Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 16: East Peak Sinks the Moon
Song Zian’s expression was extremely unsightly because this wasn’t just a challenge, but also a humiliation. This meant that Qianye didn’t pay any attention to his first-rank combat strength at all.
He leapt up from his seat and said with a cold snort, “A little mayfly dares cross the river?”
Qianye replied indifferently, “I’m not a very patient person, and I don’t like dragging out my revenge. Since you harmed me intentionally two days ago and caused my advancement to fail, I shall settle this enmity with you today. Your martial examination rank shall end here!”
“Insolence!!!” Song Zian was enraged—he felt rather regretful. He thought the matter from that day had been settled and that he had gained a secret advantage over Song Zining. Never did he expect that the other party to make such a move. Even if he did win this round, this accusation had already been heard by the seniors.
Beside him, Song Tu roared with a frown, “Enough! Next!”
Behind Qianye was Song Zining who unceremoniously picked the Song clan young mistress. However, Song Xinran actually let out a sigh of relief because Song Zining’s fighting style from the previous rounds could be considered quite gentle. Even if she lost, it wouldn’t affect the upcoming assessments as long as she didn’t sustain heavy injuries.
The remaining six chose their opponents one after another, and this time, there weren’t any surprises. The two lowest-ranked contestants would have to face Song Zicheng and Song Ziqi, which was as good as saying they had been eliminated.
At this moment, Duchess An suddenly opened her eyes and instructed her attendants to change the refreshments. This also indicated that the old ancestor was no longer going to rest with her eyes closed. It appeared she was going to watch the competition in earnest.
The stage bustled with activity. By the time the things Duchess An requested were arranged for, the elders’ seats had also been somewhat modified. Elder Lu had been summoned to Duchess An’s side alongside Song Zhongnian on the other.
Among the various elders, the great elder Song Zhongcheng’s countenance was as gloomy as a dark cloud capable of pressing down upon a city. He was Song Zian’s grandfather and also the current clan lord’s eldest brother. It was bad enough that Qianye had challenged Song Zian, but he actually announced that Song Zian had harmed him secretly before the competition.
How important was the Song clan’s decennial examination? It was a great taboo to harm the opponent in secret before the contest. Additionally, all the other guest warriors were rank-nine. Only Qianye was rank-eight, and yet he was ranked first in combat strength. He had chosen, at this moment, to reveal that his failure to advance was due to Song Zian’s secret ploy. How serious was this matter?!
Regardless of the truth of this matter, Song Zhongcheng had already sensed something different in the other elders’ expressions. Although the old ancestor seemed unmoved by this, she might actually hold a grudge considering how much she favored Song Zining.
The Song clan’s third generation was in a general decline and there was no longer any suspense regarding the fact that the succession of the clan lord’s position would skip a generation. Song Zhongcheng had always hoped Song Zian would be able to wrest the successor rights from Song Zhongnian’s lineage and seize the clan lord’s position. He was absolutely infuriated now that his plans were messed up by Qianye and wanted nothing more than to slap this bold youngster to death. He made a firm resolution to clear away the root of these troubles as soon as the examination was over.
Following the bell’s toll, the first battle for top-eight began. It was Song Zian versus Qianye.
This lineup should’ve belonged to the semi-finals or even the finals, but was forced to commence early due to Qianye’s selection.
Elder Lu immediately sat up straight as Qianye walked into the arena holding the East Peak. He was looking forward to the battle.
Song Zian appeared on stage soon afterwards and stood before Qianye. Before the battle began, he suddenly suppressed his voice and asked, “Have your injuries from that day healed already? It seems you recover rather quickly.”
Suffering an agitation during cultivation would result in internal injuries, and it was difficult to fully recover from them. Moreover, Qianye had claimed that he was attempting an advancement at the time, and as such, the consequences should be even worse. Song Zian bringing up past matters at this moment was clearly to enrage Qianye.
But Qianye wasn’t moved at all and only glanced up at him, saying, “So it was indeed you who did this deliberately. It seems knocking you out of the competition at this point is the right choice.”
Song Zian drew his sword and the corners of his lips formed a disdainful curve. “A servant imitating the master. Utterly reckless!”
A deep azure flashed through the depths of Qianye’s eyes and along with a visible killing intent.
Song Zian’s sword was a bit longer than ordinary blades, and its body was narrower by a third—apparently, its focus was on agility and sharpness. There was also an aqua-blue light flowing along the sword, and after instilling it with origin power, the image of a moon against the starry night would emerge within the erupted radiance. This was an impressive grade-six melee weapon.
This was one of the Song clan’s famed swords, the “Moonchaser”. It was an extraordinary product among grade-six swords. With such a weapon in hand, Song Zian was already at a great advantage in terms of weaponry. Not to mention the fact that a grade-six weapon would come with various powerful attributes—its “Divine Edge” alone was enough to directly hack through an ordinary grade-five weapon.
The two parties began to move in confrontation. Song Zian, however, didn’t attack with his sword and, instead, retreated to one side. While running, he whipped out his handgun and fired off a series of shots toward Qianye.
Qianye’s body seemed to be swaying in the wind. His smooth footwork shifted within a small radius and evaded the blasts almost effortlessly. This kind of side-step technique could only be trained amidst the rain of bullets on the battlefield.
Seeing that origin gunfire was ineffective against the opponent, Song Zining let out a snort and holstered his handgun. He then drew his sword and sped up his footwork. He encircled Qianye several times within the blink of an eye and launched a series of tempestuous sword attacks.
Song Zian had observed Qianye’s previous battles and knew that this opponent possessed extraordinary strength despite his frail-looking physique. As such, he immediately took the initiative to launch an agile offensive, hoping to defeat Qianye with speed and technique.
Song Zining’s strategy was indeed correct—his only mistake was using it on Qianye.
The East Peak in Qianye’s hand moved forth—this modest-looking blade suddenly seemed to have lost all weight as it stuck close to the Moonchaser and drew a chain of circles in the air, almost wringing the blade out of Song Zian’s hands.
These few moves were seemingly lightweight and incomparably exquisite. Song Zian was momentary stunned in the face of this completely unexpected situation, and his hand actually paused for a moment. How could Qianye let such an opportunity slip by? He took advantage of this lapse and swung his blade in a counterattack. The East Peak trembled, emitting faintly discernible draconic roars akin to a fish swimming against the torrential currents.
Song Zian’s reaction wasn’t slow at all. He immediately recovered from his momentary daze and calmly met the blow head-on. The Moonchaser in his hand was incomparably agile as it drew out several rings of origin power radiance. However, Qianye was in full control of his advance and retreat—this Devastating Strike which many had experienced before was, at this moment, akin to a sheet of goose feathers. Qianye weaved back and forth with great haste as he broke through the rings of origin power brilliance and shattered them one by one.
This exchange between the two transformed into an entanglement, and they were evenly matched!
At this time, the entire audience was astonished, and the expressions of the several elders on the stage changed. Even Elder Lu was staring fixedly at the battle with his eyes wide open. The old ancestor slowly peeled a lychee and put it into her mouth.
Song Zian’s heart was ablaze. In his eyes, Qianye’s every attack was the most ordinary of basic sword techniques, but his attacks were virtually at the pinnacle of timeliness. Not only had they pierced through the gaps between his sword radiance, but also struck the weakest links with great accuracy, effectively shattering his origin power.
Song Zian’s peripheral vision accidentally fell on the expressions of the elders on the stage and couldn’t help but grumble in his heart. Presently, he had almost broken through to a rank-twelve champion and was deservingly the number one descendant in terms of cultivation level. If he was having such a hard time beating a rank-eight warrior, his status in the old ancestor’s eyes would decline sharply even if he did win this round in the end.
Not only did he have to win this round, but he would also have to win beautifully!
Song Zian was now in a position where he couldn’t stop midway. He gritted his teeth and rearranged his sword stance. At this point, the blade erupted with blazing light as he ruthlessly slashed toward the East Peak.
Qianye’s brows rose. He knew that Song Zian wanted to borrow the power of his grade-six weapon and his advantage in origin power ranking to forcefully receive the blow from his heavy sword. The round was as good as won if he could break the East Peak.
Qianye flipped his wrist over, whereupon the East Peak made a sharp turn and slashed in reverse toward Moonchaser without the slightest intention to evade or yield.
The moment the two blades came into contact, Qianye suddenly let out an explosive roar as his origin power surged up—it actually seemed as if scarlet flames were soaring into the sky. The specks of golden light were especially dazzling amidst the origin flames.
Within a split second, Qinaye’s origin power had been raised to its peak, and the natural origin power several meters around his body began to resonate with him. A strand of darkness origin power wound around the East Peak’s edge as it hacked toward Moonchaser!
Qianye’s True Vision was able to clearly identify the origin power lingering around Song Zian’s Moonchaser and that it would fluctuate in intensity according to the shift in his sword stance. However, the superiority became evident in a single all-out exchange—the origin power resonance brought about by Song Zian’s sword was much smaller in magnitude.
As the two blows intersected, Song Zian’s entire body was violently shaken and his hands could hardly hold onto the hilt. Meanwhile, Qianye also lost all color at that moment and his hands on the sword couldn’t help but tremble.
The two staggered backward. This blow had resulted in a draw.
However, this result shocked everyone at the scene.
Song Zian was already about to break through, but Qianye was a mere rank-eight fighter. The difference between the two wasn’t limited to just three levels, but also encompassed the wide chasm between a champion and a fighter. Even under such circumstances, it could already be considered a poor performance if Song Zian was unable to kick Qianye out of the arena in one move. How could they reach such a stalemate?
Song Zian’s countenance was also full of shock. He stared at Qianye suspiciously and cried out involuntarily, “You’re hiding your strength! You’re definitely not a fighter…”
Song Zian immediately stopped talking midway…
He was simply too astonished just now and thus lost his composure. How could a mere champion hope to conceal his rank under the old ancestor’s eyes? The moment these words slipped out of his mouth, Song Zian realized he had lost more points with his performance.
At the moment, the old ancestor was cracking melon seeds while gazing over at their battle. Although she said nothing, her eyes were extremely sharp and no small movement could hope to escape her notice.
Song Zian forced himself to calm down. He gazed at Qianye and said coldly, “I’m fairly astonished that you can fight against me to this level. But this ends now. You should’ve been injured quite badly just now, am I right?”
Qianye suddenly revealed a mocking smile. After a few deep breaths, he raised the East Peak once again and his vigor also rose gradually like the tides in the blue sea, not weakened in the slightest.
Song Zian could hardly believe his eyes. How could Qianye be completely unharmed?
In truth, the forceful clash between the two parties had indeed resulted in a draw. Qianye was originally just a step away from rank-nine and was far above Song Zian in terms of physical strength and endurance. Speaking in terms of constitution, Qianye was already comparable to a vampire viscount—how could an ordinary human compare with him?
Comparatively, Song Zian’s only advantage at the moment was his origin power capacity. He hadn’t even gained a significant advantage in terms of weaponry. It was only logical that their exchange of swords would result in a draw.
How could Song Zian know where the crux of the problem was? He shot a glance at the East Peak and couldn’t help but stare—that unremarkable jet-black sword was completely unharmed! This also meant that this ordinary-looking sword, at least in terms of material, was not the least inferior to his own.
He inhaled deeply, and with a shake of his hand, a bright moon suddenly appeared overhead and illuminated the sky. The long sword in his hand trembled continuously as it sprayed out tens of thousands of sword beams toward Qianye akin to the brilliance of the moon reflected on the water.
This was the Highland Song Clan’s secret sword art, Brightmoon Heart. At this time, he could no longer care about leaving cards up his sleeves for the upcoming matches—the upcoming matches were out of the question if he was defeated here.
However, at this moment, Qianye’s stance had fully formed and the East Peak slashed through the air amidst a loud cry.