Chapter 128: Strong vs. Strong

  Luo Hanshan stared blankly and said: "Has Ye Shidi reached the late stage of the Condensing Reality realm?"

  Just as Jun stepped forward, he broke through to the eighth peak of the innate great rift. Luo Hanshan was already very surprised and felt that this kind of thing was rare, not every time pressure could make people progress, otherwise the entire True Spirit Continent would be in chaos, with people dying in battle every day. It could only be said that pressure had opportunities for breakthroughs. Unexpectedly, Ye Chen followed closely behind and also broke through, and it was a breakthrough in cultivation. He directly broke through from the middle peak of the Condensing True Realm to the late stage of the Condensing True Realm. From the majestic fluctuations of his primordial energy, his late-stage Condensing True Realm seemed to be much more solid than that of ordinary people, without any signs of true energy being empty and floating.

  Cheers!

  One step out, sharp air flows scattered and opened, Ye Dun's whole person seemed to merge into the eye of the storm, a shocking sword momentum rose to the sky.

  He grasped his sword with one hand and made a simple, direct slash.

  "My sword!"

  "What's going on? Why did my sword automatically leave its scabbard?"

  There were many disciples of the Emerald Valley Sect present, and many of them wore precious swords. However, at this moment, their swords flew out of their scabbards uncontrollably, following Ye Chen's sword momentum to attack Cheng Jun.

  There were a few who were quite skilled and timely in grasping their swords, but no matter how hard they tried to control their inner energy, the treasured swords continued to quiver uncontrollably, leaving them momentarily at a loss.

  "Hmmph!"

  One of the inner sect elders of Feicui Valley snorted, and with a single wave of his hand, the connection between the sword intent and the many treasured swords was immediately severed.

  Without the blessing of many precious swords, Ye Chen's large sword energy was not very majestic, but it was still unmatched in its sharpness and ferocity. Wave after wave of white air ripples formed behind it, like rapidly changing flowing clouds, propelling the sword energy forward.

  Ah!

  The sword energy and the Shadow of the Side Knife came into contact in an instant, and the next moment, the Shadow of the Side Knife was cut off. The remaining sword energy, which had shrunk by a third, did not dissipate and heavily struck the protective purple crystal aura around Cheng Jun.

  A splash of bright blood flew out, and a new sword wound appeared on Cheng Jun's chest, deep enough to reach the bone. This was because the sword energy changed direction halfway through and flew into the sky, while the injury on Cheng Jun's chest was only grazed by the residual wave of the sword energy; otherwise, he would have lost his life.

  Hmph!

  Jung Jun spat out a mouthful of blood, which contained a hint of sword energy that pierced the ground, his face instantly turned pale and bloodless, and he almost fell to his knees.

  Suddenly, a figure appeared beside Cheng Jun and supported him.

  He is an inner elder of Feicui Valley.

  "Four moves and Cheng Jun was defeated, earlier that one sword touched the edge of the sword intent!"

  "Ah, I also felt a sharp intention flash through my mind, and thought it was just an illusion."

  "I've heard that with a single sword intent, one can cut off the void of thoughts and evil will not invade!"

  "What virtue and ability does this child have, to actually be the first to grasp the sword's intent? Alas!"

  Many were shocked, some sighed in admiration, but of course, even more were envious. At their age, it was difficult to make further progress in their cultivation, and the only way to increase their combat strength was from other aspects. Needless to say, Sword Intent and Knife Intent were what everyone yearned for. If these two elusive things could be bought, they would spare no expense to buy them, even if it meant bankrupting themselves.

  The Yunyun Sect's side, the Great Elder and Fourth Elder were shocked for a moment, then smiled with relief. Ye Chen's excellence was already a well-known fact, and they would definitely report back to the Sect Master after returning.

  Lu Hanshan shook his head and looked at Xu Jing, "Surprising talent, now I finally understand the meaning. Perhaps he can lead us out of Tianfeng Country and compete with those young geniuses in Nan Zhuo Domain."

  Xu Jing didn't answer and instead asked back, "You're also at the level of a young master now, right?"

  Luohan Mountain did not speak, and there was a glimmer of light flashing in his eyes.

  The inner gate elder of Fei Cui Valley, who was supporting Cheng Jun, helped him dispel the sword energy. Seeing that his injuries were severe, he suddenly turned his head towards Ye Chen and shouted: "You're just pretending to be a decent person, but your actions are so vicious! Let me teach you how to be human!" After finishing speaking, he slapped Ye Chen with a loud slap.

  Bang!

  Space violently shook and trembled, causing Ye Chen to retreat ceaselessly.

  Before him, the Great Elder of Liúyún Zōng appeared out of nowhere and struck down the opponent's palm wind with one slap. He bellowed: "Chéng Yuè, don't be too arrogant! Yè Chén has already shown mercy, do you think that my Liúyún Zōng disciples can be bullied by you?"

  "You!" The elder of the Emerald Valley sect's inner gate glared fiercely. Cheng Jun was his grandson, and he had always placed high hopes on him. Today, not only did he suffer a crushing defeat in four moves, but also suffered an internal injury that was no trivial matter. He felt hot blood rushing to his head, almost losing his rationality.

  Zhuang Qingxian took a deep look at Ye Chen, and shouted to the gate elder of Feicui Valley: "Still not satisfied with losing face, quickly take Cheng Jun to treat his injuries."

  After the other party took away Cheng Jun, Zhuang Qingxian took a deep breath and shouted: "The performance of the cutting technique is just that, I hope everyone will restrain themselves and not be too arrogant." Just now Ye Chen did indeed show mercy, he couldn't say anything either, otherwise it would give people an unfair impression and damage his reputation.

  Next, the fierce competition continued, but it was all about young and talented individuals from other major forces. The truly top-notch young masters felt that it wasn't time yet.

  Shi Po Tian was extremely displeased at this moment. He had just glanced at Ji Xue Yan and saw that she was staring intently at Ye Chen, completely ignoring him. This made him feel thoroughly disregarded. Although in the past, she hadn't been very enthusiastic about him either, at least she had maintained a certain level of respect, and their relationship seemed fine to him, with some hope remaining. But now, this already slim hope was completely extinguished.

  "Ye Chen, don't think that beating Cheng Jun is a big deal. The true power of a noble swordsman is beyond your imagination. After a few more matches, I'll let you know what it means to be at a disadvantage and what despair feels like. I want to shatter your Half-Step Sword Intent and make you wish you were dead." Shi Po Tian's expression remained unchanged, but his heart was turbulent with thoughts. He had already come up with a plan to completely crush Ye Chen's confidence. A swordsman who loses confidence will likely see their sword intent dim and shatter, and Ye Chen hadn't even grasped the true meaning of sword intent yet.

  The gloomy-looking man glanced at Ye Chen, Shi Po Tian's eyes were extremely evil.

  In the Emerald Valley, among the inner disciples, Ye Xuan stared incredulously at Ye Chen sitting in a chair. Just now, if it weren't for the intervention of the elder, her sword would have automatically unsheathed and merged with Ye Chen's sword aura. She couldn't understand how someone who was once so useless could suddenly radiate such intense brilliance, which was getting stronger by the minute, almost reaching the pinnacle of the young generation in Tianfeng Country.

  "Ye Shimei, he's just being arrogant for a while, this time Shi Shixiong will take action to teach him a lesson." Cui Shiming said on the side.

  Ye Xuan was taken aback, "It doesn't seem easy!"

  "You overestimate Shi Shixiong, let alone Ye Chen, even if it's Beixue Gongzi or Duanmu Gongzi, they may not be able to gain the upper hand against Shi Shixiong. He has already reached a truly gongzi-level strength, lacking only the title of gongzi." Cui Shiming felt very pleased with himself after saying this, knowing that Shi Potian would not take action unless he was sure to make his opponent pay a heavy price, and as for what kind of price, it was unknown. However, he also knew that he had to work harder in the future, Ye Xuan Shijie's talent was very high, her current combat strength was almost on par with his, and it was likely that she would surpass him, making him feel a sense of crisis.

  "I, Yue, want to challenge the core disciple of Nan Luo Zong, Nan Gong Yun." With another session of sparring coming to an end, 'Badao' Yue suddenly walked out from Beixue Manor and named his opponent as 'Yuxia' Nan Gongyun.

  "He was 'Ba Dao' at Yue, before Lin Qi had grown up, he was recognized as the second highest among the younger generation of Beixue Manor."

  Yu Yue's knife skills are invincible and boundless. Although Lin Qi has caught up with him, it's still uncertain whether he can win against him.

  "But 'Rain Knight' Nangong Yun is not bad either, it's said that he obtained the true transmission of the South Luo Sect's sect master and cultivates the 'Tian Yi Sheng Shui Jue'."

  "Isn't the Tianyi Sacred Water Formula just the preliminary foundational practice of the Nanluozong's Zhizong Jue's Divine Water Formula?"

  Everyone was discussing and speculating, previously Ye Chen and Cheng Jun's spar was indeed brilliant, but after all, it wasn't a battle between two top-notch masters. Now, among the young experts with top-notch master level strength, apart from Bei Xue Gongzi and Duan Mu Gongzi, there were Shi Po Tian of Fei Cui Valley, Liu Wu Xiang, Qin Yu Lian of Nan Luo Sect, Zhu Mei of Liu Yun Sect, Ou Yang Lie of Zi Yang Sect, Lin Qi of Bei Xue Mountain Villa. Others could only be considered as substitutes for top-notch master level strength. 'Ba Dao' Yu Yue and 'Yu Xia' Nan Gong Yun were among them. It's natural to have some discrepancies in recognition, maybe those recognized as having top-notch master level strength aren't that powerful after all, while those considered as substitutes might actually possess true top-notch master level strength. Anyway, without a real fight, everyone could only make guesses based on subtle clues.

  Nangong Yun walked out with a smile on his face, "Yu Yue, I knew you would challenge me, the battle six months ago has not ended yet!"

  "That's right, you and I will have a battle to determine the winner. There are too many strong people now, if we don't work hard to break through, where will our position be?" Yu Yue was over two meters tall, with a tiger-like back and wolf-like waist. As he stood there, his powerful knife aura spread out in all directions, making him seem like a knife himself, a heavy and swift knife that could strike a fatal blow at any moment.

  Nangong Yun said seriously: "Since that's the case, then let's make our move! I also hope to find a breakthrough from the pressure."

  "Mad Devil's One Slash!"

  Yu Yue's momentum was like a fierce tiger, taking one step forward and ignoring the distance of dozens of steps. With one slash of his knife, he cut through the air, bringing with him an illusory knife shadow that slashed towards Nangong Yun.

  Clang!

  Nangong Yun waved his hand and a wave of true energy shot out like ripples on water, transforming into dozens of transparent sword lights that welcomed the knife shadow.

  Ye Chen saw Nan Gongyun's method, his heart moved, "What a high and profound technique, the true energy is refined to be like water, but it's even heavier than water, similar to heavy water, one drop weighs hundreds of kilograms, dozens of drops would make it difficult for anyone to block."

  Lu Hanshan, who was knowledgeable and had seen a lot, explained on the side: "The origin of Nan Luo Zong's master is very mysterious. No one knows where she came from. She rose to prominence mysteriously and later established one of the five major sects, Nan Luo Zong. The top-level ultimate skill of Nan Luo Zong is called Shui Sheng Jue, which is extremely wonderful. It is said that when cultivated to the extreme, a drop of water can have a weight of 10,000 kilograms, and can control rainwater, causing the water volume in a certain area to increase sharply. Tian Yi Sheng Shui Jue is the preliminary practice of Shui Sheng Jue, and should only have one-fifth of its power, but it's still very frightening."

  Ye Chen nodded, he had heard of the deeds of Nan Luo Zong's master before. Although she was a woman, her ambition and determination were in no way inferior to those of men. She had managed to make Nan Luo Zong one of the top five sects in terms of overall strength, even surpassing Yun Yun Sect by a hair. Of course, Yun Yun Sect used to be very powerful, but it was later sabotaged by Zi Yang Sect, resulting in heavy casualties among its high-ranking members, and fell from an eighth-grade sect to a ninth-grade one. It was still trying to recover its vitality.

  Facing the heavy water wave true energy, Yu Yue was not afraid at all. The thick and long knife chopped fiercely, and the strong knife light shook the water flowers to splash everywhere.

  "Eight Trigrams Palm!"

  Suddenly, Yu Yue violently jumped up and slashed out with a plain and unremarkable knife.

  Hmph!

  Nangong Yun's Water Wave True Qi was chopped layer by layer, spreading rapidly, and some water droplet-like True Qi even fell to the ground, pounding the earth with countless holes.

  "Water Curtain Unite!"

  He took three steps back, and with his hands clasped together in a salute, Nan Gongyun pushed forward.

  Splash!

  The remaining water wave true energy merged into a water ball and collided with Yu Yue's long knife, forcing the opponent to retreat dozens of steps.