Chapter 56 The Poet's Mystery

As soon as the spotlights converged on the two, the battle began.

The former held a sword in one hand, while the other used a pen and a book. Of course, out of context, the winner of the two was clear—one was fighting with a proper weapon, while the other was fighting with a writing utensil and a literacy device. Anyone with common sense, however, would notice that neither items held by the poet were normal, and that they were in fact special artifacts that possessed incredible amounts of strength rivaling Xuan's sword if not stronger.

However, neither parties rushed forward towards one another. Instead, they both played things very carefully, waiting for their opponent to make the first move. They did not seem like Core Formation stage cultivators fighting at all—instead, they acted like two cautious and cunning old geezers, both loaded with tons of experience and combat intelligence.

Needless to say, the atmosphere was tense.

As the crowd watched in awe and ate their served appetizers, the poet finally made the first move—a single stroke of his pen in the air, writing out a character in thick black ink. It read 'snake'. His movements were smooth and quick, too fast to even see properly, and just from this, it was clear to the onlookers that this man was no beginner at his craft.

But then again, neither was Xuan.

With a sword slash fast enough to produce a sharp gleam enough to blind, Xuan sent out a wave of blood-red Sword Qi, mixed with blood. After all, such was the power of the Scarlet Passion Sword—the ability to store and mix Blood Essence with Sword Intent to create a more powerful attack. On the previous floor, Xuan had collected all the blood from the Blood Pills and put them into the sword in preparation for this fight.

The wave of Sword Intent and the snake made of black ink clashed against one another in the air, but Xuan's attack was stronger and severed the 'animal' straight through the middle. The serpent's remains faded away to black dust, but Li Shu simply used his pen to draw another character in the air—'barrier'.

This time, Xuan's attack did not go through.

"… Your techniques are quite powerful," Xuan noted—truthfully.

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"As is your Sword Intent," Li Shu replied as the barrier slowly dissipated. "But then again, you are no normal Core Formation stage cultivator either, are you? Are you from the Thousand Swords Sect, perhaps? I fought another disciple from there earlier—although his swordsmanship was not nearly as skilled as yours, it was also quite strong for his cultivation."

But to his surprise, Xuan shook his head.

"I'm a lone cultivator—always have been, and always will be."

Saying that, he snapped his fingers, and used Spirit Thorns to create multiple spikes made of condensed Qi surrounding his body. If Li Shu's barrier could block one attack, could it cover all angles? Betting on that fact, Xuan waved his arm across horizontally, and sent the projectiles flying towards the poet like homing missiles.

But this time, instead of writing out a character in the air, Li Shu did something unexpected—he threw his pen, and the next thing Xuan knew, all of his thorns had been destroyed before they could even reach their target.

"Hoh…"

Xuan could feel it. This was the fight—the fight that would finally give him a good challenge. But in order to fully fight to the maximum… he needed to get a bit injured first—he needed to bleed.

As such, right as the pen flew back into Li Shu's hand, Xuan recklessly dashed forward, sword prepared to strike. Caught off-guard by this sudden aggressiveness, Li Shu was taken aback for a moment, but quickly adapted accordingly and threw his book towards Xuan, pages opened.

Naturally, Xuan cut towards it, but even as he used all of his strength, his blade was unable to penetrate the mysterious artifact. Even in this lifetime, he'd sliced apart buildings and mountains alike, but somehow, he failed to cut a mere book.

It was utterly ridiculous—but what was even more so was the fact that upon getting struck, the scripture suddenly emitted a captive field that trapped Xuan inside and detained him. Thanks to his incredible Soul Strength, it only took a moment to escape, but-

"—!"

-That single moment was all Li Shu needed.

"… Caught you."

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted in the air as a precise strike from the poet's pen hit Xuan straight in the chest, and sent him flying backwards.

But of course, this was all part of the plan.

Smiling despite the blood leaking out from his mouth, Xuan stabbed his sword deep into the platform to avoid being thrown off, and skidded to a stop just before the edge of the arena. Li Shu, noticing this odd expression of his, narrowed his eyes slightly, but Xuan only let out a deep, low laugh.

"Heheh… it's been a long time since I last felt pain like this, combined with the thrill of a battle… too long."

Slowly rising to stand up straight once more, Xuan had a sadistic smile on his face as he pulled his sword back out of the platform.

This was what he wanted.

This was what he was searching for.

Pointing his blade at his opponent, Xuan snickered—and taunted.

"Come again."

No longer smiling, Li Shu realized the battle only began for real now, and went on the offensive.

He knew that he needed to finish this fight quick—or else he'd lose.

Of course, Li Shu wouldn't actually lose anything even if he conceded right here and now, but since he'd accepted this duel, he'd fight to win. Such was the courtesy between two martial artists.

And so, he went straight for the victory.

Dashing in more like a ninja than a poet, Li Shu's pen's tip suddenly sharpened, and from all sides, Xuan felt himself being cut. The pain didn't seem to bother him at all, however, and he instead simply remained perfectly still, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Naturally, Li Shu was astonished. Despite the thousands of cuts he was making on Xuan's body, his opponent seemed to show no reaction whatsoever—almost as if he didn't feel pain, or more accurately, it didn't 'hurt' in the least.

After a whole minute of slashing, it was Li Shu who backed away first. Xuan's sitting body was now completely covered in small cuts and wounds, each bleeding out. His clothes were torn and perfect face was scarred, but his eyes still held a gleam of contempt as he finally looked up at his enemy.

"You done?"

Li Shu was too stunned to even reply, and the entire crowd of spectators held their breaths as Xuan smiled devilishly.

"Good… because now, it's my turn."