Chapter 411

Qian Chen waved his sleeve, pulled out a bamboo branch, and stared at the tip of the green bamboo in his hand, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth, actually ignoring Yu Liang's questioning.

Such an attitude, for the noble clans, was contempt beyond measure!

Yu Liang was so angry that the long beard beneath his lips was trembling. He turned his head and shouted to the seats: "Since Li Taibai has said so, do you still not have the courage to come up?"

As soon as these words were spoken, how could the noble clan disciples in the seats endure it? Immediately, several people rose.

At this moment, True Person Zhou Yin stood up, his gaze turning around the noble clan disciples and others below, and turned back to ask Qian Chen with a smile: "Daoist Taibai is already a Yin Spirit Venerable, having beheaded the River God of the Dajiang; his status is naturally not the same as these juniors. If you exert your full strength, I fear they would find it difficult even to lift their hands. So, Daoist Li, have you limited the number of times you will strike, and with what cultivation magic power? Can you clarify?"

Qian Chen said calmly: "Strike? When did I say I would strike? My meaning is..."

The green bamboo in his hand pointed at the crowd, and he smiled gently: "As long as you draw your sword before my eyes, it counts. I will not strike!"

When he said this, the noble clan True Persons were instantly filled with rage.

Qian Chen's meaning was that with just his gaze, he could make all the noble clan disciples unable to draw their swords before him.

In this place where more than half of the young talents of the Southern Jin noble clans were gathered, to make such a statement was simply to trample the reputation and dignity of all the noble clans underfoot. Not only the True Persons of the noble clans on the stage, but also the young disciples in the seats below were secretly angry.

Of course, many were secretly happy.

They only thought that Qian Chen's test was too arrogant. Without using Core magic power, relying only on spiritual intent, even a Yin Spirit Venerable might not dare to say lightly that he could defeat them. After all, a cultivator's strength was composed of too many elements, and cultivation magic power was almost the foundation of everything. Without cultivation magic power, one could not activate magic treasures, nor could one display most supernatural powers; a cultivator's entire ability was almost ninety percent wasted.

To defeat others purely by realm, one must be at least two major realms higher.

And under these harsh conditions, the chance of victory was too easy... one only needed to point a sword at Qian Chen; one didn't even need to strike with that sword.

At this time, one person from the noble clans stepped out and said: "Song Mingzhi of Qingxu Mountain, I wish to learn!"

Qian Chen nodded slightly. Song Mingzhi took a few steps forward, ascended the stairs, and came before Qian Chen: "Yan Yan Shixiong Chu cultivates diligently and has just formed a supreme-rank Core. Although there were errors during the process, my teachers have their own methods of remedy. As long as one's heart is firm, such hidden dangers are not impossible to remedy, yet you, coveting temporary fame, pointed it out in public, ruining my Yan Yan Shixiong's clean reputation and leaving his half-life of Dao-path hopeless. To cut off someone's future like this, are you not afraid of retribution?"

"Are you complaining about Yu Liang?" Qian Chen only smiled.

These words left Song Mingzhi speechless for a moment. After all, from beginning to end, Qian Chen hadn't said many words, whereas Yu Liang had the suspicion of being a troublemaker. But he only sneered, sword light flashed, and a sword light flew from his sleeve, pointing straight at Qian Chen.

The crowd exclaimed.

According to Qian Chen's previous agreement, by this point, he should have already lost!

But Song Mingzhi still did not let it go, displaying the 'Veiling Moon Sword Technique' of the Qingxu Sect. The flying sword transformed into hundreds of sword lights flying up and down, like countless silver streams pouring between the two.

And among these sword lights, only one was real, containing the full power of the flying sword.

The essence of the Veiling Moon Sword Technique was the change between 'truth and illusion.'

A look of triumph appeared on Song Mingzhi's face. The hundreds of sword lights launched simultaneously from all directions, stabbing at Qian Chen, while the one true sword light contained within slashed toward Qian Chen's hair bun.

At this moment, Song Mingzhi had already slightly lifted his chin, looking proudly at Qian Chen, waiting only for his hair bun to fall and for him to become a laughingstock.

Ever since Qian Chen beheaded Wang Yan's bun with his sword, this kind of provocation had become popular in Jiankang, but it was not something to be done unless there was a deep hatred... Song Mingzhi used Chu Wengong as an excuse, intending to use this to make a name for himself in Jiankang, and even the entire Central Lands.

But Qian Chen did not even move, only facing it indifferently. When the hundreds of sword lights approached within three feet of his body, they all dissipated.

Song Mingzhi was terrified...

A trace of cold sweat appeared on his head, but he still cupped his hands and said: "I had no intention of hurting anyone, but my sword has already been struck. This round should be my victory, right!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Qian Chen had no reaction, but the noble clan side could not sit still. True Person Zhu struck out in anger, flicking his large sleeve and sending him off the stage with an irresistible surge of magic power: "Disgraceful!"

Song Mingzhi was dazed, not knowing what he had said wrong.

True Person Zhou Yin shook his head and said: "Squeeze your sleeve and see if the flying sword is still there? From beginning to end, the sword you supposedly struck with was merely Qian Chen's illusion!"

Song Mingzhi's face changed drastically. Breaking through his mental barrier, he felt the sharp and piercing Veiling Moon Sword in his sleeve.

So it was that when he struck with his sword, the flying sword he used was only an illusion. His magic power, spiritual sense, and even his Jin Dan had been blinded in that moment, so the hundreds of transformed sword lights were all false.

Moreover, rather than saying it was the sword light he had transformed, it was better to say it was Qian Chen's thought that had transformed it...

With just a single thought, those hundreds of sword lights could have rebounded, and he would definitely not have been able to see through such an illusion. At that time, it would have been the moment he drew his sword to commit suicide.

Qian Chen said calmly: "I do not know what methods your sect elders have for remedy, but once a point of true intent in the illusion is lost during Core Formation, there is no remedy... That is what I say! Also, the illusion tribulation during the Core Formation of the Supreme Veiling Moon Art, once known to the cultivator, will be ten times more dangerous if one is prepared, appearing as a double illusion—that is, you will experience an illusion of yourself breaking through the illusion."

"So sometimes, ignorance is the best!"

Song Mingzhi's face changed drastically, and a thought suddenly rose in his heart.

Before forming his Core, he had been clever and asked a Core-forming cultivator in his clan about this matter, and then he had been prepared during the Core Formation illusion, allowing him to pass through this tribulation safely. It was only because his foundation was not as deep as Chu Wengong's that he only obtained a fourth-rank Core, but...

Had he really passed this tribulation?

As soon as this thought arose, the fourth-rank Jin Dan image in his Purple Mansion suddenly vanished, regressing to a fifth-rank.

Xie Xuan sighed: "Why must the Daoist friend point out his self-illusion technique?"

For disciples of the Veiling Moon lineage of the Qingxu Sect, if their foundation is insufficient, they can be made aware of this secret, and by borrowing the illusion tribulation during Core Formation, they can create a layer of self-illusion, deceiving themselves to raise their pill rank by one level. Although this method can never achieve a supreme-rank Jin Dan, those who are told the secret of the illusion tribulation are disciples who have been implicitly abandoned. But to use a fifth-rank Jin Dan as a fourth-rank is also infinitely profound.

But Qian Chen had not only pointed out this realm, but had also planted another layer of illusion with the help of Song Mingzhi's wavering Dao heart at this moment.

In this life, if this person cannot break through this layer of illusion, there is no hope for a realm higher than Core Formation.

Song Mingzhi's previous actions vanished suddenly. Under all these blows, his heart was almost dead... Seeing this situation, the noble clan disciples all felt a sense of 'rabbit dying and fox grieving,' but some also thought that Song Mingzhi mentioning Chu Wengong might not have had good intentions. The young disciples who had come from the Supreme Sect had always taken Chu Wengong as their leader, and after he lost power, one did not see this person comforting him, but rather taking the opportunity to win over other disciples, appearing to have the intention of taking his place.

Today he suffered a disaster, and Chu Wengong might even feel a bit of comfort.

After all, finally someone was more miserable than him!

After Song Mingzhi's defeat, the crowd below was even more restless. Among them, one person's eyes flickered, and he secretly thought: "I wondered what certainty he had to make people unable to draw their swords without moving, but it was only a small trick of illusion. Although the art of illusion does not require magic power and can be triggered with a single thought, it is most countered by my art of heavenly secret divination. After all, under heavenly secrets, truth and falsehood can be distinguished at a glance!"

"In that case, this should be my chance to take back the previous humiliation!"

This person raised his head slightly. It was the sixth son of Zhou, who had been extremely humiliated earlier.

With his mind set, he rose calmly, putting on an extraordinary and elegant demeanor, and slowly stepped forward, ordering someone to send a divine sword into his hands. Such a low-level divine weapon was naturally inferior to Qian Chen's sword of emotion, and its power was far behind a flying sword, but it had one advantage: because it had no spirituality, it was extremely difficult to be deceived by illusions.

The sixth son of Zhou held the sword and stepped forward: "Zhou Chu Xuan of the Luling Zhou clan, I wish to learn from you! To let you know that it is not that my noble clans have no one..."

"But that you are too aggressive!"

The sixth son of Zhou gripped the sword hilt and slowly drew the sword. He was not greedy for this round; he only needed to draw the sword, and Qian Chen would be considered to have lost.

The sixth son of Zhou drew his sword from its scabbard. He saw Qian Chen before him tapping lightly with the green bamboo. A sharp and peerless sword intent instantly shrouded the entire grand hall. Bamboo shadows were thick, and amidst the strips of clear light, a sword suddenly thrust out, piercing Zhou Chu Xuan's heart—the panic before death, the awe-inspiring sword qi that pierced the heart and destroyed the soul inch by inch, this feeling of suffocation made Zhou Chu Xuan wake up with a start...

At this moment, he discovered that his hand was still pressing on the sword hilt, and he had not drawn a single inch of the blade.

And Qian Chen was still above, coldly staring at the sword tip.

"I will die! If I draw the sword, I will die!"

Zhou Chu Xuan's pupils dilated, knowing this was a warning from heavenly secrets.

Without employing divination techniques, his heavenly secret heart method was frantically triggering a premonition, and at this moment, countless shadows of heavenly secrets he had spied upon were filling his soul.

Some were of him drawing the sword, and a sword intent splitting him and his sword in two.

Some were of Li Taibai suddenly abandoning the bamboo and drawing a sword, a terrifying sword light that could not be looked at directly, destroying the entire Copper Sparrow Tower. Li Taibai slashed with one sword behind him, countless Yin Spirit cultivators bleeding, only Xie Anshi fighting him once, and he had already died in the aftermath.

Some were of him being lifted by a sword and split evenly in two.

Some were of a sword piercing his heart...

Thousands of ways to die, countless omens of death, every sword light was sharp and clean, every sword was profound and peerless!

Seeing Zhou Chu Xuan sweating profusely, his face showing extreme panic, and even his hand pressing the sword hilt trembling slightly, True Person Zhou Yin frowned, sensing something was wrong. Yu Liang said in a low voice: "The sixth son of Zhou practices the art of heavenly secrets. In this way, he should have been led by others, covering all divination results with the art of heavenly secrets. If every strike is a dead end..."

Zhou Yin said solemnly: "If every strike is a dead end, he does not know how to strike!"

"Forget the sword!"

The sixth son of Zhou had already forgotten the sword in his hand, only sweating profusely, his face pale, and even his hands trembling, almost unable to hold the long sword.

Zhou Yin used his own 'Book of Deriving Heaven' to forcibly join the heavenly secret deduction between Qian Chen and the sixth son of Zhou. Zhou Chu Xuan only saw that in every scene of his premonition, True Person Zhou Yin suddenly struck, slapping a palm toward Qian Chen beside him. The sixth son of Zhou took the opportunity to draw his sword. Under the power of the Zhou family's Eight Phases Method, this palm contained pure white true fire, almost having the power to burn mountains and boil the sea. However, Qian Chen only turned the green bamboo in his hand, the bamboo pole pointing toward the sea of fire. The green bamboo was split from the middle, and a five-colored sword qi passed through the sea of fire, piercing True Person Zhou Yin's heart.

Then, with a backhand sword, he beheaded him.

"Ah!"

Zhou Chu Xuan looked up in terror, the long sword in his hand not yet drawn an inch, and it had already fallen from his hand to the ground.

His heart and soul had been completely crushed by the heavenly secrets he had deduced himself, and he no longer had the courage to lift the sword... Even True Person Zhou Yin beside Qian Chen felt his scalp go numb, cold sweat faintly visible on his forehead.

And the crowd did not know what had happened.

They only saw the sixth son of Zhou, who had boasted he would challenge Qian Chen, standing blankly before Qian Chen for a long time, his face becoming increasingly ugly, and then he let out a cry of alarm, abandoning his sword and fleeing. Not to mention drawing the sword, he could not even manifest a trace of the blade.

Qian Chen was impatient to let them come up one by one. He only raised his eyes. At this moment, his figure holding the green bamboo radiated an extremely tense atmosphere, as if a ten-thousand-jin sword were hanging by a thread above everyone's heads, making everyone's gaze involuntarily gather there.

Below, Wang Longxiang suddenly felt something, a strong fighting intent erupting in his eyes, and he suddenly raised his head, meeting Qian Chen's gaze.

True Person Zhou Yin's face changed drastically. At this moment, he was not the only one whose scalp went numb, and he said in horror: "The method of Eye-Sword!"

The method of Eye-Sword is often used before sword cultivators clash, carrying sword intent in the eyes. Those who cannot break the sword intent carried in the sword cultivator's eyes can only wait for death. It belongs to an extremely profound application of sword intent.

Using the spirit in the eyes, using the sword in the spirit, the clash of heart-swords—the loser does not even have the qualification to draw their sword.

"No!"

Below the crowd, Fuyouzi showed a solemn expression, struggled for a while, and only then broke free from the lock of the sword intent.

The sleeping youth opened his eyes slightly and muttered: "Sleeping so well, why did someone slash me with a sword? Strange, strange!"

Xie Lingyun pressed his hand on the Keting Flute at his waist, and with the help of the aura accumulated in this flute, broke free from the sword intent.

The table before Wang Longxiang suddenly split to both sides, cut in two by an invisible sword qi!

Behind Liu Yu appeared a martial arts divine image, his fighting intent awe-inspiring...

…………

True Person Zhu, True Person Gu, True Person Xiao, True Person Zhou Yin, True Person Yu Liang, and the other noble clan True Persons who had struck were only then forced back by the green bamboo swung by Qian Chen. A peerless sword qi suddenly erupted from the green bamboo. Xie Xuan was startled and waved his sleeve, blocking between the two sides. The golden cup in his hand was thrown out, and the clear wine spilled into the air.

The water droplets fell before the sword edge, split by the green bamboo, blooming in the air like green lotus petals.

"Among the three thousand six hundred people below, nine have broken my sword intent, and only Longxiang has replied with a sword. This round shall have him as the champion!"

"But..."

Qian Chen withdrew his sword and returned the bamboo, the bamboo branch in his hand raising slightly again.

A cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He looked wildly and unrestrainedly at the Yin Spirit Venerables behind him, raising the golden tripod beside him. At this moment, five-colored divine light brushed down, and the golden tripod became smaller and smaller in his hand, finally turning into a three-legged tripod the size of a wine cup, like a bronze goblet or golden cup.

The Ten Thousand Li Cloud Heaven Map was picked up by the green bamboo. True Persons Zhu and Gu urged their magic power, wanting to take back the magic treasure, but under the five-colored divine light, how could they get their wish?

Qian Chen waved the scroll, the ancient city of Jiankang appearing dimly upon it, and the Dajiang beside the city flowing majestically.

He probed the golden tripod into the map, washing it in the Dajiang. On the Dajiang hundreds of li away, huge waves suddenly rose. With a casual pat, the Jiankang City in the Ten Thousand Li Cloud Heaven Map shook. At this moment, in every wine shop, every noble clan residence, and even in the Imperial City and the Copper Sparrow Tower, wine surged from the wine jars, gathering into a lake.

Qian Chen reached into the Ten Thousand Li Cloud Heaven Map, using the golden cup in his hand to scoop up the immeasurable wine.

"The tripod is filled with the water of three rivers; can you drink a cup?"

"The wine is exhausted, the long sword dances, the golden cup comes empty from the moon!"

Qian Chen raised his cup and drank wildly, his figure appearing drunk yet awake, heroic and unrestrained. At this moment, his figure transformed into countless images in the hall, among which the thickest shadow raised his head and drank the wine of the three rivers, suddenly leaning over and spitting out countless sword qi.

He hooked a spittoon with his foot and spat into it. True Person Gu exclaimed in pain: "My Four-Seas Qi-Gathering Spittoon!"

Qian Chen raised his head with a hint of drunkenness and smiled: "Sorry about that!"

He straightened his figure, and the countless overlapping illusions converged into one.

He raised his sword-like eyebrows and smiled: "Tonight, I wanted to lose my temper several times! But I was always hindered by the face of my friends, so I had to borrow the drunkenness to beat you all up... You are high and mighty, picking and choosing, commenting on so many people!"

"Come, receive my sword... let me weigh you, to see what kind of things you are!"

He kicked the Four-Seas Qi-Gathering Spittoon at his feet toward the crowd, from which countless sword qi carrying a thick smell of wine surged out, like a dam breaking in the heavenly river, and everything that fell was sword qi. Qian Chen turned the bamboo pole in his hand, pointing at the endless sword qi, and a green lotus exploded, immediately spreading in all directions.

Qian Chen shouted loudly: "Noble pressure comes and I am not free, for several years of hardship I have trodden the mountain hills!"

Countless green lotuses bloomed throughout the hall, but the green bamboo pole moved from his right hand to his left.

The five-colored sword light suspended in Qian Chen's qi-sea poured entirely into the green bamboo. The bamboo pole turned in his wrist, his figure leaning slightly as if about to fall backward, but the sword intent in his hand thrust forward, slightly lifting, the sword light passing through the immeasurable sword qi, thrusting out with one sword!

Only hearing in that sword light, someone chanting loudly:

"The flowers in the hall intoxicate three thousand guests, one sword frosts the fourteen states!"

…………

Boom—

The people on both banks of the Qin Huai River clearly heard a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering loud noise. Standing at the head of the Zhu Que Bridge, beside the Wuyi Lane, the Copper Sparrow Tower suddenly had two copper sparrows fly up in panic, and the entire nine-story building was neatly separated from the highest palace, split in two by a sword qi that rose into the sky!