Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Damn it. I was almost fooled by the pretentious guy and really thought that Master Righteous One unfortunately failed and perished!”

“The guy was talking as if it were real. Even I bought it just now. I thought that he had his reasons, but he turned out to be talking out his behind!”

“Is—is this guy trying to earn reputation in such a way? He actually knows nothing and was simply taking a wild gamble. If Master Righteous One had unfortunately failed, he would’ve been given a chance to brag about himself!”

“Shameless! This is as shameless as anyone can imagine! Can the grand leader of the Grand Mystery Sect and the role model of all Great Qian Dynasty be insulted by such a scoundrel?”

“Where are the disciples of the Grand Mystery Sect? Where are the Great Qian Cultivators? Can you allow such uncivilized barbarians to disregard the rules of the Dragon Spring Meeting?”

The high-level Cultivators on the Grand Mystery Sect’s side and the unaffiliated Cultivators that the Purple Pole Sword Sect had invited for help were all simmering.

It was because Li Yao had been too convincing a moment ago. He had easily struck everyone as an unworldly expert who had trained himself for a hundred years and was about to reap the fruits!

They had never expected that he was such a dumbass. The actions that he had taken while he was watching the battle in the innermost cycle were probably based on luck, too.

Immediately, the high-level Cultivators associated with the Grand Mystery Sect were all staring at Li Yao aggressively with intense killing intent!

The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators on the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s side were at a loss, too.

Honestly speaking, they did mean to recruit Li Yao and believed that he had his expertise.

However, the two statements that Li Yao had made so far were highly inopportune. They did not know where to begin even if they wanted to help.

Li Yao, however, was utterly stunned. He was still dwelling in his own world in confusion and did not catch what anyone around him was saying at all.

That’s unreasonable. My judgement can’t be wrong. How did it end up like this?

Qi Zhongdao should’ve been killed. Yan Liren’s sword… His sword…

Li Yao suddenly shuddered. As if waking up from a feverish dream, he strode toward the center of the sword test field, his eyes turning sharper abruptly.

“What’s he up to?”

“Still acting?”

The Cultivators around were both shocked and enraged, especially those on the Grand Mystery Sect’s side. They were all rubbing their fists and glaring, as they almost could not wait to kill the guy who had been babbling all the time!

Soon, two Cultivators walked out of the crowd and stood in Li Yao’s way. Maliciously, they said, “Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture…”

They were Xie Xinghuo, the elder of the Spiritual Mountain Sect who had confronted Li Yao earlier, and his Senior Uncle Liao, who belonged to the Divergent Mountain Sect, a branch of the Grand Mystery Sect.

One on the left and one on the right, they sneered and gripped Li Yao brutally like a pair of heated tongs.

“This is none of your business. Get lost!”

Staring at the folds at the center of the sword test field, Li Yao did not even bother to look at the two of them. He opened his hands as if they were the claws of a falcon and snatched their shoulders as fast as lightning. The two of them were unable to move at all. Then, after a shake, all the joints in their body were dislocated before they were thrown hundreds of meters away.

“Not good!”

Quite a few Cultivators dashed out from the crowd, trying to pick up the two guys. However, the two of them seemed to be covered in a mysterious, electric shell. All the helping hands were shocked stiff.

After a huge collision, the two of them hit the ground in the loudest screams!

“How did he—”

Everybody on the spot was shocked. They found it difficult to believe their eyes!

Right when they thought that ‘Master Spiritual Vulture’ was merely a shameless, conceited scoundrel, Li Yao had snatched and tossed away two experts in the Core Formation Stage like an eagle snatching chickens, not even giving them an opportunity to be helped by others!

Under the Grand Mystery Sect’s banner, the leaders and elders of the five major sects were all staring at Li Yao in astonishment for a long time before they slowly turned around and looked Qi Zhongdao, their eyes blinking.

Qi Zhongdao was still expressionless, but his dark face was gradually filled with paleness. His lips shivered for a long time, but he did not say anything in the end, simply poured out fragrant pills from a bright green calabash and swallowed all of them. Thunderous sounds were echoing inside his stomach!

Throwing away the two Core Formation Stage Cultivators, Li Yao jumped and dashed forward, landing at the center of the sword test field like a weird giant made of lightning!

‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren, who had failed just now, was climbing one of the hills again clumsily, preparing to return to the Cultivators of his side.

Li Yao happened to stop in his path.

Li Yao and Yan Liren, two guys who were equally bloodstained and bedraggled, confronted each other in silence.

Another battle seemed to be looming when the aftershock of the first still had not died down. The auras unleashed in their confrontation seemed to be even sharper and more aggressive than those during the confrontation between Yan Liren and Qi Zhongdao a moment earlier!

All the Cultivators, both those on the Grand Mystery Sect’s side and those on the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s side, were greatly shocked. None of them knew what the mysterious and unpredictable ‘Master Spiritual Vulture’ was up to.

Silently, Li Yao stared at Yan Liren for a long time, especially the overly flamboyant short sword that had been dangling from his waist all the time.

Yan Liren did not seem surprised at the stranger who had jumped out of nowhere. At this moment, the Sword Maniac finally observed Li Yao carefully for the first time.

He was eyeing Li Yao in the same way that he eyed an interesting sword target.

The two of them observed each other for such a long time that whispers were echoing again around. Suddenly, Li Yao opened his mouth. “Why did you lose?”

It was indeed an unreasonable question.

Faced with ‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao, the leader of the Great Qian Cultivators, and under the suppression of the Heaven Flipping Seal, the ultimate treasure in the world, was it not normal for him to lose?

Returning in one piece was something worth smiling about!

The Cultivators around finally could not help it any longer. They were all shouting and yelling.

Yan Liren, however, tilted his head and was really considering the question carefully. While wiping the blood off his face with his sleeve, he said, “Qi Zhongdao’s Cultivation is slightly higher than mine. If I wanted to win, I would have had to kill him!”

Green fire was seething inside Li Yao’s pure black eyes. The green spot between his eyebrows was already releasing thorn-like stripes toward his eyes. “You didn’t want to kill him?”

“My senior brother asked me not to kill him,” Yan Liren replied dutifully, like a kid answering the question of a teacher in class. “My senior brother said that, although Qi Zhongdao is on the other side, he is a man who respects rules. Only if he supervises everything will the Dragon Spring Meeting be completed as planned!

“If I executed Qi Zhongdao with my sword, there would be some immediate gains, but as a result, chances are that some guys who disrespected rules would take his place.

“My senior brother said that the world of Cultivators is in chaos and that the current peace is sustained by Qi Zhongdao. Without a pillar like Qi Zhongdao, everything would only be even messier. Nobody would benefit from a complete fallout!

“Therefore, my senior brother told me in advance that I must not kill Qi Zhongdao if I had a choice, even if it meant that I might lose a little bit.”

Everybody was shocked by what he said!

What was the meaning of that? Yan Liren was too unbelievable! He talked as if the well-respected leader of the Great Qian Dynasty was someone whom he could easily kill if he wanted to!

Did he keep something to himself in the battle just now?

How could it be?

Many high-level Cultivators were mumbling to themselves, and they could not help looking at Qi Zhongdao suspiciously.

Qi Zhongdao was still expressionless, as if his face were covered in an iron shell. There was no telling whether or not his mood was affected by Yan Liren’s words at all.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes. “Were you not afraid that he would kill you if you didn’t kill him?”

Yan Liren smiled. “He can’t.”

Li Yao’s eyes became thinner and thinner, until they looked like the edges of two daggers. “Are you suggesting that the pace of the sword test was fully under your control and that Qi Zhongdao’s life was in your hands but your life was still in yours?”

Yan Liren tilted his head and thought for a moment before nodding and saying, “Yes.”

The Cultivators around were all rendered speechless.

“You mentioned just now that you could still kill him even though Qi Zhongdao’s Cultivation was slightly higher than yours?”

“Yes,” Yan Liren said, “it’s like how, although your Cultivation is perhaps on par with mine or even slightly higher, I can still kill you if you don’t run away.”

“Huh?”

The Cultivators around who had rested their throats for just a moment exploded again.

Whatever the result of the previous battle was, Yan Liren was still an unparalleled sword Cultivator in the world and could be listed as one of the top ten experts of the Ancient Sages Sector!

But he… he was saying that Master Spiritual Vulture’s Cultivation was on par with his and might even be slightly higher?

“What—what are they talking about exactly?”

Many experienced high-level Cultivators felt their minds go blank. Everything that was happening in front of their eyes was truly the most ridiculous scene in their hundreds of years of training!

Yan Liren’s words made the killing intent in Li Yao’s eyes even more intense. He shifted his eyes from Yan Liren’s big face to the flamboyant short sword on his waist before he said, “There’s something that has been bothering me.

“Before your battle with Qi Zhongdao, I already felt that your odds of winning were higher.

“During the battle, when your black sword exploded and released the black smoke to affect the Heaven Flipping Seal, I sensed an unassailable sword aura that must’ve been sharp enough to slay a deity!

“Therefore, I thought that Qi Zhongdao had been killed by you, which proved to be a mistake.

“However, after careful consideration, I have realized that, despite the formidability of the three primeval swords, you only finished polishing them recently, and you were not able to move them as flawlessly as you move your limbs yet. It was impossible for you to kill Qi Zhongdao with those three swords!

“This is in contradiction with my speculation at the beginning!

“Therefore, I have made a bold assumption that you actually have a fourth sword, which is the strongest sword of the Sword Saint of the Great Qian Dynasty and surpasses the three primeval swords!”

“…” The Cultivators from other sects were too stunned to say anything.

Even most of the disciples of the Purple Pole Sword Sect had never heard it before. They were all looking at Li Yao and Yan Liren in disbelief!

Yan Liren was silent. He focused his full attention on his neck. His eyes, which were as sharp as scalpels, seemed to pierce through Li Yao’s skin and flesh, dissecting Li Yao’s cervical arteries, nerves, and spine.

Staring at Yan Liren’s waist, Li Yao slowly said, “I, Master Spiritual Vulture of the Flying Thunder Cave of the Broken Intestine Mountain, hope to witness the Sword Maniac’s fourth sword!”