Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Black Wind Swordsman was on the verge of collapse. It seemed as though he had dozed off and was on the verge of falling backward. He was awoken by his fall, and he looked ahead of him.
It looked like he was now using his body’s last bit of power. He took another step forward and finished walking down the Sword Road.
Black Wind Swordsman became the first person to walk its entire length since the Sword Pavilion was established a hundred years ago. No one had expected that he would put on such a great performance while walking down the Sword Road!
“Did I pass?” Black Wind Swordsman asked.
“You passed it a while ago. You passed it when you walked ten meters,” the female teacher cried out in alarm.
“Did I need to just walk ten meters? I didn’t need to completely walk down it?” Jiang Chen was surprised by this. He was really surprised and wasn’t just putting on an act. He hadn’t known the rules!
When the people in the vicinity heard this, none of them knew what to say. This guy had worked as if his life depended on it just because he had mistaken the rule.
Deng Chen and the other two teachers exchanged a glance. They were all aware that it was they who hadn’t fulfilled their obligations. They hadn’t taken Black Wind Swordsman seriously, and they forgot to even announce the rules.
“What is your name? I’m asking for your real name,” the female teacher asked.
“Lu Ping.” Jiang Chen stated a name which he had come up with long ago.
The female teacher in front of him furrowed her brows upon discovering that his real name wasn’t related to his nickname at all.
“The martial arts club chose the nickname for me to make me seem more interesting,” Jiang Chen said.
“Let’s go inside and discuss this matter there. You will also carry out the next test there,” Deng Chen said.
“Okay!”
There wasn’t anyone who had an objection to this, and the group of people entered the Sword Pavilion.
The people outside could only howl in grief. They all badly wished to enter the Sword Pavilion.
It was already a foregone conclusion that Lu Ping would manage to pass the test, and the sole variable was whether he could break another record.
All Sword Pavilion’s disciples followed them and entered the pavilion. When the rest of the disciples heard what was going on, they also rushed over.
“Lu Ping, where are you from?”
“I’m from the great mountain.”
“You are from a mountain?
The people looked at him. They all wanted to hear which mountain it was.
Every time Jiang Chen changed his appearance and name, he would concoct another life story with unique environments. This was why he managed to state Lu Ping’s origin without the least bit of hesitation.
“Isn’t that the Bitter Cliff? Did you come from the forbidden land? How is this possible?”
Upon hearing Jiang Chen describe the mountain, Deng Chen and the other two teachers couldn’t keep their calm. They all stopped in their tracks and stared at him.
“Since my infancy, I was there. But later on, my master left me there, and I can now travel around by myself.” Lu Ping was being deliberately vague. “I still remember that I would frequently go to see a tree there. All of that tree’s leaves were shining and had worldly symbols interweaved on them,” he said.
“Is it a Bodhi Tree?”
Deng Chen and the other two people were startled. They immediately realized which tree he was talking about.
“Lu Ping, can you describe that tree’s appearance to us?” Deng Chen asked.
Jiang Chen started describing the tree in detail. He had gone over there five hundred years ago to paint the tree, and he still remembered it clearly.
After Deng Chen finished listening to him, he became sure that the tree was a Bodhi Tree, and he also believed Jiang Chen’s story. It would be difficult for someone who hadn’t seen the tree to describe it accurately. Most people just knew that a divine tree was present on the Bitter Cliff.
They couldn’t help but wonder who had raised Lu Ping. Since he could enter and leave the forbidden land freely, he was surely a great expert. However, if this was the case, hadn’t he taught Lu Ping himself?
Deng Chen started coming up with his own theories about this. He felt it likely that the person had suffered some kind of accident, meaning he couldn’t attend to Lu Ping. This had led Lu Ping to come before them. As Deng Chen thought of this, he became more spirited because he felt like he had discovered a precious treasure.
At this moment, Jiang Chen was brought to the true test’s location.
“The Sword Road just tested your affinity with the sword, and we will now test your perceptivity. You should sit there.”
There was a prayer mat laid on the floor of an expansive hall, and after Jiang Chen sat on it, familiar-looking sword energy started rising there. Many swords appeared near to him. They were all targeting him.
“These swords are formed by sword energy, and only a few of them are real. You need to find at least three real swords in the stipulated time. There are eight real swords here.” This time, the female teacher explained the rules in detail, while an hourglass appeared in her hands. She said, “Are you ready?”
Jiang Chen observed the surroundings with his senses and discovered that the swords were confusing. It was difficult to discern which of them were real.
As Jiang Chen looked at the size of the hourglass, he realized that he had just a short amount of time and that this test’s difficulty was greater than the previous one. As Jiang Chen thought about this, he became more excited.
“Start!” Deng Chen nodded, and the swords started to revolve crazily. As their speed increased, they started changing unceasingly. There were more than ten thousand swords here, and they seemed like an army of soldiers forming a battle formation. They were quite magnificent!
At this moment, a pretty woman walked out of the depths of the Sword Pavilion. It was Lin Shuangyue!
She noticed the Sword Pavilion’s odd state and was confused by it. She asked the people next to her what had happened.
“Black Wind Swordsman?” Lin Shuangyue didn’t frequent the martial arts club regularly like Xie Ting, but she still had an impression of Black Wind Swordsman. This was why she went to the test location, and she couldn’t help but exclaim in alarm when she witnessed the swords.
“Ten thousand swords? Did he choose this by himself?”
Since Lin Shuangyue had once passed the test, she was aware that the test’s difficulty wasn’t the same every time, and it could be discerned from the number of the swords. There was a great disparity between a test with a thousand swords, and one with ten thousand swords. It was only apex geniuses who would choose the latter test.
“No, the Deputy Pavilion Master didn’t let him make a choice, and he didn’t even inform him of it,” the person next to her spoke mysteriously.
“Is he making things difficult for him deliberately?” Lin Shuangyue was bewildered by this. In her eyes, the Sword Pavilion’s members weren’t people who would do such a thing.
“That’s not the case; it’s just because Black Wind Swordsman broke the record, and the Deputy Pavilion Master wanted to see where his limit lies.”
“He broke the record?” Lin Shuangyue sucked in a breath of cold air.
Lin Shuangyue’s achievement in the Sword Road was seventeen meters, while the highest one recorded was nineteen meters.
“Doesn’t that mean that Black Wind Swordsman walked down the Sword Road completely?” Lin Shuangyue was as confused as the other people, and she wondered how he had managed to achieve it.
Half the time had already passed, and the fine sand in the hourglass was quickly flowing down.
Lu Ping, who was sitting calmly on the mat, didn’t take any actions, and he was still observing the swords.
“Can’t he get even a single one?”
“Is it too difficult for him? It shouldn’t have been like this.”
“Is his perception power too low?”
Deng Chen, who had high expectations of Black Wind Swordsman, became worried
It remained this way until the sand had nearly flowed completely into the bottom half of the hourglass, and Black Wind Swordsman still hadn’t done anything. Even the female teacher couldn’t help but shake her head.
But at the last moment, Black Wind Swordsman stretched his hands quickly, and as a whooshing sound echoed, several real swords appeared in his hands. In the end, he took all eight swords.
All doubts they had about him disappeared, and their discussion came to an end, while only rough breathing could be heard in the Sword Pavilion.
For a moment, Deng Chen was taken aback by this before a gratified smile appeared on his face.
It was also the case for the female teacher and she spoke enthusiastically, “We welcome you into our Sword Pavilion.”
Henceforth, Lu Ping became a disciple of the Sword Pavilion. As for the tuition fee? The great master would take charge of it, and he wouldn’t need to worry about it.
When Sky Reaching City’s citizens learned that Black Wind Swordsman had joined the Sword Pavilion, they assumed that they let him through the back door. However, when they understood his achievements, everyone in the city exclaimed in alarm, while the academies’ disciples couldn’t keep their calm any longer.
