Chapter 396: Sword Discussion Sparring

Song Qingming picked up the wooden tablet in his hand, shook his head and said, "I only know that I drew number twenty-nine. As for who the opponent is, it is still unclear. I estimate that I will only know after the fellow Daoists ranked in front finish their competition."

After Chen Laozu announced the holding of the Sword Discussion Assembly, the specific spiritual items rewarded to the winners of the Sword Discussion Assembly were also announced directly. Qi Refining cultivators only needed to enter the top twenty to receive one first-tier top-quality spiritual pill as a reward, and those who entered the top five could also receive an additional first-tier top-quality magic tool.

As for the Foundation Establishment cultivators, those who could enter the top ten would be rewarded with a second-tier mid-grade Wangyue Pill, and the top three cultivators would each receive a second-tier top-grade magic tool.

The Wangyue Pill had the effect of assisting Foundation Establishment cultivators in breaking through their realm. Song Qingming had also bought two of them in Pingyang Market before. The value of this one Wangyue Pill alone in the market was about five hundred spirit stones. Needless to say, the second-tier top-grade magic tool was worth nearly two thousand spirit stones for any one of them.

Seeing that the Sword Discussion Assembly had such high rewards, many Foundation Establishment cultivators who came to Mount Tuoyun, regardless of their cultivation base, basically signed up. Anyway, this Sword Discussion Assembly only required registration to participate, and there was no need to pay extra spirit stones. Even if they couldn't enter the top ten to get rewards, there would be no great loss to themselves.

"Fellow Daoist Song, I heard that the cultivators who enter the top ten in this Sword Discussion Assembly, besides those rewards on the surface, can also stay on Mount Tuoyun to listen to Chen Laozu preach after the trading society ends. This is a rare opportunity for us."

"Haha! Fellow Daoist Huang is right. It's just that there are over a hundred Foundation Establishment fellow Daoists who came to Mount Tuoyun this time. It will probably not be easy for us to enter the top ten. We can only try our luck. I don't know whose hands the rewards for the top three will fall into in the end!" Song Qingming looked forward and sighed with a smile.

Huang Shengxin nodded in approval and said, "Fellow Daoist Song is right to think so. This time, there are no less than twenty late-stage Foundation Establishment experts who came to the Sword Discussion Assembly alone. We might just be here to join in the fun in the end. However, being able to have the opportunity to spar with so many cultivators of the same tier is also a great joy in life. You and I just need to do our best."

While the few were talking, the sparring platform for Foundation Establishment cultivators in this Sword Discussion Assembly had also officially begun its first fight.

The two cultivators who faced off first both only had early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation bases. After a fierce fight, one of the young big men won the match narrowly by relying on the relatively superior magic tools in his hand and entered the next round of competition.

In the second match, as a young woman in a light yellow palace dress appeared, a burst of exclamation suddenly followed outside the sparring platform. Song Qingming looked closely and found that the aura faintly revealed on this woman had actually reached the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment.

"Fellow Daoist Huang, who is this woman? She is so young and has already cultivated to the peak of Foundation Establishment."

Seeing Song Qingming's confusion, Huang Siyuan hurriedly explained, "This is Fairy Qiudie of Tiexian Valley. She is the one with the best cultivation talent among the younger generation of the Ma family and has received the true teachings of Senior Ma. In this Sword Discussion Assembly, her strength should be able to rank in the top three. Meeting such a powerful opponent right from the start, the guy on the opposite side is really unlucky."

The cultivator who fought against this Fairy Qiudie was an old man with a slightly white beard. This person's cultivation base was about the same as Song Qingming's, and he had also reached the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment. Although both were late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, the strength gap did not seem that big. But after the battle began, this old man at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment was soon beaten by the secret techniques and supernatural powers used by the other party, leaving him with no power to fight back.

Relying on a silver lantern, this woman kept summoning a group of white butterflies formed by magic power that covered the sky and the earth from the lantern. Each of these butterflies was like a sharp hidden weapon, attacking rapidly from all directions around the opponent. Even if the opponent had a decent defensive magic tool in his hand, he still couldn't hold on for long. In the end, the old man could only announce his surrender directly, ending the fight.

After seeing the supernatural powers of this Fairy Qiudie, Song Qingming could only secretly rejoice that he didn't encounter her at the beginning, otherwise he would probably be like the old man just now and lose in the first round.

As one cultivator after another took the stage, it was soon the turn of the three people, Song Qingming, who were watching the battle on the side. Fortunately, the luck of the three of them was good on the first day. The opponents they encountered were all Foundation Establishment rogue cultivators with average cultivation bases. Except for Huang Siyuan, who entangled with the opponent for a while, Song Qingming and Huang Shengxin both entered the second round easily without much effort.

Of the over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, only half, over sixty, remained by the second day. This time, the opponent Song Qingming encountered was even stronger, a bald big man at the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment.

This guy was a body-refining cultivator. Relying on a body-refining technique as hard as iron, he had few opponents among cultivators of the same tier. However, a very obvious weakness of body-refining cultivators was that their spiritual sense was generally weaker.

After Song Qingming used a silver shield to block several close-range attacks from the bald big man, he took advantage of the gap in the opponent's movement to take out a black banner directly from his storage bag, releasing a burst of black smoke to trap him in place.

This black banner was the Soul-Bewitching Banner that Song Qingming had asked Huang Siyuan to help modify years ago. This banner was originally a magic tool that was best at attacking a cultivator's soul. The bald big man was trapped in place by the Soul-Bewitching Banner. After a long struggle, he rushed out of the black smoke. Just as he looked up and wanted to search for Song Qingming's whereabouts, a huge transparent spike had already arrived in front of him, directly knocking him off the stage.

Standing on the stone platform, Song Qingming wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked slowly to the side. In order to launch this powerful blow, he had already consumed a lot of magic power. Fortunately, this blow, which he had been charging for a long time, did not disappoint him and knocked the opponent off the stone platform directly.

Because in the sword discussion rules, as long as the opponent was forced off the stone platform, it was considered a victory. Although the bald big man who was knocked off the stone platform by him was not seriously injured and stood up immediately after falling off the stone platform, Song Qingming quickly heard the voice of a cultivator announcing his victory and hurriedly put away the Soul-Bewitching Banner and walked down from the sparring stone platform.

Although this battle took some effort and consumed a lot of magic power, it did not exceed Song Qingming's expectations before the battle, and there were no major twists and turns or trouble. After all, his cultivation base and magic tools were better than the opponent's. As long as he was not restrained by the opponent's technique or sneak-attacked, winning was not a big problem.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 397 =====