With only the first sword strike of their encounter... whether he had crushed this trick with a single stroke, or He Jiu had instantly sensed that such a concealed sword could not work against him... in short, that so-called bracelet shattered with one strike, and Yun’s cloud patterns were already upon He Jiu’s sword!
There was no test question. What he faced directly was He Jiu himself!
"...Who is this?!"
In fact, not everyone was entirely unfamiliar with that figure.
Chu Shuiting of the Sword Cultivation Academy, Xu Menglang still sitting stunned in a corner, Cui Zhaoye whose eyes now shone even brighter in the candlelight... and beyond them, some who followed the Divine Capital's Jianghu had either heard of the Taiping Transport Gang's destruction overnight or read that sword review in Chang'an Sword Affairs. Others had seen tonight's guest list, especially the young noblewomen, who loved gathering to guess at the masks. A little counting and matching made it quite easy to put that name together with that Play Mask.
But almost no one had seen his sword.
"Guest Pei Ye, seventeen, rogue cultivator, swordsman."
That brief entry alone could never have drawn anyone's attention.
Just as Lu Xiu understood it, every gathering at the Phantom Tower had a few talented people without prestigious backgrounds. They would spend the entire banquet on its unnoticed fringes, exerting themselves only during the sword trials and poetry composition, and they could indeed produce something refreshing.
But this time, even for someone like Chu Shuiting, who already knew from the Sword Cultivation Academy that his talent was first-rate, it was still far too shocking.
"...His name is Pei Ye." After a moment's stunned silence, the man turned to answer Ning Chaolie's blurted question. This Daoist True Disciple had nearly lost his composure. "He's