Chapter 1021: Not Playing Anymore

The situation was almost one-sided.

Under the powerful sword qi of Xiao Wuchen, the first disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the disciples of the Taixu Sect had almost no room for counterattack.

Even Linghu Xiao was fundamentally no match.

Xiao Wuchen only needed a few sparse sword strikes to completely suppress Linghu Xiao.

Each sword was ancient and grand, formed naturally, possessing a charm that harmonized with the Heavenly Way and merged into the void.

Each sword carried majestic spiritual power condensed into potent sword qi.

With each sword, Linghu Xiao had to give his all.

Every time Xiao Wuchen unleashed a sword, Linghu Xiao retreated a step.

Xiao Wuchen, clad in a white dao robe with sword patterns, had a handsome and indifferent expression, a straight posture, and an elegant demeanor.

And the one who had been held in high regard, rarely seen in five hundred years, Chongxu's foremost sword dao prodigy, Linghu Xiao, could only grit his teeth and endure the bitter struggle, appearing extremely embarrassed.

Gone was his previous appearance of sweeping with sword qi and greatly killing all sides.

At this moment, the crowd finally understood intuitively.

Precisely, what a true prodigy was.

What a true sword dao genius was.

Fame may have its illusions.

But the sword does not lie.

As long as they engaged, who was strong and who was weak, superiority was immediately decided.

Looking at Linghu Xiao's embarrassed state, the crowd in their hearts felt somewhat emotional, but there was not too much ridicule or adding insult to injury.

They knew Linghu Xiao was already strong enough.

In the previous sword discussion, he had already proven his strength.

Only, Xiao Wuchen was even stronger, that's all.

The four great sects, after all, were the four great sects.

The first in sword dao among the four sects, the first disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Xiao Wuchen, was a figure floating in the clouds.

While the geniuses of the eight great gates, even if stronger, only stood on the mountain peak, that's all.

Sword dao was thus.

In terms of cultivation, Xiao Wuchen was also still a cut above.

Xiao Wuchen was at Foundation Establishment peak.

While Linghu Xiao was only slightly stronger than a general Foundation Establishment late stage.

Strictly speaking, the Foundation Establishment realm is only divided into three stages: early, middle, and late. After further breakthrough in cultivation, it becomes Golden Core.

But condensing a core is too difficult.

Most Foundation Establishment cultivators, unless they have particularly good luck, will be stuck before Golden Core for a period of time.

This period can be as short as a year, or as long as several decades or a hundred years.

Many people are stuck for a lifetime.

Thus, between Foundation Establishment late stage and Golden Core, there is a stage that varies by person, but is generally relatively long.

During this period, cultivators will still continuously cultivate, their spiritual power will slowly enhance, and gradually accumulate, until a solid foundation is accumulated, possessing the opportunity to breakthrough Golden Core...

Or, having already attempted to breakthrough Golden Core, but failed.

Or, the natal magic treasure embryo has already formed, but the Golden Core has not condensed...

The above stages are uniformly called Foundation Establishment peak.

Meaning above Foundation Establishment, but not yet Golden Core complete.

Xiao Wuchen was in this realm, but Linghu Xiao was not.

Therefore, in cultivation, there was also a disparity, further intensifying the disadvantage in sword dao.

In the sword discussion field, Linghu Xiao was no match for Xiao Wuchen, his actions embarrassed.

The situations of others were even worse.

The Heavenly Sword Sect team was one of the most top-level teams in the sword discussion assembly. Besides Xiao Wuchen, the other four Heavenly Sword Sect disciples were also not weak.

The strengths of these four people would be slightly inferior to Linghu Xiao.

Compared to Ouyang Xuan, they were stronger by some margin.

Compared to Cheng Mo and Situ Jian, they were much stronger.

This was a complete crushing in "hard strength" between sect disciples.

Therefore, under the terrifying sword qi unleashed by the five members of the Heavenly Sword Sect, everyone from the Taixu Sect was beaten back and forth, having an extremely difficult time.

Mo Hua's situation was similarly not good.

With his teammates completely suppressed, his spells could not play too big a role either.

He could only rely on his body movement to "barely preserve his life" under the swords of the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples.

But this "barely preserving" was fundamentally meaningless.

The situation was very obvious.

The Taixu Sect was steadily sliding towards the edge of defeat.

There were also some audience members who were expecting some "miracles", expecting someone to turn the tide and change the situation.

But unfortunately, no miracle occurred.

The weak would simply lose.

Linghu Xiao was the first to be defeated.

He desperately endured under Xiao Wuchen's sword, trying to find a turnaround, but in the end, things still went against his wishes and he was unable to turn the tide.

Under the double disparity of cultivation and sword dao, Linghu Xiao fought to exhaustion and was finally split in the face by the indifferent Xiao Wuchen, who ended him with a single sword.

Linghu Xiao died under Xiao Wuchen's sword.

The situation then took a sharp turn.

Others also began to exhaust and were defeated one after another...

The watching cultivators then fell silent.

Many people had their expressions of anticipation recede, revealing bored looks.

They had originally thought this would be a field of heavenly thunder hooking ground fire, a fiercely intense matchup where prodigies met and contended sharply.

Even if one team was destined to lose, it would definitely contribute a field of splendidly fought prodigy matchups.

The sword dao geniuses of the Heavenly Sword Sect and Taixu Sect would also have a "will reach the absolute peak" pinnacle duel.

But the result greatly disappointed them.

The Taixu Sect lost too thoroughly; from beginning to end, there was almost no trace of suspense.

Linghu Xiao was also completely unable to compare with Xiao Wuchen, the first person of Heavenly Sword.

Let alone that Mo Hua.

At this time, someone gloated:

"The Taixu Sect, formed by the merger of three sects, is just this?"

"Three sects of the 'eight great gates' level, merged together, and the result is still not enough for one sect of Heavenly Sword Sect to chop, really funny..."

"Three sects merged, merged into nothing."

"Thinking from another perspective, they merged the sects to reach this level. If they hadn't merged, they would definitely be even weaker..."

"The disparity is indeed too big, there's no way to fight..."

"Wasted anticipation..."

"Boring..."

"The strongest team of the Taixu Sect, undefeated until now, is also going to lose this time..."

"Definitely losing, everyone is dead, only Mo Hua is left. He's a mixed bag, who can he kill?"

"Let alone Xiao Wuchen, any of the other four people in the Heavenly Sword Sect team, if put into the eight great gates, would be top disciples, not someone Mo Hua can 'touch porcelain' with."

Someone also joked: "Don't say it like that, perhaps this Mo Hua can still fight one against five?"

The crowd was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

But after laughing, they also felt it was meaningless.

The Taixu Sect performed too poorly; even if they "ridiculed", it was a bit uninteresting.

The only somewhat interesting thing was still Mo Hua:

"This time, this Mo Hua, should die once, right?"

This was the only thing in this sword discussion match, which had gone from "full of anticipation" to "boredom", that could still raise people's interest.

It even still made people look forward to it.

Someone agreed: "The Taixu Sect is going to lose, he will necessarily die in the hands of the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples."

"Good! Good!" Many cultivators clapped and cheered.

"Finally someone can kill Mo Hua once."

"It's a pity that dying in the hands of the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples doesn't count as too great a humiliation."

"The Heavenly Sword Sect disciples are, after all, too strong, especially Xiao Wuchen. Dying under their swords just seems a bit... natural?"

"Less interesting..."

"It's best in that kind of fatal 'key match', where neither side can afford to lose, then they fight desperately for victory, evenly matched, you come and I go, fighting stirringly, hating to beat each other's brains out..."

"Then at the most critical moment, Mo Hua is careless and exposes a flaw, is humiliated and killed, the Taixu Sect is completely defeated, Mo Hua becomes an eternal sinner, nailed to the pillar of shame, becoming the talk of thousands who ridicule..."

"Such a death is only worthy of Mo Hua."

"Pity..."

"Yes, ah, let this boy off cheaply."

Someone else said: "Forget it, be content with what one has. In this lifetime, being able to see this boy Mo Hua die once is enough to have no regrets; one cannot demand too much."

"Makes sense."

"The first match of the earth rank, he lost, died once, it can also be a 'good start'."

"Moreover, the earth rank has just begun; there are still many matches and hard matches in the subsequent sword discussions."

"Mo Hua will have many opportunities to die."

"There are also many good shows."

"Today is just an appetizer..."

Thinking like this, the crowd's mood instantly improved, and their gazes towards the sword discussion field also became expectant.

They were waiting to see exactly how Mo Hua would "die"...

In the sword discussion field.

Mo Hua's figure was like water, still escaping.

Two prodigies of the Heavenly Sword Sect were chasing and trying to kill him.

Xiao Wuchen remained unmoved, only watching from the side.

It seemed that killing Mo Hua was not worth him making a move.

And the other two Heavenly Sword Sect disciples, with ice-cold gazes, stood by with their swords, waiting. As long as Mo Hua exposed a slight flaw, they would strike with a single sword, killing Mo Hua.

Their strategy was clear and straightforward.

Wanting to surpass Mo Hua in body movement alone was not that simple.

They were top prodigies of the four great sects, their strength very strong.

But this strength was mainly in cultivation and combat power; it didn't mean their body movement was also absolutely top-notch.

At least, in terms of body movement alone, they would not be stronger than the Xiaoyao Sect's prodigy Feng Zichen.

In terms of sword arts alone, they were not necessarily faster than Feng Zichen's wind sword.

Even Feng Zichen was unable to catch Mo Hua and kill him with a single sword.

They also could not necessarily do so.

Therefore, they could only continuously chase and kill with swords, giving Mo Hua "pressure", forcefully exhausting him, and forcing him to make mistakes.

If Mo Hua made mistakes and his body movement exposed a flaw, the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples who were eyeing him would take his life with a single sword.

Even if he didn't make mistakes, he would also be exhausted of spiritual power.

Spiritual power was the foundation of cultivators; all dao methods were urged by spiritual power.

Even body cultivation dao methods needed to use spiritual power as a guide to stimulate the potential of the flesh.

As long as spiritual power was exhausted, no matter how clever the body movement, it would become "rootless water", difficult to continue.

Weak spiritual power was also one of Mo Hua's most fatal shortcomings as a spirit cultivator.

Mo Hua sighed.

He knew it had come to this point.

Without Linghu Xiao and Cheng Mo with him, he indeed felt a bit "at a loss".

His body movement was indeed good, but this was a sword discussion; no matter how good his body movement was, he couldn't kill people.

He couldn't expect to tire others to death with body movement...

And with his meager spiritual power cycle, the first to be tired to death would definitely be himself.

But Mo Hua also didn't plan to easily admit defeat.

Even if it was the "garbage time" of the sword discussion, he couldn't waste it.

Mo Hua calmed down, cast aside victory and defeat, and then continued to rely on the Passing Water Step to entangle with the Heavenly Sword Sect's disciples.

One was to use the Heavenly Sword Sect's prodigies to further practice his Passing Water Step.

Another was to borrow this opportunity to observe the Heavenly Sword Sect's sword arts, familiarize himself with the Heavenly Sword Sect's sword moves, and accumulate some sword dao experience for the future.

All sword moves and methods in the world, their advantages, disadvantages, and strengths, all had to be accumulated in his heart and become fighting experience.

A mature cultivator needed to learn from these experiences, gain nutrients, and refine out powerful fighting consciousness.

Of course, such entanglement also consumed a huge amount of spiritual power.

Mo Hua's body movement also gradually became clumsy and difficult to maneuver, and the situation was precarious.

Outside the sword discussion field, Elder Zhang stared intently at Mo Hua, his gaze profound, wondering what he was thinking.

The other watching cultivators, upon seeing signs of Mo Hua's defeat, were all greatly delighted.

"About to die..."

"Take a guess, this stinky boy, exactly who will he die in the hands of?"

Not only the audience was guessing.

Even some sect prodigies, holding "Slaughter Mo Orders" in their hands, felt both excited and regretful in their hearts.

Excited that Mo Hua was about to be killed.

And regretful that they were not the ones killing Mo Hua.

Just as all eyes were focused on him.

Mo Hua also felt the time was almost right, reached out and tapped his forehead, shattering his own Dao Discussion Jade, then a blue light flashed, and he just... disappeared.

He wasn't playing anymore.

He withdrew.

...

The Heavenly Sword Sect disciple who had his Tianxing Sword raised high, just about to end Mo Hua with a single sword, immediately froze in place.

The other Heavenly Sword Sect disciples were also somewhat astonished.

Even Xiao Wuchen's expression stalled for a bit.

Outside the Dao Discussion Field, the watching cultivators, who had originally been smiling and full of anticipation, instantly had their expressions stiffen, like statues, frozen in place.

After a good half-day, someone finally dared to say in disbelief:

"Just now... wasn't this boy..."

"Shattered his own Dao Discussion Jade?"

"Then this... counts as him being killed?"

"He himself died, how can it count as being killed?"

"Hiss——"

Sounds of drawing in cold air came one after another.

At the same time, the nameless evil fire in the crowd's hearts also surged uncontrollably.

"This damn thing works too?"

"I'm really... convinced by this little bastard..."

"Can't you just die properly once?"

"I can't anymore, my qi and blood have surged to my brain..."

The Taixu Sect was almost certain to lose, and Mo Hua was also almost certain to die.

The plot that everyone had expected was about to unfold before their eyes.

As a result, this boy shamelessly withdrew by shattering his own Dao Discussion Jade.

He just wouldn't "die" properly once.

The crowd all angrily said:

"I have never seen such a shameless person!"

"Shattering his own Dao Discussion Jade, does he even do this kind of thing?"

"This is a sword discussion, not a true life and death fight. The Dao Discussion Mountain's great array is protecting, yet even so, he doesn't dare to fight to the end with people?"

"A coward is more shameful than a loser!"

"As long as he has a bit of face, he wouldn't do this. Even just having this thought is a heinous crime!"

"Good or bad, he's a prodigy of the Taixu Sect, the chief of Qianxue's Array Dao. If he does this, how will his fellow disciples see him? How will the elders see him? How will the Sect Master see him? How will the ancestor see him?"

"Shouldn't he be ashamed to death?"

"In the entire Taixu Sect, no, in the entire Qianxue state boundary, is there really no one he cares about?"

Public sentiment was excited, and everyone angrily denounced Mo Hua.

In the crowd, Gu Changhuai sighed silently, thinking in his heart that Mo Hua, this boy, was truly worthy of his name; he could always find a tricky angle to make others half-dead with anger...

Of course, Mo Hua was still completely unaware of this point.

To him, shattering his Dao Discussion Jade alone was nothing major.

Moreover, he was accustomed to keeping "life and death" completely under his own control.

Even if he lost, he wanted to withdraw himself.

Letting others split him with a sword always made him feel a bit unsafe.

What if the Dao Discussion Mountain's five-grade great array failed? Then if he took that sword, wouldn't his little life be gone?

Although this was a five-grade array, and still a great array, the probability of failure was negligible, almost impossible.

But Mo Hua was an array master; he only trusted his own arrays.

Even if others' arrays were stronger, they were still others', and he felt they were not very reliable in his heart.

Not blindly worshipping, not blindly trusting.

This was the self-cultivation of an excellent array master.

Therefore, rather than being "killed" and withdrawing, it was safer to shatter his Dao Discussion Jade himself.

As for others, even how the sect saw him, Mo Hua didn't care either.

According to common sense, the sword discussion assembly had a great array protecting it and would not really result in death. Therefore, for most sword discussion disciples, the default requirement was:

"Fight to the end".

What's more, so many sect high-level figures, elders, and fellow disciples were watching.

Fighting to the end and giving their best, even if they lost, they wouldn't be criticized.

But if they shattered their Dao Discussion Jade and fled without fighting, the problem would be big.

A "prodigy" with no courage would be looked down upon by fellow disciples, denied by elders, and by sect high-level figures.

But these gazes of ordinary people were invalid to Mo Hua.

His situation was very special.

Among the same generation in the Taixu Sect, he had quite a bit of "prestige"; no matter what he did, in the eyes of his fellow disciples, he was a "wise and martial" little senior brother.

Many times, the elders of the Taixu Sect even had to look at Mo Hua's attitude when doing things and coax Mo Hua to be happy.

The Taixu Sect Sect Master was very lenient with Mo Hua; after all, he was an "illegitimate child".

The Taixu Sect ancestor was even more doting on Mo Hua; after all, he was his "own grandson".

In the entire Taixu Sect, fundamentally no one managed Mo Hua.

Shattering a Dao Discussion Jade alone was not like blowing up the mountain gate of Taixu Mountain; it was nothing.

Thus, this sword discussion ended just like this.

Mo Hua clearly lost, but he was even more irritating.

The audience was stifling with anger, cursing and leaving, hating that they couldn't drag Mo Hua out and beat him up.

But not everyone was angry at Mo Hua.

In the crowd, there were also many who truly cared about Mo Hua and hoped he would win.

Zhang Lan sat behind the Great Elder, his face unmoved, but his heart silently sighed, deeply regretting:

"In the end, he still lost..."

He had originally wanted to watch Mo Hua show his hand again in the sword discussion assembly and display his great might.

Looking at it now, he had still thought too simply.

The Qianxue sword discussion assembly was indeed worthy of being the top event in Qian state; the prodigies were stronger than one another, truly there were people beyond people, ah...

Even Mo Hua had to lose.

Zhang Lan sighed.

On the other side, at the Shangguan family's viewing platform.

Originally full of anticipation, Yu Er's small face was also somewhat disappointed, and he said in a low voice:

"Brother Mo, lost..."

Wen Renwan's gaze was slightly dim, but she still smiled and rubbed Yu Er's head:

"Victory and defeat are common matters in the military; even your Brother Mo cannot always win, ah..."

Yu Er nodded, but he was still inevitably unhappy.

Wen Renwan smiled and comforted him: "Losing one match is nothing; he will still compete later, and Brother Mo will definitely win back little by little..."

Yu Er's eyes brightened upon hearing this, and he became expectant again, couldn't help but nod seriously and say:

"Um!"

Wen Renwan touched Yu Er's small face, her gaze gentle.

But a layer of faint worry also covered her eyebrows.

She naturally also saw that the disparity between the Taixu Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect was truly too great.

Xiao Wuchen's strength was also truly too strong.

And the Heavenly Sword Sect was only one of the four great sects.

There were at least three other absolute top prodigies at the same level as Xiao Wuchen of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

The subsequent matches would only be more dangerous.

Wanting to win against such absolute top prodigies and gain points from the four great sects was truly... difficult as ascending to heaven.

Wen Renwan also couldn't help but sigh.

Two days later, in the next earth rank sword discussion, Mo Hua's luck was similarly not good.

He encountered Ao Zhan, the strongest disciple of Longding Sect, one of the four great sects, and similarly one of the most top-level prodigies in the Qianxue sword discussion.

The ancestors of the Ao family had the bloodline of industry dragons.

Ao Zhan was the disciple with the highest talent and the bloodline closest to his ancestors in this generation of the Ao family.

His Longding Refining Body Art was also cultivated to be extremely strong.

Relying on his body of indestructible muscles and bones forged by dragon blood, Ao Zhan of Longding Sect was an absolute top prodigy who could be mentioned in the same breath as Xiao Wuchen, the first person of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

In this sword discussion, Mo Hua lost again.

(End of this chapter)