June 6, 2018

"Senior Brother, before you surrender, you must consider the consequences clearly!"

When Xiao Bai spoke, even though she appeared calm on the surface, her tone carried a tragic and heroic air, like that of a cuckoo crying blood. Her hand on Wang Xiao’s shoulder seemed as if it might crush his shoulder blade, emitting crisp cracking sounds.

Wang Xiao silently shook his head, signaling that everything was beyond his control, while enduring intense pain.

As the head of the Sword Academy, he had worked diligently for decades to establish the academy’s strategic advantage. In all sword dao competitions against Cyan Lotus Academy, he had never suffered a loss, so naturally, he was unwilling to let this undefeated record be broken.

At the same time, although he had always been dissatisfied with Xiao Bai’s laziness, he certainly didn’t want her involved in any reproductive plans.

But the current situation was beyond personal wishes.

The biotechnological advancements of Cyan Lotus Academy were too successful. The modified Zhang Lan perfectly met the requirements of the Sword Fighting tournament rules, and possessed combat capabilities far beyond those rules. At this point, forget about those five Mad Sword Cultivators in their early twenties—even if some Sword Academy Elders were thrown into the arena, they might not be able to secure a victory against the Biochemical Beast Zhang Lan.

So what could he do? Let those five Mad Sword Cultivators, whom the Sword Academy had high hopes for, fight a battle they were destined to lose, leaving an indelible shadow in their hearts?

It was better to admit defeat early, saving some face.

As Wang Xiao remained silent, everyone inside and outside the arena realized this Sword Fighting tournament was reaching its end.

"Senior Brother, I suggest you reconsider!" Xiao Bai said through clenched teeth, "Our Sword Academy has never surrendered without a fight!"

Wang Xiao couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Indeed, the Wuxiang Sword Academy, named after the sword, valued practical combat and honor. The cultivators of the Sword Academy pursued the virtues of fearlessness in the face of adversity, advancing courageously despite difficulties. Over the past two thousand years, the academy’s cultivators had repeatedly created miraculous victories with the weak overcoming the strong.

But on the other hand, the Wuxiang Sword Academy was not a place of reckless stubbornness. When a situation was truly beyond recovery, the cultivators would logically assess victory and defeat.

If the Biochemical Beast from Cyan Lotus Academy had weaker capabilities, such as only reaching the mid to late stage of the Rain Cover Realm, even with limited chance of victory, Wang Xiao would encourage the Mad Sword Cultivators to fight tenaciously and seize any slim opportunity for victory. But the Biochemical Beast had reached the Mountain-Overturning Realm, causing a qualitative change in the power comparison, rendering the possibility of victory nonexistent and persistence unnecessary.

"Junior Sister, if there were any chance, I would strive to grasp it, but..."

"Stop making excuses, are you really out of options!?"

Xiao Bai’s fingers tightened further, instantly leaving cracks on Wang Xiao’s shoulder blade.

Wang Xiao furrowed his brow, finally growing impatient with his junior sister’s pestering: The situation was of your own making, you chose to be the Celestial Deformed Sword yourself, and you ended up introducing their breeding plan after losing, now you want to dump all the problems on me? Can you be a bit more mature, my dear Xiao Bai! If you’re so unwilling to be a breeding sow, then just straightforwardly cheat and deny it! Haven’t you cheated enough times over the years? Given Wang Jiu’s character, would he really force you?

Xiao Bai saw the look in her senior brother’s eyes and reluctantly released her grip.

"Yes, I brought this on myself, but this victory or defeat isn’t just about me, it’s about the honor of the Sword Academy. As the head, are you really going to let go just like that?"

Wang Xiao impatiently said, "If you have a good idea, then go ahead and do it!"

The next moment, a mischievous smile appeared on Xiao Bai’s face.

"Senior Brother, you said so yourself."

Before the words were finished, a deafening roar reverberated from not far away.

Immediately following was a strong tremor, with ripples spreading along the ground like crashing waves. Wherever it passed, the artistic buildings of the Sword Academy crumbled, accompanied by the seven-colored spiritual light bursting out when various Barrier Arrays were twisted and destroyed.

This shock wave quickly reached Arena No. 3, with the outer protective shield reacting first. Amidst the sound of popping like frying beans, the Crystal Stones and statues maintaining the shield shattered simultaneously. The ground’s shock wave drove straight in, beginning to tear apart the internal space.

Fortunately, several elders from the Sword Academy were present outside the arena. The head, Wang Xiao, after a moment of stunned silence, reacted by closing his eyes slightly. An ancient copper-colored Heavy Sword emerged from his chest, its tip pointing down, lightly touching the ground.

In an instant, the surrounding tremors ceased.

This was Wang Xiao’s Mountain and River Stabilizing Sword, whose Sword Intent connected directly with the Earth Spirit Vein. With one strike, it could stabilize mountains and rivers within a hundred miles. Over the past decades, whenever natural disasters like landslides or floods occurred in the Mortal World, Wang Xiao only needed one strike to dissolve the calamity into nothingness.

However, although this sword landed and stabilized the trembling earth, the sword blade continued to hum incessantly, indicating it had borne a very heavy burden.

Wang Xiao was initially puzzled, then calculated something with his fingers, his expression changing instantly as he looked toward the source of the tremor: "That is..."

At this moment, the other elders and Sword Venerables also reacted, turning pale simultaneously.

"Is that... the Spirit Stone Vault?"

Xiao Bai also looked astonished: "Oh, isn’t that the direction of the Spirit Stone Vault? Such a strong tremor, could it be that the Spirit Stone Vault exploded? Tsk tsk, no wonder the tremor is so intense, causing the Heaven and Earth Spirit Wind to howl incessantly, and many arrays relying on spiritual energy have failed. If it’s a spiritual energy explosion, it indeed would be far scarier than a regular natural disaster..."

"You bastard, Xiao Bai, how dare you stand here innocently explaining!" Wang Xiao grabbed Xiao Bai’s collar, "Was it your doing!?"

Xiao Bai said: "Senior Brother, you can’t just accuse me without evidence. I’ve been here all along, both you and Senior Brother Wang Zhao have been watching, this is such a perfect alibi, and yet you still want to suspect me?"

Wang Xiao was momentarily stunned at his words.

That’s right, Xiao Bai is right here, both he and Wang Zhao have kept an eye on her all along, fearing she might cause some mischief, so she had no chance to run to the Spirit Stone Vault to cause destruction, indeed a perfect alibi. But still...

"Senior Brother, now saving the day should be prioritized over catching the culprit, right? Although the Sword Academy’s Spirit Stone Vault has never been well-stocked..."

Before he finished speaking, Wang Xiao had already gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, let go, and then his figure turned into a rainbow light, flying toward the Spirit Stone Vault. Wang Zhao’s face turned ashen as he followed closely, and the other Sword Venerables looked at each other with no better ideas. Just then, another explosion sound came from the Spirit Stone Vault, and Xiao Bai shouted loudly: "What are you still dawdling here for? If you don’t go there to save the day now, do you still want this year’s Sword Venerable stipend?!"

So, all the Sword Venerables watching scattered like birds and beasts.

Xiao Bai turned to the audience from the Outer Courtyard who had come to watch: "You guys are staying here for the fun, do you want to be investigated as suspects?!"

So, the audience from the Outer Courtyard also scattered like birds and beasts.

Outside the arena, only the group from Cyan Lotus Academy was left.

Xiao Bai then walked apologetically to Wang Jiu: "Unfortunately, due to unexpected incidents, our Swordsmanship Competition has to be forced to a halt."

Wang Jiu thought for a moment: "Indeed, according to the rules, when there is force majeure, both parties have the right to halt the competition. Since that’s the case, this mixed group battle will be left for another time..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Chenlu beside him sighed: "My dear, you’re too easy to coax, this is clearly her orchestrated scheme to cheat. If you believe it, you’ve already lost."

Wang Jiu said: "A scheme? Are you saying she deliberately caused a force majeure to invalidate the competition? But she indeed has an alibi, unless she set everything up beforehand, but she didn’t know in advance about my attendance, so she should have the same arrogance as the other people from the Sword Academy, with no reason to set up such an incident."

Zhao Chenlu said: "Under normal circumstances, that’s indeed the case, but she’s certainly not an ordinary person, if I guessed correctly, her real intention might be to use this to negotiate with the people of Cyan Lotus Academy."

Wang Jiu pondered for a bit: "So you’re saying, she believes the new dean of Cyan Lotus Academy, to avoid the loss of hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, will cooperate with her to jointly halt the competition, forcing the Swordsmanship Competition to be halted."

"And after the halt, she could casually stir up any trouble to keep the Swordsmanship Competition halted indefinitely. On the other hand, the explosion in the Spirit Stone Vault should also be more apparent than real, and the actual damage is not particularly severe."

Wang Jiu nodded: "Indeed, reverse analyzing from the relayed tremors, it is speculated that the explosion used a stacking technique, greatly enhancing explosion efficiency, reducing explosion costs, the actual consumption of spirit stones should not exceed five thousand pieces, hmm, 4,997?"

Zhao Chenlu said: "...Don’t ask me, right now I don’t have your strong calculating ability, my dear."

Beside them, Xiao Bai was immensely surprised, spreading her hands to reveal three spirit stones in her palm. Earlier, she had stolen a cargo unit of 5,000 spirit stones in the Spirit Stone Vault, set it up into a stacking explosion mechanism, and then casually took three pieces for daily spending, making the explosion cost indeed 4,997 pieces.

"You can even calculate this!?"

Wang Jiu said: "As long as one masters the correct algorithm and possesses sufficient primordial spirit strength, anyone can calculate it, but given the current cultivators’ quality in Xiangzhou, it might be fifty years before anyone can master such an algorithm... But if you’re willing to make some contributions within your capabilities, I could train cultivators adept at algorithms within thirty years."

Xiao Bai smiled and said: "This is called selective breeding, right?"

"Yes, I believe your talent is very comprehensive, whether it’s physical fitness, sword dao perception, or primordial spirit toughness, all very suitable as a prototype for human breed improvement."

Xiao Bai’s smile grew even brighter: "No way, not even if it kills me."