You won by cheating

Cheng Haoxuan's face darkened at once.

The onlookers began murmuring too. "This guy's acting like he's already got victory in the bag!"

Cheng Haoxuan no longer bothered with formalities. He swept his longsword across in front of him, sword intent surging.

"Are you ready to die?!"

"Damn, what a temper."

Chun Xiaobai gripped his sword with both hands too and nodded with an air of solemn seriousness. "Ready."

"Then let's begin!"

Suddenly, Chun Xiaobai looked sharply up into the sky, his eyes round as saucers, as though he had spotted some extraordinary figure, and shouted in shock.

"Huh?! How did the Sect Master find time to come watch?!"

That startled cry split rock and shook the heavens, making everyone present, including the two Disciplinary Disciples, instinctively follow his gaze up into the sky.

Cheng Haoxuan froze too, then hurriedly turned to look up.

The instant he turned, he suddenly felt a vicious gust rush at him from behind!

But it was already too late!

He felt a heavy blow strike the back of his head, then his vision went black and the world spun.

Thud!

Like a felled wooden post, Cheng Haoxuan toppled stiffly forward and hit the ground headfirst.

Only when they heard the heavy impact did the crowd turn back, just in time to see Cheng Haoxuan lying facedown, his limbs twitching.

"Thank you for going easy on me."

With an inscrutable expression, Chun Xiaobai cupped his hands toward Cheng Haoxuan on the ground.

"It's over?" Everyone stared, utterly bewildered.

Then they saw Chun Xiaobai break into a grin that practically reached the back of his head. Rubbing his hands, he scampered eagerly over to Fang Yuan and deftly took the two Storage Bags from him.

Only then did everyone realize what had happened. The whole place fell so quiet that a pin dropping could have been heard.

"That... that actually counts?!"

"What happened to the duel between sword cultivators?"

"Fuck, that's shameless! He actually launched a sneak attack?"

Zhao Wuyuan watched Chun Xiaobai flash his big white teeth like a wealthy landlord who had just collected his rent, clutching the two Storage Bags tightly to his chest as though afraid someone would snatch them away. His face instantly turned black as the bottom of a pot.

He immediately stepped forward, pointed at Chun Xiaobai, and angrily rebuked him.

"You... you cheated!"

"Cheated?"

Chun Xiaobai's smile vanished, and he glared. "Which eye of yours saw this great... saw me cheat, brat?"

"You won with a sneak attack! What is that if not cheating?!"

"Exactly! Exactly!" The surrounding crowd chimed in.

They had come all this way to watch a swordsmanship duel between experts and learn something, yet this fellow had ended the fight with a sneak attack right at the start.

He had made their trip a complete waste.

"Bullshit!"

Chun Xiaobai bellowed, grabbed the young Disciplinary Disciple beside him, who was still utterly confused, and hauled him over.

"Brother, as a Disciplinary Disciple, you tell me what's fair. Before the fight, didn't I ask about the rules again and again?"

He turned back and roared at the crowd. "Do our sect's challenge rules include a clause saying 'no sneak attacks'?"

"Uh-!"

Everyone froze. That... that really did seem to be absent!

The young Disciplinary Disciple instinctively nodded too and answered honestly, "Yes, there really is no such rule."

"Then that settles it!" Chun Xiaobai slapped his thigh. "I, your great king, knocked him down without taking his life. It was fair, reasonable, and lawful! How does that make it cheating?"

Zhao Wuyuan was left dazed by his barrage of shouting.

He had been shouted into speechlessness, but... but he still refused to accept it. After struggling for a long while, he squeezed out, "But... but you're a proper sword cultivator! How could you do something like launch a sneak attack?"

"Who the fuck decided sword cultivators can't launch sneak attacks?!"

"Uh-!"

It seemed... it seemed no one really had.

"Enough!" Chun Xiaobai waved impatiently.

"If you're not satisfied, you can challenge me too! We'll both stake everything we own!"

He deliberately shook the two bulging Storage Bags in his hands. "Win, and all of this is yours!"

Those words immediately forced everything Zhao Wuyuan had wanted to say back down his throat.

He knew that in a proper contest of swordsmanship, he was absolutely no match for this fellow.

But as for cultivation...

He had spent quite some time observing from the sidelines, yet he still had not sensed any fluctuations of spiritual power from this man...

This man very likely possessed a magical treasure that concealed his cultivation realm.

Something suddenly occurred to him, and his eyelid twitched.

This guy's trying to anger me into taking the bait.

He glanced at Cheng Haoxuan, who was still lying motionless on the ground.

There lay his warning: a man who had been provoked by this fellow into staking everything he owned.

Worried that he would fall into the same trap, Zhao Wuyuan hurriedly suppressed his seething anger,

then ran over and helped up Cheng Haoxuan, who had stopped twitching and was now completely unconscious, before heading down the mountain in disgrace.

Chun Xiaobai curled his lip. "Don't chicken out!"

He had thought this fellow would step forward and challenge him again.

To be honest, as long as the man guarded against a sneak attack, Chun Xiaobai was not sure he could beat him.

Chun Xiaobai withdrew his gaze, then grinned at the spectators who had yet to disperse and called out warmly.

"Oh, right! If any of you want to challenge me, you're welcome anytime! Take a gamble, and all this wealth could be yours!"

The spectating disciples rolled their eyes in unison.

You call yourself a sword cultivator?

More like a sordid cultivator!

Chun Xiaobai pretended not to see their contemptuous looks, slung an arm over Fang Yuan's shoulder, and stuffed his cave abode's Formation Talisman into his hand.

"Come on! Open the door for your great king!"

"Yes, yes, of course!"

Fang Yuan took the Formation Talisman, immediately extended his divine sense into it, and opened the formation.

The two stepped inside, and the formation's curtain of light closed behind them.

The moment they entered the courtyard, Fang Yuan's flattery thundered forth.

"Senior Brother Chun! Don't listen to that nonsense from those people outside. How was that a sneak attack? Warfare is the way of deception! You've truly grasped the essence of combat!"

"I don't know about anyone else, but I, Fang Yuan, have certainly learned a lesson. A real lesson!" As he spoke, he even cupped his hands.

Damn, did this fatty smear honey on his tongue? How is he so sweet?

His praise left Chun Xiaobai feeling as though his bones had grown three ounces lighter, and he began floating on air.

Still, this fatty really was right.

Sneak attacks were a military tactic too!

All of this was survival wisdom he had distilled from actual battles of blood and fire back when he had ruled the Black Wind Stronghold as a bandit king.

In a true life-or-death crisis, who would fuss over whether an attack was sneaky? Staying alive was all that mattered.

It seemed these cultivators, raised in greenhouses, had never suffered the cultivation world's brutal beatings.

"Senior Brother Chun, now that you've defeated Cheng Haoxuan, your strength ranking will jump straight into the Outer Sect's top hundred!" Fang Yuan reminded him.

He simply left out the fact that it had been a sneak attack.

"That fellow... ranks in the top hundred in combat strength?" Chun Xiaobai was a little surprised.

Fang Yuan nodded emphatically and explained, "Our Thirty-Six Outer Sect Peaks have a Genius Disciple Ranking, which lists the hundred strongest geniuses in the entire Outer Sect."

"Although Cheng Haoxuan is only at the eighth level of Qi Refining, he's a sword cultivator who has comprehended sword intent! He's held ninety-fifth place for over three months."

"Over three months, and he hasn't budged from ninety-fifth?"

Chun Xiaobai curled his lip and turned to Fang Yuan. "What about you? What's your ranking?"