"Erm, little maiden-"
Qiuxiang Hanyu interrupted Lu Qingyun with a soft chuckle, "Big brother, do not think of me as a little maiden but an opponent. Why are you hesitating? Are you afraid of losing? I've heard that you're only a lowly first realm cultivator."
Lu Qingyun: …
"I've heard that you have a divine sword. Are you afraid that even with a divine sword that is in your hands, you will lose to me?"
Lu Qingyun: …
"Or are you afraid of losing face in front of your master? Afraid of losing the face of your Heavens Ridge Villa?"
Lu Qingyun: …
"Are you afraid?"
Lu Qingyun had finally unsheathed his sword from his spatial ring.
Qiuxiang Hanyu looked pleased and smiled, "Finally you have the courage to fight me."
But when she saw his sword, she looked a little disappointed for it was only a normal precious sword and not a divine sword that she was expecting to see.
But Qin Keqin was startled. It was because this precious sword had the profound aura of the Divine Sword Fairy Light. Although the aura was faint but she had recognized it nevertheless. She exclaimed quietly in her heart, "He has made a copy of a copy of the Divine Sword Jade Light? How is it possible?"
Indeed she was not wrong.
Lu Qingyun had made a copy of the Divine Sword One. It was because he had thought that it was unfair for him to duel with a little maiden with a divine sword. Therefore as he drawn out his sword, he began to wonder if it was possible to make a copy of the Divine Sword One. To his pleasant surprise, it had actually worked!
Qiuxiang Hanyu asked, "Where is your divine sword? You…you are not using it?"
Lu Qingyun shook his head, "I didn't bring it today." It was a convenient white lie. There was no way he could bring himself to use a divine sword against this little maiden lest the sword energies of his divine sword might have caused her some permanent injuries or even death.
The precious sword that was in his hand was a half-step precious sword while Qiuxiang Hanyu was wielding a heaven-step precious sword.
Lu Qingyun said politely as he raised his sword downward to bow, "Please give me your pointers. This is only a polite exchange and therefore we should stop when necessary."
Qiuxiang Hanyu smiled as she raised her sword to bow politely, "Alright, big brother."
Almost immediately the two of them began to display their sword stances.
Lu Qingyun had displayed an old familiar stance which he knew before he had come to the Heavens Ridge Villa. This stance positioned his body side way into both a defensive and offensive position as he raised his sword forward.
Qiuxiang Hanyu on the other hand was swinging her sword expertly like a shield around her.
Lu Qingyun began to smile weakly when he saw her sword stance. This little maiden…
As she swung her sword in circles around her, it looked as though her sword could touch the ground anytime because she was short. If her sword had accidentally touched the ground then she would have lost control of her sword.
But that awkward moment never arrive and Qiuxiang Hanyu had suddenly lifted her sword after she had walked rapidly to his side.
She had noted that Lu Qingyun seemed a little distracted and she had made use of this golden opportunity to launch an attack on him.
This attack was a series of sword strokes that were light and swift!
As Lu Qingyun was wielding his sword on his right hand and Qiuxiang Hanyu had conveniently walked to his far right, he could not swing his sword on time since he was more familiar with the sword motions from right to left and was weaker from left to right, he could only lift his sword to parry her sword attacks.
Qiuxiang Hanyu had leapt into the mid-air and her attacks were not only swift but strong as Lu Qingyun parried one after another until he had made a counter-attacked on her fourth attack which sent her to fly backward!
She was startled. It was because she had used all her strength in her attack but Lu Qingyun did not even moved from his standing position. Not only that, he had lifted his sword to force her to back off with his sword strength alone. She silently muttered. "Is he only a first realm cultivator?"
She had the profound strength of a third realm expert and it was not possible for a first realm expert to force her back.
Lu Qingyun thought, "It seems that my profound strength has grown ever since I've become a fourth realm expert."
Many of the protégés of the Clear Sky Pavilion were looking at Lu Qingyun with a stunned expression. It was because they knew how formidable Qiuxiang Hanyu's aerial sword display was and every single one of them was unable to break her sword art.
But this senior brother of the Heavens Ridge Villa who was said to be only a first realm cultivator was not able to stop her sword art but he had also made a counter-attack.
"This is impossible…right?"
"He has stopped Senior Sister Hanyu's attacks…"
Even Leng Qiuyue and Ouyang Xue were blinking their eyes. When Qiuxiang Hanyu had made her first attack, they were startled by her speed and even more startled that she was only a thirteen year old little maiden.
Immediately they had feared for Lu Qingyun but to their surprise, Lu Qingyun had reacted with equally fast speed and their eyes could barely follow him.
Qiuxiang Hanyu growled softly as she quickly adjusted her sword stance again. All of a sudden she had burst forward and had displayed the Blinking Sword Art of the Clear Sky Swordplay. In that single instant, it seemed as though she had vanished from view, startling everyone!
Qiuxiang Huan was smiling secretly. This Blinking Sword Art is a top level sword art that was both formidable and deadly. In the entire Clear Sky Pavilion, only Qiuxiang Hanyu was genius enough to be able to master this impossible divine sword art.
She had made use of the hand of her youngest sister to show Qin Keqin and her entourage that the Clear Sky Pavilion was a force to be reckoned and that it had many formidable cultivators.
Her aim was to sow fear into the hearts of the Heaven Ridge Villa and to discourage them from making a move against the Clear Sky Pavilion.
Since Qin Keqin was here now, this was a golden opportunity for her to intimidate her.
"This is the Blinking Sword Art, the secret sword art of our Clear Sky Pavilion!…"
"This Lu Qingyun is going to be a goner now…"
Lie Xingyuan, Ouyang Xue and Leng Qiuyue were all gasping and were panicky. It was because it was indeed a formidable sword art and most cultivators had little defense against it.
However Qin Keqin was still looking at the duel in a nonchalant manner. Although this speed attack was formidable but to any sixth and seventh realm expert, speed attacks could not escape their spatial perceptions.
And if Lu Qingyun was really in trouble, she would react immediately by defending him with the Divine Sword Jade Light. This was a secret that she had not told him. Although she had given him the Divine Sword Jade Light but she could still exercise her profound aura through it because she was the original master.
And through the soul link between Divine Sword Jade Light and herself, she could sense that Lu Qingyun was not panicky. It was as though he knew how to react to the situation. Therefore she adopted a wait and see.
"Compare to Ye Jing's speed attacks, this little maiden is ten times slower than her. But for her age, she is already a formidable fighter." She thought casually.
The main reason why she had wanted Lu Qingyun to take up the challenge of the duel was because he had taken the Seven Hearts Hollow Pill last night and had yet to circulate his profound strength. The best way to fully circulate the profound power of the Seven Hearts Hollow Pill into his inner cultivation sea was to force him to fight using all his profound strength.
To her, it did not matter to her if he lost or win as long as this main objective could be attained. She did not care for the 'face' of the Heavens Ridge Villa.
But she was thinking, "Yun'Er seems to be taking this a little too calmly? He is not doing his best yet?"
All of a sudden Lu Qingyun had raised his sword with both hands and swung his sword. Immediately there was a flash of light as the two swords met and suddenly Qiuxiang Hanyu was thrown violently backward!
Everyone was gasping with shock, including Qiuxiang Huan.
Did this Lu Qingyun just break the Blinking Sword Art with just a single sword stroke?
Qin Keqin was also startled. It was because the sword stance that Lu Qingyun had just displayed was an imitation of her 'Heaven and Self as One'.
Indeed it was.
Lu Qingyun did not want to use his aggressive Flaming Crimson Sword on this little maiden. Therefore when he had search his mind for a way to handle her sudden speed attack, he had thought of Qin Keqin's 'Heaven and Self as One' stance as an inspiration.
Without a second thought, he had immediately focused all his profound strength into a single sword stroke as he struck the sword of the invisible Qiuxiang Hanyu.
Qiuxiang Hanyu was of course not invisible in a real sense but because she was moving so fast and bending with the light of her precious sword, it was difficult for anyone to see her.
And moreover, she could only maintain this high state of speed for just a couple of blinking eyes.
But during these few blinks of an eye, Lu Qingyun had quickly reacted and used his profound strength to overpower her, causing her to fly back!
Lu Qingyun's profound strength was greater than her since he was not only a fourth realm expert and he had also the pure profound strength of Yan'Er to aid him so it was not difficult at all.
But in the eyes of many, it was an impossible act because this Lu Qingyun was only a lowly first realm cultivator.
"This isn't real…"
As Qiuxiang Hanyu gasped with shock in mid-air, Lu Qingyun had quickly reacted by catching her as she landed so that she would not fall to the ground.
"I hope that I am not being disrespectful," he said politely as he let go of her when they had landed together.
Qiuxiang Hanyu was startled by his reflexes and was looking at him with mixed feelings, "Big brother…" She was very sure that he was not a good-for-nothing first realm cultivator…
Qin Keqin turned to look at Qiuxiang Huan, "Your youngest sister is so impressive. This, I have to admit."
Qiuxiang Huan was wordless for a while before she returned a faint smile, "This Senior Brother Lu is really an outstanding young man of great talent…"
But secretly she was wondering; how was it possible for a good-for-nothing first realm cultivator to have defeated her genius youngest sister?
This attempt of embarrassing the Heavens Ridge Villa had failed and instead it was the Heavens Ridge Villa that had shone.
Qin Keqin was suddenly looking at another direction. It was because a stately lady that was accompanied by dozens of high level cultivators had suddenly appeared on the scene.
This stately lady was saying coolly, "It is quite an impressive fight. It seems that this young man here is also a genius cultivator."
Then she smiled as she looked at Qin Keqin, "I wonder if Sect Leader Qin will be able to give our clan Boundless Swords Array a pointer or two as well?"
Qiuxiang Huan immediately greeted, "Pavilion Mistress."
And almost immediately all the protégés below were all greeting loudly, "Our humble respect to our Pavilion Mistress!"
Indeed this stately and beautiful lady was the Pavilion Mistress Qiuxiang Mei, the mother consort of both Qiuxiang Huan and Qiuxiang Hanyu. It seemed that both her daughters had inherited the great beauty of their mother consort.
Qin Keqin replied without any hesitation, "I've heard of the formidable repute of the Boundless Swords Array as well. It is said that this sword formation is able to trap even a fifth realm expert. It will be my honor to witness it myself."
Ouyang Xue, Leng Qiuyue: …
"Excellent." Pavilion Mistress Qiuxiang Mei smiled in response. "We shall exchange a few pointers then."