Chapter 64 — Caught!

"Seven Vortices"!

A collective gasp rippled through the outer disciples. Those who had come expecting a bit of sport were suddenly wide awake—Zuo Yan and Shi Heng had been hiding their true depths!

Yan Le watched the arena with some surprise. "Little Mo actually has a trick like that up his sleeve?" He had only just returned and knew nothing of Zuo Jin's affair. Seeing Zuo Yan unleash sword moves of such refinement, he was astonished.

Pei Xu smiled. "Don't be impatient—there may be even greater surprises yet."

The situation had shifted abruptly. Zuo Yan, whom everyone had written off as having no power to fight back, had suddenly revealed a sword technique of remarkable skill, and everyone's interest was roused.

Luo Li, hemmed in by the seven vortices of sword light, still wore a look of perfect indifference. Without any visible movement on his part, the seven humming vortices suddenly stalled and fell into disarray, their thread-fine rays scattering in all directions—yet not a single ray came within five paces of him.

"Luo Li hasn't been idle these past months either," Pei Xu said with a satisfied expression, then turned to Xin Yan. "This move, 'Void Extinction'—what level would you put it at?"

"The fifth," Xin Yan said.

"Mm. Luo Li's talent is genuinely good—a pity he ran into Wei Sheng." Yan Le tossed the remark out seemingly at random.

A trace of discomfort crossed all their faces. Wei Sheng's talent far outstripped Luo Li's, and from the sect's point of view, favoring one over the other was only natural. But Luo Li had followed them far longer than Wei Sheng, and their feelings for him ran deeper.

Pei Xu mused, "There's no helping it. We sword cultivators live by the law of the strong and the weak. High ambition is all very well, but a man must also know his own capacity."

"Qin Cheng asked me for the Formless Sword Formula," Xin Yan said.

"No doubt he's asking on Luo Li's behalf." Yan Le, shrewd as ever, smiled. "The Formless Sword Formula and the Void Sword Formula share the same lineage. This Qin Cheng—there's some calculation in the way he goes about things."

Shi Dai frowned. "Isn't that just making trouble?"

Pei Xu laughed. "No need to worry, junior sister. Competition is a good thing. They're still young, and with us to watch over them and temper them slowly, we may yet get one or two who amount to something—and then we shall not have failed the patriarchs of generations past."

The other three nodded in agreement.

In the arena, Zuo Yan and Luo Li fought with growing ferocity.

Luo Li was more than a little startled inwardly. Three months to reach such a level—talent like that was in no way inferior to his own. The thought set the pent-up resentment in his chest ablaze. For more than ten years he had been the most gifted disciple of Wukong Yan, the one the elders valued above all others! Then Wei Sheng had appeared out of nowhere, with heavenly phenomena at his foundation establishment, and to cultivate him the elders had even opened a sword cave for his celestial awakening.

Such treatment was beyond anything Luo Li had ever dared imagine.

First a Wei Sheng, and now a Zuo Yan as well!

He had never heard of any sword formula in this sect so delicate, so fluid as water. Had the martial uncles passed down some new formula? The moment the thought surfaced, his heart felt as though a snake were gnawing at it, and his gaze turned utterly dark.

Zuo Yan had no attention to spare for Luo Li's mood; he was wholly absorbed in wielding his sword.

The first six moves of the Lishui Sword Formula he had practiced tens of thousands of times over—even the formula's original creator might not have been more fluent in them than he. After grasping the sword intent, he had made some subtle adjustments to these moves. His method was simple: wherever the sword intent caught or stalled, he boldly altered the move, revising until the intent flowed smooth and unobstructed.

The formula had long since been transformed beyond recognition!

Who else would dare revise it so? But Zuo Huanzhong had no fixed rules, and in sword cultivation he had no foundation at all, so naturally nothing constrained him. When he had practiced the Five Elements Formula of the spirit planters, the jade slip had been vague in many places, leaving him to work it out himself, and over time he had grown accustomed to adjusting formulas and had developed his own understanding of how to do it.

To take sword intent as the standard and revise the moves accordingly—if Xin Yan ever learned of such an idea, he would surely marvel.

In the jade slip, Luo Li killed with uncanny, unfathomable skill. To this day, Zuo Yan had never once seen Shi Heng Luo Li's flying sword.

The Void Sword Formula was truly wondrous!

Shi Heng Xu Yi had once said the Void Sword Formula was the finest of the third-grade formulas, and now it seemed he had spoken true—it was formidable indeed!

No flying sword to be seen, no sword light to be seen—you never knew from which direction the attack would come, and there was no guarding against it. Things unseen and unguessable are the readiest source of fear.

Zuo Yan felt a chill of dread.

Compared with Luo Li's easy composure, his leisurely stroll, Zuo Huanzhong's tension only mounted. Zuo Jin's practical experience was pitifully thin, and having two moves broken in succession dealt his confidence a heavy blow.

Still, he would not concede defeat just like that.

He gritted his teeth and traced out the third move!

Countless dense motes of sword light wove into a curtain, like a tide, gleaming with layer upon layer of watery sheen, wave upon wave!

The third move: "Layered Billows"!

The first move, "With the Current", was ethereal, like the antelope's horn—leaving no trace to follow. The second, "Seven Vortices", was delicate and clinging, murder lurking within.

But "Layered Billows" was unbroken and unending, growing stronger with every wave; layer upon layer of sword light, like ripples on water, each fine ripple piling upon the last—the curtain that had been all gentle breeze and soft rain abruptly surged into a roaring swell!

Luo Li seemed to stand at the water's edge, a towering wave about to swallow him whole.

A cry of astonishment rose around the square. The first two moves had been striking, but nothing like the terrifying spectacle of "Layered Billows"! In their eyes, a giant wave had fallen from the heavens onto the center of the square and swept toward them, leaving no room to evade. The outer disciples facing Zuo Jin went pale and weak in the knees!

That wave was no water, but countless motes of sword light stacked layer upon layer—once caught in it, you could only await being minced to pieces!

So he truly has grasped this formula!

Luo Li's gaze darkened further. Staring at the heaven-startling sword curtain sweeping toward him, the intent to kill flickered in his eyes. He resolved to strike the zombie opposite him a blow—a blow that would utterly shatter his confidence!

Into the surging, sky-high curtain of sword light, rampant with killing intent, he took one step forward!

Another step! A third!

"Break!"

The cry rang through the square; everyone felt a tightness in the chest, and alarm showed on their faces.

Sss!

Like a small blade slitting cloth—not shrill, yet clearly audible.

The sword curtain, surging like a great wave, split cleanly in two!

The curtain before him was suddenly hacked apart down the middle, and Zuo Yan was startled. He was about to change his move when he caught a whiff of danger; in alarm, without stopping to think, he threw himself to the left!

Though he saw nothing, Zuo Yan felt with perfect clarity something grazing past him! Like a startled cat, every hair on his body stood on end!

Sprawled on the ground, Zuo Yan ignored the pain of the fall and scrambled, rolling and crawling, to put distance between himself and Luo Li.