Chapter 115: Face-off Commencement
When little fatty left Su Zimo’s cave abode, he was still filled with doubts. In a daze, he had not snapped out of what happened earlier.
There were no lack of amazing body tempering techniques in the cultivation world. However, he had never heard of one which the user could catch weapons barehanded.
And… he wasn’t injured at all!
Even demons who were known for their powerful bodies might not dare to do such a thing?
Suddenly, little fatty recalled the scene of them entering the sect.
Su Zimo was carrying him while dealing with a spirit demon on the walls of the peak – that wasn’t something that could be done with just body tempering.
Frowning, little fatty remembered the moment when his gigantic axe met with Su Zimo’s palm. Other than the dull thud, there were some other strange noises.
It was as though something sharp had scratched on his weapon, making a crisp sound.
Because everything had happened so suddenly, little fatty did not think too much into it. However, things felt odd in retrospect.
Instinctively, he took out his gigantic axe and swept it with his gaze. Instantly, his pupils constricted as the hair on his back stood up – he was petrified!
There were five small holes on the surface of the axe!
With a deep breath of air, little fatty composed himself and gestured his palm on the axe.
He placed his palm on the blade of the axe. His fingers fit exactly where the five holes were!
Broop!
Little fatty gulped.
Keeping his axe hurriedly, he adjusted his emotions and calmed himself before leaving.
…
In the cave abode.
Su Zimo looked at his palm and sighed gently.
He had merely wanted to grab little fatty’s axe on a whim earlier on. He didn’t expect that he couldn’t suppress the Power of Blood and forced out those sharp nails.
It may not have been a big deal to be seen by little fatty. However, if seniors of the sect saw it, they might turn suspicious and that might even reveal his demonic bloodline!
“This matter is ultimately a problem,” Su Zimo shook his head with a look of worry on his face.
It was one month away from the year end face-off.
Su Zimo’s cultivation had just risen to Level 8 Qi Condensation.
He retrieved the Weapon Tripod from his storage bag.
No matter what, he had to master the Tripart.i.te Sword Formation within the month. It would be best if he could master the Hexagonal Sword Formation too – that would increase his chances of victory against Feng Haoyu.
The prerequisite of cultivating a sword formation was that one had to possess a set of flying swords.
Su Zimo already had an inferior-grade flying sword – he had to refine five more.
For him, refining inferior-grade flying swords was no longer a problem.
He had the help of his spirit perception for the aspect of spirit gathering, turning it into a 100% success rate. However, he was still unable to refine middle-grade spirit weapons for some unknown reason.
After a day, Su Zimo managed to refine five inferior-grade flying swords to make up a set.
In his cave abode, he recalled the contents of the Tripart.i.te Sword Formation and began to cultivate.
An extremely high mastery of flying swords was required for sword formations – the set up had to be perfect.
Fortunately, Su Zimo had established a firm foundation in sword wielding thanks to little fatty’s help through the past month. Now, what he had to learn was how to control multiple flying swords.
…
In the final month, the atmosphere in the five peaks was clearly much more dense.
Most disciples were holed up in their cave abodes cultivating, preparing to showcase their prowess in the face-off.
The commotion caused by the mysterious challenger of Array Peak had gradually simmered as well.
Previously, the ident.i.ty of the mysterious challenger had become the most popular topic amongst disciples of the five peaks with everyone guessing at his ident.i.ty daily.
However, the discussions had mostly died down as the end of the year approached.
This day, a bell sounded from Ethereal Palace. There were a total of five sounds.
The five peaks face-off had officially commenced!
Many trial disciples appeared from their cave abodes one after another, speeding towards Weapon Peak with energized expressions.
The five peaks face-off lasted five days.
Because Weapon and Elixir Peaks were the weakest, according to the previous years’ arrangement, their face-offs were arranged on the first and second day.
However, things were different this year.
Everyone of the five peaks knew of Feng Haoyu and Su Zimo’s challenge.
Coincidentally, both of them were going to take part in the Weapon and Elixir Peak face-offs. Be it refinement or weapons or elixirs, both took a huge toll on one’s spirit qi, energy and mental state.
In order to ensure that the both of them could take part in the face-offs in their best condition, the five peak masters agreed that they would separate the events.
First day, Weapon Peak face-off.
Second day, Talisman Peak face-off.
Third day, Elixir Peak face-off.
Fourth day, Array Peak face-off.
Fifth day, Spirit Peak face-off.
Because the Spirit Peak face-off was the most antic.i.p.ated event among the five peaks, it was always on the last day every year.
The reason why they arranged for the Array Peak face-off before it was so that Feng Haoyu could get sufficient rest and prepare for the Spirit Peak face-off.
Weapon Peak’s face-off was held in the Weapon Refinement Hall.
On the first day, nearly all disciples of the five peaks had gathered outside the Weapon Refinement Hall; there were even inner sect disciples gathering.
Weapon Peak had never seen such a crowd before.
At a glance, the entire place was densely packed with people.
The reason for this was because Weapon Peak’s face-off was the first round of challenge between Feng Haoyu and Su Zimo!
All eyes were on this!
Everyone wanted to know who would have the last laugh in weapon refinement – the talent of Spirit Peak, Feng Haoyu, with his wind spirit root or Su Zimo with his Level 3 Spirit Fire.
Prior to this, disciples of the five peaks had already secretly wagered on the outcome.
The five peak masters sat right at the front of the Weapon Refinement Hall.
There were more than a hundred partic.i.p.ating disciples standing below.
As for the spectating disciples, they could only stand outside and were not allowed to enter lest they disrupted the weapon refinement process.
“Make way, make way!”
A holler sounded from outside the crowd as though someone had arrived.
The crowd parted to the sides, revealing a pa.s.sageway.
Hands behind his back, a purple robed Qi Refinement Warrior strode in. With a haughty expression, he entered the Weapon Refinement Hall – it was Feng Haoyu!
“Amazing! He’s already at Perfected Qi Condensation!”
“Hmph, that’s not all. I’m telling you, Senior Brother Feng already hit Perfected Qi Condensation more than a month ago. Right now, he’s only a single step away from entering Foundation Establishment realm!”
“I wonder what cultivation Su Zimo is at right now. If he’s too far apart, there won’t be anything to look forward to for their sparring.”
Right then, someone shouted among the crowd. “Su Zimo is here!”
Everyone looked over.
Not far away, Su Zimo arrived on his flying sword. Still clad in green robes, he looked calm as though he was in no pressure at all.
“Ha!”
A disciple could not help but scoff, “Am I seeing things? He’s only at Level 8 Qi Condensation?”
“Fufu, you were right. The difference between them is two levels! The outcome is obvious without them even fighting,” Another disciple shook his head and laughed, his ears clearly filled with disdain.
“If I were Su Zimo, I would admit defeat as soon as possible lest I get beaten up too badly in public and embarra.s.s myself.”