As the year drew to a close, the weather was bitterly cold, and the narrow mud paths of Mud Bottle Alley had become exceedingly hard.

Chen Pingan took a deep breath and looked at the tall figure before him, calling out softly, “Brother Li.”

Li Xisheng didn’t turn around, but smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I can handle this. Even if I’m not his match, the small town has its own rules, and it won’t let him run rampant.”

The young swordsman, who called himself Cao Jun, chuckled, “Are you talking about the Great Li Dynasty, or the Military Strategist Ruan Qiong? If it’s the former, I advise you to give up on that idea. If the Song family of Great Li truly had backbone, they wouldn’t be cowering like turtles. As for Ruan Qiong, haha, allow me to keep you in suspense for now. You can all wait and see.”

Cao Jun looked at the azure-robed scholar, handsome as jade. Compared to his own assumed youthfulness, the other man was genuinely young, which made Cao Jun a bit annoyed. He tapped the hilt of the short sword at his waist with his thumb. “Really want to fight? It’s a bit of a loss. If you admit defeat, who knows, you might even find that misfortune turns into a blessing.”

Li Xisheng smiled slightly. “Since you say your reasoning lies entirely within your scabbard, then I can listen and see.”

“I heard that previously, the Spirit Pearl Grotto-Heaven was devoid of magical arts. Now that the Grotto-Heaven has shattered and fallen, it’s only been a year, and you’ve already risen to the Middle Five Realms. Not bad at all.”

Cao Jun’s eyes revealed admiration, but he quickly shook his head, clicking his tongue. “What a pity.”

Li Xisheng extended a palm. “Please.”

Cao Jun couldn’t help but laugh. “A frog in a well, unaware of the vastness of the sky. Since we’re not fighting to the death, I’ll suppress my cultivation a bit, so your first battle in life won’t be such a bitter defeat.”

Li Xisheng remained silent, smiling.

“Once you leave this well, you’ll realize someone like me deserves the title of…” Cao Jun tapped his toes, bending forward and lunging, bursting into laughter. The moment he chose to strike, the aura of the smiling young swordsman changed drastically. The narrow, confined alley echoed with the continuation of his words, “Generous!”

A dazzling white light exploded, and the frantically scattering sword qi instantly permeated the entire alley. Combined with Cao Jun’s extremely swift and rapid movements, his blurred figure merged into it, making it difficult to perceive. It gave the impression of a mountain torrent after a heavy rain, using the alley as its riverbed, raging towards Li Xisheng and his companions downstream.

Within the vast expanse of white, in the torrent of overwhelming sword qi, a more condensed, snowy-white brilliance could faintly be seen, like a white fish silently swimming in a stream.

The flowing water stagnated.

Li Xisheng seemed unhurried, turning sideways, raising his sleeve, and reaching towards the snow-white short sword that resembled a white fish.

Then, gently and precisely, he grasped Cao Jun’s sword-wielding wrist.

Cao Jun smiled slightly, releasing his fingers. The short sword, still two or three feet from Li Xisheng’s chest, shot straight for Li Xisheng’s heart.

Li Xisheng’s expression remained calm. He brought his left hand’s index and middle fingers together in front of his body.

In the nick of time, he managed to clamp the white fish between his fingers.

The white fish somersaulted and rolled.

The sword blade twisted accordingly.

Li Xisheng had to retreat. Cao Jun closed in, his sword-wielding hand already forming a fist, striking directly at Li Xisheng’s neck.

While Li Xisheng used his elbow to block Cao Jun’s fist, the white fish shot forward once more. Li Xisheng shook his other wrist, his large sleeve swaying.

The white fish, however, walked right into his trap.

Cao Jun chuckled scornfully and kicked Li Xisheng in the abdomen, sending the azure-robed scholar staggering back four or five steps.

He didn’t press the attack, but stood magnanimously in place, one hand behind his back, exuding a carefree air.

Li Xisheng stopped his retreat, his face slightly pale. Although Cao Jun was a sword cultivator, this kick was powerful and heavy, not at all inferior to a Fifth Realm peak martial artist. This was precisely the terrifying aspect of sword cultivators and Military Strategist cultivators—they cultivated both qi and body simultaneously. Therefore, Li Xisheng didn’t feel good after taking such a blow. The flow of qi within his body was inevitably affected to some extent.

Within Li Xisheng’s sleeve, which held Cao Jun’s flying sword, sounds like thumps and pops rang out continuously, followed by the faint sound of silk tearing. Then, strands of snow-white sword light seeped out from the gaps.

Li Xisheng, with his sleeve containing a universe, shaped his fingers into a Daoist hand seal, some curved like bows, some straight like spears, quickly forming a Daoist incantation, silently chanting a single word in his heart, “Suppress!”

The already bulging and tense sleeve, previously filled with chaotic energy, suddenly quieted down.

The sound of the flying sword rapidly striking the sleeve transformed into a soft, trembling hum.

Cao Jun was not surprised by this, and laughed. “Seven.”

Li Xisheng’s entire sleeve, from the elbow down, shattered instantly. Near his wrist, the sword light flared up.

It was as if a breathtaking landscape of moonlight filled his hand, yet it contained immense, deadly danger.

Li Xisheng’s fingers, forming the hand seal, transformed accordingly, becoming a true fist grip. In the palm of his hand, unseen by anyone, the lines of his palm wavered like flowing water, changing their trajectory.

Li Xisheng’s arm instantly radiated a hazy, cyan-purple light.

The white fish, its sword light madly enveloping Li Xisheng’s arm, clashed with the cyan-purple qi emanating from Li Xisheng, producing crisp, metallic sounds, densely packed and jarring to the ears.

As a result, dust and debris constantly rained down from the high walls on one side of Mud Bottle Alley and the low walls of the old house’s courtyard on the other side.

Cao Jun, whose narrow, phoenix-like eyes had been squinted into slits, opened them slightly, teasingly saying, “A bit interesting. Daoist incantations are said to number in the thousands. I’ve seen no fewer than two hundred kinds, but I’ve never seen one as simple and effective as yours. Li, your Sixth Realm cultivation is quite robust. It’s always been Sixth Realm sword cultivators bullying Seventh Realm Qi practitioners, never the other way around, with a Sixth Realm Qi practitioner stubbornly resisting a Seventh Realm sword cultivator. If word gets out, wouldn’t I, Cao Jun, be laughed at by all the sword cultivators in the world?”

After experiencing initial unfamiliarity, Li Xisheng now appeared to have energy to spare, even managing to smile and say, “Perhaps your reasoning isn’t… high enough?”

Cao Jun nodded, deeply agreeing. Therefore, he said with a smiling face, “Eight!”

The flying sword, like a nimble white fish, darted back towards its master, Cao Jun, and then hovered motionless. The flying sword instantly dimmed, becoming just a short sword, without a trace of sword qi flowing from it, lacking its previous majestic aura.

The previously eerie and sinister sword intent had undergone a complete transformation, becoming upright and honorable.

The flying sword vanished into thin air in an instant.

An extremely subtle mark appeared on a section of the courtyard wall in the alley between the two men, just a few specks of powder and debris falling.

Li Xisheng reached out with two fingers, attempting to grasp the short sword that had traced an arc.

Li Xisheng suddenly turned his head.

In the next moment, the flying sword drilled a hole in the high wall to Li Xisheng’s left.

The flying sword disappeared again.

However, a bead of blood began to appear on Li Xisheng’s left cheek, gradually expanding into a bloodstain more than an inch long.

Indeed, as the rumors said, in a battle with a sword cultivator, life and death hung by a thread.

Li Xisheng murmured in his heart, “So, this is Eight. Truly formidable.”

The reason why the combat prowess of sword cultivators was universally acknowledged to be the best among all Qi practitioners was because of a properly nurtured flying sword. Its sharpness lay in a “point,” or at most, a line.

No matter how towering and majestic a mountain was, it wasn’t difficult to drive a nail into a cliff face or carve out a ditch.

Similarly, as anomalies among Qi practitioners, even Military Strategist cultivators, who cultivated both body and soul, were not as decisive and clean as sword cultivators in a battle.

No matter how many magical treasures you had, no matter how vast your divine powers,

We sword cultivators pursued a single, fatal strike, breaking all techniques with a single sword.

Cao Jun maintained his arrogant pose, one hand behind his back, while lightly tapping the hilt of his long sword. “A cultivation genius like you must be someone your family places great hope in. You don’t have a few defensive treasures on you? I don’t believe it. Let me say this in advance, regardless of your purpose, if you continue to hide things and refuse to reveal them, people will really die. Because I’m afraid I’ll get too excited and lose control. At that point, you’ll definitely die with regrets.”

Faced with the enemy’s taunts, Li Xisheng didn’t get angry. His voice was still gentle and mellow. “Chen Pingan, I might have to trouble you to retreat a little further. If you can retreat about forty or fifty feet, that would be best.”

Cao Jun raised his hand and smacked his forehead hard, his face full of grievance. “With a strong enemy at hand, you still have the leisure to talk nonsense? I’m very angry.”

Hidden within the young swordsman’s laughter and banter was deadly intent.

As Cao Jun’s hand struck his forehead, the flying sword, concealed by the sound, truly achieved complete silence, striking Li Xisheng in the back.

A clear, melodious sound rang out, echoing through Mud Bottle Alley.

Cao Jun was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly. “This works too? Then I really won’t hold back.”

A patch of verdant bamboo leaves appeared behind Li Xisheng, blocking the flying sword’s assassination.

Ding ding ding ding…

A long series of similar sounds rang out around Li Xisheng in the alley.

Besides the bamboo leaves, there were also peach leaves, willow leaves, locust leaves…

All sorts of leaves, all green.

Cao Jun narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the battlefield.

Li Xisheng stood unmoving, surrounded by high and low, fluttering leaves. The short sword named White Fish weaved through them, constantly trying to break through the formation, but each time it failed.

Although green leaves continued to fall, turning yellow instantly, Cao Jun was truly somewhat helpless, because roughly estimating, the scholar’s leaves must have numbered at least a hundred or more.

Therefore, Cao Jun wasn’t in a good mood.

Is your family selling leaves? Even if they are, would anyone buy them?

Cao Jun was unwilling to retreat just like that. He refused to believe that a mere Sixth Realm Qi practitioner could last until the end. Simultaneously controlling so many leaves was already not easy. The mental energy a Qi practitioner needed to expend was extremely considerable. So, Cao Jun secretly told himself that although it was an unfair victory, he could barely treat it as a clumsy, brute-force activity to hone his sword. He would see how long the scholar could last.

The short but sharp flying sword began to charge recklessly.

Within the alley, leaves fluttered, turning from green to yellow after falling to the ground.

Li Xisheng suddenly spoke, reminding, “If we just continue fighting like this, we could be fighting until next year. Otherwise, why don’t you explain the reasoning behind this sword, and then tell me about the other one? If possible, you might as well offer your natal flying sword. In any case, let’s at least determine a winner. Because my friend still needs to travel.”

Cao Jun’s eyes suddenly widened, finally no longer smiling. “Are you going to die if you don’t brag?”

Li Xisheng sighed and stopped talking.

He simply shook his remaining sleeve, shaking out a large pile of unbelievable things.

There were still some remaining spring leaves, but in addition to those, there were also grains of summer lightning the size of fingernails, strands of autumn wind no longer than fingers, and flakes of winter snow the size of goose feathers.

The opponent had a sword that could break ten thousand techniques.

What to do?

Could I accumulate ten thousand and one techniques?

Thus, the young scholar named Li Xisheng, even though he had just entered the Middle Five Realms, already had spring leaves, summer lightning, autumn wind, and winter snow. What’s more, he had other things, and a lot of them.

Let’s set a small goal first, for example, 1 second: