Chapter 623: Arrogant to the Extreme, Little White Dragon

The flying shuttle flew to the top of a mountain peak and landed.

The mountaintop appeared sharp, but that was only in contrast to the whole; in reality, there was a sufficiently spacious platform on top.

Enough to accommodate several hundred people standing here to watch the battles and rest, without the slightest sense of crowding.

As for the cold wind atop the peak, even Foundation Establishment sword cultivators could endure it.

Although enduring it was rather difficult, for them it also counted as a form of tempering.

Lei Zhengyang led a group of people filing out of the flying shuttle; the shuttle's form changed, turning into a large manor compound.

From inside came the Nascent Soul elder's ordinary-sounding, even somewhat weak voice: "I will be right here; if there is anything, come find me."

"Yes." Lei Zhengyang replied respectfully, then turned around: "Spirit Transformation elders may enter the compound to rest; Xuan Zang, you may as well."

Regarding Tang Luo's preferential treatment, everyone was quite calm.

The treatment a genius ought to have.

However, in the past there were also very few Spirit Transformation elders who went inside to rest; a Nascent Soul elder could, to a certain extent, ignore the Grand Competition.

Spirit Transformation elders could not; at most they would go inside to rest after being injured in a bout.

They still had to watch the entire competition.

As the sect's pillars and high-level leadership, if they did not even understand the situation of other sects, they might as well go home and raise pigs.

Nascent Soul elders did not need to, because they had that kind of strength and seniority.

Lei Zhengyang led a group of people to stand at the edge of the mountain peak, gazing into the distance.

Before them, four mountain peaks already had people on them: respectively, the Cangjian Mountain Villa, the Tingyu Sword Pavilion, the Xing Sword Sect, and the Kunlun Sword Pool.

With the arrival of the Qingtian Sword Gate, the remaining sects also stirred a little.

Both the Tingyu Sword Pavilion and the Xing Sword Sect flew out several people, coming over to the Qingtian Sword Gate's side.

The relationship among these three sects was relatively better.

Lei Zhengyang led several elders to exchange a few pleasantries with these people.

A fierce shriek came from the horizon; a huge shadow rapidly approached.

It was an eagle, an extremely massive eagle, and on its broad back were several hundred people.

"People from the Wan Jian Valley have arrived." Lei Zhengyang said, introducing who the newcomers were for those present who were attending the Grand Competition for the first time.

The Tingyu Sword Pavilion's sect master beside him said: "This is their Divine Eagle; only, it hasn't shown its face in nearly a thousand years; this time..."

His voice lowered.

Then his expression changed slightly: "Nascent Soul?!"

"A Nascent Soul demon beast?" The Qingtian Sword Gate disciples beside him instantly burst into an uproar.

On the other mountain peaks, a commotion also arose.

"Not right, it's not real." Lei Zhengyang stared at the massive Divine Eagle and spoke slowly.

A group of Spirit Transformation elders also observed carefully, discovering the Divine Eagle was not a flesh-and-blood body, but rather...

The Divine Eagle's wings moved slightly, crossing the distance to land on one of the mountain peaks; sword light spread out from its massive body.

Then, the Divine Eagle shattered entirely into light, and the light condensed into a sword.

This sword was two fingers wide, the blade straight and slender, yet strangely a curved hook appeared at the tip, looking like an eagle's beak.

Making this sword lose the ability to "thrust," replaced instead by "hooking."

The guard was a pair of spread wings; the pommel end clasped a claw.

This was a rather bizarre sword, but it barely, just barely, had not departed from the sword cultivators' conceptual category of a sword.

Unlike Tang Luo's hammer, which when brought out could infuriate a crowd to death.

"Unexpected; the Wan Jian Valley actually has such resolve, to refine their Divine Eagle into a sword." Lei Zhengyang said.

"It's probably near death." The Tingyu Sword Pavilion's sect master beside him said, "That old eagle has lived a very long time; now..."

"Now, this sword in the hands of a late Spirit Transformation cultivator can, for a short time, approach the Nascent Soul level."

The Nascent Soul Supreme Elder's voice transmitted over.

"What?" A group of sword cultivators were instantly shocked.

"It won't last long; the Divine Eagle itself never reached Nascent Soul." Lei Zhengyang said, "It seems for this Grand Competition, the Wan Jian Valley wants the top three."

The Wan Jian Valley had already ranked last in the Seven Sect Grand Competition for four consecutive times.

Its position as one of the Seven Great Sects was tottering.

If not for the fact that Daoist Feng Xian was too fierce back then, leaving behind too heavy a lingering prestige, perhaps some sect would have already challenged the Wan Jian Valley.

"Top three..." The Xing Sword Sect's sect master murmured, his expression sinking slightly, "I will take my leave first."

Leading several elders away.

The Xing Sword Sect placed sixth in the last Grand Competition; with the Wan Jian Valley coming so menacingly this time, they were extremely likely to fall to seventh, and needed to be on guard.

"Short-term strength approaching the Nascent Soul level..." The Tingyu Sword Pavilion's sect master also led his people away.

Although Lei Zhengyang's expression looked somewhat grave, in reality he covertly glanced at Tang Luo.

Seeing Tang Xuan Zang's completely unperturbed, calm expression, his heart instantly relaxed a little — only a little.

After all, the further back one goes, even a single minor stage, the greater the gap becomes.

Yue Tian'gang could fight a Nascent Soul as a Golden Core, but he absolutely could not fight a Spirit Transformation as a Nascent Soul.

Tang Luo, on the other hand, could fight a Spirit Transformation as a Nascent Soul, but Spirit Transformation fighting Nascent Soul... throughout history, only three people have done it.

Which three need not be enumerated.

But even so, those three — Yue Wushuang and the others — only managed it at late Spirit Transformation, or rather at the peak, when they were a step away from Nascent Soul.

Tang Luo, even from Nascent Soul to Spirit Transformation, is merely at early Spirit Transformation.

"What a pity..." Lei Zhengyang sighed inwardly; this time, first place would probably be very difficult.

The arrival of Myriad Swords Valley was menacing, causing ripples to spread across the originally fairly calm "lake surface."

Not only were the six sects treating it with gravity, the numerous sword cultivators watching the excitement outside were also extremely agitated — watching a spectacle, they naturally didn't mind things getting bigger.

They lacked Void Refining sword cultivators to make precise judgments, but the imposing aura of that giant eagle also made them feel Myriad Swords Valley was definitely going to pull off something major this time.

Quite a few Nascent Soul sword cultivators also had their share of speculation.

Before the discussion about Myriad Swords Valley's Divine Eagle Sword could spread further, a giant sword cleaved through the long sky, landing on the last mountain peak.

This giant sword was also not a physical entity, but formed by a group of sword cultivators riding swords together, their sword essence combining.

The last sect, Shu Mountain Sword Sect, had also arrived.

The seven great sects gathered as one!

The originally lively, clamorous "sword cultivators below the mountains" instantly fell silent.

Only the sound of wind blowing past remained.

Atop Listening Rain Sword Pavilion's mountain peak, a white-haired elder slowly flew out; this was the Void Refining elder leading the team for Listening Rain Sword Pavilion this time.

Having the sect that won first place in the previous bout announce the start of this bout has always been the convention.

"I declare, this Seven Sect Grand Competition, officially begins!"

Without any nonsense, the Void Refining sword cultivator announced the start of the grand competition, and seven mountain peaks simultaneously released sharp, terrifying sword qi, forming seven sharp swords that pierced seven "great holes" in the vault of heaven!

Listening Rain Sword Pavilion's Void Refining sword cultivator extended a hand, pressing lightly downward.

The seven sharp swords trembled simultaneously, each dispersing into seventy-five small swords; those small swords, following the Void Refining sword cultivator's fist-clenching motion, condensed into tokens half a palm in size, releasing sword qi.

If an ordinary Foundation Establishment sword cultivator rashly touched them, their hands would be sliced open.

Each sect had seventy-five tokens, 525 in total; simultaneously, each sect had five tokens that were special, not blank, bearing a small sword pattern.

This kind of "Sword Token" — one piece equaled five ordinary tokens.

Atop the seven peaks, a full five hundred twenty-five Golden Core sword cultivators flew out; those tokens each flew into their hands.

Apart from the person themself, no one knew who held a Sword Token.

Five hundred-plus people, for Blue Lake, were utterly insignificant; seven islands were fully sufficient to serve as their stage.

Listening Rain Sword Pavilion's Void Refining elder extended a finger, flicking it lightly.

A streak of sword light burst from his fingertip, from one to two, from two to four; in the blink of an eye, 525 condensed streaks of sword light appeared beneath the Golden Core sword cultivators' feet.

Then, all their positions were randomly scrambled.

The sword light vanished, and the Golden Core sword cultivators fell toward the Blue Lake below like dumplings dropped into a pot.

They only stopped when they "stepped" on the lake surface.

"Go." The Void Refining elder turned and flew back to the sword peak.

Simultaneously, the five hundred-plus Golden Core sword cultivators each chose the island nearest them and quickly "ran" over.

For the following time, flight was only possible on the islands; all other parts of Blue Lake were "no-fly zones"; to go from one island to another, one had to cross the floating bridges.

And the floating bridges were narrow, very easily ambushed.

These were all tests; in terms of the grand competition's complexity and difficulty, Golden Core sword cultivators were actually the hardest.

After the start, the first thing sword cultivators had to do was not seize other sects' tokens, but find their companions, find the Sword Tokens.

This is not a competition where a single person fighting alone can win.

During the bout, there were no restrictions whatsoever; killing moves were allowed, no quarter given.

However, surrender was permitted.

At the same time, every sword cultivator had a contingency left on them by their own sect's Nascent Soul sword cultivators; at a life-or-death moment it could preserve their life and remove them from the field.

Golden Core sword cultivators' attacks were still insufficient to break through the contingencies left by Nascent Soul sword cultivators.

If death occurred, that was their own sect's Nascent Soul sword cultivator's problem; they'd have to accept it.

The various sword cultivators landed on the islands one after another, concealing their tracks.

Beneath the sword peaks, at Blue Lake's edge, among the watching crowd, many people had already begun guessing blindly.

It was just like watching those movies that, to save money, move all the special-effects scenes into the night, making everything pitch-dark.

The seven great sects would not provide them any convenience.

Atop the sword peaks, it was much better.

"Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing seniors' battles are still the ones worth watching."

Quite a few people muttered.

"Hahahaha!"

Just as most Golden Core sword cultivators had already entered the islands, a burst of wild laughter rang out.

Only to see a peerlessly handsome Soaring Heaven Sword Gate sword cultivator standing on the floating bridge between the two largest islands, letting out a laugh arrogant and unbridled to the extreme.

"Soaring Heaven Sword Gate, Young Master Jade Dragon Ao Yulie is here!"

Ao Yulie raised a token in his hand, "The Sword Token is also right here; whoever isn't afraid of death, come claim your death!"

"What kind of tactic is this?"

"Feint east, strike west?"

"It only just started?"

"Could it be sacrificing the chariot to save the general?"

"But that's a Sword Token! Using a Sword Token to save the general?"

The Sword Token itself is the general.

"From this far, who knows if it's not a Sword Token; he's bluffing, right?"

"No, I saw clearly, it is indeed a Sword Token... though it could also be a disguised Sword Token." A Spirit Severing sword cultivator analyzed in a low voice.

On the mountain peak, Lei Zhengyang looked at Tang Luo with a face full of shock.

Ao Yulie was their trump card! He got the Sword Token by luck, so why did he jump out on his own?

"Not my business," Tang Luo said. "I didn't make him do it."

Provoking and bullying a child — that kind of classless thing — was definitely Ao Yulie's own idea.

Master Tang Luo refuses to take the fall.