"Haha..." Jie Fu Lian let out a cold laugh as he stood on the competition stage, "Many of you seem to believe that a sword is what makes the wielder strong."
"A strong sword certainly helps, but unless the wielder is capable enough to control such a sword, there would be no benefit seen," Jie Fu Lian continued with a cold thin smile.
He suddenly raised Changbo and kept it back in his spatial ring as he spoke, "Today, let me show you what true skill means."
Shi XiuYing, who was watching the competition from the guest seat, smiled as he heard Jie Fu Lian's words.
"This is indeed fun," Shi XiuYing muttered under his breath as gazed over at Hua Tianshu.
Jie Fu Lian suddenly got off the stage and walked around for a bit before returning with just an ordinary stick.
The crowd had been stunned speechless by both his actions and words. Nobody dared to ask him what he was trying to do, but at the same time, everybody was curious to see more.
"From this moment onwards, I challenge every single competitor that thinks they can beat me!" Jie Fu Lian exclaimed confidently, "I won't use anything more than this stick. If you can beat me then I'll kiss your feet!"
Xian Huan and Xue Liang almost choked on empty air as they heard the boy's words.
"Is he crazy?!" Xian Huan shouted with his eyebrows creased together in confusion, unable to accept what he had just heard.
"Brother Xian, should I challenge him?" Xue Liang asked with a chuckle, half joking and the other half serious.
"Huh?" Xian Huan couldn't help but snap his head towards the boy, "Brother Xue, what type of indecent thoughts do you have for Brother Ming?"
Xue Liang laughed at this reaction and simply brushed it off with careless words, "I just want to know if he'd really do it."
Xian Huan looked to be unimpressed with this response and spoke, "Even if you challenge him, you won't win so give up."
"..."
By the time the two were having this conversation, somebody had already raised his hand and challenged Jie Fu Lian.
The Organizers of the sword competition saw that something unexpected had happened, however, Sect Master Quan ordered for the sword competition to continue just like this and hence, nobody was able to stop Jie Fu Lian.
The first disciple to challenge Jie Fu Lian was from the HuiXue sect and was also at the half-step stage of the Core formation realm. He looked to be much older than Jie Fu Lian and if his age were to be guessed, one would say that he was in his late twenties. He had an arrogant demeanor and for some reason, looked as if he hated the boy standing in front of him.
Jie Fu Lian couldn't help but feel a little excited to know that he was going to fight somebody whose cultivation level was the same as his. The age and height difference was naturally something that he did not mind.
This was truly a great way for him to test his abilities and determine just how much he had grown.
Although his glaring eyes weren't polite in the least, the opponent still introduced himself politely but Jie Fu Lian didn't even bother listening to the introduction and hence, he naturally did not know the name of the man whom he was fighting against.
"I'll let the younger one attack first," The man spoke.
Jie Fu Lian smirked as he heard these words and thought to himself, 'This man's looking down on me'.
Jie Fu Lian wasn't a saint so he naturally did not let go of this opportunity.
Before the man could prepare himself, Jie Fu Lian had already jumped up and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared into thin air.
The HuiXue sect disciple frowned and looked around frantically in search of the boy.
Till now, he had only seen Jie Fu Lian beating all his opponents with a single sword technique so this man had prepared to counter that sword technique, but unexpectedly enough, it seemed that Jie Fu Lian no longer planned to play around.
The HuiXue sect disciple took a deep breath in and before he could exhale, he jumped forward as he felt a strong killing aura striking at him from the back.
Like a ghost, Jie Fu Lian had crept up behind him but was still unable to land a blow.
"Attacking from the back? What a coward," The HuiXue sect disciple clicked his tongue as he criticized.
Jie Fu Lian smiled as he heard these words but said nothing as a response.
The HuiXue sect disciple no longer bothered to look down on the boy nor did he plan on giving a headstart to his opponent.
He pushed his spiritual sword forward towards Jie Fu Lian without masking the killing intent oozing from it.
Jie Fu Lian was quite surprised with how strong the killing intent was, but he didn't intend on dodging the sword.
From the eyes of the audience, it looked like Jie Fu Lian had truly gone insane and was courting his own death.
"The life of wind and the life of snake!" Jie Fu Lian formed a hand seal in front of him and the wooden stick in his hands suddenly turned into a snake that was as clear as water and as undetectable as a soft breeze.
As the sword approached Jie Fu Lian, the snake moved in front of the boy and with a single strike, the snake sent the sword flying back to its master.
The HuiXue sect disciple blinked as he saw this whole scene and rubbed his eyes as if not believing what he had seen.
The stick had clearly turned into a snake but now that he looked at it again, its appearance was back to an ordinary stick with nothing special.
Jie Fu Lian could see the confusing in the eyes of his opponent, but he didn't bother explaining anything and instead, just smiled innocently as if hadn't done anything to get such a reaction.
The HuiXue sect disciple immediately clenched the hilt of his sword and instead of sending his sword forward, this time, he opted to attack straightforwardly. He closed in on Jie Fu Lian and got ready to strike the boy, but once again, the stick turned into a snake and captured both the man and his sword.
"Aaaargh!" The man cried out in pain as he felt all his internal organs being twisted and squeezed together.
The snake went towards the sky and it took the man with it. When they were high enough, the snake suddenly disappeared and the man fell down, cracking the competition stage with his unbreakable fall.
He growned in pain and tried to stand up.
There was no way he was going to admit defeat to this boy who had nothing but good luck saving him all the time!
They were at the same cultivation stage so he simply refused to accept defeat, believing that he could still win.
Jie Fu Lian smiled when he saw the man standing up.
"It's good that you stood up. I was just starting to have fun," Jie Fu Lian's words were filled with the careless nature of the youth and while it agitated his opponent, it also sent a shiver down the spines of the people witnessing this match from the audience.
At the moment, everybody could understand one thing.
Jie Fu Lian wasn't a crazy idiot with luck... He was just a strong lunatic!
The outcome of the match could already be seen. Although they were at the same cultivation stage, they couldn't be compared at all!
Before the match could progress any further, one of the sect elders suddenly stood up and stopped the match, "That's enough. If you continue, he's going to die. If you want to have fun, why not choose a new opponent? You have already beaten this one."
Jie Fu Lian turned to look at the sect elder who had stood up and he immediately guessed that this man was probably his opponent's teacher.
He didn't want to see his own disciple dying in front of him and hence, he decided to interfere.
"That sounds good to me," Jie Fu Lian beamed.
The disciple from the HuiXue sect gritted his teeth as he exclaimed, "I can still fight!"
"You can't!" The sect elder also raised his voice as he replied.
"I won't admit defeat!"
"You have already failed!"
The pair of disciple-master didn't seem to share the same thoughts and Jie Fu Lian was quite enjoying this verbal feud between the two.
"Let's continue fighting," The man didn't give up and completely ignored the words of his master as he sprang forward, aiming for Jie Fu Lian.
Jie Fu Lian sighed as he raised the stick and when the man was close enough, Jie Fu Lian swung the stick downwards, striking the man's head with no mercy.
There was no doubt that the stick was completely ordinary, but in the hands of Jie Fu Lian, even a normal stick could become a sword.
The man immediately lost consciousness as his head hit the ground and caused a huge dent.