Four years flashed by in an instant, like the snap of a finger.
The Dao Inquiry Assembly of Chenping Continent would officially begin in two months. In the distance, Heavenly Summit Mountain rose over eight thousand zhang, towering like an ancient, immutable backdrop, framing the world.
About three thousand li from Heavenly Summit Mountain, on the edge of a small, ordinary town, there was an open patch of ground.
A young man with distinct facial features stood there, holding a pure white Swift Sword whose blade shimmered with crimson flame patterns. He remained motionless on the clearing.
He wore a simple cyan daoist robe, his jet-black long hair tied at the back with a plain bamboo pin, a few strands drifting in the breeze.
It added an extra touch of nonchalance.
The spiritual energy of the surrounding heaven and earth, when passing by him, seemed to be cut apart as if sliced by a sharp force.
Innate Sword Intent.
Even to this day, Su Hongzhen still did not fully know what image his innate sword intent truly embodied.
Now that Su Hongzhen had reached late Martial Spring Realm, he could easily activate his innate sword intent through his divine mind.
Facing him was a handsome young man, taller and more slender than Su Hongzhen.
He wore a plain white daoist robe, and watched the sword-wielding youth before him with a calm expression.
Chen Yan.
Now, he looked around twenty years old.
His appearance was almost identical to how he looked eight thousand years later when he served as the chief disciple of Kongyuan Mountain.
Only his temperament had no likeness at all.
After all, Chen Yan was now a true great power of the upper three realms, having weathered countless trials.
Su Hongzhen did not rush to strike.
He slowly raised the crimson-flamed Swift Sword in his hand, the blade tip pointing distantly; his movements flowed like water, and the sharp aura around him retracted, condensing to the tiniest edge of the blade without dissipating.
In the next moment, he moved.
His body showed no large sway, yet he had already swept like a breeze to stand before Chen Yan.
Such fast footwork.
No matter how many times Chen Yan watched, he could not help but feel inward admiration.
Everything was clean and effortless, utterly natural.
Chen Yan thought that even if he limited his cultivation to Martial Spring Realm, relying on his thousands of years of experience and the Xun Wind Step, his speed might not be much faster than Su Hongzhen’s now.
Then Su Hongzhen thrust his sword.
The Xun-Li Sword in his hand had its tip about three chi away from Chen Yan.
No sword qi burst forth.
Instead, the pure innate sword intent sliced across that three-chi gap and struck Chen Yan’s shoulder.
A hint of appreciation flickered in Chen Yan’s eyes. He had long known that this youth, now eighteen, was the later-famous Falling Star Realman.
But Little Su had, after all, been raised under his watch.
Seeing Su Hongzhen display such astonishing technique, Chen Yan naturally felt gratified.
Chen Yan did not move.
He simply activated the vast, clear-colored Martial Spring he had perfected after mastering the Hidden Immortal Art.
A clear-colored protective spiritual energy enveloped the shoulder that Su Hongzhen’s sword intent aimed at.
Then the clear spiritual energy was pierced like thin paper by the pure innate sword intent.
Chen Yan had expected this.
In fact, this was not the first time Little Su’s innate sword intent had pierced Chen Yan’s protective spiritual energy.
But it did not matter.
Immediately after, the protective spiritual energy that Chen Yan had scattered under the sword intent began to vibrate, and in an instant it dispelled Su Hongzhen’s sword intent.
Su Hongzhen’s innate sword intent far exceeded any limit a Martial Spring Realm cultivator in this world could normally reach.
Even a Qi Sea Realm cultivator, if complacent, might suffer when confronting Su Hongzhen’s innate sword intent.
After all, this was a piercing sharpness capable of penetrating Chen Yan’s protective spiritual energy.
Chen Yan simply did not dodge. Although Su Hongzhen’s movement speed had already approached the upper bound achievable by Martial Spring Realm cultivators, the gap to a Qi Sea Realm cultivator was still vast.
Sword intent is sharp, but if it cannot touch the opponent, it is as good as nothing.
Still, what else could Little Su’s innate sword intent pierce?
If it could pierce spiritual energy, what about Immortal Qi?
Chen Yan wondered silently.
Su Hongzhen’s expression remained unchanged and he did not withdraw his stance, only turning his wrist slightly.
The crimson flame patterns along the blade suddenly flared, and a scorching, razor-like crimson sword qi shot out along the blade, as if about to break free.
This blood-red sword qi posed far less threat than Su Hongzhen’s innate sword intent.
Though still ferocious, it remained within the realm of a Martial Spring Realm cultivator’s power.
Chen Yan merely raised his hand slightly, then lightly touched Su Hongzhen’s blade with his right-hand fingertips.
The scorching sword qi condensed at the blade tip immediately lost its force, diverted aside.
Seizing the momentum, Su Hongzhen spun his body.
Dense slashes of sword light followed in succession.
Chen Yan remained rooted in place, meeting them with only his right palm.
The only thing that gave him slight trouble was Su Hongzhen’s innate sword intent.
The actual gap between them was simply too great.
As a Unity realm cultivator and an upper three realms great power, Chen Yan faced hundreds of sword lights hurled in an instant without needing to expend true qi or spiritual energy; merely using his palm to deflect was enough.
Su Hongzhen’s speed grew ever faster.
For a time, the cyan-robed figure moved like wind and lightning, sword lights swirling.
Crimson flame flickered in and out.
The Xun-Li Sword Chen Yan had forged using Xun Wind Step and the Li Fire Seal proved far more practical than he had imagined.
Wind aids flame, flame borrows the might of wind; they complemented each other.
Little Su’s assaults came in wave upon wave, each stronger than the last.
Then Su Hongzhen retreated half a step. The Xun-Li Sword in his hand carved a perfect pure-white arc through the air, like the form of a full moon.
A clear chime rang out.
Chen Yan used his right-hand index and middle fingers to clamp and hold the Xun-Li Sword in Su Hongzhen’s hand, rendering it immobile.
Su Hongzhen showed a wry smile, then released his sword hand.
“I give up, big brother.”
“Not bad.”
Chen Yan returned the Xun-Li Sword to Su Hongzhen, then said calmly:
“You’ve improved a lot. With how you are now, the Little Zhou from four years ago probably wouldn’t last three moves against you.”
“So how about Immortal Master Zhou now?” Su Hongzhen asked.
“If she’s serious, you wouldn’t hold out three moves against her.”
Chen Yan answered.
The fact was true. Zhou Jinyun was now the renowned Daoomen Xingzou of Mirage Palace. At only nineteen years old she had already broken into early Qi Sea Realm. She could be considered the leading young disciple of Chenping Continent in the current era.