Chapter 268: Chapter 268: Little Sword Marquis (Additional reward for Charm Shadow-Ice Heart, 1/3)
In Qingxue State’s Yunfeng Domain.
In a vast plain, a large hole was split in the middle, wrapped in a misty haze, the subtle charm of the mysterious array emitting an aura spreading outward. Members of the martial world jumped into it, disappearing one by one.
"The era of Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis coincides with a few decades after the decisive battle between the orthodox and unorthodox paths. Many relics from the ancient times still existed then, who knows, something might be found in his ruins."
"My ambitions are not so vast. As long as I can obtain something mildly precious and then withdraw, it would ensure my life is not at risk."
From solitary individuals to groups of three to five, sounds of conversations among the martial world members occasionally echoed.
"This commotion is quite big."
In the distance, white figures flickered, landing outside the misty area. Amongst them were strikingly attractive women. One of them happened to be the number one disciple of the Queen City, ’Flying Flower Chasing Moon,’ Ye Liushuang.
The Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis may be ranked last on the spur-list, but being on the spur-list signifies that one is a superior rank martial artist. As soon as the news broke out, Queen City led by the Grand Elder dispatched a team of experts to the place first, with the main forces trailing behind.
"I fear another storm of bloodshed is imminent."
Ye Liushuang, looking at the white fog, murmured to herself.
"This is the Martial World. If you wish to become stronger, you have to experience a series of struggles. Liushuang, among your peers, you’ve already fallen behind by a lot, you need to make double the effort."
Xiao Yutong, the Grand Elder of Queen City, suggested subtly.
Little did anyone know that Queen City’s secret technique, the Frost Technique was incomplete, being merely the first part.
Nobody could even imagine that the first generation patriarch of Queen City’s lover was the Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis. Rumor has it that the complete Frost Technique was created by the two of them. Hence, everyone within Queen City had the suspicion that the second part of Frost Technique might be hidden in the ruins of the Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis.
Once Ye Liushuang could obtain the second part, given her talent, she would definitely achieve a great leap in strength.
"I will."
Ye Liushuang clenched her fists, her mind unconsciously evoking a tall figure in green robes. Probably a year ago, no one could have thought what kind of tremendous pressure this person would bring to their peers.
"Xiao Yutong, long time no see."
A loud laughter suddenly erupted, and another group of people arrived outside the fog. The one speaking was a majestic Elder of the Divine Fist Clan with bushy eyebrows. Beside the Clan leader stood the Cold-faced Asura, Fang Shenwu, who wore an impassive expression.
Xiao Yutong cast a glance at them, gave a slight nod, and with her group, entered the mist.
"This woman, she does indeed come from Queen City."
The Elder of the Divine Fist Clan felt insulted after being ignored by someone. However, the power of Queen City, even among the top sects, placed them in the forefront, the Divine Fist Clan did not dare to provoke them recklessly.
Fang Shenwu was also slightly vexed. Especially since he saw himself as an equal adversary, but just got ignored by Ye Liushuang, this shattered his pride.
"Having reached a new realm with my Shenwu’s three forms and further breaking through to the Xuanqi Realm, I’m looking forward to encountering you in the ruins."
Fang Shenwu swore to himself quietly.
"Let’s go in."
The Elder of the Divine Fist Clan waved his hand, leading his people into the mist.
From the east, a group rode their horses at a fast pace.
On the horseback, there was a young man with hair reaching his waist, extraordinarily handsome. As his gaze swept past some of the martial world members, they couldn’t help feeling a tremble of fear.
"Who is this man, he looks terrifying?"
"He is the third ranked genius in this generation, the ’Cold-faced Asura’ Yuan Zong from the Asura Mansion."
Some were conversing in a low voice.
"Third-ranked?"
Hearing the conversation, Yuan Zong gave off a chilling laugh.
Having suffered a severe defeat in the Heroes Grand Tournament, he strived hard after learning from his humiliation. He recently disregarded the objections of the Asura Mansion and practiced the Asura Blood Heart technique, which had great side effects. Although it left him with sequelae, his strength increased by numerous folds.
After he left the retreat, he immediately went to challenge Xue Changqing. In the end, he still lost after thousands of clashes. What made Yuan Zong collapse was a sentence from Xue Changqing.
"I can’t parry his sword."
Each time he thought of those words, Yuan Zong gritted his teeth furiously, yet feeling utterly helpless.
"The Heavenly Treasure relics offer many opportunities. There is no reason I can’t rejuvenate my soul and catch up."
Yuan Zong convinced himself not to give up.
In addition to Queen City, the Divine Fist Clan, and the Asura Mansion, a short while later, the people dispatched by the Floating Rain Pavilion and the Xu Family also arrived at this place one after another.
As for other top forces, the news had not been out for long and they were quite a distance away so they were still en-route.
In a few short days, the Yunfeng Domain had become the heart of the martial world in Qingxue State.
Shi Xiaole arrived on the third afternoon, with Qingfeng’s company his speed surpassed that of many.
If it was a cave dwelling of just any other martial artist on the spur-list, Shi Xiaole might avoid the crowd due to the presence of numerous strong contenders. But the Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis was different, his swordsmanship might help Shi Xiaole to enlighten himself and quicken the process of understanding Sword Heart.
Upon entering the fog, Shi Xiaole saw three pathways in front of him. The path on the left was quite dark, the middle path was the standard amount of light, and the path on the right was bathed in bright light.
"This array is interesting."
Mysterious arrays, witchcraft, mechanical techniques, hidden weapon techniques, and the art of astrology, are collectively known as the ’five peerless arts in the world’. As long as one cultivates any one of them deeply, it can be used in unimaginably marvelous ways.
The most prominent example was the Mechanism Pavilion.
The Mechanism Pavilion didn’t even have experts from the Spiritual-Passage Realm yet they managed to secure a place amongst the eight sects because of their mechanical techniques. Even the other top forces didn’t dare to offend them.
After standing in place and observing for a moment, Shi Xiaole shook his head. He had no knowledge of arrays, rather than wasting time, he might as well go by his intuition.
He chose the path in the middle.
"Mediocre persons, do not enter through my gate, to prevent you from disgracing my legacy."
A voice resonated around Shi Xiaole, filled with authority. The surrounding aura starting to surge wildly, pressurizing him like a mountain looming over.
This wasn’t a physical oppression, rather a mental one.
Under the function of the array system, the illusion became incredibly real. Each step required ten times more courage and energy than usual.
Despite the hundred-meter journey, Shi Xiaole walked through it looking as composed as ever, not a single drop of sweat to be seen.
This was one of the trials set up by the Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis. Unknown to Shi Xiaole, over ninety percent of martial-world people couldn’t pass this test, and were directly transported by the array system to the other end of the plain.
The scenery changed, and Shi Xiaole found himself in a vast wilderness of breathtaking beauty, the air even fresher than the outside world.
"Is this the Heavenly Treasure Ruins?"
Shi Xiaole had to admit, things are not quite as he had imagined. He thought the Heavenly Treasure Ruins would be like Dongfang Haoran’s cavern, located within a closed structure. Clearly, he had underestimated the vision of a master from the martial arts world-renowned list.
After about two hours, Shi Xiaole came to a halt.
"Something’s not right, it feels as if I’m just walking in circles."
The surrounding trees and flowers were eerily silent, which gave Shi Xiaole an uncomfortable feeling.
Swish! Swish!
Suddenly, several vine trees began to tremble, and long vines began to curl towards Shi Xiaole from all directions. Shi Xiaole saw all too clearly, these were not ordinary vines; they were imitation vines made of gold and iron, lethal enough to cause severe injuries, if not death.
Shi Xiaole spun around, unleashing countless Qingyang Sword Qi that shot towards the iron imitation vines, creating a "pop, pop" sound.
There were about sixteen vine trees in all, moving and shaking, the iron imitations whipped and stabbed at all points of Shi Xiaole’s body.
Anyone within the Qi Absorption Realm, facing the attacking force of the vine array, would surely perish unless they possessed a strength like Shi Xiaole.
"Sever."
With a change in his swordsmanship, a dense sword qi shot out through the gaps in the imitation vines, cutting one of them into two. He repeated the feat fifteen more times, ending the battle.
Upon stepping out from the array, Shi Xiaole noticed there were still many people stranded in various vine arrays. More than half of them were barely holding on, on the brink of annihilation.
Without any intention to intervene, Shi Xiaole followed his intuition and headed east.
Along the way, he encountered numerous array attacks including earth arrays, stone arrays, and flying leaf arrays, each one more dangerous than the last.
Especially the flying leaf array, its speed was extremely fast. Without breaking into the Xuanqi Realm, Shi Xiaole wasn’t certain he could pass the trial.
Bang!
The moment the flying leaf array was broken, the earth underneath cracked open, revealing a small wooden box.
Shi Xiaole, with cautious regard, pried the box open with his sword and found a secret manual. Upon examining it, he couldn’t help but feel amazed; it just had to be a lower-grade, second-rate body technique manual.
Although Shi Xiaole was no longer interested in such things, it was still quite valuable to exchange for reward points. If he could acquire dozens of such manuals, the reward points obtained would suffice to purchase a lower-grade, first-rate secret manual from the system.
Of course, that was not likely to happen.
Even though the elite martial artists were wealthier, they wouldn’t possess dozens of second-rate manuals, not even the top powerhouses in Qingxue State.
Shi Xiaole speculated that he received this secret manual because he showed exceptional aptitude within the same realm.
"Kid, hand over what you have."
Just as one’s fortune changes with time, a man in a yellow suit suddenly appeared, his gaze greedily fixed on the secret manual in Shi Xiaole’s hand.
From another direction, four more individuals landed, also targeting Shi Xiaole as their prey.
They were companions who had already passed through the array without any rewards. This had angered them, feeding their desire to kill and loot.
"Lately, wearing green is very popular. This kid is pretty strong, do you think he could be the ’Little Sword Marquis’, Shi Xiaole?"
The man in the yellow suit joked, eliciting laughter from the others.
"Should we tuck our tails and run then?"
Clearly, they all dismissed the idea as a joke.
Qingxue State was vast with a multitude of strong and outstanding individuals. Not every young man in green was Shi Xiaole. And even if it were true, what did they have to fear?
Every single one of them was at the fourth tier of the Xuanqi Realm, each practicing the same lower-grade, second-rate internal power. Together, they could easily defeat a fifth-tier Xuanqi powerhouse.
A lower-grade spiritual sword? Their combined forces could easily pressure the kid, stopping him from drawing his sword.
"Little Sword Marquis?"
Shi Xiaole raised an eyebrow. The other party was not merely spectulating; however, when did he acquire such a nickname?
The title ’Sword Marquis’ was not a casual one, only swordsmen from the martial world-renowned list deserved such a title, like the Heavenly Treasure Sword Marquis.
"It’s him."
At that moment, three people stopped at a distance, staring intently. They were Xu Canghai, Wang Zuying, and Su Zhi’er from the Floating Rain Pavilion of the Xu Family.
Upon entering the Heavenly Treasure Ruins, everyone was unexpectedly dispersed by the array system into different areas.
The three of them only had a ninth-tier Qi Absorption Realm cultivation. In the ruins, they were as vulnerable as lambs to the slaughter. Hence, they had chosen to stick together. Still, there were many instances they had nearly lost their lives.
"Should we help him?"
Wang Zuying asked with hesitation.
"No need, he’s got that lower-grade spiritual sword; he should be fine against those five."
Xu Canghai shook his head.
Both of them were too weak; joining in would only mean certain death.
"What if he doesn’t get the chance to draw his sword?"
Su Zhi’er shook her head slightly. Shi Xiaole’s battle with Guan Fei could have ended differently if Guan Fei had known about his lower-grade spiritual sword.
"Kid, since you refuse to hand it over, then go to hell."
Seeing Shi Xiaole’s defiance, the five martial world wanderers glanced at each other and charged. A formidable internal power immediately engulfed the sky, aimed firstly at Shi Xiaole’s arms, stirring the flowers and leaves on the ground into a frenzied whirl.
