Clash

"?"

The instant Li Xian strode forward and leaped onto the Five-Element Platform, the atmosphere abruptly froze.

Everyone's gaze fell on him at once.

Zhou Juechen, Qi Liang, Yue Longsha, Su Jianxing, Lin Buzhi, Qiao Liushui...

That included Rising Dragon Pavilion staff member Yang Xu, as well as Xiang Yangsheng, the Sword Heir of the Tai Xu Sword Palace—the only person the world believed could truly contend with Yan Yu.

Everyone stared in astonishment at the figure who had suddenly taken the stage, their heads full of questions.

Who was this?

Did he have that little will to live?

Why waste everyone's time?

What was he going up there for?

To slit his own throat in public and ascend to heaven, giving the world a laugh?

The frozen atmosphere lasted a moment. Once everyone finally saw who it was, an uproar rang out all around, like a marketplace whose start button had just been pressed.

"Someone actually dared go up there!? Apart from Xiang Yangsheng, who here wouldn't be going to their death?"

"Li Xian! That's Li Xian! The Gentleman Sword, ninth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking!"

"Has he gone mad? He actually dares challenge the top-ranked fighter on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, the nineteenth princess Yan Yu, who has achieved refining the void into reality and cultivated true qi!?"

"Qi Liang in third place hasn't moved, and neither has Wei Jiuyi in sixth. Yet he charges up there in ninth place. Has his brain rusted? Can't he see how enormous the gap between them is!?"

The crowd erupted.

The sight before them was so shocking that everyone vented their astonishment without restraint. Their voices mingled into waves, making the atmosphere seem to explode, a buzzing roar filling every corner.

"Master, why... why did Young Master Li go up there?"

In the crowd, Hongyu watched Li Xian charge onto the Five-Element Platform, stammering, her thoughts no longer quite flowing smoothly.

"Why Li Xian went up there... I'd like to know too."

Zhou Juechen gave a bitter smile.

He knew Li Xian often acted unexpectedly, and had even anticipated that he would do something astonishing at the Dragon Gate Convention. But never had he imagined he would challenge Yan Yu!

Challenge the top fighter on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, whom everyone had already tacitly accepted would claim a Dragon Gate Token!

At that moment, he did not even know whether Li Xian had gone mad or whether he simply could no longer follow the way these geniuses thought.

Even if he wanted to find someone to spar with, couldn't he choose another occasion?

With everyone already taking the outcome for granted, he had charged up without the slightest consideration. This was no different from delivering a vicious slap to Yan Yu's face...

She really would kill him!

By then, the others had also reacted. Some immediately turned their gazes toward Xiang Yangsheng, who truly qualified to contend with Yan Yu.

"Sword Heir Xiang, how do you see this?"

A nearby expert on the Hidden Dragon Ranking could not help asking.

"With my eyes."

Xiang Yangsheng glanced at him.

He seemed puzzled that he would ask such a simple question.

"..."

Fine. This expert on the Hidden Dragon Ranking understood the Sword Heir's personality.

A heavenly steed galloping through the skies.

"Playing to the crowd."

Qi Liang, however, calmly offered his assessment of Li Xian's behavior.

"In this arena-defense format, you can fight again after losing. By showing his face first, he undoubtedly hopes to seize the biggest share of attention."

The prince consort sneered. "Although he previously killed someone from the Yan Family and damaged the Yueyang Prince's Residence's reputation, there are thousands upon thousands of Yan Family members. Someone of Her Highness Yan Yu's standing might not care if one or two died. But whatever else he did, he should never have popped up at this moment to play the prancing clown."

"Marquis Qi, you mean..."

Someone prompted him in agreement.

Qi Liang declared with absolute conviction, "When I look at him, I see dry bones in a tomb."

"Li Xian? Have you misunderstood the rules and thought everyone had to come onto the platform first? If so, hurry down!"

At that moment, even Yang Xu, as a staff member, was anxious for Li Xian. He even offered him a ladder, hoping to give him a way to climb down gracefully.

But Li Xian merely nodded politely to him. "I came up precisely to challenge this expert who has achieved refining the void into reality."

Yang Xu opened his mouth.

So you do know she's a true qi realm expert who has achieved refining the void into reality.

He...

Had nothing left to say.

Li Xian turned his gaze toward Yan Yu, whose expression had visibly chilled.

"Come."

He extended a hand in an inviting gesture.

"Li Xian, I don't know much about you. I only know that you're very bold and once killed a younger member of a distant branch of my Yan Family. But that doesn't interest me."

Yan Yu said coldly, "After all, although you've made the Hidden Dragon Ranking, you're only ninth. You're destined not to leap through the Dragon Gate this time. Even if you do so next time... one step ahead means staying ahead at every step. In the future, you're destined to be unable to catch even a glimpse of my shadow. So you aren't worth my attention."

She slowly drew the sword she carried. "Yet you... instead of keeping a low profile and biding your time, avoiding being an eyesore before me as much as possible, you actually dared step onto the Five-Element Platform... and stand before me at this very moment, when no one else dares oppose my claiming the Dragon Gate Token..."

Li Xian tried to listen to his opponent as patiently as possible, but the nineteenth princess simply talked too much. He could not help interrupting. "Could you speak a little faster? Once you're done, can we get started sooner?"

He glanced below the platform. "After fighting you, I still have to fight Xiang Yangsheng."

"..."

Yan Yu's words abruptly stalled.

Her icy expression swiftly filled with fury she could barely suppress.

The next second...

Her sword left its sheath!

All her fury became a single word.

"Die!"

Dazzling sword light accompanied Yan Yu as she sprang forward to kill. Her true qi erupted, instantly tearing through the void as she slashed down at Li Xian's head.

"Sword Qi!?"

Li Xian immediately recognized the nature of the power Yan Yu had unleashed!

Sword Qi!?

It was actually Sword Qi!

At that moment, she was a full three meters away, yet she had struck across the distance, unleashing Sword Qi straight at his head. Compared with astral force, which could strike no more than three inches through the air, this extension of her attack's reach was stronger by far more than a little!

But...

Faced with this power that already surpassed his understanding, Li Xian neither dodged nor evaded. Instead, he raised his mental state to its utmost peak.

"Good!"

He struck without hesitation. Just as the Sword Qi was about to slash into his skull, he grabbed fiercely at it, actually intending to seize true qi with flesh and blood.

Of course, just before his palm collided with the true qi, a layer of blood-colored light visible to the naked eye emerged over his hand.

Astral force!

Astral force burst from his palm, crashing head-on into the Sword Qi descending toward his head.

Bang!

True qi and astral force exploded in midair!

Li Xian had already prepared himself for the true qi to penetrate his astral force and blast into his arm, then smash through his blood and qi force inch by inch like splitting bamboo...

But there was nothing more!

The Sword Qi slashing down through the air from three meters away was crushed outright by Li Xian's burst of astral force.

It was like someone you loved tossing you a piece of ice, and you finding the right angle to grab it hard and crush it in your hand.

"Hm?"

Was this...

Because she was too far away?

Even if her true qi was formidable, after diminishing over three meters when she struck through the air, presumably less than a tenth of its power remained.

Li Xian was not disappointed.

Because Yan Yu herself seemed to understand that a single slash of Sword Qi could not hurt him.

After the Sword Qi, her airborne sword strike had already followed close behind.

Although this strike came straight at him, without any exquisite sword technique, and looked as though it was meant to finish things off...

Compared with the Sword Qi slashed out across the distance, the true qi contained within the blade was bound to be more forceful and violent.

At that thought, Li Xian instantly entered the Limit-Breaking State.

In this state, the responses of his thoughts, blood and qi, and force all surpassed his body's shackles, reaching an unprecedented limit of speed.

His right hand, which had just crushed a slash of Sword Qi, drove straight in to meet Yan Yu's plain, frontal slash of sword light.

Core Force erupted!

Carried by that explosive power, a second, concentrated surge of astral force allowed his palm to all but disregard the sword's sharpness as he caught her descending blade with exquisite precision.

Clang!

The collision between his astral force and the force-laden sword actually rang out like metal striking metal.

The violent true qi he had expected to erupt from the sword immediately afterward and crush his astral force and blood and qi did not appear.

Although the force behind this strike was substantial, likely enough to behead anyone who failed to block the first wave of Sword Qi, severing their heads clean through flesh and bone, against the still more domineering, blazing blood-refining astral force...

All the force upon the blade was shaken apart in an instant.

Yan Yu's offensive came to an abrupt halt.

(End of chapter)