“Do you know who you are going up against?”
The man asked when Wu Long did not reply to his previous words. There was slight surprise when he did not notice any reaction to his cultivation base and pressure.
“Not really, do you care to enlighten me?”
“Hmph! Dream on! It’s not my fault you are meddling in affairs you have no idea about”
As Wu Long chuckled the man showed displeasure at his words not being taken seriously, as well as disdain for the carelessness of jumping above one’s means.
“I am joking, you wouldn’t be able to enlighten me anyway, since you don’t know who you are working for”
With these words, the man’s eyebrow twitched.
“It doesn’t change the fact that they are not someone you can mess with”
“Maybe”
As they looked at each other there was palpable tension in the air. The surroundings seemed to be charged with static electricity, and light sparks began to fly between Wu Long and the unremarkable-looking man.
The other ten widened their eyes as they did not expect Wu Long to be someone who could make their leader so serious.
“I know you can take these ten, but don’t overdo it. Take your time and play it safe”
Wu Long said to Shen Min while still looking at the man in front of him, as this time he did not have the leisure to get rid of them. The man in front of him was near the limit of what he could currently handle, which greatly surprised Wu Long as it seemed that the waters ran pretty deep in this seemingly feeble and undeveloped world. ．
He previously assumed that the only opponents he had were a handful of major powers that survived the ‘great calamity’, but now he had to reevaluate that assumption. It did not look like the man belonged to any of those powers but he exerted a pressure that was on par with cultivators of his level outside in the Seven Boundless Worlds.
Shen Min nodded as she also noticed the seriousness of the situation, and did not want to put him at risk by being reckless in her fight and thus distracting him.
The man only humphed again at these words that seemed that Wu Long planned to take him on. He knew that Wu Long slayed his colleague not long ago also in the Foundation Building Realm, but they were vastly different so he was not that worried.
What surprised him was that Wu Long was definitely in the Qi Condensation Realm. He assumed that he hid his cultivation with how he slayed people in the Revolving Qi Realm as flies, and reports were simply reports, they could not be fully trusted. But now that he saw him with his own eyes there was a curiousity in his eyes. And greed. Whatever secrets Wu Long had to be so strong in this cultivation realm, they were priceless.
The tension grew heavier as beads of sweat started to appear on the ten people who surrounded them. And once one of those drops fell to the ground, the minute it touched the stone tiles, Wu Long’s and the man’s figures blurred and they disappeared from their spots.
Hundreds of sharp metal-hitting-metal sounds filled the surroundings almost simultaneously, fusing into one ear-piercing noise, as sparks were like a firework in the place in between where Wu Long and the man stood previously, as they now could be seen exchanging more strikes in the distance, on the roof of the wall surrounding the besieged side palace.
There was a saber in the man’s hand while Wu Long held a sword. But to the astonishment of the ten people around Shen Min, the one pushed was their leader, as the side palace was behind him, and he was still retreating while Wu Long relentlessly pursued. There was visible agitation on the unremarkable-looking man’s face as he was struggling to keep up his defense.
Wu Long’s eyes were also serious as his sword danced in profound arcs and movements. Sword Qi and Saber Qi were swirling and slashing all around as the wall they passed on was continuously destroyed behind them. The rubble looked strange as the surface was broken in two separate patterns. One was a rough cut that seemed to rely more on power, and the other was a clean and smooth cut.
“Heaven Transcending Lotus, first form, Annihilation”
Finally, Wu Long forced the man’s pace to slightly falter by manipulating the man’s posture with defense moves to Wu Long’s precisely angled attacks. With a momentary lag in the man’s movements, a resplendent lotus bloomed around him.
“Brilliant Saber Rush Art!”
The man’s saber was covered with a thick layer of Saber Qi and then it split into hundreds of swirling Saber Qi blades and the man’s figure blurred as he appeared a few meters away. His eyes widened at the lotus since the blades could only hold it back for a few moments before being shattered and disintegrated into nothingness. He felt cold sweat cover his back, he then turned his gaze to Wu Long.
“You really do know how to surprise people. Who would have known that there was someone like you here”
The man finally said as he exhaled and readjusted himself.
“I am surprised as well. Who would have thought I would find a fun opponent here”
Wu Long smiled and a shiver went through the man, as that smile on that handsome face somehow made an eerie feeling crawl up his spine.
Wu Long’s foot stepped forward as his figure turned and he made a round slash, sparks went into the air as two figures appeared from behind where he just stood. These two were also in the Foundation Building Realm and were at the prowess of the bamboo hat man Wu Long met outside the capital. Most likely they were reluctant to expose themselves as they wore clothes of the king’s attendants, but as soon as they noticed the unremarkable-looking man struggling they had no choice but to join the fray.
The man did not waste this opportunity and went on the offensive. But as his saber images were spreading out of his saber, the sword in Wu Long’s hands glowed with Sword Qi and a sharp Sword Intent shattered the man’s blades with the Sword Qi.
The men in attendant clothes also attacked to not give Wu Long the opportunity to press his advantage. They now entered a stalemate as they were only able to somehow not give Wu Long the opportunity to push the unremarkable-looking man while he shielded the two attendants. The moment Wu Long would try to deal damage to the attendants he would expose an opening to the unremarkable-looking man. And the moment Wu Long would take advantage over the man the attendants would come in with a strike from different angles.
Their cooperation was able to keep him at bay only since the man was near Wu Long’s match with superior speed and power and inferior technique and battle sense, and the two did not push their luck, only attacking at the critical moment to give the man the opportunity to strike back and retreated right afterward.
After some time of no progress, one of the attendants saw a large opening as Wu Long was fighting the unremarkable-looking man.
“Myriad Swords Art, first form, Initiation!”
“DON’T…!!!”
He immediately made a slash as the unremarkable-looking man was pushed back right at that moment and screamed. Thirty-two sword blade images appeared in an arc above and slightly behind the attendant like a big halo. It then swerved to follow the man’s sword.
“Hmm~ interesting, let’s see who’s better, shall we?”
Wu Long’s eyes first flashed with a slight surprise when he saw the technique the attendant used, but then a smirk appeared on his lips.
“Myriad Swords Art, tenth form, Tenth Iteration”
Ten arcs of sword blades appeared similarly behind him in succession one slightly behind and wider than another so it looked like a big circle was spreading behind Wu Long. The first arc had 32 swords and looked exactly like the one behind the attendant. Each consecutive arc had twice the number of the previous one so the total number of sword blade images behind Wu Long was now 32736.
“Run!”
The unremarkable-looking man was the only one who had the time to react by shouting but could not do anything as he was pushed far back just at the moment before. The sword images behind Wu Long swerved following his sword but each arc in their own trajectory and swallowed the attendant along with his thirty-two sword images.
The other attendant also was grazed by the edges of the outermost arc and several long and deep gashes appeared on his shoulder and chest, as his arm with which he held the sword to try and block disappeared into the sea of swords.
As the images dissipated his opponents could now see Wu Long looking at the bloody mess that was left of the attendant with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Hmm, it seems I am better”