Chapter 315

You should…… not be able to withstand even half a move of mine!

Heng Xian's words carried no trace of arrogance; he merely realized that sometimes being direct improves efficiency.

For example, this Lu Qi, although also at Yuan Dan Initial Realm, his aura is quite ordinary; in his speech and conduct there is a dash of impulsiveness, lacking restraint—such people are easiest to deal with.

Lu Qi's face instantly flushed red, the spirit sword at his waist slightly drawn: "Even if you are number one on the Earth Ranking, you cannot insult me like this; even Senior Sister Bai Lianhua back then would not dare say I cannot withstand a single move of hers!"

Heng Xian stopped speaking, turned and left.

You……

Lu Qi was about to say more when he heard a faint sword hum ring in his ears.

Swish!

The collar was slit halfway, his neck felt a slight pain.

He slowly raised his hand to touch his neck; upon looking, he saw faint blood threads on his hand, and clearly a shallow sword mark had appeared on his neck.

Instantly his whole body froze!

Watching Heng Xian slowly walk away ahead, his body trembled slightly.

He actually…… didn't notice how Heng Xian drew his sword?

If just now it had not been a friendly exchange but a life‑or‑death fight, I would probably already be a corpse!

How can the gap be so huge when we are at the same realm?

The number one on the Earth Ranking truly…… is no exaggeration!

He took a deep breath, then another, sheathed his sword, a faint smile appeared on his face, and he quickly took a few steps to catch up with Heng Xian: "Junior Brother Heng, it's like this—I actually came on behalf of my master to give you the merit points from your initiation task!"

"Oh?" Heng Xian exclaimed in surprise: "Do the initiation task from four years ago still have merit points?"

Lu Qi nodded: "Of course there is, since the sect has already cleared your name, your initiation task certainly still counts; according to the actual circumstances and the way the Sang Guo demonic turmoil was resolved, the Hall of Merits has decided to award you ten thousand merit points—what do you think?"

Heng Xian laughed: "That's great!"

He unfastened the identity tablet of a true disciple and passed it over.

Lu Qi took it, hurriedly left, and after not long returned, presenting the tablet.

Immediately the two walked out of the Hall of Merits; outside, disciples from each peak still lined up in a long queue, only Jiang Ziyi was absent.

"No need to see me off, Senior Brother Lu!" Heng Xian nodded, his form flickered, and he hurried straight to Bitter Willow Peak.

That's right.

Lu Qi watched Heng Xian leave, then touched his neck again, a hint of bitterness slowly appearing on his face.

The female disciple from the Hall of Merits who had been guiding Heng Xian up ahead came over at this moment, curiously asking: "What's wrong, Senior Brother Lu?"

Lu Qi sighed: "I used to think that geniuses and monsters were somewhat exaggerated; no matter how talented a person is, how strong can they really be? Today I've seen it! This isn't genius—it's invincible loneliness and cold!"

The female disciple blinked: "What do you mean?"

Lu Qi glanced at her: "What could a mere trifling Qi Hai Realm cultivator like you understand?"

The female disciple shrank her neck and slipped away.

Lu Qi was about to turn back when a sudden whooshing sound came from behind; the low‑rank disciples waiting in line all bowed: "Senior Brother Wu, Senior Brother Luo, Senior Brother Liu……"

Looking back, he saw it was a group consisting of fellow Earth Ranking disciples Wu Tong, Luo Si Hai, and Liu Qing, etc.

"Greetings, senior and junior brothers!" Lu Qi bowed with a smile: "Public or private business?"

Wu Tong looked around and said: "Private matter—I heard Heng Xian has come here, so we've come to find him!"

Lu Qi feigned curiosity: "Oh? What do you want with him?"

Luo Si Hai gave a faint smile and said: "Of course we want to challenge him to a duel; to be frank, although his painting back then was indeed not bad, if we say he directly rose to first place on the Earth Ranking, the brotherhood isn't really convinced."

The "painting" he referred to was the "Enlightened Dao Oolong Painting" incident that Heng Xian and Senior Brother Yang of the Collection Hall cooked up four years ago.

Because back then Heng Xian was young, taking on three opponents including Liu Yu all at once was truly stunning; everyone wanted to learn from it, resulting in a farce.

Wu Tong and Luo Si Hai were the main participants.

Upon hearing this, Lu Qi let out an "oh" and unconsciously touched his neck.

Liu Qing cautiously asked: "Where is he? You didn't see him?"

Heng Xian had returned; Liu Qing was actually quite nervous—over these four years, while Heng Xian was being hunted, he was the one who most often stabbed him in the back and spoke ill of him; now his sister Liu Yu returned and spoke of the matters in the "Sword Sea Remains," leaving him completely dazed.

A flicker of strange color crossed Lu Qi's face; he lightly coughed: "Of course I've seen him—don't hide it from you all, I just sparred with him a moment ago, and he left not long ago!"

This……

The group exchanged glances, all excited, and asked in unison: "How did the sparring go?"

Lu Qi first frowned, then somewhat embarrassed: "We exchanged a single sword move then; I used a move from my family's inherited Nine Mysteries Taiji Sword, while he used a unique sword technique I had never seen. The result…… I lost half a move!"

Wu Tong was extremely curious: "What does 'losing half a move' mean?"

Lu Qi pointed at the fine sword mark on his neck and said: "Do you see? We simultaneously neutralized each other's sword qi with sword qi, then broke through the opponent's protective gang wind.

I left a sword mark on his throat, and he left a sword wound on my neck; unfortunately, his speed was slightly faster than mine, so I lost half a move!"

Speaking with hands behind his back, gazing at the sky, a face of loneliness like snow: "I lost because I was unfamiliar with his sword technique; however, Junior Brother Heng Xian achieving this cultivation level at such a young age is truly formidable—this Earth Ranking number one is truly deserved!"

Liu Qing, Luo Si Hai, etc. exchanged glances again, a hint of doubt flickering in their eyes; Luo Si Hai asked: "A year ago you faced Senior Brother Song, who was eighteenth on the Earth Ranking, on the Battle Platform and lost miserably! It's said that Senior Brother Song couldn't last ten moves against Senior Brother Niu Wanli, and even Senior Brother Niu Wanli together with 180 experts from other sects couldn't defeat Heng Xian alone; now you can fight him to a draw—could it be…… that his first place really has moisture? Is the sect deliberately boosting him?"

Lu Qi's cheek twitched, and he spoke vaguely: "Old friends parting amidst colorful clouds, after a year still returning as masters—there's a kind of Zen meaning and progress you cannot comprehend!"

Saying this, he turned and entered the Hall of Merits.

Liu Qing and the others stared at each other: "What nonsense is he spouting?"

Wu Tong pondered: "After all, Heng Xian isn't as strong as the legends claim! This Earth Ranking number one certainly has some moisture!"

"Battle?" Luo Si Hai asked.

"Battle!" the group exclaimed, clenching their fists excitedly.

……

"Wu Tong of Five Rams Peak, twenty‑fifth on the Earth Ranking, challenges Heng Xian!"

"Tiger Roar Peak's Luo Sihai, Earth Ranking twenty-four, challenges Heng Xian!"

"……Song Fei, Earth Ranking eighteenth challenges Heng Xian!"

"The heat of Heng Xian's rise to first on the Earth Ranking hasn't faded yet; within the sect, another wave of Earth Ranking disciples has arisen, collectively staging a grand drama of challenging the Earth Ranking's top rank, Heng Xian."

"Starting from Earth Ranking seventy-fifth place, except for disciples not in the sect or in a secret realm, the rest proceed upward in order, until the challenge notices of the Earth Ranking enemy seven's disciples, flying everywhere toward Bitter Willow Peak."

"On the contrary, Bai Lianhua, Niu Wanli and others among the top few of the Earth Ranking remained silent."

"……"

"Bitter Willow Palace."

"Peak Lord's Main Hall."

"Nangong Liluo wore a huge red robe, her hair disheveled, a faint scar still on her face, she reclined sideways on a chaise, a pair of straight snow-white legs draped over Ye Batian's body, her eyes wandering."

"Heng Xian and Ma Xiaohua sat to the side drinking tea."

"Nanxian, Liuli, and three others stood in the corner like quail."

"The Bitter Willow Peak lineage had all gathered, but the atmosphere was unusually still."

"After a while, Ye Batian finally sighed, speaking in the tone of an old mother: 'Master! You are now a Nascent Soul old monster, an expert, can you not keep drinking and gambling wildly?'"

"The junior martial brother's gift of ten thousand medium-grade spirit crystals, once they're spent, that's enough; getting drunk is fine, but why are you still fighting people?"

"(End of Chapter)"