Chapter 563: Sima Lingxuan
The yellow-robed middle-aged man glanced at Xiao Chen’s dragon-shaped jade pendant and smiled faintly. “I am part of the Five Nation Youth Competition’s organizers. What is your name and which sect did you come from?”
It turned out that he was one of the organizers. No wonder he had such a high cultivation. Xiao Chen nodded and said, “My humble self is Xiao Chen. I am from the Great Qin Nation’s Heavenly Saber Pavilion.”
The yellow-robed middle-aged man thought awhile before saying, “Come with me. I will bring you to the residence for the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. The arena battles will begin three days later. You can rest in these few days. If you have nothing to do, you can wander around the city.”
The two moved very fast as they leaped across tall buildings. In a few breaths, they arrived at a small courtyard.
There were only a few rooms in the courtyard. It was very simple. In fact, crude would be a better word to describe this place.
The yellow-robed middle-aged man explained, “The style of the courtyard is dependent on the strength of the sect and the results of their disciples in previous Five Nation Youth Competitions. If there are no objections, I will be taking my leave first.”
Xiao Chen indicated that he understood. When considering the entire continent, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion was not a really strong sect. They also did not have many disciples who had performed exceptionally in past competitions.
However, in this Five Nation Youth Competition, Xiao Chen would definitely change the situation, preventing the future disciples of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion from suffering such wretched treatment.
Xiao Chen managed to be the first to qualify because of the choice he had made. The people as strong as Xiao Chen were all fighting for a seeded spot.
The successors of the Great Jin Nation’s ten great sects and eight Noble Clans, as well as the top disciples of the strong sects of the four nations were all gathered around the ten tallest dragon pillars.
The Heavenly Sword Gate’s Ding Fengchou, the Beast Taming Abode’s Zuo Mo, the Myriad Fiend Palace’s Mu Xinya and Chu Mu, and the Thousand Sword Pavilion’s Xia Xiyan were all hanging around, carefully testing one another out.
They would not initiate a life-or-death battle; they would only probe one another. Hence, they were even more cautious. Even after an hour and a half, no one attempted to stand on any of the ten tallest dragon pillars.
There were two elimination rounds in the arena battles. Each round required a participant to fight twenty matches. In each round, one hundred people would be eliminated. Only after the two rounds of elimination would the finals begin.
The seeded participants did not have to participate in the first round of eliminations and could directly enter the second round. This meant having twenty matches fewer to fight. Such an advantage naturally made others envious.
The first seed had even more benefits: exemption from the two elimination rounds and direct entry into the finals.
Aside from this, becoming a seeded participant was also a way to gain fame. Simply put, it was a fight for pride.
Xiao Chen had his own ideas. In his opinion, as long as he managed himself well and there were no opponents as strong as him in the first twenty matches, he could avoid revealing his strength.
Furthermore, the seeded participants would be the focus of attention. They would be the ones the others would research properly.
There would be some unexpected benefits to keeping a low profile. The one with the last laugh was the true winner.
Xiao Chen was not in a rush to rest in the courtyard. He leaped onto the roof, sitting down there to observe the fight for the first seed.
Sima Lingxuan was the Sima Clan’s most outstanding genius in the past few thousand years. In the previous Five Nation Youth Competition, he was the undisputed champion. Xiao Chen was quite curious as to what he was like.
Surrounded by the eight beams of golden light, Sima Lingxuan went to the tallest dragon pillar without the slightest scruple. His eyes glinted with unwavering confidence.
He behaved like the tallest dragon pillar already belonged to him; no one else could stand on it. He, Sima Lingxuan, was the first seed.
This strong self-confidence and his strength combined to create an extremely oppressive atmosphere.
When regular cultivators felt this, they would immediately adopt a mindset of inferiority. Before they fought him, they had already lost.
Xiao Chen muttered, “What strong self-confidence. This is an unwavering confidence in his own strength. His confidence makes him stronger and his strength made him more confident. This positive loop results in this unique atmosphere.”
Sima Lingxuan was indeed remarkable. However, once he received a blow to his confidence, he would have difficulty climbing out of the abyss of failure.
This was the principle of becoming brittle when something became overly hard. One could be self-confident but should not have blind confidence.
In the three thousand great realms, the Sky Dome Realm, which the Tianwu Continent was in, was just an ordinary realm. There definitely were stronger geniuses in the other great realms.
Although one was self-confident, they had to remember to maintain a low profile. Only when they truly stood at the peak could they then look down on everyone else.
This was Xiao Chen’s opinion and his principle of life. Thus, he did not fight to obtain the spot of the first seed; there was no need for him to.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen sighed. He smiled faintly and said, “If only someone would fight with Sima Lingxuan for the first seed. That way, I will be able to see how strong he is.”
High in the sky, Sima Lingxuan looked at Bai Qi, who was across the dragon pillar. He smiled gently and said, “Bai Qi, are you in a rush to taste defeat again? The arena battles have not started yet. If your mental state is unstable, it will influence how much of your strength you can bring out later.”
Hearing the absolute confidence in Sima Lingxuan’s words, Bai Qi said sullenly, “My mental state will only be truly impacted if I retreat without a fight. If I can accept it, then so what if I get defeated?”
In the previous Five Nation Youth Competition, Bai Qi was the undisputed second rank. He was also a rare genius of the Bai Clan. Now, he was going up against Sima Lingxuan.
“Look! Bai Qi is going to fight with Sima Lingxuan. He lost in the last Five Nation Youth Competition. I wonder if he can turn things around this year?”
“I heard that Bai Qi has practiced the hardest Martial Technique in the Bai Clan—the Four Season Saber Technique—to Great Perfection. Now, he is a lot stronger!”
“I heard that the Four Season Saber Technique was obtained by the Bai Clan’s ancestor from an unnamed ancient grave. After he obtained it, no one could understand it until the absolute genius of the Bai Clan, Bai Shuihe, completely comprehended it and left guidance to the Bai Clan descendents.”
“Indeed, the Four Season Saber Technique is incredibly strong. It is known as the strongest Martial Technique under Heaven Ranked Martial Techniques. Even though Bai Shuihe had left guidance on his comprehension, I have never heard of anyone comprehending Bai Shuihe’s thoughts before the age of thirty.”
“Who knows, maybe Bai Qi can rely on this Four Season Saber Technique to wipe away his previous humiliation.”
All the cultivators in the ring of peaks immediately became excited. Here was this scene again after so many years. A battle between these two would be akin to one between a dragon and a tiger; it would definitely be very exciting.
Sima Lingxuan smiled at Bai Qi and said, “It is said that the saber intent of a bladesman is stronger than the sword intent of a swordsman before they reach Martial Sage. Bai Qi, I will not bully you with my higher cultivation. If your saber intent can defeat my sword intent, I will let you have the first seed.”
The moment Sima Lingxuan finished speaking, everyone was shocked and flabbergasted. Saber intent was at least ten times harder to form than sword intent.
However, once saber intent was formed, it was mightier than sword intent of the same level. Only when one reached Martial Sage would sword intent and saber intent have souls of their own, bridging the gap between them.
Bai Qi’s black pupils constricted as he said, “Are you for real?”
Strong self-confidence flashed on Sima Lingxuan’s handsome face. He laughed loudly and said, “Of course. Since I am going to defeat you anyway, I should make sure you are convinced of your defeat. I have to defeat you with the aspect that you are the proudest of. Otherwise, what is the point?”
“How arrogant!”
Bai Qi was truly angered now. Although he was weaker than Sima Lingxuan, he did not feel the gap was that much.
However, Sima Lingxuan was too overbearing. The respective strengths of saber intent and sword intent had been clearly defined since ancient times. While saber intent was harder to form, it was mightier than sword intent.
Nevertheless, he was arrogant enough to want to compete using only sword intent and saber intent. He was completely looking down on Bai Qi.
Xiao Chen, who was on a roof in Dragon Sealing City below, felt it was strange as well. Saber intent being stronger was a widely acknowledged fact.
Back when the Bloody Bladesman, Sun Guangquan, was able to push the Inferior Grade Martial Monarch Northern Sea Alliance elder so hard when he had only just become a Martial Monarch himself, he succeeded due to his saber intent. A Small Perfection saber intent could increase a cultivator’s offensive power by thirty percent. When one became a Martial Monarch, they would become much stronger. By then, a thirty percent increase would be even more horrifying.
Saber intent would give a bladesman the ability to fight those of a higher cultivation realm than them.
Xiao Chen himself was a bladesman, so he understood this better. He muttered to himself, “Is this fellow really arrogant or is he really that strong?”
Bai Qi drew his saber in rage. A surging saber intent immediately surged out. The long, slender saber trembled incessantly. Combined with his powerful strength, when the saber intent spread out, all the sabers of the bladesmen in the ring of peaks trembled slightly.
The pure saber intent burst forth from the saber’s edge and turned into a sharp, formless energy wave as it flew towards Sima Lingxuan.
The sharp, formless energy wave represented Bai Qi’s rage, his pride, and many other things.
There was no point in expressing his hate in words.
So, Bai Qi used this powerful saber intent to decide everything, to prove that he, Bai Qi, was not as weak as Sima Lingxuan made him out to be.
When the cultivators in the ring of peaks felt how strong that saber intent was, they were full of praise.
The bladesmen in the crowd had the deepest impression of it. When they saw it, their hearts were filled with respect and anticipation.
The sword arrived in the world first, before the saber. Although the strength of a bladesman or a swordsman would depend on the individual, due to historical reasons, the status of a bladesman fell short of that of a swordsman.
This was clear from the number of swordsmen and bladesmen in the Tianwu Continent.
Furthermore, a truly unrivaled bladesman had not appeared for many years already. Most of the experts in the world were swordsmen.
The Thunder Emperor, who had become famous a thousand years ago, had used the sword. The current strongest genius, Sima Lingxuan, also used the sword.
The saber had remained silent for too long. Now, the Great Jin Nation’s Bai Qi was the most famous bladesman in this world.
When Bai Qi pointed his saber at Sima Lingxuan, he was also shouldering the hopes of all bladesmen. They hoped that a true bladesman would appear, one unrivaled in the world.
On the roof, Xiao Chen also nodded. He said softly, “Based on the range of the saber intent, it should have reached Small Perfection. Let’s see how Sima Lingxuan deals with this.”
Sima Lingxuan did not evince any surprise on his handsome face. He smiled and said, “You only started to figure out saber intent a year ago. You have managed to reach Small Perfection from there in such a short time. Pretty good!”
“Unfortunately, I, Sima Lingxuan, am your opponent!”
Sima Lingxuan exuded a strong self-confidence. That self-confidence seemed to condense into an aura.
The air currents around could not withstand this aura as it moved about wildly. This resulted in a strong wind that made Sima Lingxuan’s clothes and hair flutter about.