C20 Before Departure

To strike with a blade? Lei Ao furrowed his brows. The three blades on the Absolute Saber Cliff were used for his cultivation and he did not take them away before he descended the mountain. As for his own blood saber, it could not be revealed so easily.

"Someone, go to the Hidden Blade Pavilion and bring that Snow Edge over." Saber Emperor saw that Lei Ao was in a difficult situation and immediately ordered his men to send him the sabre.

The treasured saber, Snow Edge, was forged by the grand master after he refined it in a snowy mountain during his youth and obtained a piece of ten thousand year snow crystal after melting it.

This saber was extremely cold. Combined with the Seven Styles Sky Blade Art, it could make the blade's aura even sharper. It was a rarely seen Tyrant grade Divine Weapon.

In the world of cultivation, divine weapons were divided into three grades: A grade, Tyrant grade, and Saint grade. Every level was also divided into four grades: Middle, Lower, and Ultimate Fourth.

The Snow Edge Saber was a high-grade Tyrant grade weapon, the moment the Sect Leader attacked such a treasure, it even caused Zhao Lin's eyes to go red with envy, and his imposing manner unknowingly rose as well.

"Good saber." After receiving the saber, Lei Ao's finger lightly flicked the blade, making a crisp sound. The saber was a good saber, but the cold aura of the saber was too heavy and did not suit his personality.

"Are you ready?" The more Zhao Lin looked at Lei Ao, the more he disliked him.

"Alright, you make the first move." Lei Ao drew his blade and hid it behind his back, then stood there silently as he waited for Zhao Lin to attack. He didn't even put on the stance from when he executed the saber art.

"That's what you said, don't regret it later." Zhao Lin felt that he'd been underestimated, and he attacked with 80% of his strength at the first strike.

This move of the first move of Skyblade Fan, Zhao Lin, had already completely attained its quintessence. The blade aura had only just started when it stirred up a gust of fierce wind within the Martial Arts Practice Grounds, and even the Sect Leader secretly nodded.

Lei Ao seemed extremely calm when faced with Zhao Lin who approached in full fury, and he only moved when the blade was less than three inches away from him.

His figure flashed, and the instant he executed the Ghost Steps, an afterimage was left on the ground that was slashed by Zhao Lin, and before he had a chance to be happy, a wave of coldness assaulted his neck.

Unknowingly, Lei Ao's Snow Edge had already been placed on his neck.

One move! For the past few years, he had been hailed as the blade faction's most outstanding genius, unable to withstand a single move from Lei Ao.

Not only was this result impossible for Zhao Lin to accept, even the group of elders were inexplicably shocked. Logically speaking, although Zhao Lin's strength was inferior to Lei Ao's by three levels, but compared to someone below the Dao Seeking stage, the difference shouldn't be too great.

If Lei Ao executed the third move of Skyblade to defeat Zhao Lin, I'm sure no one would be surprised, but Lei Ao didn't. He didn't even use a single move.

"You've gone too far with your blade. You won't be able to withdraw your attack in time against the enemy's counterattack." Lei Ao stopped there, and at the same time, he pointed out Zhao Lin's shortcomings with good intentions.

"You don't need to teach me a lesson." Zhao Lin wasn't the least bit grateful as he roared. "I refuse to accept this, I'm only momentarily careless. I still haven't executed my strongest move."

The strongest move was only the second move of Skyblade. It posed no threat at all to Lei Ao, who had already mastered the third move.

The Sect Leader lightly sighed. Even though this Zhao Lin's natural talent wasn't bad, his character was not calm enough. With this mentality, he would be able to easily defeat even someone of the same strength.

It would be good for him to suffer a little, so that he wouldn't be arrogant all day.

Seeing that the Sovereign did not intend to stop the martial competition, Lei Ao could only say: "Since that's the case, then make your move."

I cannot lose, I am the blade faction's most outstanding disciple, I definitely cannot lose to him. Zhao Lin forced himself to calm down and assumed the posture of Heavenly Saber's Second Form.

This time, Lei Ao did not dodge. Instead, he raised his blade to block the incoming attack, but instead used the first move.

"How is this possible …?" How could the first move defeat the second? " Zhao Lin was stupefied. The second move he executed at full strength was actually easily broken by Lei Ao with the first move.

"Each of the five moves of the Skyblade Style have different characteristics. Perhaps the later the moves, the greater the power. However, it does not mean that the first move is inferior to the other moves."

Lei Ao knew that the blade faction only had the five moves of the Sky Blade Martial School, the last two forms were something even the Sect Leader had just received and had not started imparting yet.

"You're right, Zhao Lin, you haven't comprehended the true meaning of the five moves of the Sky Blade Sect from the beginning." The first style is the fastest, and you've also made the same mistake twice. As Lei Ao pointed out earlier, when you made your move you had used too much force, otherwise, even if your move had been broken, you wouldn't have been defeated in one move. "

The Saber Emperor's face hardened and he said sternly, "If you can't even see your own shortcomings clearly and the opinions of the bystanders cannot be accepted, how can arrogant people take on the heavy responsibility within the sect? "Think about it when you get back."

The corners of Zhao Lin's mouth moved, he wanted to say something but was unable to say it out, and he withdrew with an unwilling expression.

"We're leaving tomorrow. After we depart, we don't want any more of these independent thoughts to appear, and our sect also has a reason for letting Lei Ao become the chief disciple. Anyone of you who disagrees can go up and challenge him."

Along with the words of the Saber Emperor descending, the second challenger quickly leapt onto the arena, Zhao Lin's defeat didn't cause these people to feel afraid.

The one who entered the arena this time was the disciple of Shi Yuan, Huang Hao. Although his talent wasn't bad, he didn't have the fortune like Zhao Lin, and he had to cultivate in the medicinal field for three years before he could start.

In actuality, when he joined five years ago, he only cultivated for two years, and was one year inferior to Zhao Lin, but his strength had already reached the sixth level of the Nascent Soul Stage.

Lei Ao had always been grateful towards Shi Yuan's kindness. After he found out that Huang Hao was Shi Yuan's disciple, he politely clasped his hands and gestured for him to make a move.

Huang Hao stammered: "It's not that I'm unconvinced with Brother Lei, I just want to ask Brother Lei for some pointers on my inadequacies."

This fellow was being too honest. Lei Ao smiled wryly inside.

Since Shi Yuan wanted to give him pointers, Lei Ao would try his best to win over Shi Yuan for Shi Yan's sake.

This Huang Hao had a deep foundation and wasn't as impatient as Zhao Lin, but he was too steady. The five moves he executed lacked the most important domineering aura and were completely unable to display its true might.

After ten moves, Huang Hao repeatedly used the first two moves five times. Lei Ao stopped.

"Your attack style is too formal, and you don't know how to adapt. Although your moves are calm, they lack momentum and can't display half of their power."

Huang Hao's face turned red and said: "Master often says that way too, but I'm too stupid. I can't change this weakness."

"This is related to your personality. I can't help you much, but when you make your move, you might as well imagine your opponent as someone who has a deep grudge against you. Perhaps, that might be able to increase its power through hatred."

Towards this sort of honest person, Lei Ao was powerless to change his character.

After Huang Hao left the stage, the seven other disciples that were in the same class as him went onstage. Lei Ao also pointed out their flaws. These were the insights that old man Skyblade had gained while teaching him, otherwise, with his experience, he wouldn't have been able to see through these flaws.

After the challenge, the sect head also confirmed their status as Lei Ao as the chief disciple. The sect head told them to disperse and rest. Tomorrow morning, someone would bring them to a large city in the center of the Immortal Alliance to participate in the once a year Hidden Dragon Rank competition.

In this competition, Lei Ao revealed that the blade faction did not have any movement techniques. Even though many people in the sect were envious, the sect head did not ask for Lei Ao to hand over his cultivation method.

Everyone had their own life-saving move, and even the sect was unable to force them. If they could really obtain it, then Old Man Skyblade would definitely make the necessary arrangements. But since he did not do so, it meant that this was not something that the blade faction could touch.

Including Lei Ao, there were a total of four people who represented the blade faction in this Hidden Dragon Rank competition.

Two of them were Zhao Lin and Huang Hao. The last one was called Ye Fan, and was also the youngest. He was only seventeen years old, and had entered the academy a day after Lei Ao, but he was only fourteen at the time.

To be able to reach the abnormal level at the age of 14, not only did he have high potential, his body fitness level was also very strong. The sect head had once admitted that Ye Fan's talent wasn't any worse than Lei Ao's. What he lacked was just a fortuitous encounter like Lei Ao's.

Ye Fan had only joined the blade faction because he wanted to stand out and let his family live a good life. Perhaps because he was too young, he didn't like to talk.

During normal times when he was free, he would always like to silently practice his saber by himself, allowing his mental state to advance at a godly speed. His strength was only slightly lower than Zhao Lin's, and one stage higher than Huang Hao's, and this was even because he was young and inexperienced.

He had a much greater chance of growth than Zhao Lin, and was the one with the most potential besides Lei Ao. The Saber Emperor intended to formally accept him as a disciple in a few years.

Before he left, the Saber Emperor called Lei Ao over and told him about the situation of the disciples from various sects and clans that were participating in the war.