"A disciple here to choose a sword?"
Murong Xuan murmured as he looked at Chu Kuangren.
He did not know why.
But he had a feeling that this man was the reason for the Saint Swords' unusual behavior.
Coupled with the other man's transcendent bearing, it made him take a few more looks, his gaze revealing a measure of wariness and curiosity.
Chu Kuangren had already come within a hundred zhang of the Saint Swords.
The Sword Intent domain had enveloped him.
Yet surprisingly, the Sword Intent had no effect on him at all. Like a spring breeze brushing his face, it actually made him feel rather comfortable.
Chu Kuangren approached the Saint Swords step by step.
A hundred zhang was over three hundred meters.
Before long, Chu Kuangren had covered more than half the distance.
Holding Crimson Refinement, Murong Xuan could not help widening his eyes.
What was going on?
He had struggled immensely to cross that Sword Intent domain, yet this man walked through it with utter ease, as though strolling through a courtyard. Wasn't the difference far too great?
Murong Xuan looked at the other Saint Swords.
He discovered that they were trembling even more violently.
Like people, they were tremendously excited.
Holy shit.
Were these Saint Swords deliberately going easy on him?!
This absurd thought suddenly popped into Murong Xuan's mind.
The Saint Swords had been on Sword Mountain for so many years. Countless cultivators had come hoping to win their recognition, yet no one had ever seen them reduce their oppressive Sword Intent in the slightest. They treated every cultivator equally.
Yet now they were going easy on Chu Kuangren?
"No, that can't be."
Murong Xuan swallowed, finding it somewhat unbelievable.
The Daoist Seeds in the sky were also dumbstruck.
"I heard this man has the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Sword Heart, a supreme Dao body. When it awakened, every sword on Sword Mountain went to bow before him. I didn't believe that rumor at first, but now it seems it might well be true."
"Damn, is the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Sword Heart really this unreasonable?"
"A supreme Dao body really is fucking incredible."
Chu Kuangren crossed the hundred-zhang Sword Intent domain with ease and first glanced at Murong Xuan, narrowing his eyes slightly as he did.
He could not help it. With several little suns hovering over the other man, how could it not hurt his eyes?
He gave the other man a slight nod. "Hello, junior brother."
Junior... junior brother?
Murong Xuan was somewhat stunned.
He was a distinguished Daoist Seed, his standing within the Mystic Heaven Sect second only to the elders and the sect leader. No one had ever called him junior brother before.
"Do you know who I am?"
Murong Xuan's expression grew somewhat cold.
"Yes. Daoist Seed Murong Xuan."
Chu Kuangren nodded. He had seen the other man a few times before, but back then, Murong Xuan had never noticed an outer disciple like him.
"If you know, how dare you address me that way!"
"Because I am Chu Kuangren, the newly appointed chief disciple. You should address me as senior brother," Chu Kuangren said mildly.
Then he looked at the Saint Swords on the blue stone.
As though sensing Chu Kuangren's gaze, the Saint Swords swished out of the blue stone of their own accord and flew to his side.
Even the Crimson Lian Sword, which Murong Xuan had obtained with such difficulty, trembled, broke free of his hand, and flew toward Chu Kuangren.
Nine Saint Swords circled Chu Kuangren, blazing with brilliant sword light as Great Dao runes flowed across them, dazzling beyond compare.
"How could this happen!"
Disbelief filled Murong Xuan's face.
He had barely warmed the Saint Sword he had worked so hard to subdue, and it had already scampered off to "pose and preen" before someone else?
Yes, the impression these Saint Swords gave Murong Xuan was precisely that they were posing and preening, hoping to attract Chu Kuangren's attention.
If these Saint Swords could speak...
They would surely be clamoring, "Pick me!" and "Hurry, pick me!"
The Daoist Seeds in the sky also wore expressions of astonishment.
"Isn't this a bit much?"
"Are these still the Saint Swords we know?"
"Holy shit, do even Saint Swords judge people by their looks?"
As far as they knew, Saint Swords were lofty and inviolable, barely deigning to acknowledge anyone, even the Mystic Heaven Sect's leader. Yet now they all surrounded Chu Kuangren like peacocks courting a mate, doing everything they could to flaunt their beauty and brilliance...
Murong Xuan's expression shifted back and forth, his face filled with indignation.
Damn it, so what if you're handsome!
He had cultivated painstakingly and only managed to move the Saint Sword Crimson Refinement after tremendous effort, yet the moment it saw Chu Kuangren, it had darted over to fawn on him.
All his efforts seemed like a joke.
What he had pursued so desperately, the other man could obtain as easily as spitting into his palm.
At that thought, Murong Xuan's Dao Heart nearly faltered.
Never mind him-even the Daoist Seeds in the sky were not feeling much better.
But Chu Kuangren had no intention of tending to the Daoist Seeds' feelings at that moment. He looked at the nine Saint Swords, indecision on his face.
Which one should I choose?
Take them all?
What a joke. My master would beat me to death.
Besides, he was not that greedy.
Chu Kuangren wrestled with the choice.
Little did he know that, in the eyes of the Daoist Seeds, his indecisive expression dealt them yet another crushing blow.
These were Saint Swords! Most cultivators in the world had probably never even seen one, yet Chu Kuangren was agonizing over which to choose?
"Comparing yourself to others really can make you die of anger."
One Daoist Seed gave a helpless, bitter chuckle.
Before long.
Chu Kuangren's gaze settled on a Saint Sword that was white as jade throughout, crystalline and translucent, with intricate patterns carved into it.
As though sensing Chu Kuangren looking at it, the white jade Saint Sword grew even more excited. Radiance flowed over it, and countless runes manifested.
The other Saint Swords grew anxious and kept releasing Sword Intent.
They even joined forces to suppress the white jade Saint Sword.
They seemed to want to seize the opportunity to demonstrate their strength.
Yet Chu Kuangren's gaze remained on the white jade Saint Sword. He reached out, resonating with it. "Come."
Whoosh...
The white jade Saint Sword instantly flew into Chu Kuangren's palm and obediently, meekly reined in its Sword Intent, as though terrified of harming him in the slightest.
Chu Kuangren ran his fingers over the white jade Saint Sword's blade. Seemingly carved from white jade, it was incomparably smooth and warm.
It was a magnificent sword, so magnificent that one might even think it was an ornament.
Yet Chu Kuangren could sense the boundlessly keen Sword Intent contained within its blade, with the power to seemingly tear apart the heavens and earth.
Two small characters were carved into its guard.
"Kunwu..." Chu Kuangren read aloud, and the Sacred Sword Kunwu in his hand trembled twice, as though responding.
Chu Kuangren smiled. "You're the one."
The moment he spoke, the other Saint Swords kept releasing Sword Intent, as though trying to make him change his mind.
But Chu Kuangren had already settled on Kunwu. These Saint Swords were all about equal in power, and Kunwu was the best-looking. Which else would he choose?
"All right, go back!"
Chu Kuangren looked at the other Saint Swords and waved his hand.
Seeing that he had made up his mind, the other Saint Swords could do nothing, however unwilling they were. They could only return "dejectedly" and embed themselves in the blue stone.
Crimson Refinement returned to Murong Xuan's hand.
Yet at that moment, Murong Xuan felt little happiness.
He felt that he was merely a backup.
Only when Chu Kuangren did not want it did his turn come.
That feeling made him deeply uncomfortable and terribly aggrieved.
"So you're Chu Kuangren, the newly appointed chief disciple."
Murong Xuan spoke as he gripped the Crimson Lian Sword tightly.
"Yes, that's me."
"Very well. I heard the newly appointed chief disciple possesses a supreme Dao body. Today, I'd like to experience it for myself. Please!" Murong Xuan said evenly.
He kept feeling a pent-up frustration that would leave him deeply uncomfortable unless he vented it, and he also wanted to see what strength Chu Kuangren possessed.
Before you continue