"Young master, you're so amazing! Your swordsmanship is so graceful, what sword technique is it?" Mudan and others immediately surrounded Xiaoyao, asking with admiration. Xiaoyao's status in their hearts had risen another level.

"Supreme Sword Arts, this sword technique is very interesting." Xiaoyao replied. He liked Supreme Sword Arts because it encompassed almost any sword technique. He could find any sword technique he wanted to use, and because of Supreme Sword Arts' special nature, even if he used it, no one would think there was any problem.

"So this is Supreme Sword Arts! But I've seen some people practice it before, and none of them were as graceful as young master." Qingyan looked at Xiaoyao, her admiring gaze self-evident.

"Little girl, having spring fever? It's not your turn yet." Mudan pulled Qingyan back directly, then pounced toward Xiaoyao, preparing to give him a hug and a kiss.

But she missed, there was no longer anyone at Xiaoyao's position...

"Eat, eat! Continue eating!"

Xiaoyao's voice came from behind the women. Only then did they discover Xiaoyao had somehow already flashed away. Young master was indeed graceful!

What did this have to do with gracefulness?

...

"Time to eat! Young master, let me pour you wine..."

"I'll feed you..."

"I..."

Even though Xiaoyao had left that circle, he was quickly surrounded by a new one. These women now wanted nothing more than to devour Xiaoyao, but were frustrated that he gave them no opportunities whatsoever.

You couldn't exactly call Xiaoyao a gentleman, he wasn't particularly gentlemanly and didn't avoid suspicion at all. But he also wouldn't make any other moves, which was exactly what made these courtesans grit their teeth in frustration.

After Xiaoyao had been eating for a while, the repaired door was kicked open again...

"Kid, you're finished this time! I've brought an expert, you're done for!" Master Wang's voice entered Xiaoyao's ears again, making him feel somewhat annoyed.

"Are you done yet!" Xiaoyao stopped eating and looked at Master Wang. This time he had brought a very cold middle-aged uncle, but this middle-aged uncle was still trying to act cool and young, wanting people to think he was a youth in his twenties or thirties. But this was just what he wanted people to think, not what others actually thought.

"Young master, be careful. He's called Lian Shenqing, an expert here in Silver Heart City. They say he's late Emperor Level and practices the same thing as young master, Supreme Sword Arts." Someone among the courtesans immediately revealed this middle-aged uncle's identity. After all, he was a celebrity here and had patronized Yihong Courtyard before.

"So he also practices Supreme Sword Arts. That makes it easy then. Let's have a sword competition to see whose Supreme Sword Arts is stronger." Xiaoyao smiled, looking at Lian Shenqing.

"Just you, a little brat, dare compete with this young master? This young master will cripple your hands today and see if you'll still dare be so arrogant." Lian Shenqing said disdainfully. He was late Emperor Level. On the way here, he had already learned about Xiaoyao's strength and knew Xiaoyao was very arrogant. Therefore, he opened by saying he would cripple Xiaoyao's hands.

"Then let's begin!" Xiaoyao drew his sword again.

"...How is your sword perfectly intact?" Master Wang looked at Xiaoyao's sword, asking somewhat puzzledly. He had clearly seen Xiaoyao's sword get damaged earlier, but now this one was completely undamaged.

"Didn't I say? I can casually forge such swords, I have several more." Xiaoyao replied.

"..."

If he really had several such swords, then this kid wasn't as simple as he'd imagined. Could what he said before be true? If it was true, then this was troublesome. He could only tell those people about the situation and let them handle it themselves.

Although he would definitely be punished this time, it was better than being beyond salvation. If he didn't tell them, he would only have a dead end.

The reason he cared so much about Yihong Courtyard was that it wasn't actually his, he was just the apparent manager. The people behind Yihong Courtyard were very powerful, even the powerful gambling house alliance here was no match for them.

Originally, he had borrowed this opportunity to climb to a better position. Now that things had developed to this point, if he couldn't get it back, he would only fall to rock bottom and might never recover.

Because of this, no matter what price he had to pay, he had to take down Yihong Courtyard.

"Your sword is good. What's its name?" Lian Shenqing looked at the sword in Xiaoyao's hand. Its cold gleam was like autumn water, clearly a good sword.

"Name? It has no name. It's just forged as a backup, why would it need a name?" Xiaoyao replied without much care.

"No name? A backup? You're wasting this sword's life. You don't deserve such a sword, nor do you deserve to say you practice Supreme Sword Arts." Lian Shenqing's face darkened. He drew his sword, then like treating his lover, continued affectionately: "My sword is called Emerald Talisman Sword, forged by a famous craftsman of Tianyuan Kingdom over forty-nine days. It's a renowned treasure sword of Tianyuan Kingdom."

"Oh, my sword took me two hours to forge and seems a bit better than yours." Xiaoyao replied casually.

"Seeking death," Lian Shenqing was enraged, directly attacking with his sword, creating sword shadows that covered Xiaoyao.

At this moment, only anger remained in him, because Xiaoyao had said his Emerald Talisman Sword was inferior to his own sword. This was an insult to his beloved sword, making him furious to the extreme. Now even without Master Wang's request, he would use full force to eliminate Xiaoyao.

Because of his anger, he also overlooked Xiaoyao's statement that the sword had only taken him two hours to forge.

Key point one: This sword was forged by Xiaoyao, which he found impossible. Though he felt Xiaoyao's sword was inferior to his Emerald Talisman Sword, it was still a decent sword, impossible for someone of Xiaoyao's age to forge.

Key point two: This sword had only taken Xiaoyao two hours, which made him even more disdainful. Such a sword would take at least several days to complete, two hours was impossible.

He didn't know that when Xiaoyao said two hours, he wasn't referring to one sword but the total time spent forging his other swords combined.

"Young master, be careful!!"

Seeing Lian Shenqing's sword shadows, the women cried out in alarm. Though Xiaoyao had shown some ability, they didn't think he could beat Lian Shenqing.

Actually, Xiaoyao himself didn't think he could beat a late Emperor Level practitioner, since he was only King Level and had just recently entered the middle stage, still very far from late Emperor Level.

However, Xiaoyao was confident he could survive under Lian Shenqing's attacks. Plus, since Lian Shenqing practiced Supreme Sword Arts, with his understanding of it, he might find opportunities to break through.

"Chi!"

Xiaoyao quickly thrust several times, each strike hitting Lian Shenqing's weak points, places he had to defend. This rapidly reduced Lian Shenqing's sword shadows as he needed to protect his vulnerabilities.

Lian Shenqing frowned. He felt Xiaoyao wasn't as easy to handle as imagined. So he immediately changed techniques, creating a sword flower and thrusting toward Xiaoyao's heart.

Xiaoyao also created a sword flower, crossing swords with Lian Shenqing...

"Clang clang..."

The two swords clashed several times at extreme speed. At this point, Lian Shenqing sensed Xiaoyao's strength, only King Level. He could also feel that though Xiaoyao's speed was fast, it seemed to lack power. Even his internal energy seemed powerless, which confused him greatly.

The former was understandable, since this kid was only King Level, having relatively less power was normal. But why would his internal energy be powerless? Initially, he thought Xiaoyao wasn't using internal energy, but if he wasn't using it, how could he withstand his own attacks?

It felt like this kid's internal energy only neutralized his own force without attacking back, which was utterly puzzling.

Never mind, the most important thing now was to deal with this kid.

Since there was no power, he'd use power to suppress him...

Lian Shenqing continued attacking, this time increasing his force. His sword qi immediately became much sharper, making Xiaoyao look somewhat strained, but he could still hold on.

This made Lian Shenqing increasingly alarmed. The opponent was just a King Level martial artist, yet could withstand his attacks. He was already using almost full force, yet could only barely suppress him.

Observing carefully, this kid seemed to completely counter his sword techniques. Every move he made, the kid seemed to predict like a prophet, always attacking his weak points. This was the main reason for this result.

From this kid's moves, he seemed to also practice Supreme Sword Arts. Could it be that because this kid understood Supreme Sword Arts, he could predict his moves? Then he'd switch to other sword techniques...

Lian Shenqing changed sword techniques. Those who practiced Supreme Sword Arts didn't start with it from the beginning, many first practiced simpler techniques. The technique Lian Shenqing now switched to was what he'd practiced before Supreme Sword Arts. Though not as powerful as Supreme Sword Arts, it wasn't weak either. Combined with his current strength, it would definitely not be weak.

"Eh? Changed sword techniques!" Xiaoyao noticed this, but he could still find flaws in this technique. Plus, Lian Shenqing hadn't used non-Supreme Sword Arts techniques for a long time, so this technique was far less useful than Supreme Sword Arts.

(End of Chapter)