Without a sound, the lake surface returned to calm.
The fierce sword intent that had filled the entire lake dissipated into nothing. For a moment, there was neither wind nor wave.
Yu Xiu walked across the water, like an immortal sword descending into the mortal world.
Du Yue, who had been wounded by the Shadow Demon and nearly lost his life, floated on the water, staring wide-eyed at Yu Xiu as he walked across the lake.
It's him...
The young man he had turned away outside the mountain!
But...
It was clear that this was no ordinary young man who made a living slaying demons out in the world. He was a sword cultivator!
A sword cultivator of the Qingwei Sword Sect!
I'm done for!
He had dared to snatch a Shadow Demon from the Qingwei Sword Sect on their own turf. It seemed he had been rescued...
But in truth, he might as well have not been!
He gave a bitter, resigned smile and watched Yu Xiu approach across the lake. "I truly didn't know you were an expert from the Qingwei Sword Sect!"
To his surprise, Yu Xiu didn't strike him with his sword.
"Splash!"
His long sword tapped lightly against the lake, sending up a scoop of water that fell over Du Yue and lifted him, carrying him toward the shore.
Yu Xiu's soft laugh came with it. "I know you meant no harm."
Otherwise, his Sword Heart would surely have sensed it, and he would have cut Du Yue to dust long ago.
The second level of Sword Heart was Sword Sound.
It let one hear the sword of Heaven and Earth. All things beneath Heaven and Earth could become swords.
With Du Yue's strength, he too could be a sword in Yu Xiu's eyes!
With a light tap of his sword against the lake, the splashed water fell on both Du Yue and Old Man Yan, carrying them toward the shore.
Old Man Yan spat out a mouthful of blood. Before he even landed, he stared at Du Yue in shock. "The two young fellows you said you drove away earlier—was he one of them?"
You son of a bitch, you really had the nerve!
That was a sword cultivator of the Qingwei Sword Sect. Did he even know what a sword cultivator was?
Look at those two Shadow Demons. They had nearly beaten them to death on the lake, but now they had turned into wisps of smoke. That should tell him what a sword cultivator was—and what it meant to be the deadliest in battle!
This wasn't a joke. If they ran into one of those Qingwei Sword Sect cultivators with a sufficiently murderous disposition, with the way Du Yue had turned him away, he'd have been cut in two before the words were out of his mouth!
Half his body, half his soul!
"How was I supposed to know he was a sword cultivator of the Qingwei Sword Sect? You know how to be afraid, but you think I don't?" Du Yue's heart was still quaking. The Shadow Demons in Tantan Lake had never frightened him this badly.
"And you said we had a forty percent chance of winning! You couldn't even withstand four blows!" Du Yue fired back.
"Couldn't withstand four blows?" Old Man Yan sneered. "How do you know I don't have a trump card?
"If the sword cultivator of the Qingwei Sword Sect hadn't stepped in, I would've shown my trump card. At the very least, I could've withstood five blows."
"Go to hell! If I ever believe you again, I'm a dog."
Old Man Yan ignored Du Yue. He suddenly opened his palm and looked at the little green bug there. It was still beating its wings, still facing the lake.
His expression changed drastically. He jerked his head up. "There's also a Water Demon..."
Before he could finish, the lake surface—which had returned to calm—suddenly exploded. The thousand-acre lake seemed to spring to life, transforming into a giant hand that seized Yu Xiu above the water.
Right beneath his feet, in a mere instant, the giant hand was already upon him!
There had been no warning. The attack had erupted far too suddenly!
So suddenly that Old Man Yan and Du Yue on the shore felt as though an invisible hand had clenched their hearts tight!
"The Water Demon is vile—it actually resorted to a sneak attack!"
"The sword cultivator from the Qingwei Sword Sect is in danger!"
Yet Yu Xiu, standing on the surface of the lake, only gave a mocking laugh. "I've been waiting for you."
"Boom!"
Without warning, the thousand acres of lake water that seemed to have come alive and turned into a giant hand exploded, revealing sword intent of peerless sharpness.
That sword intent wasn't just one strand, nor ten. There were hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands.
In the end, it was like a fuse, spreading swiftly through the entire lake.
Countless invisible strands of sword intent, impossible to see, seethed through the water, cutting down everything in their path.
Even the formless water was repeatedly cut to pieces beneath that boiling sword intent.
"Bastard! Your sword intent never dissipated. You were baiting me!" A low, furious roar rang out from beneath the lake.
But why, when the sword cultivator's sword intent had clearly filled the entire lake, had it given off no hint of sharpness or ferocity?
It made no sense!
Yu Xiu's eyes lit up. "Found you!"
"Clang!"
The clear sword cry rang out like a dragon's roar and a tiger's howl. In Yu Xiu's hand, his sword seemed to transform into a streak of rainbow light, slashing toward the lake.
It was clearly just one strike, yet invisibly, it seemed as if tens of thousands of swords struck at once.
Even the lake water seemed to turn into swords, unleashing astonishing sword intent and stirring the sword intent already permeating the water, joining forces from within and without.
In the end, the astonishing sword intent—whether it had come from Yu Xiu or from the lake—converged with the sword he unleashed, forming a mighty force.
"Boom!"
Beneath the water, black demonic energy erupted and clashed against the sword intent, only to be continually ground away by its peerless sharpness.
"Water itself becomes a sword! You sword cultivator—you're bold indeed. Are you trying to make even Heaven and Earth into swords in your hands?" The Water Demon's growl continued from beneath the lake, but its aura had clearly weakened by a great deal.
They couldn't see through the water, and the Sword Qi was blinding, making it impossible to see through that either.
Sword intent was formless and even harder to see. On the shore, Du Yue and Old Man Yan were already staring dumbfounded, no longer understanding what Heaven and Earth even were.
They saw only Yu Xiu's sword strike. A rainbow gleam blotted out the sun as the vast lake was shattered by invisible swords. Yet the water itself seemed to be a sword, too. They couldn't tell the difference—couldn't make sense of it at all!
They had only just heard the Water Demon's roar from the lakebed. By the time they reacted, Yu Xiu had already sheathed his sword.
Looking at the lake, all that remained was black smoke rising into the air!
The Water Demon, which had never shown itself, was dead!
What kind of strength had the Water Demon beneath the lake possessed?
What had it looked like?
No one knew!
Perhaps only the sword in Yu Xiu's hand knew!
Yu Shang, who had been watching from afar, had witnessed quite a spectacle. He marveled inwardly, again and again. "What swordsmanship! What sword intent!"
If anyone asked him what made the swordsmanship so good, he wouldn't know.
Although Yu Xiu had only struck twice, Yu Shang had seen the traces of at least ten sword techniques and two sword arts in those two strikes!
It went without saying that Yu Xiu had yet to create swordsmanship of his own, but in his hands, those many sword techniques had already broken free of their fixed forms. They flowed naturally, moving as he pleased.
A casual strike could fuse the essence of countless sword techniques into one.
It looked like a single strike, but unless you were strong enough, you'd never be able to tell how many swords it truly contained!
As for the Sword Intent, it was formless, but its sharpness and ferocity were plain to see. Its force was also vast and all-encompassing, clearly unlike that of an ordinary sword cultivator who had only just grasped Sword Intent!
That was what made it great swordsmanship!
Great Sword Intent!
It left Yu Shang longing for what he could not attain, and envious all the same.
Before you continue