Nan Guannu smiled gently. "I want to enter."
"..."
Tinghua liked her best of all and hurried over, and the two began chatting. Nan Guannu was one of those whose expressions had barely changed just now. Her companions were all watching her now, but she seemed not to notice.
As the sword gathering reached its midpoint, the atmosphere grew livelier, and figures began moving between the pavilions. At last, it was this pavilion's turn to take the field. Zuo Sheng did indeed choose Wen Li. Wen Li had already fought once; Quanzhen swordsmanship was known to all, but few had seen the swordsmanship of Longdi's Pearl Waterside Pavilion. With two risky sword moves, Zuo Sheng edged out Wen Li, drawing many eyes to this unfamiliar figure.
Cui Zijie lost his match, but his opponent was Wang Shousi, who had taken the field with the eagerness of a hunter sighting prey, and his defeat was a splendid one. When Wang Shousi's sword reached his throat, his own sword tip was aimed at Wang Shousi's heart, only two inches short.
Those two inches were actually a gulf as deep as an abyss, but not so many present had eyes sharp enough to see it. To most, this was a splendid sword match decided by a hair's breadth.
In fact, among the Thirty-Three Sword Sects, the Golden Crow ranked alongside Kongtong, and in recent years, Yuquan Mountain had shown signs of catching up with the venerable Kongtong. But like Ning Shuhong, Wang Shousi possessed talent a level above his own sect and had long since made his name in the Divine Capital. Thus, even in victory, he seemed to have given Cui Zijie a leg up.
Wang Shousi did not much care, however. He saluted with a smile and returned to his pavilion.