Chapter 11: Gnashing One's Teeth in Humiliation (Part 1)

  Rushing to the new people's list, urgently seeking recommendation votes and collections, hoping everyone will generously assist, letting Ten Steps truly live up to its name, killing one person with a single step, traveling a thousand miles without leaving a trail, killing all the way to the top ten!

  In the Sword God Continent, there is a kind of animal that is different from ordinary beasts. They absorb the essence of heaven and earth or the treasures of heaven and earth to evolve, often possessing some strange and powerful abilities, such as swallowing clouds and spitting out fog, or controlling fire and water. Various abilities emerge one after another, and until now, they have not been fully understood by people. Also, because they are born with spiritual intelligence, compared to ordinary beasts, they understand how to think better, so people call them Spiritual Beasts.

  After going through the 50,000-year history of the Jian Shen continent, countless spiritual beasts have been recorded and known to people. After witnessing the powerful strength of the spiritual beasts, countless predecessors of swordsmen have explored and studied them, finally dividing them into ten levels, and also having a general understanding of their power levels. A first-level adult spiritual beast is roughly equivalent to the peak strength of a swordsman, and each subsequent level follows suit, until the legendary tenth-level spiritual beast, which has the super-strong power of the sword ancestor's peak.

  Now, in front of Lu Qing and the other person, was a grown-up first-class spiritual beast, the Huo Lang Wolf. "Be careful of that wolf's flame bomb," Duan Qingyun said quietly to Lu Qing beside him, "If anything happens, you quickly leave and go find Ji Hua and them, they are fellow sect members, they wouldn't dare kill you." According to the Purple Mist Sect's rules, if any fellow sect member kills another, regardless of reason, resulting in one side dying, both parties would be stripped of their cultivation and expelled from the sect, never allowed to acknowledge their ancestors again.

  Lu Qing, who was standing by and heard the words, felt a sense of relief in his heart. He immediately stepped forward and bowed, saying: "Please don't worry about it, Ninth Brother. We are going to the Sword Casting House to receive our swords. This is a small matter that we can handle ourselves, so there's no need to trouble you."

  "Hmph! A newcomer from the countryside, when did it become your turn to interrupt?!" A young man standing beside Taiyun shouted loudly, his aura also releasing a pressure that was directed at Lu Qing.

  He stepped forward, blocking the path in front of Lu Qing, and blocked the momentum of that disciple. A gloomy expression floated on Duan Qingyun's round and chubby face: "Are you intentionally looking for trouble?"

  He patted the milky white jade pendant hanging from his waist and said calmly, "You think that's not a bad idea. As it happens, I just got a Fire Wolf from the Spiritual Beast Hall today, and I think Brother Duan will also be eager to help me see how sharp its teeth are."

  With a cold laugh, Duan Qingyun drew out the red long sword behind his back. "Then let's see the truth with our hands." His right leg stomped heavily on the ground, and with a cracking sound, he crushed a green brick under his foot. Duan Qingyun's body shot out at a speed that didn't match his physique.

  Lu Qing's eyes, which had changed color slightly, saw clearly that the four-foot-five-inch wide blade of Duan Qingyun's scarlet great sword was shrouded in a layer of pale purple sword energy. Unlike Yu Ji and Hua's elegant and Ling Xiao's steady-as-a-mountain styles, as soon as Duan Qingyun drew his sword, a fierce and violent aura burst forth, and the great sword brought with it a shrill whistling sound as it chopped down vertically, enveloping both Tai Yun and Huo Lang in its path. The four disciples who had been standing beside Tai Yun had already retreated to an empty space on one side when Duan Qingyun made his move, and were slowly moving towards Lu Qing.

  With a hint of solemnity in his eyes, Taiyun waved his hand and the Fire Wolf suddenly transformed into a sharp arrow, meeting Duan Qingyun's descending long sword with a swipe of its paw. "Ahh——" How could Duan Qingyun's sword be so easily received? Not to mention that his cultivation as a swordsman was not necessarily inferior to this Fire Wolf, but the innate physique granted by his divine power combined with the sharpness of the Flame Sword in his hand was not something that this small one-stage spiritual beast could withstand.

  The three claws on the right paw were completely severed at the root, and the intense pain instantly triggered the ferocity of the Fire Wolf. Its body flipped over and fell to the ground, its mouth open wide as it spat out a fireball the size of a human head. The temperature of the fireball was extremely high, almost causing the exposed air to distort. Seeing this, Qingyun didn't flinch at all, instead letting out a loud shout as his right hand wielded the fierce Fire Sword, striking down once again like a mountain splitting open. A deafening crash was heard as the sword energy attached to the Fire Sword collided with the fireball, instantly unleashing an invisible wave of air that swept through an area of several dozen feet in diameter. The stone ground where the two were fighting was scorched by the scattered flames, opening up a large hole over a foot deep.

  On the other side, four disciples who had retreated earlier surrounded Lu Qing in a two-in-front-and-two-behind formation after Duan Qingyun charged towards Huo Lang. Lu Qing's expression was solemn, and it was clear that these four people all had an aura similar to Duan Qingyun's, which was at the Sword Master level of cultivation. With his own Sword Servant level of cultivation, even if his understanding of swordsmanship was comparable, he still didn't have a chance of winning in terms of absolute strength and numbers. Moreover, his actual combat experience might not be any better than that of the four people.

  "Little kid, what's wrong? Still want to fight us?" The young man who had previously sneered at Lu Qing spoke again, his eyes filled with unspoken contempt as he gazed at Lu Qing's hand tightening around the hilt of his sword.

  Looking around, the occasional passing disciples would consciously take a detour after seeing the scene here. Lu Qing said in a low voice, "Please, fellow senior brothers, let's not make things difficult for each other. We're all fellow disciples of the same peak, and there's no irreconcilable feud between us."

  "Feud? He said a feud with three junior brothers?" The young man pretended to be surprised and looked at the other three disciples, and the four of them burst out laughing together. The laughter even contained a hint of sword energy, which was so piercing to Lu Qing's ears that his lower lip tightened and his right hand gripped the hilt of his sword even tighter.

  "Hmm——" Lu Qing heard a sound, and suddenly felt a numbness in his left knee joint. With a "thud", he knelt down on one knee. Even with the best of intentions, he couldn't bear it at this moment. The broken sword in his hand came out of its scabbard, and a purple light flashed by.

  "Ah, my leg!" The young man in front of him, who had been coldly mocking him, didn't think that Lu Qing would actually dare to make a move. Caught off guard, his thigh was slashed open by the broken blade, leaving a wound an inch long. The intense pain made him instinctively cover the wound and cry out in agony. This was still Lu Qing showing mercy; otherwise, just now he would have chopped off the entire leg.

  At the same time, Lu Qing also took advantage of the opportunity to jump out of the siege. "Cut off his legs for me, I'll take responsibility if anything happens!" The young man shouted loudly. The other three people didn't hesitate either, with a clang, clang, clang, they drew their swords and formed a triangular formation to attack Lu Qing.

  Knowing that he couldn't escape with his current skills, Lu Qing's eyes revealed a determined look. He raised his broken sword and created a purple light screen using the "Dance of Broken Sword". He combined several defensive moves from the "Morning Sun Seven Styles" and the "Tengyun Nine Swords", although the transition between the two different sword styles was awkward, he managed to connect them together. The four swords clashed countless times in an instant, each time they touched, Lu Qing felt a tremor in his wrist, and at the same time, the thin layer of sword energy attached to the broken blade was also dissipated by the sword energy on the three people's swords. In an instant, more than 30% of the sword energy in his dantian was consumed.

  On the other hand, the Flame Wolf's offensive was extremely fierce, with scorching fireballs constantly shooting out of its mouth towards Duan Qingyun, its sharp claws scattering everywhere. It actually managed to force Duan Qingyun into a disadvantageous position without Tai Yun's help.

  After all, the sword energy of the Sword Master stage is still weak, and it's already difficult to maintain the fierce fire sword wrapped in sword energy. Under the attack of Huo Lang's fearless nature, the consumption is beyond imagination. Duan Qingyun knew that he was not diligent in his usual practice, although he had built a foundation two years ago, but now he has only barely reached the middle rank of the Sword Master, and it's okay for a short time, but as time goes on, his sword energy will be exhausted, even if he sees Lu Qing in danger, he is powerless to help, after all, there is still Tai Yun who hasn't made a move.

  At this critical moment, Taiyun swung his sword again to break through a fireball that was approaching. Duan Qingyun hastily said: "Taiyun, Lu Qing has no grudges with you, he just joined our Chaoyang Peak yesterday, do you want to humiliate Master's face?"

  When Taiyun heard Duan Qingyun say this, he also furrowed his brow, clearly having some reservations. After all, Lu Qing was personally brought into the sect by their master Xuanqing, who knew if there were any special relationships between them? If they accidentally offended him, it would be hard to explain, and at the very least, their own future prospects would definitely be affected. The more Taiyun thought about it, the more likely it seemed, thinking back to how Ling Xiang had entered the sect in a similar way, unlike their other disciples who had undergone rigorous testing before being accepted into the sect.

  Taiyun ordered from a distance, "Don't move him, just teach him a lesson."

  This sentence undoubtedly broke the injured young man's idea of cutting off Lu Qing's leg, but it also made the young man's hatred for Lu Qing even deeper.

  Since you can't move, I'll treat you well then!

  A glint of light flashed in his eyes as he faced the other three people surrounding Lu Qing and shouted: "Form an array!"

  In the blink of an eye, only three people saw a six-inch-long purple sword energy extending from the tip of their swords, and at the same time, they took a step back with their feet, sealing off the surrounding area of about ten feet around Lu Qing with the positions of heaven, earth, and man. "Human harmony——"

  The young man let out a loud shout, and the three people's originally uniform swordsmanship changed instantly. One of them used the Asahi Seven Styles, one used the Tenku Nine Swords, and the young man himself used another set of swordsmanship. This set of swordsmanship was also known to Ryu Qing, it was the advanced swordsmanship that disciples who reached the Sword Master level on Asahi Peak needed to practice, just like how he mastered the Asahi Seven Styles at the Sword Slave level, and the Tenku Nine Swords at the Sword Servant level. The foundation of reaching the Sword Master level required mastering this set of Kokuryu Thirteen Swords.

  Three sets of swordsmanship all took the offensive, and under the complement of the Three Talents Sword Formation, the flaw of lacking a defensive stance was not something that Lu Qing, who was only at the Sword Servant stage, could discover. However, after just three moves, Lu Qing had already begun to struggle, his tiger's mouth being shaken by the sword energy of the three people, almost losing consciousness, and half of his body was numb. He relied on his intuition to block the attacks of the three people, but the sword energy in his dantian was rapidly consumed, and after a few breaths, he had less than 30% left.