The arrival of the people from the Sword Sect did not cause much of a stir at the scene.

After all, many people didn’t know of the Sword Sect’s existence.

Around the battlefield…

As soon as John Doe arrived, He Gaoming and the others monitored the situation at the battlefield nervously.

Qingshan rose to his feet, which brought the attention of all the spectators to the two of them, who confronted each other in the center of the sandy area.

“John Doe.”

Playing with the wooden stick in his hand, Qingshan looked at Fang Qiu with disdain and contempt and said, “Isn’t it too despicable of you to launch a sneak attack before the battle?”

“I was also ambushed last night. Many people saw it.”

Fang Qiu didn’t explain but directly told him what had happened.

“Hmm?”

Qingshan froze.

Looking at John Doe, he immediately frowned.

He pondered for a while.

Qingshan took out his mobile phone in front of Fang Qiu and logged into the Wulin online forum. At a mere glance, he saw countless posts and even photos of John Doe being ambushed.

The attacker in the photos looked very similar to him.

This situation came as a surprise…

Qingshan’s frown grew deeper.

“I didn’t do it, but I don’t want to take advantage of you. I can give you enough time to recover.”

Putting away his phone, Qingshan said to Fang Qiu.

“I didn’t spring the surprise attack on you either.”

Fang Qiu smiled carelessly and said, “I don’t need to recuperate because I won’t lose even in my current condition!”

“Ha ha.”

Qingshan laughed out loud.

He didn’t expect John Doe to be even more arrogant than him.

He could feel that John Doe was indeed not at his peak state, but in his eyes, John Doe was just an ordinary ninth-class Martial Superior with two opened meridians, not even a Half-step Guru. How could he have the cheek to brag? He was such a snooty sort of person.

Besides Qingshan…

All the onlookers who heard John Doe’s words were startled.

“He will not lose?”

“John Doe has too high an opinion of himself!”

“That’s right. Qingshan is a guru who can crush him effortlessly, like eliminating an ant. He should beg Qingshan not to give him a hard time, but how dare he claim victory in advance.”

No one in Wulin believed him.

In their eyes, Fang Qiu was bound to lose with his far inferior strength.

Unexpectedly…

Unlike these people…

The four patriarchs and Master Numinous heard John Doe’s proud remark. Their eyes lit up as they exchanged glances.

He Gaoming and the others were abuzz with excitement when they heard his remark.

They firmly believed in John Doe.

John Doe had never failed to honor his promise!

If he said it, he would make it happen.

“Boom!”

After receiving John Doe’s confident declaration, the young man spearheaded a full-blown attack without a moment’s hesitation. The terrifying momentum of energy in his body erupted.

In an instant, the overbearing and hair-raising Qi power blew the sand under his feet everywhere as if he had blown up a layer of the ground.

With the streak of pink light rushing out of him, he looked as frightening as a killing god who possessed limitless momentum. “Then let me see how capable you are. Let’s show everyone who is the best in the younger generation!” He said to Fang Qiu with a disdainful smile on his face.

“Is this your purpose in challenging me?”

In the face of the powerful momentum of his opponent, Fang Qiu didn’t look tense at all. Instead, he asked this question nonchalantly.

“Sure.”

Qingshan nodded matter-of-factly and said, “You are recognized as the strongest among the younger generation in Wulin, so I want to challenge you.”

“Challenge me? It’s simple.”

Fang Qiu shook his head and said, “You can challenge me directly, but why did you challenge the others one by one?”

“To prove myself!”

His eyes fixed on John Doe, Qingshan said without reservation, “I had cultivated for 19 years before becoming a guru. Since I chose to come down from the mountain, I have to prove how peerless I am. I have no intention of bringing any damage to Wulin, but I have to gain resounding fame in Wulin!”

“Above all, the first place of the younger generation in Wulin is mine!”

“Becoming a guru in 19 years?!”

This astounding announcement shocked everyone present.

“He became a guru in such a short time!”

All those who hadn’t become gurus felt they had practiced in vain for all these years.

As for the few gurus at the scene, they were all smiling bitterly.

It was too much of a blow!

Fang Qiu heard his desire.

But he shook his head, saying, “It’s nothing but an empty reputation.”

“An empty reputation could do me good.”

Qingshan said, “At least it sounds awesome.”

“I’ve paid so much. Now I need to prove my effort. Is there a problem?”

Fang Qiu grinned at his words.

Fang Qiu looked at him as if Qingshan was an ignorant child and said, “Some people have paid much more than you have!”

This meaningful sentence came out of Fang Qiu’s mouth.

Hearing that, everyone immediately shifted their attention to John Doe.

They felt there was a hidden meaning in his words but couldn’t figure out exactly what it was for the moment.

“Who is your master?”

Since the information Qingshan revealed confirmed the guess in his heart, Fang Qiu did not hesitate and asked directly, “Can we meet?”

“Defeat me first.”

Qingshan chuckled and said, “I’ve been holding back for so long before coming down the mountain. I have to demonstrate my power first. At least, I should get the first place for fun.”

“Okay.”

Fang Qiu answered and raised his right hand.

The Divine Sword immediately took shape in his palm.

The Divine Sword came into view.

The young man looked at it with a sparkle in his eye.

He had long heard that John Doe had a Divine Sword, but this was the first time he had seen it. He didn’t expect it to appear out of thin air like this.

The Divine Sword appeared on the scene.

Meanwhile, Fang Qiu activated his internal Qi.

“Bang!”

A compelling aura of energy exploded.

Under Fang Qiu’s control, the surging energy coursed through his body directly and flowed into the Divine Sword.

The internal Qi flooded into the sword.

In no time, the astral energy of the sword erupted from the Divine Sword. It looked sharp and threatening before their eyes. The scene looked particularly creepy.

In terms of Qi power…

Fang Qiu was no match for Qingshan.

Even though Fang Qiu’s Qi power was suppressed, the penetrating astral energy of the sword which broke out of his Divine Sword was not weak. Everyone could sense that when it confronted Qingshan’s strong Qi power.

This time…

Qingshan didn’t let his opponent attack first.

When he felt the highly intense astral energy of the sword in John Doe’s sword, Qingshan’s face turned slightly serious. It was because he knew the astral energy of the sword could severely wound him or even cut him into two pieces, and he could barely defend himself against it.

“Fight!”

He let out a deep shout.

With a wave of his right hand, Qingshan wielded the light-red stick, which he swung at Fang Qiu with all his might like a heavy hammer.

“Clang!”

The long sword rose and emitted a roar like the cry of a dragon.

Fang Qiu brandished the long sword in his hand and slashed it directly at the incoming wooden stick.

“Bang!”

There was a loud thump.

At the moment of collision, both of them were knocked back.

In the next moment…

They moved almost at the same time, leaving only residual shadows behind. In the blink of an eye, they collided fiercely again. The long sword and the wooden stick kept clashing violently with each other.

Centered on the place where they hurtled into each other, beams of energy Qi repeatedly shot out in all directions.

In the Gobi Desert, these rays of energy Qi swept past the incomparably hard rock layers and created many deep slits.

Fang Qiu scrutinized one fissure closely.

It was so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom.

In the distance…

Everyone nervously watched them fight ferociously as if witnessing a gigantic and terrifying storm. The sword Qi which flew all over the sky whistled and surged madly in all directions, and the scene seemed particularly scary.

Undoubtedly…

If anyone rushed into their battlefield, he would get cut into pieces by the terrifying energy Qi if he did not take care!

On the battlefield…

“He is indeed formidable.”

After Qingshan exchanged a few moves with John Doe, his expression turned increasingly severe.

For the moment, he could pin John Doe down.

However, the feeling of having the upper hand seemed unreal.

Every time he intended to push harder, he felt John Doe’s strength suddenly increase when John Doe retaliated. Then Qingshan would lose the dominant position that he just got when he suppressed his mighty opponent.

Moreover…

The strangest thing was…

John Doe’s strength had just reached the ninth class with two opened meridians, but he could compete with Qingshan in strength and speed. John Doe was even a little faster.

Because of his greater strength and faster pace, John Doe could withstand his constant blows.

“How is this possible? How can a ninth-class practitioner with two opened meridians have such tremendous strength and speed? He appears to be as competent as a guru!”

Qingshan was secretly shocked.

But on the other side…

Fang Qiu’s face looked a little gloomy.

He encountered an unforeseen incident!

Before the challenge…

Without Qingshan on his mind, Fang Qiu had been cultivating while he mined in the ancient ruin. The Qi of Heaven and Earth was so rich that his strength had already reached the ninth-class Completion Realm with two opened meridians in the jade mine. His internal Qi was abundant enough. With only a little bit of enlightenment, he could easily break through and become a Half-step Guru.

Fang Qiu had made a breakthrough once so that he could achieve a new level at any time. Yet, he had refrained from breaking through so he could build a more solid foundation.

To his great surprise…

The moment he fought with Qingshan, the sense of making a breakthrough emerged, despite the fact that he had been suppressing it all this time.

It was beyond his control.

After all, almost every breakthrough and improvement during the past two years had been achieved through fighting. Now that a fight had broken out, Fang Qiu was not in control of his body’s natural reaction.

This situation made things a little awkward for Fang Qiu.

If this continued, it probably wouldn’t be long before he broke through. What should he do?

For a moment, Fang Qiu couldn’t think of a good way to deal with the emergency, so he could only continue to suppress his rival. Then he wielded the long sword in his hand and began applying the ancient swordsmanship moves he had learned from the little puppet.

“Whiz, whiz, whiz…”

The sword humming sounded incomparable for a moment.

Streaks of extremely sharp astral energy from the sword kept erupting from the sword, which then collided violently against the wooden stick in Qingshan’s hand.

In the distance…

Sword Fanatic, who had been watching on the periphery, suddenly froze when he saw John Doe’s ancient swordsmanship moves. His eyes glowed as if he had seen something extremely tempting.

Patriarchs of the four families and Master Numinous exclaimed in unison.

“Fantastic swordsmanship moves.”

“These sword moves are surprisingly ingenious!”

“Sure enough, John Doe had been hiding his strength the whole time.”

Diwu Mingchuan narrowed his eyes and said, “His swordsmanship moves are more exquisite than any swordsmanship style in Wulin today. This boy has been keeping it a secret and has never used it until now. I suppose he must have grasped many even better skills. Look at his performance in the battle. Although slightly weaker, he handles his strong challenger with skill and ease.”

“In this way, this battle is going to be very interesting!”