Chapter 8: Reunion at Sword Platform

  Out of the Lian Xin courtyard, Lu Qing walked all the way to the square where the big comparison was held. Lu Qing's footsteps were not fast, and he didn't meet anyone along the way. It seemed that he had already set off late, and at this moment, there were only some outer door disciples hurrying to go on the road.

  At this time, seeing Lu Qing walking on the road, these outer door disciples all showed a respectful color one after another, and respectfully saluted Lu Qing. Lu Qing has also almost adapted to these etiquette now, and just nodded slightly.

  The grand hall of Chaoyang, in the square in front, there is a piece of land with a lighter color than other places, about twenty zhangs in diameter. The stone slabs on the ground are obviously newly paved and not long ago. At this time, all the outer gates and inner sect disciples have gathered here.

  This empty land is the place where Chaoyang Palace holds a big competition every half year. Due to the sharp sword energy of many inner sect disciples, the ground here needs to be dug up and new stone slabs laid every year.

  At this moment, the atmosphere in the square was extremely solemn. Many outer sect disciples surrounded a large circle with a diameter of about 50 zhang. Inside the circle stood nearly 40 inner sect disciples, each emitting an intense fighting spirit. The invisible aura almost filled the entire hundred-zhang-wide square. Some outer sect disciples who were not strong enough even retreated several zhangs to dispel the oppressive feeling in their hearts.

  People have arrived one after another, in front of everyone, Xuan Qing and the six guardians stood quietly. Those with discerning eyes discovered that these six guardians were precisely the masters of the six inner sect disciples: Wu Hu Fa Luo Tianyou, San Hu Fa Qing Tian, Er Hu Fa Luo Chengyu, Liu Hu Fa Hu Luofeng, Ba Hu Fa Hai Sheng, Shi Hu Fa Lin Qing.

  It seems that the six great protectors are very concerned about their disciples this time, after all, it is related to the quota for entering the Sword Pool. The Sword Pool is the foundation of the sect, and even they have not stayed there for a full month before, although they were lucky enough to enter before. Despite this, the short period of less than a month also allowed their cultivation to improve by as much as it had in an entire year previously. The extremely pure heavenly and earthly primordial energy inside still makes them unforgettable to this day.

  Moreover, in preparation for the Five Peaks Sword Meet four years later, the sect has made a major decision to open the Sword Pool and allow the top 100 disciples of the five peaks to enter and cultivate for half a year. If things go well, any disciple who enters will have a good chance of breaking through one or two heavenly ranks, and even reaching the peak of the first sword rank is highly possible.

  All the inner disciples also knew this, so even if they were ranked lower, they would still work hard to cultivate in these six months. Whether or not they had a chance, they all wanted to give it their all and see what happened. Especially those disciples who were ranked around 20th place, recently they had been cultivating day and night without rest. They were the most hopeful, but also the most dangerous.

  In front of the inner sect disciples, Nie Qing Tian and Zhao Qian Ye stood shoulder to shoulder. Beside them, Ling Xiao's gaze was somewhat helpless, because when he had just arrived, he felt that the auras of these two people were even stronger, especially Zhao Qian Ye, who originally gave him a feeling of being no match and having little grasp, but now it had turned into a deep sense of danger.

  Similarly, the top eleven disciples of Jianke Jie's inner sect also discovered this, and the aura on Yu and his incarnation had also increased significantly. The same was true for Duan Qingyun, who hadn't been seen in three months. At this moment, Duan Qingyun had actually lost a lot of weight and was no longer as stout as before, now only being able to be considered an ordinary chubby person, with his facial features also becoming more defined.

  But the biggest change was still the aura on his body, and the several disciples around him all felt a very clear sense of oppression from him. Now Duan Qingyun standing there was also much more calm and composed than before, which compared to half a year ago was simply like heaven and earth's difference.

  How come all those people from Purple Bamboo Institute are so demonic!

  Separated by a disciple, Gong Yangyu's eyes revealed deep jealousy. He couldn't understand why he didn't have such good luck, why all the good fortune had to be encountered by Duan Qingyun and them, especially Lu Qing who was now living alone in Lianxin Academy.

  At the mere mention of Lu Qing, Gong Yangyu's eyes filled with deep anger. The new disciple who was once trampled under his feet had not only surpassed him in cultivation after a year but also possessed a status that he couldn't even compare to now. Even now, when he saw Lu Qing, he had to salute respectfully, which was the last thing he wanted to face.

  So for the past three months, Lu Qing had not met with Gong Yangyu even once. On one hand, Lu Qing was busy taking the Solid Origin Pill to consolidate his physical body and comprehend the Purple Thunder Sword. On the other hand, Gong Yangyu was intentionally avoiding Lu Qing. Now that he had surpassed him, he did not want to be ridiculed by Lu Qing's condescending attitude.

  The sun rose gradually, and the orange-red sunlight spread across the square, but in the feeling of the outer door disciples around them, this sunlight seemed to be frozen by the strong fighting spirit on the inner door disciples. Standing around, they felt that the sunlight shining on their bodies had a faint chill.

  As fifty disciples walked towards this side from a distance, Nie Qingtian and Zhao Qianye, who were originally standing in the front, simultaneously turned their bodies.

  "Here comes——"

  As soon as the two of them spoke in unison, two powerful battle auras rose from their bodies and pressed fiercely towards the direction of that disciple in the distance.

  The sudden surge of battle intent left the surrounding inner sect disciples somewhat caught off guard, and even Ling Xiao and several sword guest stage disciples beside him took two steps back, feeling the fiery battle intent emanating from the two.

  But the young inner sect disciple who rushed over was first puzzled as to why everyone's gaze was directed at him, and then he felt two powerful war intentions that almost suffocated him rushing towards him from afar.

  His face suddenly turned red, and the disciple couldn't help but burst out with a full-body sword aura, covering his body with a two-inch thick layer of solar sword energy. However, he still couldn't withstand the pressure from the Boundary Stage cultivator and retreated five or six steps with a series of loud clangs.

  Just as he couldn't help but sit down on the ground, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Looking at the deep blue giant sword over five feet long in front of him, the disciple couldn't help but secretly curse his bad luck. He knew that this battle intent and momentum was directed at Lu Qing, the Guardian Deity in front of him, and he just happened to be blocking the way.

  But apparently everyone's attention was drawn to Lu Qing in front of him, facing Nie Qingtian and Zhao Qianye's momentum, Lu Qing did not release the same majestic battle intent, but instead took a slow step forward.

  Under the gaze of everyone's astonishment, a purple light flashed on Lu Qing's body, and he suddenly appeared ten feet ahead, then took another step to the side. His right foot stepped forward again, and at this moment, Nie Qingtian and Zhao Qianye only felt that their battle intent and momentum had lightened, and Lu Qing had already escaped from under their aura.

  The two faces simultaneously revealed a look of astonishment, although there were rumors about Lu Qing's mysterious footwork when he left the pass yesterday, but seeing it with their own eyes still shocked them to the core. In almost an instant, four steps later, Lu Qing appeared among the inner sect disciples and stood at the 24th position.

  Lu Qing appeared in a strange and eerie manner, as if he had been there all along. The inner sect disciples on both sides couldn't believe their eyes, but they were not without experience, knowing that it was either because their cultivation was insufficient or Lu Qing's speed was simply too fast for their mortal eyes to capture.

  Especially at this moment, Zhuo Bu Fan standing beside Lu Qing, his eyes were extremely complex, but soon he understood and his expression returned to calm. In his view, anyway, it wasn't just him, on the contrary, he had already begun to look forward to the next battle.

  As soon as Lu Qing arrived, the six guardians present looked at him with a serious expression in their eyes. This was because Lu Qing's footsteps were too fast, and even among the six of them, only Lin Qing, who possessed the Xun Wind Sword Qi and had the cultivation base of a Sword Master Small Heavenly Realm, could barely compare to him. This was truly frightening, and although Lu Qing's current cultivation base was only that of a Sword Guest Great Heavenly Realm, his past achievements, including defeating the City Lord of Luoricheng, were there for all to see. Therefore, from the very beginning, when Lu Qing inherited the guardianship, they had given him sufficient attention.

  Everyone was present, and Xuan Qing stopped talking. He stretched out his right hand and made a pulling motion in the air. The basket of black iron swords suddenly shook violently, emitting waves of sword hums that rose and fell. A purple-red light flashed at the tip of the swords, and the basket of black iron swords suddenly flew into the air, rapidly circling above everyone's heads.

  At this moment, different from half a year ago, Lu Qing felt that around the swirling black iron swords, there was an extremely powerful yet intangible heat gathering, but it had not been condensed. Otherwise, according to Lu Qing's estimation, if this power were to fall, the disciples present would be lucky to have ten people survive.

  When the swirling black iron sword flow formed a complete circle, Xuan Qing's sword pointed downwards and slashed fiercely. Instantly, all the black iron swords whizzed down.

  Hmph!

  As the black iron sword was inserted into the stone slab at the same time, a larger sword platform with an area of about 30 square meters was formed. This time, Bu used nearly two hundred swords to set up this sword platform, and Lu Qing swept his eyes and found that a large part of the black iron swords had reached the second-grade level.

  But in the blink of an eye, he came to a realization. With the progress of many disciples' strength, the first-rate black iron sword could no longer support their competition. Lu Qing looked at Nie Qingtian and Zhao Qianye standing in front of him and thought to himself that even second-rate swords might not be enough to last until the end of this grand tournament. PS: Recommended collection, still a lingering regret!