Waste Paper Bridge
Chapter 38 A Single Blade
But before he could finish speaking, a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice said from behind the high platform, "Let the five of them fight amongst themselves! Let me see the ability and energy of this chief warden."
His words were meaningful, and Xu Biao, the white-haired warden, felt as if struck by lightning upon hearing them.
The difference between "ability" and "energy" was only one word, but presenting them together implied a world of difference.
In a five-person melee, with White-haired Biao's reputation, he could theoretically easily gather two or three people as his cronies to gang up on the remaining one or two.
After that, he could have the remaining few admit defeat one after another.
But since this Vice Minister had already spoken, Xu Biao could not coerce the other four into teaming up with him.
They had to fight for real.
And this was only the most superficial layer of meaning.
Thinking deeper, it was the Ministry of Justice's Vice Minister expressing dissatisfaction with Xu Biao, and none of the Ministry of Justice officials present expressed any disagreement.
Xu Biao felt 'abandoned', filled with grief and unwillingness.
In reality, to these Ministry of Justice officials, Xu Biao was nothing. His position could be replaced at any time. Anything he could do, any jailer in the Ministry of Justice's dungeon could do with their permission.
The winds of change had already begun to blow throughout Da Heng, but Xu Biao clung to the old ways, only knowing how to amass wealth through the most inferior means, and was no longer valued.
"The rules are set, let's begin!" said the Ministry of Justice official in charge.
The five stood in their respective positions. Ma Shaokang received a look from his foster father, and after a moment's thought, went straight for Ye Chuxiao.
When he got close, he whispered to Ye Chuxiao, "Fight me for a few rounds, and then lose to me, you hear?"
On the other side, Li Fu had already charged at Xu Biao with his blade, showing a courage different from most prison guards.
Ye Chuxiao heard Ma Shaokang's whisper and smiled coldly, then kicked out head-on.
Ma Shaokang was a cultivator of the Dharma. What made him so confident that he could get so close to a martial cultivator?
Moreover, Ye Chuxiao was almost a whole realm above Ma Shaokang. This kick landed squarely, and Ma Shaokang immediately spat out blood, flying out like a cannonball and crashing into the crowd.
The kick broke several of his ribs.
With Ma Shaokang's willpower, it was impossible for him to get up again.
After kicking Ma Shaokang away, Ye Chuxiao drew his long saber. A seemingly simple slash went straight for Wu Ting on his right.
Wu Ting was also a martial cultivator, but his cultivation was lower than Ye Chuxiao's.
Facing Ye Chuxiao's incoming slash, he hurriedly used the saber in his hand, along with its scabbard, to block.
However, Ye Chuxiao's slash, seemingly unassuming, actually had a huge amount of true qi tightly attached to the blade.
As the slash landed, the saber in Wu Ting's hand, along with its scabbard, was directly shattered.
Wu Ting's clothes on his shoulder were also torn apart by the agitated saber qi, but not a single drop of blood splattered from Wu Ting's shoulder.
Upon closer inspection, the saber was simply resting on his neck, without harming him in the slightest.
Everyone in the hall was stunned, and after looking closely, they couldn't help but be horrified.
"Good! Good saber!" A Ministry of Justice official applauded from the high platform.
Ye Chuxiao's slash, rather than being exquisitely executed, had finally saved their faces.
Such a freely controlled slash must have been the result of diligent practice.
Not all the prison guards in the Ministry of Justice's dungeon were good-for-nothings!
On the other side, Xu Biao was, after all, a veteran official, and his realm was also higher than Li Fu's.
His Energy Realm cultivation allowed him to recklessly squander his saber qi. Under his sweeping attacks, Li Fu, even with his courage, gradually became exhausted. After several exchanges, he was forced out of the arena by Xu Biao's saber and fell back into the crowd.
Li Fu's eyes were red, and he wanted to rush in again, but was held back by his colleagues.
In the grand competition, under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice officials, the competition also needed to stop before serious injury or death.
If Li Fu didn't know what was good for him and violated the rules by rushing back to fight after being knocked out of the arena, no one would speak up for him if he was killed by Xu Biao's saber.
At this moment, Xu Biao turned to look at Ye Chuxiao, his expression becoming more and more grim.
"A little tiger whose teeth haven't grown in yet is so eager to challenge the tiger king's prestige. It seems I need to pull your teeth and let you wake up a bit." This was the first time Xu Biao had taken Ye Chuxiao seriously.
And Ye Chuxiao's earlier amazing slash was indeed worth his attention.
"You think you're a tiger king?"
"No! At most, you're just an old dog!"
"And a castrated old dog." Ye Chuxiao's words were poisonous and vicious, leaving no room for maneuver or consideration.
Things had already come to this, what consideration did Ye Chuxiao have to show?
Xu Biao was furious upon hearing this. His emotions surged, and he repeated his old trick, wielding his saber and spraying out a large amount of saber qi, surging towards Ye Chuxiao.
Ye Chuxiao held his saber, only attaching true qi to the blade, and leisurely blocked left and right, deflecting the saber qi.
"I'm a little confused, are you a martial cultivator... or a Dharma cultivator?"
"Being so far away, recklessly scattering saber qi like this, what will you do if you encounter a real Energy Realm Dharma cultivator?" Ye Chuxiao blocked the saber qi, his steps quick, closing in on Xu Biao.
Xu Biao retreated involuntarily, continuing to take advantage of his Energy Realm status and increased endurance to crazily scatter saber qi, attacking from a distance.
Such an attack, while seemingly dazzling, was actually extremely wasteful.
Martial cultivators are practitioners who control themselves, but he couldn't even fully control the basic control of his body and power.
Perhaps he had once struggled in the Sea of Bitterness and put in hard work.
But years of extravagant living had long since rotted him, abandoning his former persistence and beliefs.
"That's not how you use saber qi!" Ye Chuxiao said, taking a step forward, breaking into the three-meter zone in front of Xu Biao.
Then, he concentrated and unleashed a slash.
The silver light of the saber shone in the not-so-bright hall.
Wherever the saber light passed, the saber qi that Xu Biao used to block Ye Chuxiao's approach was completely torn apart.
Then, the saber light severed the long saber in Xu Biao's hand and landed on his body.
Fresh blood splattered out, and the saber mark ran from Xu Biao's left shoulder to his right hip, almost cutting him open.
With one slash, Xu Biao was defeated.
The hall was silent once again.
On the high platform where the Ministry of Justice officials were seated, applause suddenly rang out.
The Ministry of Justice Minister's paper effigy stood up and looked at Ye Chuxiao, its paper hands clapping, making a "pa, pa" sound.
"With a Bitter Realm cultivation, you can compress saber qi, condense saber light, and defeat Xu Biao with one slash. You're called Ye Chuxiao? Young and very impressive."
"Do you want to be the Chief Warden?"
"If you want to, give this official a reason to appoint you." said the Ministry of Justice Minister's paper effigy.
Ye Chuxiao smiled and cupped his fist. "Please allow me, sir, to bring over the things I've prepared. I'd like to show you my ideas."
"Granted!" said the Ministry of Justice Minister's paper effigy.
Ye Chuxiao returned to his office and brought over two boxes that he had prepared in advance.
Then, in front of everyone, he first opened one of the boxes.
When they saw what was inside the box, everyone was puzzled.
They didn't know what Ye Chuxiao was up to.