The Lord Of Swords

Standing in front of Elder Xu, Deng Baisheng and Ji Huzhen hardly dare to breathe. Both of them had seen from Elder Xu's look that the situation must not be good.

"Tell me, is there any connection between the rumor and either of you that Wei Gaoyuan of the Dark-Feather wanna challenge the disciple of Xin?" Elder Xu asked with a black face.

"Master..." Ji Huzhen's expression changed at once.

Deng Baisheng shook his head, "Report to master, I have few chances to talk to other disciples."

"What about you?" Elder Xu looked at Ji Huxuan, coldly.

Ji Huxi panicked, and he couldn't help feeling nervous about his master's staring. He was the maker of that rumor. The disgrace in the conflict within the basin made him so difficult to forget the name, Wei Gaoyuan. There was not a day when he didn't want to take revenge. But that horrible sword-strike had taught him not to confront with that dangerous boy personally. Thus, he got such a good idea, at least he thought it was, after he knew what had happened that day between Dong Feiye and Wei Gaoyuan.

And so it was. This move would really force Wei Gaoyuan into a dilemma. If he didn't admit it, other disciples who didn't know the truth would inevitably think that his words was not followed by his action, even if he was just a disciple of Gui, and then the name of Wei Gaoyuan would become a classic joke among disciples. He knew it, in crowds, an interesting rumor had power to swallow a hundred of boring truth.

On the other hand, if Wei Gaoyuan really dared to challenge one of the top ten disciples of Xin, it would be more delicious for Ji Huzhe. He knew their strength, even Dong Feiye and Liu Xingfei, for instance, who were both selected by the trial, could only hover between fifth and tenth in the evaluation of each year.

He didn't know the real Wei Gaoyuan at all, though.

What if Wei Gaoyuan decided to challenge some Cyan-Feather disciple of Xin, say, Dong Feiye? And what if he won then? Wouldn't the Cyan-Feather just became Wei Gaoyuan's ideal ladder to the higher?

If that happened, the entire outer section would focus more on the fact that the Dark-Feather's disciple of Gui defeated the Cyan-Feather's disciple of Xin. Who would care about or verify the true strength of Wei Gaoyuan?

And that was why Elder Xu was so furious while considering such a potential worst result, even though quite slim. Frankly, if Elder Xu had to choose one disciple of the Dark-Feather to lose, he'd rather chose WEI Gaoyuan, instead of Dong Feiye, one of Xin.

Of course, Ji Huzhe knew Elder Xu's temper: if he confessed, he might have a chance to be punished much more lightly than he would be if he denied it.

Hence, having made up his mind after a short moment, Ji Huzhe lowered his head and said, "I did it… Master, I've realized how short sighted and stupid I am. So I beg for your punishment!"

"You jerk!" Elder Xu slapped heavily on the wooden tea table next to him, leaving a sunken hand print on it.

The four disciples shuddered in their hearts and lowered their heads at the same time, afraid to look at their master.

Elder Xu was silent for a moment before gritted his teeth and said to Ji Huzhe, "Go lock yourself in the back mountain! Face the wall! I will break your leg if you appear in front of me in one year!"

(Face the wall: if a disciple violated a rule of the sect, the leader or the master will punish him by a way of reflecting their mistake alone in a locked place, such as a cave or a cliff.)

"Obey! I appreciate your mercy punishment!"Ji Huzhe bowed hurriedly, feeling easy.

He'd worried most about being expelled straightly from the Cyan-Feather, fortunately, just the face-wall punishment for one year. He could accept any punishment as long as he would still be one of the Cyan-Feather.

"Go!" Elder Xu waved Ji Huzhe away, who glanced at the sunken hand print into the surface of the tea table before leaving — never did any tea spill out of the small tea cup.

WEI Gaoyuan took a furtive glance at it too, extremely envious in his heart, wondering if he could reach his master's stage some day—that precise controlling his power in and out, at his will, at any time, at any situation— then where couldn't he go within the whole country of Daxuan? On that day, even the high-level as the lord of Mengzhou City would treat himself with kindness...

While he was dreaming himself, Elder Xu looked at him seriously, asking,"Gaoyuan, this year-end evaluation… are you sure you can win in the challenge, I mean, to the disciple of Ren?"

WEI Gaoyuan's eyes flashed with perseverance. He replied, "Master! I will make every effort to win it, and also to win the No.1 of Gui."

If he had given such a positive answer before, Elder Xu would certainly spur him on to his victory, but now he could only response with silence.

He'd just met Elder Wu of the Dark-Feather half an hour ago. During chatting, Elder Wu didn't reveal anything about Wei Gaoyuan's current stage, but the confidence in his words seemed to have determined that the No.1 of Gui this year must belong to the Dark-Feather. It just gave him a very bad feeling.

Since WEI Gaoyuan entered his Peak, Elder Xu personally went to the inner section to get an elixir for washing the kid's meridian-collateral system, what was more, he'd used his own Internal Qi of the Nature to run and break through all the 14 meridians of the kid, making them all unobstructed; plus various rare herbs to consolidate his foundation, so that the kid could, merely in a few months, step up to the bottom of the eighth-level at such a high speed, .

In addition to improving his stage, almost every day, the disciples of Ren of the Cyan-Feather took turns to be WEI Gaoyuan's combating partners, accordingly, over the past few months, the kid's combating techniques had improved much faster than his peers. Elder Wu believed the kid currently could try to fight against any ordinary top of the eighth-level.

However, couldn't such a kid on the rocket compete with Wei Gaoyuan, the boy with the fake spiritual root?

Elder Xu got butterflies in his stomach, and he thought he'd better make some extra plan to cope with the possible worst end.

...

It was another morning with light snow, the ground of the outer section wearing a shining white coat.

The peaks in the distance were also covered with white flower of snow, and the hot evaluation of the year end was still going on.

After several competitions, eighteen disciples of Gui finally got the tickets for advance, then six others stood out from the losers in the following additional competitions and obtained the qualification for advance as well; totally 24 disciples were permitted to go home for Spring Festival after the end of the evaluation.

After the 24 got clear, the top ten and top three, and the final one at the peak obviously became the next focus, and WEI Gaoyuan of the Cyan-Feather, for sure, was the focus of the focus.

Towards the other Wei Gaoyuan, there were three kinds of voices in the outer section.

Some admired his courage. For many years, no disciple of Gui had dared to challenge top ten of Xin. Even if the boy lost in the end, he should earn public respect.

Although "newborn calves were not afraid of tigers," some thought the boy must be a mad newborn calf. As a genius martial artist, WEI Gaoyuan of the Cyan-Feather just decided to challenge the Ren grade; did the mad calf regard himself as one with the inferior spiritual root?

Of course, there were also a few people who hold a neutral and objective view. They suspected that Wei Gaoyuan might have got some potential magic means or concealed talents. After all, someone had found out that this boy had performed two missions since he entered the Dark-Feather, and he'd even completed them both and gained dozens of contribution points. In addition, it was the truth that he'd once got a conflict with Ji Huzhe, one of Xin grade, and was on the top of that conflict.

Among those who were optimistic about Wei Gaoyuan, apart from some of the Dark-Feather, there were only a few who knew more truth and details, such as Liu Xingfei.

For the 24 who would compete for the top ten, the first thing was still grouping. four in one group this time, in which the first two would advance.

Fortunately, Hu Xiaoshu didn't meet Wei Gaoyuan again; he met another brother of the East Mountain Sword Clan,Li Xiaochun.

He had to admit that he possessed the unique potential of struggling with his brothers.

In the group of Wei Gaoyuan, there were two at the middle of Transforming Force, one at the top of it. Confronted with the two Transforming Force, he only let out one simple pattern to send them off the platform.

And that top of Transforming Force, who came from the Blue-Feather, was also the formal selected disciple through the trial as the former two, yet much stronger than them.

Certainly, Wei Gaoyuan could also win him in one pattern, but he chose to hide most of his strength when in the competition, and won after more than ten patterns.

And WEI Gaoyuan had seen the last competition of Wei Gaoyuan. He couldn't help sneering in his heart: to defeat a top of Transforming Force in more than ten patterns, such a potential competitor just dared to claim a challenge to the top ten of Xin? He concealed his true power or…

Master Xu might worry too much. The boy on the platform was nothing but a potential competitor, the sort of the slightest potential.