Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 67 - 58: Blame-Shifting Queen Shen Qingming

Chapter 67: Chapter 58: Blame-Shifting Queen Shen Qingming

After half an hour.

Shen Qingming finally arrived at the last battle of the trilogy.

The girl was slightly panting, looking at the opponent in front of her, who was similar in age and height, but with very different body curves, her heart was filled with vigilance.

Zhang Zhixi, an Independent Cultivator from the folk, broke the Wind Barrier at the age of twelve, and reached the Peak of the Wind-Rising Realm at fourteen. Her cultivation talent was well-known in the vast Qingyun City, comparable to many aristocratic children. Despite her grassroots background, her self-striving background won her considerable popularity, although at the same time, her shrewd, versatile style sparked considerable controversy. But in recent years, when talking about self-reliance in Qingyun City, Zhang Zhixi would usually come to people’s minds.

It can be said she was once an idol encouraging civilians and Independent Cultivators to work hard and pursue progress. During Shen Qingming’s years of silence, she also longed for this talented civilian peer, Zhang Zhixi.

So when she truly stood in front of her, holding a Coral Treasure Sword, with her Sword Intent high-spirited, Shen Qingming’s heart was rather complicated.

On one hand, Shen Qingming was indignant about Zhang Zhixi’s repeated changes in demeanor; on the other hand, she could understand the other’s predicament. The golden sign of self-reliance, which she depended on for survival, was being shaken by a peer from a great family; it was no wonder she’d be anxious.

She was also highly vigilant.

Zhang Zhixi’s True Essence Realm had indeed regressed. The Reverse Fortune Technique caused her to fall from the Peak of the Wind-Rising Realm to the Early Stage, leading to a significant loss of vitality. But in just a mere month and a half, she had remarkably recovered to the Late Stage of the Wind-Rising Realm. This resilience was truly admirable. And as someone who almost broke through to the Cloud Surge Realm, Zhang Zhixi’s real strength was definitely above the Late Stage of the Wind-Rising Realm.

The Moving Mountain Club arranged for such a person to be the last rotating member of the level-up match, somewhat indicating a stricter standard. Shen Qingming indeed did not have full confidence.

Earlier, she’d already consecutively defeated two Late Stage Wind-Rising Realm testers. The process went smoothly, but it also took a considerable toll, with her inner True Essence strength decreasing by one third, and her Divine Sense somewhat scattered, though her body’s Qi Blood remained full and boiling, showing no signs of fatigue.

If it were a fight to the death, relying solely on the physical boost of the Immovable Tyrant Body, Shen Qingming had enough confidence to trade injuries to take down Zhang Zhixi. However, the club’s level-up certification was determined by hit points. If the Coral Sword pierced her a few times, even if she could endure the pain to continue fighting, the instructor referee would deem her defeated.

The situation was quite unfavorable. Yet, with the situation at this point, there was no retreat, only the challenge ahead.

With the instructor’s order, the battle officially commenced.

——

At the same time, Wang Jiu temporarily set aside his evaluation of the Hundred Schools Swordsmanship from Xiangzhou, and carefully observed his mount’s final match.

Wang Jiu was also quite looking forward to the outcome of this battle.

Based on his observations, under the club’s level-up match rules, in her current state, Shen Qingming was clearly no match for Zhang Zhixi. She would likely have her Sword Path discerned by Zhang Zhixi and be scored mid-passage during the seventy-sixth to seventy-eighth rounds.

Objectively speaking, Zhang Zhixi was indeed an outstanding Sword Cultivator. Although she bore obvious traces of significant external assistance and had flaws in her Cultivation Technique, affecting her long-term potential, at least at this point, she was slightly stronger than Li Chaolu. Moreover, judging by her unique True Essence Fluctuation and the characteristics of the Coral Sword, Zhang Zhixi was definitely a typical arena-type Sword Cultivator—not adept at life-and-death combat but exceptionally skilled at scoring victories in the arena. On a pure point-based battle ground, Shen Qingming was absolutely disadvantaged.

However, there was still a chance to win. Although his mount’s intelligence quotient was only 3.3, and the Nine Dragon Sword Heart was incompatible with the Immovable Tyrant Body, as a descendant of the Jiu Immortal Venerables and his Celestial Divine Sword Spirit’s mount, how could she lose to a mere arena girl!

With a hint of amusement, Wang Jiu brought a stool from a corner of the hall and sat at the edge of the martial arena, anticipating his mount’s performance.

In no time, the battle commenced, and the two girls instantly engulfed each other in two balls of sword light, engaging in battle.

Generally speaking, even for a Wind-Rising Realm Sword Cultivator, having set foot in the Immortal Domain, the battleground space could not be smaller than a hundred feet in diameter. But within the grand hall, the space was greatly compressed, and the two could not maneuver beyond ten feet. Every detail of the battle could be seen by the onlookers.

Wang Jiu stared intently, observing every move of the two young girls while continuously simulating future changes in his mind. In the blink of an eye, he calculated thousands of possible developments of the battle.

Then Wang Jiu furrowed his brow, lamenting how his computational ability had significantly declined with the destruction of the Sword World—previously, he could simulate at least a billion outcomes in mere moments—while noticing that Shen Qingming, this hopeless case, instead of turning things for the better, rapidly worsened the situation.

By standard simulation, her defeat should have been after seventy-six rounds, but in reality, Zhang Zhixi seized the initiative in the first round and maintained her advantage for three or four subsequent rounds.

If this trend continues, she’ll be defeated by the twentieth round, among the worst of the hundred possible scenarios.

The reason is simple: Shen Qingming has yet to fully adapt after breaking through realms in the past two days, making her control over her power inevitably flawed. Facing ordinary opponents might be manageable, but against Zhang Zhixi, whose Sword Path is astute, she inevitably suffers loss. What’s more, she completely abandoned the swordsmanship I meticulously designed for her, still using the Windchasing Sword to confront the enemy!

This self-humiliating attitude is something Wang Jiu had only seen in some demoness from evil cults before—they loved to deliberately provoke righteous young heroes and willingly get captured, using their Charm Art in interrogation. Back in the Jiuzhou Continent before the Immortal Demon war, countless righteous young heroes had succumbed under such demoness. Even Wang Jiu himself had encountered them, but unfortunately, his Sword Dao wasn’t yet at Great Success, and he rashly killed a demoness with a single strike...

After watching two rounds, Wang Jiu could no longer hold back. Using the Master-Servant Contract, he directly cursed inside Shen Qingming’s mind, "You idiot, fighting fire-element swordsmanship with wind-element Sword Intent!"

Shen Qingming was startled, "Fire-element? Isn’t she using the Coral Sword?"

"Red Coral Essence is a typical forging material of ’Water Fire,’ and can simultaneously accommodate water and fire elements. You must adapt accordingly and not judge blindly. This is written in the Cyan Cloud Natural History Scroll, third volume, page ninety-two. Haven’t you read it?"

"...Who memorizes the entire encyclopedia like you?" Shen Qingming retorted softly and quickly switched her Sword Path, still refusing to use the embarrassingly potent Spirit Cat Swordsmanship. However, the Windchasing Sword suddenly became solid and heavy, completely abandoning the swift and airy characteristics of its Sword Path. Her True Essence ceased rapidly circulating, shifting to brute force to wield the long sword.

Though the change was abrupt, leading to Shen Qingming being continuously pressured by Zhang Zhixi’s strong attacks, she managed to stabilize her situation afterward, as if each strike contained additional power from nowhere.

This time, it was Zhang Zhixi’s turn to be caught off guard, with Shen Qingming using straightforward, bold Sword Path to continue breaking her Coral Sword, scattering her Sword Path into chaos. Zhang Zhixi looked incredulously at her slightly numb wrist and cursed inwardly, "Damn brute."

Her True Essence Realm was already one level higher than her opponent’s, with the Five Elements Techniques complementing her power, theoretically doubling Shen Qingming’s output for each strike, which ensured an early advantage. Yet, just as she was about to drive her opponent into a corner, Shen Qingming suddenly experienced a burst of strength, seemingly drugged, instead overwhelming her, causing her to frantically struggle.

Fortunately, her hard power was still firmly dominant, especially since Shen Qingming’s swordsmanship was overly clumsy—the Windchasing Sword was entirely inadequate within the Wind-Rising Realm. By steadily asserting herself, fully leveraging her Swordsmanship sophistication, victory remained firmly within her grasp, predicted within tens of moves to defeat the enemy.

However, just as she transformed the nature of her True Essence, preparing to switch swordsmanship, Shen Qingming’s Sword Path also shifted, completely departing from the Windchasing Sword. She unleashed three consecutive unreasonably ferocious sword strikes with a blunt sword meant for sparring, hacking down like a massive axe, possessing an unyielding momentum reminiscent of Mount Tai’s imposing presence, seeming unstoppable like a battlefield charge of thousands of horses and troops. Zhang Zhixi hurriedly drew her sword to block, but only heard three loud metallic bangs, her arm throbbing painful, involuntarily retreating several steps, nearly falling.

Meanwhile, many in the audience widened their eyes in disbelief.

Shen Qingming’s transformed swordsmanship surprisingly resembled Mortal Martial Arts—the Eight Gates Swordsmanship widespread in military camps, merely eight techniques in total from start to finish, simple to learn without any finesse. But at this moment, combined with Shen Qingming’s suddenly amplified force, it fully displayed the bold ferocity of Military Array Swordsmanship, exploiting the gap during Zhang Zhixi’s swordmanship switch, achieving an extraordinary result, using the Mortal Sword to repel Zhang Zhixi’s Immortal Sword.

Only Wang Jiu continued frowning, mercilessly criticizing inside Shen Qingming’s mind, "The third sword should have been a step forward with pursuit, combined with body technique, offering a thirty percent chance of disarming her sword directly. Remaining stationary was giving her a chance to recover."

Shen Qingming argued, "The standard move of the Eight Gates Sword is like that! I was quick-witted enough to invoke simple Mortal Martial Arts to achieve unexpected victory, that’s already clever! How could I possibly conceive of improvised moves? Don’t be too harsh!"

"Then why didn’t you think of the Tiger Slaying Sword? It’s even easier than the Eight Gates Swordmanship, its manual sitting right on top of your bookshelf, practiced proficiently since you were six. Just now by utilizing the Tiger Slaying Eight Techniques combined with the brute force of the Immovable Tyrant Body, you could have directly disarmed her long sword."

Shen Qingming was stunned by his words, involuntarily simulating what would happen by replacing Eight Gates Sword with Tiger Slaying Sword... Frustrated, she exclaimed, "Seriously, I completely didn’t think of that!"

However, such a momentary distraction exposed a flaw in her Sword Path, allowing Zhang Zhixi to seize the opportunity and nearly disarm her long sword. Shen Qingming hastily rolled aside to evade but ended up covered in dust, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"Damn you, Ah Jiu! It’s all your fault!"