Chapter 102: 102. Chapter 102

102. Chapter 102

Guan San is currently stroking the server, please complete your subscription to defeat him! A thousand thoughts surged in his mind. Zhao Kuo might indeed lack experience, but no one who could enter the Beihai Sword Sect was a fool. Regardless of whether the person shooting cold arrows came from the Tianxing Sect, they were clearly ill-intentioned. Moreover, since the opponent could make him completely unaware of their presence, their cultivation was obviously above his own. The most urgent priority was to dodge first.

Thus, while pinching a Sword Art, he reached out to pull Atian. Unexpectedly, this pull didn't move her at all.

Zhao Kuo was anxious, "Miss Bai! You come with me first...!"

"He has left," Atian answered calmly. Her left hand gently brushed away the hand the youth had on her right arm, and with both hands, she gripped the crackling arrow, snapping it cleanly and throwing it to the ground.

Watching the Tianxing Sect's signature magical artifact be as fragile as a withered branch in the young girl's hands, Zhao Kuo felt like he was probably dreaming.

"Immortal Elder, are you injured?" Completely unaware of how shocking her actions were, Atian turned her head to ask him.

"Oh... no, no, no," Zhao Kuo shook his head like a rattle, "Are you sure he has already left?"

"Left," Atian nodded, "He ran very fast."

To retreat a thousand miles after a single failed strike; it was indeed the style of the Tianxing Sect.

Zhao Kuo felt a bit panicked. Disciples of the Beihai Sword Sect were required to descend the mountain for training once they reached a certain age. Considering his young age and low cultivation, this task with almost no difficulty had been assigned to him. Who would have thought an assassin suspected to be from the Tianxing Sect would appear, instantly disrupting his pace? Moreover, this child-bride of Senior Brother, who looked like a mortal without any cultivation no matter how one observed her, had not only caught the Soul-Chasing Arrow with her bare hands but could also determine a cultivator's movements, which truly shocked him.

However, Zhao Kuo was a man after all, and he prided himself on being a Sword Cultivator; he could not show cowardice in front of a young mortal girl. Only then could he grit his teeth and maintain a calm expression, though after experiencing that "beauty saving the hero" moment just now, his image as an expert from the outside world was likely unsalvageable.

Bending down to pick up the arrow broken into two pieces, he carefully examined the residual magical power fluctuations on it, gaining a rough estimate of the enemy's strength—late-stage Qi Refining. This judgment made him breathe a huge sigh of relief. Although the enemy was a layer or two higher than him, Sword Cultivators always had fierce attacks, enough to make up for this gap in cultivation. If they were to face each other head-on, he wouldn't necessarily be as disheveled as he was this time.

It was just that he was not alone; he was accompanied by Bai Tian, and even if she had just performed an astonishing feat, it did not change the fact that she was a mortal.

Thinking of this, he stood up and looked at Atian, gritting his teeth, "Miss Bai, we must leave quickly before he returns. I will explain other things to you on the way..."

"Immortal Elder Zhao," Atian interrupted him, patting the youth's shoulder soothingly, "Do not be afraid."

Looking at the large eyes of the other party, which were filled with "You are so weak, you must have had a hard time in the Beihai Sword Sect," Zhao Kuo almost had his circulating Qi go astray.

Yet he had to admit that the move Atian had just pulled off was something he absolutely could not have done himself.

Was Senior Brother Bai Xinli really meeting this child-bride because he was afraid that "the cooked duck would fly away"? He suddenly became suspicious of this.

However, even with more questions in his heart, now was not a good time to investigate. Since he had encountered unexpected danger, Zhao Kuo could no longer care about the rule that "a Sword Cultivator's sword must not be touched by outsiders." He directly abandoned the ridiculous large basket, pulled Atian onto his heavy sword which was already hovering, changed a hand seal, and the long sword rose from the ground, shooting straight into the clouds.

This was Atian's first time experiencing sword flight. Even though she was always calm, she was frightened into grabbing the youth's shoulders in front of her. Watching the heavy sword beneath her feet move further and further from the ground, she actually felt dizzy. It was also at this moment that she had the real sensation that the person in front of her was truly an "Immortal Elder" with divine means.

Although this "Immortal Elder" was not very good at fighting.

"It is inevitable to feel some discomfort during your first sword flight. If you feel any discomfort, Miss, you must tell me in time." Even though he didn't think Atian, with her heaven-defying physique capable of snapping a magical artifact with bare hands, would be unable to handle a mere sword flight, Zhao Kuo still reminded her dutifully.

Just kidding, if this girl couldn't cultivate, then he would have to go to the back mountain to grow vegetables.

Atian's body naturally wouldn't have any discomfort; her attention remained on the recent experience, "Was that just now an enemy of the Immortal Elder?"

Hearing this, Zhao Kuo revealed a slightly bitter smile, "Perhaps, though I didn't know I had such an enemy before."

Seeing Atian reveal a curious expression, he cheered himself up and continued, "Since you have a connection with my Xiuxianmen, and I don't know if there will be other dangers on this journey, I will tell you about it."

"The person who ambushed us just now should be a disciple of the Tianxing Sect. The arrow you caught is called a Soul-Chasing Arrow, which is their signature magical artifact. The Tianxing Sect's techniques have always been known for concealment and speed. However, we only saw one arrow, so it is unknown if someone else was impersonating them," Zhao Kuo said, "It's just that the Tianxing Sect has no past grievances or recent grudges with my Beihai Sword Sect; I really cannot think of any reason for them to assassinate me."

"Perhaps they just don't like the look of you. The magistrate's daughter and Scholar Lü's daughter are the same; they are always fighting each other," said the female demon king who had run rampant in Guangkai Town for many years.

Zhao Kuo didn't know the inside story, but his heart stirred upon hearing this. The Tianxing Sect was located at the southern end of the Yuanguang Continent, right in the territory of the Fangxian Dao, one of the Four Great Immortal Sects, and had always followed the lead of the Fangxian Dao. As for the relationships between the Four Great Immortal Sects, even Zhao Kuo, whose Sword Heart was about to be renamed "Liar," couldn't bring himself to tell Atian that they were as close as family with the other three great immortal sects.

The Yuanguang Continent was only so big, and there were only so many people who could cultivate. They gathered together every few days, so no matter how good their temper was, friction was inevitable, not to mention that the ability of Sword Cultivators to offend people was as outstanding as their attack power. Among the many fellow practitioners, the one the Beihai Sword Sect offended the most was the Fangxian Dao.

The reason for the grudge between the Beihai Sword Sect and the Fangxian Dao was complex. Aside from the Sword Cultivators' mouths that begged for a beating, there was the inevitable competition between top forces and the struggle between Dharma Cultivators and Sword Cultivators that had been entangled since ancient times. So many contradictions gathered together, creating a troublesome situation where one side felt the other was unreasonable and sharp-tongued, while the other side felt the other was hypocritical and dark.

However, compared to Dharma Cultivators who could cast a wide net, the cultivation qualifications for Sword Cultivators were more demanding. This also meant that the number of people in the Beihai Sword Sect was completely insufficient compared to the Fangxian Dao, which occupied the entire southern continent alone, and they had no advantage when it came to verbal sparring.

Fortunately, there was another sect in the north that was even more at odds with the Fangxian Dao, and that was the Taixuan Sect, which was also ranked among the Four Great Immortal Sects.

If the Beihai Sword Sect and the Fangxian Dao were an external contradiction, then the Taixuan Sect and the Fangxian Dao were an internal contradiction, and even more irreconcilable.

Fundamentally, these two immortal sects shared the same origin and were one family in ancient times, but they took completely different paths in their subsequent development.

The Fangxian Dao cultivated the art of the Danding, specializing in refining pills, and even developed a method of using one's own body as a furnace to refine the Five Gods. As for the Taixuan Sect, they called themselves the Talisman Sect, famous for their talisman arts. Both sides regarded the other as evil, polluting the Dao Lineage of the founding masters. If one were to count the grievances between the two sects, one could probably write a magnificent chronicle.

Against this backdrop, it was only natural for the Beihai Sword Sect and the Taixuan Sect to band together to resist the Fangxian Dao; after all, the enemy of an enemy is a friend.

Atian, who grew up in Guangkai Town, naturally didn't understand what the struggle between Dharma Cultivators and Sword Cultivators was, nor could she understand the difference between the Danding Sect and the Talisman Sect, but she had her own way of understanding.

"I understand," she nodded seriously, "In other words, Miss Bei and Miss Fang both want to be the town's beauty. Miss Fang is the magistrate's daughter, with power at home, and Miss Bei is the scholar's daughter, who reads a lot of books. However, reading a lot of books ultimately cannot beat having power at home, so Miss Bei united with Miss Xuan, the rich merchant's daughter, to jointly resist Miss Fang, who uses power to oppress others."

After finishing, she even sighed, "You guys don't have it easy either."

Zhao Kuo didn't understand why the complex relationships of the big shots in the cultivation world turned into a village palace drama in Atian's mouth, but upon closer thought, it seemed there was nothing wrong with it. He could only open his mouth, and after a long time, squeezed out a sentence, "... What 'you guys', we should say 'us'."

Atian thought about how she was just about to go participate in the Ascension Ceremony they were holding, and it was indeed very unkind to distance herself, so she quickly nodded to show her remedy.

However, even if Atian understood why Zhao Kuo would suspect the Fangxian Dao, it did not mean that this mystery was solved.

As a big shot of a generation, it was hard to imagine the Fangxian Dao ordering its underlings to assassinate a nobody like Zhao Kuo. Even if they really did that, they wouldn't send someone whose cultivation wasn't much higher to test him and then finish it hastily.

But he could probably understand the other party's mood regarding running away immediately. After all, seeing a mortal catch a magical artifact with bare hands, he was also quite frightened.

Can't figure it out, can't figure it out, no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

Zhao Kuo's brows furrowed, feeling that his train of thought had hit a dead end. However, this appearance in the eyes of others was naturally because he was worried about being assassinated.

"Immortal Elder, do not be afraid," Atian said gently, not forgetting to roll up her sleeves to reveal her fair arms, patting the thin layer of muscle on them, "That kind of weakling, I can beat ten of them by myself."

You, what did you just say?

Facing the wide-eyed Zhao Kuo, Atian lowered her head and smiled shyly.

Tan Tianming ignored the devastated Zhao Kuo, but closed the account book and nodded at Atian with a pleasant expression.