Novel Full Chapter 42: A Crushing Defeat!
Chapter 42: A Crushing Defeat!
Meanwhile, Li Yun’s eyes remained calm, his sword strokes growing sharper with each clash.
’So this is the weight of the high grade mortal rank sword art… yet it only deepens my path.’
The Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art surged through him at the True Meaning stage, every swing of his blade steeped in profound comprehension.
He realized he no longer needed to rely on the three distinct moves of the art. His mastery had surpassed that level. Now, even the most ordinary slash of his sword carried the same devastating weight as those so-called finishing moves.
With every block, with every strike, his understanding grew deeper. His path with the sword grew clearer.
“Nine Burning Suns Sword Art, Fourth Sun!”
Li Xian bellowed, his sword igniting once more. The blazing phantom of a fourth sun descended, the heat distorting the air, the flames roaring as if they could consume heaven and earth. The strike carried a terrifying pressure, enough to make the ground quake.
But Li Yun, who stood at the edge of fully grasping the essence of True Meaning mastery, met it with ease. His Dark Light Sword moved in a clean arc, calm and unhurried, shattering the sun’s blaze like it was nothing more than smoke.
“Fifth Sun! Sixth Sun! Seventh Sun!” Li Xian’s voice thundered with desperation. His blade flared again and again, each strike heavier, faster, more violent than the last. One sun fell, then another, then another, the arena was drowned in light, as though nine days had been summoned into the sky.
Yet to Li Yun, it was meaningless. His Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art at the True Meaning stage was like a river flowing endlessly, unshakable and immovable.
With each sweep of his sword, he blocked and dispersed the burning suns as if swatting away embers. His movements were fluid, elegant, precise, like a master reminding the world of the difference between profound comprehension and shallow mimicry.
If Li Xian had cultivated the Nine Burning Suns Sword Art to Completion stage or beyond, perhaps he might have pressed Li Yun. But with only Advanced stage mastery, his power fell short. Against Li Yun’s True Meaning comprehension, his strikes lacked the weight to truly pierce through.
“Eighth Sun! Ninth Sun!” Li Xian roared in defiance, unleashing the ultimate form of his sword art. His blade tore through the air, and for a heartbeat, it was as if nine blazing suns descended at once. The heat was unbearable. The sky above the arena seemed to collapse under the sheer brilliance of his strike. It was his strongest attack, the culmination of everything he had learned.
The disciples watching held their breath. Even the elders leaned forward, their eyes wide.
At that moment, Li Yun’s eyes snapped open.
The calm, unshakable aura around him ignited. His Dark Light Sword blazed scarlet as he finally revealed the first true form of his own art.
“Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art, Scorching Sun Slash!”
His sword roared like the birth of a new star. A fiery arc erupted from his blade, brighter and fiercer than Li Xian’s nine suns combined. The clash was instantaneous.
BOOM!
The arena shook violently. Li Xian’s nine blazing suns shattered into fragments of light, consumed and annihilated by Li Yun’s fiery slash. The force tore through his sword, shattering it into pieces with a metallic shriek, and the backlash sent Li Xian hurtling across the arena like a broken kite.
His body smashed into the arena wall with a thunderous crack, blood spraying from his mouth as he collapsed, his aura in complete disarray.
Silence fell. The crowd stared at Li Yun, their hearts trembling. One move, just one move, had crushed Li Xian’s strongest attack and left him broken against the wall.
’Li Xian is strong… I really had to bring out everything I had to win.’ Li Yun exhaled as he put away the Dark Light Sword and stepped down from the arena. This fight had been nothing like his clashes with Li Nian or Zhao Xiaotian, those two were nothing more than ants compared to Li Xian.
“Li Yun defeated Li Xian! What a battle!”
“Incredible! I’ve never witnessed such a clash between members of the younger generation.”
“Doesn’t this mean Li Yun is now the strongest genius of the Li Family?”
“Hiss! You’re right. With Li Xian defeated, Li Yun has officially taken the number one spot.”
“Wait… how old is he again? Sixteen? He’s only sixteen and already the strongest genius in the family!”
The martial field boiled with excitement. Voices overlapped in awe and disbelief, the younger generation staring at Li Yun as though he were a figure out of legend. His victory had shaken the entire Li Family, and his name now carried a weight no one could deny.
Up in the stands, Patriarch Li Jinyun turned to the elder who had just returned after examining Li Xian.
“How is he?” he asked, his voice steady but carrying a hint of concern.
“Patriarch, he’s stable,” the elder replied respectfully. “Injured, but nothing life-threatening. It seems Li Yun deliberately avoided his vital points.”
Li Jinyun let out a quiet breath of relief. “Good.” Though Li Yun had clearly proven himself superior to Li Xian in every way, Li Xian was still a precious talent of the Li Family. Losing him would have been a heavy blow the family could not afford.
Rising from his seat, Li Jinyun walked to the edge of the arena and spoke in a clear, commanding voice.
“With this, I declare the Li Family’s annual assessment concluded!”
His words echoed across the martial field. The disciples and elders, still abuzz from the battles, slowly dispersed, returning to their courtyards with animated discussions about what they had just witnessed.
Li Yun also turned to leave, his expression calm on the outside. But within, he was eager, notifications still flashed faintly in his vision. He suppressed the urge to check them immediately.
***
Back in his courtyard, Li Yun finally sat down and let out a slow breath. The moment he was alone, he pulled up the flashing notifications that had been waiting for him.
—
[Ding! Quest Completed: “Be the Bigger Bully”]
[Reward: Nine Tribulations Divine Eye]
—
The instant he read the reward, a sharp, searing pain exploded in his right eye.
“Argh!” Li Yun clenched his fists, his body trembling as if molten steel was being poured straight into his skull. It felt like dozens of burning needles stabbing into his left eye one after another. His vision blurred, the courtyard spinning around him.
The agony dragged on endlessly, every heartbeat stretching into an eternity. Only after what felt like hours did the torment slowly fade, leaving him drenched in sweat, chest heaving, and his left eye throbbing with a strange heaviness.
When he dared to look again, a new line of information appeared.
—
[Nine Tribulations Divine Eye(left)]
– Experience Required to Awaken: 10,000
– Description: An eye born from the tribulations of nine heavens.
– Condition: Dormant
—
Li Yun froze. His jaw nearly dropped.
“Ten… thousand? Are you kidding me?!” His voice cracked between disbelief and outrage. “I need ten thousand experience points just to awaken this eye?!”
He felt like coughing blood. The system wasn’t rewarding him, it was daylight robbery!
With tears of sheer grievance welling up, he bitterly pulled open his status screen.
—
[Player: Li Yun]
– Cultivation: Peak Stage of Marrow Cleansing Realm
– Physique: Primal Chaos Body
– Eye: Nine Tribulations Divine Eye
– Spirit Soul: Red Soul
– Comprehension: 1st Tier
– Experience: 1700
—
Li Yun stared at the numbers, his lips twitching.
“With all the quests I’ve completed so far, I’ve only scraped together around two thousand experience points,” he muttered darkly. “And three hundred of that was already spent advancing my comprehension and spirit soul… leaving me with this pathetic seventeen hundred.”
He slumped back, glaring at the sky as though the heavens themselves were mocking him.
After brooding for a while, Li Yun decided to check how much experience it would take to upgrade his Spirit Soul again.
—
[Spirit Soul]
– Experience Required to Level Up: 1000
– Upgrade: Orange
—
“Only a thousand EXP for an orange Spirit Soul…” Li Yun muttered under his breath. His gaze then shifted to the Comprehension stat.
—
[Comprehension]
– Experience Required to Level Up: 500
– Condition: Orange Spirit Soul
– Upgrade: 2nd Tier
—
His eyes lit up. “Five hundred? That’s it?” He quickly sat upright, excitement replacing his earlier gloom. With the experience points he had saved, he could actually push both his Spirit Soul and Comprehension to the next stage in one go.
But should he?
The thought lingered only for a moment before he scoffed at himself.
There was no real debate here. His ability to comprehend martial techniques had already become his greatest cheat, a golden finger gifted by the heavens themselves. And if he had the chance to strengthen that cheat even further, to make his comprehension soar beyond what others could dream of…
“Why wouldn’t I?” Li Yun’s lips curved into a grin, his decision firm.