Mastered a Sword Skill, Shui Bing'er Issues a Challenge

The force of his sword gradually rose.

His swordplay had no fancy named techniques; it was entirely a natural flow derived from the most basic sword moves.

Thrust, flick, slash, cleave, lift, sweep...

Every movement was clean and crisp, without the slightest excess.

Yet wonderfully, when these seemingly simple movements were combined, they actually carried a kind of seamless, innate beauty.

Sword light traced arc after arc of blue through the air.

Those arcs intertwined with one another, layer upon layer. From afar, they looked like an enormous blue lotus in the midst of blooming.

A bud, first opening, full bloom, swaying...

Every sword stroke from Li Qinglian was one petal of that flower.

As his sword momentum grew faster and faster, a faint fragrance began to spread through the air.

It was not the scent of any spice, but the lingering essence naturally born from sword intent.

It was like the legendary sword immortals—one sword drawn, and a hundred flowers fell.

"What a beautiful sword. No wonder nobles all love watching beauties perform sword dances."

"It's just that those dancers' sword dances focus on the dance, not the sword."

Huo Wu loved watching Li Qinglian practice his sword.

Sometimes, after she finished cultivating and washed up, she would come to Li Qinglian's courtyard to watch him practice.

Today, she felt that Li Qinglian's sword had more flavor than before.

"Wow. Sister, this boy is amazing."

Shui Yue'er cried out in surprise.

"Shh. Keep your voice down. Don't disturb him."

Shui Bing'er quickly covered Shui Yue'er's mouth.

She had also been stunned by the sight.

Before humans had invented martial souls, swords were the killing weapons humans relied on to survive, and almost everyone carried one at their waist.

That grand sight gradually faded only after humans learned to use the power of martial souls.

However, sword dancing was itself an elegant art of extreme beauty. Even among those who were not sword cultivators, no small number enjoyed dancing with swords.

But now, Shui Bing'er finally understood what a true sword dance should be.

Those nobles had their dancing girls wear erotic outfits that could barely cover even three points; whether they were watching the sword or something else, they knew perfectly well in their own hearts.

But Li Qinglian's sword was true sword dao, making it impossible for anyone to look away.

Shui Bing'er wondered if she was hallucinating. She actually seemed to smell a fragrance from his sword. It was a very fresh floral scent.

"Sorry. I was just too surprised."

Shui Yue'er said softly, then covered her own mouth.

But Li Qinglian had entered the state and would not be interrupted so easily.

The time it took for an incense stick to burn passed.

Only then did Li Qinglian stop.

"Comprehending sword intent before comprehending sword techniques. I should count as an oddity among sword cultivators."

Normal sword cultivators exhausted their life's learning to comprehend one or two sword moves, and then gained sword intent from them.

Li Qinglian did the opposite.

With sword intent empowering him, Li Qinglian created sword moves of his own with ease.

"With one thought, heaven and earth give birth to lotuses; with one thought extinguished, all laws return to emptiness."

"Unbound by things, untrapped by form. With intent in the heart, beneath the sword there is lotus."

"This move shall be called Lotus Heart One Thought."

"What a pity. It's still too complicated. A sword move should not be overly complex. This move still needs more refinement."

Li Qinglian was not particularly satisfied with this sword strike.

"Little Brother Qinglian. Aren't you being way too perfectionist? I already think that strike was very powerful. I didn't expect you to be able to create your own sword techniques now."

A bright gleam flickered in Huo Wu's beautiful eyes as she looked at Li Qinglian, her gaze full of tenderness.

To her, meeting Li Qinglian was the greatest surprise she had had in all these years.

"Oh, right. Let me introduce you. This is Shui Bing'er, from Tianshui Academy. This is Bing'er's younger sister, Shui Yue'er."

"Bing'er's martial soul is the Ice Phoenix."

"If Little Brother Qinglian ever feels uncomfortable all over again in the future, you can also ask her to help you solve it."

Huo Wu teased.

Shui Yue'er didn't know about the Evil Fire Phoenix, so she didn't understand.

But Shui Bing'er's face flushed bright red. She turned her head aside and shot Huo Wu a vicious glare.

When Huo Wu had written to ask her to come, she hadn't mentioned any of this.

She knew that ice-attribute spirit masters could help suppress evil fire, but!

What exactly did Huo Wu mean by that?

Shui Bing'er had a bad feeling.

Still, her first impression of Li Qinglian was excellent.

She didn't know why Li Qinglian had such high attainment in the sword path.

If it was only a hobby, didn't that seem a bit much?

"My name is Li Qinglian, a specially recruited student of Blazing Fire Academy."

Only then did Li Qinglian look toward Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er, the two future core members of the Tianshui team.

"Shui Bing'er, captain of the Tianshui team's reserve squad," Shui Bing'er said.

"Heehee. Little brother, my name is Shui Yue'er."

Shui Yue'er looked at Li Qinglian with a beaming smile, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Tianshui Academy only recruited girls. There wasn't even a single boy there, let alone any chance to meet an outstanding one.

When she had just seen Li Qinglian perform his sword dance, a strange impulse had suddenly risen in her.

They were all of similar age, and with Huo Wu making the introductions, they soon became familiar with one another.

"Bing'er, I wasn't lying to you. Fire counters ice, so you really might not be Qinglian's match."

"In the future, Qinglian will become a core member of our Blazing Fire team. Your Tianshui team won't be able to defeat us in this generation."

Huo Wu folded her arms in front of her chest, making her already well-developed figure stand out even more clearly.

She spoke to Shui Bing'er provocatively.

Because water and fire countered each other, Blazing Fire Academy and Tianshui Academy had always been rivals over the years.

This rivalry was a healthy one, allowing both academies to become sacred lands for their respective cultivation paths.

And the field where the two academies competed most fiercely was the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament, held every five years. Neither academy was willing to rank lower than the other.

However.

After Li Qinglian joined Blazing Fire Academy, Huo Wu felt that the future Blazing Fire team could compete for the top three.

"Are you serious?"

Shui Bing'er looked up at Li Qinglian, then back at Huo Wu.

She was somewhat astonished.

She had originally thought Huo Wu had said it just to provoke her, deliberately trying to lure her over.

"Of course."

Huo Wu raised her fair chin.

"Sister Huo Wu, stop messing around."

Li Qinglian felt a headache coming on.

He had already sensed the competitive air between the two of them.

One was a top-tier fire-attribute spirit master, whose Fire Shadow martial spirit was extremely unique and also possessed the special trait of Ring Fusion.

The other possessed the Ice Phoenix martial spirit, the very pinnacle among ice-attribute martial spirits.

They were also girls of the same age, so it was only natural for them to compete against each other.

"Tch. Qinglian, it's not like you can't beat her."

Li Qinglian shrugged, feeling a little helpless.

Seeing the fighting spirit welling up in Shui Bing'er's eyes, he knew he couldn't avoid this match.

But in truth, Li Qinglian was also curious about what level he was at compared with a top genius spirit master like Shui Bing'er.

"Shall we fight?"

Shui Bing'er asked Li Qinglian.

"Let's fight."

Li Qinglian made an inviting gesture.

"Giggle. Little brother, you should make the first move. You're already so much younger than me. If I attacked first, I'd be bullying you too much."

Shui Bing'er had originally been very serious. But when she saw Li Qinglian make a gentlemanly gesture for her to attack first, she could no longer hold back and laughed out loud.

She felt that Li Qinglian was very interesting, a very special child.

"Sister, go easy on Qinglian. Don't hurt him."

Shui Yue'er was afraid her sister might fail to control her strength and injure Li Qinglian.

"I know."

Seeing Shui Yue'er's worried look, Shui Bing'er rolled her eyes.

Yue'er couldn't have fallen for Li Qinglian, could she?

Li Qinglian was indeed outstanding, but he was an Evil Fire Phoenix.

The chances of him dying young in the future were extremely high. Even if he did not, there was still a great chance he would become a fallen soul master.