Chapter 68: The Sword Master
During the first round of the Elite Disciple Exam everyone had to be in attendance, elite disciples as well as core disciples, because they could be challenged at anytime by another disciple within the sect.
Li Lin was no exception to this rule.
When Li Lin heard that he was being challenged by Lin Feng, his heart was pounding. That guy had probably broken through to the Ling Qi layer and wanted his revenge.
But then Li Lin tried to relax because Lin Feng hadn’t only called his name instead he had called two: his name and Yu Hao’s.
Yu Hao was infinitely stronger than Li Lin. He had a overpowering Sword Spirit and he was known as a genius. Lin Feng had even dared to challenge him but he was probably going to die because he could not fight against Yu Hao.
When entering the Life and Death Arena, Li Lin started to get nervous. When he saw that everybody was looking at him, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
“What are you doing? Why are you making him come onto the fighting stage as well?” asked Yu Hao glancing at Li Lin. He was puzzled. Besides, he despised being associated with a weakling like Li Lin.
“I will fight both of you at the same time.”
Lin Feng didn’t reply to Yu Hao and just said these words in a cold tone which made Yu Hao frown in anger.
Insanity...
Madness...
In the entire history of the Yun Hai Sect which dated back a thousand years, nobody had ever dared challenge two higher ranked disciples at the same time during the Elite Disciple Exam.
Lin Feng, a simple ordinary disciple had challenged two elite disciples to fight against him. To make things even more shocking, one of them was an extremely strong cultivator who had a Sword Spirit. Lin Feng had broken a new record of insane behavior.
“That ordinary disciple is so arrogant and clearly overestimates his own power, even if he is incredibly strong, is it right to act in such a way?”
Mo Xie had said that in a cold and belittling tone. Not only was Mo Xie very strong but he also had a high status within the sect. Besides, his father Mo Cang Lan was standing behind him. Therefore, he was trying to regain some of the face he had already lost.
Nan Gong Ling was coldly looking at Mo Xie but remained expressionless. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Regarding Protector Bei, he was just laughing and shaking his head: “This young man really has no limits!”
“Together? Who do you think you are, you piece of trash?”
Yu Hao’s face twisted in anger and revealed a hideous expression. What kind of person was he after all? A sword master with a strong Sword Spirit and he was an elite disciple?
Yu Hao despised Lin Feng. He thought that Lin Feng was an insolent piece of trash, he thought that comparing the two was the difference between earth and heaven. Yu Hao thought that it was an honor for Lin Feng to call a noble person such as himself onto the stage.
But Lin Feng had not only called him onto the stage. He had also called someone else. Surprisingly, he wanted to fight against two people at the same time. Wasn’t Yu Hao being humiliated from his actions?
“Exactly! What are you thinking? Suddenly challenging both of us at the same time. Yu Hao has an extremely strong Sword Spirit, he’s very powerful and can kill you with a single strike. How can you be so arrogant?!”
Li Lin was licking Yu Hao’s boots and trying to gain favor from Yu Hao. Then, Yu Hao would do all the work alone and defeat Lin Feng while he could just stand and watch. Then he would not have to fight at all, this was obviously the best choice for someone like him who was incredibly weak for an elite disciple.
Yu Hao seemed to enjoy being complimented by others. A big smile had appeared on his face and he then said: “Haha, Li Lin, you’re entirely right. It’s not worth unsheathing my sword for such a worthless ordinary disciple... you help me take care of him.”
“Of course. But for such a worthless ordinary disciple to dare to challenge Yu Hao, he should be humiliated. Fellow disciple Yu Hao should show him how big the difference is between you and him.”
When Li Lin heard Yu Hao’s words, he got frightened that he would have to fight. He didn’t know if Yu Hao wanted him to fight so he did his best to lure Yu Hao into fighting alone. He really did not want to engage in a battle with Lin Feng.
“That guy is such a disgrace for our mighty Sect. He’s making all of the members of the Yun Hai Sect, lose face.” said members of the crowd while looking at Li Lin. He was so shameless. But that guy actually had to defend his point of view.
“You are so pathetic.” Lin Feng was sneering at Li Lin. “Li Lin, when I was looking for skills in the Xing Chen Pavilion, you attacked Chen Chen and then you ended up being scared to death by him causing everybody to laugh at you. Coincidentally, there was another ordinary disciple there so you decided to pick a fight with me. You also threatened me that you would kill me. You insulted me several times and called me a piece of trash. Now, I challenge you and you seem to be terrified, how come?”
“Yu Hao, you who have a mighty Sword Spirit, what a genius! You attacked me without any reason on that day. You said that you could kill me anytime but it seems like you were just bullying me and trying to humiliate those weaker than yourself. Now, I am standing in front of you willing to fight but where is your sword?”
Lin Feng said in a very cold tone. Everybody in the crowd understood what had happened. These two elite disciples were very pretentious. They had both provoked and bullied that ordinary disciple but now that he had become stronger, he wanted to get his revenge.
Yu Hao’s face grew vicious and he said to Li Lin: “I will give you three seconds, if you don’t attack him within that time, I will cripple your Cultivation.”
Li Lin was furious. He was gnashing his teeth in hatred for Yu Hao.
On that day, Yu Hao had bullied Lin Feng and treated him as if he was an insignificant existence. At that moment, Lin Feng’s behavior towards him was strangely similar.
“Alright, I will start and then you finish him.”
Li Lin said against his will... He was really forcing himself to fight. He then started moving towards Lin Feng.
Lin Feng shook his head. His style looked incredibly laughable. Lin Feng really wondered how that guy had managed to become an elite disciple.
“Get lost...”
Lin Feng then thrust his palm into the air and used his Eight Strikes of Desolation. Four strikes immediately broke through the air and crashed onto Li Lin’s body.
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
Li Lin was one of the weakest elite disciples. His strength was so low that he could not match some ordinary disciples. Lin Feng had hit him with a single skill while not even using his full strength and that had made him fly through the air and heavily crash outside the Life and Death Arena main stage.
Lin Feng ignored Li Lin after that and said to Yu Hao: “So what are you waiting for? I thought you were going to kill me.”
“Four strikes....That’s all? That’s only half of eight strikes, how laughable.”
Yu Hao knew what attack Lin Feng had used. In the Yun Hai Sect many people had learnt and practiced it to a similar level. Most elite disciples who had practiced it had managed to do four strikes and some talented individual had done five. But there were very few people who managed to do more than four strikes within the elite disciple. It was extremely rare to see someone talented enough to break through four strikes.
Lin Feng had only used four of the eight possible strikes but he could freely control how many strikes he used. He did not want to use his full strength when dealing with Li Lin.
“Even though I said I would kill you, today is the Elite Disciple Exam... even though we are in the Life and Death Arena, we are not allowed to directly kill. So today I will just cripple your Cultivation and break both of your arms. You will be half dead when we finish this battle.”
Yu Hao was already very cruel to begin with and now he had hatred towards Lin Feng.
While talking, Yu Hao was unsheathed the sword that he was carrying on his back. His sword was already glowing and its light was radiant. The glowing light looked like the water of a river as sunlight shone down upon it. It was a truly dazzling light. An intangible Qi started spreading through the air.
That wouldn’t be enough though. Yu Hao released his sword spirit. It was an extremely sharp sword shadow which appeared behind him. It was pointing towards the Heavens as if it was about to cut down the heavens themselves.
“Even though those who possess a sword spirit are not weak, Lin Feng is also dangerous.”
The disciples in the crowd who were close to the arena could sense the strength and power contained within the sword Qi. They had the sensation that they were being pressured by the power of Yu Hao which made them feel dizzy and uncomfortable. However Lin Feng who was standing much closer had no reaction.
“I know that you like to rely on your sword spirit so I will show you what it really means to be a sword master.”
Lin Feng said with a voice filled with killing intent. He then unsheathed the sword he was carrying on his back and a powerful Qi spread through the atmosphere moving towards Yu Hao’s sword. The pressure within the atmosphere suddenly increased greatly.
“What, he’s also a sword user. Does he have a Sword Spirit?”
Everybody was shaking when they sensed the Qi contained within Lin Feng’s sword. Yu Hao was also stupefied. Everyone was shocked because Lin Feng had unleashed this pressure without releasing a sword spirit. Lin Feng had a faintly discernible smile on the corner of his mouth.
“Why would he use sword skills if he doesn’t have a sword spirit?”
Yu Hao made a step forwards. Suddenly, a whistling noise spread throughout the atmosphere. The devastating sword Qi was growing more and more powerful. The Sword Spirit behind his back was also glowing brighter and brighter.
Yu Hao’s sword Qi was getting stronger and cutting through the atmosphere moving straight towards Lin Feng.
“Do you necessarily need to have a sword spirit to use sword skills? Can the cultivators who possess a Sword Spirit only use sword skills?” asked Lin Feng looking extremely calm. He stepped forward and said: “Even with your sword spirit you don’t understand the basic principles of wielding a sword.”
“BOOM!”
Suddenly, an extremely strong Qi shot towards Yu Hao. Even his own Qi was retreating from the Qi which had been unleashed.
Lin Feng had started to gather sword force into the tip of his sword. The power which was released was incredible.
“Force, he is using sword force.”
People in the crowd seldom saw cultivators who had knowledge of forces and when they saw some, they were usually battles between elite disciples and core disciples. Everyone had started to sense the immense power that was contained within his sword, the crowd was growing more shocked.
“So that’s sword force.”
“How powerful!”
There was an infinite amount of Qi which was also released from the sword. This had allowed Lin Feng to utterly suppress Yu Hao.
“Oh my... He’s only an ordinary disciple who just broke through to the Ling Qi layer and he already controls his sword force to perfection. What a genius!”
Some people knew that forces were extremely hard to understand and control, especially at Lin Feng’s level. Even some cultivators who had reached the peak of the Ling Qi layer were not necessarily able to control forces to the extent of Lin Feng, but Lin Feng seemed to master the forces to perfection.
Of course, some of the ordinary disciples didn’t even know what a force was and were asking other disciples how Lin Feng had such a powerful and oppressive sword.
“He’s the one who beat the drums at the Precipice of Zhangu. He’s so young and already extremely powerful. I could only dream to be that strong at his age. He definitely deserves a high status within the sect. He truly deserved the title of a true genius. We should take good care of him and honor him. He will become the future of the sect.”
Nan Gong Ling understood what Protector Bei had been talking about previously and now understood why Lin Feng was so important. He was a pillar of the Sect. A solution had to be found so that Mo Xie wouldn’t attempt to kill him again. That young man was a genius.