Darkness.

Luo Qingyao was like an unthinking, rigid puppet, staring straight ahead. Ahead of her was endless darkness.

A sudden sword cry exploded, tearing the darkness into two.

Soon after, Luo Qingyao felt a strong and powerful rhythm. She abruptly opened her eyes and looked towards the sky, which was a clear blue without a cloud in sight.

Where were the Celestial Beings?

Her relaxed attention quickly concentrated, and she got up to look around.

No Celestial Beings, no swordsmen.

She clutched her forehead, trying hard to recall what had just happened. She vaguely remembered that after the inner and outer layers of the sword array at the Sun-shooting Pass shattered, the overwhelming power of the Celestial Beings crushed everything, unstoppable. She wanted to resist that power, but the instant she came into contact with it, she felt her soul torn to shreds and immediately lost consciousness.

So, what happened after that?

"You’re awake," a voice suddenly sounded from behind.

"Who is it!" Luo Qingyao felt a chill down her spine and quickly turned around to look.

She saw a man of impressive build standing on the grassy slope. He wore a sky-blue robe, long hair flowing, and a dragon mask on his face. The dragon mask was entirely black, adorned with fangs, appearing fierce and terrifying.

"Who are you!" Luo Qingyao’s gaze was as sharp as a sword, her slender body surged with a swift sword momentum.

The man’s voice was ethereal,

"Your sword is full of flaws!"

Luo Qingyao’s expression was stern, "Ridiculous!"

The man stepped toward her, "You don’t understand what a sword is at all! You’re just an empty shell without a soul! You think of mastering a myriad of swords but become a slave to the sword unknowingly. You have a pure and flawless Sword Body yet fail to guard your heart’s pass, allowing endless greed to devour you. Such as you, do not deserve to be called a Great Sword Immortal!"

"Nonsense!" Luo Qingyao’s stance was firm, her gaze steady, unmoved in the slightest, "My heart is as firm as a rock, not a bit of demonic wind can harm it!"

"You’re just deceiving yourself." The man stood three zhang outside her, "If you don’t believe it, have a duel with me."

Luo Qingyao’s face was as frosty as ice, "I do not duel with the nameless. You don’t even dare to show your true face."

The man shook his head,

"Because you are not yet qualified to see my true face."

"Ridiculous!"

Luo Qingyao felt entangled with him was simply a waste of time, turned around, and was about to leave.

Yet at the moment she stepped, a peculiar feeling suddenly exploded. Acting on instinct, she stepped back, and in the next moment, saw a lock of her long hair fall, blown away by the wind. The break was very smooth. It had been cut!

A sword!

As a swordsman, Luo Qingyao immediately realized that a Sword Qi had just swept past her.

She turned around and looked at the man again, "Hair is a woman’s life. You disrespectful wretch, you deserve death!"

A flying sword darted from her brow, hanging above her head, "Draw your sword!"

The man merely bent down to pick a three-foot-long blade of grass from the ground,

"You’re not worthy of me using a flying sword."

Luo Qingyao felt an immense humiliation. In her years of traveling the world with a sword, wherever she went, she challenged the strongest swordsmen in the area, and out of the duels she’d been in, if not a thousand times then at least eight hundred times, she had never been insulted like this. Even in the Heart Sword Sect, even in the Phoenix Dynasty, when challenging the greatest swordsmen of the present day, no one dared to speak to her like this.

"I’m a very vengeful person." Luo Qingyao drew a long sword, pointing at the man, "When I duel, I strike only to the point and never harm the opponent’s foundation. But you lost a swordsman’s dignity from the start!"

With those words, she charged forward.

Sword light flickered, the long sword in front, the flying sword behind.

In the blink of an eye, her Sword Intent enveloped the entire slope, the swift Sword Qi like a fierce storm, striking sharply at the man, instantly penetrating through his body. Without surprise, his flesh should have been sliced into evenly cut pieces.

However, before Luo Qingyao could adjust her posture, she heard a faint voice,

"Your heart is in chaos!"

Upon looking again, the man who had been pierced turned into flickering light and shattered.

"A clone? Ha! A trifling trick!" Luo Qingyao said coldly.

Her senses sharp, she swiftly manipulated the flying sword to slash toward the direction of the voice. This sword stroke was even swifter, tearing a rift in the space, from which the chaotic flow of void blew, engulfing half of the slope in an instant.

Yet this sword stroke, once again, fell short.

"Your stance is unstable!"

"What’s next!" A second flying sword darted from Luo Qingyao’s brow, sealing off the man’s escape route. This sword came with a chill like winter, as it swept across, the great path energy in the atmosphere was frozen.

Yet it couldn’t freeze the man’s figure.

"Your steps are too clumsy!"

Luo Qingyao frowned slightly, feeling a bit amazed at how well the man’s body technique was?

She didn’t hesitate at all, immediately launching a third flying sword.

Three flying swords circled in the air, forming a triangle, firmly locking onto the masked man with the dragon face. Luo Qingyao was like a dancer, while the flying swords were her splendid dance attire, shifting positions with her movements, slicing out Sword Qi with varying Sword Intents. Flashes, turns, leaps, sidesteps, spins, swoops...

Yet the man was even more agile, as if he could predict each of her moves, always dodging just before she struck, and every evasive timing was superb, flawless, leaving her unable to find any weakness.

And his voice continued to echo, sounding particularly sharp and piercing in Luo Qingyao’s ears,

"Your eyes are unclear!"

"Your ears are dull!"

"Your hands are shaking!"