Chapter 28: Battle and Defeat

After the two saluted, Lu Xueqi stood with her sword on her back, seemingly waiting for Su Zhangqing to initiate the attack.

"Senior Sister, watch closely!"

Su Zhangqing understood her intent and immediately took swift steps; in an instant, sword light flickered, and he leaped toward Lu Xueqi as fast as lightning. He slashed out a sword strike while in mid-air, and using the sword Qi that shot forth, Su Zhangqing followed closely behind to close the distance, then slashed several more times.

This sequence of sword moves was linked with extreme proficiency and possessed a daunting momentum; to the onlookers, it appeared that Su Zhangqing had already used his full strength, wishing to take down Lu Xueqi in one set of moves.

In reality, Su Zhangqing had already restrained the power; it was merely a showy display, strong in appearance but hollow within.

He did not want to reveal his true strength because of a single sparring match, yet he could not afford to lose too miserably, as that would easily make people suspicious.

Conversely, Lu Xueqi remained motionless. Only when the sword Qi reached before her did she slowly take up her long sword to block horizontally, instantly parrying all the sword Qi.

"Hmm? Why is it so powerless?"

Lu Xueqi silently spoke to herself in her heart; clearly, the sword moves looked full of momentum, yet upon blocking them, they felt like nothing more than a gentle breeze.

Before Lu Xueqi could ponder further, Su Zhangqing had already arrived close by with his sword in hand; the sword in his grip immediately shone brilliantly as he met her and connected several moves.

Suddenly, the arena was filled with dazzling light.

One could only see two figures intertwined, making it hard to capture them; white and blue sword Qi were unleashed in succession, emitting bursts of crisp sounds from the collision of blades.

After testing a few moves, Su Zhangqing slashed again. Lu Xueqi flew away in mid-air, drifting down like a falling leaf, and happened to land right on the Sword Peak of Su Zhangqing's long sword. She stood on one foot with her long sword on her back, as if being supported by Su Zhangqing on the Sword Peak, her sleeves fluttering in the wind! The scene was truly beautiful! "Junior Brother, how long do you intend to keep hiding?"

Lu Xueqi looked at Su Zhangqing earnestly and asked silently in her heart.

Through two or three moves, Lu Xueqi had actually realized that Su Zhangqing had no intention of fighting at all, but was instead using ordinary sword moves to spar with her.

It had the momentum but lacked the power, just like he was letting her land hits.

This behavior was exactly the same as when she first entered the path of the sword, and Master personally practiced with her, letting her land hits time and time again.

"Since you won't use your strength, then I will force you!"

Thinking this, Lu Xueqi immediately gathered her focus and treated Su Zhangqing as a true opponent.

She leaped into the air, and that immortal blue long sword suddenly soared into the sky; her figure was as swift as the wind, and she struck down directly from above Su Zhangqing's head.

Before the long sword even landed, Su Zhangqing's white robes flew up, and strong winds raged all around.

Su Zhangqing felt that this sword strike was incomparably sharp and was instantly dumbfounded.

"Isn't this just sparring? Why is Senior Sister really trying to kill me!"

Although he did not know why Lu Xueqi had suddenly become so fierce, even carrying an aura of wanting to kill him, Su Zhangqing knew that if this sword really landed squarely on him, he would be severely injured even if he didn't die. His desire to survive was intense, and he absolutely did not want to die under this sword strike just because he was hiding his skills.

Su Zhangqing did not panic; without any intention of retreating, he drew his long sword backhanded and met the strike above his head. Instantly, sword Qi surged, carving out a barrier of clear wind upon the sword edge.

No sooner said than done, the two swords clashed together.

"Clang!"

With a crisp sound, Lu Xueqi's fierce offensive landed on Su Zhangqing's clear wind barrier. Although the barrier shook violently, it remained intact without any sign of being pierced through.

This scene naturally fell into the eyes of everyone present.

"How is it possible? Junior Brother actually blocked this sword strike!"

"When I sparred with Junior Sister Lu earlier, although I blocked it, I still lost to this sword strike. Junior Brother actually managed to block it!" "Looking at Junior Brother, he seems to still have energy to spare, completely unaffected by this sword strike!"

Suddenly, everyone was astonished. Many of them had sparred with Lu Xueqi and naturally had tasted the power of this move.

Yet, this mid-air falling sword strike that they, as senior sisters, could not resist, was blocked by Junior Brother with ease.

Of course, it was not just this group of gossiping senior sisters who had such thoughts; even the parties involved, Lu Xueqi and Shuiyue, were slightly shocked.

Others might not know, but Lu Xueqi herself knew that although this "Lingluo Sword Art" was not her ultimate move, it was still one of her top three.

Executed with her Foundation Establishment Fifth Realm strength, even cultivators of the same realm would need to block with all their might to withstand it; those at the Foundation Establishment Third Realm or below had absolutely no possibility of blocking it.

So many senior sisters had been defeated by this sword strike, which was enough to show its power, not to mention that she had used her full strength for this strike against Su Zhangqing.

She had originally thought that if Junior Brother truly lacked the strength, she would withdraw her power at the last moment; although it might still injure him, she could find a way to make it up to him later.

But now it seemed that was unnecessary.

"Damn! I overdid it!"

Hearing the surrounding discussions, Su Zhangqing finally realized.

Just now, he had only thought about blocking the sword, relying entirely on his natural reaction in a crisis, without thinking too much. By accident, he had exposed eighty percent of his strength.

"No! I must think of a way!"

Immediately, Su Zhangqing thought of the most helpless and worst method: he directly caused his Qi to riot within his dantian. With a surge of Qi inside his body, he retreated repeatedly while standing with his sword, and forced out a mouthful of blood with his Qi, looking at Lu Xueqi with a weary, bitter smile.

He looked exactly like someone who had been severely injured by sword Qi.

Everyone was stunned.

Wasn't he fine just a moment ago? Why did he suddenly look like this? "Senior Sister is truly extraordinary! With just one sword strike, Junior Brother is unable to parry."

Su Zhangqing wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said to Lu Xueqi with a bitter smile.

However, after a flash of worry in Lu Xueqi's eyes, her face quickly returned to its cold expression, and there was even a hint of anger. She was not moved by Su Zhangqing at all, landing on the ground and watching him quietly.

She was perfectly clear about such little tricks.

Her move had been completely blocked by him; he hadn't been injured at all, let alone the fact that this sword move only caused external injuries. What was Junior Brother doing, putting on a show of having internal injuries? To still be thinking of hiding his skills at a time like this, he was truly hateful!

"Zhangqing, are you alright?"

Shuiyue steered her Flying Sword and landed from the air, asking Su Zhangqing with a look of concern.

"Master, I have sustained some injuries, but it is nothing serious; a little rest will suffice."

Su Zhangqing propped himself up with his long sword, revealing a smile on his bitter face as he replied to Shuiyue.

"Hmm, it is good that you are fine!"

Shuiyue nodded. The entire sparring match had fallen into her eyes; she knew perfectly well how Su Zhangqing had been injured, and she also knew what kind of act this child, Su Zhangqing, was putting on.

"Since you are fine, then you shall participate in the 'Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament' in a week."

(End of chapter)