Ugly Hero - Chapter 10

“The match begins!”

Behind her mask, Lu Nanzhu smiled helplessly, because she saw that when Xia Qinyi charged toward her with the Phoenix Blood Saber in hand, her lips moved soundlessly.

She was clearly saying two words: “Lecherous thief.”

Lu Nanzhu truly felt wronged by this. Setting aside the fact that she was also a woman, sneaking into the bathing pool had truly been an act of helplessness. Little Huzi needed an East Sea night pearl to regain his sight, but Huaxia Manor was heavily guarded. She had sneaked in the night before, and at that time, only the bathing pool had fewer guards. Helpless, she had jumped onto the rafters above the bathing pool and hidden there for an entire day. The next evening, Xia Qinyi had come to bathe…

Lu Nanzhu did not dare be careless. Holding the Canglong Sword, she went forward to meet Xia Qinyi.

On one side was a young lady from a noble family, dressed in fiery red and holding a divine weapon. On the other was a rising star of the jianghu, dressed shabbily and gripping a rusted sword. In the blink of an eye, under countless gazes, saber and sword met.

Just as everyone thought the Ugly Hero’s battered iron sword would be cut apart by the Phoenix Blood Saber, the two weapons collided heavily!

The sound of their collision formed waves in the air, spreading outward layer by layer and reaching everyone’s ears.

“Ah!” Some jianghu wanderers with shallow internal foundations painfully covered their ears.

“Deng, deng, deng!” Lu Nanzhu and Xia Qinyi each retreated two steps. Deep shock was written across both their faces!

In that collision just now, both sides had used their full strength. But the instant saber and sword met, Lu Nanzhu suddenly heard the cry of a phoenix, while Xia Qinyi heard the roar of a dragon!

Xia Qinyi stared fixedly at the rusted sword in Lu Nanzhu’s hand. How could this be?

In Huaxia Manor’s library, she had once flipped through an ancient text. Inside, there had been a story that mentioned a divine weapon once as famous as the Phoenix Blood Saber…

Impossible! That divine weapon had been missing for nearly a hundred years. How could it…? And moreover…

The Canglong Sword in Lu Nanzhu’s hand trembled slightly. That tremor traveled from the arm with which she held the sword throughout her entire body, and a dense fighting spirit surged out.

Lu Nanzhu had never encountered such a situation before. The Canglong Sword… seemed excited? And this feeling also affected Lu Nanzhu.

Lu Nanzhu took a deep breath. The corner of her lips curved uncontrollably. She tapped her foot and used the move “Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens,” pointing straight at Xia Qinyi!

A fierce gale rushed toward her face, cutting off Xia Qinyi’s thoughts. She retreated one step, bent her knees, gathered her qi, and swept the Phoenix Blood Saber upward from below!

With a “ding,” the Phoenix Blood Saber struck heavily against the front end of the Canglong Sword, changing the direction of the sword’s edge.

Lu Nanzhu borrowed the force and used it. Twisting her waist, she performed a backflip, and halfway through the rotation, she kicked heavily toward Xia Qinyi’s chest.

Xia Qinyi had not expected Lu Nanzhu to have a follow-up move. She hurriedly held the Phoenix Blood Saber horizontally before her chest.

With a “pa,” Lu Nanzhu kicked heavily against the Phoenix Blood Saber, forcing Xia Qinyi back one step, while she herself landed steadily on the arena.

In this move, Lu Nanzhu had been slightly superior.

Xia Qinyi’s expression was very ugly. As expected, he was a lecherous thief. If she had not been quick-eyed and swift-handed enough to protect herself with the saber just now, then would she not have been… kicked in the chest?

Silence.

On the martial training ground, where there were at least several hundred people, one could have heard a pin drop.

Everyone stared blankly at the two people on the arena and forgot to cheer. Or perhaps, such a brilliant duel could no longer bear any disturbance.

That Xia Qinyi possessed such skill at such a young age was certainly enough to make one’s eyes light up. But what shocked them even more was this mysterious Ugly Hero!

Not only had he used an iron sword to withstand the Phoenix Blood Saber head-on, he had even gained half a move over Xia Qinyi in their first exchange.

Who exactly was he? How old was he? Who was his master?!

Xia Qinyi suppressed the distracting thoughts in her heart and breathed out a mouthful of turbid air from her chest. At this moment, she had no choice but to acknowledge this “lecherous thief’s” skill. Yet not only did she feel no fear, she instead became excited.

Xia Qinyi raised her saber and advanced again, using her signature skill, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Saber Techniques. Huaxia Manor had four branches, and all their martial styles were named after constellations. As for Xia Qinyi’s saber technique, through the efforts of several generations, after the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dippers, another Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends had been born from it.

It could be called unpredictable, changing endlessly without pause.

An exquisite saber technique, paired with the invincible Phoenix Blood Saber, was like adding wings to a tiger.

For a time, scarlet afterimages came down like a net from heaven, and from time to time, one could hear the phoenix cry produced by the blade cutting through the air.

For the first time, Lu Nanzhu’s face beneath the mask showed a grave expression. This move was both real and illusory. For a moment, it was difficult to find a way to break it. Meeting force with force would not be wise!

Lu Nanzhu retreated several steps, pushed off hard with her feet, and leaped high into the air.

Just as Lu Nanzhu flew past the range of that move’s attack, before she could even take a breath, Xia Qinyi seemed to have predicted it in advance. Almost at the same time, she also leaped up with qinggong. The two met again in midair, and the Phoenix Blood Saber was already sweeping toward Lu Nanzhu’s chest!

Lu Nanzhu’s pupils shrank. She placed the Canglong Sword upright before her chest and pressed her left palm against the front end of the blade.

With a “ding,” saber and sword collided once more. Although Lu Nanzhu blocked this move, after landing, she was also forced back one step by Xia Qinyi.

One exchange each. Neither owed the other.

“Hmph.” Xia Qinyi gave a cold snort, seeming very dissatisfied that she had failed to split the “lecherous thief” in two.

During these two exchanges, Lu Nanzhu already had an understanding in her heart. Xia Qinyi’s internal force was not as deep as hers, but she won in the sharpness of her moves. Added to the Phoenix Blood Saber in her hand, she was extremely troublesome.

Heavenly Demon Art was only an internal cultivation method. The current Lu Nanzhu was like dumplings boiling in a teapot—because of her lack of techniques, she could not bring out the effect of her inner force at all.

In addition, although her Canglong Sword could resist the Phoenix Blood Saber, because of its rust, it had no attacking power.

The thought that she, as the Eccentric Hero’s successor, was so lacking made Lu Nanzhu extremely vexed. For the first time, she felt an impulse to thirst for greater strength.

Xia Qinyi did not give Lu Nanzhu a chance to think of a plan. She charged forward with the saber again. Lu Nanzhu did not dare resist head-on, so she used qinggong and focused only on dodging.

At present, she had only one advantage. She could only hope to anger Xia Qinyi and make her chase with qinggong. Lu Nanzhu’s inner breath was more abundant than hers. If this dragged on until the end, the one who suffered would still be Xia Qinyi.

After only two brief moves, a dumbfounding scene appeared on the arena. The two people who had just been refusing to yield to each other and fighting with all their strength suddenly changed style in the blink of an eye!

One flew up and down around the arena, while the other chased fiercely from behind with a saber in hand!

Why did it… not look like a competition anymore?

After another three to five moves, Lu Nanzhu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Xia Qinyi could not catch up to her!

When it came to qinggong, no matter how elegant your movement technique was, no matter how fancy your movements were, you still needed inner breath to support them.

Xia Qinyi did not run as fast as her, nor did she jump as high as her. So what if the Phoenix Blood Saber could cut through anything, and so what if her moves were incomparably fierce?

In any case, she could not hit her!

Xia Qinyi slashed toward Lu Nanzhu, and Lu Nanzhu immediately leaped high.

Xia Qinyi leaped after her, so Lu Nanzhu used stacked steps in midair and rose once more.

“Pfft…” Gongsun Qing could not hold back and laughed softly. This person really did know how to play shamelessly.

Gongsun Qing had already seen that the Ugly Hero used only the most basic chops, slashes, thrusts, and lifts. His moves had no real system to speak of. Against ordinary people, they might be useful, but before Xia Qinyi, he was clearly at a disadvantage.

However, this person was very clever. Relying on his deep internal force, he was fighting a war of attrition with this young miss.

Some others also saw what was going on and said in astonishment, “This… Isn’t this just playing dirty?”

With that person’s reminder, the others also showed looks of agreement. Although the rules of the match had never said one could not use qinggong to dodge, this was still a bit too…

Discussions rose below the arena. Xia Qinyi was so angered by Lu Nanzhu that her pretty face flushed red.

She had truly learned her lesson. This person was not only a thief and a lecherous scoundrel who seduced and abandoned women, he also had no sense of shame!

It would be one thing if he alone did not care about his dignity, but he insisted on dragging her into humiliation with him. He clearly had strength, yet he refused to properly fight her and insisted on dragging her into jumping up and down all over the arena.

Even more hateful was the fact that she actually could not hit him!

In Xia Qinyi’s entire life, she had never suffered such extraordinary humiliation!

After another meaningless chase that lasted half an hour, Xia Qinyi could no longer care about maintaining composure. She shouted sweetly, “Stop right there!”

Lu Nanzhu stopped at a safe distance and shook her head at Xia Qinyi.

Xia Qinyi choked, her throat blocked with anger. “Why won’t you compete properly?”

Lu Nanzhu thought: Isn’t that obvious? I can’t beat you. What am I supposed to compete with?

Lu Nanzhu shook her head again. Xia Qinyi felt a wave of heat rush straight to the top of her head. She had never seen such a shameless person!

“What exactly do you want?” Because of her anger, Xia Qinyi’s voice trembled slightly.

Lu Nanzhu looked at Xia Qinyi and fell silent. She also understood that what she was doing was excessive. In truth, if it had been anyone other than Xia Qinyi, she would have openly and properly admitted defeat. She would not even have drawn her weapon. After all, she had never intended to go onto the stage in the first place.

But… her opponent just had to be Xia Qinyi. Lu Nanzhu herself could not explain the reason, but she simply did not want to lose to her. Perhaps it was because Xia Qinyi was the successor of the Phoenix Blood Saber. Long ago, Lu Nanzhu had already regarded the successor of the Phoenix Blood Saber as her destined opponent. How could she admit defeat?

But when she saw that sweat had already seeped across Xia Qinyi’s forehead and her chest was rising and falling, Lu Nanzhu felt somewhat unable to bear it. They were both girls, and Xia Qinyi was also the young miss of a noble family. For Lu Nanzhu to toy with her like this must have made her deeply embarrassed.

“Ai…” Lu Nanzhu let out a heavy sigh.

Xia Qinyi was still waiting to see what shocking words this “shameless lecherous thief” would say. Unexpectedly, the other party only gave a soft sigh and silently walked forward with her sword in hand.

Then let’s fight, Lu Nanzhu said silently in her heart.

Xia Qinyi gave a cold snort, raised the Phoenix Blood Saber, and fought Lu Nanzhu.

The sounds of clashing weapons rang endlessly.

For the first time, Lu Nanzhu experienced what it meant to say: when one is in the jianghu, one cannot act according to oneself.