"What?"
Senior Brother Xiao narrowed his eyes. "You're unwilling?"
"How could that be! This is Senior Brother Chen's order, how could I possibly not obey?"
Yun Ze's face was full of smiles as he turned to look at the top-grade disciple. "And this is..."
"You don't need to know."
Senior Brother Xiao glanced at the person and said, "Alright, let's go find the arena."
"Yes."
The top-grade disciple responded and followed Senior Brother Xiao towards the arena. Yun Ze, with a smile on his face, followed suit.
This challenge, of course, wasn't something that could be done on a whim. Besides requiring the agreement of both parties, it also needed to be conducted at a specific arena, with at least one inner or outer sect elder present to supervise and officiate.
The arena wasn't far. At their pace, it took less than fifteen minutes to reach it.
Initially, Yun Ze thought that Ji Kun would be the one officiating this time.
But upon arrival, he only saw Chen Xiao standing beside an inner sect disciple, bowing and smiling obsequiously, as if serving a distinguished guest.
Senior Brother Xiao, upon seeing the two, rushed over. "Senior Brother Luo, Senior Brother Chen, I've brought the people."
The inner sect senior brother, surnamed Luo, remained silent with his eyes closed, as if he hadn't heard.
Chen Xiao, seeing this, instructed Senior Brother Xiao, "Alright, let's begin."
"Yes."
Senior Brother Xiao turned to Yun Ze and the other disciple. "Both of you, get on the stage. Remember, during sectmate duels, do not harm lives. It's primarily for sparring! If you are outmatched, concede promptly!"
"Yes!"
The top-grade disciple responded, while Yun Ze remained silent, his toes tapping as he landed on the arena.
"Oh, right!"
Chen Xiao suddenly spoke. "Since it's a sectmate spar, let's not use spiritual artifacts. It's easy to be unable to retract your strength and harm fellow disciple camaraderie."
Yun Ze said nothing, merely removing his hand from the Mountain Ghoul.
No spiritual artifacts?
That's fine too!
It was a good opportunity to see how far his sword qi had progressed.
The top-grade disciple smiled, unbuckled the sword at his waist, and cupped his hands towards Yun Ze. "Top-grade, Qi Wei, Qi Refining sixth level, please guide me, Senior Brother!"
"Yun Ze, Qi Refining fourth level," Yun Ze replied as per custom.
"Begin!"
As Chen Xiao gave the order, Yun Ze didn't hold back, unleashing a sword qi strike with his raised hand!
He hadn't fully mastered the Lingyun technique yet, so his sword qi strike was just a single strand of qi, without a blade to carry it, unable to manifest into three shadows with one strike.
However...
This was enough!
The sword qi instantly spread, covering the entire arena!
Qi Wei quickly retreated, not daring to face the attack head-on!
Yun Ze sneered and brought down another sword strike from the air!
Dodge?
Let's see how long you can keep dodging!
Two strands of sword qi crisscrossed. Qi Wei knew he was outmatched and simply leaped off the arena!
"I con..."
*Buzz!*
Before Qi Wei could finish speaking, a buzzing sound erupted in the air!
This was... a collision of sword qi!
A pale green sword qi strike from outside the arena collided with the two strands of sword qi, scattering outwards!
Yun Ze focused his gaze and realized that Senior Brother Luo had opened his eyes and was looking at him, his eyes filled with sharpness!
"Up you go."
Senior Brother Luo's voice sounded calmly.
Qi Wei was stunned but didn't dare to step back onto the stage!
Chen Xiao signaled to Senior Brother Xiao with his eyes. The latter understood and immediately darted to Qi Wei's side, throwing him onto the stage!
Yun Ze's lips curved upwards. He didn't look at Qi Wei, but rather at Senior Brother Luo below the stage.
The duel wasn't over yet.
He had figured it out now. This duel wasn't meant for the unfortunate Qi Wei at all, but for himself and this Senior Brother Luo.
However, as an inner sect disciple, he couldn't directly challenge an outer sect disciple, so he had to resort to such means to engage him.
But then again, why was he doing this?
Yun Ze was puzzled, but he didn't have time to think!
As his mind wandered, two consecutive pale green sword qi strikes came towards him, crisscrossing, exactly like the sword qi he had just unleashed!
But... he hadn't even seen how Senior Brother Luo had attacked!
His one strand of sword qi was equivalent to Yun Ze's two, and now with two stacked together, he absolutely couldn't withstand it head-on!
Yun Ze instinctively dodged, drawing the Mountain Ghoul at his waist and manifesting three sword shadows!
The three sword shadows collided with the two strands of sword qi, instantly forcing Yun Ze, who was at the center of the arena, to the edge. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Just as Yun Ze breathed a sigh of relief, he felt a slight breeze brush past his ear.
He turned his head and saw that a wisp of his hair at his temple had been shaved off by the sword qi, falling onto his shoulder.
A third strand of sword qi?
When was that unleashed?!
"Lingyun? To grasp it in such a short time, you're quite good."
Senior Brother Luo's voice sounded calmly, revealing Yun Ze's sword technique in one sentence, with a hint of praise in his tone.
Just as Yun Ze was about to respond with thanks, he heard the tone of his voice shift.
"But if this is all you have, it's not enough!"
As soon as the words fell!
A giant pale green net descended from the sky!
Yun Ze looked up, startled!
This giant net was woven entirely from sword qi, descending upon him like a heavenly net, making it impossible to evade!
If he withstood it head-on, with the Immortal Jade protecting him, he should be fine.
But doing so would undoubtedly arouse suspicion from the other party, leaving only one option!
Break it!
Heavenly net? In the end, it was just a sword net!
As long as he could summon a more dominant sword qi, or find a weaker connection point, he could break it!
For the former, Yun Ze had a strand of sword qi within him, but he couldn't summon it.
He could only look for a flaw!
Yun Ze scanned the entire sword net and indeed found a weak spot!
The center!
The center of the sword net was where the sword qi crisscrossed the most, but the entire sword net also spread out from the center.
When countless sword qi were woven into such a giant net, the sword qi in the center became the weakest.
Yun Ze raised his sword and struck!
The sword shadow and the Mountain Ghoul landed on the center of the sword net simultaneously!
The sword net was broken!
Yun Ze lowered his arm, his right hand trembling uncontrollably, almost unable to hold the Mountain Ghoul steady.
He stared intently at Senior Brother Luo before him, not daring to relax for a moment!
He remembered never having met this person before, so logically, there should be no conflict between them.
Yet, this person had suddenly made a move. He didn't know the reason, and if he relaxed even slightly, perhaps... his life would be forfeit!
As long as he wanted to, he could simply push Qi Wei out to take the blame. Chen Xiao and that Senior Brother Xiao would likely be happy to do so!
"Good reaction."
Senior Brother Luo stood up and landed on the arena with a light step.
He was a head taller than Yun Ze. He walked up to Yun Ze and looked down at him. "You, are you that Yun Ze?"
"If there is only one Yun Ze on this lone peak, then it must be me."
"My name is Luo Qin."
Luo Qin said calmly, "Heavenly Ranking twenty-seventh."
Heavenly Ranking!?
This person was still in Qi Refining!?
Yun Ze was immediately shocked and understood the other party's intention.
He was likely here to test him.
However, it was better to clarify such matters.
Yun Ze took a step back and cupped his hands towards him. "Greetings, Senior Brother Luo. May I ask why you have come this time..."
"To test if you are qualified."
Luo Qin spoke very little and very directly.
After uttering this sentence, he turned and walked towards the audience, leaving his back to them. "Currently, you seem quite good. I'll give you one month to challenge a hundred disciples from the previous session. If you can do it, I'll spare your life."
What arrogance!
Yun Ze felt indignant but still cupped his hands towards him. "Thank you, Senior Brother!"
Luo Qin.
He silently remembered this name, preparing to ask Li Po about this person's status later.
When Yun Ze looked up again, the person was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Chen Xiao below the stage began to clap!
*Clap, clap, clap!*
"Good, good. Junior Brother, after only a month, you've improved so much. You must have encountered a great opportunity!"
Yun Ze turned to look at Chen Xiao, his expression darkening. "Senior Brother Chen is too kind. It's just that I am dull-witted. If I don't work harder than others, I'm afraid I won't be able to ascend the path to immortality!"
"Dull-witted? If the ninety-fourth on the Heavenly Ranking is dull-witted, then we commoners should just go and bang our heads against a wall!"
Chen Xiao smiled and took out a jade bottle from his embrace. Without any demands, he threw it into Yun Ze's arms. "Junior Brother, this is something Master specifically asked me to give you. He told you to cultivate diligently!
Don't worry about other matters for now."
"Hmm!?"
Yun Ze was stunned.
So he wasn't going to kill Su Ling'er anymore?
Then why had he gone to such lengths earlier, and insisted that he lose to that Qi Wei?
Was it to test if he was obedient?
But he hadn't been obedient, so why did he still give him the pill?
Yun Ze was puzzled and was about to ask when Chen Xiao turned to look at Qi Wei.
"Useless! Why aren't you getting down quickly!"
Qi Wei hurriedly jumped off the arena, not daring to utter a word, and could only stand aside like a quail.
*Slap!*
A crisp sound echoed.
Chen Xiao slapped him, and four red marks immediately appeared on Qi Wei's face!
"Did you forget what I told you? I told you to block the sword qi for your Senior Brother Yun when necessary! What did you do!? You cowered at the side, what were you trying to do? Do you still want me to find things for you!"
"Yes! It's my fault!"
Qi Wei immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing. "Spare me, Senior Brother! Spare me, Senior Brother!"
Yun Ze understood.
He looked at the scene before him and smiled without speaking.
Qi Wei was just a pawn, a pawn used by Luo Qin to test him, and also a pawn used by Chen Xiao to make him fail Luo Qin's test, and naturally, a pawn of Ji Kun.
Having him lose to Qi Wei was probably not Ji Kun's request. What Ji Kun truly wanted was for him to gain Luo Qin's recognition, so that after entering the Zhutian Secret Realm, he could secure greater benefits for him.
As for what those benefits were, Yun Ze didn't know yet.
He only knew that Chen Xiao was jealous.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked being discovered by Ji Kun, had Qi Wei act contrary to orders, and told Senior Brother Xiao to tell him to definitely lose!
Now, by slapping Qi Wei, he was shifting the blame to Qi Wei and warning him that this was solely Qi Wei's responsibility!
Otherwise... he would still need to get the upcoming pills from his hands!
Yun Ze's gaze swept towards Senior Brother Xiao beside him. He simply jumped off the arena and stepped onto the Shadow-Chasing movement technique, approaching him.
*Slap!*
Another slap!
Yun Ze's palm contained sword qi, directly sending Senior Brother Xiao flying to the ground, spitting blood!
"Useless!"
Yun Ze also cursed at Senior Brother Xiao. "How dare you pass on false orders! If I hadn't received Elder Ji's news earlier, the mission would have failed! You all deserve to die!"
Senior Brother Xiao was stunned, Chen Xiao frowned, and Qi Wei was completely dumbfounded.
Yun Ze now turned his head and looked at Chen Xiao, directly presenting the Mountain Ghoul to him, while glancing at Senior Brother Xiao.
"Senior Brother Chen! This subordinate has ulterior motives. Please, Senior Brother, take action and eradicate him!"