Chapter 24: 24. Chapter Twenty-Four

24. Chapter Twenty-Four

"However, I'll say this upfront," Duan Xuan sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, smiling brilliantly, "I'm sitting right here. If anyone wants to run away halfway through, do you really think a half-dead beating will be enough to settle it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the group from the Beihai Sword Sect, who had previously been distracted, suddenly moved. Li Ke took a step forward, and the disciples behind him, starting with Bai Xinli, lined up and stood behind Duan Xuan.

"Come on, pick anyone you like?"

He said it with his mouth, but the tone sounded more like "Come and die," which truly terrified the Dharma Cultivators present.

It is well known that the most formidable sect on the Yuanguang Continent is the Beihai Sword Sect, the second most formidable is the Sword Sect on the North Sea, and the third most formidable is roughly the Sword Sect that exists in the North Sea. These top three ascended the throne by completely crushing the fourth-place Taixuan Sect, their terrifying martial superiority making the entire cultivation world tremble.

There is no help for it; unlike other cultivators who still need to study and train, Sword Cultivators are born with a talent for fighting that far exceeds ordinary people. Drawing a sword to hack at someone is as simple and natural to them as eating or drinking. It's as if you were still struggling to learn how to float and hold your breath, while they were already breathing underwater. It completely transcends the scope of "diligence making up for clumsiness"—they are simply two entirely different species.

Under these premises, when Beihai Sword Sect disciples fight outsiders, it usually goes like this:

Others announce their names, they draw their swords and hack;

Others ponder their moves, they draw their swords and hack;

Others compare magical treasures, they draw their swords and hack...

It is so brutal that it is simply impossible to describe in words.

To be honest, everyone's goal in cultivation is to become an immortal, and various methods are merely aids to this ultimate goal. But Sword Cultivators are different; for them, hacking people is cultivation, and cultivation is hacking people. Whether it is Dharma Cultivators, the Demon Sect, or that bunch of god-talking monks, they all fall far behind in this regard.

In normal times, it would be fine if Sword Cultivators just had strong attack power; after all, cultivation isn't a martial arts tournament, and superiority isn't judged by force alone. Otherwise, the Fangxian Sect, whose combat ability isn't even as good as Fahua Temple, wouldn't have become the head of the Four Immortal Sects. If you can't beat them, you just don't fight. You have to know that although Sword Cultivators are all prone to stabbing you in the lungs with their words, they are actually more reasonable than most people.

Of course, when they become unreasonable, they aren't human.

Therefore, even if most people didn't understand why the situation suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse and became a one-on-one challenge against Beihai Sword Sect disciples, there really weren't many people who dared to disobey an order from Duan Xuan, the number one Sword Cultivator of the Yuanguang Continent.

"This..." Wei Sheren frowned. Even with his eyes squinted, one could see his dilemma. He opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and cast a look of help toward Daoist Tian Heng of the Taixuan Sect. "Senior Brother Tian Heng, look..."

Tian Heng covered his ears and turned his head away, pretending he hadn't heard.

Just kidding, going against Duan Xuan while he was in a temper was truly having a death wish.

Seeing that even Daoist Tian Heng was washing his hands of the matter, Wei Sheren, whose body was standing here but whose heart was still on the alchemy furnace in the backyard, frowned. Since he was young, he hadn't been good at handling such dilemmas, but because his other fellow disciples were even worse at it, he had been chosen as Sect Master. The current situation was truly a headache for someone who spent his years soaking in an alchemy room. Fortunately, after all these years, Wei Sheren had also summarized a method that wasn't really a method.

"Since that is the case, as Senior Brother Duan says, let us lay out our horses and carriages and have a go."

Once the topic was broached, it was much easier to continue. Wei Sheren turned to Zhang Zeyan and said, "Go and get the roster for this Qingtan Assembly and hand it to Senior Brother Duan, let him count it properly."

Zhang Zeyan didn't think much of it, but the middle-aged male cultivator beside him became agitated. "Sect Master! How can you condone the overbearing behavior of the Beihai Sword Sect! Where will the face of our Fangxian Sect be!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Sheren replied slowly, "... What do I need face for?"

Now it was the middle-aged cultivator's turn to be stunned.

"My Fangxian Sect has been passed down since ancient times, and what we emphasize are the four words 'purity and inaction.' Inaction is action. Senior Brother Duan is angry and wants to ferret out the culprit; let him be. Why be obsessed with some nonsense like face?"

Rubbing his belly, Wei Sheren turned around and gave another instruction to Zhang Zeyan.

"I still have a furnace of Golden Core pills that hasn't finished refining. Go find your senior brother and have him stand guard here in my stead."

Zhang Zeyan frowned. "But Senior Brother hasn't stepped out of the alchemy room for over ten years..."

"Tell him the people from the Beihai Sword Sect are here," Wei Sheren paused, "he will always come out to take a look."

Zhang Zeyan was skeptical of Wei Sheren's words, but a master's order could not be disobeyed. Plus, he really didn't want to get involved in the mess before him, and since he had nothing else to do, he really did as his master said.

Leaving aside whether Zhang Zeyan managed to invite out the senior brother who had locked himself in the alchemy room for over ten years, once Duan Xuan received the roster, he completely let go of the reins. With their masters remaining silent, the disciples of various sects miserably went to meet their future of being beaten up.

After learning the contents of the booklet, not only did the Beihai Sword Sect want to catch the mastermind, but these sects whose mental cultivation manuals had been mixed up wanted even more to ferret out which brainless disciple had done such a bastardly thing. Now that Duan Xuan was going to settle this matter for all of them, they naturally wouldn't speak up to stop him.

Duan Xuan had previously said "disciple against disciple, Elder against Elder, Sect Master against Sect Master," but in reality, the latter two would never truly happen. Just like Li Ke, even though he had received this rare chance to get some air, he could only sit listlessly on his meditation cushion and doze off—no one was so short-sighted as to challenge his old self.

But the other disciples of the Beihai Sword Sect didn't have that treatment. The young cultivators of the various sects who had resigned themselves to their fate had basically come to terms with it by this point. Since they had to fight to prove their innocence anyway, they naturally wanted to pick someone easy on the eyes to face off against.

And so, several cultivators preparing to go up and get beaten were whispering together.

"Which one are you planning to pick?" a Tianxing Sect disciple asked, poking the youth beside him.

The Huanhua Sect disciple he poked squatted on the ground, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... I think Mu Yi is good. I've exchanged moves with him a few times; maybe he'll go easy on me for the sake of our past acquaintance?"

"I actually think... Hey! Look! Isn't there a girl at the end of the line we haven't seen before!" a Taixuan Sect disciple shouted as if he had discovered a new continent. "My god, in my lifetime, I actually get to see the Beihai Sword Sect take in a new female disciple!"

In his excitement, he didn't forget to call his fellow disciples to watch Atian together. "Senior Brother Liu! Senior Brother Liu! What do you say if we go challenge that new Junior Sister in a bit?"

"Forget it," the young Daoist called "Senior Brother Liu" said with a complete lack of interest. "If you get beaten until your teeth are scattered all over the floor by this new Junior Sister, don't come crying to me."

"Yikes! That shouldn't happen, right..." The first Taixuan Sect disciple immediately shrank back upon hearing this. "I've been cultivating longer than her, after all... Alright, alright, I know a Sword Cultivator's strength isn't judged by the length of their cultivation time, Senior Brother Liu, stop glaring at me..."

After thinking it over repeatedly, he finally had to painfully give up the idea of using this opportunity to strike up a conversation with this pretty Junior Sister. After all, a grown man getting beaten to a pulp by a little girl sounded much more shameful than getting beaten by another grown man.

"Then I'll just pick someone at random," the young man said with a mournful face. "Senior Brother Liu, who do you want to pick?"

Senior Brother Liu raised his finger and pointed at Liu Yan, who was standing beside Mu Yi, scaring the questioner so much he jumped three feet high. The look he gave him changed to "I never expected you to be this kind of Senior Brother Liu."

"Give it up, Senior Brother," he patted Senior Brother Liu on the shoulder and said earnestly, "I heard Senior Sister Liu Yan even has a son."

"I know," Senior Brother Liu replied with a profound expression, "I am her son."

Just as the two fell into an awkward staring contest, a pale purple figure walked toward Atian, who was standing in place.

"I am Zhu Huang of the Immortal-Seeking Path. I wonder if I might have the honor of knowing Junior Sister's name." A purple-robed Daoist stood still in front of Bai Tian and raised his hand in a bow.

Atian examined him and saw that the visitor was wearing the standard pale purple Daoist robe of the Immortal-Seeking Path. The difference was that a small sword was embroidered on his hem with yellow silk thread.

"... Those with yellow patterns are Instrument Cultivators, but they are a bit different. The types of Instrument Cultivators are varied and numerous; they like to embroider the magical instruments their lineage uses onto their clothes. Speaking of this, I have to mention the most shameless lineage among them—they actually embroidered swords on their hems. Isn't that clearly copying us!"

Mu Yi's words echoed in her ears. Atian compared the swords on their clothes; they were indeed very similar.

"My name is Bai Tian."

After she answered softly, the youth opposite her stood up straight. In all fairness, his appearance could be considered outstanding—handsome and dashing—exactly the type young girls liked most. Unfortunately, Atian had no heart to pay attention to his looks; all her focus was drawn to the White Jade Sword hanging at his waist.

This was a sword she was incredibly familiar with, because another one exactly like it was hanging at Bai Xinli's waist. The difference was that the latter was full of presence even when hanging silently, while the former seemed to be nothing more than a dead object.

"It would be fine to just walk one's own path, but they insist on imitating others... In short, you'll understand once you see them."

Mu Yi's words rang out once more.

Atian subconsciously gripped the hilt of Wanjie. She clearly felt her heartbeat accelerating.

What is going on? This feeling is incredibly disgusting.