Chapter 151: Testing Hand
The clamor around the debate platform suddenly fell silent. To the onlookers gathered about, that seemingly leisurely wisp of cyan sword qi had, in the span of a single heartbeat, shattered the water curtain before Kong You.
Zhao Mian watched from below the stage, having initially been estimating how this fellow would be “put in his place.”
But now, his jaw hung slack.
He had just fought Kong You himself, and knew full well the resilience of that water curtain. How could this man break through it so effortlessly?
“…”
“This…”
The assembled cultivators stared dumbfounded. When they finally recovered their wits, they exchanged bewildered glances, stammering incoherently for a long while before anyone could summon a complete assessment.
Kong Yun was even more startled in his heart.
He too understood that among the inner sect disciples at the Qi Refining Stage, his brother was not without equal.
But those few who could match him were all renowned peers, prodigies whose names were spoken with reverence throughout the sect.
Where had this fellow come from?
“Song Yan?”
Among the crowd, someone murmured to himself, “Could it be that Song Yan—the one who publicly slaughtered a Profound Abyss Sect inner disciple in Changping?”
“Oh…”
At this, a good number of people finally recalled.
Yes, it must be him.
It was just that this man lived reclusively, and word of him within the sect had been exceedingly scarce.
On the debate platform, Kong You had barely steadied his mind and smoothed his spiritual energy when a second bolt of cyan sword qi came streaking toward him.
He spread his great hands wide, and the raindrop-shaped pendant at his chest erupted with crackling lightning.
A violent surge of thunder-attribute spiritual energy blasted the Sleeve Green Serpent’s sword qi apart in an instant.
“…Such pure thunder arts.”
Song Yan noted privately that this man was no pushover.
The third strand of Green Serpent sword qi he had already condensed, he casually dispersed with a flick of his thought.
His sword finger traced a single arc, and several streaks of white sword light trailed afterimages as they leapt from the sword case at his back, whirling and circling about Song Yan in a howling tempest.
Lightning flashed and wind roared, blinding to behold.
“…”
The violent sword qi generated by Cloud in Sword surged and churned across the entire debate platform.
Eighteen sword shadows in total!
Yuwen Yao’s eyes went wide, the tipsy haze that had clouded his expression now entirely dispelled.
“Splitting sword shadows from the sword light—what fearsome power…”
Though his lips spoke of fear, his heart could not help but stir with excitement.
Good, good, good.
He had not expected that among the current inner sect disciples, yet another opponent had appeared who could quicken his pulse.
Down below the stage, Yuwen’s heart swelled with secret delight.
Upon the stage, Kong You was suffering untold misery.
Setting aside his cultivation at the seventh level of Qi Refining—where could such formidable divine sense have come from? With the spiritual energy reserves of the Qi Refining Stage, unleashing such a sky-covering storm of sword qi must surely leave one utterly drained.
A simple area-of-effect technique could scatter it all with ease.
But was the reality truly so?
Kong You pushed the thunder-attribute power in his body to its absolute limit.
And yet, across the debate platform, innumerable strands of sword qi swirled and danced.
Kong You was forced stumbling backward by the frenzied onslaught of sword light.
At this moment, he possessed abundant spiritual energy cultivation, yet was completely occupied parrying the sword light, finding not a single opening to counterattack.
He had underestimated his opponent from the very start. Against someone like Song Yan—who pressed his advantage relentlessly, offering no reprieve—trying to mount a desperate comeback…
There was no longer any chance.
Four streaks of sword light shattered Kong You’s protective spiritual energy in succession. At the same moment, the remaining white sword shadows flowed and converged in midair, coalescing into a single radiant beam.
Song Yan’s sword finger pressed gently downward, and a single word left his lips: “Descend.”
The radiant beam plummeted earthward.
Kong You raised his head in astonishment, watching as the sword light bore down upon him with thunderous momentum, arriving before his eyes in the blink of an eye.
And yet.
In the instant of its descent, it unraveled strand by strand, dissipating into nothing.
Until it came to rest upon the space between his brows—cool and delicate as a dewdrop.
It was a single drop of rain.
“…”
Innumerable sword shadows returned one by one to the sword case at his back. And as it happened, at that very moment the clouds parted and the sky cleared.
Cloud in Sword descended. Heaven and earth returned to stillness.
Kong You stood dazed, then slowly spoke: “I have lost.”
“You flatter me.”
Song Yan did not linger. He offered a cupped-fist salute, turned, and descended the debate platform.
The eastern face of Sword Trial Peak had fallen utterly silent.
The cultivators below the stage parted to form a path, watching as this man departed from the debate platform. At the edge of the platform, Gu Qingqing stood frozen, gazing at Song Yan’s retreating figure, unable to utter a word.
Her heart, however, was anything but calm: “In only a single year since we last met, Senior Brother Song has progressed this far?!”
“Not only has he advanced to the inner sect, but he can even defeat Senior Brother Kong in a friendly exchange.”
In contrast to herself… she was still far from breaking through to the seventh level of Qi Refining.
A touch of melancholy crept into her heart.
But she quickly rallied her spirits.
“Complaining about fate is meaningless. The only thing to do is to press forward with diligence.”
When she returned to her senses, she found Yuwen Yao staring at her with a look of puzzlement.
“This girl mutters to herself every so often—what on earth is she saying?”
“…Nothing, Senior Sister Yuwen. Let us return to the peak quickly. I want to train diligently!”
“Very well, very well…”
Yuwen Yao stowed the great wine jar back into her Cosmos Bag, took Gu Qingqing by the hand, and set off toward Lotus Seclusion Peak.
“Now that I think of it, do you know that Song disciple?”
“Yes! I went on many missions with Senior Brother Song before—Jieran Valley, Peach Blossom Wharf, and we even traveled together to Northern Ridge Mountain.”
Gu Qingqing indicated that they were quite familiar.
Yuwen Yao pondered for a moment. “What cultivation path does he primarily follow?”
Gu Qingqing recalled for a moment, then shook her head. “I am not certain what technique Senior Brother Song cultivates, but his sword-commanding arts are extraordinarily refined. He…”
“…”
As she spoke, Gu Qingqing suddenly froze, as though something had just occurred to her.
“…”
Yuwen Yao watched her without a word.
Song Yan’s name—he had certainly heard it whispered amid the sect’s gossip.
No matter how wildly the rumors varied, there was one detail common to every version.
That this man called Song Yan excelled at commanding flying swords.
But…
Where were his flying swords?
“…”
Indeed—where were his flying swords?
The cultivators who had gathered around the debate platform had by now come to the same realization.
Throughout his bout with Kong You, from beginning to end, he had wielded nothing but sword qi.
The cyan sword qi from his sleeve. The white sword shadows wreathed in wind and thunder.
His flying sword had remained in its case the entire time, never once deployed.
Some things did not bear close scrutiny.
In truth, Song Yan had long grown accustomed to fighting with everything he had. Even when he reminded himself that this was merely a “friendly exchange,” a “sparring match” rather than a life-or-death struggle…
He still could not help but hold nothing back, restraining only those moves that might prove lethal.
It was not until he had confirmed certain victory, or his opponent had lost the will to fight, that he gradually withdrew.
Kong You had shown great contempt from the very start.
That was the most critical reason for his crushing defeat. From the moment Song Yan made his move, Kong You had already lost.
Song Yan knew this as well.
And so this contest had, in truth, offered him little of value.
If Kong You were given another chance, the outcome might not be the same.
But in Kong You’s heart, this was a lesson Song Yan had taught him.
—In a battle of life and death, no one will grant you a second chance.
“…”
He slowly rose to his feet, exhaled a long breath of turbid air, and stepped down from the debate platform.
“Brother…”
“I am fine.”
There was no such thing as “I could have won.”
Strength, fortune, state of mind…
The outcome of defeat had encompassed them all.
Song Yan…
Kong You turned the name over silently in his mind as he departed Sword Trial Peak with his younger brother.
At last, a tide of discussion began to rise from the surroundings of the debate platform.
But as the clouds scattered from the summit and a slant of sunlight pierced through, Song Yan descended the stone steps, the clamor of voices behind him fading ever further into the distance.