The young lady spoke slowly.
At her words, the one-eyed man behind her was completely stunned.
He had only known that Xiao Chen was an Outer Disciple of the East Sword Pavilion; he had no idea he was also Cangxuan’s disciple.
Who was Cangxuan?
One of the three greatest experts of the East Sword Pavilion.
If Xiao Chen were just an ordinary Disciple, Leshan Prefecture could have managed the situation even if he died in the Death Arena.
After all, the East Sword Pavilion would never go to war with Leshan Prefecture over a common disciple.
A little compensation would have settled the matter.
But Xiao Chen was different.
He was Cangxuan’s disciple.
If he were to die in the Death Arena, it would be a problem that couldn’t be solved with a mere bit of compensation.
His expression turned grim as he said to the young lady, “In that case, Miss, do you think we should…?”
He asked cautiously.
The one-eyed man’s meaning was clear: since Xiao Chen was Cangxuan’s disciple, should they give him some preferential treatment?
At the very least, they should guarantee his safety.
Or perhaps just let him go?
Facing the one-eyed man’s inquiry, the young lady gave a bewitching smile.
“Just ensure he doesn’t die.
Nothing else needs to change.
Everything will proceed according to standard procedure.
Let him fight his scheduled battles.
For that Mother Yecha to use my establishment as a training ground for her junior brother…
what a novel idea.
‘But now you owe me another favor.
How will you repay me the next time we meet, Qi Yan…'”
Having figured out Qi Yan’s objective, the young lady smiled faintly.
With that, she stood up and left the private room, no longer paying attention to Xiao Chen’s fight.
He respectfully watched her leave.
The young lady’s name was Lin Wan’Er, daughter of the Mansion Master of Leshan Prefecture.
Her status and standing there were extremely high.
After watching Lin Wan’Er depart, the one-eyed man turned his gaze back to Xiao Chen.
By this time, the battle between Xiao Chen and Black Tower had already begun.
It had to be said, Black Tower’s combat prowess was formidable.
A single glance told you he had been tempered through countless life-and-death battles, far beyond what any sheltered young master from a noble family could ever hope to match.
His combat experience was exceptionally vast.
He wasn’t fast, but his strength was astonishing.
In a head-on clash, Xiao Chen’s power was no match for his.
After several direct clashes, Xiao Chen found himself on the losing end each time.
Black Tower cleverly seized this opportunity, giving Xiao Chen no time to catch his breath, intending to end the fight quickly.
‘He’s like a human-shaped Violent Dragon, with skin like bronze and bones of iron.
I can’t believe they’ve arranged such a formidable opponent for my very first match.’
Not daring to clash head-on with Black Tower, Xiao Chen relied on his superior Body Technique to continuously evade his opponent’s attacks.
Despite his barrage of fierce attacks, he couldn’t even touch the hem of Xiao Chen’s robes.
Black Tower’s fury mounted.
As he intensified his assault, he roared, “Kid, is hiding all you know how to do?”
Black Tower was genuinely enraged.
Seeing Xiao Chen do nothing but dodge, the surrounding crowd erupted in boos, and some even started shouting insults.
“What is this?
Are they playing hide-and-seek?”
“Hey, kid, you got what it takes or not?
If not, just kill yourself!”
People came to the Death Arena for thrills; they wanted to see brutal, flesh-on-flesh combat.
The current battle was the complete opposite of what they’d hoped for.
Xiao Chen was only dodging, never making contact with Black Tower.
Ignoring the crowd’s jeers, Xiao Chen continued to evade until, at last, he found the opening he was waiting for in Black Tower’s form.
Blinded by rage, Black Tower completely abandoned his defense and threw a furious punch.
Seeing his chance, a sharp glint flashed in Xiao Chen’s eyes.
He thrust his longsword forward, and with a burst of Sword Qi, the blade pierced straight through Black Tower’s heart.
It was a single, fatal blow, giving Black Tower no chance.
As Xiao Chen withdrew his sword and sheathed it, Black Tower’s massive frame crashed backward onto the ground.
Xiao Chen was victorious.
Black Tower, who had been dominating Xiao Chen just moments before, was slain in the blink of an eye.
Faced with this outcome, the spectators erupted in a collective gasp of astonishment.
‘What just happened?
Black Tower had the complete advantage, and now he’s just… dead?’
It was all over too quickly, but that was the result.
Expressionless, Xiao Chen left the Death Arena.
He had won his first life-and-death duel flawlessly, using his superior Body Technique to defeat Black Tower without a single scratch.
He returned directly to his stone hut.
Xiao Chen now had a day to rest before his second battle.
He had been completely sold out by Qi Yan, and Xiao Chen could only accept this reality.
Over the following days, Xiao Chen fought in the life-and-death duels arranged by the Death Arena while simultaneously striving to improve his cultivation and combat prowess.
First was his cultivation.
Every night, Xiao Chen cultivated methodically.
During the day, when he had free time, he began to study the one hundred high-grade martial arts techniques Cangxuan had given him.
According to Cangxuan, if he could thoroughly comprehend all one hundred of these high-grade martial arts techniques, his understanding of the Sword Dao would experience a qualitative leap.
For a Sword Cultivator, one’s Cultivation Realm was certainly important, but one’s understanding of the Sword Dao was equally crucial.
The deeper the understanding, the stronger the combat prowess.
High-grade martial arts techniques didn’t pose much of a challenge for Xiao Chen to learn; he could basically master the basics of a new one every three days.
However, to truly and completely comprehend them was not something that could be accomplished in a short amount of time.
Through his own trial and error, Xiao Chen discovered that merely learning the basics of a technique was of little use to him.
Only by cultivating each high-grade martial art to the Perfection Realm could he achieve a true, fundamental improvement.
His ambition to cultivate one hundred high-grade martial arts to the Perfection Realm—if anyone else were to hear of it, they would surely call him a madman.
Others found it incredibly difficult to cultivate even a single high-grade martial art to the Perfection Realm.
Yet Xiao Chen wanted to master a full one hundred of them.
If that wasn’t madness, what was?
And yet, despite how insane this goal seemed to the rest of the world, Xiao Chen was determined to see it through.
No longer would he practice in the superficial, cursory manner he had before.
Xiao Chen began to delve deeply into the techniques, one by one.
He resolved not to even start on a second technique until he had cultivated the one at hand to the Perfection Realm.
His requirement for every single high-grade martial art was to reach the Perfection Realm.
As a result, his training speed naturally slowed down considerably.
Reaching the Perfection Realm was difficult, but Xiao Chen didn’t give up.
A full three months passed before he finally cultivated the first high-grade martial art to the Perfection Realm.
Now, including his Sword Shadow Kill, Xiao Chen possessed two high-grade martial arts that had reached the Perfection Realm.
One might think that taking three months to bring a single high-grade martial art to the Perfection Realm was slow, but it was, in fact, a heaven-defying speed.
Across the entire East Sword Pavilion, Xiao Chen was likely the only person capable of such a feat.
With this successful start, Xiao Chen began cultivating the third high-grade martial art.
Meanwhile, the days passed one by one, and Xiao Chen continued to hone his skills and improve himself through a cycle of battle and cultivation.