Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Inevitable Ending

Li Shuang was the same as before, cool and distant.

Long Yan’s eyes dropped to the Black Abyss at her waist.

Black Abyss was still dull and dark, and Long Yan felt a wave of relief.

[My choice was right.]

Away from Li Shuang, he would have a better future. Away from him, Li Shuang could only use trash like Black Abyss.

Black Abyss looked crude next to the fine lines of the Dragon Roar Sword. The difference was large.

He lifted his voice so Ye Zhao Zhao could hear and said: “Zhaozhao, I will perform well. You do not need to act today. I will control the Dragon Roar Sword alone.”

Ye Zhao Zhao’s tone was warm as she said: “Long Yan, I will leave it to you. I have always believed Sword Cultivator and Sword Spirit should complete each other. I have never seen you fight before. Now you can show your full strength.”

Long Yan nodded and said: “I will not let you down.”

While Ye Zhao Zhao and Long Yan spoke, Li Shuang only moved her eyes away, calm as water.

Luo Ming Yue could not help herself and said: “Those two are shameless. They make it sound like you pressed Long Yan down before and did not let him shine.”

Li Shuang smiled and said: “Let them talk.”

Her face stayed very calm.

It was not that she did not care.

It was because, the moment he left her, Long Yan was already fated to fade away.

Li Shuang’s eyes turned cold.

[By now Long Yan should have noticed something wrong.]

His spirit body would grow dimmer. The Dragon Roar Sword would lose power day by day.

It would not take long before the Dragon Roar Sword lost the strength it had today.

Knowing Ye Zhao Zhao’s nature, once Long Yan and the Dragon Roar Sword lost their shine, would she still treat him with warmth?

A memory passed through Li Shuang’s eyes.

More than ten years ago, she formed her core, entered the Sword Pavilion, and received the sword embryo of the Dragon Roar Sword.

Long Yan slept deep inside it. After she got the sword, Li Shuang soon found there was a problem with its Sword Spirit.

Normally, a Sword Spirit was born with the sword and should be clear at heart.

But Long Yan was born with turbid qi. In the words of the Sword Pavilion disciples, he was a Defective Sword Spirit, and the worst kind, a polluted Defective Sword Spirit.

At that point, any disciple who found their Sword Spirit polluted would give up the sword and look for another treasure.

Li Shuang could not bear to. She read every book she could and searched everywhere for a way to remove the pollution.

She really found a method. A Sword Cultivator could use sharp Sword Qi to wash the Sword Spirit again and again.

After reading that, she was thrilled. She followed the records and used Sword Qi day and night to wash Long Yan for forty nine days. Only then did Long Yan wake.

After that, she kept Long Yan at her side. Whenever the pollution grew, she cleaned it at once. She did not want him to know he was a Defective Sword Spirit, so she praised him again and again, calling him a peerless sword.

In the end, her care for his feelings made him swell with pride. He began to think he truly had peerless gifts.

Li Shuang gave a small smile.

Cultivating the Supreme Unfeeling Art did not mean she had no human feelings. If Long Yan had told her plainly that he wanted to go to Ye Zhao Zhao, she would have let him go and would even have told him the truth.

But he chose to betray her and even tried to take her life.

So when he truly went to Ye Zhao Zhao, that was the start of his sad fate.

The moment she cast the sword aside, she finished his punishment.

She would wait and watch them walk to their end on their own.

The arena grew louder as people cried out: “The Sect Master is here.”

Another wave rolled through as people shouted: “The five Peak Masters are here too.”

A third cry followed: “And Hall Master Pang.”

Meng Yi Fei, the Sect Master of the Sword Sect, and the leaders of the Five Peaks and One Hall all arrived together.

They sat on the high platform and, as one, turned their eyes to the Central Arena.

A hidden light of expectation shone in Meng Yi Fei’s gaze.

Lin Qing Ling smiled with lively pride, as if her brows might fly off her face.

Ling Xu’s face darkened. He had heard about the Sword Domain, but he still doubted it. A single recording could not prove everything.

After they took their seats, a steward stood and said: “The first round of the round robin is about to begin. All competitors, take your stages.”

Ye Zhao Zhao gave Li Shuang one last look, then went to her own platform.

Chang Le An snorted and left for his match.

In the Central Arena, every gaze focused there.

All this attention did not stir Li Shuang’s heart at all.

She walked up the platform step by step and stood still.

Across from her, Duan Zi Yu looked serious. He had always ranked well in the trials, mostly because he had stayed at the Foundation Establishment Stage for a very long time.

By talent, he was far from a true genius.

He had been put in the Central Arena only because his opponent was Li Shuang.

[So the Sect Master wants to use me as a whetstone to sharpen Li Shuang.]

Even if he was only a whetstone, he would show his full worth.

Getting past him would not be easy.

He bowed slightly as he said: “Senior Sister Li, please.”

Li Shuang gave a calm nod. Black Abyss slid from its sheath, still that same pitch black blade.

Duan Zi Yu dared not be careless. He gripped his earth sword, and spiritual power surged around him. He was ready.

After a brief look into each other’s eyes, both moved at once.

One was at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining.

The other was at Late Foundation Establishment.

From the very start, the fight was unfair.

Li Shuang’s sword could land many hits on Duan Zi Yu.

But Duan Zi Yu only needed a single clean strike to win.

Meng Yi Fei leaned forward, watching the stage, and thought: [Come, Li Shuang. Show me how amazing your gift is.]

[With such a huge gap in power, only someone who controls the Sword Domain has a chance.]

Duan Zi Yu had water and earth spiritual roots, but he trained the earth root most. Now he used the Stone Bastion Sword Art. This art blended attack and defense, and its defense outweighed its attack.

He spread the sword art, sealing every gap around his body. If you thought he could only defend, he could switch to defense in an instant after striking, which made him very hard to handle.

Li Shuang slowly closed her eyes.

Her Sword Domain unfolded at once.

Inside the Sword Domain, Duan Zi Yu’s openings were clear as day, but their realms were too far apart.

She had only one way to win.

She had to gather all her spiritual power for a single fatal strike.

If she spent power too early, then even if she found an opening, she might not break through his defense.

Meng Yi Fei spoke under his breath, eyes bright as stars, and said: “It really is the Sword Domain.”

At this age, she could already control the Sword Domain. Had that peerless genius of Cangyuan Sect done that so young?

By age alone, Li Shuang was ten years younger than that man when he grasped the Sword Domain.

Supreme Unfeeling Art and Sword Domain together.

[Is heaven about to lift up our Sword Sect?]

Ling Xu stared at the platform, and his face sank even more.