blow the enormous King Kong strongman into minced meat! The wooden sword in Zheng Hua's hand had also burst apart under the overwhelming force of his Dao Breath!

"You villain!" Cijing let out a shrill cry and pointed. The white snake in her hand shot forward like a streak of white silk, sweeping toward Zheng Hua and snapping its jaws around his neck!

But Zheng Hua roared again. Purple lightning flashed all over him. He threw away his wooden sword, his hands crackling with lightning like sharp claws. He grabbed the white snake and yanked, tearing it in two!

"Golden Core Stage!" "What?" Zhou Sheng and the others cried in astonishment, then went pale with terror.

Of course, it wasn't because they had seen a Bamboo Mountain Foundation Establishment disciple suddenly rise to the Golden Core Stage and lost their composure. Pills and techniques that could boost one's cultivation for a short time weren't all that rare these days. They had heard of them.

What shocked them was that Cijing had been killed.

Yes. Just as the white snake in her hand was torn apart, in the blink of an eye while her Divine Sense suffered a severe wound, a Nascent Soul cultivator had fallen.

A line of blood split her from the crown of her head downward, dividing her body evenly in two. The halves of her white flesh fell from the air. She made no sound. Her Divine Sense had been extinguished in an instant, and she was gone.

Yao Xuanzhou didn't bother to claim her head. He simply stared coldly at Zhou Sheng, wiping the blood from the ink-feather-like flying sword in his left hand with his index and middle fingers. "Next match."

The black-robed disciple who had drawn lot number two stepped forward and landed on the jade platform, now carpeted in the strongman's flesh and blood. Standing beside Zheng Lun, whose throat had been bitten through and who lay dead with both hands still clutching the two halves of the white snake, he drew his sword and bowed without expression.

"Wang Tanzhi of Ink Bamboo Mountain requests a match!"