Only then did Chun Xiaobai notice that someone had draped a snow-white Daoist robe over him. It felt warm to the touch and carried a faint sandalwood fragrance.
"Damn it, no wonder this king slept like the dead. Someone even tucked me in?"
But then he realized he was in serious trouble.
He didn't have a trace of Spiritual Power. He might fool these youngsters at Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment, but how could he fool a big shot who had lived for centuries and slaughtered people like cutting hemp?
"Where's Elder Gu?"
"He's at the Martial Arts Arena, personally guiding the disciples in their Sword Momentum. Everyone's gone over."
Chun Xiaobai glanced around and found that the vast Merit Transmission Hall held only himself, Bai Jin'er, and Fang Yuan, who stood off to one side like a door guardian.
"Quick! Let's get out of here!"
Chun Xiaobai cursed inwardly.
That old saying had really come true: one nap could ruin your whole life!
At that moment, Sword Qi crisscrossed the Martial Arts Arena as two disciples sparred with their Sword Momentum.
Gu Changfeng stood at the front of the crowd with his hands behind his back, his gaze blazing like a torch.
The Azure Cloud Sect's Outer Sect disciples were all willing to hear Gu Changfeng teach, whether they practiced the sword or not.
That was precisely because his teaching methods differed from those of the other elders.
The others would, at most, explain the obscure points of a cultivation method. Whether you learned anything depended entirely on your own comprehension.
Gu Changfeng was different. As long as you wanted to learn, he withheld nothing and explained everything. He would even patiently step onto the field himself and guide each disciple through the problems in their swordsmanship, hand over hand.
"Elder Gu!"
Hearing the voice, Gu Changfeng turned his head and saw the fellow who had been snoring through his lesson.
"Your robe." Chun Xiaobai hurriedly handed it over, then prepared to turn around and make his escape.
"You're just in time," Elder Gu suddenly said. His voice wasn't loud, but Chun Xiaobai's feet felt as though they had been filled with lead.
"Go up and give it a try. Let me see how far your Sword Momentum has progressed."
I'm screwed!
Ten thousand grass-mud horses stampeded through Chun Xiaobai's mind.
Could this damned Elder Gu be a transmigrator too?
Why was he exactly like those university professors from my previous life?
Any student caught dozing in class was guaranteed to get called on!
Before he could find an excuse to refuse, a helpful disciple beside him kindly offered him a longsword of unknown quality.
Chun Xiaobai could only grit his teeth and accept it.
He knew nothing about sword intent, but he had practiced his ancestral saber techniques for over a decade.
"Go, Senior Brother Chun!" Bai Jin'er stood nearby, waving her little fists and cheering him on like an adoring fangirl.
Chun Xiaobai could only steel himself, nod at her, and walk into the center of the Martial Arts Arena.
An imposing young disciple was already standing there.
With the keen eye he had honed through years of roaming the martial world, Chun Xiaobai judged that this fellow was about Fang Yuan's level: the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining.
Most importantly, this fellow had clearly witnessed his lavish spending, "throwing gold by the handful." The moment he saw Chun Xiaobai step onto the field, his eyes filled with extreme caution, as though facing a formidable enemy.
Damn it, Chun Xiaobai thought uneasily. This king isn't even at Qi Refinement. With this fellow being so cautious, won't he stab me to death in one strike?
"Senior Brother Chun, please instruct me!" The disciple respectfully cupped his hands.
Chun Xiaobai copied him and returned the martial salute, cupping his fists. But before he could take a stance, a low shout rang out.
"Senior Brother Chun, watch my sword!"
"Shit, where's your martial honor?!"
A streak of sword light shot straight toward Chun Xiaobai's face with a whistle through the air.
Almost reflexively, he tilted his head left and swung the longsword in his right hand diagonally down to the right, in a textbook wood-chopping motion!
Clang!
A crisp ring sounded!
The disciple's longsword abruptly dipped, its edge sliding past Chun Xiaobai's ear. Then a tremendous force surged through it, numbing the Tiger's Mouth of his hand and dragging him a step to the left.
Holy shit!
Chun Xiaobai froze inwardly.
It wasn't because he had blocked that swift strike, but because he discovered, to his shock, that both his sword speed and his arm strength were nearly double what they had been!
Yes, that was right-half again!
Could this be... the pills?
Yesterday, he had crunched his way through nearly two hundred pills!
The disciple steadied himself, his expression growing even graver. Clearly, he hadn't expected such terrifying force to lurk in his opponent's seemingly casual strike.
No wonder he was so generous. His talent really was extraordinary. He had such strength without even using Spiritual Power.
Chun Xiaobai suddenly found his confidence.
He could feel that even a casual blow now carried at least five thousand jin of force!
In other words, he could take three strikes from this fellow head-on and be fine, while one strike from him would leave the fellow coughing blood!
With confidence beneath him, his bearing naturally rose.
He simply gripped the sword in both hands and held it diagonally behind him, taking a stance like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
As the saying went, outsiders watched the spectacle while experts saw the workings. Gu Changfeng's brows shot up.
This... this fellow had actually comprehended saber momentum?
The disciple on the field was also taken aback by Chun Xiaobai's incongruous sword grip.
But the stranger it was, the less he dared let his guard down.
With a conventional sword grip, he could at least predict the path of an attack. This bizarre stance, unlike anything he had ever heard of or seen, made his opponent's offensive movements impossible to read.
Chun Xiaobai grew cautious too.
His opponent wielded immortal arts and Spiritual Power, while he wielded nothing but brute strength. They weren't fighting on the same level at all.
If that sharp sword tip pierced him, he might well meet his end right here.
He knew he could only counterattack.
If they charged directly at each other, all it would take was for his opponent to find an opening in his sword swing and thrust through it, and he would be pierced clean through the heart.
Seeing Chun Xiaobai hold his stance without moving, the disciple assumed this accomplished senior was allowing him the first move.
He no longer stood on ceremony. Spiritual Power stirred throughout his body, and he immediately unleashed his movement technique, Wind-Chasing Step, stirring up a gale as his figure became an afterimage and appeared before Chun Xiaobai in an instant!
In that lightning-flash moment, Chun Xiaobai discovered that it wasn't just his speed and strength that had increased. His reflexes had improved by at least twenty percent too!
He just managed to catch a tiny opening in the path of the incoming sword tip.
Twisting at the waist, he swung his longsword sharply upward from below in an extremely cunning, groin-cleaving slash!
Just as the disciple's sword tip was about to pierce his chest, his own longsword overtook it despite moving second, its edge already reaching the disciple's waist and abdomen.
Gu Changfeng's expression changed at the edge of the field.
The next second.
He appeared between them, two fingers like iron pincers firmly clamping Chun Xiaobai's longsword, which had already sliced through the other disciple's robe and half an inch into his flesh.
Then he said in a deep voice.
"This is only a spar. Why did you strike so viciously, boy?!"
"Was that very vicious?"
Looking utterly innocent, Chun Xiaobai scratched his head and asked in return.
"Hm???"
Gu Changfeng's eyelid twitched, and the surrounding disciples stiffened at those words.
If Elder Gu hadn't intervened, that strike would have cut this senior brother in half at the waist!
And that wasn't vicious?
Perhaps the strike itself hadn't been particularly insidious, but paired with that bewildered, innocent expression of yours, it seemed... far too vicious!
Chun Xiaobai hurriedly withdrew his longsword and stepped back.
The disciple, who had just taken a wild stroll along death's edge, let out a great breath of relief.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and immediately cupped his hands toward Chun Xiaobai.
"Your swordsmanship is superb, Senior Brother. This junior brother gladly admits defeat!"
With his hands behind his back, Gu Changfeng fixed his hawklike eyes on Chun Xiaobai and said coldly, "What? Did you want to try something even more vicious?"
Before you continue