Chapter 48: The Battle for the Champion

"Junior Brother Su, when I first saw you a year ago, you still had the appearance of a child. I never imagined that today, standing on this arena to compete with me for the position of the Disciple champion would be you. Truly, the spirit of youth is vibrant!"

As Su Zhangqing walked onto the arena, the dashing and elegant Qi Hao said to Su Zhangqing with a relaxed smile.

"Senior Brother Qi, you are the same. Upon first arriving at the Qingyun Sect, I heard many senior brothers and sisters say that Senior Brother Qi Hao of Longshou Peak is a peerless prodigy. I never expected to be able to compete on the same stage as Senior Brother Qi Hao today."

Seeing that Qi Hao was full of courtesy, Su Zhangqing reciprocated the respect and praised him in return.

"Hahaha! The praise of outsiders is not worth mentioning."

Qi Hao waved his hand dismissively, then fixed his gaze on Su Zhangqing: "But as for today's position of champion, this senior brother will not yield it easily, so Junior Brother Su must be fully prepared."

"That is exactly what I intend!"

Two rays of light flashed; Su Zhangqing's 'Qingfeng' immortal sword and the immortal sword in Qi Hao's hand rushed out first.

"Junior Brother Su, it begins!"

Once the words were spoken, Qi Hao quickly pinched a spell seal.

Following the completion of the spell, the heavens and earth suddenly changed. Under the warm sun, heavy cold air rose up, and the surrounding area felt as if it had entered a frozen chill. For a moment, Su Zhangqing felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, though it quickly vanished after Su Zhangqing used his Qi to block it.

Qi Hao smiled faintly, rose into the air on the cold air, and slashed out with his cold immortal sword. Sword Qi condensed on the blade, and under the shroud of the cold air, it transformed into ice swords. The ice swords were as dense as snow filling the sky, flying rapidly toward Su Zhangqing.

Su Zhangqing moved his footwork, quickly dodging the attacks of the heavy ice swords. As each ice sword landed on the ground, it splashed countless ice crystals. After dodging many ice swords, Su Zhangqing felt his feet becoming increasingly heavy; it turned out the ice crystals had already condensed into frost, clinging to Su Zhangqing's legs.

"Break!"

Su Zhangqing let out a shout, and the frost on his legs instantly exploded.

However, he was unwilling to remain so passive, so he immediately slashed out with his 'Qingfeng' immortal sword. A wall of wind arose, surging forward to block all those ice swords in one go. Then, after another slash, the wind surged with a dark cyan color, rising from the ground to counterattack toward Qi Hao, mixed with many of the ice swords he had just parried.

Yet Qi Hao remained unperturbed, stepping on the frost to rise into the air, pointing two fingers toward the sky. Countless flying frost fell upon his body, seemingly condensing into a suit of Ice Armor.

He immediately charged straight into the wind. When the wind reached him, he suddenly slashed with his sword, breaking the wind wave. The heavy frost-wind scattered, and when it landed on the surrounding spectator stands, it was exceptionally cold, causing many disciples to shiver.

Qi Hao, having shattered the wind, did not stop his movement and continued to charge toward Su Zhangqing. Su Zhangqing's eyes narrowed, and he hurriedly used 'Qingfeng' to defend.

As the two immortal swords collided at close range, the sound of 'Clang, clang' rang out incessantly. A layer of dark cyan light and a layer of white frost light flashed in the arena, flickering on and off as the two swords clashed and separated.

"Junior Brother Su, truly good swordsmanship!"

In the midst of the exchange, Qi Hao felt a surge of admiration in his heart.

He had witnessed the battle between Su Zhangqing and Lu Xueqi with his own eyes, and that swordsmanship had also left Qi Hao marveling. Today, experiencing it for himself, he felt it even more deeply.

He had been in the Qingyun Sect learning the sword Dao for several years, yet he could not gain any advantage against this disciple who had joined less than a year ago, nor could he see any flaws in him.

"Senior Brother Qi, you are not bad either!" After Su Zhangqing calmly blocked another strike from Qi Hao, he praised him in return.

Just at this moment, Su Zhangqing seized a flaw in Qi Hao's sword strike and immediately slashed toward Qi Hao's left shoulder. However, the 'Qingfeng' immortal sword was actually deflected by the Ice Armor with a 'Zheng!' sound, scattering ice crystals all over the ground. Qi Hao only lowered his body slightly under the immense force, showing no signs of injury.

Qi Hao retreated, regained his focus, and when he opened his eyes again, they shone with brilliance; a snowflake pattern had actually appeared in his pupils.

"Silent Heaven Sinking Ice!"

As he summoned the technique, the white frost light on his cold immortal sword surged. Between heaven and earth, a giant sword forged of frost manifested, carrying a biting cold that threatened to submerge everything. As the cold immortal sword slashed out, the giant frost sword slashed out with it. The heavy frost rushed toward him, causing Su Zhangqing's body to feel a hundred chills; ice crystals covered his entire body, freezing him until he felt some physical pain.

"Thunder Brahma!"

Su Zhangqing knew that if this sword were to land heavily on him, he would certainly lose his ability to fight. He immediately unleashed the technique he had comprehended yesterday from the Thunder Emperor Treasure Art.

In an instant, purple electric light flashed on Su Zhangqing's body. Countless jagged lines of lightning leaped around him. From high in the sky came the sound of a thunderclap, and a massive bolt of lightning fell straight down, smashing into the giant frost sword.

Wherever the lightning passed, the giant ice sword was shattered like bamboo, scattering and breaking apart one by one, before continuing along its path to rush toward Qi Hao.

Qi Hao was greatly shocked. Before he could react, he immediately held his cold immortal sword forward to block. The lightning struck the cold immortal sword, flashing with electric light, and transmitted a heavy, immense force, causing Qi Hao to retreat repeatedly.

"Break for me!"

Qi Hao gritted his teeth and pushed the cold immortal sword forward with all his might, finally refracting the lightning away. He hurriedly dodged to the side. The lightning lost its target and crashed headlong into a mountain range on Tongtian Peak.

Only a 'Boom—' sound was heard, and the mountain range that was struck trembled twice, after which a cave appeared, blasted out by the great thunder.

Qi Hao, having already escaped this bolt of lightning, was filled with lingering fear, wondering how there could be such a powerful Thunder Technique in the world, and how Su Zhangqing could even use it.

He glanced at his cold immortal sword; on the originally pure white blade, a purple-electric scorched spot had appeared where it had resisted the lightning.

The shock was not limited to Qi Hao; thousands of disciples were also struck with awe.

"Is this Thunder Technique simply too heaven-defying?!"

"I have never seen anyone in the Qingyun Sect use this kind of Thunder Technique. Where on earth did this Su Zhangqing learn it from?"

"Didn't Junior Brother Su say a few days ago that he comprehended it after seeing Lu Xueqi's Divine Sword Controlling Thunder True Art?"

The crowd did not know, but Su Zhangqing knew clearly.

This Thunder Brahma technique was a major killing move from the Thunder Emperor Treasure Art. If he could use it after growing stronger, one thunderbolt would be enough to break a continent. But with his current strength, this was his limit, and he could only use it once at full capacity; he would need to recuperate before using it again.

No one expected that this giant cave blasted out by Thunder Brahma would be preserved, and in the near future, it would be called Leifan Cave by Daoxuan, with countless disciples entering the cave to observe, just to pay homage to the few traces left behind by that legendary Qingyun disciple.

(End of chapter)