June 6, 2018

Lu Qun reached out to touch his head, feeling pain, but more incredulity.

Was he really hit in the head with a stone by a ten-year-old girl under the gaze of the crowd?

The pain on his head was secondary; the most unbelievable part was how this stone was able to hit him.

He had been practicing the Golden Crow Sword for over five years, and his Protective Sword Qi was constantly maintained without needing to be specially activated to automatically respond to any attacks around him.

Whether it be tricky hidden weapons, treacherous spells, insidious poisons, or even invisible curses, under the shining of the magnificent Golden Crow, all would dissolve into nothing.

However, just moments ago, a little girl not yet ten years old casually picked up a stone and broke through his five-year cultivation of three layers of Golden Crow Sword Qi, striking his head with a resounding thud.

On the other side, Shen Qingming was slightly surprised yet somewhat gratified.

How to use a stone in hand to break through the Protective Sword Qi of the Golden Crow Sword had been a topic she had painstakingly studied in the Shen Garden of Cyan Cloud City for a long time, just so one day she could hide in the crowd and smash Lu Xin’s head with a stone while she was out.

Of course, Shen Qingming’s independent research yielded no results—a little girl who hadn’t yet broken through the Wind Barrier could hardly crack the Protective Sword Qi of a Rain Cover Realm Sword Cultivator by mere imagination. But with the arrival of the Celestial Divine Sword, what was impossible turned into a possibility.

The Golden Crow Sword, inherited by the Lu Family from the Primordial Era, itself was almost flawless, bordering on the Realm of Truth. However, time has passed by millennia, and the Lu Family’s Golden Crow Sword can no longer compare to the ancestors; there are many omissions and gaps in the inheritance. Plus, the transmission from millennia ago cannot perfectly adapt to the current world of Xiangzhou, resulting in numerous barely detectable flaws in the swordsmanship. While most people cannot perceive or exploit these flaws, to the Celestial Divine Sword, they can be cleverly used to break through the Protective Sword Qi of the Golden Crow Sword across realms. For this, he spent time teaching Shen Qingming the relevant techniques, so long as the girl could elevate her True Essence Realm another major realm, coupled with the Divine Techniques of the Immovable Tyrant Body, she could fulfill her childhood ambition to break open the Golden Crow Protective Sword with a stone and smash Lu Xin’s head.

Unfortunately, as Shen Qingming’s relationship with her family softened over time, this grand goal was indefinitely shelved.

Now, encountering another opponent who also possessed the Golden Crow Sword, Shen Qingming would not hold back. The actions she had rehearsed countless times internally were executed strictly and perfectly; the stone in hand, covered with the boiling Blood Qi of the Immovable Tyrant Body and the girl’s Cloud Surge Realm Peak True Essence, pierced through the gaps in the Golden Crow Protection Sword, making Lu Qun feel dizzy.

The power of the stone was greatly diminished, and when it landed on his head, it no longer possessed lethal force.

But it was enough to make Lu Qun realize the extraordinariness of his opponent.

After a moment of silence, Lu Qun sighed.

"My mentor was right; as vast as Xiangzhou is, beyond heaven, there is heaven; beyond humans, there are humans. Even the Three Academies and Seven Families of one sect may not stand proud among the heroes. I always thought my talent in the Immortal Dao, though not the pinnacle of the present era, was close enough, excluding a few monstrous talents. However, today I finally realized how much of a frog in the well I am; my five-year cultivation of Golden Crow Sword Qi was broken by a ten-year-old girl using a stone..."

Before finishing his words, he felt a fierce, fiery anger sweeping over him like a sea of flames.

"Who are you calling a ten-year-old girl!?"

Lu Qun was startled: "I apologize; I estimated your age by assuming your development level matches the average of Xiangzhou women. I didn’t think you might fall into the delayed development category. May I ask your age? 12? 13?"

Fifteen-year-old Shen Qingming’s face turned ashen, with both fists tightly clenched together, her fingers squeezing the air, producing sharp explosive sounds.

"There’s no need to guess my age; it’s irrelevant to the Sword Fighting Tournament anyway!"

Lu Qun, puzzled, touched the pain on his head and asked, "Why are you angry if it’s irrelevant?"

Shen Qingming took a deep breath and asked, "You’ve never been in love in your life, have you?"

Lu Qun felt somewhat embarrassed: "Although I’ve had a crush on a girl, I failed to win her heart... So I’ve focused my years on swordsmanship cultivation, hoping one day to win her back with my cultivation."

Shen Qingming thought, "If you keep cultivating like this, by the time you achieve mastery in Sword Dao, you might have to resort to sheer force..."

But it was precisely Lu Qun’s awkwardness that made her let go of her anger.

According to the girl’s original temper, although she wasn’t prone to bearing grudges against people easily, letting go of her temper wouldn’t be so quick. It was truly due to being conditioned like a reflexive dog over the past year, where her temper comes and goes swiftly.

"Alright, enough talk, get ready to fight." Upon finishing her sentence, Shen Qingming raised her sword, a simple, unsharpened broad and heavy sword, almost five feet long, standing taller than the girl herself, the blade over five inches wide, held in the girl’s delicate palm, akin to a heavy door panel.

But Lu Qun just glanced at it, and his expression turned serious.

As a cultivator who has dedicated more than a decade to the practice of Sword Dao, he had completely reined in his previously scattered thoughts, focusing entirely on the coming battle.

The opponent’s strength is truly remarkable, far from being as youthful as she appears.

Although reluctant to admit it, this 12 or 13-year-old girl possesses enough power to threaten him.

Whether it was the weight contained in that ancient heavy sword or the near Cloud Flipping Realm True Essence fluctuations released in an instant by the girl, it all indicated that the upcoming battle would be extremely difficult!

Thus, Lu Qun also displayed his sincerity.

As his eyes turned golden, Lu Qun’s entire body emitted a golden, rippling glow, as if he were bathed in flames. A slender Flame Sword slowly took shape in the palm of his right hand.

"Golden Crow Invisible Sword..."

Around the arena, many Sword Academy cultivators’ eyes lit up.

As cultivators of the Sword Academy, they naturally recognized the mystery of Lu Qun’s technique.

Lu Qun was not condensing True Essence into a magical treasure — with his current strength, he couldn’t Transform Void into Reality. Instead, he took the opposite approach, refining a specially made Flying Sword into an invisible Protective Sword Qi, distributing it around himself at all times, constantly refining it with True Essence and Divine Sense, almost merging with the cultivator’s body. When needed, the magical treasure reappears.

The magical treasure, refined in this way, possesses extraordinary adaptability at the initial moment of reappearance, allowing Sword Cultivators to control it like a part of their body, giving them a significant edge.

And with this ability, Lu Qun, during the miraculous effect period of the Golden Crow Sword, can even defeat opponents of a higher realm — he is in the early Cloud Flipping Realm, so most mid Cloud Flipping Realm opponents in the Sword Academy cannot defeat Lu Qun at the beginning of a battle.

After seeing this move, the Sword Academy cultivators generally had a judgment about the upcoming battle.

Although the Academy’s contestant this time was different from the past, with apparent rich combat experience and capability, the strength Lu Qun exhibited now already constituted an overwhelming advantage. Unless the Sword Fighting method changes to realm balancing, the victory would be without suspense...

Meanwhile, the Sword Academy dean, Wang Xiao, glanced at Wang Jiu: "Shall we begin?"

Wang Jiu nodded: "Yes."

Wang Xiao then wasted no time and loudly announced: "The first round of the Sword Fighting Tournament between the two academies begins now!"

At the moment the last syllable fell, Shen Qingming chose to take the initiative.

The girl carried the heavy sword, as large as a door, on her shoulder. Her leg muscles exploded with thunder-like force, creating a crater on the ground as if struck by a meteor, then charged at her opponent with the recoil.

Lu Qun’s heart tensed.

For cultivators above the Cloud Flipping Realm, the method of Sword Fighting is entirely different from the Mortal World; rarely do two Sword Cultivators engage in close combat. Everyone has their Divine Techniques and magic, with coverage easily spreading a hundred meters or more, and Flying Swords can take a head from miles away effortlessly. There’s no need to risk oneself. As formally trained cultivators of Immortal Cultivation, when battle begins, the first action is to set up layers of defenses around themselves.

In such a situation, decisively choosing to close in for combat means having a special trump card or capital.

Lu Qun dislikes taking risks; in the face of the unknown opponent’s reality, he would rather retreat, so he activated his Golden Crow Sword Qi and used the Sword Escape Technique, transforming his body into a dazzling ball of light to retreat over a hundred meters, directly avoiding Shen Qingming’s frontal charge.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingming charged into numerous trap formations left by Lu Qun, instantly restrained and suppressed by dozens of magic simultaneously. Yet the girl merely let out a low growl, dispersing all the magic with her boiling Blood Qi. This disperse power was exceedingly domineering, even causing a backlash in the magic, making Lu Qun’s right hand tremble uncontrollably a hundred meters away.

By now, Shen Qingming hadn’t even swung her heavy sword.

Lu Qun’s heart sunk further, once again raising the rating of this 12-year-old girl in front of him.

This was not just any strong enemy but an absolutely formidable opponent that must be faced with full effort, without any slack!

So Lu Qun, without hesitation, swung his sword and severed his own left hand.

In mid-air, the hand dissipated like invisible light, and simultaneously, dazzling light exploded around Shen Qingming a hundredfold.

Lu Qun’s Golden Crow Secret Sword [Reflection Revenge] leverages the power of light to feedback the damage he received to his opponent. If the opponent touched the array he left earlier, even if they could disperse the magic effect for a time, they could not cleanse away the causal link left, nor could they avoid the damage brought by Reflection Revenge.

"Humph..."

In the intense light, Shen Qingming let out a soft snort. Those with sharp vision could clearly see the girl’s left hand severed at the wrist, blood flowing profusely, yet her aura did not weaken but grew even stronger.

As if pain brought more power.