Chapter 263 - Redefining the Word Genius
Yun Xiao did nothing more than send a warning with his sword, yet aside from Ling Chen, nobody truly grasped its meaning.
"This little bitch..." Mu Xiaolong fumed, steam practically coming out of her ears.
Feng Ruolin's provocation shifted the way the disciples of Sword Ruins viewed Yun Xiao, their expressions now tinged with strangeness.
A little peeved, Yun Xiao turned around and saw Feng Ruolin, arms crossed, flaunting her undeniable charm. Behind her, not too far away, stood Ling Chen, his gaze still fixed on Yun Xiao, eyes seemingly holding a thousand profound thoughts. Yet, he didn't step forward to speak for Yun Xiao.
Standing close to Ling Chen were Feng Buhui, Yun Xinghe, and Shuang Jiang, all fiercely guarding him.
SWOOSH! Suddenly, Yun Xiao marched straight towards Feng Ruolin! In a flash, he stood a mere foot away from the attractive young woman.
Feng Ruolin, caught off guard by the stunning youth before her, faltered for a moment. To be honest, she was indeed swayed by his looks. But the thought of him being a fake Exiled Sword Immortal soured her expression with rejection. Was this impotent rage?
Feng Ruolin scoffed internally, rolling her eyes slightly and said in a sarcastic tone, “Exile Yun, I was only praising you. You wouldn't be angry, would you...” She barely finished her sentence when—
STAB! An azure sword pierced through her back!
"Ah..." Feng Ruolin felt a sharp pain in her chest. Trembling, she looked down to see her own blood flowing down along the sword in Yun Xiao's hand.
"Exile Yun... you..." She never dreamed that, under such public scrutiny, the fake Exiled Sword Immortal would dare to strike her down. After all, she had never encountered someone who so blatantly defied convention.
THUD! Yun Xiao withdrew his Sword Soul, severing her shocked head with a single stroke and tossing it at the feet of Feng Buhui and the others.
"Don't try to be clever in front of me again. Such low-level mockery lacks any originality, got it?" Yun Xiao's eyes swept over the crowd.
All around the Sword Ruins, there was dead silence.
Feng Ruolin's severed head, eyes wide as saucers, lay on the ground, staring blankly at the sky. Her once admirable figure, now drenched in blood, lay rigidly on the ground.
"You!" Feng Buhui's eyes split with fury as he roared. He never dreamed Yun Xiao would act so directly… Otherwise, he would never have allowed a junior to slaughter his granddaughter right in front of him.
"Don't move." Ling Chen's deep voice calmed the raging Feng Buhui.
By now, everyone had caught on! Mu Xiaolong and Mu Dalong appeared beside Yun Xiao, guarding him fiercely and glaring at Feng Buhui.
"Feng Buhui, you dare to kill an Exiled Sword Immortal?" Yun Xiao's eyes swirled with a storm of sword energy.
"I dare not!" Feng Buhui glanced at Ling Chen, bowed his head, and stepped back.
"Good for you, acting the coward just in time to save yourself from the jaws of death," Yun Xiao sneered. Then, turning to Mu Dalong, he asked, "Shouldn't a mere Supreme Disciple die for disrespecting an Exiled Sword Immortal?"
With a mix of emotions on her face, Mu Dalong nodded. "Yes!"
"That settles it, then." Yun Xiao smiled in satisfaction.
With the nine resonances of the Eternal Sword, an Exile Sword Immortal's authority was asserted! Equal in status to the Sword Warden, he was like a second Sword Warden himself. Given such power, Yun Xiao never thought of not using it. Worst case, he'd leave in his coffin!
"Brother Ling," Yun Xiao looked up at him and chuckled lightly. "They don't understand the lofty position of an Exiled Sword Immortal. I'll teach them myself. I didn't scare you, did I?"
"Brother Yun, you jest," Ling Chen glanced at Feng Ruolin's body, his face showing a strange expression. "As cultivators, we must understand hierarchy and respect."
"Indeed!" Yun Xiao paused, looking towards the towering column behind the Sword Ruins, and said, "Since we're registered, we'll meet at the Immortal Sword Rankings. Perhaps you and I will have the opportunity to spar publicly."
"I look forward to joining you in glorifying our path of the sword," Ling Chen responded earnestly.
Yun Xiao nodded and then turned to leave on his Sovereign Sword.
Mu Daolong, escorting her daughter, hurriedly followed, looking almost like two attendants.
"Ruolin..." Feng Buhui's heart burned with a thousand flames of rage, with nowhere to vent, scorching his very soul.
"Don't speak!" Ling Chen, his gaze deep and thoughtful, watched Yun Xiao leave. "Back to the Exile Palace."
"Yes!" Feng Buhui, Yun Xinghe, and Shuang Jiang coldly nodded in agreement.
After both Exiled Sword Immortals had departed, the tens of thousands of disciples in the Sword Ruins remained silent, daring not to speak a word.
"A fake! To kill so brazenly, what audacity!" A young disciple, eyes red with anger, couldn't hold back his resentment anymore and muttered through gritted teeth.
"Don't say it if you don't want to die!"
Several others quickly hushed him, their faces filled with fear.
"Ah..."
They exchanged glances and sighed deeply.
"As long as his facade remains unexposed, our entire Sword Ruins will be plunged into darkness."
"Wait for the Immortal Sword Rankings. Then, he won’t have anyone to protect him..."
The atmosphere in the Sword Ruins was more serious than ever.
"Dad! Dad!" Suddenly, the dark-skinned Mu Qinghuan ran up to Mu Daxiong, his expression filled with terror.
"What's all the fuss about?" Mu Daxiong asked, weighed down by heavy thoughts. Their favored horse's reputation in the Sword Ruins was crumbling, and he feared the wrath of the Sword Warden.
"It's something so shocking it'll make you choke!" Mu Qinghuan exclaimed excitedly.
"Cut the nonsense!" Mu Daxiong grabbed his ear. "I'm already in a bad mood, don't mess around."
"It's about Exile Yun!" Mu Qinghuan roared.
"Ah?" Mu Daxiong finally let go, saying, "Speak!"
Mu Qinghuan excitedly raised a small metal fragment, "Dad, look at this!"
"What is this?" Mu Daxiong took it and asked.
"It's from the Sword Puppet he destroyed!" Mu Qinghuan explained.
"Oh?" Mu Daxiong felt it and shook his head, "Destroyed so completely, this puppet is totally useless now. This shows Exile Yun's talent is indeed remarkable, but..."
He still wasn't quite at the talent of Ling Chen.
"No, it's not that!" Mu Qinghuan whispered urgently. "I counted the fragments out of boredom and was terrified! Dad, guess how many fragments he sliced up the puppet into?"
"Tens of thousands, maybe? Is it a lot? I could smash it to dust with a bit more force," Mu Daxiong said indifferently.
"It's not the fact that he cut it up into so many pieces!"
"Then what's the issue?"
"Dad!" Mu Qinghuan grabbed his father's arm, his voice trembling with excitement, "It's that he cut it up into exactly 100,000 pieces! Exactly, not one more or less! It's incredibly precise!"
"100,000..." Mu Daxiong was momentarily stunned. He thought of the sound of a hundred thousand sword cries, bewildered, "A coincidence? Perhaps you counted wrong?"
"I'm absolutely certain!" Mu Qinghuan was still agitated, pulling his father closer and continuing, wide-eyed, "And there's something even more terrifying!"
"What?" Mu Daxiong's voice took on a more serious tone.
"These 100,000 fragments of the Sword Puppet, each one weighs exactly the same! I just weighed them!" Mu Qinghuan exclaimed.
"Impossible, right?"
To slice an object into 100,000 pieces, all of equal weight—was this about murder or creating an art piece?
"Here!" Mu Qinghuan pulled out a dozen fragments for Mu Daxiong, saying, "These are just a few I picked up randomly. Can you tell if their weights are different?"
Mu Daxiong grabbed them and instantly knew the answer. "Damn!" He was dumbfounded, staring in the direction where Yun Xiao had left. His eyes were completely wide in shock.
"This is way more impressive than Exile Ling destroying a hundred Sword Puppets with a single strike, right? What kind of terrifying control with the sword is this? I dare say no one else in Eternal Sword Prison can do this! Even those old monsters with a greater cultivation than Exile Yun couldn't achieve this effect."
Mu Daxiong took a deep breath, his expression completely changing, his previous worries vanishing!
"Dad, that's not all..." Mu Qinghuan said solemnly.
"There's more?" Mu Daxiong felt a chill.
"Take a closer look at each fragment..." Mu Qinghuan's voice was still shaking.
Mu Daxiong hurriedly looked down! "Holy...!" He was astounded to see that each fragment of the Sword Puppet was engraved with a tiny Taiji Yin Yang fish symbol, no bigger than the eye of a fish! But the entire pattern was clear and meticulous.
Mu Daxiong quickly examined several other fragments, all bearing the same symbol! His mind reeled as he said, "One hundred thousand pieces, all with this Taiji symbol?"
"They all have it..." Mu Qinghuan was amazed, then asked, "Dad, how was this done? Just with one swing of a sword? Is this even human?"
"This is the Taiji Sword Art of ancestor Gongshu Dao... Your aunt said that Exile Yun went to the Ancestral Sword Tomb to pay respects to the two Gongshu ancestors before leaving..." Upon uttering those words, Mu Daxiong's eyes nearly rolled back in his head.
"Ah?" Mu Qinghuan was so startled he fell backward onto the ground.
However, the two had missed one crucial detail. Yun Xiao's recent strike had also integrated Ling Chen's own swordsmanship—Divine Sky, Vast Sky—into the Taiji Sword Art.
"Exile Yun has redefined the word genius. In his presence, all other so-called geniuses are nothing but rubbish!" Mu Qinghuan scrambled to his feet, gripping his father's shoulders with fervor. "Dad! Quick! We need to spread this sensational news, clear Exile Yun's name! All these naysayers, doubting Exile Yun's talent? Let them see his true terror, and Exile Yun will instantly become a god in their eyes!"
In this world, right and wrong were subjective; it was all about perception. Ling Chen didn't do anything special; he was just universally respected, so everything he did was seen as correct.
"Wait!" Mu Daxiong suddenly grabbed his son, his eyes flashing with thought.
"Wait for what? Talent is justice!" Mu Qinghuan argued with a puzzled look.
Mu Daxiong, gripping his son's ears, spoke sternly, "Justice, my foot! Listen to me, don't breathe a word of this to anyone."
With that, he turned to leave.
"Dad, where are you going?"
"To see your grandfather!" Mu Daxiong said and swiftly departed, leaving even the pre-registration for the Immortal Sword Rankings behind.
Mu Qinghuan was stunned! But soon, he caught on, a cold smile creeping across his lips. "I get it! It's enough that our Mu Family knows how terrifying Exile Yun is. Let those bootlickers of Ling Chen offend him one after another. In the end, they'll meet the same fate as Feng Ruolin! Once these opportunists are gone, Eternal Sword Prison will be cleansed!"
He was now utterly convinced. "Exile Yun's talent… if the Eternal Sword is correct, it should be eleven resonances! No, maybe even twelve!"
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