Martial Cultivator
chapter-177

What was happening in the alley was never a secret.

At least at this very moment, all the important figures in the entire Divine Capital knew about it. But while they knew about it, no one would take any action.

Just as the young man said, this was an opportunity they were exchanging their lives for, so no one would stop them. It was a showdown between the youngsters. Although it was unfair to Chen Chao, it was evident that he could not resist no matter how unfair these things were.

However, no one could have anticipated that the situation would develop like this.

Out of the twelve youngsters who came here, half of them died in a very short time.

Furthermore, with the passage of time, the number of corpses in the alley grew.

A heavy rain suddenly poured down.

A summer downpour, it was within reason. It was just that the stone walls of the alley had already collapsed, piling up on one side of the alley at this moment. The rainwater fell, making it difficult to drain quickly. Soon, the entire alley was flooded, reaching the point where it could submerge the ankles.

Chen Chao pushed a dead body aside, exhaled a breath of turbid air, and then the qi in his body surged. Another exchange of old and new qi took place once more.

Blood was washed away along with the rainwater.

With a tight grip on the broken saber, a wound had appeared on Chen Chao's right arm a long time ago. At this moment, blood flowed down his arm and dripped onto the ground, carried away by the flowing rainwater.

But Chen Chao paid no attention to it. He just wiped the rainwater off his face.

Out of the twelve, eleven had already died.

The last person appeared at the end of the alley.

To Chen Chao's surprise, it was a woman.

A woman dressed in green clothes and she was the only woman among the twelve. At this moment, she stood at the end of the alley, looking at Chen Chao.

Her eyes were filled with complex emotions, and after a moment, she said, "You've managed to persist until this point, which is enough to prove that your victory in the martial exam is well-deserved."

"If I had made a move right at the start, I'm afraid I wouldn't be your match. But since it has come to this point, you're truly no match for me anymore."

The woman muttered to herself, "After a prolonged battle and sustaining injuries, it's somewhat dishonorable of me to claim victory."

Chen Chao raised an eyebrow, but suddenly, he saw a flash of silver tearing through the rain curtain. It headed towards his neck with a fierce momentum, similar to the previous silver thread. Chen Chao tilted his head, intending to dodge the silver light. But a moment later, he had no choice but to arch his back in a more peculiar and challenging posture.

It was only when he narrowly avoided the silver light that he realized it was an extremely sharp thread, cutting across like the edge of a flying sword; sharp to the extreme.

Chen Chao was a little absent-minded. This silver thread appeared to be like a thread, but there was a faint difference from the previous threads, it vaguely felt like it was leaking sword qi.

Among mortal cultivators, sword cultivators were known to have the greatest killing power. Besides the unique aspects of sword cultivation techniques, their flying swords were unrivaled in sharpness.

Sword cultivators did not spend time and energy on other magical artifacts, they only focused on their flying swords. They were willing to spend enormous amounts of skygold currency for a superior flying sword. Hence, this was also why even though Sword Qi Mountain was just a place for forging flying swords, it could keep a foothold in the foreign lands. No matter how powerful the cultivator, they would rarely dare to act wildly at Sword Qi Mountain.

The swords from Sword Qi Mountain were top-notch in the world, especially the Hundred Year Sword, it was the dream of countless sword cultivators.

The woman in front of him seemed to be a sword cultivator?

Furthermore, she was also a female sword cultivator?

Chen Chao was slightly distracted.

The next moment, several threads appeared from all directions in the alley, tearing through the rain curtain and slicing toward him.

In this small alley, the raindrops were shattered by those threads at this moment, leaving it in a dilapidated state.

If this alley was like a microcosm, at this moment, under the slicing of those threads, this microcosm was crumbling at the moment.

Chen Chao raised an eyebrow and kicked up an oiled-paper umbrella that someone had discarded in the alley.

Grabbing the handle, he instantly opened the oiled-paper umbrella.

Seeing this scene, the woman was slightly distracted. Then, she immediately showed a hint of a derisive smile.

Sure enough, just as he had anticipated, after the oiled-paper umbrella opened, it did not take long for the threads to converge and tear through the umbrella's surface, shredding that ordinary oiled-paper umbrella that failed to survive even a second.

It was just that when the threads converged, Chen Chao disappeared.

When the threads closed in, he swung his saber, blowing away one of the threads, and then got out of the situation.

The woman watched this scene, aloof and indifferent.

Without hesitation, Chen Chao began to run madly toward the woman.

With each step, countless splashes of water were scattered in all directions!

Chen Chao's speed was extremely fast, closing the distance between them at an incredible speed.

But after a moment, he felt something was off. He suddenly turned his head and realized that in the alley, where the threads collided and converged, it turned into a three-foot-long silver flying sword.

The sword's edge was sharp, and cold light flickered.

As expected, the woman in front of him was a sword cultivator.

"The flying sword is named Silver Silk. Please give me pointers."

The woman's voice sounded out in the rain very clearly.

She was indeed a sword cultivator.

The woman waved her hand slightly and a hint of sword qi emerged. The flying sword named Silver Silk arrived in a flash, piercing through the rain curtain and carrying boundless killing intent.

The rainwater in the alley shattered, and the raindrops that touched the sword's edge scattered, resembling numerous flying swords, destroying one rain curtain after another.

Chen Chao's footsteps did not stop. He rolled up his sleeves, his qi surging, temporarily slowing down the approaching flying sword. Then, he swung his saber toward the flying sword.

A massive surge of qi instantly exploded, shattering the raindrops around them.

The saber and sword collided for the first time.

Countless sparks formed.

It was the first time in Chen Chao's life that he had crossed swords with a sword cultivator.

The woman furrowed her brows slightly. Sword cultivators had always been inseparable from their beloved flying sword. Now, when her flying sword collided with the broken saber, she could naturally feel the feedback.

But just sensing it made her feel somewhat incredulous.

The flying sword named Silver Silk was chosen several years ago when her master brought her to Sword Qi Mountain. The sect had paid a considerable price for this flying sword, and she had sat in the sword pond for three days before finally selecting this flying sword called Silver Silk.

Actually, for the sword cultivation lineage, the majority of sword cultivators only had one beloved flying sword. There were two reasons for this.

Sword cultivators controlled flying swords. A flying sword needed them to nourish it wholeheartedly, to reach the realm where they were of one-heart-one-mind. This required a significant amount of time and mental energy. Therefore, nourishing one flying sword was already the limit for most people.

Secondly, this was simpler and more straightforward; nourishing several flying swords at the same time was extremely demanding on the sword cultivator themselves. It was impossible for the average person to nourish several flying swords at the same time.

Therefore, sword cultivators who were able to own more than one flying sword, without a doubt, from some perspectives, were extremely extraordinary.

At the moment of the clash between the sword and the saber, the woman voluntarily re-called her flying sword, allowing that flying sword called Silver Silk to hover in mid-air, splitting the rain curtain in half.

"Your saber is so tough, how did it break?'

The woman's flying sword was taken from Sword Qi Mountain. Although it was not an unparalleled divine weapon like the Hundred Year Sword, since it was a flying sword brought away from Sword Qi Mountain, how could it be an ordinary item?

Moreover, this Silver Silk was renowned for its sharpness.

But even so, during the previous clash between the sword and the saber, the seemingly ordinary broken saber showed no signs of damage. This could only mean that the material of that unremarkable broken saber was actually no different from the Silver Silk flying sword.

In that case, it was back to the previous question: How did the saber break?

Chen Chao glanced at the broken saber in his hand and was rather silent.

He was unable to answer the woman's question as well.

He was also uncertain of the origin of this broken saber.

He only knew that this broken saber was remarkable; far more resilient than ordinary magic artifacts. As for the rest, he had no knowledge.

They exchanged a glance and fell into silence.

Chen Chao looked at that hovering flying sword and asked, "I presume you don't have a second flying sword, right?"

The woman looked at him and answered frankly, "I only have one."

Chen Chao nodded lightly and murmured, "That won't be a big problem."

……

……

Chen Chao started running again. With each step, countless amounts of rainwater surged upward and collided with the canopy of the sky.

The Silver Silk flying sword instantly emitted a crisp sword cry as it glided through the rainwater.

Chen Chao laughed coldly and did not turn around. He just continued sprinting forward. When the flying sword sliced through the rain curtain and arrived behind him, Chen Chao's body suddenly stopped. Then, he suddenly turned around. Visible to the naked eye, that flying sword passed by his side. It was just that around half a foot away, it wanted to change direction and stab towards Chen Chao.

A saber smashed down.

The saber and sword collided again!

Chen Chao slid several dozen feet forward by borrowing the inertia. The flying sword paused, its sword cries unrelenting.

The woman opposite stood in the rain, watching this scene in silence. Her thoughts stirred and the flying sword grazed past, heading toward Chen Chao's chest.

When the sword qi closed in, Chen Chao felt a sharpness in the air.

However, just as the flying sword was about to pierce his chest, a broken saber positioned itself across his chest.

The flying sword collided with the broken saber again. This time, Chen Chao's body stood firm like a rock; not budging an inch. No matter how the flying sword stabbed forward, it could not pierce through his broken saber.

The woman's expression slightly changed, gradually turning ugly. Her brows furrowed and the flying sword burst forth with boundless killing intent, thrusting forward.

Chen Chao stood his ground and the body of the flying sword began to bend. In just a moment, it reached an incredibly peculiar angle.

Chen Chao stood in place and the sword qi had already surged in front of his body, wanting to penetrate into his body. However, because his body was too tough, not a hint of sword qi was able to break through at this moment.

The Silver Silk flying sword had now bent into a crescent shape. The woman's expression became increasingly grim, her eyes filled with strange emotions as she looked at the young martial artist standing in the alley.

A moment later, the woman reached her hand out, and the flying sword immediately retreated, returning to her side.

The flying sword hovered.

The woman reached out to grip the sword hilt. Looking at Chen Chao, she shook her head and said, "I underestimated you."

While Chen Chao smiled and replied, "I overestimated you."

But right after the woman finished saying this, her aura suddenly changed after she gripped the sword hilt tightly.

Chen Chao took a deep breath and lamented softly, "A female sword cultivator? Or a female sword immortal?"