Today, Wu Yu was only here to practice his sword. He knew where his own limits lay, and so he had chosen this number.
Fortuitously, this number surpassed what many could endure, and yet was not overly exaggerated.
After he passed this trial, he would prepare for the later push. At least he would shut a few naysayers up.
He believed that Shushan was fair.
Geniuses would always be nurtured. Those like Zhang Futu were in the minority.
Therefore, he decided to try his hardest to dominate the Common Sword Domain!
At this moment, in the eye of the human vortex, he bore the brunt of suspicion, of speculation, and of pressure.
"100? He must be mad! Last time, he barely beat Li Canghai. How can he hope to compare with number 100?"
"He must have lost his mind. In order to get the Galaxy Sword Sage to acknowledge him, he made such a mad decision. Lamentable."
"If I were him, I would take this one step at a time and show off my abilities as best as I can. Why challenge the impossible?"
Someone else said, "This Wu Yu is a brave one indeed. Without any hesitation. he jumped from 9.000 plus to 100. A feat that others would take nine fights to accomplish - even Shen Xingyu did not expect him to make such a bold choice."
Truly, when Wu Yu had said “100,” Shen Xingyu could not believe her own ears. She had said it on a whim, and had expected Wu Yu to test his strength at around 7,000 or so. But he had actually made this decision.
"Sister didn't hear wrongly, did she, Wu Yu?" Shen Xingyu asked with mock sternness.
Before everyone, Wu Yu smiled slightly. "Don't worry, Sister Shen. I am prepared. Even if I lose, I won't be embarrassing anybody."
His manner was firm and decisive, and not at all reminiscent of a hot-headed impulse. Shen Xingyu mused that Wu Yu would not have caught her big brother's attention if he had just kept to the expected order.
"Done. Whoever is rank 100 on the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals, come on down!" Shen Xingyu cried, then she led Wu Yu onto the battlefield.
"It's going to be a good one. Halt the other ongoing battles for now." From above, an elderly voice called out. It was probably another Earth sword rank disciple who was hosting.
Hearing this command, the battling disciples were forced to halt.
But they were not resentful. In truth, they too wanted to watch and see what this Wu Yu was capable of. If he could truly fight that much better than them.
As Wu Yu rose into the air on his sword, the air around the cloud layer of the Mountain of Swords and Immortals rippled. A burly, broad-shouldered figure descended from above, moving towards Wu Yu.
The person's arrival was announced by his power. He was like a meteorite crashing down before Wu Yu's eyes.
Wu Yu looked over to see a tall man of about eight feet tall - whereas ordinary people were roughly five to six feet tall. Although Wu Yu himself was considered tall, he only neared six feet.
This person was not only tall, but also solidly built. He stood like a black bear before Wu Yu, and his build was similar to Shen Erjun’s of the Scarlet Sea's Seven Ghosts. A strikingly noble figure who towered over Wu Yu like a mountain.
His countenance was not as savage and malicious as Shen Erjun’s, and this person was young. He was about Wu Yu's age, and his expression was distant. He had the arrogance very common to geniuses, and at this moment, he descended from above, looking at him as if Wu Yu was a madly hopping rabbit.
This barrel-chested man had a deep voice to match. He growled, "Wu Yu, a few brothers want me to beat you up, then the Galaxy Sword Sage won't pay attention to you anymore. Tell me: should I listen to them?!"
This was an opponent at the fourth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm. He was as solid as a rock and his aura was equally dense. His Jindan was at least deep gold, and his Jindan Condensation Wondrous Art was fairly good as well. Besides, in terms of his corporeal strength, he was one of the most elite beings that Wu Yu had met so far. In terms of physical strength, his fiendish brute force was close to Wu Yu's own.
"Tell me your name first. And then we can talk about other things." Wu Yu was not at all fazed by his domineering attitude and aura.
"You aren't worthy to know my name, nor are you worthy to be the disciple of the Galaxy Sword Sage. Prepare yourself. I will beat you back to your original shape, until you scuttle back to where you came from." His opponent had a casual arrogance. He folded his arms and sniggered. He did not take Wu Yu seriously at all.
"Situ Gongde, stop the verbal flexing. You're just like a fishmonger's wife." Shen Xingyu's remonstration caused him to shut up immediately.
At present, the entire Common Sword Domain was watching the two of them. Situ Gongde's fight all the way to rank 100 had not received such attention, and he was finding it hard to take this in his stride. The Galaxy Sword Sage was one whom he idolized. And this Wu Yu was one problem he could not wrap his head around.
However, as long as he dealt with Wu Yu, then all his worries would vanish. In fact, his reputation would rise, and he might even be noticed by even more powerful disciples of the four major sword ranks.
"I must defeat him immediately! Violently!"
Thinking thus, Situ Gongde's gaze went flat. From his Sumeru Pouch, he pulled out a huge bastard sword half a foot wide, and a full six feet long. This sword looked like it was carved from stone, an item of incomparable toughness. It was arrayed with quite a few immortal treasure spirit designs. Although Wu Yu did not understand immortal treasure spirit designs, he could guess that their purpose was to enhance the sword's weight and capacity for damage.
The sword must have weighed as much as a mountain.
That was not all. Situ Gongde's immortal root affected his entire body, causing his physical flesh to become resplendent. This was the Vajra Stone! The sparkling Vajra Stone winked and flashed blinding beams of light. As Situ Gongde moved, one could hear the sound of the air tearing apart! The strongman before his eyes had become the world's most shining boulder!
"Situ Gongde can go far on the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals because of his Claymore of the Deep Soil and that Core of Vajra Stone immortal root. The Claymore of the Deep Soil cost 300 merits! That Core of Vajra Stone is even more valuable. I hear that it was a gift from someone highly placed. Besides, this Situ Gongde has a splendid arsenal!"
"From the looks of this Situ Gongde's Core of Vajra Stone, ordinary spiritual immortal treasures cannot even scratch him. And Wu Yu's twin swords from last time seem like...."
As the person spoke, he suddenly clammed up. That was because Wu Yu pulled out a sword that was half black and half white. It was a godly spiritual immortal treasure. The moment Wu Yu revealed it, the Claymore of the Deep Soil's own glamor was overshadowed. Especially when Wu Yu split the Yin Yang Dao Sword into two and brandished the twin swords. At that moment, he seemed indestructible and ready to take on a god!
"Hmph!"
Situ Gongde only sniffed coldly and then, with a large bellow, raised his sword high with both hands. The light sparkling off his body covered even the Claymore of the Deep Soil, preventing Wu Yu from seeing his sword stance.
"Isle-Splitter Claymore Art! I guessed that Situ Gongde would use this. It's one of the strongest dao techniques, and was made by one of the seniors of Shushan. This dao technique was used to split a huge island in the West Sea in half! That's how it got the name ‘Isle-Splitter!’"
The crowd was familiar with Situ Gongde, and already knew his next move before he used it.
As expected, Situ Gongde's claymore came cleaving. On the huge sword, Wu Yu could see enough power to rend the earth. Some dao techniques looked simple, but their power was concentrated in a single instant. This sword indeed had the ability to split an island. If Wu Yu could dodge it, the mountain behind him would probably be cut down the middle.
"Victory will be determined instantly!"
"I haven't seen Situ Gongde in action for a while now. Who would have thought that he would actually reach this level after two years? I'm impressed."
This dao technique's deployment was met with gasps from the crowd. Many people even ran from behind Wu Yu.
In truth, in terms of absolute power level, Wu Yu could feel that this was manifold that of Li Canghai.
This sword was like a meteorite bearing down on him. It was as large as a palace hall, and was crushing down towards his head.
What should he do?
Wu Yu was very bold. He closed his eyes, using his hands and swords to feel the yin and yang energies in the air around him.
In truth, he had come here today to practice his sword, not to win. Everything was for the training of the sword; victory came second to it.
As the sword came down, all eyes were on him, and the pressure was overwhelming. This was the atmosphere that Wu Yu had waited two months for.
Many times, the deepest-felt experiences were those that came at the most harrowing of times.
All they saw was that - for the longest time - Wu Yu showed no signs of counterattack, nor any defensive posture. Many were stunned, unable to understand Wu Yu's suicidal course.
"Yin... Yang... Void..."
As the pressure came close to him, his own heart was beating furiously. Wu Yu seemed riveted by the Claymore of the Deep Soil, and he continued to go deeper into the world of sword dao.
Within his mind, all was sword will.
In that moment, he saw countless gazes staring at him, flickering with sword dao. He could see their eyes filled with cryptic messages. Finally, he grasped the essence of what he was looking for.
But it was a little late.
At this time, the crowd shouted in alarm, because Wu Yu had been hit.
But at the last instant, Wu Yu's body shimmered and shifted into a six-zhang-tall golden buddha, sitting cross-legged in the air. The Invincible Vajra Body's second tier's refining was wholly embodied by this golden buddha.
Hong!
The Isle-Splitter Claymore Art crashed into Wu Yu. With a deafening bang, the huge claymore was actually sent flying!
Even Situ Gongde had been sent flying.
And Wu Yu shimmered back to his human form, spraying blood as he flew. Even his pores were oozing blood.
Just before he left the arena, Wu Yu gritted his teeth and stabilized, preventing him from flying out.
On the other side, Situ Gongde was completely shocked. He calmed himself down and looked at Wu Yu. "You wretch! Trash! Scared silly by me? Don't know how to deal with me? Eat my sword?"
It was not just him. Everyone present was wondering if the Galaxy Sword Sage had not seen wrongly....