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Qiaoqiao said, "Why don't you exchange one move with me, Young Master? If I win, you drink this cup. If you win, my senior brother drinks it. How about it?"

"Oh?"

Hearing her propose a sword match, Mu Ye grew interested. Who hadn't heard how Qiaoqiao of Ethereal Peak had stunned everyone during the trial with a single Slay the Star River?

Mu Ye was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment and was also a sword cultivator. Sword Lord Qingyun had practically taught him hand over hand, and he was quite proud of his swordsmanship. He wanted to test the power of this sword technique from High Antiquity.

"Then let's give it a try."

"Wait."

He looked up impatiently, only to discover that the speaker was Immortal Venerable Wanghan. "Fengyuan, you face him."

Mu Ye could hardly believe his ears. Had the Immortal Venerable gone mad? He was sending a cripple who couldn't even hold a sword to face him? Beside him, Mu Liuyun also looked astonished. "Bai Fu, what is the meaning of this?"

Bai Fu offered no further explanation, merely saying to Fu Fengyuan, "You want your junior sister to fight in your place?"

Fu Fengyuan's expression stilled. He walked up to Mu Ye. "I'll face you."

Mu Ye couldn't imagine how a cripple could possibly beat him, but he had been wanting to teach Fu Fengyuan a lesson. "You said it yourself."

Seeing that there was a spectacle to watch, everyone around them moved aside, soon clearing a circular

space

where the two stood facing each other. Mu Ye summoned a spirit sword shimmering with brilliant colors, clearly no ordinary weapon. Fu Fengyuan didn't even have a sword in his hand.

Shen Ji tossed over his sword. "Catch, Junior Brother!"

Fu Fengyuan caught the sword, his wrist trembling uncontrollably. His movements as he drew it were decidedly rusty.

Anyone with eyes could tell that he hadn't used a sword in a very long time.

They were all the more puzzled. Why had Immortal Venerable Wanghan insisted on sending his fourth disciple out? No matter how they looked at it, he couldn't possibly win, could he?

Even Fu Fengyuan himself believed he had no chance of winning.

But he simply didn't want his junior sister to fight in his place. He could embarrass himself-everyone already knew him as a good-for-nothing who couldn't hold a sword anyway. His junior sister was different. She still had a long road ahead...

Qiaoqiao's bright eyes darted toward Bai Fu. His silver-white sleeve hung down like a soft cloud, contrasting with his cold expression. No one could question the decision he had made.

[Master... could Master like reading storybooks too, and think Fourth Senior Brother will awaken his bloodline at a moment like this and give Mu Ye a brutal beating?]

[This really is... great heroes seeing eye to eye!]

The corners of Bai Fu's lips curved upward.

The other disciples: ...Wasn't the point of understanding between you

master and disciple

a little strange?

And what kind of plot device was a bloodline awakening, anyway?!

Qiaoqiao shouted, "Fourth Senior Brother, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west-"

Fu Fengyuan froze for a moment. That was a line from the storybook his junior sister had loved most as a child.

Under his junior sister's expectant gaze, Fu Fengyuan forced down his embarrassment and shouted the next line. "**I,

Long Aotian,

have returned!**"

"Senior Brother will win!"

With everyone watching, Fu Fengyuan's handsome face flushed scarlet. He was so embarrassed his toes curled against the ground.

Across from him, Mu Ye burst into unrestrained laughter.

He had thought Fu Fengyuan's inability to hold a sword was embarrassing enough, but apparently he could do something even more embarrassing. Was Fu Fengyuan determined to turn himself into a laughingstock?

In that case, he would oblige him.

"Draw your sword."

Fu Fengyuan tightened his grip on his sword. Feeling his junior sister's burning gaze on his back, he suddenly felt his heart clear. He had shouted the embarrassing lines and made a fool of himself. What else could happen?

Behind him stood his master, his senior brother, and his senior sister. They were still watching him. They hadn't given up on him. That was enough.

For those who hadn't yet given up on him, he would swing this sword.

At that moment, Fu Fengyuan cast aside his terror, fear, and dejection. Only clarity remained in his eyes.

As Mu Ye struck, he struck too!

As his sword gathered momentum, a strand of icy Spiritual Qi traveled through his blocked meridians. Once fear no longer lingered in his heart, the hardened obstructions in his meridians seemed to loosen. At that very moment, the icy Spiritual Qi condensed into ice arrows and pierced straight through every blockage in one unstoppable surge!

Fu Fengyuan felt something loosen at the crown of his head. Spiritual Qi instantly rushed to his fingertips, and sword intent arose of its own accord!

The seventh form of the Ethereal Sword-Sword Turns Flowing Clouds!

The two swords rang out as they met, and Sword Qi soared into the heavens!

Above Fu Fengyuan's head, the faint image of a golden dragon appeared.

The dragon's image vanished in a flash. Standing a short distance away, Mu Liuyun's eyes widened slightly.

This was?!

After that single strike, the blade hummed and trembled. Fu Fengyuan stood where he was, sword in hand, without moving an inch.

Mu Ye staggered back three steps, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Senior Brother won!"

"Fourth Senior Brother, you're truly amazing!" Qiaoqiao cheered. "Today, Aotian has returned! Everyone here will have to see him in a new light!"

"Clap, clap!" The immortal crane on hype duty clapped along.

Fu Fengyuan: ...

His junior sister's enthusiasm really was rather hard to handle.

He looked at his hand. Spiritual Qi surged through his meridians. Never mind Mu Ye-even he couldn't believe it. Had the strand of Spiritual Qi his master left behind earlier been what cleared his meridians just now?

But before his master entered seclusion, he had also channeled his power to help clear his meridians. It hadn't worked then. Why had it succeeded this time?

No matter how Fu Fengyuan pondered it, he couldn't understand.

"You-how is this possible?!" Mu Ye's voice cracked.

Just then, Fu Fengyuan clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of dark, purplish stagnant blood.

Once he spat out that blood, an unprecedented sense of ease swept through his body. Fu Fengyuan smiled, a low, husky sensuality threading through his hoarse voice. "What? Never seen Long Aotian

make a comeback

before?"

[Hahaha!!]

[Fourth Senior Brother is so funny!]

Fu Fengyuan had won the match, leaving everyone present stunned.

Many remembered that this disciple of Ethereal Peak had once been known as a genius. After reaching Foundation Establishment, he had contracted a strange illness and plummeted a thousand fathoms from grace. Who would have thought he would rise again today...

The young sect master was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, after all. He had actually lost to Fu Fengyuan, who hadn't held a sword in so long?