Chapter Eighteen: Sword Cuts Through the Wind Pillar, The Master Takes Notice

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The Ice Spirit’s speed was so swift and its attack so fierce that Li Tong didn’t even have time to activate his protective aura before being taken down in one strike. Fortunately, the grand formation had a built-in protective mechanism—when the damage exceeded a certain threshold, it would generate a protective force field and teleport the occupant away. Additionally, once the battle ended, statuses would refresh; most short-cooldown spells and techniques would reset their cooldowns.

After defeating this opponent, he rested for about a minute before a beam of light descended, signaling the appearance of the second challenger. Su Yu’s opening move mirrored the previous round—what seemed like a single sword stroke was actually six consecutive hits that depleted more than half of the opponent’s defensive treasure’s protection. Following that, a strike infused with purple primal energy shattered the protective treasure’s light barrier. The Ice Spirit seamlessly countered, instantly securing another kill.

The speed of the instant kills was so rapid that it took nearly two minutes before the third opponent was matched. This adversary was slightly stronger, wielding a superior treasure; a combo of attacks was unable to break through his defensive treasure. Yet, the outcome was the same—Su Yu’s swordsmanship was overwhelmingly powerful. Each sword strike, enhanced by sword aura and thunderous sound, dealt as much as five hundred damage across six hits. After a few exchanges, he forcibly breached the defense and claimed victory.

In less than six minutes, Su Yu had won all three matches, earning a place in the next round. Descending from the arena, his figure appeared in the waiting hall, instantly drawing the gaze of many. Glancing back, Su Yu noticed that aside from the first tier, he was the sixth to complete his battles. The lengthy wait for matches was the main cause; he was confident his actual combat speed was the fastest. After all, the strongest first tier had skipped the initial round, and he doubted anyone in the second or third tiers could outperform him in efficiency. Of course, the first five were not necessarily all victors—some might have been swiftly defeated in all three rounds.

As time passed, more contestants finished their battles. Soon, Gu Zhiqiu emerged, and Su Yu approached him. “How did it go?”

“Out,” Gu Zhiqiu replied.

“One win, two losses, eliminated immediately.”

“Uh...” Gu Zhiqiu rubbed his face hard, then patted Su Yu’s shoulder with a smile. “It’s okay, as expected. It’s up to you now, good luck.”

“I’ll try my best!”

“Not try, but definitely. Otherwise, the one gold and your three taels of gold will all go to waste.”

“Heh heh.”

After a while, a voice echoed overhead in the waiting hall:

“The first round of the preliminary test is over. Eliminated contestants may leave or take seats in the audience to watch. Winners proceed to the next round.”

As the voice faded, beams of light descended to envelop individuals—some light pillars vanished, and the figures within disappeared as well. When Su Yu opened his eyes again, he found himself in front of the main stage in the audience area, a separate section where dozens of advancing newcomers had been teleported. Behind them stood a towering podium, previously empty but now fully occupied.

His gaze flickered to the center seats of the podium, where a stunningly beautiful woman in palace attire sat gracefully. She was the same enchanting figure he had seen during the guild event in the Poisonous Mist Swamp—her delicate profile flawless, neck like polished jade, ethereal as a fairy.

“Who is she?” Su Yu thought, deciding to inquire about her identity after the preliminaries.

After a brief rest, the host’s voice rang out again:

“The second round of the preliminaries is about to begin. The rule is one-on-one battles until final rankings are decided.”

Su Yu noticed the arena’s grand formation being readjusted—from more than a hundred small arenas to four large ones, meaning four matches would occur simultaneously per round.

“Contestant No. 5 versus No. 87 on Arena One.”

“Contestant No. 14 versus No. 68 on Arena Two.”

“Contestant No. 33 versus...” Su Yu didn’t hear the rest because it was his turn—he was No. 68, on Arena Two.

Teleported to the arena and standing ready, his opponent was a young man from the first tier, who bowed with fists clenched and clasped hands to the left and right. Su Yu heard cheers from the audience seats.

“This is really different,” he thought. The first round had no external sound.

The youth bowed again toward the numerous guild leaders seated on the podium, then glanced at the thirty-second countdown before turning to Su Yu with a smirk.

“I have some impression of you. Getting this far from the second tier shows some skill, but that’s all. You have no idea how vast the gap is between the first and second tiers.”

He opened his mouth, releasing a small bell that swiftly expanded to three meters, hovering above his head. Fine golden threads of light dangled down, forming a protective shield.

“A sixth-tier defensive treasure...” Su Yu observed.

He then produced a jade-green banana leaf fan, gently fanning with it in a carefree manner.

“Remember my name—He Shoucheng—the one who will defeat you.”

“Damn,” Su Yu muttered.

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Another sixth-tier treasure.

Su Yu twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling both envy and disbelief.

He extended his right hand; the Ice Spirit sword materialized, passing through his palm and swirling nimbly around his body.

“Flying Sword Technique!”

He Shoucheng glanced at the nearly finished countdown and spat a concentrated breath of mana onto the jade-green fan. A surge of azure light erupted as the fan rapidly expanded to three meters in length. With both hands clasped, he swung it fiercely.

At the exact moment the countdown ended, the invisible isolation barrier vanished. Within a radius of several hundred meters, the treasure manipulated the invisible currents, gathering them to form a wind wall tens of meters high and fifty meters wide, crashing forward like a tidal wave.

Su Yu looked up. The Ice Spirit sword’s light pierced through the wind wall, striking the golden light hanging from the bell. The sword tip flicked rapidly, generating multiple flying sword illusions that struck, instantly registering six hits.

“Huh!”

Several eyes on the podium narrowed and straightened their posture. The exquisite beauty also fixed her gaze on the arena.

The Ice Spirit circled the golden light once more, triggering six damage hits instantly, causing the treasure’s defense to drop noticeably. Su Yu then unleashed a purple energy hand, which crashed into the wind wall with a muffled boom, creating a large hole.

In just two moves, He Shoucheng’s initial contempt vanished. He quickly infused the treasure with mana to restore defense and swung the banana leaf fan continuously. Layer upon layer of wind walls advanced, blocking the purple energy hand.

Then, he changed tactics swiftly. With a powerful downward swing of the large fan, the airflow ahead surged wildly, condensing into forty or fifty wind blades nearly three feet long, sweeping across the arena like a storm.

Five consecutive swings produced over two hundred wind blades, filling most of the arena with overwhelming momentum.

Su Yu soared with his aura. The wind blades even changed direction to pursue him.

“A sixth-tier treasure—can’t block head-on.”

He made a split-second decision, empty hand grasping, the flying sword reversed, transforming into a ten-meter-long sword rainbow slashing wildly through four wind blades. It slithered back and forth like a spirit snake, precisely cutting each wind blade.

The sword rainbow darted repeatedly, slicing nearly a hundred wind blades within seconds, all broken into harmless breezes.

“How is this possible?”

He Shoucheng was shocked. He immediately gathered the wind blades, swinging the fan forcefully. Countless currents converged into a wind blade pillar two or three meters in diameter and twenty or thirty meters tall.

The pillar emitted a powerful attraction, drawing nearby currents. It quickly expanded to over a hundred meters in height. The strong pull distorted and reversed even the surrounding wind blades.

“Once my wind pillar forms, it will continuously absorb airflow and grow stronger, eventually affecting the entire arena space. Let’s see how you can outlast me.”

Although activating this move drained most of his mana, He Shoucheng remained confident that victory would be his.

Su Yu’s expression remained calm as he continuously wielded the Ice Spirit sword. The ten-meter sword rainbow weaved through the wind blades, slashing each approaching blade to pieces.

Within ten seconds, the sky was cleared of wind blades. The shattered remnants were absorbed by the growing wind pillar, whose strong suction now affected the arena’s spatial edges.

“This isn’t just an ordinary sixth-tier treasure—at least a fine-grade, possibly even a rare-grade one,” Su Yu mused.

He pursed his lips as the Ice Spirit sword plunged into the wind pillar’s core.

With sword and finger combined, the sword rainbow circled the pillar’s interior edges like a coiling dragon, slicing through its layered structure. The wind pillar warped and collapsed layer by layer, transforming from a towering column into a vast swirling wind vortex.

The range expanded, but the internal power visibly diminished.

“How can this be?”

...

“A bit exaggerated!”

A guild high-ranking member narrowed his eyes, muttering softly:

“A fourth-tier flying sword, a sixth-tier treasure—beginning sword aura and thunder sound techniques can hardly accomplish this.”

He tapped the armrest lightly, noticing several others exchanging glances, sharing subtle smiles.

On the arena, after Su Yu shattered the wind pillar into a wind eye with his sword technique, He Shoucheng was dumbfounded.

He had tested the fan’s power before, whether fighting bosses or in duels. Opponents’ strategies were either to evade or to rely on powerful treasures to endure. None had been able to withstand his fan’s full force. At best, they held out briefly before succumbing.

He had never seen anyone weaker in treasures than himself forcibly break through this move.

If this were a friendly spar, He Shoucheng would have immediately taken pills to replenish mana and unleashed a frenzy of wind blades—five hundred not enough, then a thousand. He was confident he could grind his opponent down.

But the arena forbade potion use or disposable items.

With two sixth-tier treasures, mana consumption was immense. Having depleted most mana already, he could no longer form another wind pillar—only swinging the fan to release wind blades, all precisely cut down by the flying swords.

The sword rainbow spun rapidly around the treasure light, swiftly lowering its defense.

Feeling his mana depleted and realizing a comeback impossible, He Shoucheng shrugged and chose to surrender.

“Arena Two, No. 68 wins!”

Space twisted, and in a blink, Su Yu returned to the rest area. Before he could sit, a voice behind him said:

“I was careless this time. Next time I’ll be prepared—you won’t be my match.”

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Turning, Su Yu saw He Shoucheng standing behind him. He smiled faintly:

“We shall see!”

He paid no mind to He Shoucheng’s challenge. After this preliminary, he would earn a substantial sum, and in three months his power would certainly rise significantly. His cultivation method level would increase to at least fifty layers.

He Shoucheng’s cultivation was already above level fifty, but the higher the cultivation method level, the harder it was to advance. In three months, He Shoucheng would reach at most sixty layers, so the gap between them wouldn’t widen greatly.

The same applied to treasures. Seventh-tier and above were extremely rare and required high-level equipping. It was unlikely He Shoucheng could obtain a seventh-tier treasure.

Refocusing, Su Yu sat down to watch other matches.

With 64 advancing to 32, there were 32 battles—4 per round, requiring 8 rounds. He could observe the other contestants’ strength carefully.

At that moment, two rounds had already finished, leaving only Arena Three. The two contestants there were evenly matched, exchanging blows with their treasures.

After just a few seconds of spectating, Su Yu’s communicator received a message from Fu Ping.

“Brother Su, I didn’t expect you to give me such a big surprise.”

“Your earlier performance was excellent. Several guild bigwigs have inquired about you—you’re going to make it big.”

He instinctively glanced back, catching several eyes from the podium directed at him, all smiling and nodding, including the beautiful woman in palace attire.

He smiled slightly and nodded in return, then saw another message from Fu Ping:

“If I’m not mistaken, after this preliminary ends, the guild’s three main force regiments and various independent squads will approach you. You might want to consider which one to join.”

“Is it really that serious?”

“Absolutely. Regardless of your subsequent results, your current swordsmanship level alone makes you worth generous offers from all regiments and squads.”

“Uh...”

Su Yu struggled to suppress the smile tugging at his lips.

“Here, these are the basic profiles of the guild’s three main force regiments and seventy-four independent squads. Take a look when you have time, and feel free to ask me anything.”

“Thanks, Supervisor Fu.”

“You’re welcome. With your performance, your year-end bonus is already guaranteed. Hahaha...”

Su Yu chuckled and opened the files Fu Ping sent.

“The three main force regiments, seventy-four independent squads.”

He didn’t have time to study them thoroughly now, so he skimmed through, planning to review them carefully after the preliminaries.

But when he reached the profile page of the guild’s second main force regiment, he paused, his gaze fixed.

Chu Xinyue, current deputy leader of the second main force regiment, also captain of its second battalion, a core guild member.

His eyes lingered on her flawless portrait, and his heart stirred.

“Supervisor Fu, could you tell me about Deputy Leader Chu of the second main force regiment?”

Fu Ping furrowed his brow, thinking for a moment before replying:

“She’s the daughter of the former leader of the second regiment, also an inner disciple of the Xuan Zhen Immortal Sect—very promising.”

“But take my advice, she’s not someone you should get involved with.”

“Cough, I’m just asking.”

Fu Ping smirked knowingly.

“I understand the appeal of romance, but her situation is complicated.”

“Her father was one of the guild’s founding elders, and the second main force regiment has been controlled by their family. But sixteen years ago, her father passed away peacefully, and five years ago her elder brother failed his tribulation. Now, their family’s hold over the regiment is unstable.”

“She had to return from the Xuan Zhen Immortal Sect to manage affairs but had stayed away from the guild before. Her internal standing isn’t strong enough to control factions within the regiment.”

“Not only are her father’s former subordinates restless, but many high-ranking guild members and second-generation heirs are vying for her hand. Marrying her, combined with their own strength, would give them a chance to seize control of the second regiment.”

Fu Ping paused, then continued:

“She’s surrounded by a vortex. As a newcomer, if you get involved, you’ll be crushed. Take my advice—don’t get involved.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Your only task now is to train hard. When you become strong enough, what beauty would be out of reach?”

...

Closing the communicator, Su Yu shook his head with some regret as he flipped the page.

His first attraction, ending without result.

“Better to focus on improving my strength first.”

He shook his head and continued browsing the information.