Chapter 77: Chapter 77 Shi Xiaole Takes Action
Tao Ding’s relentless frenzy made many shake their heads.
To truly make a name for oneself in the martial world, strength alone is not enough. At least on the righteous path, one must also have reputation, character, and demeanor among other things.
This Tao Ding has strength and talent, but he is so easily provoked by trivial matters that it reveals his narrow-mindedness, preventing him from becoming significant.
"Have the Huajian Sect lost their nerve? Are you relying on a woman to save face?"
Tao Ding cackled wildly, seeming to find solace from his inner shame only in this kind of demeanor.
"You, you there, and you, come out. If you don’t dare, you’re nothing but a bunch of turtles hiding in your shells."
Tao Ding’s hand pointed successively at Yuan Qiuwei, Xiao Yuanbo, and Shi Xiaole, his demeanor extremely arrogant.
Feeling the eyes on him, Shi Xiaole furrowed his brows.
He didn’t care about the judgment of others, but if someone pointed at his nose and called him a turtle without him making a move, it would seem rather weak.
With this in mind, Shi Xiaole stood up.
"You, you challenge me? Hehe, better let your senior brother do it. You’re not up to it."
Tao Ding laughed uproariously.
"To face you, there is no need for our senior brother or second brother to act. I am more than enough."
Shi Xiaole replied.
Tao Ding narrowed his eyes, a dangerous light flickering momentarily. This young man had already intended to step forward before Mao Wenjing. Could it be that he truly had extraordinary abilities?
Humph, even if he had some skills, he could not exceed Mao Wenjing. And even if it were Mao Wenjing, the odds would be evenly split with him.
"Isn’t that the reckless youngster? He really dares to fight."
On the side of the Silver Spear Sect, their senior brother paused slightly before sneering, "So, this kid is not only arrogant, but also so crafty."
In Tao Ding’s current state, he could only exert sixty to seventy percent of his strength. Shi Xiaole taking the stage at this moment is clearly opportunistic.
As if understanding their senior brother’s thoughts, Wang Yangming shook his head inwardly. He didn’t believe that Shi Xiaole was that kind of person.
"He is the young master of your Golden Phoenix Tower. I should see how capable he is."
On the side of the Iron Fist Sect, a black-haired old man sat next to Jin Wuwei, stroking his beard as he smiled.
He is the current Sect Master of the Iron Fist Sect.
Given Tao Ding’s current state, losing to Shi Xiaole wouldn’t be surprising.
On the side of the Light Sword Sect, a young master seemed to say casually, it was exactly the eldest disciple of the Light Sword Sect, Zhu Qian, who had formerly challenged Bloody Hand Lian Tu and lost.
Lan Ning frowned, commenting, "Tao Ding is the one who proposed the challenge. If he loses, who can he blame?"
Zhu Qian just laughed without replying, giving off an air of disdain for taking advantage of someone’s misfortune.
"Fiery Fire Heavenly Flame!"
Under everyone’s gaze, Tao Ding yelled in frantic release, and a fist full of sparks exploded with a surge of heat, directly aiming for Shi Xiaole’s face.
Everyone suddenly realized that the power of Tao Ding’s punch was by no means weaker than before. The previous fierce battle seemed to have little influence on him.
"Hehe, if this kid thinks he can take advantage, he’s thoroughly mistaken. Younger Brother Tao practices my Fiery Fire Sect’s Divine Fire Technique. Its endurance is impressive. A mere few hundred moves aren’t any big deal."
Zhang Qingfang gave a light laugh, as if watching a good play.
The Fiery Fire Sect was used to crushing the Huajian Sect, and although the emergence of Mao Wenjing was surprising, that was it — it couldn’t really produce another such wonder, could it?
The flame-filled fist cut through the air, causing a searing sound.
It had to be said, Tao Ding’s talent was decent to have cultivated a third-rate superior fist technique to the Transformation Phase.
But this didn’t really count for anything in Shi Xiaole’s eyes.
Without lifting his gaze, Shi Xiaole drew his sword — holding, drawing, sheathing — the three movements were merged into one, and completed in the blink of an eye. They formed a cold white sword light that flashed out.
Clang!
Tao Ding’s Fiery Fire Fist collapsed like a firefly, his body shooting straight out. His feet skidded across the ground, causing sparks to fly.
"What?!"
From the Sect Master Yan Donghua of the Fiery Fire Sect to the senior disciple Zhang Qingfang, everyone stood up in shock.
Spectators murmured in disbelief at what they saw.
"You, you..."
As the target, Tao Ding’s shock and fear were plainly visible on his face. None knew better than he that he had just had a brush with death.
If the swordsman had not converted his blade edge to the blade flat, it could have cleaved him in two.
This guy, who looked younger than himself, was actually so strong?!
"Is this youngster also part of the Huajian Sect? He was so unassuming before, who would have thought his sword skills would be so high?"
"That sword move was too fast, I didn’t even see it clearly."
The spectators were buzzing, all stupefied by Shi Xiaole’s sword. Many sect masters had looks of extreme interest in their eyes.
"He comprehends intent! And it appears to be beyond ten percent."
Regardless of how swift Shi Xiaole’s sword was, it of course could not escape the majority of the sect masters present. Yan Donghua took a deep breath, his face extremely sullen.
He would never have thought that Yu Fangge, that bastard, would be so lucky. He not only took Mao Wenjing as his disciple, but also got the even more outstanding Shi Xiaole.
What is intent? At least on the surface, no one in the whole Cloud Triangle area has understood it.
Without mincing words, just with that one sword of Shi Xiaole’s, he could be ranked among the top ten in this Sky Summit Meet.
Majority of the sect masters’ eyes glowed as they looked at Shi Xiaole, full of surprise and shock. Clearly, they didn’t expect him to grasp intent, which had been elusive to others for decades.
"Junior Brother’s swordsmanship seems even stronger than when he fought Chu Lin."
Xiao Yuanbo and the others exchanged glances, completely unable to understand how Shi Xiaole had achieved this.
Mao Wenjing revealed a wry smile, she thought she was gradually closing the gap with Shi Xiaole but it seemed that the gap was actually widening.
The members of the other eight sects on Mountain Luyan were also speechless for quite some time.
They had no clue that yesterday night, Shi Xiaole’s breakthrough in the dangerous situation enhanced the power of Taiyue Three Green Peaks.
He had just adjusted this dangerous situation to nineteen percent and, after observing for a while, found a flaw in Tao Ding’s fist technique which led to the previous result.
So to say, Shi Xiaole’s ability to defeat Tao Ding was not strong enough to kill him instantly.
Note that I’m referring to kill instantly. It’s a different story when it comes to moves such as ’A Chance for Life’, ’Chaotic One Slash’.
It’s a pity that Tao Ding didn’t even have the qualification to push Shi Xiaole to use these moves.
"Damn it! Qinqfang, do you think you can defeat him?"
Yan Donghua gritted his teeth, not willing to let the Huajian Sect show off, and quietly asked his outstanding disciple, Zhang Qingfang.
"Indeed, his swordsmanship is formidable, but he took the upper hand just now because Tao didn’t know his strength. If I give it my all, there might be a chance to defeat him."
After careful consideration, Zhang Qingfang spoke word by word.
"Good, Qingfang, the reputation of our Fiery Fire Sect rests on you."
"Master, rest assured, I will definitely win."
As Shi Xiaole was preparing to leave the stage, a hearty laughter arose and a young man, seven feet tall with a strict face, stepped out with lightning sparkling in his tiger-like eyes as if trying to see through him.
"Brother Tao, you step back. Let me deal with him."
"Senior Brother, it’s all up to you."
Tao Ding glanced at Shi Xiaole, then retreated unwillingly to the rear, hoping his Senior Brother would avenge him by crushing the young man in the blue shirt.
"Zhang Qingfang, a reckless man with a broken halberd. Though he is from Fiery Fire Sect, he’s comparable to the top disciples of first-tier powers in Cloud Triangle. He ranks among the outstanding young talents of the second tier, now there will be a good show to watch."
Zhu Qian giggled with joy at the impending calamity.
"Senior Brother Zhu, Shi Xiaole is from our area, it seems like you can’t wait for him to fail?"
Lan Ning finally spoke up after hearing Zhu Qian’s constant targeting of Shi Xiaole.
Zhu Qian’s mouth twitched but he didn’t say anything, but in his heart, he thought ever since I lost to the Bloody Hand Lian Tu, you’ve had no regard for me, your Senior Brother. This Shi Xiaole would serve him right to be rendered handicapped by Zhang Qingfang.
"Zhang Qingfang is very famous in the Cloud Triangle, his strength far surpasses that of Tao Ding. This time, your friend will undoubtedly be defeated."
The same thing was happening in Silver Spear Sect.
The top disciple of the Silver Spear Sect had earlier mocked Shi Xiaole as overestimating his abilities. But then witnessing Tao Ding’s defeat, he felt like he’d been slapped hard in the face, and his confidence was regained at the sight of Zhang Qingfang taking the field.
"Really?"
Wang Yangming looked at Shi Xiaole’s retreating figure but didn’t comment.
No one could describe his inner feelings. Seeing Shi Xiaole’s performance at the Invisible Gorge, Wang Yangming had the impression of him being calm and mysterious.
Today, that impression not only hadn’t faded, but was even more significant after witnessing that astonishing sword strike.
Wang Yangming had a strange intuition that Shi Xiaole was going to surprise everyone today.
"If he defeats Zhang Qingfang, Shi Xiaole will have earned a place among the top warriors of the second tier."
In the overhead corridor, Xiong Ni, the top disciple of the Dry Land Sect, revealed a faintly interested expression.
"Defeat Zhang Qingfang? How easy do you think that is? Even against me, he can last about twenty moves."
On the other side, as if having heard Xiong Ni’s comment, Zuo Feiyang shook his head slightly.
With just one move, Shi Xiaole was certainly among the second tier, but it doesn’t mean he’s in the same league as Zhang Qingfang.
To be blunt, the gap between Tao Ding and Zhang Qingfang is like the gap between Jiang Qingzhou and him, Zuo Feiyang. It’s impossible to catch up in a few years.
"From the Fiery Fire Sect, Zhang Qingfang."
Standing in the middle of the square, Zhang Qingfang took the Short-handle Sky Halberd off his back.
"From the Huajian Sect, the fourth disciple, Shi Xiaole."
Among the heroes of the Cloud Triangle, Shi Xiaole announced his name for the first time.
"Well, get ready!"
Without any more ado, Zhang Qingfang made his move.
Boom!
Amid the wild energy, Zhang Qinfang, like a veteran from the battlefield charged forth with the Sky Halberd and split the air in two.
That gigantic, daunting aura bore down on Shi Xiaole.
In an instant, Shi Xiaole understood that Zhang Qingfang must have experienced many bloody battles in order to develop such a powerful aura.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Shi Xiaole made a startling move; his slender fingers moved from the hilt of the Green Edge Sword to the hilt of the Hundred Battles Blade and then he drew the blade.
The red blade light faced off against the raging halberd.
Bang!
Against the explosive sound of bursting energy, Zhang Qingfang flew backward while Shi Xiaole retreated seven or eight steps.
Almost in the same moment, they both charged towards each other and instantly engaged in combat.
