Chapter 700: Insanity
Song Yan watched Shao Sichao’s retreating figure thoughtfully.
"That spiritual light’s aura doesn’t seem to be just spiritual power..."
His Insightful Void Sword Eye activated, revealing the full condition of the Cultivator being carried off the Sword Debate Platform by a Disciple.
The spiritual power and blood flow in this person’s body were restricted to an extremely low state by something.
It could only maintain the basic functions of his body.
"Poison?"
Is Senior Brother Shao a poison Cultivator?
This was truly beyond Song Yan’s expectations.
In the Cultivation World, there are numerous Daoist traditions and Spell methods. Aside from clearly demonic Cultivation secret arts that cannot be used, any other method is permitted.
In fact, as long as you dare to display it under the watchful eye of Daoist Lijun, even demonic Cultivation secret arts are not entirely out of the question.
However, it might be a swan song.
At this moment, Song Yan was already considering whether he could resist such poison arts if he encountered Shao Sichao.
The matches on the field continued.
Roughly estimating, a single match would not exceed half an incense stick’s time at most.
Most Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Stage would only fight with full strength; practical combat techniques were of no concern to anyone.
As soon as there was a slight disadvantage, it would immediately turn into a catastrophic defeat.
Battles where both sides were evenly matched and hard to distinguish were much rarer than imagined.
A match on a certain Sword Debate Platform would end early, and a second one would quickly follow.
At this rate, the first round of eliminations should be completed within half a day.
"Central Sword Debate Platform, Seventeen versus Nineteen."
It was finally his turn.
Song Yan slowly walked onto the central platform. His opponent was a round-faced youth at Level 8 Qi Refining.
After roughly sensing the other party’s spiritual power fluctuations, the round-faced youth first felt a wave of relief.
"Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level..."
Just as he was smugly remarking on his good luck, he clearly saw the person’s appearance.
"Wipe Sword Peak, Sword Casket..."
"Song Yan?!"
Seventeen is Song Yan?
The round-faced Cultivator’s eyes went dark, thinking to himself how unlucky he was... These twenty-two people were all selected from Wipe Sword Peak; who didn’t know Song Yan’s name?
"Hmph—"
"...Damn it, how can a Level 8 Qi Refining be afraid of a Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level!? There’s no such logic!"
As if cheering himself on, his gaze sharpened.
When the Elder on the platform announced the start, the round-faced Cultivator swiftly formed hand seals.
Six ring-shaped blades were unleashed one by one, arcing through the air and rapidly striking towards Song Yan.
Song Yan was not careless or overconfident. Sword Qi surged within his sleeve, also splitting into six Sword Qi.
With a flick of his large sleeve, the six Sword Qi directly swept towards the opponent’s blades.
Clang, clang, clang... The blades were sent flying by the violent Sword Qi. The opponent didn’t seem to place all his hopes on these blades either, forming hand seals, about to cast some Daoist Spell.
But Song Yan didn’t want to give his opponent a chance; ending the battle quickly meant more time to rest.
Six azure Sword Qi swiftly attacked, simply and brutally cutting through the round-faced Cultivator’s protective spiritual robe.
He quickly retreated backward.
Yet, Song Yan’s body was surging with Sword Qi, his figure like a ghost. In a few flashes, he was already before him.
A sharp aura emerged, shattering the Spiritual Qi he had gathered.
His sword fingers merged, and he pointed a finger, stopping an inch from his forehead.
"..."
The round-faced Cultivator was somewhat stunned. When he came to his senses, he sighed softly.
If one’s skills were inferior, one would naturally lose.
He just hadn’t expected it to end so quickly.
"I concede."
The round-faced Cultivator slowly raised his hand, signaling to the Elder that he surrendered.
"Central Sword Debate Platform, number seventeen, Song Yan wins."
As a dark horse that appeared during the selection phase, Song Yan’s matches naturally garnered a lot of attention.
It was unclear whether the Elder intentionally arranged his matches on the central platform.
In any case, his victory was not surprising to many.
Only Li Yi stroked his chin, recalling Song Yan’s battle just now.
He murmured, "Junior Brother Song’s Sword Qi seems to be a bit stronger than it was in the Blessed Realm."
Li Yi had not systematically learned or Cultivated any secret arts for spiritual observation.
He simply perceived the changes in the other party’s Sword Qi based on "feeling."
Song Yan returned to the spectator stand. Xiang Zhaoling, who had been sitting beside him, was now nowhere to be seen.
He looked up and realized she had already entered the arena and begun her match.
Southeast Sword Debate Platform, number eighteen, Xiang Zhaoling, versus number twenty-two, Zhai Yin.
To Song Yan’s surprise, Xiang Zhaoling did not summon the giant toad, giant scorpion, large spider, and so on from outside Lingxi Market that day.
Instead, she used a method he had only heard of before but had never truly witnessed.
According to Xiang Zhaoling herself, this thing was called... "Gu."
His Insightful Void Sword Eye slowly activated, revealing the shape within the moon-white light cluster floating beside Xiang Zhaoling.
This was a small insect.
Crystalline and transparent, curved like the moon.
As Xiang Zhaoling tapped her fingertip, the small insect gently wriggled, and the moon-white light cluster split into a palm-sized, crescent-shaped blade.
This moon blade was extremely fast, cutting a straight line through the air and heading directly towards her opponent.
"How marvelous..."
The Cultivator surnamed Zhai seemed to have already taken a hit and was now frantically dodging.
And Xiang Zhaoling, it seemed, had grown tired of playing.
In her palm, another Gu worm appeared.
It was black and purple, like a butterfly, with black circular patterns on its wings spreading outwards in rings.
Song Yan looked closely; this was not the blue butterfly from outside Lingxi Market that day.
He saw Xiang Zhaoling’s cherry lips part slightly, and she softly uttered.
"Go."
She raised her small hand, and the black and purple butterfly flapped its wings, but the moment it flew from the girl’s fingertip... it vanished.
In the eyes of all spectators, a purple light flashed around Zhai Yin, and then he stood rooted to the spot, as if in a daze.
Xiang Zhaoling took light and leisurely small steps to his side and gently pushed him.
She pushed him off the Sword Debate Platform.
As the purple light dissipated, Zhai Yin finally seemed to awaken from a dream.
On the Elder’s seats, Daoist Lijun’s gaze flickered over Zhai Yin, then looked at the girl.
He chuckled softly.
"Dreamlike and illusory, blissful and forgetful."
"Southern Border Gu arts are still so strange and unpredictable."
A hint of reminiscence appeared in his eyes.
Speaking of which, Xiang Zhaoling was extremely famous when she first entered the Sect.
A Genius girl with a single fire Spiritual Root!
But later, she didn’t show much in public, and she didn’t seem to participate in large-scale tasks or anything similar.
Her ranking in the previous Wipe Sword Peak selection was not high either.
Everyone just thought she was an ignorant girl who possessed Cultivation but didn’t know how to fight.
Many even believed that she had become ordinary.
However, the recent match made everyone remember the name Xiang Zhaoling once again.
A complete crushing victory!
"It ended as if it were just a game..."
"Incredible, there’s actually someone like this among the inner Sect Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Stage."
"What kind of Spell is that?"
No one knew.
