There was silence in the empty martial arts training ground. Everyone held their breath and stared warily at the figure in the center of the field with his back to them.
I saw the man slowly turning around, wearing a light blue gown, with a handsome face and sword-like eyebrows. He glanced at the crowd calmly, with a calm expression and no murderous intent, like a swordsman living in seclusion here.
Everyone present was stunned for a moment, and then there was silence again.
After a long while, Su Jingui broke the silence with a puzzled look on his face. "Who... who is this?"
The remaining people's expressions became more solemn than the others.
Jian Hong frowned even more, staring at that face, and it took him a long time to utter a few words with a complex expression. "That is the ancestor of Jiuxiao Sect... Jiuchen Immortal Lord."
"What?!" Su Jingui looked surprised and subconsciously turned to look at Lin Qingyang.
Lin Qingyang and Cang Mo also frowned. They had stayed in Jiuxiaomen for so long and had seen too many portraits and sculptures of Jiuchen, so naturally they were very familiar with this face.
"Is this carved by your ancestors too?" Lin Qingyang asked speechlessly.
Li Tian took a deep breath, with a hint of helplessness in his expression, and explained, "The ancestors of Tianxuan Pavilion worshiped the Nine-Chen Immortal Lord so much that they carved a life-size statue of him out of thousand-year-old sacred wood in this martial arts training ground... I had forgotten about the war just now."
"Didn't you say that all seven orifices cannot be opened? How come he is so quiet when he has all the five senses?" Su Jingui said in surprise.
Li Tian explained, "Because the ancestors sealed a trace of Jiuchen's sword intention in it, as soon as the little wood spirit of the sacred tree sprouted, it was directly crushed by the sword intention, and it could not produce spiritual intelligence at all. Now the one who controls the body... is that trace of sword intention!"
Jian Hong's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he looked at the statue with stern eyes, his eyes reverential and awe-inspiring.
At this moment, I saw "Jiuchen" slowly raising his hand, with the long sword in his hand lying horizontally on his side, and the other hand making a starting gesture to everyone, which was the etiquette for inviting swordsmen to compete.
Jian Hong's expression also became extremely solemn and solemn. He took a step forward and said in a deep voice, "Since it is a competition of swordsmanship, let me come and learn the unique skills of the sages!"
After saying that, he actually held the sword in both hands and made a respectful sword salute to the statue. His solemn expression made it seem as if the other person was not a statue, but a true master who stood at the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
When "Jiuchen" saw the other party wielding his sword, his originally calm eyes suddenly became sharp. The next moment, he saw his figure suddenly rise up, turning into a cyan afterimage, approaching Jian Hong's face at an extremely fast speed!
"Clang--!"
The crisp sound of metal hitting each other instantly echoed in the empty martial arts training ground. Without the blessing of spiritual power, the gorgeous light and shadow of the spells faded away, leaving only the most primitive and pure sword fighting competition in this contest.
The figures of the two people intertwined very quickly in the field. Although "Jiuchen" was a statue, his movements were smooth and smooth, without any sense of stiffness, and every move showed superb sharpness.
Jianhong's swordsmanship is fierce and sophisticated, and he was able to keep up with his opponent at first. However, he is old after all, and his escape has consumed too much energy. Now, with only his mortal body, he gradually shows fatigue after only a dozen moves, and the speed of swinging the sword has also slowed down visibly to the naked eye.
There was a soft sound of cracking silk. Jian Hong was slow to dodge and was cut open in the chest by "Jiuchen"'s sword. Blood seeped out instantly. His whole body was shaken by the overbearing force and he took several steps back. He held the ground firmly with his sword and gasped for air.
"It seems that Master Jianhong can't defeat this statue..." Su Jingui hid behind and whispered anxiously.
Li Tian frowned and said, "This statue was carefully carved by our ancestors over three years. Every detail has been restored to the utmost. Coupled with the supreme sword intent sealed in it, in this place where all spiritual power has been lost, his strength is probably not inferior to any of the top sword cultivators in the world."
Su Jingui looked anxious when he heard this. "Then why are you still standing there! Hurry up and help!"
Li Tian glanced at him speechlessly and said angrily, "I major in formations, and I'm not good at wielding a sword."
"Then I can't do it anymore!" Su Jingui said helplessly.
After saying that, he turned to look at Lin Qingyang and Cang Mo who were standing aside. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Lin Xianjun, it's better for everyone to be united to the outside world at this time."
The implication was that he wanted the two of them to help. Of course, Lin Qingyang would not let Jian Hong die here, so he turned to look at Cang Mo and winked at him.
Cang Mo frowned, with a face full of resistance. As long as Jian Hong didn't add insult to injury, how could he be willing to rescue him?
Lin Qingyang had no choice but to reach out and squeeze Cang Mo's palm gently. Feeling the itching coming from his palm, Cang Mo's expression moved, and then he gave him a helpless look, and reluctantly went to get a weapon from the shelf.
Unexpectedly, Jian Hong in the field suddenly said loudly, "Don't interfere with any of you! It's against the way of swordsmanship to bully the minority! Even if I die today, I have to learn the swordsmanship of Jiuchen Immortal in a dignified way!"
Everyone was speechless for a moment.
"He said this himself." Cang Mo said to Lin Qingyang, spreading his hands.
Lin Qingyang closed her eyes speechlessly.
At this moment, "Jiu Chen" flashed and stabbed hard at Jian Hong's chest with a sword. Jian Hong raised his sword to block, but was forced back by the terrifying force. He gritted his teeth, forcibly twisted his waist, and slashed diagonally at the side of "Jiu Chen"'s neck with his backhand sword!
But Jian Hong tried his best to slash the sword on the rock-hard sacred tree without leaving even a trace. However, "Jiuchen" took advantage of the force of the counter-shock and made a backhand upward kick.
With a "Zheng" sound, the long sword flew out of his hand, and Jian Hong's tiger's mouth cracked instantly. Before he could react, the sword edge of "Jiu Chen" had pierced his left shoulder!
Jian Hong grunted, tightly grasped the sword blade that was piercing his body, and used the force of the opponent's sword to pull back and retreated violently. He did not stop until his back hit a thick pillar heavily.
But "Jiuchen" didn't give him a chance to breathe at all. He shook Jianhong's hand away with a flick of his wrist. The sword's edge turned around and stabbed straight into Jianhong's throat with cold killing intent!
At the critical moment!
"Clang--!!!"
There was an extremely harsh metal sound, and just when the tip of the sword was less than an inch away from Jian Hong's throat, a long sword was thrust out from the air, firmly holding the blade of "Jiu Chen"!
Jian Hong raised his eyes in shock and saw that Lin Qingyang had picked up the long sword he had just dropped and blocked it in front of him.
Lin Qingyang held the hilt of the sword with one hand, then flipped his wrist, raised it sharply, and forcefully swung away the life-threatening sword of "Jiu Chen".
"Jiuchen", who had his sword swung away, slowly stopped his sword, his expression seemed stunned for a moment, and then his eyes turned slightly, and his sharp eyes finally locked on Lin Qingyang.