Chapter 71: Differential Treatment

Lin Yunheng, who was sitting beside Sword Lord Nanming, heard his furious shout and immediately turned to look at him. “What happened?”

“What’s wrong with that boy?” Lin Yunheng asked.

At the sound of his voice, Sword Lord Nanming calmed down instead. As the saying went, family disgrace should not be aired in public. Although rage still burned in his heart, he forced it down. His expression stayed restrained, and he said in an indifferent voice, “Nothing.”

Lin Yunheng, seated beside him, gave him a thoughtful look but did not ask further. He turned his head back and continued admiring his own son’s heroic bearing.

Seeing that he did not press the matter, Sword Lord Nanming immediately let out a breath of relief.

It was not that he was deliberately hiding it. It was just that... it was truly too humiliating to say aloud.

Every sword invitation the Sword Alliance sent out for each Sword Path Grand Competition had been carefully considered and strictly examined, all to ensure that every person selected was a sword cultivator of outstanding talent, one who surpassed their peers and possessed limitless potential.

Clearly, that young master of the Ming family on the arena, Ming Yushu, was not among them.

Speaking of which, Sword Lord Nanming and Ming Yushu were even connected by marriage. Ming Yushu called him Cousin-Uncle.

So this uncle understood his eldest nephew’s situation all too well. The Ming family was also one of the cultivation world’s ancient Sword Path families, one that had produced a Sword Immortal whose single sword strike had shocked the heavens, as well as countless Sword Path talents.

But Ming Yushu, the only legitimate son of the Ming family’s current Family Head, had only ordinary talent in the Sword Path. His comprehension was dull, and he was not fit for great use.

A youth like this, with no outstanding talent or comprehension to speak of, could not possibly have received a sword invitation to the Sword Alliance’s Sword Path Grand Competition.

That meant the origin of the invitation in Ming Yushu’s hands was extremely questionable.

The number of sword invitations sent out was fixed, so after Sword Lord Nanming saw Ming Yushu step onto the arena, his first reaction was: he killed someone and stole the invitation!

His face darkened on the spot, fury surging uncontrollably in his heart.

Foolish! How could he be so foolish? How could his character be so lacking?

This matter had to be investigated thoroughly!

It absolutely could not be covered up and brushed aside.

Sword Lord Nanming had already made up his mind. He was prepared to place righteousness above family loyalty.

And at that moment, on the arena.

When Lin Yuchu heard Ming Yushu announce his name and background, he made a soft sound of realization in his heart. He looked at him and blinked.

Why did that name sound so familiar?

It was as if he had heard it somewhere before.

After thinking for a while, he belatedly remembered. The mastermind confessed by those fools who had opened an illegal inn halfway along the road and tried to rob him and Gu Chun, only to be beaten up by the two of them, was he not called Ming Yushu?

So it was him.

Lin Yuchu stared at the arrogant, wildly overbearing young master of the Ming family before him, thoughtful.

He had stopped at nothing and racked his brains just to obtain an invitation to the Sword Path Grand Competition.

But what this invitation opened was a battlefield where a sword cultivator had to wager their dignity, even their life.

As the saying went, if you did not have the diamond drill, do not take on porcelain work. From what he could see, this young master of the Ming family had thin sword qi all over him, without the slightest sharpness. His cultivation realm was not high either.

He was terribly weak.

Yet he actually dared to step onto the arena of the Sword Path Grand Competition, and even dared to speak so wildly. Was he an idiot? Or did he simply have no self-awareness?

No.

Lin Yuchu glanced at the young man’s eyes. They were black and bright, flickering with the flames of anger, humiliation, and unwillingness.

He knew everything. He understood everything.

But he had still chosen this path, one that in the eyes of others was mad, foolish, even heretical.

“I understand.”

Lin Yuchu said.

When everyone below the arena heard this, their faces were full of bafflement. What do you understand?

“In that case, please make your move.”

Lin Yuchu looked at Ming Yushu before him and spoke.

Hearing this, Ming Yushu looked deeply at him, pressed his lips together, drew the sword in his hand, and thrust it toward him.

Lin Yuchu dodged with a flash, then reversed his hand and thrust his sword back at him.

Ming Yushu hurriedly raised his sword to block.

Clang—

He blocked it!

Ming Yushu’s face instantly filled with shock, followed by wild joy. He blocked it!

I actually blocked his sword?

Ming Yushu still held his sword raised in a blocking posture, his expression a little dazed. Could it be that I’m actually a genius who’s been buried all these years?

I actually blocked the sword of this killing god!

Standing before him, Lin Yuchu even cooperated by giving him an approving look and saying, “Next time, I won’t let you succeed so easily!”

Ming Yushu suddenly realized that perhaps he was not actually that useless. Maybe he was a genius misunderstood by the world. Because he had blocked Lin Yuchu’s strike, he pulled himself together, his confidence soaring higher than ever before, even the fighting spirit around him rising high. He immediately answered Lin Yuchu’s words. “Then try it!”

With that said.

The two of them quickly separated, then quickly tangled together again.

One move from you, one move from me.

Back and forth they went, fighting with great enjoyment.

Clang—

Clang, clang—

Clang, clang, clang—

Weapons crossed again and again, ringing out with clear sounds of collision.

On the arena... it could probably be considered an intense fight. Maybe.

However, everyone below the arena was like, “...”

Faces full of cold indifference dot jpg.

Every single person stared with dead eyes at Lin Yuchu on the arena, who had regressed ten thousand steps from a god descending to earth and an immortal sword possessing his body into a child playing house, you clap once and I clap once, along with Ming Yushu...

Are you two here to mess with us?

Are you trying to make us laugh?

What kind of joke is this?

Especially you. That’s right, we’re talking about you... Lin Yuchu, are you worthy of Ye Li, whom you defeated?

Your current swordsmanship is at the level of a three-year-old!

That’s an exaggeration, Lin Yuchu thought. When I was three, I hadn’t even held a sword. I was busy memorizing medical books all day.

And Ye Li, who was standing off to the side below the arena, also lifted his head. His dark, obscure eyes fixed on Lin Yuchu up on the arena, who was playing house with that little fool from the Ming family.

“How unpleasant.”

Ye Li said in a low voice. “Even I would get jealous.”

As he spoke, his fair and handsome face, with its sharp brows and eyes, instantly filled with hostility. Just as he said, right now... he was mad with jealousy.

So you also have times when you’re that gentle?

Ye Li raised his head, his gaze deep black and shadowed as he stared at Lin Yuchu on the arena, whose sword strikes were slow and whose aura was mild as he played along with Ming Yushu. His expression was gloomy.

Thinking back to when Lin Yuchu had fought him, his attacks had been fierce and decisive, every move aimed at taking his life, every step calculating against him, as if Lin Yuchu could not wait to beat him to pieces. Then compare that with now, with this weakling Ye Li could crush with a single finger.

Lin Yuchu was actually patiently playing along with him for so long, even feeding him moves.

How was this a Sword Path match? This was clearly Lin Yuchu one-sidedly instructing that idiot Ming Yushu! And that idiot even thought he really was amazing, the expression on his face becoming more and more confident, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

It really, really made one so jealous that they wanted to beat him up!

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