Chapter 40: The Flame Sword Aura

  Some reluctantly walked down from the stage, Duan Qingyun knew that his internal organs had been injured by the force of the two swords intersecting, and without two or three days of recuperation, he would not be able to recover. Zhang Mei obviously also saw Duan Qingyun's situation, and lightly shook her head before announcing the next challenger.

  Yan Shixiong, who had previously spoken out of turn, slowly walked out of the formation with a fellow disciple standing beside Duan Qingyun. As they passed by each other, Duan Qingyun clearly heard the snickering sound coming from Yan's mouth and gritted his teeth.

  "Don't be impulsive—"

  He turned his head, only to find that Yu Jihua had grabbed his shoulder. Looking at Yu Jihua's calm gaze, Duan Qingyun's originally tense face relaxed, and he shrugged indifferently before returning to his original position. He also winked at Lu Qing behind him, making Lu Qing feel a little relieved, knowing that Duan Qingyun was fine.

  The subsequent battles were very swift, and the challenge to human cultivation was also a proud Chu of the Zhongtian Peak's inner sect disciples. Their cultivations had all reached at least the Great Heaven Stage, and the higher their cultivations, the longer they had been immersed in the sword path, and the greater the gap between them. Compared to the previous battles below the Great Heaven Stage, this one ended even more quickly. The guardian disciple named Yan Yuanyi, who had previously mocked Duan Qingyun and Lu Qing, also seemed to have some tricks up his sleeve. Not only did he easily defeat Lin Yang, ranked 15th, with his refined and mature Sun Thirteen Swords, but he also successfully challenged Gong Yangyu, who was ahead of him, with a deeper and more effortless realm, advancing to 13th place.

  Among them, Lu Qing also saw the other two ultimate moves of the Rising Sun Thirteen Swords, the eleventh move "Broken Clouds at Dawn" and the thirteenth move "Rising Sun in the East". Although he had some epiphany, it was not very profound. Lu Qing knew that his swordsmanship accumulation was still insufficient, and some things needed to be continuously accumulated.

  But it was at this moment that a truly thrilling showdown between masters was about to begin.

  Lu Qing's heart also had some expectations, according to his understanding, the top ten names as mentioned by Duan Qingyun have already reached the minimum strength of a Sword Guest Small Heavenly Master, and have cultivated their innate abilities and obtained their own power seeds.

  What kind of abilities would they have? Lu Qing shifted his gaze to the sword stand.

  "Ranked tenth, Zhuge Yu, Sword Guest Small Heavenly Rank, practices Purple Cloud Azure Sky Sword, challenges ranked ninth, Tai Yun, Sword Guest Small Heavenly Rank, practices Nine Revolutions Scarlet Fire Sword."

  Listening to the slightly aged voice of Changmei Hu Fa, Taiyun drew out a deep red long sword from behind his back. A faint dark red glow flowed on the surface of the sword, and Lu Qing's heart skipped a beat as he sensed the exceptional quality of the sword. He sniffed it lightly, and a faint smell of charcoal wafted into his nostrils. Lu Qing's heart skipped another beat as he realized that this sword contained over a hundred years' worth of Huo Jin, a mineral used to forge top-grade divine swords.

  In Lu Qing's memory, Huo Jin was extremely rare in the Ten Million Great Mountain, formed by absorbing the earth's fierce flames after a meteor fell into the volcanic magma. The quality varied depending on the year, with hundred-year-old Huo Jin possibly being used to forge a Qingfeng-grade divine sword, and thousand-year-old Huo Jin able to be forged into a Jintian-grade divine sword. Like Lu Qing's current Nianyun, it was mainly made from thousand-year-old Huo Jin.

  Because there was no certain vessel, Lu Qing couldn't accurately determine the grade of Taiyun Sword. However, without the faintly hidden cyan light of a divine sword that wasn't even at the level of a Qingfan-grade, Lu Qing estimated that the swordsmith's skill wasn't bad. The entire longsword had an extremely smooth body, with clear patterns on the blade that seemed like burning flames, but there were no traces of intentional polishing or carving. It was clearly formed naturally. Overall, this sword had definitely reached the level of eighth-grade, whether it was higher than that, Lu Qing wasn't sure.

  However, Lu Qing's guess was not wrong. The Chi Yang sword in Tai Yun's hand was indeed passed down by his master, Qing Tian, one of the three protectors who did not attend today's gathering due to closed-door meditation. The sword was an eighth-grade artifact that he had specially borrowed from his master for today's competition.

  At this moment, he had a spirited and heroic air about him. With one step, his body suddenly leaped onto the sword platform, the Red Flame Sword pointing horizontally. In an instant, the air around him began to heat up, and tiny red sparks appeared out of thin air, only to be instantly absorbed by the Red Flame Sword. The aura surrounding Tai Yun's body grew increasingly intense, causing even the air around him to distort slightly.

  At this moment, Zhuge Yu opposite him changed his face, and the cyan red long sword in his hand was held in front of his chest. At the same time, a slight wind sound moved on his body, blowing away the scorching heat that came before his eyes.

  Whoosh———

  Hiss———

  Before Zhuge Yu was ready, Taiyun on the opposite side swung his hand and made three swift cuts. Instantly, three strange sword auras wrapped in crimson flames burst out of his sword, forming a "pin" shape that enveloped Zhuge Yu's head and both sides of his chest.

  "Ah, it's the Fire Sword Aura!"

  "Yes, unexpectedly, Taiyun Shixiong has successfully merged the power seed and formed the Huo Xing Jian Qi."

  "I really wish I could emit such a powerful sword aura one day."

  Fireline sword energy, power seed? Lu Qing was somewhat puzzled, as he had not yet reached that realm and did not understand much about these things.

  Is the Fire Sword Aura, just like the Purple Electric Sword Aura formed by absorbing the Lei Jing Beast Dan, also a sword aura that contains the natural heavenly spiritual power? Lu Qing guessed in his heart, if it was so, then how did his Fire Sword Aura form, and what kind of thing is this so-called Power Seed, which can give the sword aura such power?

  In contrast, Zhuge Yu had not yet merged with the power of the seed, and only had a hint of the aura of the heavenly spirit on his body. He still needed a considerable amount of time to truly reveal it. As for the challenge, it was just an ordinary test for him. He knew he wasn't a match for Taiyun, the inner disciple of the three protectors. The reason he could rank this high now was only because of his age and long years of cultivation. At 28 years old, if he still couldn't break through to the Sword Guest stage, then his original test to enter the sect wouldn't have been possible either.

  It can only be said that his acquired nature is too poor, although his innate talent is among the best, but unfortunately he is not considered clever. Many times when others need to practice three times to master the basic swordsmanship, he needs five or even six times. The breakthrough of the realm often relies on others' epiphany, while he only naturally understands it after reaching the peak of his cultivation. This is mostly due to the guidance of the semi-monthly sitting discussion. Therefore, his current status and ranking are completely built up by time. Like today, he just wants to accumulate some experience through sword fighting, without any intention of improving his ranking or expectation of losing badly.

  However, the actual situation exceeded his expectations. Unexpectedly, Taiyun, who had only refined the Innate Sword Guest's Small Heavenly Position for a year, was able to thoroughly refine and merge the power of the seed, forming an extremely fierce Fire Sword Aura. This caused the gap in strength between him and Taiyun, which was originally not much different, to be suddenly and completely widened.

  Some of them dodged the incoming fierce sword energy in a sorry state, and with a loud crash, under everyone's gaze, three Fire Traversal Sword Energies swooshed down and cut off several black iron swords. The intense temperature burned the broken ends bright red, and there was even a hint of molten iron about to be left behind.

  The majestic sword aura, Lu Qing secretly exclaimed in his heart that even his current Purple Thunder Sword Aura was still a bit inferior. This is the power of a swordsman. Obviously, Tai Yun was showing off his current strength, and at this moment, he had already made Zhuge Yu his stepping stone to boost his prestige. With the Red Flame Sword in hand, which possessed almost nine-grade peak swordsmanship skills, occasionally having incredible abilities, the Fire Sword Aura was lavishly displayed without any reserve.

  The explosive and scorching sword aura completely disregarded Guan Yu's slightly clear and gentle morning dew sword aura, almost every single sword aura could break through Guan Yu's three sword auras that he desperately tried to withstand. The swift and fierce sword aura almost forced Guan Yu to hastily dodge and retreat, while Taishan stood calmly with an air of confidence on the stage, as if playing a cat-and-mouse game, casually shooting out sword auras one after another, under his sharp observation, forcing Guan Yu into a desperate situation where he couldn't even draw his sword.

  The scene below was also divided into two groups of people. One group, including Gong Yangyu and nearly half of the people gathered around Tai Yun, were praising Tai Yun's profound cultivation and insight, as well as his current achievement of greatly increased strength in wielding the Fire Sword Aura. The other group, which only had a small fraction of the people, was quietly discussing Tai Yun's playful behavior and subtly expressing a hint of resistance.

  It's over. Suddenly, Taiyun muttered a sentence in his eyes, and then a sly smile appeared in his eyes. "Nine Revolutions Scarlet Fire Sword Second Style, Slash Flame Sword!"

  The Red Flame Sword struck forth, shooting out a foot and a half of flame-like sword energy from its tip. Tai Yun's body moved rapidly, creating a whooshing sound as he shifted positions. After Zhuge Yu exhaustedly blocked the fourth wave of flame-like sword energy, the Red Flame Sword slashed out in a perfect arc, its tip emitting flame-like sword energy that warped the surrounding air and created ripples of fine, dense waves, striking down towards Zhuge Yu's head.

  "Be careful!"

  The crowd suddenly burst into exclamations of surprise. Tai Yun's sword was so ruthless, did he really want to take Zhuge Yu's life?

  Whether it was the long eyebrows beside the sword platform or Luo Tianyou and others on the viewing platform, they all changed their faces. This kid relied on Qingtian's favor and was arrogant and domineering before, but now he has used the fire sword energy that has just been integrated and understood. The key is that in a situation where he can't control it freely, he uses a profound sword technique. If this sword really goes down, Zhe Yu will at least be disabled. This is already a violation of its original intention in the same door comparison.

  Dabi was not seriously injured, but everyone present was no fool. Taiyun's intention behind this sword strike was crystal clear. (New book on the top ten list, urgently seeking recommendation votes and collection, hoping for everyone's generous support, let Dashi truly take ten steps to kill one person, a thousand miles without leaving a trail, killing all the way to the top ten!)