Chapter 81 Fear
Xie Changsheng’s face suddenly paled. Even before, when he had been seriously wounded by the first sword nucleus, he had not felt much terror. But the moment he saw this young woman in green robes, he felt terror.
This terror came from animal instinct and nature. It was not due to a disparity in strength. This was like how an adult ram who saw an infant wolf would still feel fear.
He had seen numerous young geniuses in the past, but never felt like this.
What kind of monster are you? Looking at the young woman in green robes, he felt this voice in his mind. Then in the next moment, he thought of a possibility, and his body started to freeze.
Xie Rou and He Zhaoxi were not much better off than Xie Changsheng. Zhang Yi was the only one able to move. Because he was polite, even though he was also terrified at this moment, he still bowed to this young woman in green robes and the young man behind her. “May I ask?”
“I am Jin Liuli,” the young woman responded directly, not caring how her simple answer caused great waves in these people’s minds.
The young woman said, looking at Zhang Yi with a cold expression. “So you should understand that I have the power to make him explain.”
Zhang Yi could not express any objections. The name Jin Liuli was her greatest qualification.
Even if they were not in Min Mountain Sword Sect, her name alone would be enough to request many people to do many things. From the first year of Yuanwu to now, she and An Baoshi of Spirit Void Sword Sect had been publicly accepted as the future strongest cultivators of the Qin Dynasty. In other words, if there were no accidents, this young woman in green robes in front of him would be the successor to the Min Mountain Sword Sect. The next master of Min Mountain Sword Sect.
At this time, this young woman already had some of the dignity that a sect master should have.
Zhang Yi slowly nodded. He was about to turn, but Jin Liuli, this famous young woman, stopped him.
“I can wait.” She glanced at the words next to Ding Ning and said, “Before this matter is cleared up, to guarantee the fairness of this competition, you do not have to wait for him and interrupt his cultivation. Just like his message said, you can wait until all of you have come out before waking him.”
Her words are extremely fair. Zhang Yi and the others had nothing to say.
At this time, a sharp coldness suddenly appeared inexplicably in the air. Frost appeared on the grass at the perimeter of the formation. Then Xu Heshan’s figure appeared.
He held a pure white sword in his hand, completely pure white like it has been pressed together out of snow. But there was a freezing energy around this sword that no snow could rival.
When Xu Heshan saw Jin Liuli, he immediately froze.
“This is the Cold River Snow Sword. It was the lifebond sword of a certain academian close to the Wei Emperor. While it has lost its vital energy, it is still the coldest sword in the Sword Valley,” Jin Liuli said coldly and didn’t even give another look to Xu Heshan.
Xu Heshan had come out, and there were only Nangong Caishu and Shen Yi left.
“This sword is named Twining Branch of Hate. It is the sword of the Han Thousand Lotus Palace,” Jin Liuli did not stop and continued. Before she finished speaking, Shen Yi’s figure was appearing.
Shen Yi held a sword that looked like black jade, with winding dark green branching patterns on the hilt.
After speaking, as though Jin Liuli knew that Nangong Caishu would not appear soon, Jin Liuli grew quiet.
“So what sword is mine?” Xie Changsheng couldn’t help but speak. He felt extremely displeased by his terror. A major reason he was speaking was because he wanted to break free of this terror.
“One sword will illuminate nineteen cities. This is the Brilliance Sword of the first general of the former Zhao Dynasty, Zhao Kuo. When it was in his hand, it was always shining with light. People rarely saw the true form of this sword.” Jin Liuli looked casually at Xie Changsheng as though she could see Xie Changsheng’s competitiveness. An imperceptible disdain appeared at the corners of her lips.
Xie Rou clenched her teeth. She also wanted to know what sword she had, but she felt the more she asked, the more disadvantageous it would be to Ding Ning.
At this time, Jin Liuli looked at Xie Changsheng and slowly said, “Nangong Caishu is slow because she is having a hard time choosing like you did. She needs to choose between the Fish Intestine Sword and the Metal Casting Sword. She is more cautious than you are. Now, she has chosen, she chose the Fish Intestine Sword.”
For some reason, when Xie Changsheng heard Jin Liuli’s cold and flat words, and looked at the imperceptible disdain at her lips, Xie Changsheng became irritated.
“What kind of sword is the Fish Intestine Sword,” he asked angrily.
“You must not even have heard the name of these swords. The masters of these swords died in battle between you were born. While the masters of most swords were strong, they were not famous even to their death, and were rarely recorded in the records. So I do not understand why he had you choose such swords.” Jin Liuli did not answer his question. Her gaze moved around Ding Ning, her expression grew more frostier. Then she said, “You can wake him now.”
Strange sounds came from the grass on the perimeter of the formation. Nangong Caishu’s figure appeared at this time.
Jin Liuli had done as she said. She waited until everyone picked their swords before waking Ding Ning.
Zhang Yi struggled to swallow. Then he stiffly reached out with his left hand, and patted Ding Ning’s shoulder. Ding Ning’s eyelashes fluttered and his eyes opened. Ding Ning’s gaze immediately landed on her but his expression was calm.
The young woman’s brow instinctively furrowed.
“I am Jin Liuli,” She looked at Ding Ning’s eyes and said slowly, “You must answer some of my questions. This will decide whether you can continue to participate in the Min Mountain Sword Trials.”
Ding Ning looked silently at Jin Liuli. When he truly saw this young woman of legend, he was sure which rumors were true.
Feeling this young woman’s presence, he was certain that, even in the strongest era of the Ba Mountain Sword Field … if this young woman was born in that era, she would have a seat among the strongest of the experts.
Jin Liuli’s eyes unconsciously narrowed. She was not used to people being so calm in front of her, and unused to people not immediately answering her question.
Just as she wanted to speak again, Ding Ning nodded.
“How do you know these swords?
“Why did you feel that there would be a sword sea in the Sword Valley?
“Had someone leaked the contents of the Min Mountain Sword Trials to you ahead of time?
“If that is the case, regardless of who that person is in the Min Mountain Sword Trials, they cannot protect you.”
Jin Liuli asked four questions with a cold expression.
Hearing her words, even Xie Changsheng started to suspect that someone had leaked the contents of the Min Mountain Sword Trials to Ding Ning ahead of time. Because Ding Ning’s previous performance, other than cheating, could not be explained in any logical manner.
Then Ding Ning started to explain. He calmly said, “I know these swords because I stayed for a long time with Forefather Zhou and I heard him speak of many famed swords. These swords are only some of those.”
Jin Liuli’s expression grew colder.
Forefather Zhou was an old person of Changling, but no one knew if he had known of these swords, especially now when he was dead. Any explanation for something put on a dead person could not be convincing. But she did not immediately speak. She wanted to see how Ding Ning would answer her following questions.
Those were the harder questions to answer.
“I feel that the Sword Valley had the sea of swords because of the second sword nucleus.” Yet Ding Ning did not stop and calmly continued.
Jin Liuli’s eyes flashed harshly and said, “What does it have to do with the second sword nucleus?”
“The sword manuals engraved on the second sword nucleus are not the sword manuals of the Qin Dynasty. I remembered that the Min Mountain Sword Sect had never had any precedent of publishing any sword manuals. These sword manuals were so profound that I thought they could only come from the cultivation places of the three dynasties that the Qin destroyed. They are from outsiders, so it doesn’t matter if outsiders saw them.”
Ding Ning looked calmly at her and said, “Any person has weaknesses, including the person in charge of organizing the Min Mountain Sword Trials. I think if I want to win this, I must treat the organizer of the Min Mountain Sword Trials as an enemy. I pondered if there were any rules in this person’s behaviour. Since the second sword nucleus had foreign things, then I thought in this sword selection event, it may also be items from foreigners.
“Since the sword manuals on the second sword nucleus were so spectacular, I thought with this person’s behaviour … the sword valley selection event would have astounding swords.
“As a result, I felt there may be many famed swords from the three dynasties but I had never expected so many swords and such a sword grave.”
Hearing Ding Ning’s calm explanation, Jin Liuli’s eyes were filled with shock. The questions she felt so hard to answer came from such a reasonable deduction.
Most important was that she was the Min Mountain Sword Trials organizer that Ding Ning spoke of … Had Ding Ning been able to do all this because of the weaknesses in some of her personality and actions? If there were weaknesses, they could be used.
She was truly shocked.
