"You are the one." "I didn't do so many things." Xi Heng shook his head and retorted, then took the invitation and read it silently. "Please ask Xi Heng from the Red Line Sword Academy to attend. Qingsong Sword General will avenge his sword attack in the martial arts competition... It's written very straightforwardly." "Do you want to participate?" Hong Miao asked. "Of course." Xi Heng had never seen the so-called martial arts conference, and he also wanted to see the sword techniques of other sects and exercise his actual combat experience. "Why? Just now everyone said that we should be prudent and protect ourselves, right?" Hong Miao said in a natural tone. "The Sword Academy sect must protect itself, but I personally don't have to do that." Xi Heng replied: "Learning martial arts is not for escaping. When you encounter trouble, you should face it... And if someone sends you a letter of challenge, if your first thought is to refuse, you will only develop a cowardly heart in the future, right?" Never be timid when facing an enemy, this is also one of the meanings of the Red Line Sword. Hong Miao was convinced by this reason: "Then I'll give this letter to you. If you want to go, go. If you don't want to, you can stay in the courtyard." "Yes." Xi Heng read the letter again and accepted it.
There were still more than ten days before the martial arts conference started. Xi Heng accepted the invitation and continued to practice martial arts in the courtyard to hone his energy. Although the invitation stated that the martial arts competition would not cause loss of life and that the purpose was to make friends through martial arts, swords, fists and feet have no eyes and it was inevitable that someone would get hurt. If someone is bound to lose his life, Xi Heng hopes that it is his sword that takes the life. For more than ten days, she often fought sword fights with other sisters and junior sisters to hone her skills. The practice of circulating Qi and blood in the body was put on hold for a few days because of this incident. After all, in a short period of time, practicing sword moves can improve strength better than practicing Qi and blood. During this period, she no longer continued to practice new moves, but instead integrated the moves she was already familiar with. Step forward and raise the sword, stab it towards the throat. Block it when it meets the sword, and then move forward after blocking it. Turn the wrist to cut and wipe, spin around and chop, and then follow up with various horizontal cutting moves. After countless times of practicing sword skills, Xi Heng has trained the first two levels of the Red Line Sword into instinct. According to the common name in martial arts, this state is "Kung Fu practiced to the extreme", and during a fight, one can use many moves spontaneously and without any worldly experience. On the last day before the martial arts competition, Senior Sister Hong Miao took time out to come and give guidance. When confronting the senior sister in the sword-fighting arena, Xi Heng couldn't help but feel a little nervous even though she knew that the other party would not hurt her. When he met the senior sister in the previous life, the three-strike sword move that she practiced in an instant was still deeply imprinted in Xi Heng's memory. And now, even though he has mastered the first two levels of the Red Line Sword Technique, Xi Heng still has no idea how to deal with that three-hit-in-an-instant move. As the two men held swords facing each other, Xi Heng's fingers couldn't help but tremble slightly. "Don't be nervous." Senior Sister Hong Miao saw it clearly and comforted her, "Just like when you practice with other senior sisters and junior sisters, just keep a calm mind." "Even if you say so..." Xi Heng was helpless. In her eyes, the senior sister was like a mountain. Looking at her, she could not help but feel that it was so high and difficult to climb over. Xi Heng took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, holding the sword in a stance and gradually approaching.
She raised her sword and stepped forward, aiming at the opponent's throat, but was easily brushed aside by the senior sister's sword. Xi Heng swung the sword again, the sword light flowed, and he slashed towards Hong Miao's chest in mid-air. Hong Miao just took half a step back and easily dodged the sword. The movements are simple and natural, and the confidence is overwhelming. Immediately afterwards, Hong Miao turned her wrist and suddenly raised the sword. The surging sword wind generated by the action made Xi Heng subconsciously take a few steps back. The girl's long gray-black hair was blown away by the sword wind, and a wooden hairpin fell to the ground. "Yes, you have made great progress in the past six months." After a few moves, Hong Miao nodded. "But I still have no power to resist against my senior sister." Xi Heng said helplessly. "When you reach the level of dark energy, maybe you will be stronger than me." The other party simply consoled him, swung a sword flower, and walked slowly towards Xi Heng. Xi Heng took a half step back and swallowed his saliva. After half a second, he made up his mind and prepared to meet the active attack from his senior sister. Hong Miao suddenly stepped on the ground with a crisp sound, and the white and red figure appeared in front of Xi Heng in a flash. Seeing the green sword dancing in front of her, Xi Heng hurriedly raised her sword to block it. However, the sword in front of her turned in an instant for some unknown reason, and before she could react, it was already pointing to a flaw that she could not defend against. The girl froze. The tip of the senior sister's sword was already pointing at her waist and abdomen. If it moved a little further, she would draw blood. "When facing an enemy attack, you should not only look at the opponent's weapon, but also see what movements the wrist and arm joints are making and where they are, so as to distinguish whether it is a real move or a fake one." Hong Miao put away the sword and said. "I know that too..." Xi Heng pouted, "It's just that Senior Sister was too fast, so I couldn't see it." "Then come again." Hong Miao turned her wrist, and the sword blade danced in front of her body, suddenly stabbing at Xi Heng's neck. Xi Heng carefully raised his sword and swung it diagonally to block the attack, but he never expected that the opponent would be able to block it along the sword, turn around and attack from another direction. Her body froze again, and her senior sister's sword fell beside her neck. If it was just a dozen centimeters further forward, his head might have fallen off. "Also, you should not only watch the enemy's upper body, but also pay attention to his footsteps. Keep going!" Hong Miao seemed to be in high spirits. Before Xi Heng could react, she slashed down with the sword from top to bottom. Clang—— Xi Heng raised her hand to block it, but Senior Sister Hong Miao quickly leaned over and hit her in the chest with her right elbow. The girl groaned and took two steps back. "Even if your weapon is blocked, the enemy can still step closer and attack with fists and feet, which can sometimes be more dangerous than weapons. Remember this," Hong Miao said. Xi Heng has been practicing sword skills for so long, it's impossible that he doesn't even know the basics of sword fighting. She rubbed her flat chest and complained a little. "You are too fast..."
"You are too slow." Hong Miao shook her head: "You must use your eyesight to anticipate the enemy's moves. You must be able to understand the flaws in the enemy's moves before they are used, so that you can strike first and take advantage of the opportunity to win with one move." "It's too difficult to pay attention to so much in one instant." "This requires more effort and practice. This is what martial arts are all about." Hong Miao made another beautiful sword flower and then attacked her again. Throughout the day, Xi Heng and Senior Sister Hong Miao fought countless moves. At the beginning, he couldn't even block one move, but gradually he could block three or two moves, and in the end, he could block five moves at once. After practicing from morning till sunset, when Senior Sister Hong Miao finally said the word "end", Xi Heng, exhausted all over, breathed a sigh of relief. The extremely thrilling sword duel not only made her body sore and tired, but also made her head buzzing from the constant startling and constant thinking and concentration. Xi Heng now just wanted to go to his bed and have a good sleep as soon as possible to recover from his mental and physical fatigue. …… The next morning, Xi Heng put on his clothes, tidied up his appearance for the day in front of the dressing table, and then left the Sword Academy with Senior Sister Hong Miao. She originally wanted to go to the martial arts competition venue alone today, but the senior sister said she also wanted to see the excitement, so she followed her. The martial arts competition is held in the central city, not far from the Red Line Sword Academy, just a brisk walk of more than ten minutes. A quarter of an hour later, they arrived at the edge of the venue. Since Jinshi City had never held such a martial arts competition before, the venue was rented from the city's stage. The original stage was converted into a circular fighting arena, and many sandbags were placed underneath to make it more stable. Then a simple pattern of the two yin and yang and eight trigrams was drawn, and some flags representing various martial arts schools were also tied around it. With gusts of wind and all kinds of flags fluttering in the wind, it really looks like a martial arts conference at first glance. Several disciples of the Jinshazhang martial arts school stood in front of the venue, entertaining the audience who were lined up in several rows and there were hundreds of them at a glance. Xi Heng walked straight to the door and announced that she was a disciple of the Red Line Sword Academy, and someone led her inside. Only a few people were seated in the auditorium, and many more were still entering. Xi Heng was brought to the preparation seat. Ming Jin warriors from other large and small martial arts halls who were qualified to participate in the martial arts competition were also here, listening to the organizer in front of them explaining the rules. On the way, she looked around and found that most of these people were strangers, with only a few familiar faces. Representatives or owners of various martial arts schools sat in seats in front of the arena, with tea emitting white smoke placed in front of them. She saw Zhang Luoyi. This person was standing on a high platform overlooking the entire martial arts conference, looking down and gazing at the entire venue. When Xi Heng looked up at the other person, the other person also noticed his gaze, turned around and looked at him, and their eyes met. After a moment's silence, the man actually waved at her. Xi Heng felt a little uneasy. She vaguely felt that this martial arts competition would not proceed peacefully.
.............................. Chapter 24: Many Mistakes Jinshi City, Martial Arts Conference. The audience entered and took their seats, and a warrior with a loud voice announced the start of the martial arts competition. Xi Heng had already seen the order of today's competition while waiting. The person she is fighting against today is a disciple from a small martial arts school called Du Ma Dao. Tomorrow will be her official battle against the disciples of Qingsong Sword School. Gradually, the first battle of the martial arts tournament began. Xi Heng and Senior Sister Hong Miao sat together at the preparation table at the back, watching the fight on the field, while also looking at the entire martial arts meeting. As the competition continued, Senior Sister Hong Miao looked around and said softly, "Sure enough...something is wrong with the competition." "What do you mean, Senior Sister?" Xi Heng asked. "It shouldn't be so peaceful. This martial arts competition is the most important event for all the martial arts halls in the city. But today, there was no chaos until the opening. It shouldn't be so peaceful." Hong Miao said in surprise. "According to what senior sister said, being stable is not right, and being unstable is even more wrong." Xi Heng complained. "This shouldn't be right. Most people in the martial arts hall have resentment in their hearts, but now people's resentment seems to have disappeared all of a sudden." Hong Miao said, and her eyes suddenly stopped at one place while looking around. She said softly: "Also, there seem to be people from Dong Huangmei Mountain here. Nothing good will ever happen to any place they go." Xi Heng knew this a long time ago. She hesitated for a moment, then said to her senior sister: "Speaking of which, Senior Sister, do you know Jinghong Sect?" "Why are you suddenly saying this? That's a major righteous sect, everyone in the martial arts world knows about it." Hong Miao responded. "The leader of the Jinghong Sect stationed in Jinshi City, the woman named Zhang Luoyi, is also a warrior from the Huangmei Mountain." Xi Heng told the information he knew in his previous life. I didn't say anything after being kicked out because Xi Heng had already solved the problem with force, so I didn't say much. When I saw this person again this time, I began to recall. Senior Sister Hong Miao asked in confusion, "How did you know?" "I knew it from the beginning." Xi Heng yawned, unwilling to say more. “That’s troublesome.” The senior sister also raised her head and instantly found Zhang Luoyi’s figure: “She was involved in the previous challenge, and she also participated in today’s martial arts meeting. There are also many Huangmei Mountain warriors around... They have set their sights on the martial arts hall in Jinshi City. I don’t know what they want to do.” "Isn't Huangmeishan a large organization where warriors gather to resist the imperial court? They are targeting warriors and they must want to recruit them into the organization." Xi Heng made the most easily conceivable guess. "It's not that easy..." Hong Miao shook her head slightly: "The larger martial arts schools are all tied to the big families in the city, and the big families are restricted by the government. Huang Meishan can't just take out the martial artists and take them away." "What is that for?"
"I don't know, and I don't need to know." Hong Miao skipped the topic and said to Xi Heng directly: "I see that the moves used by the warriors in this martial arts competition are relatively conservative, and there are no killer moves. If you don't want to stay here for a long time, just lose the first game deliberately and then admit defeat and leave... Then it doesn't matter what Huang Meishan wants to do in this martial arts competition." "No, I've been practicing hard for more than ten days, I have to show off some of my skills." Xi Heng didn't want to let his efforts go to waste: "But Senior Sister, please go back to the Sword Academy to stabilize the situation." She wants to take responsibility for her own choices. Before asking, Hong Miao already knew that Xi Heng would give such an answer, so she said calmly, "There's no point in staying in the Sword Academy. It's better to stay here and watch the big show that might happen."
