Chapter 171: Jiang Li’s Sword Heart?
Editor: Atlas Studios
The intense sword light collision continued.
Using the Tripartite Sword Formation, Shu Mountain’s Chang Wanzhou even cleverly combined all kinds of brilliant sword techniques.
This sword cultivator genius had clearly put in a lot of effort to study them. The way his sword light shone was quite wonderful.
The three swords in the air could even unleash three different sword techniques at the same time.
One sword was sharp and cold, one sword was clearly in a defensive stance, and one sword was heavy and simple but powerful in every blow!
In such a sword formation, the style of the three swords would change at any time. It was really full of strange moves and was extremely dangerous to deal with!
Any sword cultivator of the same level would probably be flustered in a single exchange. In two or three exchanges, they would be slashed by the sword on the spot.
However, his opponent, Jiang Li, had only exchanged a few moves at this moment. He slashed horizontally and vertically, and there was nothing new anymore.
In terms of strength, speed, spiritual qi, and reaction speed, he was completely above the other party, or even far beyond.
No matter how simple his moves were, they were still useful in this situation.
Even if Jiang Li’s swordsmanship could not even be considered second-rate, under the enhancement of his extraordinary foundation, he was able to walk amidst the rain of sword lights without getting a single scratch.
In the eyes of others, Jiang Li was either an expert who had studied sword techniques for decades or a genius in the Sword Dao who had a unique spiritual intuition towards sword techniques.
Clang!
Chang Wanzhou struck out with the Tripartite Golden Light Sword again. The three swords collided with Jiang Li’s wooden sword for a moment, and amidst the exploding spiritual qi, the two of them separated.
Jiang Li stood with the wooden sword in hand, and he was still calm and composed as before. It was as if the intense collision from before was only a breeze to him, and it did not affect him at all.
On the other hand, the sword cultivator Chang Wanzhou opposite him had already lost his originally confident and elegant posture. The hand holding the flying sword was trembling, and his entire body was gasping for air and filled with weak spiritual qi.
Sword cultivators were cultivation professions that dealt high damage and consumed a lot of energy.
With their small bodies, not only was their vitality low, but their spiritual qi was also limited. This point was very difficult to change until the Core Formation realm.
After fighting for about 15 minutes, the Shu Mountain’s Golden Light Sword could no longer hold on.
“Junior Brother Jiang Li, you’re really very strong. I apologize for my contempt earlier.”
Chang Wanzhou barely managed to catch his breath as he cupped his fists towards Jiang Li again.
In fact, he could not be considered to have looked down on Jiang Li. Who would have thought that a disciple who had just entered the sect ten months ago would be able to fight him to this extent now?
In this day and age, it was no longer possible to tell what kind of person could be considered a genius.
“Senior Brother Chang, you’re too polite. I was just a little lucky.”
“Senior Brother Chang’s Golden Light Tripartite Sword is truly powerful. The power of a single person formation is boundless.”
Jiang Li waved his hand and acted very modestly, casually praising the other party.
His mood was not bad. In this fifteen minutes of sword combat, the sword cultivator clone had already gained a deeper understanding of the method to use the Sword Heart. As long as he tried a few more times, he believed that he would be able to master this technique very quickly.
“Junior Brother Jiang Li, I’ll use my final strike now. Let’s decide the outcome with a single exchange!”
This was another advantage of sword cultivators. When they invested all their strength, they could often unleash a stunning strike that far surpassed their own strength.
Moreover, almost all sword cultivators knew this technique.
Therefore, when sword cultivators realized that they could not beat the enemy, they would use this final strike to take them down.
However, this situation was exactly what Jiang Li wanted. This time, the other party would definitely erupt his Sword Heart without holding back, allowing him to see through it more directly.
“Come! Let’s decide the winner with one strike!”
Swoosh!
The three swords on the other side combined into one again. Then, a bone-chilling sharp qi seeped out from his body and enveloped the flying sword that was flickering with golden light to the limit and beginning to converge again. The sharpness seemed to be able to break through everything.
Jiang Li looked at the wooden sword in his hand… Hmm… it would definitely be right to infuse more spiritual qi into it.
In the confrontation, the auras of both sides became stronger and stronger. The spiritual qi that leaked out blew away fist-sized rocks everywhere.
A moment later, both sides suddenly moved!
Their figures disappeared on the spot, leaving an afterimage as they crossed paths in an instant.
Divine light flashed, and the swords moved gracefully!
The two attacks started at the intersection point and spread straight forward, splitting the arena into two.
The two figures that passed by each other slowly stopped and stood with their backs facing each other.
Everyone held their breaths, waiting for the final outcome.
Rip! The clothes on Jiang Li’s shoulder were directly torn apart, revealing the pitch-black skin that was suffused with a metallic luster beneath.
On the pitch-black skin, there was an extremely fine scratch. Two drops of blood seeped out.
The surface layer of the Lake Heart Protection, the inner two layers of the Armament Hard Skin and Armament Hard Skin were actually penetrated by this sword strike, injuring Jiang Li.
Needless to say, the scratch disappeared in less than a second.
However, to a Qi Refinement realm cultivator, it was already a terrifying achievement.
Chang Wanzhou attacked his shoulder. He had probably discovered the Dragon Imprisoning Lock wrapped around Jiang Li’s waist in the sword battle just now, so he changed his target and slashed at the shoulder.
Fortunately, he did so. Otherwise, if his sword struck the Dragon Imprisoning Lock, then this final strike would have been completely useless.
“I… lost…”
The sword cultivator, Chang Wanzhou, recalled the metal-attribute flying sword that had been knocked away and solemnly put it back into the scabbard. Then, he took a deep look at the flying sword in his hand, his eyes filled with helplessness.
On his chest, a pitch-black and simple wooden sword pierced straight through.
In that strike just now, both sides did not think of defending and almost completely took the other party’s attack head-on.
Jiang Li lost two drops of blood that could only be seen with a magnifying glass. Chang Wanzhou, on the other hand, had his chest pierced by a sword, and he was heavily injured and on the verge of death.
If not for Jiang Li contracting his power at the critical moment and diverting the sword trajectory to dodge the vital part of the heart, the overflowing damage would have shattered the feeble sword cultivator’s body.
Chang Wanzhou slotted the flying sword back into his waist before completely losing consciousness.
Jiang Li’s eyes were sharp and he quickly moved to support the other party. He withdrew the Nine Nether spiritual qi that had been destroying the other party’s body, and then he used normal wood attribute spiritual qi to heal the other party’s heart meridians before pulling the wooden sword out of his chest.
The Shu Mountain’s Golden Light Sword was defeated!
The Shu Mountain sword cultivator, who had always been thought to be the strongest, had actually been defeated. This result was unbelievable to everyone except for the Scripture Storage Valley.
In fact, if Jiang Li were to fight in the Foundation Establishment stage, the situation would actually not change at all.
The Nine Nether Dao Scripture, the Yin-Yang Golden Core, and the Blood Essence Ignition status did not let Jiang Li down. In a single day, his strength had surpassed the restriction of his cultivation and arrived at a new height.
Jiang Li helped Chang Wanzhou up. Soon, a medical cultivator landed on the arena and picked him up.
After all, he was a top genius of Shu Mountain. He still had to receive such preferential treatment.
The foreign spiritual qi in his body had already been taken back by Jiang Li. When he was injured earlier, Jiang Li had used a high purity wood attribute spiritual qi to protect his heart meridians, so his injuries had not worsened again.
Although there was a penetrating wound on his chest, it was not a big deal to a cultivator.
As long as they handled it well and threw in a few healing spells, it would not be long before he could return energetically to participate in the competition.
As for his Sword Heart ultimate technique, it was mostly learned by his opponent who had planned to do that from the start.
Jiang Li was not in a hurry to continue accepting the last challenge. Instead, he quietly stood on the spot and looked at the wooden sword in his hand.
On the other side of the arena, the sword cultivator clone, who was ranked sixth on the ranking board, found a corner to sit cross-legged.
A moment later, his body softened slightly, the first Parallel Mind inside had already returned to Jiang Li’s sea of consciousness.
‘Then… let’s give it a try.’
In his mental world, the first Parallel Mind held the light sword that represented the Sword Heart in his hand again. He did not slash out and only carefully communicated with that mysterious feeling.
In next to no time, the sword of light that was formed from the Sword Heart gradually lit up with rays of light, and it illuminated Jiang Li’s mental world.
This seemed to be the case, but the extent was far from enough.
What should he do?
Jiang Li and his Parallel Mind seemed to have understood something at the same time as they raised their heads to look up.
After hesitating for a moment, the Parallel Mind directly threw the Sword Heart Light Sword into the sky above the mental world and landed in the round moon.
The originally gentle moonlight became much brighter and purer after the light sword was thrown in.
At the same time, a strange and incredible feeling arose in Jiang Li’s heart.
This feeling was similar to when his clone used the Sword Heart Slash, but it was not so direct. It was like an invisible and untouchable aura… field?
As this aura took shape, the wooden sword in his hand was gradually enveloped by a layer of sharpness.
[Stabilizing the awakened Sword Heart. Added Status: Sharp Sword Aura Field.]
[Sharp Sword Aura Field: When using a sword-type weapon, the sharpness will increase. Ignores the target’s defense by 30-50%. Duration: 20 seconds] (− +)
With a thought, Jiang Li decisively set this ability to an infinite duration.
Sure enough, it worked.
Jiang Li was slightly surprised by this, but it was understandable.
Originally, when he used the ‘Great Carefree Bodhisattva Heart Sutra’ on the sword cultivator’s corpse, he had intended to try to obtain the Sword Heart talent if possible.
However, it was hard to say if it would succeed in the end.
He did not expect that he would enjoy a portion of the effects of the Sword Heart talent in advance.
Jiang Li had noticed it when he was fighting with the other party earlier.
The method to continuously stimulate the Sword Heart talent to increase the effects of the sword technique was very similar to a status.
He let the sword cultivator clone imitate the other party’s method and indeed successfully triggered this effect.
Jiang Li waved the wooden sword and casually drew a line on the ground. A deep cut immediately appeared on the surface of the stone arena.
It was not surprising that he could do this.
However, the difference was that the feeling of brandishing the sword was much easier and smoother than usual!
Under the effect of the Sharp Sword Aura Field, the rock layer on the ground was forcefully broken in front of Jiang Li.
The wooden sword in his hand also became much sharper.
To a swordsman, this was undoubtedly a super status that they dreamed of.
Unfortunately, Jiang Li did not cultivate flying swords. To him, it was better than nothing.
Jiang Li casually dispersed the wooden sword in his hand, relaxed his muscles, and continued walking up.
However, unlike his nonchalance, the group of Shu Mountain sword cultivators flying in the sky widened their eyes.
“What?! Peak Master, I think I was drunk… that Jiang Li kid… seemed to have used his Sword Heart earlier?”
An elder who was originally holding a gourd to drink suddenly spat out all the wine in his mouth. Then, he looked at his wine gourd in disbelief.
He had not been drunk for decades. What was going on today?
“I don’t think you’re seeing things.”
“Outsiders can mistake that sharp aura, but will us Shu Mountain sword cultivators sense it wrongly?”
“That’s definitely the Sword Heart talent. It should have awakened when he was fighting intensely with Wanzhou earlier.”
“Dammit! As I said earlier, Jiang Li possesses such talent in the Sword Dao. He was able to rely on his mortal sword technique to fight equally with Wanzhou, and he even won in the end.”
“How can a person with such talent not have a Sword Heart! Damn it! Why didn’t he join Shu Mountain! Instead, he went to the Scripture Storage Valley to become a damned body cultivator!”
This Peak Master of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak was fuming. He cursed incessantly. It could be seen that his mood was about to explode.
Originally, if Jiang Li did not have the Sword Heart, there was nothing he could do. Shu Mountain was not suitable for him after all.
However, the situation was different now. Jiang Li had actually “awakened” his Sword Heart in the blink of an eye. Since he had this talent, he should be a Shu Mountain disciple. How could he have missed this opportunity!?
“This… Peak Master, Jiang Li seemed to have tested it in front of our Shu Mountain Sect during the last Immortal Ascension Assembly. However, he really did not possess a Sword Heart at that time.”
“In fact, the person who tested him was Junior Brother Chang.”
A Foundation Establishment disciple stepped forward and said embarrassedly. This made the Shu Mountain’s Metal Peak Master, Wei Wangxuan’s expression turn even uglier!
“Go back and break that rusty sword! What kind of outdated testing method is this! It’s not accurate at all!”
The Metal Peak Master’s beard was about to fall off from rage.
To be able to cultivate to such an extent in less than a year, he was definitely a perfect piece of unpolished jade. With a little carving, he would be able to produce a piece of top quality jade. If he did not die prematurely, it was not impossible for him to guard the sect for another hundred or thousand years.
“No, I have to discuss this with Old He. This disciple should join our Shu Mountain…”
Elder Wei made up his mind immediately. He suddenly left a sentence and flew towards the Scripture Storage Valley’s spectator area.
His actions frightened the others greatly. They hurriedly wanted to dissuade him, but it was obvious that with their strength, it was impossible for them to convince a Nascent Soul sword cultivator.
In the blink of an eye, their Metal Sword Peak Master was gone.
Of course, Elder Wei was not that serious about it.
He was not really a fool. No matter how outstanding Jiang Li was, he was still a member of the Scripture Storage Valley now.
He had already been accepted by the Scripture Storage Valley. Even if he really became a disciple of Shu Mountain now, there would still be some discomfort in his heart.
However, not entering Shu Mountain did not mean that he could not be taken in as a disciple. One had to be flexible, and cultivators also had to think out of the box.
In the end, Wei Wangxuan went to look for Elder He. However, from the location of the Shu Mountain sword cultivators, not only did the two of them not have any conflict, they even seemed to be chatting happily.
What were they talking about?
The group of sword cultivators looked at each other blankly.
The Head Elder of the Metal Peak, Elder Wei, went there aggressively but returned happily while smiling. The Shu Mountain elders were all at a loss.
“Head Elder, what’s going on? Could it be that they’ve agreed to let Jiang Li become our disciple?”
The sword cultivator clone Tang Yan’s master, Jiu Mengzi, had yet to figure out the reason and could not help but ask.
“Join the Shu Mountain? Of course not. Why would you have such a strange thought?”
It was clearly him who had just said those words earlier. This Elder Wei who was getting older and more shameless was now acting as if he had never heard of it. Instead, he questioned the rest for saying such weird things.
Everyone already knew this guy’s personality, so they were not surprised.
“Head Elder, what did you talk about?”
Another elder asked. Other than this, what else could this Elder Wei be doing?
“I invited that kid to come visit our Shu Mountain. Isn’t the little girl from the Shenshan Clan quite close to him? We can get even closer.”
