After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master-Chapter 40 - Draw the Sword

Chapter 40: Draw the Sword

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Jiang Huai stood on the platform.

The raindrops above the entire Juejian Mountain were shielded by Chu Xianning’s thoughts, so his white clothes were spotless. He had some recollection of the Junior Brother opposite him; he must have listened to him talk about swords in the stands before.

Actually, Jiang Huai was inherently lazy and preferred to stay in the courtyard watching his fairy-like master. Teaching the Junior Sisters and Junior Brothers about the Way of the Sword was something he did out of consideration for the sect master’s feelings. The sect master hoped he would teach the talented disciples in the sect, and he agreed to each request.

After all, he grew up in the sect, which was his home.

The day he stood up for Zhao Shiyi and went to Alchemy Mountain to break the hands of most disciples was not really a cruel act. For cultivators, such punishment was just to teach them a lesson, and they would recover after some time.

“Jiang Huai Senior Brother.”

The disciple opposite him bowed respectfully and then said softly, “I want to try for a good ranking, so I won’t seal my cultivation like Senior Brother Wugou. I hope Jiang Huai Senior Brother understands.”

Jiang Huai smiled helplessly, “No problem, just go all out with your sword.”

Jiang Huai still had no sword in his hand, while the disciple opposite him held a profound-grade spirit sword. He gripped the hilt tightly, and his eyes immediately became sharp.

“Then… Jiang Huai Senior Brother, be careful.”

Jiang Huai was still unarmed. He knew all the moves of Tianxuan Thirteen Swords by heart. As soon as the opponent made a move, he knew where the sword blade would ultimately land, so he just needed to dodge. Each time he dodged, he would throw a punch at the opponent, dispersing a lot of the opponent’s protective spiritual energy, but also causing his own hand to ache.

Fortunately, after an incense stick’s time passed, the opponent’s protective spiritual energy was completely exhausted. Jiang Huai calculated the force and threw another punch. The Junior Brother was sent flying off the platform, landing below and conceding with a bitter smile.

The disciples below were astonished.

If the first time was a fluke, what about the second and third times? It seemed that every time Jiang Huai won, it was just as easy.

Jiang Huai had won the inner sect competition year after year, so everyone was used to it. In their hearts, Jiang Huai Senior Brother had long become an existence that no disciple could surpass. But now, Jiang Huai’s cultivation was completely wasted, and there was not a trace of spiritual energy on him, yet he still won so easily.

They didn’t have to wait long for the second match to begin.

This time it was Li Qiusheng’s match, and it took him an incense stick’s time to win.

Next was Jiang Huai, who faced a female disciple. His fists were not suitable for use, and he couldn’t just punch her chest like he did with the male disciples, which would be too much. So he had to borrow an iron sword from her and after entangling with the female disciple for a long time, it took three incense sticks’ time before she conceded.

The top two of the inner sect competition were decided, and now only Jiang Huai and Li Qiusheng were left on the platform.

“Jiang Huai,” Li Qiusheng, dressed in black today, stood on the platform, his eyes coldly fixed on him.

“I really want to know how hard your Immaculate Golden Body actually is?”

“It seems your tongue has recovered well,” Jiang Huai stood still and replied with a light laugh.

The next instant, Li Qiusheng’s eyes filled with anger. He raised his hand, and a spirit sword was tightly grasped in his hand. The spirit sword was three feet long, with an ice-blue blade adorned with ice crystals, and the glint of ice flickered at the edge of the blade.

Jiang Huai was slightly stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly.

“You plan to use this sword to fight me?”

“I have the approval of the sword spirit, so it’s my weapon. Is there a problem?”

“I have no objections, but I think you have a better chance of winning without this sword,” Jiang Huai shrugged.

The sword in Li Qiusheng’s hand was the personal sword of Qin Wurou, passed down from her mother to her. After countless refinements and years of spiritual energy nourishment, it had reached the rank of a heavenly sword.

Heavenly swords are picky about their wielders. Since childhood, Qin Wurou had allowed the sword spirit to become close to Li Qiusheng, so that now he could also wield this heavenly sword.

In the entire Tianxuan Sect, there were no more than ten heavenly swords, and this Xuan Bing was one of them, ranking fourth among all the spirit swords in the sect.

The sharpness of a heavenly sword was indeed enough to pierce through his seventh-layer Immaculate Golden Body with ease.

“You’ll know soon enough if the odds are in your favor,” Li Qiusheng snorted coldly.

As he tightly gripped the hilt of his sword, the spiritual energy stored within the blade surged into his body, elevating his cultivation aura to a new level, now nearly reaching the early stages of the Nascent Soul.

Jiang Huai’s gaze sharpened as he sidestepped, dodging Li Qiusheng’s first sword strike.

Li Qiusheng’s speed was even faster than when Jiang Huai had watched him fight before. Had Jiang Huai not evaded in time, the sword would have pierced through his chest. Without the protection of spiritual veins, a shattered heart would have meant no chance of recovery.

Below the stage, a group of disciples looked at the heavenly-grade spiritual sword in Li Qiusheng’s hand and began to discuss among themselves, some feeling uneasy.

Sect Master Li Qiushan’s gaze fell on Chu Xianning.

Generally, disciples in the inner sect competition would use their personal swords, and most of these swords wouldn’t surpass the profound grade. Moreover, with elders overseeing the matches, injuries could occur due to the unpredictability of swordplay, but they were rarely fatal.

However, the sword in Li Qiusheng’s hand was a heavenly-grade spiritual sword, the might of 【Xuan Bing】 was something the sect master knew all too well. His look towards Chu Xianning clearly sought her opinion on whether to stop the match.

Chu Xianning’s eyes, however, remained indifferent. Sensing the sect master’s gaze, she shook her head slightly, indicating there was no need for further discussion.

She knew Jiang Huai too well. Ever since he was young, the most reassuring thing about him was that he never sought trouble. Even if he did get into trouble, he would call for help when needed or admit defeat when necessary, never fighting fiercely or stubbornly for the sake of pride.

Jiang Huai’s own 【Ye Ning】 was also a heavenly-grade spiritual sword, which he never used in past sparring sessions to avoid injuring his junior brothers and sisters. Now that he had lent the sword to a woman down the mountain, Chu Xianning was curious: since he wasn’t conceding, what other method did he have to win?

She was used to seeing Jiang Huai handle any opponent with ease, and she was quite looking forward to seeing him flustered for once. But at the moment, on the dueling platform, Jiang Huai was dodging left and right, slippery as an eel. Li Qiusheng’s sword couldn’t touch him, and it was Li Qiusheng who seemed to be expending a lot of effort.

Still, Li Qiusheng had vast spiritual energy to draw upon, while Jiang Huai’s Immaculate Golden Body relied on physical strength, which would eventually run out.

Chu Xianning had been practicing the sword since she was very young, for six hundred years.

She was known as the number one female Sword Immortal in the Eastern Region because no one had yet surpassed her swordsmanship by even a fraction. Everyone thought she had the greatest natural talent for the Way of the Sword in the Eastern Region, but no one knew how astonished she had been when she first taught Jiang Huai swordsmanship.

At the age of six, when Jiang Huai first held a sword, he mimicked Chu Xianning and swung the Tianxuan Thirteen Swords. Overnight, he mastered all the moves of the Tianxuan Thirteen Swords. Within a week, he had reversed the entire set and even improved it, finding more suitable ways to exert force and paths for spiritual energy flow, elevating the Tianxuan Thirteen Swords from an initial heavenly-grade technique to the threshold of an supreme-grade technique.

A month later, Chu Xianning personally taught him Silver Radiance. He practiced the three moves of Silver Radiance all night, and when Chu Xianning woke up the next day, dewdrops were condensed on his eyebrows. She intended to gently remind Jiang Huai not to be so hard on himself, but he just blinked at her and said,

“Master, I’ve learned it all. Do you have anything new?”

It took her a hundred years to comprehend Silver Radiance, pouring her entire understanding of the Way of the Sword into those three strikes, but Jiang Huai truly mastered her Silver Radiance in just one night.

Everyone knew Jiang Huai was born with an Innate Dao Body, which simply meant he could cultivate faster and without encountering bottlenecks.

However, they were unaware that his real talent was not the Innate Dao Body, but his terrifyingly non-human comprehension.

Chu Xianning remembered looking at Jiang Huai coldly, telling him there was still much to learn in the Way of the Sword, that there were many sword cultivators with greater talent than him, and he must not become arrogant.

Jiang Huai, still naive, believed her and practiced the sword diligently in the courtyard every day until he started participating in the inner sect competitions at fourteen. That’s when he suddenly realized… darn it, his master had deceived him; the sword moves of others seemed like child’s play to him.

Later, when he participated in the Eastern Region competition, Jiang Huai was cautious and fearful, thinking there were always greater mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people, and he must not be arrogant or underestimate his opponents. But he gradually discovered that few among his peers could withstand more than ten moves against him.

Apart from Chu Xianning, no one knew how terrifying Jiang Huai’s comprehension was. That’s why, when Jiang Huai lost his cultivation, Chu Xianning was so frustrated.

He was meant to be the future Sword Emperor who would reign supreme over the Eastern Region.

......

On the dueling platform.

Li Qiusheng sneered, “How much longer will you dodge?”

“I’m looking for your weakness,” Jiang Huai replied calmly, avoiding another sword strike from Li Qiusheng.

“Every sword technique has its flaws. There’s no such thing as a perfect sword technique in this world. I’ve already found your weakness.”

“So what if you have? With your seventh layer of Immaculate Golden Body, can you tear through my spiritual energy barrier?”

“That’s why I said, if you didn’t use this sword, you’d have a better chance of winning.”

Jiang Huai stepped back and continued to explain to Li Qiusheng, “I don’t know where you got your information, knowing that I lent my Ye Ning to someone, but there are many things you don’t know, like… there’s no heavenly-grade spiritual sword in this world that I can’t use.”

After saying that, Jiang Huai suddenly shouted towards the stands, “Master, he’s bullying me too much… using a heavenly-grade spiritual sword to chop at me!”

The corner of Chu Xianning’s eye twitched slightly.

She had thought Jiang Huai really had some sort of plan.

Chu Xianning’s eyes coldly glanced at him. To others, Petal Fairy Chu Xianning was likely to appear aloof and unsmiling, so she just parted her lips slightly and said softly, “Catch the sword.”

In an instant, a pure white longsword appeared in front of Chu Xianning. The moment the sword materialized, the overwhelming sword qi nearly filled the entire Juejian Mountain.

Petal Fairy Chu Xianning’s personal sword, 【Su Xue】, ranked first in the Tianxuan Sect. The Petal Fairy had gone to the Tianxuan Sect’s Sword Tomb and, after spending a hundred years, finally gained the recognition of the Su Xue sword, bringing it out of the tomb to become her personal weapon.

Everyone knew that apart from Chu Xianning, no one could touch this sword.