Chapter 35: The Competition

The next day was the first round of the Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament.

Su Zhangqing arrived at the Cloud Sea Plaza, surrounded by fellow disciples who had come to observe this grand event; it was incredibly lively, and many participating Disciples felt extremely nervous under these gazes, yet Su Zhangqing simply stretched, looking left and right with a calm expression.

"Junior Brother, how is it? Do you have the confidence to win the first round?"

Senior Sister Wen Min walked over to Su Zhangqing's side and asked him with great concern.

"Senior Sister Wen, it should be possible."

Su Zhangqing replied to her with a faint smile.

Never mind the first round, he had the confidence to compete for even the final first place, it was just that he simply didn't want to.

"Then good luck, Junior Brother! All of us senior and junior sisters will be on the sidelines cheering you on!"

After saying this, Senior Sister Wen stepped aside, letting Su Zhangqing look over, where forty or fifty senior sisters called out in unison, sweetly: "Good luck, Junior Brother!"

This scene immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.

To be able to have those beautiful senior and junior sisters from Xiaozhu Peak cheer for him alone—what kind of virtue or ability does this brat have!

It truly makes me envious!

Countless male disciples from other peaks were angry and annoyed, but mostly envious; they did not fear scarcity but rather inequality. It was clear that Xiaozhu Peak only accepted female disciples, yet Shuiyue Dashi had made an exception to accept this one male disciple.

Watching the group of senior sisters being so "mischievous," Su Zhangqing could not help but laugh.

This wasn't cheering him on at all; it was practically putting pressure on him!

Of course, Su Zhangqing also knew this was the good intention of the senior sisters, so he naturally could not let down their expectations, secretly deciding to let them see a stunning match.

Soon, the match bracket results were out; Su Zhangqing was in the seventh arena of the second round of matches.

After waiting for one round, it was finally time for Su Zhangqing to take the stage.

He saw another disciple who had drawn the number fifty-three lot step onto the arena first; the disciple looked left and right, searching for his opponent, appearing very nervous.

After Su Zhangqing handed his lot, which had the number twelve written on it, to the elder in charge of verifying numbers, he leaped into the air and landed on the arena, then said to that disciple with a faint smile: "Senior Brother, stop looking, I am your opponent."

That Fenghui Peak disciple stared at Su Zhangqing, stunned for a moment, then reacted, and the nervous mood he had just been in relaxed quite a bit.

The Heavenly Dao had responded to his prayers!

It was actually just as he had wished! His opponent was also a fellow disciple at the Foundation Establishment Stage 1, and it looked like a novice who had only recently broken through; he was simply the highest-quality opponent he could have asked for, bar none.

He took another close look.

Isn't this the brat who just caused those senior and junior sisters from Xiaozhu Peak to cheer in unison? "If I remember correctly, your name is Su Zhangqing, right?"

That Fenghui Peak Senior Brother surnamed Zhang shed his nervous expression, replaced it with an arrogant look, and asked Su Zhangqing.

"That is correct!"

Su Zhangqing replied faintly, naturally seeing the change on his face as well.

"Being able to be my opponent is certainly your honor; today I will properly instruct you, but don't even think about winning!"

Senior Brother Zhang's confidence had risen, and he spoke to Su Zhangqing with extreme arrogance, not forgetting to glance sideways at the Xiaozhu Peak senior sisters who were cheering for Su Zhangqing around the arena.

"Oh? Then please, Senior Brother, enlighten me."

Su Zhangqing narrowed his eyes and retorted. This Senior Brother Zhang was also a sword cultivator; after both sides spoke, Senior Brother Zhang was the first to draw his sword and step forward with rapid strides, his figure nearly lunging as he slashed a sword strike toward Su Zhangqing, and suddenly a whistling wind arrived from all around, faintly transforming into sword Qi that slashed toward Su Zhangqing.

The technique he used was one Su Zhangqing was exceptionally familiar with; it was the "Qingfeng Sword Dao" he had learned initially, only now, after being improved twice by his Against-Heaven Comprehension, it had already changed from "Qingfeng Sword Dao" to "Wild Wind Sword Dao," which could be said to be two existences of the same origin but different moves.

It seemed this "Qingfeng Sword Dao" was a common sword technique practiced at Fenghui Peak.

"The sword moves are practiced skillfully enough, but they have the form without the spirit."

After Su Zhangqing said this faintly, he reached out into the air, and a wooden sword flew from the side into his hand.

After taking the wooden sword, Su Zhangqing did not panic, slashing out a few times in front of him, directly parrying all the Qingfeng sword Qi that Senior Brother Zhang had swung, without any intention of letting it hurt him at all.

Following closely was Senior Brother Zhang, who rushed over with his sword; in an instant, the long sword was less than ten percent of a unit away from Su Zhangqing. Although the sword Qi had been shattered, Senior Brother Zhang had great confidence that he could knock Su Zhangqing off the stage with one strike, and thus he would win easily.

Yet the next second, the wooden sword in Su Zhangqing's hand slashed out again.

The speed was actually several times faster than Senior Brother Zhang's; Senior Brother Zhang was still lost in his dream of winning, and by the time he regained his senses, his attack had been completely blocked by Su Zhangqing.

"How is that possible?!"

Senior Brother Zhang was instantly dumbfounded.

Even if this move of his wasn't meant to defeat Su Zhangqing in one strike, it should at least have made Su Zhangqing retreat from the edge, or at the very least, made Su Zhangqing move a step to defend himself.

But now, after one strike, he hadn't even managed to knock the wooden sword out of his hand—what was going on!

"There is nothing impossible!"

Su Zhangqing smiled slightly and said to Senior Brother Zhang: "The Qingfeng sword moves you used, I happen to know them too; why don't I demonstrate them for you, Junior Brother."

"Hmph! I have practiced this move for at least a year; how could you be more proficient than me?"

Senior Brother Zhang retreated rapidly, widening the distance again, and scolded Su Zhangqing.

Su Zhangqing did not speak, shaking his head helplessly.

When he looked up, his eyes already held a stern majesty; the wooden sword in his hand slashed out in an instant, his footwork was like a shooting star, and his entire figure seemed to transform into a wisp of clear breeze, with strands of wind flying in from all around, all of which, after Su Zhangqing's wooden sword slashed out, followed along to transform into sword Qi, cold and sharp!

At this moment, Senior Brother Zhang's eyes were even more shocked; he did not expect that Su Zhangqing really knew their Fenghui Peak's common moves, and that he used them with such proficiency, which was simply incomparable to his own half-baked level.

Only now did he realize that the person before him was not as simple as he had thought; he put away his playful mindset and held his long sword to meet Su Zhangqing's Qingfeng sword Qi.

"Senior Brother, watch closely, I will only teach this once!"

Su Zhangqing shouted loudly, and the Qingfeng sword Qi swarmed toward Senior Brother Zhang.

"The so-called Qingfeng Sword Dao should be as light as the wind and as swift as the wind; it is not something you can show the true power of just by using a set of frames like you did earlier."

"Now there is sword Qi attacking from the left, why aren't you blocking it yet?"

After he spoke, a streak of sword Qi truly did strike from the left, and Senior Brother Zhang hurriedly blocked it.

"It's coming from the right again!"

Su Zhangqing reminded him again, and Senior Brother Zhang, who had just slowed down, hurriedly raised his sword to parry again.

(End of chapter)