Not long after.
A figure dressed in red came out wielding a sword, landing steadily on the center stage.
"Xin Hongyi of the Sword Hall. Where's the representative of the Cottage? Come up here and fight!"
Lu Chang'sheng, not far away, was stunned. "Did Qiubai piss this girl off? Why's she calling him out specifically?"
The Sword Hall Elder next to him scowled, speaking irritably, "To be precise, it was you who pissed her off."
"Huh?"
Lu Chang'sheng pointed at himself, completely puzzled. "No way. I haven't even held a girl's hand before. How could I have pissed her off?"
The Martial Hall Elder covered his face and grumbled, "Back when we were accepting disciples, Xin Hongyi called it out directly—she wanted to join your Cottage. You brushed her off with 'not recruiting disciples,' so she got sent away."
"The key point is, you actually took on a disciple at that time. So now, she's obviously here to prove she's stronger than Ye Qiubai."
Lu Chang'sheng's face twisted oddly.
The others there had clearly recognized Xin Hongyi too.
"She's the one who got rejected by the Cottage, right?"
"So now she wants to challenge Ye Qiubai, since he's a Cottage disciple?"
"But Xin Hongyi's pretty strong—her record on the martial arts arena is even better than Ye Qiubai's."
Ye Qiubai heard the chatter around him and figured it out quickly.
He picked up a wooden sword.
Leaped straight onto the stage.
Xin Hongyi raised an eyebrow, glancing at the wooden sword in Ye Qiubai's hand, a bit annoyed: "What, using a wooden sword? You think you're too good for me?"
Ye Qiubai replied calmly, "Master said, when the sword is in your heart, anything—a leaf, a stick—can be a sword."
The Sword Hall Elder shot Lu Chang'sheng a complicated glance, saying, "Looks like your Sword Dao runs pretty deep."
"Huh?"
Lu Chang'sheng scratched his head, thinking hard for a moment.
Did I ever say that?
Back on stage.
Xin Hongyi murmured, "A sword in your heart, all things can be swords, huh…"
After speaking, she put away her Black Grade sword and took out an ordinary iron sword without any aura. "Alright then, I won't take advantage. Let's start."
They were both at the same realm: peak of the Golden Core Pill realm.
But Xin Hongyi was extremely proud—she wanted to crush Ye Qiubai fair and square, relying on nothing but her own power.
Only then could she prove herself to Lu Chang'sheng.
How wrong he was not to choose her back then.
Thinking this, Xin Hongyi shot Lu Chang'sheng a provocative look.
Ye Qiubai shrugged, took a step, and the ground suddenly cracked beneath him—a burst of power!
Xin Hongyi's eyes narrowed slightly. She thrust out the iron sword, and flames burst forth from it!
The blaze warped the air itself, slashing straight at Ye Qiubai!
Ye Qiubai remained calm as ever, gripping the wooden sword in both hands and slashing toward the fire whip!
From the wooden sword, wisps of black energy began to flow!
Overflowing with demonic nature, as if everything beneath the heavens should bow before him!
"Hm? Nine Heavenly Demon Sword?"
Down below, a scruffy man stroked his chin and chuckled, "Interesting. He's actually cultivating the incomplete version."
Another man, holding a feather fan, walked over, "Takes guts. The Nine Heavenly Demon Sword gets harder with each move, and he's using an incomplete scroll."
Some people nearby saw the two of them and couldn't help but gasp.
"Huo Qingming of the Martial Hall! Lin Ce of the Array Hall!"
"Those two are the top elites of their halls right now!"
"Both are at Intermediate Stage Purple Mansion Realm, but can kill Peak Stage Purple Mansion cultivators!"
After Golden Core, comes Purple Mansion.
This time, a man walked up to Huo Qingming and quietly said, "Big Brother Huo, that's Ye Qiubai—the one I told you about."
"Oh?"
Huo Qingming stroked his chin, flicked a glance at the man, and smiled strangely, "Ye Yan, you sure you want me to cripple him? He's from your Ye family, isn't he? Your own cousin."
Ye Yan's eyes flashed cruelly, his voice venomous, "He has to be destroyed!"
"Alright."
Huo Qingming sighed to himself: "Your Ye family once did me a favor. Today, I'll pay it back."
Ye Yan stared up at Ye Qiubai, sneering coldly, "I'd love to take care of you myself, but just to be safe, I'll let Huo Qingming finish you off. You should feel honored."
Back on the high platform—
Ye Qiubai's wooden sword clashed with the fire whip!
The flaming sword beam didn't incinerate the wooden sword. Instead, the flames shuddered violently, as if being scattered!
"Nine Heavenly Demon Sword?"
On the opposite side, Xin Hongyi was shocked. Her iron sword shook uncontrollably, and even her spirit began to tremble!
It was that evil aura rising from Ye Qiubai, threatening to suppress everything!
This was what made the Nine Heavenly Demon Sword terrifying.
It didn't just cut down everything—it forced opponents to submit under its pressure!
Xin Hongyi quickly stabilized her mind, gritted her teeth, and slashed the iron sword out again.
The flaming sword qi surged and soared; the whole stage felt like it was burning!
The Sword Hall Elder remarked over in that direction, "Xin Hongyi's flaming sword qi is a unique family technique—it can burn anything, extremely domineering.
But I'm curious, just how far has Ye Qiubai gotten with the Nine Heavenly Demon Sword? How many moves can he pull off?"
After speaking, he glanced at Lu Chang'sheng, clearly waiting for an answer.
Lu Chang'sheng lay back in his chair with his eyes closed, replying offhandedly, "He's only practiced for a couple of days."
"If that's true… he probably can't beat Xin Hongyi's flaming sword qi."
You have to know, the Sword Hall Elder himself had trained the Nine Heavenly Demon Sword.
It took him a whole month just to master the first move.
And several years before he barely got a grip on the third move.
Ye Qiubai saw the swelling sword beams of flame and narrowed his gaze.
"Second move…"
Suddenly, an overwhelming aura of dominance erupted from Ye Qiubai's body!
Demonic qi surged forth!
Xin Hongyi's expression changed drastically.
In this moment, she felt she wasn't facing Ye Qiubai anymore, but a towering great demon king!
Contemptuous of heaven and earth!
"Second move!"
The Sword Hall Elder shot to his feet!
Two days, that's it?!
Xin Hongyi gritted her silver-white teeth. She knew her current techniques couldn't withstand this sword move from Ye Qiubai.
It was impossible to resist.
She cut her finger, beads of blood dripping out.
At the same time, she put away her iron sword and drew her Mystic-Tier Sword!
Then swiped her sword body with her own blood!
"With blood, I consecrate my sword!"
Her complexion instantly turned pale, but the condensed flaming sword qi made her face glow red with blood!
She swung her sword!
And collided head-on with Ye Qiubai's wooden sword, which was radiating black demonic energy!
Splurt!
Just on contact, Xin Hongyi spat out a mouthful of blood essence!
Beam after beam of flaming sword qi shattered in the face of the dark demonic energy.
Completely routed!
Xin Hongyi was sent flying in that instant, crashing to the ground, hands covered in blood.
Even her hand clutching the sword trembled uncontrollably. She was clearly unable to continue fighting.
Ye Qiubai sheathed his sword, his expression calm, as if nothing surprising had happened.
"Thank you for letting me win."