88: Chapter 88 Sword Testing Tournament!

The blade returned to its sheath without making a sound.

Chen Fan stood quietly in the center of the room. In his hand, that ordinary standard steel saber seemed to have become a dormant Vicious Beast.

Gale Saber Technique.

This saber technique had no subtlety whatsoever; it possessed only the most primitive, most savage madness.

Every move was a life-for-life style of combat, completely abandoning defense and betting everything on the offense.

It did not have high requirements for Internal Energy, but it severely tested the user's vitality, physique, and that indomitable ferocity.

This saber technique was practically tailor-made for his current body.

The injury on his right shoulder prevented him from smoothly circulating the Longxing Sect's Internal Skill Mind-Cultivation Technique or executing those wide-reaching, powerful martial arts moves.

But this saber allowed him to concentrate all his strength into a single line.

His chances of winning had increased by a few points.

Chen Fan placed the long saber back under the bed and sat down cross-legged.

For the next few days, he did not practice with the saber again, but instead focused all his attention on nourishing his vitality, adjusting his body's state to its Peak.

...

The ten-day deadline arrived in the blink of an eye.

On this day, before dawn had even broken, the entire Jian Prefecture city had already awakened.

Countless streams of people flowed from every part of the city, like a hundred rivers merging into the sea, surging toward the same direction.

Tianchi Mountain outside the city.

Uncle Song knocked on Chen Fan's door, his face bearing undisguised worry.

"Jin Zhong, your injury..."

"Junior Martial Uncle, rest assured, I know what I'm doing." Chen Fan had already changed into a crisp black martial outfit, the long saber wrapped in black cloth and carried on his back.

His complexion looked good, but Uncle Song knew that the insidious sword wound could not possibly have healed in a mere ten days.

Uncle Song opened his mouth, wanting to persuade him further, but upon seeing Chen Fan's calm and unruffled face, all his words became stuck in his throat.

In the end, he could only let out a long sigh.

"Let's go."

The group walked out of the Inn.

The streets were already packed with people, shoulder to shoulder.

Everyone's face bore an indescribable excitement and anticipation, and the sound of their discussions merged into a noisy wave of sound.

"Hurry, hurry! If we go late, there won't even be a place to stand!"

"I heard that for this hero ranking list, Soul-Severing Sword Nie Shu, Little Overlord Xiang Long, and Tang Nian of the Tang Sect are all hot favorites to win the championship!"

"I wonder which dark horse will emerge this year!"

Chen Fan and his group merged into the crowd and headed toward the city gate.

They hadn't gone far when an exaggerated exclamation suddenly came from the side.

"Yo, did I see that right? Isn't that Senior Brother Chen from the Longxing Sect?"

The voice was sharp and filled with mockery.

Chen Fan did not stop his pace, not even turning his head.

The speaker was one of the few Martial Artists who had been sitting at the neighboring table on the second floor of the Inn that day.

They blocked Chen Fan's group, looking Chen Fan up and down with an expression as if they were looking at a huge joke.

"Senior Brother Chen, your injury hasn't fully healed yet, right? What's this, are you going to Tianchi Mountain to put on a show for us of fighting while injured?"

Another person laughed out loud.

"Fighting while injured? I think he's going to humiliate himself! That sword strike from Nie Shu isn't so easy to take. It's already good enough that he can stand and walk now."

"Tsk tsk, what admirable courage. But let me give you a piece of advice: don't go on stage, lest you get beaten down in a few moves and lose all face for your Longxing Sect!"

The mean mockery caused many passersby to look over, pointing at them.

The other Disciples of the Longxing Sect were so angry their faces turned red, and their fists were clenched, making cracking sounds.

Uncle Song was even trembling with rage and was about to step forward to argue.

But Chen Fan reached out and gently pressed on his shoulder.

He still didn't look at those people, only calmly spitting out two words.

"Let's go."

After saying this, he bypassed those people on his own and continued walking forward.

Those people didn't seem to expect this reaction; they were stunned for a moment before bursting into even louder laughter.

"He's a coward! Hahahaha, he really is a turtle with its head retracted—"

The rest of the words could no longer be heard.

Chen Fan's pace never faltered for a moment.

An hour later.

They finally arrived at the foot of Tianchi Mountain.

The sight before them made everyone who had come here for the first time gasp in surprise.

The originally rugged foot of the mountain had actually been forcefully cleared into a massive plaza.

The plaza was paved with huge, blue-black rocks, and the edges were filled with hundreds of banners. The flags of the major Schools fluttered in the mountain wind, making a flapping sound; the scene was spectacular to the extreme.

In the very center was a giant stone platform, three zhang high.

That was the main arena, also known as the Martial Arts Platform.

The surface of the stone platform was a dark red color, the marks left behind after being repeatedly soaked in blood over countless years. An aura of slaughter rushed toward them.

With the main arena as the center, ten slightly smaller side arenas were distributed around it, also built from giant stones.

At this moment, the entire plaza was already crowded with people, a sea of heads, likely numbering in the tens of thousands.

The clamor of voices gathered into a wave of sound that shot into the sky, as if it would shatter the clouds above.

There were wealthy merchants in luxurious clothing sitting on high platforms that had already been erected, chatting and laughing.

There were Jianghu heroes carrying sabers and swords, gathered in groups of three or five, discussing loudly. Even more were the ordinary commoners who had heard the news, standing on tiptoes and stretching their necks, wanting to catch a glimpse of this once-in-a-decade Martial Forest event.

The air was filled with the smell of sweat, dust, the metallic tang of weapons, and an atmosphere called "fanaticism."

This was the Holy Land of the Jian Prefecture Martial Forest.

It was the place where countless young Martial Artists dreamed of becoming famous in one battle.

Uncle Song led the group to find the rest area belonging to the Longxing Sect.

It was an open space located at the edge of the plaza; the location wasn't great, but it was better than nothing.

Chen Fan leaned against a mountain rock, closed his eyes, and shut out all the noise from the outside world.

He quietly adjusted his breathing, like a stone statue.

I don't know how much time passed when an even greater roar of noise swept in from the entrance of the plaza like a tide.

The crowd automatically parted to make a path.

A group of people, surrounded by a crowd of experts, walked in slowly.

Leading them was the Sect Head of the Duan Shui Sect, along with that young man in white clothes with an arrogant expression.

Soul-Severing Sword, Nie Shu.

As soon as he appeared, he immediately became the focus of the entire scene.

Nie Shu seemed to enjoy this feeling of being the center of attention; he held his head slightly high, his gaze sweeping slowly across the plaza.

Finally, his gaze pierced through the moving heads and landed precisely on the young man in the corner who was carrying the long, black, cloth-wrapped package.