At Lu Zheng's words, Zhang Xingming and the others beside Bai Yi couldn't help darkening their expressions.
Bai Yi said nothing more. He leaped onto the Dharma Combat Arena and, as customary, clasped his hands in greeting.
"Bai Yi, Blue Mountain No. 2 Middle School."
Seeing the Two Flying Swords strapped to Bai Yi's back, the surrounding Dao Students began murmuring among themselves.
There were many cultivation methods within the Immortal Alliance, but since its people sought to comprehend the workings of Heaven and Earth, Magic Arts and Dao Resonance were difficult to master.
Thus, methods that could be aided by technology flourished more within the Immortal Alliance, such as Talismans, Formations, and Body Refinement...
Sword Cultivators took pride in their three-foot Azure Edge. They seemed to value their swords, but in truth, the sword was a method for comprehending the Great Dao.
Therefore, among the Immortal Alliance's myriad cultivation paths, the way of the Sword Cultivator had not fallen into decline, but could only be considered middling at best.
In the Immortal Alliance's ten-thousand-year history, no Sword Cultivator had ever broken through to the Nascent Soul and attained the position of a True Lord.
Like everyone else, Lu Zheng's gaze lingered briefly on the sword scabbards behind Bai Yi. He gave it no further thought and clasped his hands in greeting.
He turned his palm over, and a Formation Disc, seemingly carved from ice crystal and translucent as glass, rose into the air.
"Friend, forgive me."
Ice crystals spread through Lu Zheng's pupils as he formed Formation Dao Seals. A stream of Spiritual Power immediately flowed into the ice-crystal Formation Disc, and he tapped it repeatedly with all ten fingers.
Frost-like Spiritual Power coalesced into ice crystals in midair, linking together as the formation's anchor points. Snow filled the sky, turning into a roaring blizzard that swept toward Bai Yi.
Amid the blizzard, countless icy blades, sharp as flying knives, tore through the air and enveloped the entire Dharma Combat Arena.
Staring at Bai Yi, who was engulfed by the blizzard, Lu Zheng felt reassured. Although he did not know how strong this Sword Cultivator was, Bai Yi had defeated a Dao Student who was fairly skilled in Talismans, so he was surely no ordinary opponent.
However, Sword Cultivators were weak in defense. Under his Year-Cold Formation, the outcome had already been decided.
"Classmate, you're too kind..."
His Divine Sense saw Bai Yi completely surrounded by the Year-Cold Formation. Lu Zheng had just started speaking when his calm expression suddenly grew grave.
He gathered Spiritual Power at his index finger and touched the Formation Disc, intending to reinforce the formation.
In the roaring blizzard, a dazzling rainbow of light soared upward. Fierce Sword Qi burst forth, and the Heart-Questioning Sword descended. Its sword rainbow flashed like a Flood Dragon coiling through the storm.
As Sword Qi rippled outward, it shattered the icy blades and snowstorm.
Beneath the Sword Light, Bai Yi's expression remained calm. He swept a finger downward, and Spiritual Power surged, condensing into thousands upon thousands of sword qi.
The sword qi gathered over the Heart-Questioning Sword, and a dazzling sword rainbow appeared. Accompanied by the Dao Resonance patterns formed by the White Rainbow Sword Art, it seemed to tear through the void like a Flood Dragon, becoming a razor-sharp line.
"Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow?"
Several low, astonished voices suddenly rang out, and everyone instinctively looked over.
Around the Dharma Combat Arena, the Dao Studies principals watching were all wearing astonished expressions.
Before this, even when Lu Zheng, a transfer student from a first-tier city, had displayed a Year-Cold Formation with Dao Resonance Perfection, they had merely glanced over.
"Is Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow that impressive? The principals are all at the Foundation Establishment Realm," several Third Year of High School Dao Students asked quietly.
"Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow is an advanced technique of Sword Cultivators. Usually, only those at the Foundation Establishment Realm can master it."
Hearing the explanation, the watching Dao Students were all startled. They hurriedly turned their eyes to the Dharma Combat Arena, eager to witness the might of Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow.
On the arena, Lu Zheng's expression changed drastically as he felt the terrifying might of the sword light.
How could he hold back now? He unleashed the Fourth Realm Minor Five Elements Art and the Qi Refining Secret Art, Cold Water Record, at full power. Spiritual Power transformed into ice crystals and hovered in the air.
Lu Zheng reversed his Dao Seals. As the Year-Cold Formation shifted beneath his feet, one enormous, sturdy pillar of ice after another formed in an instant, blocking the sword rainbow.
Bang! Bang!
Before Lu Zheng could breathe a sigh of relief, the sword rainbow pierced through the ice pillars and shattered them in an instant.
"If you're enjoying this book, add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose track of it next time."
Before Lu Zheng could even catch his breath, the sword rainbow pierced through the ice pillars and shattered them in an instant.
"Formation reversal!"
Lu Zheng's face paled. Frost and snow covered the ice-crystal Formation Disc. As the formation patterns twisted, the Year-Cold Formation beneath his feet unleashed a bone-deep chill.
Ice mist spread and billowed. Making himself the formation's core, Lu Zheng reversed the natural order. The ice mist filling the sky rapidly contracted and gathered. In the blink of an eye, a gigantic Ice Crystal Giant Python roared and lunged at the sword rainbow.
Bai Yi's gaze narrowed slightly, and his Divine Sense stirred.
In front of the Ice Crystal Giant Python, the speeding sword rainbow instantly disappeared. A gentle breeze blew around the Heart-Questioning Sword, guiding it along a perfect arc to evade the attack.
The sword's edge turned, and the sword rainbow condensed once more atop the breeze. As the Foundation Establishment Realm principals watched in stunned horror, the sword pierced the Ice Crystal Giant Python through its seventh inch, then came to rest silently before Lu Zheng's throat.
"Yield."
"You don't need to feel embarrassed. The result won't change."
Bai Yi clasped his hands in greeting, then leaped down from the Dharma Combat Arena.
The battle was over. The Heart-Questioning Sword before Lu Zheng spun through several full rotations in midair before landing precisely in its scabbard.
Gulp...
As the sharpness at his throat faded, Lu Zheng swallowed instinctively and stared dumbfounded at Bai Yi, who had already left the arena.
He was at the Qi Refining, Sixth Layer. He had mastered the Year-Cold Formation, with Dao Resonance flowing through it, and his Minor Five Elements Art had reached the Fourth Realm.
He had even cultivated the Qi Refining Secret Art, Cold Water Record, passed down in his family, to the first layer. It could transform Spiritual Power into icy Spiritual Power, increasing its power by twenty percent.
He had ranked among the top fifteen in his year at No. 6 Middle School. And now, he hadn't even managed to take a single sword strike from a Qi Refining Fifth Layer Sword Cultivator?
Unlike Lu Zheng, who was bewildered, the Divine Senses of more than ten Dao Studies principals in the crowd swept over Bai Yi. Their eyes were still filled with deep shock.
In the eyes of the Dao Studies students, that sword had merely been a somewhat more condensed sword light. But to them, it had been breathtaking.
On that sword, which had mastered the advanced Sword Dao technique Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow, the patterns of two perfected Sword Art Dao Resonances had condensed. They hadn't collided; instead, they had blended together, making the already terrifying sword rainbow even more fearsome.
"That last sword could have seriously wounded an ordinary Qi Refining, Seventh Layer Dao Student."
"An utterly exceptional talent. Truly an utterly exceptional talent!"
The many Dao Studies principals looked at Bai Yi a few more times, then turned their envious, jealous gazes toward the Old Principal, who was also somewhat dazed.
A genius with a seventy- to eighty-percent chance of passing the Four Academies and Ten Palaces Preliminary Exam Assessment was the kind of talent people envied wherever he went.
Feeling the envious, jealous gazes of his peers at the same cultivation level, especially those of the several Dao Studies principals from Luanshan City, the Old Principal still hadn't recovered from Bai Yi's sword. Yet he immediately straightened his back, stroked his beard, and looked back at them with great satisfaction.
"Old Qiu, even a transfer student won't help you. The additional resources this year still belong to Blue Mountain."
The several Luanshan principals heard the Old Principal's words and were about to retort, but then they looked at Lu Zheng, who stood silently after his defeat, and at their students behind him, who had all withdrawn into themselves. They merely snorted a few times, tossed out a harsh remark, and turned to leave.
"We'll see at the assessment!"
Seeing his old rival suffer a setback, the Old Principal and the other Blue Mountain Dao Studies principals exchanged looks and laughed.
Their gazes then fell on Bai Yi.
"Old Qian, I didn't expect your No. 2 Middle School to have such a hidden gem."
"To master Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow and two Sword Arts with perfected Dao Resonance in the Qi Refining Realm-that's a rare talent, truly rare!"
The principals spoke with deep emotion. As Foundation Establishment cultivators, they knew many secrets beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.
Among them, the way of the Sword Cultivator was considered a Higher Vehicle even in the Myriad Realms Dao Domain. But because of the workings of Heaven and Earth, few people in the Immortal Alliance had attained the Dao through sword cultivation.
And this young man before them could be called the most remarkably gifted Sword Cultivator they had ever seen.
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