Chapter 26 (Part 1)

Ji Wuyi retreated to the edge of the fighting platform and chose the best place to watch the match. He flashed Song Yuanxi an extremely friendly smile, as if saying, “Good luck.”

But Song Yuanxi was not happy at all. In fact, he grew even more nervous.

He turned back to look at the person across from him, then cupped his fists toward Qiu Ran and said, “Senior Brother Qiu, sparring inevitably involves injuries, but there is one thing I hope Senior Brother will agree to.”

“Go on.”

“When you hit someone, don’t hit the face. Keep the damage a little lower. I know Senior Brother can’t possibly go easy on me, but can you at least leave me with an intact face?”

Facing a senior brother at the ninth level of Qi Refining, who was also a sword cultivator, Song Yuanxi did not dare guarantee one hundred percent that he would win. If he really did lose, he still had to step down from the platform with some dignity.

Qiu Ran probably had not expected him to make such a bizarre request, but then he thought of how Song Yuanxi often took out a small mirror to fix his hair on ordinary days, and somehow, he could understand it.

“Junior Brother Song, I promise you.”

As soon as the words fell, the longsword shot forward like a rainbow, the blade cutting through the wind and emitting a pale red glow.

Song Yuanxi fled in a frantic mess, throwing explosive talismans as he ran. He cried out in fright, “Senior Brother Qiu, you have no martial virtue! You didn’t even say a word before attacking!”

“What martial virtue are young people talking about? This is called all’s fair in war.”

When Qiu Ran’s first strike failed, he swiftly changed his method of combat. He urged spiritual energy to gather at his fingertips, and with a thunderous shout, the longsword that had originally been emitting red light split into two, then two split into four, firmly locking onto Song Yuanxi from the four directions of east, south, west, and north.

“Turning clouds and overturning rain, fallen leaves returning to their roots. Sword, go!”

The four longswords blazed brightly and shot out, weaving through the air at high speed.

Song Yuanxi instinctively pressed himself to the ground, sprawling across the fighting platform. He pulled a large iron hammer from his storage bag and held it in front of his chest.

The large iron hammer met the sword qi and let out a humming sound on the spot. The two forces locked in a stalemate in midair.

“Not bad, Junior Brother Song. You can even withstand four swords attacking at once. Then let me see how much ability you still have. Experience this eight-sword array I recently learned.”

Song Yuanxi’s vision blurred. Almost in an instant, the four longswords transformed again into eight, and the light emitting from their blades changed. They had actually turned orange!

Sword qi taking form advanced in order by the grades of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Sword cultivators in the Qi Refining stage could generally only manifest red sword qi, and the color was not especially obvious. This had to do with the amount of dantian spiritual energy a cultivator’s body could contain. Although Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining were only one rank apart, the difference in the dantian’s spiritual energy reserves was enormous.

Seeing that Qiu Ran’s sword qi had taken orange form, Song Yuanxi was greatly shocked. “Senior Brother Qiu?!”

This sword cultivator had a bug!

The other disciples below the platform immediately cried out, each of them gazing up with burning eyes. The sword cultivator disciples mixed among them in particular looked at Qiu Ran as if he were their very own idol.

“Senior Brother Qiu really is amazing. I thought only Martial Uncle Liao could turn sword qi orange during Qi Refining. I didn’t expect Senior Brother Qiu could do it too.”

“No, Senior Brother Qiu is even more talented than Martial Uncle Liao. When he was at the seventh level of Qi Refining, he could already faintly turn his sword qi orange.”

“Really? How come I didn’t know?”

“I saw it by chance. Back then, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I didn’t expect…”

Song Yuanxi bitterly held on with the large iron hammer over him. Watching cracks begin to appear at the end of the hammer, his heart nearly leapt into his throat.

What should he do, what should he do? This hammer would not hold for much longer. Once the hammer shattered, eight streams of sword qi would fly at him all together, and he would definitely be stabbed into a hedgehog.

“Senior Brother Qiu, the rules of the match say you can’t use killing moves,” Song Yuanxi could not help saying.

Who would have thought Qiu Ran would smile gently and say, “Junior Brother Song, don’t worry. The sword qi will avoid your vital points. At most, it will leave you half-crippled. I have already prepared high-grade healing pills. As long as you still have one breath left, I will definitely make sure you recover fully within three days.”

Great. The follow-up service had already been arranged. Senior Brother Qiu was trying to run him straight into the ground.

Song Yuanxi no longer hesitated. He took out the great golden hammer his master had given him, swallowed two Return Origin Pills in one breath, and circulated his spiritual energy to reinforce himself.

“Senior Brother Qiu, let me show you what I can do too.”

Bearing the pressure of the sword qi, Song Yuanxi stood up with great difficulty. His movements looked as though they had been slowed down eightfold. He worked hard to raise the great golden hammer, continuously pouring spiritual energy into it as he prepared to unleash a full-force strike in Qiu Ran’s direction.

A disciple from Wanhai Peak recognized the great golden hammer in Song Yuanxi’s hand and cried out on the spot, “Isn’t that the forging hammer we use for artifact refining?”

This thing was essential for artifact refining. Black iron hammers were the most inferior, refined steel hammers were somewhat better, and the best to use were great golden hammers.

Although it was called a golden hammer, it was not forged from gold. Rather, it was tempered from a rare spiritual ore resembling gold foil. Great golden hammers were the most beloved companions of all artifact refiners because they were rare and extremely valuable.

Below the platform, one Wanhai Peak disciple was at the sixth level of Qi Refining and could be considered a familiar face in the artifact refining room. At the very least, he had rented a great golden hammer several times before. But he had never imagined that besides artifact refining, this hammer could also be used for battle?

“From the look of Junior Brother Song, does he intend to inject spiritual energy into the great golden hammer and smash Senior Brother Qiu’s eight streams of sword qi with one blow?”

“Sword qi has no form. Even a golden hammer shouldn’t be able to do it, right?”

“Perhaps it can.” A different voice suddenly sounded. Everyone turned to look. It was Ji Wuyi, who had been watching the battle the whole time.

“Senior Brother Ji, what do you mean by that?” a young disciple asked, not understanding.

Ji Wuyi did not answer. Instead, he looked at the person beside him. That person fell silent for a moment, then said, “That is no ordinary golden hammer. It is a golden hammer fused with Fire Spirit Essence. As everyone knows, Fire Spirit Essence can melt all things. Sword qi is no exception.”

The situation on the fighting platform soon changed, as if verifying that disciple’s words. Song Yuanxi put everything he had into a single strike. The great golden hammer erupted with dazzling light. The eight streams of sword qi could not last even ten seconds before their light rapidly lost ground, finally vanishing into nothing.

Qiu Ran retreated two steps and steadied himself, but inside, his qi and blood were churning.

“I never thought I would get to see an item made with Fire Spirit Essence before I even reached Foundation Establishment… Junior Brother Song, that golden hammer of yours is excellent. In that case, let me experience it a little more. Let us see whether your golden hammer can withstand sixteen streams of sword qi!”

Qiu Ran showed no fear at all. On the contrary, an excited look appeared on his face. The fiercer the battle became, the braver he grew, and the sight made one’s scalp tingle.

“I knew this would happen. Senior Brother Qiu, this lunatic. If I want to win today’s battle, I have to beat him completely flat.”

The little person in Song Yuanxi’s heart wailed as he took out the other great golden hammer he had been keeping at the bottom of his chest.

“That day, the sky was clear for ten thousand li, and the blazing sun burned like fire. On the fighting platform, a young disciple could be seen holding two great golden hammers, swinging them with such force that the wind roared. His legs stood firm as a pine, his arms were taut, his muscles bursting with power, and veins bulged across his forehead and cheeks. With a mighty shout, the great golden hammers shot out one after another like meteors…”

Afterward, when Qi Refining disciples chatted idly and described the scene of the battle, this was the opening they used when describing Song Yuanxi.

At that moment, Song Yuanxi used all his strength to deliver a thunderous hammer strike, then immediately retreated after swinging. Before Qiu Ran could react, he followed up by swinging the second hammer.

He swallowed Return Origin Pills one after another as though they cost nothing. In any case, he had an air of having staked everything. If he did not hammer this person flat, he would not stop.

Everyone thought Song Yuanxi was aiming for those sixteen streams of sword qi. Only he himself understood that his target was Qiu Ran. It did not matter if he was accidentally injured by the sword qi. As long as he did not die, he would keep charging forward. He wanted to use the great golden hammers to hammer the man down from the fighting platform.

The more Qiu Ran fought, the more excited he became. At first, he still dodged the golden hammers, but once he saw the madness in Song Yuanxi’s eyes, his own blood also began to boil.

Fight, then fight. Whoever dodged was a dog!

The fighting platform was instantly filled with bursts of golden light in every direction. Some disciples who could not bear it could not even open their eyes, let alone clearly see the two people’s combat moves on the platform.

However, Ji Wuyi was not among those people. He watched the whole thing clearly from beginning to end, and the more he watched, the more interested he became. So he turned his head and asked, “Are you really not interested? Such an interesting challenge, and you won’t try it?”

“No interest.”

“Ah, I think you’re wary of Daoist Master Fanjian, aren’t you? Back then, you were dead set on taking him as your master, but unfortunately, he didn’t fancy you. Who would have thought that just over ten years later, someone else would pluck the peach?”

The disciple beside Ji Wuyi was also in the Qi Refining stage, but he was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. He was a disciple of Wanhai Peak named Yin Shang.

Yin Shang had entered Wanhai Peak back then for the sake of Daoist Master Fanjian. He had not expected the other party to reject him after only one glance, without giving him any chance to show himself.

Yin Shang had cultivated painstakingly, hoping to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible and prove himself, then go find Daoist Master Fanjian again to take him as his master. He had not expected that before he succeeded in reaching Foundation Establishment, he would hear the news that Daoist Master Fanjian had accepted a disciple.

The disciple he accepted had extremely poor aptitude. He was a young disciple with five spiritual roots, but his family background was illustrious, and the Song clan stood behind him.

When Yin Shang learned of it back then, his feelings had been extremely complicated.

Now that his friend teased him about it, he remained silent. He only looked toward the young man on the fighting platform, his gaze deep and distant.

Song Yuanxi ate a total of eighteen Return Origin Pills and used a stack of explosive talismans before finally breaking through Qiu Ran’s sixteen streams of sword qi and seriously injuring him.

The instant Qiu Ran fell from the fighting platform, Song Yuanxi lost all strength and collapsed onto the platform, sitting there and gasping for breath in great mouthfuls. He had won, but only by the thinnest margin.

“Senior Brother Qiu, are you all right?”

After confirming the result, Song Yuanxi swallowed a Return Origin Pill himself, then jumped down from the fighting platform to check Qiu Ran’s injuries.

Miserable. Truly miserable. Too miserable!

The sixteen streams of sword qi had rebounded on him. Aside from his face, there was not a single intact place on Senior Brother Qiu’s body. He really looked like a hedgehog whose spines had been plucked out, covered all over with holes.

Song Yuanxi handed over a bottle of high-grade healing pills and said awkwardly, “Senior Brother Qiu, I relied on external objects to win against you. I’m sorry! These healing pills work extremely well. After you take them, you’ll definitely recover fully, and it won’t affect you continuing to hold the platform.”

Qiu Ran accepted them readily, touched his own face, and burst into loud laughter. “Junior Brother Song really had foresight. My face has been preserved after all. There is no shame in relying on external objects. That is also part of your strength. My skill was inferior to yours. Once I train thirty-two streams of sword qi, I will fight you again.”

Song Yuanxi laughed along with him. This was a sword cultivator disciple of Qingtian Peak. Although he was terribly stubborn and single-minded, he was also extremely magnanimous.

“Good. I’ll accompany you anytime.”

After Qiu Ran was defeated, he was carried away by fellow disciples, and Song Yuanxi went back onto the platform to hold it again. Ji Wuyi leapt onto the fighting platform to fight him.

“Junior Brother Song, I didn’t expect that after fighting Senior Brother Qiu, you would come out completely unscathed. I looked down on you before. I apologize. From here on, I will definitely give it my all.”

Song Yuanxi had bitterness he could not speak. How was he completely unscathed? Several times, his spiritual energy had been drained dry, and his meridians had nearly burst. If not for the Return Origin Pills, he would have been half-crippled long ago, all right?

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