An Accounting

Three days after achieving minor mastery of Great Void Sword Qi.

Qin Lian picked the last six ripe Heavenly Splendor Fruits and set off on the journey back.

At the foot of Heavenly Splendor Mountain, Li Xiu waited by the roadside with a group of people.

Seeing Qin Lian and his party coming down the mountain, the elder of Ten Thousand Swords Manor cupped his hands toward Qin Lian from afar.

However, the somewhat awkward relationship between the two sides kept him from offering any pleasantries or words of farewell.

Qin Lian nodded in return and soon left Heavenly Splendor Mountain with the people of Cloudmist Peak.

Not long after leaving Heavenly Splendor Mountain, they came upon a fork in the road.

This fork...

"Does this road lead to Mount Tai Prefecture?"

Qin Lian pointed at one of the roads and asked Xiao Hong beside him.

"Yes. Spirit Radiance Commandery is also one of Sword Province's southern commanderies. This road does indeed lead straight to Mount Tai Prefecture."

Xiao Hong nodded.

"I heard that Gao Qianchi sent a written challenge all the way to the Pure Yang Sword Sect a few months ago. Is that right?"

Qin Lian asked.

"That did happen."

Xiao Hong nodded slightly. "Not just a few months ago. He sent another challenge a month ago, and apparently even made a point of informing the Heavenly Scripture Tower about matters here."

The Heavenly Scripture Tower was the organization that compiled the Grandmaster Heaven Ranking.

Nominally, it was an organization of the martial world, specifically responsible for ranking its illustrious grandmasters and granting them the honors they deserved.

But anyone knew that the Great Shang court must be standing behind it.

"What audacity!"

In his previous life, Qin Lian had, after all, been only a twenty-five-year-old young man.

He still had the temper a young man ought to have.

It was simply that modern society's "pragmatic" spirit had left him placing little value on so-called "empty fame."

Coupled with the principle that the happier party should yield, this had made him unwilling to risk his life fighting Gao Qianchi to the bitter end.

But things were different now.

When he was at third grade, he had been unwilling to endanger himself by facing Gao Qianchi.

But now, he had already reached second grade divine intent.

And his swordsmanship had borne fruit, while he also had numerous innate spells...

He was ninety percent confident of defeating even Ye Yingxiong at second grade peak, let alone a third-grade Gao Qianchi.

If he still avoided battle now, would his half year and more of diligent, grueling cultivation not have been for nothing?

"As a Heaven Ranking Grandmaster, Mount Taibai should be my own preserve. Yet Gao Qianchi, flying the banner of the Overlord Blade, crushed the Taibai Sword Sect under my name and seized my Taibai Mine Mountain. He has shown no regard whatsoever for me as a Heaven Ranking Grandmaster!"

Qin Lian said coolly, "It's time he gave my Taibai Sword Sect an accounting!"

Xiao Hong paused, then nodded without the slightest surprise. "Gao Qianchi truly has audacity enough to swallow the heavens! Grandmaster Qin was unwilling to stoop to his level, yet he still dared to press you relentlessly. He has already set himself on the road to death!"

Liu Xu and Xiao Qing likewise felt that Gao Qianchi had far overestimated himself.

After learning that Qin Lian could repel even "Jiang Heng," they had long since come to see Gao Qianchi's challenge as the antics of a clown hopping about on a beam.

Now that Qin Lian intended to go and deal with him...

"We shall accompany Grandmaster Qin, both to appreciate Mount Tai Prefecture's local culture and to lend you our support."

Liu Xu smiled and cupped her hands.

Qin Lian did not refuse.

"Change roads. Move."

At his command, the party of over forty elites, even the weakest of whom was in the True Qi Realm, headed straight for Mount Tai Prefecture.

Since they entered Mount Tai Prefecture from Spirit Radiance Commandery and headed directly for Taibai Mine Mountain, some of the local factions that had secretly pledged themselves to the Tyrant Blade Sect had no time to send advance warning.

As they neared Taibai Mine Mountain, Qin Lian instructed a True Aura Realm deacon, "Sorry for the trouble, but please make a trip to Canglang Mountain and invite Sect Leader Xu and the others from the Taibai Sword Sect over to take control of Taibai Mine Mountain."

After being driven out of Taibai Mine Mountain, the Taibai Sword Sect had temporarily settled on Canglang Mountain, taking over the Canglang Sword Sect's territory.

"Yes."

The deacon acknowledged the order and swiftly departed.

Qin Lian continued leading the party onward.

Another half day passed before they reached the foot of Taibai Mine Mountain.

Only then did the Tyrant Blade Sect disciples occupying Taibai Mine Mountain react, raising cries while sending someone up the mountain to summon Gao Qianchi, the elder stationed here.

By the time Qin Lian's party actually entered the mine grounds, Gao Qianchi had hurried out to meet them with dozens of Overlord Blade experts.

When he saw Liu Xu, Xiao Qing, Xiao Hong, and the many Cloudmist Peak experts beside Qin Lian, Gao Qianchi's expression instantly changed. "What, a mighty Heaven Ranking Grandmaster doesn't dare fight me openly and honorably, and instead brings the forces of Cloudmist Mountain to overwhelm the few with the many?!"

He forced himself to shout, "Just four third-grade cultivators! With my standing, it's not as though I couldn't assemble such a lineup from my sect!"

"Why would dealing with you require four third-grade cultivators?"

Qin Lian declared, "Gao Qianchi, as a Heaven Ranking Grandmaster, I established a sect on Mount Taibai, yet you obstructed me at every turn and even bullied my disciples while I was away. What punishment do you deserve?"

"If you were a genuine Heaven Ranking Grandmaster, I would naturally hold you in the utmost awe and respect. But you? When I came to visit, you shut your doors and refused to come out, not daring to accept my challenge! What sort of Heaven Ranking Grandmaster is that? You've utterly disgraced all grandmasters."

Gao Qianchi spoke haughtily.

"Heh. If every stray cat and dog could challenge Heaven Ranking Grandmasters, they wouldn't have any time to cultivate! Some other day, I'll find an old village farmer to challenge the Tyrant Blade Sect's leader. If he doesn't dare accept, will he have utterly disgraced all grandmasters too?"

Xiao Qing sneered from the side.

"A stray cat or dog? Xiao Qing, what do you amount to? What qualifies you to say such things before me? What, do you want to stand up for Qin Lian and fight me to the death?"

Gao Qianchi gave Xiao Qing a disdainful glance.

Xiao Qing was about to speak again, but Qin Lian raised a hand and interrupted him.

He stepped forward. "It seems you intend to remain obstinate to the bitter end! If you challenge a grandmaster, you must naturally be prepared to pay the price. Are you ready?"

"Oh? You dare accept the challenge now?"

Gao Qianchi's eyes lit up. "I thought a mighty Heaven Ranking Grandmaster intended to keep hiding his head like a turtle forever."

"Come."

Qin Lian extended a hand. "Step forward and meet your death."

"Hahaha! Who dies remains to be seen. Today, I'll show the world that not just anyone is qualified to usurp a place among the Heaven Ranking Grandmasters."

The moment Gao Qianchi finished speaking, he strode forward, and a pitch-black heavy saber abruptly left its sheath in his hand.

As his overbearing saber left its sheath, Qin Lian moved.

He did not activate the [Blood Burning] trait.

Relying solely on divine intent's absolute control over his own strength, together with [Swiftness]'s speed boost and his perfected Chasing the Wind and Pursuing the Sun movement technique...

He had already swept toward Gao Qianchi like a phantom.

Gao Qianchi swept his saber across, sealing off all the space ahead with the momentum of an army-sweeping strike, but Qin Lian turned with inconceivable speed and easily reached his side.

By the time Gao Qianchi changed his saber's course and slashed toward his side, Qin Lian flickered again and appeared behind him with equally inconceivable speed.

Through these shifts and movements, the distance between them had closed to less than a meter.

"That's all?"

He spoke.

The voice so close behind his head instantly brought cold sweat to Gao Qianchi's brow.

"What movement technique is this?!"

The Tyrant Blade Sect elder roared in shock, twisting and slashing his saber behind him.

But Qin Lian flickered again, disappearing from beneath the shroud of his saber's light.

Vaguely, Gao Qianchi saw only a shadow appear behind him to the right. The next second...

"Truly... weak and ignorant!"

Cold light burst forth!

A gleam of sword light approached at tremendous speed, bearing terrifying sharpness. Its icy chill all but made Gao Qianchi's scalp explode.

"Stop... stop! I concede..."

"Concede? At a time like this, surely you're joking."

Qin Lian's voice sounded again.

But to Gao Qianchi's despair, the voice came not from behind him to the right, where he had glimpsed a figure out of the corner of his eye, but...

From the left!

By the time he saw Qin Lian appear behind him to the right, with no time to change his move, Qin Lian had already circled all the way around his back and appeared behind him to the left.

This movement technique!

Even swift as thunder could no longer describe it!

It was like that of a ghost!

"How can he be so fast..."

Profound fear, horror, and despair instantly flooded every corner of Gao Qianchi's body.

Sword light flashed!

"No!"

A piercing chill seemed to stab into the back of his head and emerge between his brows...

In the final moment before his consciousness faded, he could even see the length of blade that had pierced through.