Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Befriending Through Swords, Catching a Blade Bare-Handed
Bamboo Sea Manor. This was where Wenhua City had his epiphany, achieving Heart-Sword Control. The place was of extraordinary significance.
Every year on January 1st, Wenhua City would teach Sword Techniques here, a testament to how much he valued this place.
Wanting to buy this manor was no longer a simple matter of Primordial Stones.
At Ning Jiang’s words, Wenhua City’s gaze fell upon him. His eyes were like swords, projecting immense pressure, as if a blade were pointed at one’s vital spots.
His gaze was fixed on Ning Jiang, but Liu Xianyu at his side turned pale. Unable to withstand the pressure, she involuntarily took a step back.
For a master of Wenhua City’s caliber, a mere glance carried immense pressure.
According to legend, Chu Bai, the Sword King of his generation, could even kill with a look.
The weak kill the body; the strong extinguish the soul.
Lesser Martial Artists only know how to use weapons to destroy the body.
But a true expert of the Sword Dao needs no blade; a single glance is enough to shatter a person’s mind and extinguish their spirit.
It was like facing a tiger. A simple glance could drain the blood from an ordinary person’s face, and a single roar could scare the weak-willed into soiling themselves.
Sometimes, people who suffer a great shock can literally be frightened to death. This is what it means for the spirit to die, for the soul to be severed.
Wenhua City was no gentle soul. As a Sword Dao Grandmaster who had mastered Heart-Sword Control, it would have been stranger if he hadn’t reacted to a young man daring to declare he wanted to buy Bamboo Sea Manor.
This glance was meant to put Ning Jiang in his place—a small punishment to serve as a warning to others.
Such was the majesty of a Sword Dao Grandmaster.
His glare was aimed at Ning Jiang, yet Liu Xianyu was the first to falter. It just went to show how terrifying his gaze truly was.
’This kid’s about to make a fool of himself,’ Wang Ziming thought, wisely avoiding Wenhua City’s gaze.
He watched Ning Jiang, waiting to see him be humiliated.
Yet, Ning Jiang stood there, calm and unperturbed, feeling no pressure whatsoever.
If Wenhua City’s gaze was a sword, then Ning Jiang was the Abyss itself—a vast ocean, accepting all rivers, containing everything.
No matter how the storm raged, he remained perfectly composed.
"Oh?"
Wenhua City’s expression changed as he recognized Ning Jiang’s extraordinary nature. ’This young man can remain completely unmoved by my gaze. Not even Liu Xianyu or Wang Ziming could manage that.’ "You’re quite impressive," he said aloud.
This assessment immediately surprised many in the crowd.
It meant that Wenhua City acknowledged Ning Jiang.
"You wish to buy Bamboo Sea Manor? Very well," Wenhua City said, not one to mince words. "But this is where I attained my enlightenment. I cannot sell it to a mediocrity; that would only tarnish my name."
He was a Sword Cultivator, after all—direct and to the point.
The crowd nodded in agreement with his words.
Every Grandmaster cherishes their reputation as a bird cherishes its feathers.
Wenhua City had achieved Heart-Sword Control here, giving this place profound significance in the heart of every Sword Cultivator. They couldn’t accept it being sold to a mediocrity either.
"What do you propose?" Ning Jiang asked.
"Many have wished to buy Bamboo Sea Manor over the years, but I have only one rule." Wenhua City enunciated each word clearly. "A contest of swords!"
"As long as you can stand here, engage in a contest of swords, and remain undefeated until no one is left to challenge you, I will gladly give you this Bamboo Sea Manor. Of course," he added, "this is a contest of Sword Technique only, not Cultivation."
His words sent the entire crowd into an uproar.
The conditions were absurdly harsh. A contest of swords, remaining undefeated... One had to remember that besides the two young geniuses who had mastered Body Sword Control—Liu Xianyu and Wang Ziming—there were also masters from the older generation present.
Among the older generation were seven Sword Cultivators who had achieved Body Sword Control.
Those who achieved Body Sword Control were also known as Sword Masters.
Each of these seven Sword Masters had been famous for a long time.
"It’s too difficult."
Someone shook their head secretly. Faced with such conditions, surely anyone would know better than to try and would simply retreat.
Even someone as arrogant as Wang Ziming considered Wenhua City’s conditions to be nigh impossible to meet.
"A trivial matter."
However, Ning Jiang’s nonchalant reply sent a shockwave through the crowd.
The shock was followed by a wave of angry, icy glares.
Those glares came from the Sword Masters.
’A trivial matter?’
With those three words, was he not looking down on all of them?
"Xianyu, this friend of yours is unbelievably arrogant."
Wang Ziming sneered. To offend all the Sword Masters present in one fell swoop was, in his opinion, incredibly foolish.
"You don’t understand the Realm he’s in, Wang Ziming," Liu Xianyu said faintly. "Let me be honest with you. The gap between you two is enormous. You aren’t even a tenth of his match."
Never mind the Sword Masters present; if it were a contest of Sword Technique alone, without relying on Cultivation, Ning Jiang could even hold his own against Wenhua City.
"I’m not even a tenth of his match?" Wang Ziming’s face darkened, convinced Liu Xianyu was exaggerating.
"You possess the dauntless spirit of a Sword Cultivator, which is commendable," Wenhua City said. "But your true skill can only be known through a contest. Let’s begin." He was also curious what gave Ning Jiang the confidence to make such a bold claim.
On the high platform.
Ning Jiang’s sleeves fluttered and his long hair billowed, making him look as if he might ride the wind and depart at any moment.
On the fifteenth of the eleventh month, he had killed Yan Ziling in this very place.
Now, on the first of January, he was here for a contest of swords.
"Who will be first!"
Atop the high platform, Ning Jiang’s gaze swept over the crowd. What was there to fear, even with hundreds, even thousands of Sword Cultivators below?
That single question, "Who will be first!", revealed his ambition to look down upon all other heroes present.
"White-haired Ghost Ning Jiang! I’ve heard you defeated Gao Jin with a single strike. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ll find out for myself!"
With a sharp cry, a young man leaped onto the high platform, his body moving as one with his sword.
His expression was grim. Without any preamble, he immediately unleashed a killing blow.
The moment he struck, a flash of sword light enveloped Ning Jiang, aimed at all his vital points.
This man was not far from achieving Body Sword Control; perhaps all he lacked was a single moment of insight to make the breakthrough.
’The rumors about Gao Jin are getting more and more fantastic. Today, we’ll find out the truth,’ Wang Ziming thought, his eyes narrowing. As one of the three great young Sword Cultivators of his generation, Gao Jin was second only to him and Liu Xianyu.
Even for him or Liu Xianyu, defeating Gao Jin with a single strike would be incredibly difficult.
"Huh? You’re not using a sword?"
The youth’s attack had already enveloped Ning Jiang when he realized with a shock that his opponent wasn’t drawing a sword at all, but simply reaching out with one hand.
"You’re courting death!"
The youth flew into a rage, feeling utterly humiliated.
The onlookers, meanwhile, were convinced Ning Jiang was insane.
"An inch of length is an inch of strength. With a weapon in hand, one’s lethality increases tenfold. Does this man really intend to catch a blade with his bare hands?"
"Catching a blade bare-handed isn’t hard if there’s a huge gap in skill, but this youth’s Sword Technique is clearly approaching the level of Body Sword Control. For his opponent to act like this is pure arrogance."
"Exactly. A sword is three feet long. With a blade in hand, you always have a three-foot advantage in reach. In a duel between masters, victory is decided by inches, let alone three feet!"
A chorus of disapproval rose from the crowd. As Sword Cultivators, they all understood just how difficult it was to catch a blade bare-handed.
But Ning Jiang couldn’t have cared less what they thought.
His palm was fair, his fingers long and slender—his hand was more beautiful than a woman’s.
He extended his right hand to the side of the blade. His five fingers flicked out, fanning open like a dazzling, blooming lotus as they tapped against the body of the sword.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
His fingers were like iron hammers, imbued with immense Power. Each tap landed with the force of ten thousand pounds, ringing out with the sound of colliding metal.
The youth’s expression changed drastically. The immense force traveling up the blade numbed his entire hand. His fingers went slack, and the sword flew from his grasp to embed itself in the ground.
HISS!
A wave of sharp gasps rippled through the crowd. All those who had just been disparaging Ning Jiang fell silent.
Before the outcome was decided, they could call Ning Jiang arrogant and conceited.
But now the result was clear: Ning Jiang had caught the blade bare-handed, and with ease!
This meant that Ning Jiang’s strength was far superior to the young man’s.
"The moment you lost your sword, you lost your spirit and your will to fight," Ning Jiang commented, looking at the disheartened youth. "A true Sword Cultivator maintains his battle intent even when disarmed. He uses his hands as his blades and fights unyieldingly to the very end. That is the meaning of ’no sword in hand, yet a sword in the heart.’"
"’No sword in hand, yet a sword in the heart?’... Thank you."
A flash of understanding appeared in the young man’s eyes. He bowed to Ning Jiang and walked off the high platform.
Although he had lost the battle to Ning Jiang, he had also received guidance and gained something from the experience.
The outcome of this battle was like a bucket of cold water dumped on the other eager young challengers, extinguishing any thought they had of challenging Ning Jiang.
A challenge is only meaningful when opponents are of similar strength.
But if the gap was too large, stepping up would only be asking for humiliation.
It was just like how no one would dare challenge Wenhua City.
"Wang Ziming, do you dare come up?"
Suddenly, Ning Jiang’s words ignited the atmosphere in the arena.
In the eyes of the crowd, the only ones from the younger generation who stood a chance against Ning Jiang were Liu Xianyu and Wang Ziming.
Liu Xianyu seemed to be on good terms with Ning Jiang, so a fight between them was unlikely. But Wang Ziming was a different story.
They had just seen with their own eyes that there was friction between Wang Ziming and Ning Jiang.
"Challenge me? You’re not worthy," Wang Ziming said haughtily.
He had always been the number one young Sword Cultivator in Luoyang, consistently a step ahead of even Liu Xianyu. Naturally, he had developed a superiority complex.
"Not worthy? In that case, after my sword has suppressed everyone here, I hope you can still maintain that confidence," Ning Jiang said calmly.
The gazes of the many Sword Cultivators in the crowd turned cold.
’Suppress everyone here with his sword?’
’One man, intending to suppress every Sword Cultivator here?’
"Hmph. The younger generation these days is utterly clueless. It seems that because we old-timers don’t make a habit of acting, any random riffraff feels they can spout nonsense."
The voice belonged to a thin, middle-aged man with a mustache framing his lips.
He rose and walked onto the high platform.
A stir went through the crowd.
Sword Master, Lin Feng.
"Now this is interesting. Lin Feng is Gao Jin’s master. He’s no doubt coming up to avenge his disciple. That ’riffraff’ comment was a clear insult!"
The atmosphere of the entire arena became electric.
One was a rising new star of the Sword Dao, the other a long-renowned Sword Master.
The newcomer versus the veteran.
Who was stronger, and who was weaker?
