Firmament Sword

”The Celestial Curtain is a realm one can only reach by cultivating hidden weapons to their absolute limit!”

”A person who specializes in hidden weapons, upon reaching a certain level of power, can control hundreds of them at once. They are inescapable, and with a mere flick of the wrist, one can kill without a trace!”

”Cultivating hidden weapons to the Peak Realm allows one to control over a thousand at once! A single person’s attack is like an army of thousands firing arrows in unison! Most importantly, you never know from which direction these weapons will strike, making them impossible to defend against!”

”For one person to control over a thousand hidden weapons simultaneously is already an ultimate achievement, because a person’s Spiritual Power has its limits.”

”But the Celestial Curtain... goes beyond that ultimate achievement!”

”The so-called Celestial Curtain is when a person can control tens of thousands of hidden weapons... or even more! This is beyond the scope of a normal person and enters a kind of Dao Realm!”

”With a single Divine Thought... tens of thousands of hidden weapons are unleashed, like dark clouds pressing down, blotting out the sun and sky!”

”Throughout history, fewer than ten people have ever successfully cultivated this technique!”

”Anyone who has ever managed to cultivate the Celestial Curtain has been a true great power whose name is recorded in history. They have cultivated hidden weapons to the ultimate realm, bordering on Divinity Transformation!”

”The Undying Body is a top-tier defensive Cultivation Technique of Celestial Brilliance. Because the process of cultivating it is so arduous and requires immense talent, very few people in Celestial Brilliance have ever succeeded over the years... no more than five!”

”The greatest strength of the Undying Body is that any part of the body that is struck can recover at an unbelievable speed.”

”As long as a person who has cultivated the Undying Body is still breathing, their physical body cannot be completely destroyed!”

”At the same time, the defense of the Undying Body is terrifying. It can even withstand a full-power blow from someone an entire major realm above!”

”Almost no one in the world has ever been able to cultivate both the Celestial Curtain and the Undying Body... one represents the pinnacle of hidden weapon attacks, the other a Cultivation Technique of ultimate defense.”

”The person who created these two Cultivation Techniques, the Celestial Curtain and the Undying Body, was a prodigy of Celestial Brilliance’s first generation, Yu Ganglie. He was the founding ancestor of the Yu Family, a Heritage Clan of Celestial Brilliance!”

”Since Yu Ganglie, not a single person in the Yu Family has been able to master both techniques simultaneously. To master even one... is already considered the mark of an unparalleled prodigy!”

”The four heroic brothers of the Yu Family each have their own strengths, but this Fourth Young Master, Yu Tianjie, is the one who hides his abilities the deepest! He has already cultivated both the Celestial Curtain and the Undying Body... these two Unparalleled Techniques! He has become the second person after Yu Ganglie to master both!”

”So, you must be careful. Do not underestimate your enemy.”

Xu Luo stared at the letter in his hand, the shock yet to fade completely from his face.

His shock wasn’t from fear of the powerful Celestial Curtain and Undying Body, but because of the letter itself!

Because... this was the second warning from that mysterious person, following the one about the Lu Family’s plot to ambush him!

The method was the same: an ordinary arrow shot into his room. The handwriting was also the same: vigorous and powerful, showing the writer’s profound calligraphic skill. Even the timing... was almost identical to the last time!

Xu Luo’s reaction had been fast enough, but he still failed to find the person who had warned him.

The other party was simply too mysterious, leaving no trace to be found. The arrow... seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere, completely untraceable.

’Who is this person... a man or a woman? Old or young?’

’Why do they keep warning me, but refuse to show themself?’

Xu Luo could sense that this person likely held no ill will toward him. Otherwise, with their incredible skill, even several of him combined would be no match for them.

News of the high-stakes bet between Xie Yurou and Yu Tianjie had also reached Xu Luo’s ears. Xie Yurou seemed a bit impulsive, but Xu Luo had no reason to blame her, because she had done it entirely to defend his honor.

’I just wonder if the Xie Family... will punish her for this.’

Xu Luo was somewhat worried about the matter. Five million Top-level Immortal Spirit Stones was by no means a small sum. Based on his understanding of Xie Yurou, he didn’t believe this was something the Xie Family had sanctioned.

On the surface, it looked like a simple high-stakes bet between two young people, but on a deeper level, it involved two massive Heritage Clans of Celestial Brilliance.

He believed no family would make such a decision lightly.

As he thought about it, Xu Luo resolved that in the semi-finals, he not only had to win, but win decisively. Otherwise, Xie Yurou would surely face immense pressure.

「Two days later.」

The second match of the Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition’s semi-finals, Yu Tianjie versus Xu Luo, was about to begin.

In the first semi-final match, Jin Ming had achieved an easy victory. His opponent, Wang Tong, had tried a novel approach by using attack Elixirs from the Medicine Garden, but still failed to produce a miracle. This only served to deepen Jin Ming’s hatred for Xu Luo.

He believed Xu Luo must have been pulling strings behind the scenes; otherwise, there was no way Wang Tong could have obtained attack Elixirs.

Xu Luo was unaware of Jin Ming’s petty thoughts, and even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared much.

The Annual Competition was nearing its end. By this point, those still standing on the tournament stage would no longer hold anything back. In every battle, they would unleash their strongest abilities.

Yu Tianjie stood on the stage, listening to the cheers from the surrounding stands. A disdainful light flickered in his eyes as he thought to himself, ’Luo Tian... in a moment, I will show you with facts what it means to grasp at shadows, what it means to build a castle in the air!’

’With no foundation or heritage, even if you’ve won the support of countless people, all it takes is one defeat. Just a single loss, and all the prestige, honor, and status you’ve gained... will all vanish like smoke with this failure!’

’And after that, any attempt to make a comeback... will have almost no chance of success!’

”Today, I will personally end the myth you’ve created!” Yu Tianjie said to Xu Luo with a slight, arrogant smile.

Xu Luo looked at Yu Tianjie and said flatly, ”I’m no myth. But... if you think I am, then so be it.”

A cold glint flashed in Yu Tianjie’s eyes. ”Blind confidence will make you lose your way. Huyan Cyan Mountain lost to you because he was careless, but I won’t be!”

”Then let’s begin,” Xu Luo said calmly, his eyelids lowered.

Yu Tianjie gave a cold smile. Suddenly, he cupped his hands in a salute to the stands in all directions and announced loudly, ”Everyone, now... is the moment to witness a miracle!”

It was as if a stone had been thrown into the calm waters of the stands, and an uproar instantly erupted.

”Yu Tianjie is strong, but compared to Luo Tian... isn’t he still a bit lacking?”

”Everyone in the top eight is strong, but to be so contemptuous of his opponent, especially when that opponent is the biggest dark horse of this year’s competition, seems a bit overconfident.”

”The Yu Family has its inherited ultimate techniques, the Celestial Curtain and the Undying Body. Could it be that this Fourth Young Master... has mastered one of them? Why else would he be so confident?”

”’Witness a miracle’... Heh, does he mean the miracle of how fast he’ll be defeated?”

All sorts of discussions arose from the stands, with the vast majority not favoring the Fourth Young Master.

Although both had made it to the top eight, Luo Tian’s strength was simply too great. He had faced several challenges before and defeated every opponent, advancing with unstoppable momentum into the quarter-finals.

And while the Fourth Young Master had also faced some strong opponents, he hadn’t encountered any major challenges.

In the eyes of the public, the credibility of his top-eight ranking was just a bit less than Luo Tian’s.

Following the Referee’s signal to begin, a massive number of hidden weapons instantly appeared around Yu Tianjie!

Like a dark, towering city wall, they materialized out of thin air!

In that instant, time itself seemed to freeze!

WHOOSH!

The innumerable hidden weapons... shot directly toward Xu Luo, like ten thousand arrows loosed at once.

The still-noisy stands fell into a sudden, deathly silence. Everyone was utterly shocked.

”The Celestial Curtain!”

”It’s really the Celestial Curtain!”

”Yu Tianjie has cultivated the Celestial Curtain!”

”Heavens... this can’t be possible, can it? Since ancient times... few have ever managed to cultivate the Celestial Curtain. For someone as young as Yu Tianjie to have mastered it is just astounding!”

”I can’t believe it, this is the Celestial Curtain!”

”No wonder Yu Tianjie was so confident! My god... I finally understand why he was acting so self-assured!”

”Is Luo Tian really going to be stopped in the semi-finals? What a shame that would be!”

”First, someone appeared who could cultivate the True Dragon Armor, and now someone who has cultivated the Celestial Curtain... Celestial Brilliance is set to explode this year!”

The overwhelming barrage of hidden weapons, like a colossal dark cloud, instantly sealed off all of Xu Luo’s escape routes, leaving no openings!

Furthermore, every one of these weapons flickered with a black, eerie light and exuded a frigid aura, as if they had come from the Netherworld!

The so-called Celestial Curtain was not just about the sheer number of weapons. It was also because every single weapon was suffused with a mysterious aura. The combined aura of all the weapons was enough to make an ordinary person tremble with fear, or even suffer a mental collapse.

And though the weapons all appeared to be out in the open, seemingly having little to do with the ”hidden” in ”hidden weapons,” those who truly understood the Celestial Curtain knew that these tens of thousands of weapons could appear in any unexpected location!

It was like a Grand Array composed of hidden weapons!

And this Grand Array... was unbeatable!

Although Yu Tianjie had only just cultivated it and was far from proficient in its use, he was more than confident in his ability to crush a Great Saint Realm cultivator who was not yet a Supreme!

SWISH SWISH SWISH... SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

The moment they neared Xu Luo, almost all the hidden weapons vanished from their original positions. A terrifying killing intent formed a tidal wave that crashed against Xu Luo’s Sea of Spiritual Consciousness.

The Celestial Curtain Grand Array, formed by tens of thousands of hidden weapons, was like a terrifying grindstone, threatening to grind Xu Luo to dust!

Standing at the center, Xu Luo didn’t hesitate. He directly summoned the Star River Map.

As the Star River Map unfurled, it glittered with starlight, releasing boundless Star Power to protect him. The vast Star Power then spread out, instantly merging with the hidden weapons that formed the Celestial Curtain in the sky.

In that instant, the aura of all the hidden weapons transformed, shifting from the mysterious aura that seemed to come from the Netherworld to a stellar aura!

The stars began to twinkle!

The ink-black Celestial Curtain, in a single moment, transformed into an endless sea of stars!

The stands... fell into a deathly silence once more!

Everyone... was completely dumbfounded!

Yu Tianjie stood there, stunned. The arrogant smile froze on his lips as he stared at the scene in disbelief. At this moment... he had completely lost control of the Celestial Curtain!

Those tens of thousands of terrifying hidden weapons... were now his opponent’s... weapons!