Celestial Peak [I]

177. Testing the waters

"O—older brother? I don't think fighting with grandfather is a good thing." Wang Hong who was near Wang Ling said those words as an oppressive atmosphere slowly took steps backward.

Wang Ling glanced at him saying, "Move to the side, Wang Hong. I have to get that sword no matter what."

Xiao Jianfa laughed, "That's right, Hong'er. Listen to your older brother."

Wang Hong saw that no one bothered to listen to his point so he chose to step to the side.

Xiao Jianfa looked around and kept the Bleeding Cloud in his storage ring. He waved his hands and the wooden floor shone a resplendent light, "We can't fight here."

With those words, Wang Ling, Wang Hong, and Xiao Jianfa disappeared from the ninth floor and they reappeared in some unknown area of the mountain. Wang Ling looked around, the only thing he can see was trees.

"Alright, this is a fight of sword skill. If I were to use my cultivation advantage against you, the only thing this will end up in would be one-sided bullying. So, I will have to propose this, if I were to use my cultivation beyond the middle-grand saint stage you win, but if you were to lose unconsciousness, you will be the one considered as the loser. How about that."

"Fair enough, then should we start?" Wang Ling asked. His tone of voice was cold, it was a far cry from its usual softness.

Xiao Jianfa smirked and took out a grade-2 sword from within his storage ring, "Let us begin."

Silence permeated the air, no one dared move. A single leaf fell from above them and drifted with the wind. It passed Wang Ling's ears and slowly touched the ground, Fuu!"

A gust of wind and Xiao Jianfa disappeared. Reappearing above Wang Ling, he brandished his sword shone with a bright light, sword qi permeated the air and an image of the air being rendered was seen.

"Don't disappoint me Ling'er!"

Wang Ling had a single sword in hand. But the instant Xiao Jianfa appeared in front of him, another sword that is much shorter than the one on his right hand found its way onto his grasps.

Dang!

Boom!

Wang Ling blocked the sword and then redirected the impact he had received on the ground! The ground cracked and Wang Ling could feel the heaviness and sharpness of Xiao Jianfa's sword.

"Good job on blocking that one." Xiao Jianfa commented.

But as Wang Ling redirected the force and the sword qi, he did not dally and moved forward. Slipping in between Xiao Jianfa's sword, Wang Ling unleashed a vertical slash with his right sword.

Xiao Jianfa blocked it with his sword but a sound of the wind being rendered was heard. Wang Ling's left hand was moving in the air, it was slicing apart anything that got in its way.

Slash!

A horizontal slice was coming on Xiao Jianfa's way. But with his sword occupied, it seemed like it was already over.

But Xiao Jianfa was a master of the sword. His body was not just any mortal body, it was something that had been tempered for thousands of years and with his mastery of the sword, his fingers became a sword itself and went to confront Wang Ling's short sword.

"[Rising Cloud]!" Xiao Jianfa executed a technique and blew Wang Ling's left hand away.

Xiao Jianfa gathered his sword qi on his left foot and kicked at Wang Ling. He expected Wang Ling to be blown away, but Wang Ling gathered his sword qi on his right knee and blocked the hit.