Chapter 707: 【Invisible Sword Qi】 (Part 1)

Qiu Mubai saw the heavy greatsword, couldn't help but furrow his brows, yet secretly delighted—Hu Xiaotian finally agreed to meet him head‑on. This sword is weighty; whoever wields it must have extraordinarily strong arms. Though the greatsword excels at chopping, with great power and heft, it lacks agility.

Hu Xiaotian said, "My sword is named Hidden Edge Sword. I didn't want to draw it earlier because I don't wish to create more killing karma; once Hidden Edge Sword leaves its sheath, it will surely draw blood." Anyway, bragging doesn't need to be taxed—I'll scare you first and then talk.

Qiu Mubai smiled and said, "Then I'll certainly get a good look at it."

Hu Xiaotian raised the sword with both hands, making an ordinary chopping motion.

Qiu Mubai locked his eyes on the incoming sword, his thin sword trembling suddenly with a swish! The blade moved lightly and nimbly, thrusting toward Hu Xiaotian's chest. Although he drew his sword after Hu Xiaotian, his sword‑drawing motion was twice as fast. Hu Xiaotian gripped the sword with both hands, holding it high above his head. Swinging this way can unleash the full strength of his arms, but the downside is neglecting defense, leaving his entire chest exposed to the opponent. Especially against a fast‑sword master like Qiu Mubai, such a mistake is practically fatal.

Although Qiu Mubai had expended much stamina in the earlier chase, he still had confidence he could kill Hu Xiaotian with one strike. His thin sword shot forward, instantly crossing the space between them—less than a foot from Hu Xiaotian's chest, while Hu Xiaotian's greatsword was still two feet above Qiu Mubai's head.

Zhou Mo's face changed; he couldn't understand why Hu Xiaotian would choose to face Qiu Mubai head‑on now, given that Qiu Mubai's condition hadn't deteriorated much.

Huo Shengnan bit her lip, her heart tightening with unprecedented anxiety.

Zong Tang, however, noticed that the Hidden Edge Sword shone unusually bright and dazzling in the sunlight.

The sword tip was still half a foot from Hu Xiaotian's chest, yet Qiu Mubai's expression suddenly shifted—he felt a biting chill only three inches above his head, even though the greatsword's edge was clearly nearly two feet from his scalp. Sometimes what the eyes see isn't real; Qiu Mubai actually sensed impending death. He pressed his lips together, stepped back one pace, and at the very moment his thin sword was about to hit its mark, he abruptly withdrew it.

The surrounding crowd cried out in bewilderment, no one grasping why Qiu Mubai would suddenly withdraw his sword. Had he changed his mind? Was he showing mercy to Hu Xiaotian?

Only by being there could one grasp how perilous the situation was. Qiu Mubai's thin sword retracted faster than his attack, already at his limit. His thin sword and Hu Xiaotian's downward swing of Hidden Edge Sword did not meet directly; instead they encountered an invisible sword qi. The biting sword qi struck first against the thin sword, causing the narrow blade to bow into an arc in midair. Relying on that thin sword alone couldn't block all the sword qi, so Qiu Mubai stepped back twice, sweeping his thin sword before him to form a light curtain. The sword qi from Hidden Edge Sword hammered the curtain repeatedly, making it ripple like lake water. Finally, Hidden Edge Sword chopped down on the curtain; the blades clashed with a piercing ring, and the thin sword bent inward under the immense force from Hidden Edge Sword.

Qiu Mubai had to retreat another three steps. Hu Xiaotian brandished Hidden Edge Sword. His greatsword surged like a raging tide, wave upon wave—one wave hadn't subsided before the next rose, rushing wildly at his opponent.

Although Qiu Mubai exercised utmost caution, he still misjudged Hu Xiaotian's strength. Hu Xiaotian had actually cultivated external emission of sword qi. Seeing Hu Xiaotian's sword technique far slower than his own, Qiu Mubai thought his blade could pierce Hu Xiaotian's heart before he himself was struck—yet he hadn't expected the invisible sword qi to detach from the blade and strike first. Though he couldn't see the sword qi, he sensed the danger in time and abandoned his attack at the last moment. Even so, he couldn't fully ward off the opponent's sword qi; before Hu Xiaotian finished his move, Qiu Mubai had already retreated six steps in succession.

Huo Shengnan's lovely eyes grew unusually bright; she caught sight of Qiu Mubai's thin sword inexplicably bending just moments before, while the two longswords had not yet clashed. Recalling the pressure Hu Xiaotian had imposed on her during last night's sparring, Huo Shengnan suddenly realized that Hu Xiaotian had already reached the stage of emitting sword qi externally. In other words, during their previous bout he had been holding back. A tangible longsword is easy to block; invisible sword qi is hard to defend against.

The realm Qiu Mubai had failed to reach after twenty years of bitter cultivation, Hu Xiaotian achieved in a single day. This breakthrough greatly affected Qiu Mubai's state of mind. Seeing Hu Xiaotian's second wave of attack approaching, he could not correctly gauge the incoming sword qi, so he kept retreating. Only after stepping back three more steps did he realize that Hu Xiaotian's attack this time was merely a feint—the greatsword, though it kicked up a gust of strong wind, did so only because the blade stirred the surrounding air; this strike did not emit sword qi as the previous one had.

Qiu Mubai first jumped in shock, then realized it was a false alarm. Upon noticing that no sword qi was coming, he steadied himself and thrust his sword—but his speed was visibly affected. His thin sword clashed with Hidden Edge Sword, ringing out a loud "clang!" The hard impact bent the thin sword again. Though experienced and quick‑reacting, Qiu Mubai flicked his wrist, letting the thin sword slide along the edge of Hidden Edge Sword, make a sudden dodge mid‑way, shift the blade's angle, and stab toward Hu Xiaotian's left rib.

Hu Xiaotian's external emission of sword qi was far from being freely controllable; the first attempt succeeded, but this second try sputtered. Seeing Qiu Mubai switch from defense to attack with such speed, Hu Xiaotian doubted he could withstand the blow, panicked, and employed the Dog‑Dodging Eighteen Steps, retreating five steps. After opening a safe distance, he repeated the same chop, his inner energy flowing with the motion. As he unleashed the strike with full force, he reached his peak, and invisible sword qi again detached from the blade and flew toward Qiu Mubai. In flight, the biting sword qi more than doubled in intensity, forcing Qiu Mubai to retreat, his thin sword forming a light shield before him. All that could be heard was a continuous series of booms, and Qiu Mubai kept stepping back amid the explosions.

The laypeople who had come for the spectacle didn't know what was happening; they saw Qiu Mubai waving his arms alone while Hu Xiaotian pressed step by step, the two staying about twenty feet apart with their weapons never touching, and assumed they were colluding in mischief. The true experts, however, wore grave expressions. Li Chen Zhou's heart sank—Hu Xiaotian had actually achieved external emission of sword qi, and Qiu Mubai was now contending with Hu Xiaotian's invisible sword qi. Though Hu Xiaotian should have only just begun to grasp the basics, he had not yet mastered the art of emitting sword qi; his qi came and went unreliably. Even so, it had already driven the young master of the Sword Palace, Qiu Mubai, into a frantic scramble.

This time Hu Xiaotian had learned his lesson—he would no longer give Qiu Mubai a chance to catch his breath. He repeated his sole move over and over; usually he had to swing his sword three times to get one successful emission of sword qi, a low success rate, but a single success was enough to push Qiu Mubai back thirty feet. What tormented Qiu Mubai was that he never knew which swing would release the sword qi, so he couldn't seize an opportunity to counter when Hu Xiaotian faltered—yet Hu Xiaotian would suddenly succeed just the same. Expecting him to have emitted sword qi, what came out was merely a dud.

Forced into a disheveled retreat by Hu Xiaotian, Qiu Mubai kept his mind clear, step by step luring Hu Xiaotian toward the eastern woods, intending to use the trees for cover and make a death‑defying stand against him.

Hu Xiaotian had seen through his intention and, in a flash, unleashed three swords—two of which actually managed to emit sword qi.

Qiu Mubai waved his thin sword in a "Wind‑Rain Impermeable" pattern, but by the time he retreated his Chasing Wind Thirty‑Six Swords were exhausted, while Hu Xiaotian kept using that single move. Invisible sword qi struck the light shield encircling Qiu Mubai's body with a loud "bang!"; the shield shuddered and cracked a slit, and immediately a second blade of sword qi sliced cleanly into that gap.

Although Qiu Mubai withdrew in time, his chest was still struck by the sharp, domineering sword qi, tearing his outer garment open in a gash about a foot long and revealing the blue armor beneath. The sword qi hit the armor; even the tough plating couldn't withstand it and split apart. Qiu Mubai grunted in pain, his chest throbbing, his mind filled with only one word—retreat! Only by pulling back could he stay alive. After retreating several steps, his back slammed into a massive cedar, and Qiu Mubai silently lamented that it was over. He had painstakingly chosen to duel Hu Xiaotian in the woods, never imagining it would end up being self‑entrapment.

Hu Xiaotian still swung the same move at Qiu Mubai, but by the time he unleashed this strike he could no longer control his hand—not because he couldn't wield the Hidden Edge Sword, but because he couldn't tame his own fickle sword qi. If it erupted as it had the previous two times, Qiu Mubai would surely be cleaved in two by him.

Qiu Mubai's face was ashen; the chest pain left him unable to lift his thin sword. Watching Hu Xiaotian raise the greatsword high and bring it down, he realized he didn't even need to wait for the blade to touch him—the invisible sword qi alone was enough to cleave him in half.

Shouts of alarm rang all around, a terrified voice crying, "Mubai! Dodge!"—the sound came from the beloved daughter of Grand Tutor Xiang, Xiang Qingyun.

Li Chen Zhou felt shock mingled with delight—if Hu Xiaotian's strike killed Qiu Mubai, it would stir up quite a commotion in Yongdu. His wife, Jian Rongxin, gripped his hand tightly out of fear and let out a soft, girlish cry.

Only now did Huo Shengnan truly grasp Hu Xiaotian's formidable strength, recalling their sword bout the previous night—if he went all out, even she would hardly be sure of victory. But this strike of his must not fall; should it kill Qiu Mubai, he would become the public enemy of the Sword Palace.

Zhou Mo and Zong Yuan were both top‑tier masters; from the series of clashes they had just witnessed, they saw that Hu Xiaotian had indeed reached the point of emitting sword qi, yet he could not control it at will—in fact, even Hu Xiaotian himself didn't know when he would be able to release it. Zhou Mo silently sighed, hoping desperately that Qiu Mubai wouldn't be killed, for if Qiu Mubai died, their troubles in Yongdu would multiply greatly. (To be continued…)