"I am Yu Tianyang, a disciple of Golden Lights Cave. I've known of you for quite some time, Elder Zhou of the Wu Family. Today, I've come to ask you for advice."
His voice was sonorous and forceful. He didn't beat about the bush, but immediately explained the purpose of his visit.
The whip in the hands of the Wu family's stable groom stopped in midair.
As the stable groom of the Wu Family, he naturally had an discerning eye and knew a lot about the goings-on within the Jianghu. When he heard that the man standing before him was a disciple of the Golden Lights Cave, he could not follow through on his whip strike.
A Golden Lights Cave disciple?
Junior Leopard frowned slightly. So did Wu Yansheng and Lyu Yiyue. They never expected to meet a disciple from the Golden Lights Cave in Qinlingjun City, let alone a disciple that would blatantly stand in their way.
These three people were fairly clever. With just a moment of thought, they all realized the cause of their current situation.
The Mingyi School and Golden Lights Cave had greatly suffered under Wang She's hands and definitively wanted to reclaim their former turf. However much they wished to reclaim their turf, though, accomplishing it was no easy task.
Setting aside the fact that Wang She was already a Level Nine expert, his actions that day had set off the extermination of Northern Yuan and earned him great fame.
No matter how his actions were viewed before, people from all walks of life in Great Jin were now forced to admit that Great Jin had only exterminated Northern Yuan thanks to Wang She's contribution. On top of that, the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan had joined forces to hunt him down and rumors had spread across half the Jianghu that Junior Leopard had carried the then-severely injured Wang She on his back. Currently, troubling Wang She was not wise.
If they couldn't make trouble for Wang She but also couldn't let their grievances go, who else could they bother?
Zhou Bao!
No one could figure out the exact nature of the relationship between Zhou Bao and Wang She, but everyone knew they had an intimate bond. Otherwise, Wang She would never have given Junior Leopard 19 Spiritual Stones and Junior Leopard wouldn't have carried Wang She on his back.
Though they couldn't make trouble for Wang She, they could vent all their frustrations on Zhou Bao.
This was known as "pinching the soft persimmon", i.e. bullying a pushover.
"Interesting. I am being treated like a soft persimmon!" Junior Leopard thought, laughing in his heart. Lifting the curtain of the carriage, he poked his head out and said, "You've come to ask me for advice? Sorry, but I don't take disciples!"
"Pffft---!" Behind him, Wu Yansheng and Lyu Yiyue both burst out laughing.
"Ask you for advice" had several meaning in this world. Usually when people in the martial arts world encountered each other, this phrase meant "to challenge you to a duel" rather than "to seek education".
Yu Tianyang was a handsome fellow roughly 17 or 18 years old. He had a face that gave off an air of pure indifference and a body honed like a sword. He stood ramrod-straight in the middle of the road, radiating an attitude of arrogance and refinement. At first glance, Junior Leopard thought he had met another Lu Shaoyou, but Yu Tianyang had a much sharper attitude.
A Level Four cultivation?
Junior Leopard obviously had no interest in this interloper's temperament. What did interest him was Yu Tianyang's cultivation, which had only reached Level Four.
The man dares to challenge me with just a Level Four cultivation?
It was important to remember that Junior Leopard had bombarded a Level Seven and Level Eight expert to death. In the current martial arts world, even an ordinary Level Seven expert wasn't guaranteed to win against Junior Leopard, let alone a Level Four warrior.
Even though he had seen Yu Tianyang's cultivation, Junior Leopard was no less cautious. Somebody who dared to challenge him with only a Level Four cultivation must have some kind of trick up their sleeves.
"Yu Tianyang, disciple of the Golden Lights Cave, pays his respects to Elder Zhou!"
Yu Tianyang cupped his hand and fist together to show respect, ignoring Junior Leopard's facetious words. Junior Leopard's mood quickly grew serious as he sensed the incomparably sharp Qi Power emanating from Yu Tianyang's body.
In that moment, Junior Leopard began to have doubts. The man before him seemed less like a human and more like a sword that had just been unsheathed.
A faint feeling of danger stirred in Junior Leopard's heart, urging him to keep his guard up. He slowly disembarked from the carriage and faced Yu Tianyang.
He smiled softly and said, "It seems you're not here to become my student, are you?"
"Don't play dumb, Chief!" Yu Tianyang said with a snort. "You know what I've come here for!"
"True!" Junior Leopard said, lips curling as he lost the last of his respect for this humorless stick in the mud.
"If you're so interesting in 'asking me for advice', get on with it and attack," he said in a seemingly casual tone.
Yu Tianyang raised his brows. "If that's the case, pardon me for giving offense!"
A stream of searing white light suddenly shot from his fingertips towards Junior Leopard's face, an attack so swift that Junior Leopard barely reacted in time.
"What the h*ll is this?"
Junior Leopard made a strange sound and jerked his head back, awkwardly evading the blast of white light. Before he could regain his bearings, he felt the sharp, cold pressure of Sword Qi shooting towards his back.
"D*mn! It's a Flying Sword!"
In that instant, Junior Leopard finally figured out what his opponent was using against him.
He spread his arms and darted into the air, body soaring like an arrow flying away from the bowstring. He cursed himself for not bringing his Big Iron Hammer along.
A Flying Sword!
This type of weapon may as well have been an enigma to the people of this martial arts world. Even if they'd heard about Flying Swords, they paid no mind to them.
This term was very obscure. If he hadn't just heard about the concept from Wang She, Junior Leopard would have never guessed that Yu Tianyang had refined a Flying Sword.
In the early period of the middle ages, sword practitioners had dominated the whole world. At that time, the precious talents and treasures from the times of antiquity had already vanished, while the rich essence of the world was growing sparse. Some practitioners were forced to abandon the ancient ways of practice. They sought out alternative practice styles, which led to the appearance of various celestial devices.
Unlike those magic weapons from the times of antiquity, most celestial devices from the middle ages could only be used after being refined and fused with divine thoughts. For that matter, their power could not be compared to the strange magic weapons forged before recorded history.
The Flying Sword was the most infamous of these celestial devices.
In the early period of the middle ages, various schools focused on the mastery of sword practice, supplemented by other celestial devices. They focused all their cultivation efforts on the sword, for the Flying Sword was powerful and swift. However, as time passed, they ran into the same problems the people from the times of antiquity had encountered with their magic weapons and cultivation methods.
They suffered a shortage of the mineral veins needed to create Flying Swords.
It is said that during the golden age of sword practitioners, Flying Swords soared across the sky in droves. Each warrior could fly around on a Reining Sword as soon as they cultivated to Level Four. The biggest schools of sword practice, such as Shushan and Emei, had over 10,000 disciples, each of which possessed a Flying Sword. As time elapsed, though, their resources were exhausted. Worst of all, other people would seek to refine these Flying Swords if their previous owners died, expending a large amount of energy and mineral ore to remove the brands on these inherited swords. As a result, the number of swords and sword practitioners gradually declined over the next 10,000 years, leading to the loss of various sword formulas. In later ages, even those who acquired a Flying Sword and its formulas would only use it as an ordinary auxiliary celestial device. They would no longer invest their life and cultivation energy into their sword like the sword practitioners of the Middle Ages did.
Celestial devices led to a new peak of prosperity. For the cultivators of the current martial arts world, there was little difference between magic weapons and many of the powerful celestial devices from the middle ages.
Whether your cultivation was high or low, or your status a Grandmaster or a beggar, you abided by universal rules. Celestial devices and Flying Swords were no different; both required world essence and various kinds of materials to refine them. After the boom in sword practitioners, all the materials required to forge Flying Swords were exhausted. The materials to forge celestial devices were also exhausted after more than 10,000 years of popularity. How could people deal with such an absolute lack of resources?
All they could do was strengthen their body!
In Junior Leopard's era, even the most ordinary celestial devices of the Middle Ages had become wildly popular items...and a Flying Sword was far from ordinary.
Enough digressions!
In truth, celestial devices were rarely seen in this era, let alone Flying Swords.
Junior Leopard never thought that Yu Tianyang would possess a Flying Sword. More precisely, he never thought this guy would be a sword practitioner!
A sword practitioner!
Such a thing had not been seen since the Middle Ages...until now.
Without a doubt, sword practitioners did not decline due to a lack of power but due to a lack of swords.
No one could deny the might of sword practitioners. They were cultivators who staked all their cultivation and faith on the sword. With a good sword in hand, they could show you miracles.
Sword Practitioners were most admired for their ability to challenge people higher than them in rank. A Level Three Sword Practitioner with a good sword and a set of brilliant formulas could challenge warriors several ranks higher than them. In the medieval period, many disciples among the supreme schools would rampage all over the place, hacking and slashing with the unique and brilliant swords they bore. Even Elders of the small schools who had reached the Mysterious Realm could not run or hide from the mighty attack force of the Flying Sword. No matter how strong you were, merely reinforcing your body wouldn't protect you from the lethality of a Flying Sword.
This was the power Yu Tianyang had at his disposal.
Junior Leopard had managed to kill a Level Eight expert despite having only cultivated to Level Four at the time. With the Flying Sword in his hands, Yu Tianyang was confident he could replicate Junior Leopard's feat and kill him with just his Level Four cultivation.
"The Golden Lights Cave has actually reared a sword practitioner!" Junior Leopard thought, bitterness swelling in his heart. The frightening part about Flying Swords was how they merged with the divine thoughts of their sword practitioner. It could be said that no matter where the cultivator's thoughts went, their sword followed.
Though Junior Leopard's body movements were swift, he was scratched twice by the incoming sword light. An incomparably penetrating Sword Qi suddenly seeped into Junior Leopard's body and began attacking his tendons and meridians.
"Go forth!" Junior Leopard dared not conceal his strength any more. With a wave of his sleeves, he deployed his 49 Demon Devil needles, 49 tiny streaks of black light that collided with the white sword light.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding---!"
Silvery chiming sounds echoed through the air as Demon Devil needles collided with the sword light, stopping the energy dead in its tracks. Junior Leopard seized this opportunity and dashed towards Yu Tianyang.
Yu Tianyang let out a loud roar. The white sword light trembled and suddenly broke through the blockading Demon Devil needles. The sword light rushed towards Junior Leopard's back again, moving several times faster than Junior Leopard's physical body. Sharp Sword Qi moved ahead of the sword light and brushed against the small of Junior Leopard's back. Junior Leopard had no choice but to dodge again.
"I don't believe it!" Junior Leopard blurted out, waving his hands back and forth. His Demon Devil needles danced in sync with his motions, being celestial devices similar to the Flying Sword. Junior Leopard now used his Demon Devil needles like a Flying Sword, shifting his divine thoughts so that three needles attacked three vital points on Yu Tianyang's body while the remaining 46 needles fended off the white sword light.
"Humph! If you're going to use celestial devices again me, I won't hold back against you!" Junior Leopard thought with a snort.
Yu Tianyang's expression finally changed as he saw the three Demon Devil needles rushing towards him. He displayed deft footwork and fell back.
"Retreating? I'll track you down no matter where you flee!" Junior Leopard said, laughing out loud as he evaded the white sword light. He continued to hold the sword light back with his Demon Devil needles while sending the other three needles after Yu Tianyang.
From an outside perspective, this was a very comical scene. Instead of crossing blades, these two warriors were both running away from their enemy's celestial devices. Junior Leopard was in no position to display his formidable cultivation skills, a situation that hadn't occurred in many years.
After all, not many rich people with celestial devices had the opportunity to cross paths these days!
Yu Tianying grew impatient; no matter how many times he dodged, the three Demon Devil needles were always right on his tail. He made a sharp gesture with his hand and roared. The white sword light entangled with the Demon Devil needles split in two; one portion of the sword light rushed towards Yu Tianying, knocking the three needles aside as it flew forward.
"Sword light division?" Junior Leopard exclaimed, eyes widening. He never expected a youth with such low cultivation to actually acquire a Flying Sword technique like this.
What happened next shocked Junior Leopard even more. The split portion of sword light held back the three Demon Devil needles. Then, as Yu Tianying let out another roar, the sword light entangled with the other 46 Demon Devil needles turned into countless little streaks of light that far outnumbered the Demon Devil needles.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding---!"
In a chorus of clear ringing noises, Junior Leopard's Demon Devil needles were all instantly blasted away. The streaks of Sword Qi formed into a huge net that swooped down upon Junior Leopard.
"Who on earth is this freak?
Feeling the sharpness of the Sword Qi, Junior Leopard frantically waved his hands around, nearly deploying his Poison Cold Shield on reflex.
The Sword Qi had turned into streaks!
"D*mn it! If his sword technique has reached such a state, no wonder this guy had the guts to make trouble for me!" Junior Leopard thought with a curse; he dared not conceal his true strength any longer. He waved his hands through the air. The Demon Devil needles that were knocked off course now all returned to his side. Instead of attacking or defending, they each took their place in a bizarre formation.
Asura's Dark Fiend Formation!
This was the first time Junior Leopard had used this newly refined formation against one of his enemies. He hadn't even used it in his fight against the Level Eight fighter, Buyan Gerel.
Once the formation took shape, the Evil Qi on these 49 Demon Devil needles instantly merged together. The temperature plummeted in a 100 feet radius around Junior Leopard.
The Cold Evil Qi surrounded Junior Leopard like fog, forming a black shield around him. The net-like streaks of Sword Qi darkened as they touched the black shield.
Junior Leopard's throat rumbled. The range of the Asura's Dark Fiend Formation suddenly expanded and engulfed all of the sword light.
The white sword light rampaged throughout the formation like a swift dragon, but no matter where it rushed, it could not escape the blockade of the Demon Devil needles.
Once the formation took shape, the Demon Devil needles grew 100 times more powerful than they were when used individually. Now that the power of all 49 black needles had merged into a cohesive whole, touching one needle meant fighting against all 49 needles and the Evil Qi that pulsed through their formation.
Yu Tianyang was a genius when it came to sword practice. At just the Fourth Level of cultivation, he was already able to employ two styles of high-level sword practitioner movements -- "sword light division" and "turn sword qi into streaks". But no matter how high-level these movements were, he was still performing them with a Level Four cultivation. Junior Leopard, however, was different. He had a trump card -- with his two External Elixirs, he could expend the considerable amounts of Qi needed to use such profound sword techniques to their full potential.
Furthermore, a warrior needed divine thoughts to control a Flying Sword. As the formation took shape, it began to interfere with Yu Tianyang's divine thoughts. After several collisions with the Demon Devil needles, Yu Tianyang lost control of his Flying Sword, which proceeded to fly around randomly within the formation.
Yu Tianyang's expression shifted as he realized how much trouble he was in. He leapt right towards Junior Leopard.
Yu Tianyang charged straight into the black fog of Evil Qi surrounding Junior Leopard, an act no different from walking into a trap. Even if he could break into the Asura's Dark Fiend Formation, what was the point?
He thought that if he broke into the formation, he would be able to control his Flying Sword again.
With the Supreme Swordplay, ten thousand skills gathered into one sword!
This was the realm that all sword practitioners spent their lives pursuing!
Yu Tianyang sought the exact same realm as these practitioners, but he had not reached their level yet. Even if he could retake control of his Flying Sword, he could not break the Asura's Dark Fiend Formation that Junior Leopard had deployed. Even if he could enter this formation, he would not be able to connect his divine thoughts with his Flying Sword.
Naturally, Junior Leopard was not foolish enough to even let him try.
As he rushed into the formation, Yu Tianyang felt like he had stepped from a warm, sunny day into a frozen wasteland. Wracked with shivers, he saw that his sword light had been reduced to its component elements by multiple Demon Devil Needles and that his divine thoughts were frozen inside this formation with no way to break free. Realizing how bad the situation was, Yu Tianyang's mind turned towards escape. Junior Leopard, however, would not let him leave so easily.
With a flick of his fingers, Junior Leopard drove two Demon Devil Needles right through Yu Tianyang's thigh. Though the piercing attack avoided his bones and main arteries, the Evil Qi within in these needles instantly froze all his tendons and meridians in his legs. But for Junior Leopard's mercy, Yu Tianyang's legs would have been crippled.
"I'll let you go this time, seeing as you're a disciple of the Golden Lights Cave!"
Junior Leopard's five fingers curled like claws around the hilt of the Flying Sword.
This claw grip seemed simple, but actually employed the Nine Changes of Heavenly Birds technique from the Heavenly Eagle Claw. This energy completely shrouded the Flying Sword, blocking Yu Tianyang from controlling the blade with his divine thoughts.
The Nine Changes of Heavenly Birds was a way of practice passed down from ancient times. It was a marvelous and changeable art, filled with multiple methods to counter celestial devices like Flying Swords that required divine thoughts to be controlled.
After grabbing the Flying Sword, Junior Leopard gathered the 49 Demon Devil Needles back into his sleeve and landed on the ground.
Yu Tianyang fell to the ground, immobilized but still conscious. When he saw Junior Leopard withdraw his formation, his eyes gleamed with a sharp light, as he tried to seize control of his Flying Sword once more. Unfortunately, when he sent out his divine thoughts, they vanished like a raindrop in the ocean, never to return.
"Humph! You really think you can control your Flying Sword once it's fallen into my grasp?" Junior Leopard said with a snort. He cast the Flying Sword down before Yu Tianyang's feet. "I have no need for your sword," Junior Leopard said, "but this is your first and last warning: If you or any disciples from the Golden Lights Cave dare to bother me again, you won't get off so easily!"
Having said his peace, Junior Leopard boarded the carriage of the Wu Family and pulled down the curtain. The Wu Family's groom was filled with delight, looking down his nose at Yu Tianyang as he whipped the horse.
"Yah--!"
The shout rang through the air, and the carriage of the Wu Family proceeded onwards toward the Wu Family Residence without stopping.
Yu Tianyang was left there in the dust, livid and helpless, his eyes filled with fury.
...
...
"Weren't you acting a bit reckless just now, Junior Leopard? After all, Yu Tianyang is a disciple and sword practitioner from the Golden Lights Cave. How are you going to explain disabling Yu Tianyang's legs to his master?"
Lyu Yiyue, seated in the carriage, spoke these words with concern.
The master of Golden Lights Cave was a Level Nine expert. Furthermore, he also seemed to be one of the sword practitioners that had grown so rare and precious in the world over the years. Since Yu Tianyang could rein a Flying Sword, he must be a disciple that his master was proud of; if he had indeed been crippled, his master would not let this incident slide.
"Take it easy, First Elder! I have some sense of propriety," Junior Leopard said with a laugh. "His legs will recover after a year or so of bed rest!"
"That's a relief!" Lyu Yiyue said, nodding and settling down. "On a side note, was the weapon you just used the celestial device that's caused such a ruckus in the Jianghu?"
"These Demon Devil Needles? I fished them off the body of a bandit!" Junior Leopard said, not bothering to hide the truth. He shook out his sleeve and deployed his 49 Demon Devil Needles, which floated in the air before Wu Yansheng and Lyu Yiyue.
All 49 black needles glimmered with a strange black radiance. Both Lyu Yiyue and Wu Yansheng felt their breath quicken. But for their composure and inability to neutralize the person sitting in front of them, they would have stolen the needles from Junior Leopard.
Junior Leopard smiled and paid their reactions no mind. With a flick of his fingers, he withdrew the 49 Demon Devil needles back into his sleeve. "These needles helped me a lot," he said. "Without them, I would have died at the hands of that wretched Buyan Gerel!"
These two passengers both suppressed their instinctive reactions, took deep breaths and forced smiles onto their faces.
"Yeah, you were really lucky!" Wu Yansheng said, prudently deciding to avoid any line of questions about which bandit Junior Leopard looted the needles from. "Junior Leopard, now that you're an Elder of the Wu Family, I've made arrangements to place you in your own courtyard right next to your teacher's. Look for yourself and tell me if anything is not to your satisfaction!"
"You must be joking, Family Head!. Surely I'll be satisfied with your arrangements!" Junior Leopard replied, mind already wandering to other matters as he spoke.
"Stake your life on your Blade and sever heads a thousand miles off with your Flying Sword! There is some merit to this art of sword practice. The Silver Moon Sword Technique also has a method for reining the sword, but I never tried to practice it. It seems I should devote some time towards carefully researching this method!"
"I am Yu Tianyang, a disciple of Golden Lights Cave. I've known of you for quite some time, Elder Zhou of the Wu Family. Today, I've come to ask you for advice."
His voice was sonorous and forceful. He didn't beat about the bush, but immediately explained the purpose of his visit.
The whip in the hands of the Wu family's stable groom stopped in midair.
As the stable groom of the Wu Family, he naturally had an discerning eye and knew a lot about the goings-on within the Jianghu. When he heard that the man standing before him was a disciple of the Golden Lights Cave, he could not follow through on his whip strike.
A Golden Lights Cave disciple?
Junior Leopard frowned slightly. So did Wu Yansheng and Lyu Yiyue. They never expected to meet a disciple from the Golden Lights Cave in Qinlingjun City, let alone a disciple that would blatantly stand in their way.
These three people were fairly clever. With just a moment of thought, they all realized the cause of their current situation.
The Mingyi School and Golden Lights Cave had greatly suffered under Wang She's hands and definitively wanted to reclaim their former turf. However much they wished to reclaim their turf, though, accomplishing it was no easy task.
Setting aside the fact that Wang She was already a Level Nine expert, his actions that day had set off the extermination of Northern Yuan and earned him great fame.
No matter how his actions were viewed before, people from all walks of life in Great Jin were now forced to admit that Great Jin had only exterminated Northern Yuan thanks to Wang She's contribution. On top of that, the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan had joined forces to hunt him down and rumors had spread across half the Jianghu that Junior Leopard had carried the then-severely injured Wang She on his back. Currently, troubling Wang She was not wise.
If they couldn't make trouble for Wang She but also couldn't let their grievances go, who else could they bother?
Zhou Bao!
No one could figure out the exact nature of the relationship between Zhou Bao and Wang She, but everyone knew they had an intimate bond. Otherwise, Wang She would never have given Junior Leopard 19 Spiritual Stones and Junior Leopard wouldn't have carried Wang She on his back.
Though they couldn't make trouble for Wang She, they could vent all their frustrations on Zhou Bao.
This was known as "pinching the soft persimmon", i.e. bullying a pushover.
"Interesting. I am being treated like a soft persimmon!" Junior Leopard thought, laughing in his heart. Lifting the curtain of the carriage, he poked his head out and said, "You've come to ask me for advice? Sorry, but I don't take disciples!"
"Pffft---!" Behind him, Wu Yansheng and Lyu Yiyue both burst out laughing.
"Ask you for advice" had several meaning in this world. Usually when people in the martial arts world encountered each other, this phrase meant "to challenge you to a duel" rather than "to seek education".
Yu Tianyang was a handsome fellow roughly 17 or 18 years old. He had a face that gave off an air of pure indifference and a body honed like a sword. He stood ramrod-straight in the middle of the road, radiating an attitude of arrogance and refinement. At first glance, Junior Leopard thought he had met another Lu Shaoyou, but Yu Tianyang had a much sharper attitude.
A Level Four cultivation?
Junior Leopard obviously had no interest in this interloper's temperament. What did interest him was Yu Tianyang's cultivation, which had only reached Level Four.
The man dares to challenge me with just a Level Four cultivation?
It was important to remember that Junior Leopard had bombarded a Level Seven and Level Eight expert to death. In the current martial arts world, even an ordinary Level Seven expert wasn't guaranteed to win against Junior Leopard, let alone a Level Four warrior.
Even though he had seen Yu Tianyang's cultivation, Junior Leopard was no less cautious. Somebody who dared to challenge him with only a Level Four cultivation must have some kind of trick up their sleeves.
"Yu Tianyang, disciple of the Golden Lights Cave, pays his respects to Elder Zhou!"
Yu Tianyang cupped his hand and fist together to show respect, ignoring Junior Leopard's facetious words. Junior Leopard's mood quickly grew serious as he sensed the incomparably sharp Qi Power emanating from Yu Tianyang's body.
In that moment, Junior Leopard began to have doubts. The man before him seemed less like a human and more like a sword that had just been unsheathed.
A faint feeling of danger stirred in Junior Leopard's heart, urging him to keep his guard up. He slowly disembarked from the carriage and faced Yu Tianyang.
He smiled softly and said, "It seems you're not here to become my student, are you?"
"Don't play dumb, Chief!" Yu Tianyang said with a snort. "You know what I've come here for!"
"True!" Junior Leopard said, lips curling as he lost the last of his respect for this humorless stick in the mud.
"If you're so interesting in 'asking me for advice', get on with it and attack," he said in a seemingly casual tone.
Yu Tianyang raised his brows. "If that's the case, pardon me for giving offense!"
A stream of searing white light suddenly shot from his fingertips towards Junior Leopard's face, an attack so swift that Junior Leopard barely reacted in time.
"What the h*ll is this?"
Junior Leopard made a strange sound and jerked his head back, awkwardly evading the blast of white light. Before he could regain his bearings, he felt the sharp, cold pressure of Sword Qi shooting towards his back.
"D*mn! It's a Flying Sword!"
In that instant, Junior Leopard finally figured out what his opponent was using against him.
He spread his arms and darted into the air, body soaring like an arrow flying away from the bowstring. He cursed himself for not bringing his Big Iron Hammer along.
A Flying Sword!
This type of weapon may as well have been an enigma to the people of this martial arts world. Even if they'd heard about Flying Swords, they paid no mind to them.
This term was very obscure. If he hadn't just heard about the concept from Wang She, Junior Leopard would have never guessed that Yu Tianyang had refined a Flying Sword.
In the early period of the middle ages, sword practitioners had dominated the whole world. At that time, the precious talents and treasures from the times of antiquity had already vanished, while the rich essence of the world was growing sparse. Some practitioners were forced to abandon the ancient ways of practice. They sought out alternative practice styles, which led to the appearance of various celestial devices.
Unlike those magic weapons from the times of antiquity, most celestial devices from the middle ages could only be used after being refined and fused with divine thoughts. For that matter, their power could not be compared to the strange magic weapons forged before recorded history.
The Flying Sword was the most infamous of these celestial devices.
In the early period of the middle ages, various schools focused on the mastery of sword practice, supplemented by other celestial devices. They focused all their cultivation efforts on the sword, for the Flying Sword was powerful and swift. However, as time passed, they ran into the same problems the people from the times of antiquity had encountered with their magic weapons and cultivation methods.
They suffered a shortage of the mineral veins needed to create Flying Swords.
It is said that during the golden age of sword practitioners, Flying Swords soared across the sky in droves. Each warrior could fly around on a Reining Sword as soon as they cultivated to Level Four. The biggest schools of sword practice, such as Shushan and Emei, had over 10,000 disciples, each of which possessed a Flying Sword. As time elapsed, though, their resources were exhausted. Worst of all, other people would seek to refine these Flying Swords if their previous owners died, expending a large amount of energy and mineral ore to remove the brands on these inherited swords. As a result, the number of swords and sword practitioners gradually declined over the next 10,000 years, leading to the loss of various sword formulas. In later ages, even those who acquired a Flying Sword and its formulas would only use it as an ordinary auxiliary celestial device. They would no longer invest their life and cultivation energy into their sword like the sword practitioners of the Middle Ages did.
Celestial devices led to a new peak of prosperity. For the cultivators of the current martial arts world, there was little difference between magic weapons and many of the powerful celestial devices from the middle ages.
Whether your cultivation was high or low, or your status a Grandmaster or a beggar, you abided by universal rules. Celestial devices and Flying Swords were no different; both required world essence and various kinds of materials to refine them. After the boom in sword practitioners, all the materials required to forge Flying Swords were exhausted. The materials to forge celestial devices were also exhausted after more than 10,000 years of popularity. How could people deal with such an absolute lack of resources?
All they could do was strengthen their body!
In Junior Leopard's era, even the most ordinary celestial devices of the Middle Ages had become wildly popular items...and a Flying Sword was far from ordinary.
Enough digressions!
In truth, celestial devices were rarely seen in this era, let alone Flying Swords.
Junior Leopard never thought that Yu Tianyang would possess a Flying Sword. More precisely, he never thought this guy would be a sword practitioner!
A sword practitioner!
Such a thing had not been seen since the Middle Ages...until now.
Without a doubt, sword practitioners did not decline due to a lack of power but due to a lack of swords.
No one could deny the might of sword practitioners. They were cultivators who staked all their cultivation and faith on the sword. With a good sword in hand, they could show you miracles.
Sword Practitioners were most admired for their ability to challenge people higher than them in rank. A Level Three Sword Practitioner with a good sword and a set of brilliant formulas could challenge warriors several ranks higher than them. In the medieval period, many disciples among the supreme schools would rampage all over the place, hacking and slashing with the unique and brilliant swords they bore. Even Elders of the small schools who had reached the Mysterious Realm could not run or hide from the mighty attack force of the Flying Sword. No matter how strong you were, merely reinforcing your body wouldn't protect you from the lethality of a Flying Sword.
This was the power Yu Tianyang had at his disposal.
Junior Leopard had managed to kill a Level Eight expert despite having only cultivated to Level Four at the time. With the Flying Sword in his hands, Yu Tianyang was confident he could replicate Junior Leopard's feat and kill him with just his Level Four cultivation.
"The Golden Lights Cave has actually reared a sword practitioner!" Junior Leopard thought, bitterness swelling in his heart. The frightening part about Flying Swords was how they merged with the divine thoughts of their sword practitioner. It could be said that no matter where the cultivator's thoughts went, their sword followed.
Though Junior Leopard's body movements were swift, he was scratched twice by the incoming sword light. An incomparably penetrating Sword Qi suddenly seeped into Junior Leopard's body and began attacking his tendons and meridians.
"Go forth!" Junior Leopard dared not conceal his strength any more. With a wave of his sleeves, he deployed his 49 Demon Devil needles, 49 tiny streaks of black light that collided with the white sword light.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding---!"
Silvery chiming sounds echoed through the air as Demon Devil needles collided with the sword light, stopping the energy dead in its tracks. Junior Leopard seized this opportunity and dashed towards Yu Tianyang.
Yu Tianyang let out a loud roar. The white sword light trembled and suddenly broke through the blockading Demon Devil needles. The sword light rushed towards Junior Leopard's back again, moving several times faster than Junior Leopard's physical body. Sharp Sword Qi moved ahead of the sword light and brushed against the small of Junior Leopard's back. Junior Leopard had no choice but to dodge again.
"I don't believe it!" Junior Leopard blurted out, waving his hands back and forth. His Demon Devil needles danced in sync with his motions, being celestial devices similar to the Flying Sword. Junior Leopard now used his Demon Devil needles like a Flying Sword, shifting his divine thoughts so that three needles attacked three vital points on Yu Tianyang's body while the remaining 46 needles fended off the white sword light.
"Humph! If you're going to use celestial devices again me, I won't hold back against you!" Junior Leopard thought with a snort.
Yu Tianyang's expression finally changed as he saw the three Demon Devil needles rushing towards him. He displayed deft footwork and fell back.
"Retreating? I'll track you down no matter where you flee!" Junior Leopard said, laughing out loud as he evaded the white sword light. He continued to hold the sword light back with his Demon Devil needles while sending the other three needles after Yu Tianyang.
From an outside perspective, this was a very comical scene. Instead of crossing blades, these two warriors were both running away from their enemy's celestial devices. Junior Leopard was in no position to display his formidable cultivation skills, a situation that hadn't occurred in many years.
After all, not many rich people with celestial devices had the opportunity to cross paths these days!
Yu Tianying grew impatient; no matter how many times he dodged, the three Demon Devil needles were always right on his tail. He made a sharp gesture with his hand and roared. The white sword light entangled with the Demon Devil needles split in two; one portion of the sword light rushed towards Yu Tianying, knocking the three needles aside as it flew forward.
"Sword light division?" Junior Leopard exclaimed, eyes widening. He never expected a youth with such low cultivation to actually acquire a Flying Sword technique like this.
What happened next shocked Junior Leopard even more. The split portion of sword light held back the three Demon Devil needles. Then, as Yu Tianying let out another roar, the sword light entangled with the other 46 Demon Devil needles turned into countless little streaks of light that far outnumbered the Demon Devil needles.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding---!"
In a chorus of clear ringing noises, Junior Leopard's Demon Devil needles were all instantly blasted away. The streaks of Sword Qi formed into a huge net that swooped down upon Junior Leopard.
"Who on earth is this freak?
Feeling the sharpness of the Sword Qi, Junior Leopard frantically waved his hands around, nearly deploying his Poison Cold Shield on reflex.
The Sword Qi had turned into streaks!
"D*mn it! If his sword technique has reached such a state, no wonder this guy had the guts to make trouble for me!" Junior Leopard thought with a curse; he dared not conceal his true strength any longer. He waved his hands through the air. The Demon Devil needles that were knocked off course now all returned to his side. Instead of attacking or defending, they each took their place in a bizarre formation.
Asura's Dark Fiend Formation!
This was the first time Junior Leopard had used this newly refined formation against one of his enemies. He hadn't even used it in his fight against the Level Eight fighter, Buyan Gerel.
Once the formation took shape, the Evil Qi on these 49 Demon Devil needles instantly merged together. The temperature plummeted in a 100 feet radius around Junior Leopard.
The Cold Evil Qi surrounded Junior Leopard like fog, forming a black shield around him. The net-like streaks of Sword Qi darkened as they touched the black shield.
Junior Leopard's throat rumbled. The range of the Asura's Dark Fiend Formation suddenly expanded and engulfed all of the sword light.
The white sword light rampaged throughout the formation like a swift dragon, but no matter where it rushed, it could not escape the blockade of the Demon Devil needles.
Once the formation took shape, the Demon Devil needles grew 100 times more powerful than they were when used individually. Now that the power of all 49 black needles had merged into a cohesive whole, touching one needle meant fighting against all 49 needles and the Evil Qi that pulsed through their formation.
Yu Tianyang was a genius when it came to sword practice. At just the Fourth Level of cultivation, he was already able to employ two styles of high-level sword practitioner movements -- "sword light division" and "turn sword qi into streaks". But no matter how high-level these movements were, he was still performing them with a Level Four cultivation. Junior Leopard, however, was different. He had a trump card -- with his two External Elixirs, he could expend the considerable amounts of Qi needed to use such profound sword techniques to their full potential.
Furthermore, a warrior needed divine thoughts to control a Flying Sword. As the formation took shape, it began to interfere with Yu Tianyang's divine thoughts. After several collisions with the Demon Devil needles, Yu Tianyang lost control of his Flying Sword, which proceeded to fly around randomly within the formation.
Yu Tianyang's expression shifted as he realized how much trouble he was in. He leapt right towards Junior Leopard.
Yu Tianyang charged straight into the black fog of Evil Qi surrounding Junior Leopard, an act no different from walking into a trap. Even if he could break into the Asura's Dark Fiend Formation, what was the point?
He thought that if he broke into the formation, he would be able to control his Flying Sword again.
With the Supreme Swordplay, ten thousand skills gathered into one sword!
This was the realm that all sword practitioners spent their lives pursuing!
Yu Tianyang sought the exact same realm as these practitioners, but he had not reached their level yet. Even if he could retake control of his Flying Sword, he could not break the Asura's Dark Fiend Formation that Junior Leopard had deployed. Even if he could enter this formation, he would not be able to connect his divine thoughts with his Flying Sword.
Naturally, Junior Leopard was not foolish enough to even let him try.
As he rushed into the formation, Yu Tianyang felt like he had stepped from a warm, sunny day into a frozen wasteland. Wracked with shivers, he saw that his sword light had been reduced to its component elements by multiple Demon Devil Needles and that his divine thoughts were frozen inside this formation with no way to break free. Realizing how bad the situation was, Yu Tianyang's mind turned towards escape. Junior Leopard, however, would not let him leave so easily.
With a flick of his fingers, Junior Leopard drove two Demon Devil Needles right through Yu Tianyang's thigh. Though the piercing attack avoided his bones and main arteries, the Evil Qi within in these needles instantly froze all his tendons and meridians in his legs. But for Junior Leopard's mercy, Yu Tianyang's legs would have been crippled.
"I'll let you go this time, seeing as you're a disciple of the Golden Lights Cave!"
Junior Leopard's five fingers curled like claws around the hilt of the Flying Sword.
This claw grip seemed simple, but actually employed the Nine Changes of Heavenly Birds technique from the Heavenly Eagle Claw. This energy completely shrouded the Flying Sword, blocking Yu Tianyang from controlling the blade with his divine thoughts.
The Nine Changes of Heavenly Birds was a way of practice passed down from ancient times. It was a marvelous and changeable art, filled with multiple methods to counter celestial devices like Flying Swords that required divine thoughts to be controlled.
After grabbing the Flying Sword, Junior Leopard gathered the 49 Demon Devil Needles back into his sleeve and landed on the ground.
Yu Tianyang fell to the ground, immobilized but still conscious. When he saw Junior Leopard withdraw his formation, his eyes gleamed with a sharp light, as he tried to seize control of his Flying Sword once more. Unfortunately, when he sent out his divine thoughts, they vanished like a raindrop in the ocean, never to return.
"Humph! You really think you can control your Flying Sword once it's fallen into my grasp?" Junior Leopard said with a snort. He cast the Flying Sword down before Yu Tianyang's feet. "I have no need for your sword," Junior Leopard said, "but this is your first and last warning: If you or any disciples from the Golden Lights Cave dare to bother me again, you won't get off so easily!"
Having said his peace, Junior Leopard boarded the carriage of the Wu Family and pulled down the curtain. The Wu Family's groom was filled with delight, looking down his nose at Yu Tianyang as he whipped the horse.
"Yah--!"
The shout rang through the air, and the carriage of the Wu Family proceeded onwards toward the Wu Family Residence without stopping.
Yu Tianyang was left there in the dust, livid and helpless, his eyes filled with fury.
...
...
"Weren't you acting a bit reckless just now, Junior Leopard? After all, Yu Tianyang is a disciple and sword practitioner from the Golden Lights Cave. How are you going to explain disabling Yu Tianyang's legs to his master?"
Lyu Yiyue, seated in the carriage, spoke these words with concern.
The master of Golden Lights Cave was a Level Nine expert. Furthermore, he also seemed to be one of the sword practitioners that had grown so rare and precious in the world over the years. Since Yu Tianyang could rein a Flying Sword, he must be a disciple that his master was proud of; if he had indeed been crippled, his master would not let this incident slide.
"Take it easy, First Elder! I have some sense of propriety," Junior Leopard said with a laugh. "His legs will recover after a year or so of bed rest!"
"That's a relief!" Lyu Yiyue said, nodding and settling down. "On a side note, was the weapon you just used the celestial device that's caused such a ruckus in the Jianghu?"
"These Demon Devil Needles? I fished them off the body of a bandit!" Junior Leopard said, not bothering to hide the truth. He shook out his sleeve and deployed his 49 Demon Devil Needles, which floated in the air before Wu Yansheng and Lyu Yiyue.
All 49 black needles glimmered with a strange black radiance. Both Lyu Yiyue and Wu Yansheng felt their breath quicken. But for their composure and inability to neutralize the person sitting in front of them, they would have stolen the needles from Junior Leopard.
Junior Leopard smiled and paid their reactions no mind. With a flick of his fingers, he withdrew the 49 Demon Devil needles back into his sleeve. "These needles helped me a lot," he said. "Without them, I would have died at the hands of that wretched Buyan Gerel!"
These two passengers both suppressed their instinctive reactions, took deep breaths and forced smiles onto their faces.
"Yeah, you were really lucky!" Wu Yansheng said, prudently deciding to avoid any line of questions about which bandit Junior Leopard looted the needles from. "Junior Leopard, now that you're an Elder of the Wu Family, I've made arrangements to place you in your own courtyard right next to your teacher's. Look for yourself and tell me if anything is not to your satisfaction!"
"You must be joking, Family Head!. Surely I'll be satisfied with your arrangements!" Junior Leopard replied, mind already wandering to other matters as he spoke.
"Stake your life on your Blade and sever heads a thousand miles off with your Flying Sword! There is some merit to this art of sword practice. The Silver Moon Sword Technique also has a method for reining the sword, but I never tried to practice it. It seems I should devote some time towards carefully researching this method!"
