Chapter 117 — Sword Sweeps the Stars

Before the hall, the fourteen scholars were silent; not one withdrew.

The boy attendant smiled. "Since no one has withdrawn, this trial may begin.

Master. " Daoist Lingyun walked out from within the hall, his gaze sweeping once over Shen Mu and the others, and smiled. "The earlier trials tested your fundamentals, your ingenuity, and your temperament. This trial tests your strength. You are but scholars, yet to have come this far is already extraordinary; each of you possesses formidable power.

As the hall master of Chunyang Hall, I shall take the field myself and test you all.

" The scholars exchanged glances. One of them murmured, "That's unfair. . . " Daoist Lingyun's eyes flickered, and he chuckled.

"Of course it is unfair.

You come from primary schools and grand academies, and cannot be compared with the Grand Academy. I, however, am a Guozijian of the Grand Academy; I have read every scripture in the Grand Academy's repository, and even in the same realm I would surpass you by no small measure.

So for this test, you need only withstand three moves against me. If you are not defeated in three moves, you pass.

" He smiled warmly. "I have sealed my own cultivation and will retain only the Five Luminaries realm; you may set your minds at ease. " At these words, the scholars all breathed a sigh of relief; if the contest was between the same realm, they feared no one.

After all, in their own primary schools and grand academies, they were all outstanding warriors and martial masters; they had that confidence.

Daoist Lingyun also smiled faintly, reassured.

Though it was the same realm, though it was three moves, there was ample room to maneuver within it.

Across three moves, he could easily go easy on someone without betraying the slightest flaw, or he could eliminate other scholars in three moves.

He was, after all, a Guozijian of the Grand Academy; in the same realm he would not claim to be invincible, but he was a rarity in the world. "Ding Shan, you come first. " Daoist Lingyun sealed his cultivation and said gravely, "Boy, fetch the wooden swords. " The boy brought two wooden sword cases and set them upright on the ground.

Daoist Lingyun pointed a finger, and a thread of yuanqi fine as a hair flew out, curling a wooden sword from one of the cases. "This case holds thirty-six swords, well suited to the Tiangang Sword Art; you may carry it on your back for ease of use.

As for me, a single sword is enough. " The scholar named Ding Shan stepped forward, slung the case onto his back, and bowed to Daoist Lingyun. Then he shouted, activating the Tiangang Sword Art, and wooden swords flew one after another from the case. The Tiangang Sword Art was required of scholars everywhere; Shen Mu had already seen it on the tower ship flying to the capital.

The first time he saw it, he had been shaken, marveling that the warriors of Jingping were all extraordinary, that any warrior at all could display such exquisite swordsmanship. But after seeing that nearly every scholar cultivated the Tiangang Sword Art, his thought became that he could beat ten such scholars with one hand.

Ding Shan unleashed the Tiangang Sword Art, thirty-six wooden swords whirling up and down with no small power, yet the moment he began the technique, Shen Mu knew he could not withstand three moves from Daoist Lingyun, could not withstand even one. A sharp hiss. Daoist Lingyun drove his flying sword with qi and thrust; the wooden sword, viciously cunning, pierced through the thirty-six swords like lightning and struck Ding Shan's chest, sending the youth flying backward to crash to the ground with a thud, where he lay for a long while without rising.

"His cultivation is not weak," Daoist Lingyun said with a nod and a smile.

The other scholars felt a chill. Daoist Lingyun's swordsmanship had entered the realm of transformation; the so-called transcendent meant transformation, to transform into a realm, a world of its own. At such a realm, one was no longer bound by swordsmanship; every casual gesture became swordsmanship.

More terrifying still, though Daoist Lingyun had sealed his other divine treasuries and retained only the Spirit Embryo and the Five Luminaries, his cultivation was still incomparably deep, far above Ding Shan's.

This was too terrifying. Could anyone truly withstand his three moves?

Daoist Lingyun's eyes flickered.

"Ding Shan, leave the sword case; you may descend the mountain. Next scholar, Shen Yu.

" "Shen Yu?

" Shen Mu started, looking at the youth stepping out of the line. The youth was strikingly handsome, elegant in bearing, with an air neither servile nor overbearing; his face gave Shen Mu a sense of familiarity.

"He looks somewhat like Shen Feiyue, the Little General Shen," Shen Mu thought.

Shen Yu stepped forward, shouldered the sword case, and bowed. Daoist Lingyun smiled.

"You may be of the Shen family, and the Shen family holds great power and influence in court and countryside alike, but in this grand examination I will not hold back.

Display your strongest skill, or you will meet the same fate as Ding Shan.

" Shen Yu assented. He reached back and drew a sword, one wooden sword in his hand, while thirty-five more flew out, not forming the Tiangang Sword Formation but instead swimming like roaming dragons, exceedingly nimble. This swordsmanship, however, was not the kind taught by the primary schools and grand academies.

Daoist Lingyun himself had never seen such swordsmanship. Each wooden sword seemed like a roaming dragon, and together they formed a great dragon, gathering the strength of thirty-five wooden swords, its power extraordinary. Shen Yu shouted; his yuanqi erupted.

The White Tiger yuanqi suddenly surged with tremendous vigor, invading the wooden swords until they took on a golden hue, as though they were golden swords. Now these thirty-six wooden swords, sturdier than metal, attacked Daoist Lingyun under his command. Daoist Lingyun voiced his praise, thinking, "This is not the Shen family's swordsmanship; he must have had some other fortuitous encounter and comprehended a roaming-dragon form of swordsmanship.

Even if the Shen family had not sent word asking me to look after Shen Yu, he would be qualified to become a Grand Scholar of the Grand Academy. " Shen Yu walked the path of combining the combat-technique school and the divine-power school; his swordsmanship was like a roaming dragon, exceedingly sharp and formidable.

The thirty-five wooden swords whirled and swam like thirty-five small dragons, and from time to time two swords merged, or three, as though several small dragons had combined into a great dragon, doubling their power.

The wooden sword in his hand was even more ferocious and domineering; in his grasp it was like an extra length of arm, striking wherever he pointed, viciously cunning, a formidable combat technique. Beside them, Shen Mu's heart skipped. "This Shen Yu has seen a true dragon!

Yes, Shen Feiyue pulled the son of the Dragon Emperor of the Surging River from the Wasteland, that dark dragon whelp sealed in dark ice, and brought him back to Jingping! Shen Yu's swordsmanship must have been comprehended from that dark dragon whelp. Could it be that the whelp was revived? " Besides the dark dragon whelp whose heart had been pierced, sealed within the dark ice was also the Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince, Pei Wujiu.

Shen Mu could not help feeling uneasy; since the dark dragon whelp had been rescued, Pei Wujiu would naturally be rescued as well. As a Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince of the first rank, Pei Wujiu's strength was extraordinary.