In The End...

Cyan light accumulated on his index finger, aimed at Li Chen's chest. A frightening aura descended on Li Chen as he watched the cyan beam arrive before his chest!

Circulating his body technique to the peak, he could only launch a faint radiance from the tip of his sword before the beam struck.

The second it hit him...

BOOM—!

Li Chen shot back at an insane speed, crashing into the hill and causing an explosion.

The hill shattered into countless large boulders and fell. Other disciples fled. Their eyes widened to the limit as they stared at Lu Buping, who blocked the sword's radiance with his fan.

"A carp is dreaming of defeating a dragon. What a waste of time, hump!" Lu Buping snorted, folded his fan, and walked away.

Unbeknownst to everyone, his right arm trembled intermittently. 

"Senior Lu Buping is just too powerful! The number one newbie couldn't handle a single finger!"

"Hey, they fought for a while. Besides, that might have been Senior Lu Buping's strongest technique." 

"It doesn't matter. He lost in the end. Like I've always said, if you don't have the strength, keep shut."

"SHUT UP!" Ning Chuan roared. The outer disciples weren't considered actual disciples. They only had to train and go on missions until they achieved the strength to become an inner disciple. Only then would they attend classes and gain insights from masters.

Here, they only feared the disciplinarians. 

As everyone chatted and walked away, Ning Chuan stared at the rubble. Exhaling loudly, he faced the sky.

"I warned you." His voice faded as he left the battlegrounds with slumped shoulders.

Time trickled by until the sun went down and the soft moonlight descended on the world.

A soft grunt echoed from the bottom of the rubble.

A boulder weighing about 2000 Jin on a man's back rose up, revealing a pair of bloodied arms. Pushing the boulder away, he stretched his hands.

Grabbing another boulder, he lifted himself up. His robe ripped to shreds, a gruesome wound on his once admirable chest and dried blood painted his figure.

With each step forward, his bent posture was reverting to his straight posture and he dragged his sword, the tip scraping the ground.

He arrived in the middle of the platform and looked around the deserted place. The soft, silvery light of the moon revealed the dying inscriptions, which were meant to keep the battleground from destruction.

'Lu Buping. He's accomplishment is at the peak of an immortal human cultivator yet no one called him the number one outer disciple.' 

Li Chen mumbled to himself, picked up his sheath and took a minute to stare at his sword.

There wasn't even a scratch on the blade.

The realm pursued by every swordsman was to be forged into a sword. This was beyond being one with the sword. It was transforming into the sword itself.

With or without a sword, a swordsman would still be a swordsman. This was the absolute realm of completion.

The level of a paragon!

'My sword isn't damaged but I am. I also remember when my sword broke. It was destroyed and I was damaged. Ah! I still need to train.' 

Dragging his feet, he walked through the desolate path with only the cold breeze to accompany him.

His raven hair fluttered as the breeze picked up. The skies rumbled, like they responded to their creator's emotions. 

When he finally reached his courtyard, droplets of water fell from the sky, splattering on his head, shoulders, and body.

As it washed off his blood, his eyes trembled softly, reacting to the pain of his wounds. Eventually arriving before his door, Li Chen realized he forgot to get medicines that would heal his wounds.

He went in, changed into a replica of the attire that was torn, still grabbed his sword and approached the door.

His grip around the sheathed sword tightened and he closed his eyes, his eyelids trembling due to the pain.

Stretching his other hand, he slid the door open.

The cold breeze swooshed in and he opened his eyes. They froze in the next second.

Standing there with a parasol was his master. Her chest rose up and down and her phoenix eyes narrowed into slits when she saw him.

Although he stood straight, his unyielding aura was faltering, and the pain in his eyes revealed it all.

"I'm just coming from the battleground." Her soft voice rang.

[I just left there.]

"I brought a balm." She said this while approaching him.

****

Li Chen lay on his bed, staring at Xiu Ying's delicate face as she focused on applying a green mixture to the wound on his chest.

While applying it, she channeled energy into his body to speed up the process. 

Staring fixedly at her, Li Chen's mind trailed and floated away. He could imagine himself as one of those unyielding swordsmen in those scrolls, especially the one who created the Light Sword Technique.

"You fought Lu Buping."

Her voice brought him back. Turning to her, he found her golden eyes glued to his face. 

[I did.]

Although Xiu Ying knew that each of the three gentlemen in the sect was almost unrivaled, she didn't feel like bashing him for his bad decision.

After all, Li Chen didn't instigate the fight.

"I told you you'd be hard to kill. I saw the rubble and it was enough to break your bones." 

[It wasn't my physique alone. I achieved a higher stage in my body technique.]

Xiu Ying's brows were slanted. "Were you not already at the stage of Perfection. Then the next stage...!" Her eyes trembled.

"You've achieved Beyond Perfection!" She gasped.

[It still wasn't enough to beat Lu Buping.]

"Old Cat, even many at the peak of the immortal human level won't be able to beat him." 

[You won't harm him, right? He's an opponent I'll have to handle.]

"Why would you think that?" 

[Where's Big Brother Yi then?]

Xiu Ying's eyes narrowed and she blinked.

[I know what's on your mind, silly girl…] Li Chen's eyelids dropped and he slept off.

'Silly girl…!'