Martial Arrogance Dragon Soul-Chapter 389 - 371: Knocking on the Door to Challenge

Chapter 389: Chapter 371: Knocking on the Door to Challenge

The long-silent Alchemy Pavilion finally echoed with sounds once more.

The flames within the pill furnace flickered and arose, under the gradually descending night sky, they were so vivid and fierce.

Within the vast Wind-Fire Academy, all disciples were scattered in different places.

But at this moment, all the disciples’ gazes were invariably converging towards the Alchemy Pavilion.

The light of the fire there seemed to bring a different kind of warmth, bestowing life and hope upon the long-desolate Wind-Fire Academy.

In the back mountain, beside a series of graves, Luo Zeyi, who was drinking alone in the night wind, suddenly looked up. His gaze also cast towards the distant peak where the Alchemy Pavilion stood.

Involuntarily, his pupils shrank slightly.

The Alchemy Pavilion had actually ignited its furnace?

In a daze, he almost felt an illusion; as if the Wind-Fire Academy had returned to its heyday, when the furnace fire of the Alchemy Pavilion never died and the scent of medicine permeated the entire academy...

...

In the cave dwelling where Qin Qing was located,

Calling it a cave dwelling, but it was actually a standalone courtyard.

Qin Qing also witnessed this scene.

Having been at the Wind-Fire Academy for so long, it was also the first time Qin Qing had seen the flames of a pill furnace lit within the Alchemy Pavilion.

"This is just a beginning!"

Qin Qing withdrew his gaze, and standing by his side was none other than Zhu Jirong.

Zhu Jirong was very burly. Standing in the night, he appeared like a towering stone sculpture. His one eye was not clear in the darkness, but the other seemed to reflect the light from the Alchemy Pavilion, shining brightly.

Dimly, Qin Qing seemed to see water mist wafting out from the weathered corners of the eyes of this Martial Saint who had endured many hardships.

"Qin Qing!"

Zhu Jirong withdrew his gaze, seemingly realizing that he had lost his composure, and his expression involuntarily tensed up.

"Disciple is here!" Qin Qing replied.

"You did very well at the Jiuyun Mountain this time," Zhu Jirong said, and then his tone changed, "But do not be complacent. Those people you encountered are just the most ordinary disciples of the Tai’a Academy."

Qin Qing nodded gravely.

Indeed, that group of Tai’a Academy disciples was quite average. Even the strongest among them, the one in the Golden Core Sixth Realm, wasn’t that powerful.

"If you encounter the two strongest disciples of the Tai’a Academy, with your current strength, you have no hope of surviving!"

Zhu Jirong’s words made Qin Qing feel a chill in his heart.

In fact, Qin Qing did not understand much about the strength of the Tai’a Academy’s disciples.

At this time, Zhu Linglong also stepped in.

She had heard the entire conversation between Qin Qing and her father as she entered.

"The two strongest disciples of the Tai’a Academy are known as the ’Tai’a Twins’. Both are close to the Nascent Soul Realm in their cultivation. Besides these two, there are the ’Tai’a Ten Heroes’. Each of these ten individuals is in the Golden Core Late Stage, and as for their strengths..."

"Even a martial ancestor who has just entered the Nascent Soul Realm can hardly fight them!"

Qin Qing couldn’t help but nod silently.

Geniuses were just like this, able to fight across levels.

Moreover, a Martial Arts Holy Land like the Tai’a Academy, those who could stand out from the crowd were certainly the best of the best. Beating an average martial ancestor who had just entered the Nascent Soul Realm while being in the Golden Core Late Stage was indeed within reason.

"Therefore, the battle of Tianyong three months from now will be very difficult, very difficult!" Zhu Jirong spoke again.

"How about... we close the mountain for a year?" Zhu Linglong looked at her father: "Wait until the Mid-Autumn Festival next year, then have the Tianyong battle with the Tai’a Academy?"

Zhu Jirong smiled helplessly and shook his head: "How could a challenge be postponed? Moreover, the Tai’a Academy would never agree to this request. Either we give up directly, admitting defeat! This could indeed preserve lives and prevent new graves on the back mountain!"

"That is absolutely impossible!" Qin Qing declared, "We still have three months, don’t we? In three months, anything is possible!"

"Master!" Qin Qing looked at Zhu Jirong: "We will never give up until the very end. As you said when you brought me into the Wind-Fire Academy, lost dignity must be won back by oneself! Three months from now, I will not only win back the dignity belonging to me and the Wind-Fire Academy but also bring back the Wind-Fire Tower! It should belong here, belong to the Wind-Fire Academy!"

Zhu Jirong’s towering frame trembled slightly.

The Wind-Fire Tower...

That was the pain in his heart.

If Qin Qing could really bring back the Wind-Fire Tower, then perhaps everything belonging to the Wind-Fire Academy would eventually return, right?

"Yes!" Zhu Jirong nodded firmly, although he knew it was difficult and the hope was slim, but at least... there were still reasons to persist, weren’t there?

"Qin Qing, I will pass on to you my life’s understanding of swordsmanship from now on. How much you can learn depends on your perception!"

Zhu Jirong’s words made Qin Qing startled and then his eyes heated up.

He knew that Zhu Jirong was a Sword Cultivator, and a Martial Saint Level Sword Cultivator at that!

If he could transform Zhu Jirong’s comprehension of swordsmanship into his own, his level in swordsmanship would undoubtedly climb a tremendous step!

What was the most powerful aspect of a Sword Cultivator?

Undoubtedly, it was their formidable power of slaughter.

Sword Cultivators, upright and righteous, nothing could withstand their blows!

That’s why Sword Cultivators often found it easier to kill enemies across levels.

"There are countless paths in the martial arts, and swordsmanship is just one of them."

"Like other paths, swordsmanship also has six levels: beginning insight, minor accomplishments, integration, masterly skill, pinnacle, and returning to purity and simplicity."

"These six levels in swordsmanship are respectively known as Sword Practitioner, Sword Master, Great Sword Master, Sword Sect, Sword Venerate, and Sword Immortal!"

Qin Qing nodded slightly, having come to understand this assertion not long before.

"Your current level of comprehension in the way of the sword places you in the Realm of Integration, which is why you are now a Great Sword Master."

"But if you can go one step further and comprehend the way of the sword to the point of Masterly Skill, that is the Realm of the Sword Venerate. At that level, you will discover that your swordsmanship will leap to an entirely new level!"

"However... your cultivation is just entering the Golden Core Realm."

"Sword Cultivators in the Golden Core Realm, I haven’t seen many. Almost all those who reach the level of the Sword Sect are in the Nascent Soul Realm or even the Divinity Transformation Realm..."

"Let’s not talk about these things for now. You just focus on comprehending the Sword Intent!"

Zhu Jirong quickly got to the point, starting to teach Qin Qing the basic techniques of swordsmanship.

Although it was basic swordplay, Qin Qing felt as if he was seeing an entirely new way of the sword. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

This sensation was like carving the simplest woodcarving, but the creation from the hands of a master was entirely different from that of a common artisan.

Qin Qing felt as if he had stepped onto an entirely new path of the sword...

Or to put it another way: this path of the sword, along with the one that Qin Qing had comprehended before, merged together, complementing each other and forming a brand new path of the sword.

"This move is called the Layered Wave Sword Technique."

Zhu Jirong thrust forth with his sword, and a fierce flame coalesced at the tip into a sword light that rippled out layer by layer.

Nine levels of sword light stacked together, and in that instant, the void was pierced through by the sword light.

Qin Qing’s eyes flickered with excitement.

This is the true way of the sword!

"Now, you try this move," Zhu Jirong looked towards Qin Qing.

"Okay!" Qin Qing took a deep breath, and gently closed his eyes.

The image of the sword thrust that Zhu Jirong had just performed was vividly present in Qin Qing’s mind, including every detail: even the exact position where Zhu Jirong’s sword had pierced, where it stayed in the air, accurate down to the slightest fraction, as if it were being replicated in Qin Qing’s mind.

Even the movements of Zhu Jirong’s hands, the minute distortions when each finger exerted force, down to the fingerprints on each finger, all were incredibly clearly reproduced in Qin Qing’s mind!

Following this, Qin Qing thrust out with his sword.

In an instant, True Intent Spiritual Power burst forth from the tip of the sword, the sword light layered on top of itself, and astonishingly, nine streaks of sword light also appeared!

"Humming..."

The air trembled.

Due to the disparity in his own strength, Qin Qing’s sword light couldn’t pierce the void.

But Zhu Jirong, standing aside, was already shocked to the core, his pupils dilated with disbelief as he looked at Qin Qing.

"Qin Qing, had you never practiced the Layered Wave Sword Technique before this?"

"No!" Qin Qing shook his head.

Zhu Jirong could not help but inhale sharply.

Back then, it had taken him seven months to cultivate this Layered Wave Sword Technique from the First Layer to the Ninth Layer, and his teachers and elders had called him a once-in-a-century genius.

But... Qin Qing had, on his very first attempt, with just one sword strike, executed the Layered Wave Sword Technique?

What kind of talent was this?

Could only such a monstrous talent provoke the phenomenon of the Dragon Flame illuminating the heavens in the Wind-Fire Tower?

"Qin Qing!" Zhu Jirong suppressed the excitement in his heart, for he truly saw hope three months later.

Even if Qin Qing’s cultivation was far behind those disciples from the Tai’a Academy, with such a monstrous talent in the way of the sword, the possibility of fighting across ranks against those geniuses was not impossible!

"For the next month, don’t do anything else; just study the way of the sword with me."

"Yes!" Qin Qing nodded.

In the following time,

Zhu Jirong went nowhere else, remaining constantly in Qin Qing’s small courtyard.

He taught Qin Qing sword comprehension and insights every day, while Qin Qing continuously contemplated and practiced the way of the sword.

Most of the time, Qin Qing was silently practicing swordplay, and Zhu Jirong watched quietly from the side, occasionally offering guidance.

In just six days, Qin Qing felt his swordsmanship had made rapid progress.

At this moment, he was just a hair’s breadth away from the level of Masterly Skill in sword sect.

But after these six days, the entrance to the Wind-Fire Academy suddenly echoed with the sound of bell tolls.

"Dong dong dong dong dong..."

The bell rang urgently.

"Hmm? Someone has rung the Battle Bell!" Zhu Jirong’s gaze grew sharp.

Qin Qing stopped his sword movements as well.

The Battle Bell was the bell of challenge.

Outside the gates of the Wind-Fire Academy typically stood a huge Bronze Bell. If any outsider wished to challenge the Wind-Fire Academy, they would strike the bell, issuing a challenge to the entire academy.

As the bell tolled, a piercing voice called out, "Disciple Luo Zeyi from the Tai’a Academy, here to challenge the Wind-Fire Academy!"

Qin Qing’s eyebrows rose. A disciple from the Tai’a Academy had come knocking, likely a call for retribution for the incident six days ago when disciples from the Tai’a Academy at Mount Jiuyun were wiped out!

Then the voice continued,

"This challenge will determine victory or defeat, as well as life or death. If the disciples of the Wind-Fire Academy are all incapable weaklings, then it would be best to stay behind closed doors!"