Affectionate Sword and Ruthless Sword

Three nights later, on the outskirts of Ming Capital.

A long-haired man with a back as straight as a pine tree had been sitting cross-legged here for some time.

His eyes were tightly shut, as if he were meditating or perhaps waiting for someone.

His aura was as calm as water, yet it could not mask a sharp edge; he was like a keen blade, as if he might unsheathe and strike at any moment.

Beside him, a curvaceous woman dressed in purple squatted on the ground, looking bored.

Her expression was one of helplessness as her finger traced circle after circle in the grass.

They were Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan.

Two days ago, after Ji Juechen defeated yet another challenger, a challenge letter had appeared at his door.

It had been a long time since anyone had dared to challenge Ji Juechen; after all, as a battle-maniac, few had sought him out in ages.

Jing Ziyan had happened to run into Ji Juechen just as he was heading out.

Though her obsession with battle did not quite reach the level of Ji Juechen's, she still wanted to see what kind of expert would dare to challenge him.

If she could witness a fierce battle between experts of Ji Juechen's caliber, it would be worth the price of admission even if she were to die for it.

Yet, they had waited from the afternoon until nightfall, and the challenger was still nowhere to be seen.

"They're here."

Suddenly, Ji Juechen's eyes snapped open, fixed upon the dark woods.

Four figures stepped slowly out from the forest, and Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan recognized two of them.

One was a student of Xuan Ziwen, and the other was Nana, a freshman from this year's practical department.

The two women were dressed in maid outfits, following behind an old man and a young man.

In Ji Juechen's eyes, neither Nana nor Ju Zi mattered; the important ones were the two in the middle, especially Lin Yuan.

Cao Xin was too unfathomable to be an opponent, while the sharp aura radiating from Lin Yuan had already begun to clash with Ji Juechen's own.

The sword intent was so keen that anyone standing between the two would surely have been cut by the pressure of their confrontation.

An expert.

Both men evaluated the other simultaneously.

Ji Juechen rose to his feet immediately, the Meteorite Heavy Sword appearing in his hand.

His gaze was incredibly sharp as he took a stance against Lin Yuan.

"Shall we not chat first?"

Lin Yuan brandished the Jade Dragon-Slayer, the tip of the blade pointing directly at Ji Juechen.

"Since you are also a swordsman, what is the point of more talk?"

The next moment, Ji Juechen lunged at Lin Yuan with his sword.

Lin Yuan's eyes turned equally sharp, and he surged forward to meet Ji Juechen's strike.

Clang!

The two swords collided, the sound of metal striking metal shattering the quiet night.

They began to trade fierce blows, countless sword shadows intersecting around them.

At first, both were adhering to the principles of a friendly spar, holding back somewhat to avoid causing unnecessary injury.

Compared to Lin Yuan's swordsmanship, Ji Juechen could be said to have come from a wild background, and he was initially suppressed by Lin Yuan.

However, as the exchange continued, he gradually began to keep pace with Lin Yuan's rhythm, no longer remaining so passive.

As sparks flew from the clashing blades, Lin Yuan also began to feel the pressure.

Setting aside any techniques, in a pure contest of swordsmanship, Lin Yuan admitted he was inferior to Ji Juechen.

"Good, good, very good!" Ji Juechen exclaimed three times with a fanatical expression.

If he were fighting an opponent using other methods, the thrill of the battle would often be accompanied by a sense of stifling boredom.

But it was different with a fellow swordsman; Ji Juechen felt his heart pounding wildly and his blood burning.

How long had it been since he had encountered such an opponent in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, a place filled with nothing but pill-poppers?

He had never encountered one at all!

To Ji Juechen, the Lin Yuan before him was a sumptuous feast, and he was a man who had been starving for who knows how many years.

Ji Juechen laughed wildly as his cheek was grazed by Lin Yuan's blade, while several small wounds appeared on Lin Yuan's body as well.

With such a delicious feast, to hold anything back would be a failure to cherish the moment.

Lin Yuan smiled slightly; unknowingly, he had been infected by Ji Juechen's emotions, and he began to attack with everything he had.

Fine swordsmanship!

A fine opponent!

What a satisfying battle!

Before she knew it, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Jing Ziyan's forehead.

The movements of the two had become so fast that even she, a Soul Ancestor, could no longer track them; this was no longer a sparring match.

This was a feral, savage mauling, with both parties fully intent on killing the other!

She intended to intervene in the fight right then and there, otherwise, only one of them would walk away alive.

"Little girl, what do you intend to do?" Cao Xin reached out to block Jing Ziyan.

"Senior, you can't let them keep fighting! Someone is going to die!" Jing Ziyan said anxiously.

Cao Xin merely shook his head slowly and said to Jing Ziyan, "Let them fight. I believe they won't completely lose their senses."

After a series of feints, the gazes of both men sharpened simultaneously, and they swung their swords in unison—

Clang!

The blades collided with an unprecedented force, appearing to bend even to the naked eye.

The piercing ring of the swords caused Nana and Ju Zi to cover their ears in pain, and Jing Ziyan frowned in discomfort as well.

The massive recoil sent both of them flying backward.

After flipping and maneuvering through the air for a long moment, Ji Juechen landed on the ground and struggled back several steps before steadying his stance.

Lin Yuan drove his sword into the ground, also sliding back a considerable distance before finding his footing.

"My name is Ji Juechen. What is your name?" Ji Juechen asked Lin Yuan with excitement.

"Lin Yuan. Brother Ji's swordsmanship is truly fierce," Lin Yuan replied with a faint smile.

"I wouldn't dare say that; I'm just self-taught. It is your sword technique that is exquisite, Brother Lin."

Ji Juechen shook his head with a faint smile, his hands trembling as he raised his heavy sword toward Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan also smiled slightly and raised Jade Dragon-Slayer, blood dripping down the emerald-green blade.

"Brother Lin, you must have sensed it, right? I feel so stifled," Ji Juechen said, closing his eyes tightly.

"Brother Ji, I don't want to die just yet," Lin Yuan also closed his eyes, shaking his head with a faint smile.

The unstoppable, sharp aura radiating from both men suddenly retracted entirely, and everything around them returned to calm.

Only the two of them remained in the arena, facing each other with swords drawn, the silence like the prelude to a coming storm.

"What are they doing..."

Nana and Ju Zi walked over to Cao Xin's side, Ju Zi asking with an expression of immense worry.

"They intend to decide the victory with a single strike," Jing Ziyan said, looking utterly speechless.

She knew Ji Juechen too well; that was definitely his way of ensuring he remembered the other's name so he wouldn't forget it.

Seeing this, Cao Xin's expression also turned grave, and he began to circulate his Soul Power in his palms, ready to intervene and save them at any moment.

He certainly didn't want to see either Lin Yuan or Ji Juechen get cut in half, only to lie on the ground and tell the other, "I'm so sorry I couldn't let you finish."

If that had to happen, that person would definitely be Ji Juechen.

Although the stillness of the two men was remarkably similar, the power they were accumulating was not the same.

What Lin Yuan was brewing was the bitterness and sweetness of his own journey, the cold and warmth he had perceived in the smallest of things.

What Ji Juechen was condensing was the purity of swinging at the air over and over again, trying to sever everything before his eyes.

Both men exhaled a breath of stale air at the same time—