Sword Intent

Everyone arrived at the combat grounds on Sea God Island reserved for training Inner Court disciples.

These grounds were nearly twice the size of the Outer Court's training grounds.

A ring of people had already gathered around the edge.

Inner Court disciples stood in twos and threes. Having heard that students from the Sun Moon Empire had come to spar, they had all come to watch.

Shrek Academy brought over a woman of ordinary appearance and build, who walked at the front.

Xi Xi swept an expressionless glance over the Sun Moon Empire students opposite her, then withdrew her gaze and stood aside with her arms folded to wait.

Gu Xingyue stood among the crowd at the edge of the grounds, momentarily taken aback when he saw Xi Xi step forward.

Wasn't she an old acquaintance?

Back during his entrance assessment, his very first match had been against her.

A level fifty-two Agility Attack Soul King with the Lightning Leopard martial soul-the one he had crushed with an advantage on an entirely different dimension.

He had later heard that she had been dejected for a while, but she seemed to have recovered well now.

Xi Xi reached the edge of the arena and vaulted onto it.

At the same time, someone stepped out from the Sun Moon Empire's side.

Dressed entirely in white, she was colder and purer than snow.

The newcomer was a slender woman whose long black hair fell to her waist, loosely tied with a plain white silk ribbon.

Her face was delicate and cold, her features carrying an aloofness that kept strangers at bay, her gaze deep.

Her white robes fluttered gently with her steps. Standing there, she somehow seemed to outshine frost and surpass snow.

Xi Xi's pupils contracted slightly as she looked at the white-robed woman opposite her.

She seemed to see a sword honed amid wind and snow slowly approaching her.

It was an indescribable feeling, but Xi Xi's instincts told her that this person possessed a faint yet unmistakable sharpness, like a keen sword hidden in its sheath.

"Xi Xi. Martial soul: Lightning Leopard. Agility Attack Soul King." Xi Xi announced her martial soul and rank in a steady voice.

The white-robed woman nodded slightly, her voice cool. "Ji Xueyi. Sword Martial Soul. Power Attack Soul King."

After both sides announced their martial souls, the arena fell silent for a moment.

Xi Xi moved first.

Her Lightning Leopard martial soul possessed her body, pale blue arcs of electricity covering her legs as her speed instantly climbed to its peak.

She left an afterimage across the arena as she circled toward Ji Xueyi's rear flank, reaching out with her right hand, her five fingers forming claws wrapped in soul power as they snatched toward her opponent's shoulder.

Ji Xueyi did not turn.

She merely raised her right hand slightly, holding her longsword across the air, its blade as thin as a cicada's wing and gleaming with a cold luster.

She did not even look at Xi Xi's position, simply holding the blade beside her and sweeping it lightly behind her.

A snow-white streak of sword energy swept out, precisely blocking Xi Xi's line of attack.

Xi Xi's pupils contracted. She pushed off the ground with her toes, forcibly halted her momentum, and retreated half a step.

The sword energy skimmed past mere inches from her face, cutting off a stray lock of hair above her forehead, which drifted to the ground.

Xi Xi did not pause after landing. She pushed off again, circling around from another direction. But this time, she had barely taken two steps before Ji Xueyi's sword had already turned toward her.

With its tip pointing forward, a denser spread of sword energy opened like a fan, forcing Xi Xi to retreat again.

Two consecutive attacks, each driven back by a single slash.

Xi Xi retreated to a safe distance, her chest rising and falling slightly as she stared fixedly at the white-robed woman opposite her.

Ji Xueyi remained where she stood, her feet having barely moved, her sword tip lowered and her expression calm, as though those two slashes had been nothing more than casual strokes.

Watching from the sidelines, Gu Xingyue narrowed his eyes slightly.

This Ji Xueyi really was no ordinary opponent.

Her martial soul was a sword, but she was different from ordinary sword-type soul masters.

She was already close to comprehending the embryonic form of intent.

That was precisely why every swing of her sword carried an extraordinarily accurate anticipation, as though she had seen through Xi Xi's attack routes in advance.

That feeling was human sword unity.

Xi Xi sensed it too.

Against her opponent's precise blockade of sword energy, her advantage in speed was like a fist striking cotton, leaving her unable to bring her strength to bear.

The arena fell into a subtle stalemate.

Xi Xi was searching for an opening.

More than a dozen paces separated the two.

The crowd around the grounds quieted down. Everyone could tell that this sparring match was more interesting than they had expected.

Xi Xi took a deep breath and broke the deadlock first.

A pale purple gleam flashed through her eyes.

Her speed surged again, her entire body becoming an afterimage almost invisible to the naked eye.

Rather than trying to circle behind Ji Xueyi again, she repeatedly changed direction within an extremely small area centered on Ji Xueyi.

In an instant, seven or eight phantom images of Xi Xi appeared in the arena, closing in on Ji Xueyi from different directions.

The Lightning Leopard's fifth soul skill-Phantom Assault.

Ji Xueyi's gaze finally shifted.

Her eyes swept rapidly between the afterimages, then she raised the sword in her right hand and slashed diagonally toward her front left.

The movement was clean and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Sword light sprang free of its sheath.

A snow-white streak of sword energy shot straight out, passing through the gap between two afterimages and striking the real Xi Xi squarely on the shoulder.

Xi Xi's body jerked to a halt, her speed plummeting.

Gritting her teeth, she refused to retreat. She curled her right hand from a claw into a fist, forced her way two steps forward against the sword energy, and punched toward Ji Xueyi's chest.

Ji Xueyi had already withdrawn her sword and held it across her chest.

Xi Xi's fist struck the blade with a dull metallic clang that left the web between her thumb and forefinger numb.

Ji Xueyi used the force of the punch to retreat half a step, dissipating the impact. Then she turned her wrist, and the sword tip darted out like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, heading straight for Xi Xi's throat.

The thrust was not fast, but its angle was treacherous, precisely sealing off every possible direction Xi Xi could dodge.

Xi Xi twisted aside. The sword tip skimmed her neck, leaving a faint red mark.

She retreated three steps in succession before opening up the distance again, her breathing considerably more hurried than before.

At the edge of the grounds, Gu Xingyue raised his eyebrows slightly.

He could see it clearly: Ji Xueyi had not applied any soul skills to her sword. She was fighting purely through swordsmanship and anticipation.

Every stroke of her sword intercepted Xi Xi's attack trajectory at exactly the right point, as though she had calculated her opponent's movements in advance.

This way of fighting demanded extremely high levels of spiritual power and combat awareness.

At some point, Yan Shaozhe had walked up beside Gu Xingyue. With her arms folded across her chest, she watched Ji Xueyi in the arena.

After watching for a few seconds, she said, "This girl is close to reaching the threshold of sword intent."

Gu Xingyue turned his head to glance at her.

Yan Shaozhe kept her eyes on the arena, her tone carrying the certainty of an expert who understood the finer points. "Her sword already has its own rhythm. Look at Xi Xi. She's certainly fast, but every round of her attacks is being led along by Ji Xueyi's sword. With control like that, this girl has the makings of a Sword God."

In the arena, Xi Xi had clearly realized the problem too.

Her advantage in speed was completely ineffective against Ji Xueyi. Her opponent's sword always blocked her path a step ahead, forcing her to keep changing direction and exhausting a great deal of her stamina without ever allowing her to mount an effective attack.

She tried three forceful assaults, only to be driven back by a single slash each time, gaining two more bloody marks on her shoulder.

Ji Xueyi still stood in the same place, having moved her feet only half a step.

Her breathing was as steady as though nothing had happened, her sword tip lowered all the while as she waited for Xi Xi's next attack.

Xi Xi gritted her teeth and spurred her soul power one final time.

Dense arcs of electricity covered her legs, and her entire body shot forward.

She charged straight at Ji Xueyi, all her soul power concentrated in the sharp claws of her right hand as she raked toward Ji Xueyi's face with the momentum of taking her opponent down with her.

Ji Xueyi's gaze remained as calm as before.

This was the very moment she had been waiting for.

She withdrew her right foot half a step and, holding her sword in her right hand, delivered a plain, unadorned diagonal sweep from below.

The blade traced a snow-white arc, passing with unerring accuracy through the gaps between Xi Xi's claws, its tip stopping just one inch from Xi Xi's throat.

The sword energy carried a chill that raised goosebumps on Xi Xi's skin.

Xi Xi's claws stopped half a foot in front of Ji Xueyi's face, unable to advance another fraction.

She lowered her head to glance at the sword tip poised before her throat, remained silent for two seconds, then withdrew her martial soul and stepped back.

"I lost."

Ji Xueyi withdrew her sword as well and nodded slightly, her voice as cool as ever. "Thank you for the match."

Xi Xi vaulted down from the arena, little expression on her face.

She did not linger, walking straight through the crowd toward the exit, her steps somewhat faster than usual.

Yan Shaozhe watched her departing back without saying anything more, then withdrew her gaze and turned it back to Ji Xueyi.

The white-robed woman stood in the arena, her calm gaze sweeping over the Shrek students at the sidelines as though searching for her next opponent.

"Her sword intent has already taken embryonic form," Yan Shaozhe told Gu Xingyue quietly, a trace of appreciation in her voice. "Give her a little more time, and she will definitely comprehend complete sword intent. When that happens, her sword won't merely be fast-it will possess a will of its own. Someone like her would be a treasure at any academy."

Sword intent was a talent that could only be encountered, never sought.

Ji Xueyi's soul power rank was not among the very highest, but her talent in the way of the sword could make up for it.

Jin Hongchen stood on the other side of the grounds, watching Ji Xueyi win the first match, the smile on his face as measured and composed as ever.