Secret Realm
That was Zhang Yan's nature. The three words "I lost" came from his mouth light as a feather, without the slightest weight to them. Yet even so, given his status as a Core Formation cultivator, the onlookers were left speechless for a moment.
That included certain people who had long been prepared for this.
"Too far, too far!"
"Uh, this isn't what we wanted..."
High in the air, Li You and Hong Qianqiu both saw the helplessness on each other's faces. Yes, the two of them were the instigators.
It had all begun with good intentions. According to the Empirical Branch's "token-seizing" rules, cultivators holding Sword Offering Tokens could not refuse others' challenges to seize their tokens, though the timing could be adjusted slightly as circumstances allowed.
This had originally been an excellent method for encouraging internal competition and improving cultivators' practical combat abilities. But precisely because it was internal, Yu Ci's sword style—blood drawn the moment his blade left its sheath—was truly not very safe. If he fought too frequently, an accident might occur amid a string of battles and bring trouble. Thus, after much circling around, they had found Zhang Yan.
In the entire Li Chen Sect mountain gate, perhaps only this man both met the requirements and would not fuss over status or the temptations of the Sword Garden itself—as long as they could cater to his tastes.
The original plan had been for Zhang Yan and Yu Ci to put on a performance of mutual admiration while Zhang Yan half-held back. He could conspicuously go easy on Yu Ci to a certain extent, but they were not to decide victory or defeat. That would give them a legitimate reason to keep the battle between the two going. With Zhang Yan as a shield, surely