Liu Shen’s eyes flickered as he looked back and forth between Li Zimo and Lu Yin before finally commenting, “Alliance Leader Lu, you’ve got a good eye.”
Lu Yin was surprised. “What do you mean?”
Liu Shen laughed. “That disciple is known as Li Zimo, and during the Sword Sect’s recruitment assessment, he placed first. At that time, Elder Lianxin took him in as a disciple, and he immediately inherited the Inner Peace Sword Arts. Out of the tens of millions of the Sword Sect’s disciples, he’s always managed to retain a place at the very top.”
Lu Yin responded in a knowing manner. “It looks like my luck’s pretty good.”
Upon seeing that Lu Yin had selected Li Zimo to be her opponent, the girl from the Liu family frowned. Li Zimo had already built quite the reputation for himself in the sect due to him becoming Elder Lianxin’s only disciple and creating quite a commotion when he joined the Sword Sect. On top of that, Li Zimo had always been very strong, and it had to be acknowledged that he had even created his own sword techniques. The Liu girl had no confidence of victory, but since she had already agreed to Lu Yin’s conditions, she had no choice but to face Li Zimo.
“Li Zimo, come!” The girl from the Liu family grabbed her sword as she moved out of the crowd and stared at Li Zimo.
Li Zimo did not move.
The girl from the Liu family pointed her sword at him. “Li Zimo, come at me!”
Li Zimo raised his head to look at the girl. “My sword is not a performance to be watched.”
Liu Shen spoke a warning in a low voice, “Li Zimo, since Alliance Leader Lu has made a request, just have a duel with Liu Ling. You only need to go through the motions.”
Li Zimo furrowed his brow, but he still stood up. He stretched out his right arm, and a sword materialized. The tip of the blade was pointed at Liu Ling.
Everyone else retreated to leave space for the two fighters.
Liu Ling’s eyes narrowed and she said, “I’ve always wanted to see just what you’ve learned from Elder Lianxin and also to witness your self-created, so-called ‘Silent Sword.’”
After speaking, she conjured forth countless shadows with her blade, which looked quite similar to the Myriad Swords Sect’s Ten Thousand Swords as One, but at the same time, there were key differences. The core idea of the Ten Thousand Swords as One technique was to merge the various blades to form one large sword that would cut through everything to unleash the most powerful sword. In contrast, Liu Ling’s skill locked the void with the countless sword shadows that she had conjured.
Neither of the two sword techniques were necessarily better than the other, as it truly depended on how the user wielded them.
Lu Yin praised, “Impressive sword skills.”
In the face of Liu Ling’s aggressive assault formed from countless void-locking shadows, Li Zimo unhurriedly raised his sword and stepped forward. His sword fell down, and his body moved with the sword. A light “clank” sound was all that anyone heard, but Liu Ling remained frozen in place, dumbstruck. The sword in her hand cracked, and Li Zimo suddenly appeared behind her.
At this moment, Lu Yin felt like he was once again seeing Li Zimo defeat Tang Si from the Reverent King’s Residence. Lu Yin remembered being utterly amazed by just one slash of Li Zimo’s sword, and he had been unable to decide whether Li Zimo or Liu Shaoqiu was stronger. Currently, Li Zimo’s sword skills had progressed much further. He was still as precise as ever, and he left no traces behind when moving his sword. That was the essence of his Silent Sword, and its power was comparable to the Thirteen Swords’ First Sword.
Most of the people watching this match had never seen Li Zimo’s Silent Sword before, and they were stunned by his skill.
Even Liu Shen was taken back, and he could not help but exclaim, “The First Sword?”
However, he came to his senses immediately after his unbidden outburst. Although the Silent Sword closely resembled the Thirteen Swords’ First Sword, the two were not the same. The First Sword was a ranged slash that struck from a distance whereas the Silent Sword demanded that the swordsman’s body move with the sword.
Liu Ling could not believe that she had been defeated in just one move. She was an elite from the Liu family, but she lost after her opponent moved his blade a single time.
Li Zimo glanced over at Lu Yin with cold eyes before returning to his place where he leaned against the wall. He acted as if the match had never even happened.
At that moment, despite how unruly the Sword Sect disciples from the Liu family were, they all looked at Li Zimo with respect and fear.
The Sword Sect’s top expert within the younger generation was undoubtedly Liu Tianmu followed by Long Yun and Liu Shaoqiu. Liu Shaoqiu had a particularly certain air of superiority to him even though he only ranked third even after inheriting the Thirteen Swords.
Li Zimo’s sword skills had silenced the crowd. They felt that it might even be possible for him to challenge Liu Shaoqiu.
Clap, clap, clap!
Lu Yin applauded the exchange. “As expected of the Sword Sect. One can pick out any disciple, and they’ll find someone with amazing sword skills.” After that, he looked over at Liu Shen and asked, “You said that that disciple’s name is Li Zimo?”
Liu Shen averted his eyes from Li Zimo and replied, “That’s right. He’s Elder Lianxin’s only disciple. Have you taken an interest in him, Alliance Leader Lu?”
“Elder Lianxin?” Lu Yin questioned.
Liu Shen explained, “Elder Lianxin is an elder only below the Sect Leader. She’s an Envoy.”
Lu Yin was surprised. “So she’s an Envoy! It’s no wonder that she raised such an impressive disciple. I, Lu Yin, openly admit my admiration.”
Liu Shen laughed and looked back at Li Zimo.
Lu Yin looked over at Li Zimo as well and said, “I hope to see you in ZENITH. The technique that you used was fascinating.”
Li Zimo met Lu Yin’s eyes, but he looked unhappy and threatened, “Do you want a taste of it?”
The atmosphere immediately grew tense.
Liu Shen instantly scolded Li Zimo. “Impudent! How can someone at your level even dream of challenging Alliance Leader Lu? He’s one of the Ten Arbiters, and he defeated Divine Fist Lan Si as well as Arbiter Zhenwu. Even in the Neoverse, his accomplishments are absolutely outstanding. He’s someone who has actually stood upon the highest stage of all humanity, but you want to challenge Alliance Leader Lu? Not in this lifetime!”
Lu Yin shot a look at Liu Shen. The man was essentially stirring up Li Zimo’s animosity against Lu Yin. Most people would not take such words well, and this man was indeed someone who hid daggers behind a smile.
“If you wish to challenge me, I’ll be your opponent anytime,” Lu Yin replied with a smile.
Li Zimo stared at Lu Yin for a long moment before lowering his head and withdrawing.
Liu Shen turned to apologize to Lu Yin. “Alliance Leader Lu, I’m to blame for his lack of discipline. When we return to the Sword Sect, I’ll make sure to report this matter to Elder Lianxin and have her punish him.”
The other Sword Sect disciples left one after another.
Liu Ling was the only one who remained in place, dejectedly standing still. Though, she was soon dragged away by the other Liu family disciples.
Just before all of the disciples left, Elder Li, who was the elder with crimson robes, appeared.
Everyone from the Sword Sect immediately bowed. “We pay our respects to Elder Li.”
“We pay our respects to Elder Li.”
…
Elder Li calmly looked at Lu Yin. “Alliance Leader Lu, since you’ve had the opportunity to see a demonstration put on by my Sword Sect’s youths, then why don’t you give us a demonstration of your own?”
Upon hearing Elder Li’s words, all of the Sword Sect’s disciples grew excited. It was almost impossible to get the opportunity to witness one of the Ten Arbiters unleash their power.
Li Zimo turned back towards Lu Yin.