Although Xu Taiping agreeing to the Sword Inquiry was within Mu Yun and the others' expectations, solemn expressions still appeared on all their faces when they actually heard him accept.
Sitting beside Xuanzhi, Dongfang Yuejian said with a somewhat solemn expression, "Though I once saw Eldest Brother Taiping personally kill a Heaven Gazing Realm assassin from the Faceless Tower while he was only in the Spirit Refining Realm."
"But at the time, his strategies and the treasures he carried played a crucial role."
"Here at the Sword Champion Assembly, however, strategies and treasures are essentially of no use."
"It will be far too difficult for Daoist Taiping to win this Sword Inquiry."
In a one-on-one contest held on an open Sword Platform without any cover, strategies were essentially useless.
Moreover, the Sword Champion Assembly only allowed weapons such as sabers and swords, forbidding contestants from drawing on the power of treasures, so cultivators could only rely on their own cultivation and combat strength.
Upon hearing this, Little Princess Chu Tiancheng immediately asked the others with some curiosity:
"The Sword Champion Assembly allows cultivators other than sword cultivators to compete, yet doesn't allow them to use treasures. Is there a specific reason for that?"
Mu Yun, who already understood the Sword Champion Assembly's rules very well, immediately explained upon hearing Chu Tiancheng's confusion:
"It isn't that treasures are completely forbidden."
At this point, he turned to glance at Ji Ye and pointed at the ancient zither beside him.
"The treasures permitted by the Sword Chief Ranking must be ones that can only exert their combat power when driven by the cultivator's own true essence and qi and blood."
"Because, ultimately, the power of such treasures and weapons still depends on the cultivator's own cultivation."
"As for how exactly that is judged,