Silence descended upon the pavilion. The ones closest to the aftereffects of Tianyi’s slash all felt sweat drip down the back of their necks. When they saw the black sword light near them, they felt as if time had slowed and their life past before their eyes. Only after Tianyi walked down from the stage did they feel the release of death’s shackles. They turned towards the gash with trembling bodies and saw a thin black membrane continuing to erode the cut.
One person suddenly stepped back away from the abnormal scene. Like a signal, everyone else all moved away from where Tianyi had slashed. Tianyi’s attack did not cause a single death, but that didn’t help those who felt themselves brush against death. After calming down their erratic hearts, they turned their gazes towards Tianyi. Those gazes held fear, admiration, apprehension, and veneration.
It wasn’t just those who were almost struck by Tianyi’s attack that held those emotions within their eyes but all the spectators.
“That attack, it must have reached the threshold of Unity Realm at least, right?”
“I think so…”
“Xi Tianyi only reached the Nascent Soul Realm a few months ago, right?”
“He’s not even thirty years old either!”
“Frightening, for an early Nascent Soul Grandmaster to have the power to unleash a Unity Realm threshold attack.”
“Earlier when I heard Xi Tian-Daoist Xi- said only those who have the power to unleash a Unity Realm level attack to hurt him, I thought he was bragging. But now…”
“Right, right!”
“That Dong Chifan must have some means then. Earlier, weren’t you laughing at Senior San’s choice of picking him?”
“Hmpf, he’s still just a Core Formation Master. The only thing worth mentioning is his spatial techniques. If he doesn’t have that, his martial body wouldn’t be much of a threat in a real fight. I’m more interested in Longwei.”
“You’re right. I once saw my grandfather’s friend use saber intent. That Longwei seems to have condensed his saber intent!”
“Is what you said accurate? I thought he just used a secret technique to increase his power for an instant.”
“If that really was saber intent, how old is Longwei? For him to condensed saber intent, Senior Brother He hasn’t even finished condensing his sword intent!”
“I’m not sure, but he can’t be over a hundred years of age; otherwise, he would not be able to attend this gathering.”
“He’s talented. Unfortunately, it seems that his brain has some problems.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Do you not have eyes? Earlier, he didn’t bring out his saber intent. But he suddenly brought it out and attacked Daoist Xi. Fortunately, Daoist Xi wasn’t fatally injured. If he truly injured Daoist Xi, his little life will be over. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was purposely hiding it so he could kill Daoist Xi in an instant.”
“You’re right; Longwei’s actions are strange.”
“But, what surprised me more is that how little injury Daoist Xi took. Longwei already has saber intent. His attacks definitely have reached the Unity Realm. I saw it clearly; even if his robes blocked some of it, Longwei’s saber made direct contact with his skin! Yet, there’s only a minor cut to show for it!”
“You’re from the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Do you have any thoughts towards this matter?”
“I don’t know. I heard that Senior Brother Xi cultivates the Primordial Heaven Scripture and a martial cultivation technique, but I don’t have any other information. Even within the sect, he rarely moves.”
“Hmmm, he must be a person who is truly dedicated towards cultivation. Otherwise, at his age, how could he have reached the Nascent Soul Realm?”
“Not speaking of his age, just his current cultivation base, he is able to block a Unity Realm level attack and unleash an attack of the same level. Worthy of being the Sword Empress’s son.”
Before, if they felt surprise and appreciation towards Tianyi when he sparred against Dong Chifan, it was because of Tianyi’s mastery of the rare spatial techniques. But now, after witnessing Tianyi’s full-powered sword slash, they fully admitted defeat within their hearts. This was the acknowledgment towards the strong.
“Prince Xi, that was awesome!” Jian Wuyan said, her eyes glittering. Dong Chifan didn’t say anything, but his eyes were shining too.
“Brother-no, Senior Brother Xi, what attack was that? Is one of the techniques from the Heartless Sword Arts?” Su Bojing asked. Earlier, he had some pride in himself, but after seeing Tianyi reveal more of his strength, he placed Tianyi on an even higher level than himself.
Tianyi sat down and shook his head. “No, that wasn’t part of my mother’s Heartless Sword Arts. It can be considered a mixture of my self-created Nine Strokes Sword Art and my cultivation.”
“Nine Strikes Sword Arts? Are you interested in imparting it to anyone?” Jian Wuyan asked, her intent obvious.
Tianyi glanced at her. “Right now, I haven’t finished laying down the foundations yet. Besides, you aren’t suited for it.”
“Oh.” Jian Wuyan instantly deflated. But her eyes perked up when she noticed that Tianyi’s hand that was balled into a fist over his wounds was trembling. “Senior Brother, are you okay?”
Even now, Tianyi’s wounds were barely being healed, and black gas continuously leaked from them. But that wasn’t why Tianyi’s hand was trembling. The reason was because that stupid pill was trying to fly into his wound. Having already experienced the greediness of the pill several times, Tianyi didn’t want to let the pill have its way. So instead of focusing on clearing the leftover saber intent, he was grasping the pill in his hand.
But despite entering the Nascent Soul Realm, Tianyi couldn’t prevent the pill from reaching his wounds for long.
Once the pill broke free, it entered Tianyi’s wound and into his inner cosmos. But to Tianyi’s surprise, the saber intent that had been inhibiting his recovering was disappearing at a noticeable rate. His eyes shone in surprise and appreciation, but that did not last for long because he discovered that the pill was rampantly absorbing the true qi of chaos in his inner cosmos.
Tianyi wanted to stop it, but he couldn’t reach inside his inner cosmos with his hands, and his natural control of it wasn’t enough to prevent the pill from absorbing his true qi of chaos. He felt helpless, although he was the master and creator of his inner cosmos, but he didn’t have the power to prevent a thief from stealing it. If he could manifest tribulation lightning powerful enough, he would definitely teach that pill a lesson!
Tianyi even ordered his clone to do something, but the clone, having memories of how Tianyi had been bashed half to death during their first encounter, ran away instead! Tianyi wanted to spit a mouthful of blood. He had never heard of such a disobedient clone before!
In the end, when Tianyi felt that over half of his true qi of chaos had been absorbed, the pill popped out, and his wounds fully healed. The pill was pitch black, and not a hint of color could be seen. It looked like a hole in reality with how black it was. Tianyi sighed as he placed the pill back into his robes. His mother said that he should continue to feel the pill with his blood and true qi, and the payout would be worth it.
Afterward, the spars continued. But just like the previous day with the climax of Tianyi and Longwei’s “spar,” none of the following clashes of skills could attract the same attention. Tianyi himself also went up on stage a few more times and properly sparred against his opponents. He felt very satisfied, unlike during the Three Heaven’s Connection Gathering, where he kept being challenged by weirdos.
But near the end of the day, a small incident occurred.
“Junior Brother, I suggest next time you open your eyes. There are some people you can’t touch!” The speaker was a disciple of the Bright Ascenion Sect; his clothes were littered with light scratches and cuts.
And the person he was speaking to was also a disciple of the same sect and the cultivation. But his clothes were roughed, and various scratches and cuts littered his body even worse than the person standing looking down on him from above.
Rather than disciples of the same sect, the two appeared closer to archenemies, the either you die or I live type.
The fallen disciple didn’t yield in spirit and harshly glared back. “Whether I can’t touch or not, Senior Brother doesn’t have the right to decide!”
“Hmpf, then don’t blame Senior Brother for being harsh!” The disciple drew his sword and prepared to pierce his sword into the fallen disciple’s body, but a woman ran up the stage and grabbed his hand.
She only had an early Core Formation Realm cultivation and ran up the stage to prevent the senior disciple from injuring the junior disciple. She couldn’t be said to have peerless beauty, but her facial features were upright, and coupled with her milky white skin, she had a clean and pure aura.
“Senior Brother, don’t…” Tears leaked down from the girl’s face making her look pitiable.
The senior disciple softened his face and sheathed his sword before taking the girl’s hand into his own and walking down the arena. But before one final warning. “Lai Wu, this is my final warning, stay away from Weiwei.”
Lai Wu only laid there on the ground in a despondent manner. His hand stretched out towards the girl, Weiwei, but no sound came out from his mouth.
Tianyi felt his gossipy soul blaze alight. “Brother Su, help me find out what the source of the conflict is.”
Su Bojing looked surprised that Tianyi would be interested but left to gather information. After bidding Su Bojing away, Tianyi turned back towards the stage but stopped as his gaze connected to a look full of hatred.
Who else could the owner of those eyes be but Longwei? His appearance was wretched, and he sat alone with no other people near him. Despite this and his injuries not fully healed, he still had time to glare at Tianyi.
Tianyi, in response, waved back in a mocking manner.