Chapter 281: The Heavenly Sword
Elder Xu was stunned at what Kenneth said. It was quite high praise.
Kenneth worked for the Cloud Hall and his knowledge went beyond the entirety of the Eastern Region. He had seen the other side of the world.
Billions of people lived in the Eastern Region, and the Central Region was over ten times larger than the Eastern Region. The five regions in total did not dominate the globe as one thought. They were but a small corner of the main continent on the map.
The world was composed of people as many as the number of sand particles in the sea. It was almost impossible to keep count of.
In this vast population, there were a number of geniuses. Zen had good talent and even better luck, but it was likely that there were people more powerful than him out there.
Truth be told, Elder Xu was shocked at Zen's performance. The younger generation was better than the last, but could he really afford Kenneth's evaluation of being the reincarnation of an immortal? What did it mean for the world?
Watching Elder Xu at a loss for words and looking like he couldn't accept Kenneth's statement, the latter smiled softly. “Just kidding. Elder Xu, don't take it so seriously.”
“...” Elder Xu was more than a hundred years old. Hearing the leader make such a joke out of the blue, he remained petrified for a while, not knowing how to react.
“But Zen is truly special. No big shots were from his family in the past. It could be that his background and bloodline is ordinary, but in this generation, two heavyweights have been discovered already, Yan, who has a peculiar body constitution, and then Zen, who has incredible strength. They appeared successively. Don't you think that's a strange coincidence?” Kenneth asked him.
Elder Xu shook his head. “Yes, it's a perplexing coincidence. But I don't find it too strange.”
Kenneth looked at the competition field and watched Zen's Streamer Sword reflecting the sunlight, with specks of gold glinting as the weapon flexed. He said, “In fact, I don't find it strange either. I just feel that heaven makes surprising arrangements. It must be fate. Zen could be the dragon hiding in deep waters, but that wouldn't stop me from pushing him ahead. His current performance is exemplary. If he gets achievements in the Cloud Hall someday, it would benefit me.”
To enter any sect in this wide world was not easy, but the Cloud Hall would welcome a genius. After all, if a sect wanted to develop and get stronger, they must discover and cultivate these unmatched talents cyclically.
If Zen made massive achievements in the future, Kenneth would stand to gain a lot from Cloud Hall.
Elder Xu nodded silently. As a subordinate, he could not speak up and interfere in the leader's arrangements. Kenneth seldom showed up. The fact that he was willing to talk to Elder Xu for so long and that he opened up to his subordinate was enough.
On the competition field, Rocher remained silent. He needed time to digest the shock Zen had brought on.
After a while, he said, “I started learning swordsmanship when I was six years old, and then comprehended a small part of the sword intent at the age of ten. When I was thirteen, I grasped the sword intent. And then I entered the consummation of nature level at sixteen. Even the ones who have reached the early stage of the Illuminating Soul Realm do not qualify to be my opponents. In the Eastern Region, few people are worthy of my admiration. Patrick was the first to deserve it. Zen, you are the second. But make no mistake, I will use all my strength in this round. I will leave no stone unturned.”
Zen nodded. “Start the fight.”
The two geniuses didn't need to partake in offensive speech in this battle. They had real strength, and they were solid and firm like massive rocks. They knew that neither of them could get a rise out of the other through loose talk. Furthermore, a swordsman took a path of justice. What they learnt from each other through their swordsmanship would be invaluable. They wouldn't get so far with throwaway words.
Buzz!
Rocher inched his Blood-corroding Sword closer to himself and the weapon seemed to hiss. Shifting his feet, he began the strange Sword Step.
Watching Rocher, Zen couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes. If he was honest, Rocher comprehended the sword more deeply than him.
Zen hadn't been cultivating the sword for long. He might have comprehended the sword intent and even caught up to Rocher in this skill, but he couldn't blend himself with his sword like Rocher. The latter was a natural at this.
Rocher's Sword Step grew faster and faster, sword energy cyclones manifesting under his feet continuously.
“I will begin as well!”
Zen too moved his feet to the rhythms of the Sword Step.
Although Zen carried out his Sword Step according to Rocher's, there was a slight difference between the two.
Rocher's Sword Step was smooth in effect. Seen carefully, each step was calculated and equal in length to the three-foot long cutting edge of his Blood-corroding Sword. His Sword Step appeared soft but hid the killing intent cleverly. Once the edge was exposed, the killing intent would make itself known too.
On the other hand, Zen's Sword Step looked random, yet natural. His steps were not as soft as Rocher's, but appeared more potent in power.
The two stepped forward, setting a tempo with their feet as they faced each other on the competition field, looking for loopholes and mistakes in the opponent's moves.
But since they had cultivated to this level, they knew how to hold on to their nerves. They wouldn't make mistakes easily.
Their Sword Steps appeared to interlace with each other even as they competed, looking like a beautiful dance of sorts. The disciples of Cloud Sect were dazzled and expressed it in raised voices.
“This... This is so captivating!”
“It's a treat for the eyes. If I can practice the Sword Step this way someday, I would be so strong at the nature level!”
“Huh. If you want to learn the Sword Step, you would need to comprehend the sword intent first. If you do comprehend it, you would be invincible at the nature level, but do you really think you can do it?”
As people talked, Rocher struck first. Deciding to tip the balance scale, he launched an attack.
He slid in his steps as if there was oil under his feet. When he finally stopped, thirteen sword intent cyclones dashed in Zen's direction.
Six sword intent cyclones came from the front, three cyclones from the left and the right respectively, and the last one was from the air above. They moved in a whirlwind, blocking Zen in all directions.
“Nice.” Facing the thirteen sword intent cyclones coming at him, Zen too performed a slippery step. He created four sword intent cyclones. Even if his own sword intent cyclones were fewer than Rocher's, each cyclone was larger and more potent.
Poof...
The sword intent cyclones of the two opponents collided with each other and then shattered in the hit. It was a dead heat.
Just then, Rocher unsheathed his sword.
His attacks always went this way. At certain times, he wouldn't launch an attack at all, but once he attacked, he would fight nonstop, not giving any leeway. He had no plans to give the opponent a chance to even breathe halfway.
“Megrez Sword!”
This was Rocher's first time wielding his sword in this round.
When he wielded the sword, his breath seemed to change. The Blood-corroding Sword in his hand blurred.
What was stranger was that Rocher pointed the sword upward, the hilt tipping toward the ground. Zen felt the strong sensation of pressure, as if the sky had fallen on him.
'Has he cultivated the Heavenly Sword? He can borrow the power of the heavens?'
Zen wondered at the scene before him as he raised his brows.
Obviously, Rocher seemed to have borrowed heavens' powers to subdue Zen.
The natural law of the heavens was profound. Millions of generations of humans couldn't see through it to this date. The power of the heavens was unmatched. After all, if the sky fell, who could fight it?
But Rocher seemed to have borrowed a little of this power. He didn't have enough strength and hadn't yet touched the threshold of the natural law of the heavens, so he only had a tiny bit.
But even that little bit of heavens' power was so dreadful that it gave Zen a hard time. He felt like he had a terrible dead weight over him, making him unable to breathe.
'Rocher is really powerful, but... this power was borrowed, and he can't control it. My own swordsmanship is certainly all in my control!'
Zen chose not to retreat. Instead, he hit back with his basic swordsmanship. “Chop!”
He made a simple arc. It was the most basic movement, but the power hidden in the sword was beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
The greatest truths were the simplest of all. They reached the same goal by different means. No matter how they changed, they couldn't get to escape the simplest of sword moves.
Crack!
The two swords collided with each other, a clear sound resounding in the arena.
Many swordsmen would retreat if they didn't have the upper hand in the sword move and then try to attack more aggressively.
However, neither of the two seemed to want to back out.
Clang...
In the blink of an eye, the two opponents wielded their swords at each other seven or eight times in a row. They dodged the quick attack efficiently. It made the onlookers gawk at them in wonder.
Both of them looked calm, as if they were not fighting with swords but sitting across each other in a silent game of chess.
The disciples on the sidelines appeared far more nervous than the two on the competition field.
Among warriors, swordsmen were the kings. They were also the most in number.
As Rocher and Zen fought, the disciples of Cloud Sect held their breaths at the spectacle before them. Some swordsmen even clinched their fists, beads of sweat trickling on their foreheads.
As swordsmen, they comprehended what was happening in this match.
The disciples wouldn't understand a fight between top powerful men of the Illuminating Soul Realm or those of other higher levels, let alone comprehend its intricacies.
On the other hand, Zen and Rocher were strong, but not much more powerful than the other disciples. As long as the swordsmen got a gist of what was occurring behind the swordsmanship, they too could promote themselves. Some of them might even experience breakthroughs in such a situation.
“They have wielded the sword fifty times now...”
“A hundred times...”
“A hundred and fifty times...”
“Ugh...”
Rocher sighed heavily, at last moving back in silence.
He realized he couldn't prevail against Zen when it came to swordsmanship, so it was meaningless to fight him through sword moves.
There was simple power hidden behind Zen's basic swordsmanship. But when the simple went to the extreme, it became more complex. However, this was not a contradiction. It was just a complicated tactic.
Rocher couldn't see through Zen's basic swordsmanship.
As soon as Rocher stood steady at a distance, he drew a circle with the sharp sword in his hand casually. Life vitality spread out around him. Mixed with the sword intent, it made the Blood-corroding Sword buzz with life.
“The light and dark swordsmanship! I am not cruel, but I must prove the power of the heavens!”
Momentum spread across Rocher's body. His demeanor seemed to have changed, as if he were a spokesman of heaven in a world of humans. He looked like he was the son of heaven.
“Megrez Sword! Dubhe Sword! Merak Sword! Phecda Sword! Start all four kinds!”