"OK, let me try!" Wu Qinxin, Shangguan Han, and the others all felt strange about Meng Qi's answer. Generally speaking, Meng Qi should modestly say that he was pleased to have a chance to learn from the challenger, but his reply sounded like he was ready to accept a dinner invitation.
They did not feel strange, however, about the invitation made by Luo Qiusheng to Meng Qi. Everyone knew that the Mount Qin Sword Sect had appointed their three disciples to demonstrate their sword skills against the other sects. It was normal for everyone at present to be chosen by one of the three. On the contrary, these at present would feel rather regretful for they did not have the opportunity to learn from one of the three coming from the Mount Qin Sword Sect, famed for belonging to "Three Mountains and Four Waters". Hence, it was not shameful to lose in such a competition.
Huang Yun was a little shocked about Meng Qi's reply at first, but he immediately changed his tune for different places had different customs. Judging from his accent, Meng Qi was not a native.
Ning Jidao and Zhang Zhifan paid most of their attention to Hua Tiange and the Outsky Strange Stone in front of him, so they did not much care about comparing notes on Martial Arts.
After falling into a trance for a second, Luo Qiusheng restrained his expression, put his sword downwards, posed one of his sword gestures, and said, "This Childe, let's begin our martial arts competition."
With a jingle sound, Meng Qi pulled out his glittering Ice Palace Sword, which made people nearby feel a chill, and leisurely said, "OK, let's begin."
His casual and inadvertent sword art made the bystanders frown for his sword art was too loose and unchangeable to be recognized as sword skills.
Shocked to see the Ice Palace Sword, Huang Yun immediately told Luo Qiusheng through the Secret Voice-sending, "Be careful! He has the Refined Weapon. I'm afraid he is not as delicate as we think."
Although the Refined Weapons were not as rare as the Precious Weapons, and they were the main trend for Jianghu men, they were not very common. Like their Mount Qin Sword Sect, only the leader, the Elders and a few core disciples like himself owned the Refined Weapons. The others used Hundred-time Tempered swords or the ones costing a fortune, thousands of taels of silver.
The young man, looking frail but wearing such a Refined Weapon, must be by no means ordinary.
Of course, he was not too alert. He was very confident in his junior brother, Luo Qiusheng. Since their Heads refined "Flying Cloud Sword Art", "Shadow Reflection Sword Art", and "Finger-winding Sword Art", their Mount Qin Sword Sect's Kung Fu was much more powerful than before. Moreover, his junior brother had completely grasped the "Shadow Reflection Sword Art". If the adversary was just a so-so veteran, his junior brother would defeat him in a second.
Meng Qi's next act made him deeply frown because his sword art was simple and weak but a little strange.
At the beginning, Wu Qinxin and Shangguan Han were thinking highly of Meng Qi when he pulled out his Refined Weapon, but seeing his childish sword move, they were confused.
After receiving his senior brother's warning, Luo Qiusheng felt quite different when he was faced with Meng Qi's sword move. The sword casually and crookedly moved towards him. The method seemed flawed. He was about to answer it when it changed so quickly that he had to alter his sword's direction.
He constantly changed his intention to use the prepared moves, leaving cold sweat running down his forehead. When Meng Qi's sword approached him, he did not make a final decision.
Huang Yun and others were totally astounded because they had no idea that Luo Qiusheng stood still without a response to Meng Qi's random moves.
"Hoop!" Huang Yun lightly coughed, suddenly awakening Luo Qiusheng from his nightmares. Watching the sword nearly hit him, he decided to pay no attention to the opponent's strange moves and used his own tricks for an active attack.
Turning his sword in a circle, Luo Qiusheng attempted to ward off Meng Qi's sword and was about to attack Meng Qi.
The momentum of his sword turned into a flashing circle, which was truly beautiful with multiple changes so that Wu Qinxin, Shangguan Han, and even Hua Tiange and the others could not help but secretly praise the Shadow Reflection Sword Art.
What Luo Qiusheng learned was the "Shadow Reflection Sword Art" refined by Ning Jidao and his team from the Outsky Strange Stone. His body was as nimble as a fleeting bird, and his sword momentum was wonderful and changeful. After he had constantly defeated many veterans of the Three Mountains and Four Waters, his fame grew. Now he was devoting every effort to fight with Meng Qi, leaving others' eyes wide open.
Meng Qi reached his sword out along the momentum of Luo Qiusheng's, and then completely contrary to common sense, he suddenly pushed his sword forward to slash Luo Qiusheng.
This move was exactly at the critical moment when the old momentum of Luo Qiusheng's sword had disappeared and his counterattack did not rise. His sword flashing circle immediately vanished. Luo Qiusheng hastily drew his sword back to defend.
Meng Qi waved his sword and directly pointed at Luo Qiusheng's wrist forcing him to step back and change his move once more.
As his moves changed, Meng Qi somehow strangely handed out his sword and directly rushed to his flaws in the side.
Seeing this, Luo Qiusheng could only resort to the defensive unique skill of the "Shadow Reflection Sword Art". He wanted to draw a circle around himself and protect his flaws.
When he just zoned half, the sword Meng Qi had handed out moved up at random and parked there where Luo Qiusheng seemed to initiatively send his wrist to Meng Qi's sword tip.
Clang!
Meng Qi turned his sword and slapped it on Luo Qiusheng's wrist knocking his sword out of his hand.
Clang! The sound of his sword falling on the ground struck the bystanders' hearts, awakening them from their illusion. As a young master of the sword art, Luo Qiusheng, with the title of Swan-rousing Sword, should be defeated, and somehow strangely so.
He was an expert in "Shadow Reflection Sword Art" with a nimble body and wonderful sword momentum, wasn't he? What he had just displayed looked like an old hen rushing around. Worse still, he could not even allow Meng Qi to make a defensive move.
As they despised Luo Qiusheng, they were surprised at Meng Qi for his sword art did not look skillful but childish and very casual. He not only waved his sword in random directions but also seemed not to care about any sword formula. Meng Qi's moves could not even match a name of sword form.
It was his few "clumsy" moves that instantly defeated "Swan-rousing Sword", Luo Qiusheng, to the ground.
What on earth was this sword art?
They did not believe Meng Qi was so lucky that he could defeat an expert at such a high level by chance. Such a sword form could hardly convince them for it completely violated their understanding of sword art.
Huang Yun put a dignified expression on his face, chewing on their fighting process. He found Meng Qi's every move was directly aimed at his junior brother's flaws. Besides, he could either forestall further attacks or strike where his junior brother was unprepared.
"Has he known so deeply about the "Shadow Reflection Sword Art?" Huang Yun secretly thought. He knew that Luo Qiusheng was rather dull about the use of sword moves, so when he met such an opponent, he was bound to get a sad end.
Ning Jidao and Zhang Zhifan both shifted their eyes over. They just wanted to watch their superb performance, only to be told, "Game was over". Moreover, Luo Qiusheng, who was thought highly of, lost the game without any reason.
Luo Qiusheng was quite depressed. He wondered why he had to change his move before he answered the opponent's, and he was so passive that during the short fighting time, he was exhausted to save his neck.
"Thanks for letting me win." Meng Qi inverted his sword and smilingly made a deep bow to Luo Qiusheng.
Since he had learned the basic knowledge of the Nine Strategies Beyond the Swords, he realized "one understanding led to one hundred clarities", and his sword art quickly improved. He not only completely took in the gist of Heng Qu Swordsmanship and Fast Sword of Zhao Family, but he transformed what he learned into his own skills. What he just applied to the competition was the first time he displayed his own sword art, which proved his achievement.
Since during the Enlightenment Period, the move changes played a very important role in strength. Meng Qi thought that he perhaps could challenge those experts at a superior level through his own sword art. He had to depend on the Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship when he met the enemy who gained the impartation of the Gist of Trueness because Nine Strategies Beyond the Swords did not include the Will-breaking Move and the moves to break Dharma and Logos of the heaven and earth. Of course, if he could grasp all the sword arts, theories, and principles, it was possible for him to rely solely on his own sword strategies.
"Your strength is much more powerful than mine, and I feel inferior compared to you." Luo Qiusheng sulkily picked up his sword, getting close to Huang Yun.
It was quiet in the hall. Hua Tiange and the others did not expect such an outcome. Due to the unexpected result and the strange process, they felt it difficult to judge the level of their strength.
Huang Yun looked at Meng Qi standing in the middle of the hall, pondered for a moment, and said, "Junior Brother Tao, will you please spar with Meng Qi?"
Junior Brother Tao's Finger-winding Sword Art was very weird, and Meng Qi could not have seen it, let alone find out its flaws.
Tao Kang understood what his senior brother meant. He took off his soft sword from his waist, which looked like a long snake, and came to Meng Qi, saying, "Let's have a spar, will you?"
"Aye," answered Meng Qi in a debonair voice.
Tao Kang learned the lessons of Luo Qiusheng. He did not let Meng Qi attack him first but suddenly thrust the sword toward Meng Qi's face. He drove it halfway, unexpectedly bent it, and urgently pushed it to Meng Qi's left shoulder.
"Ah!" Wu Qinxin exclaimed with her hand covering her mouth. For Meng Qi was her guest, she subconsciously stood on his side.
Meng Qi did not draw out his sword and took a step back to avoid Tao Kang's sword.
Tao Kang took advantage of his first attack and unfolded his soft sword. His sword form was quite different from that of the normal — weird and unpredictable.
Meng Qi stepped back again with a smile on his face. He suddenly stuck out his sword and stabbed Tao Kang's soft sword at exactly the three feet and three inches point.
Tao Kang's soft sword suddenly looked like a snake struck at the fatal seven-inch point with its head painfully drooping. The momentum of his sword disappeared, and everything turned calm.
"How could this be?" Tao Kang stunned on the spot, looked unbelievably at Meng Qi. He wondered why his "Finger-winding Sword Art" could not bear Meng Qi's only one common, simple move.
Was it this sword form that broke the Finger-winding Sword Art refined from the Outsky Strange Stone?
Wu Qinxin, Shangguan Han, and the others were stupefied too. They never expected a fierce struggle between two evenly-matched opponents finished in the blink of an eye.
If Meng Qi had performed some exquisite sword form to defeat Tao Kang, they could have accepted the fact more or less. At most, they thought Tao Kang had mistaken this pro for a Jianghu idler. Though his sword art was not worthy of any praise, he had won out.
Smoothing his beard with his hand, Hua Tiange exclaimed that he had never seen or heard such sword art.
Huang Yun stepped forward with his hand on his sword scabbard. He thought that he was having a simulative demonstration with Tao Kang. He wondered if he could break the Finger-winding Sword Art with only one move. To his disappointment, if he wanted to make it, he had to choose the right time, moderate speed, and a fine-tuned attack angle, but he did not have this skill.
Ning Jidao was absentminded because he could not believe that the Finger-winding Sword Art refined from Outsky Strange Stone on his own was so unbearable that only one move from such a common sword art could break it.
Meng Qi was in high spirits. Looking at Huang Yun, he was about to challenge him to test this "Flying Cloud Sword" strength.
At this moment, "Burning Sun Super Palm" Zhang Zhifan said with some hesitation,
"Truth-seeking Sword Scripts? Do you come from the Wangs in River East? I met senior brother Wang Siyuan on one occasion."