For a moment, the Daoyan Arena fell into dead silence.
The crowd watched as the young man dressed in dark black daoist robes, a disciple of the Unmoving Sword Sect, slowly walked down from the arena platform.
From that very moment onward, all the suppressed and cold, gloomy aura that He An had carried with him had completely vanished.
This young man, hailed as the number one swordsman of the younger generation in the Southern Region, had at this moment returned to the way he was three years ago, before he had participated in that auction in the Western Region.
Arrogant. Domineering.
From that very moment onward, all the suppressed, cold, and gloomy aura that He An had carried with him had completely vanished.
Just moments ago, He An had once again publicly declared war on that swordsman who had burst onto the scene, personally recommended by Zhou Jinyun, the Daomen Xingzou of Mirage Palace.
Would he win?
After Su Hongzhen had stepped onto the arena platform and, without even truly drawing his sword, effortlessly defeated Jia Hongtao of the Lightning-Severing Sect, perhaps those cultivators on Heavenly Summit Mountain whose cultivation levels were below the Passable God Realm were only shocked by Su Hongzhen's sudden rise.
Unprecedented!
Since the fall of Heavenly Summit Mountain, over fifty thousand years—nearly sixty thousand long years—had passed.
The Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry had also been held for more than five thousand sessions.
And in those five thousand-plus Dao Inquiries, there had indeed been over a hundred instances of complete domination, where that year's champion crushed all opponents without any pressure.
Originally, the cultivators of Chenping Continent all believed that this Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry would be Li Haoran's easy win.
Then Su Hongzhen appeared.
In all of history, never had any Martial Spring Realm cultivator displayed such terrifying dominance while fighting against prodigies of the same realm.
It was almost like a higher realm oppressing a lower one—a complete dimensionality reduction attack.
On Heavenly Summit Mountain, many Qi Sea Realm cultivators with poorer foundations had already begun to doubt themselves, wondering if they could defeat that cyan daoist robe-wearing swordsman if they stepped onto the arena platform.
Perhaps, relying on the sheer quantity of true qi that a Qi Sea Realm cultivator possessed, they could still crush him.
But when it came to footwork and technique…
The gap between realms was like a vast chasm. Before this, Chenping Continent had seen many transcendent cultivation geniuses who crossed eras, and the most outstanding among them had all stepped into the realm Above Immortality.
Never had any future Ascended Steward been able to give people the illusion that they could cross major realms and defeat opponents—like Su Hongzhen did.
Perhaps the Immortal Venerable Fusheng of yesteryear could?
No one knew, because the Immortal Venerable Fusheng's past had always been a mystery.
Innate invincibility.
From the moment Su Hongzhen appeared on the arena platform and, relying solely on footwork, completely crushed Jia Hongtao of the Lightning-Severing Sect—without even formally drawing his sword—almost every cultivator on Heavenly Summit Mountain understood what Su Hongzhen represented.
He represented invincible potential.
In other words, He An's Oath of the Broken Sword against Su Hongzhen would end in certain defeat!
It was precisely for this reason that, after He An stood on the arena platform and uttered those words, "Only one sword can ask the Dao," the crowd in the Daoyan Arena fell into stunned silence.
Su Hongzhen's Xun-Li Sword and He An's Mingxue Sword—two swords in total.
But before the Great Dao, only one sword could ask the question.
That was He An's resolve.
He An walked through the gathered crowd in the Daoyan Arena, heading toward the exit.
But as he passed by Xin Ming, He An's footsteps paused. His gaze shot toward Xin Ming's eyes like a sword.
"..."
Xin Ming said nothing. For some reason, fear of He An had inexplicably arisen in his heart, and his feet involuntarily stepped back half a step.
He An shifted his gaze away from Xin Ming.
From this moment on, Xin Ming was no longer worth even a single glance from him.
This first swordsman of the Southern Region, dressed in dark black daoist robes, strode out of the Daoyan Arena and toward the Profound Origin Pavilion, where the Unmoving Sword Sect's quarters were located.
At that very moment, beneath the arena platform.
"Elder, what should we do now?"
A disciple of the Unmoving Sword Sect, also dressed in dark black daoist robes and wearing a sword at his waist, spoke with a panicked expression. He was addressing Yuan Yi, the Unmoving Sword Sect's leading elder for this Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry and the direct disciple of He Rui, the current sect master of the Unmoving Sword Sect.
Yuan Yi's face was extremely gloomy—so dark that water could almost drip from it.
That hotheaded, reckless bastard!
This Passable God Realm elder of the Unmoving Sword Sect couldn't help but curse inwardly.
Although losing to that Zhuo Haoxuan of the Peach Blossom Sect was indeed a bit disgraceful, that was the only way He An could preserve his qualification to practice swordsmanship.
Currently, on Heavenly Summit Mountain, no one believed that He An could win against Su Hongzhen in their duel.
The gap was simply too vast.
Among the over 1,200 Dao Inquirers on Heavenly Summit Mountain, He An's strength could easily place him in the top twenty, and even ranking him in the top ten was relatively reasonable.
Jia Hongtao of the Lightning-Severing Sect could probably also rank among the top hundred of these 1,200-plus prodigies.
As for the gap between Su Hongzhen and He An, a conservative estimate would place it at least twenty or more Jia Hongtaos.
It was completely unwinnable.
"...Let's go. Return."
This Passable God Realm elder of the Unmoving Sword Sect said in a low voice.
...
"Worthless wretch! How did you handle this?!"
In a separate courtyard of the Profound Origin Pavilion belonging to the Unmoving Sword Sect, the enraged voice of an old man rang out from within a room.
Yuan Yi knelt on the ground, his head bowed low, not daring to look directly at the image before him.
On the floor of the room lay a communication jade talisman capable of real-time transmission. This talisman was priced at around 50,000 high-grade spirit stones in the Chenping Continent's cultivation world.
Even for a top-tier sect like the Unmoving Sword Sect, which ranked among the top five in the Southern Region, scraping together 50,000 high-grade spirit stones all at once was an extremely difficult task.
And the communication jade talisman that Yuan Yi used had been passed down in the Unmoving Sword Sect for over 200 years.
Every Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, the leading elder would bring this talisman to Heavenly Summit Mountain, so that in case of emergencies, they could contact the sect as quickly as possible.
Now was exactly the time when this 50,000 high-grade spirit stone jade talisman was needed.
The image presented before Yuan Yi was that of He Rui, the current sect master of the Unmoving Sword Sect—a late Unity Realm great power—sitting in the sect's main hall, his eyebrows trembling with fury.
As soon as the real-time communication link was established, Yuan Yi's first reaction was to kneel on the ground, kowtow three times toward He Rui, and begin wailing about how "this disciple is incompetent" and other such words.