The Everbde City Sword Festival started at sundown. It was held at the wide pza to the north of the city which was rge enough to fit many thousands of people comfortably. By the time Chen Wentian and his disciples got there, the various exhibits and stalls were already set up and the entire pce was buzzing with excitement.

  “See, Xue’er. I told you we would make it time.” Chen Wentian said and gave her a nudge.

  “Master!” An annoyed voice came from the other side, “I’m Xue’er. That’s Yue’er!”

  Chen Wentian gnced at the twins, one held in each arm, and then ughed, “Of course, I knew who you were. I was just teasing!”

  Both of them blew out their cheeks and glowered at him. He wanted to pinch them but they seemingly sensed his intentions and escaped his clutches.

  “You two… Hmph!” He crossed his arms in mock anger “Xue’er and Yue’er are too unruly. I think…”

  He slipped through his disciples in a fsh and stopped next to Bei Yingluo. “Yingluo is smart and obedient. I think I will have Yingluo accompany me tonight. How about it?”

  Bei Yingluo smiled and bowed her head, “Yes, master.”

  “Good! Let’s go see what this sword festival is about.” He decred and entered the throng of people, Bei Yingluo clinging to his arm, his disciples close behind.

  The pza was turned into something akin to a night market. Rows of nterns hung from tall poles, illuminating the crowds and the various vendors and activities below. Ribbons and fgs fluttered in the cool evening breeze.

  The participants came from all over the subcontinent. They had unique outfits and a wide range of colors. There were countless sects, some immortal but mostly mortal.

  Chen Wentian was among the few immortals present. The festival was a mortal one through and through. There was nothing of any use to him here but it was perfect for his disciples. Seeing their excited expressions, he also managed to find passing interest in what the festival offered.

  “Come one, come all! Come try out the sharpness of your sword energy!”

  A loud shout made Chen Wentian pause. They were in front of a brightly lit booth. A pair of burly, bare-chested men stood within, next to several stacks of what appeared to be metal ptes.

  “This looks fun. What’s the deal?” Chen Wentian commented.

  “Lord immortal!” Both men bowed and one expined their business, “This is a test of one’s understanding of the Dao of the sword in the mortal realms. A sword is always supposed to be sharp beyond all else, it is supposed to pierce and cut through anything in its way. If your disciples would like to try, we have a method here for them to test their abilities on using only their sword energy.”

  “That’s right.” The other nodded and continued, “Each attempt is one gold tael. This money is pooled together into a grand prize which has already gone up to five hundred taels in less than an hour! On the third night of the sword festival, whoever has produced the best result will be decred the winner to all the participants of the festival and awarded the grand prize!”

  “Ah, so it is a test of absolute power. Those at the peak of the Spirit Initiate Realm would naturally have the advantage.” Chen Wentian said.

  “Er… You can say that.” The two answered together, looking at each other

  They obviously wanted other people at lower levels to try so that the jackpot could increase faster. The winner would get a bigger jackpot this way but so would they after taking a cut of the total. If only a few of the strongest swordsmen tried this game, then they wouldn’t be able to make any money.

  He turned to his disciples, “Anyone wants to try?”

  Wu Qianyu stepped forward immediately, followed by Li Yuechan after a brief pause. Nobody else volunteered.

  Chen Wentian smiled. Those two were the ones he expected. He nodded to them and beckoned them towards the booth.

  “Sister Li, would like to go first?” Wu Qianyu asked politely.

  Li Yuechan inclined her head, “If Senior Sister insists, then I shall give it a try.”

  Although Wu Qianyu had already reached the first lesser realm of Spiritual Growth, Li Yuechan wasn’t willing to admit defeat just yet. She wanted to see just how far the gap in their strengths was.

  “Excellent, this way. Here we have ptes of aged steel. Each one is one centimeter thick. Aged steel was very dense and heavy. It is also one of the hardest types of spiritual metal that ordinary swords cannot do anything against. Go ahead and try it with your spiritual energy, your score will be determined by how many ptes you can piece or cut through.” The man behind the booth said.

  He pointed to a stack of grey-colored ptes arrayed on a wooden table. At a gnce, there were more than thirty ptes cmped together and also cmped securely onto the table.

  Li Yuechan flicked her wrist and extended an index finger towards the ptes. A surge of sheer cold gathered at her fingertip, forming a thin pocket of sword energy infused with the power of ice. She then flicked her finger, sending her attack towards the middle of the aged steel shield.

  Tong!

  The table shook along with the stack of metal ptes. A small hole was created near the center of the first pte and disappeared from view.

  “Wow! Excellent power! I felt my life fsh before my eyes!” One of the men excimed.

  “That’s right, brother! This swordswoman is extremely talented!” The other said.

  After some more babbling, they uncmped the steel ptes and counted them. In all, seven ptes had been completely pierced and a small nick was left in the eighth.

  Li Yuechan let out the breath she had been holding and turned to Wu Qianyu. “Elder sister, it’s your turn.”

  Wu Qianyu nodded and stepped forward as new ptes were put in pce for her. Once that was done, she raised a finger and focused all of her strength and spiritual energy into an invisible sliver of destructive power.

  Tong!

  Her attack smashed into the aged-steel ptes. The whole contraption shook like before but just slightly less. When it was taken apart and examined, she had surprisingly scored a little worse. She had not managed to pierce through the seventh pte by the thickness of a hair.

  “Again!” Wu Qianyu said and spped another gold tael on the counter.

  Her urgency was a surprise to all, especially Li Yuechan who was just about to celebrate her win.

  Chen Wentian smirked as he watched both disciples with great interest. There was an undeniable sense of competition between them. It wasn’t anything bad. It was simply due to the pride that all cultivators held in their own ability.

  Perhaps, it was also due to a sense of vanity that all women had. Li Yuechan and Wu Qianyu were his disciples but they were also his lovers. They both wanted to show off their abilities, the progress they had made. It was natural that neither wanted to lose out to the other, especially for Wu Qianyu who had already broken through a lesser realm.

  The second time around, Wu Qianyu did much better. She focused more on the sword energy of Dugu’s 10th Sword instead of her still developing Sorrowful Sword Style. Because of this, she was able to pierce through the eighth pte and leave a deep hole in the ninth.

  “I want to try it again too!” An unsatisfied Li Yuechan decred right after.

  A few moments ter.

  “Again, one more!”

  A few more moments ter.

  “One st time!”

  But despite Li Yuechan’s best efforts, she could not pierce through the eighth pte. The ice sword of Winter’s Snow Dance was not one that focused on purely sword Dao. Compared to Dugu’s 10th Sword, she had already performed quite spectacurly but she still wasn’t satisfied.

  “Yuechan,” Chen Wentian said gently, wrapping a hand around hers that was busy trying to form another attack, “Yuechan!”

  “Huh…” She whirled around and froze in his presence, “Oh… I…”

  He gave her a reassuring smile, “The sword festival has plenty of other fun things. We don’t have to stay here all night. You did great, let’s go.”

  “Oh…” She looked around her, somewhat embarrassed by her actions.

  “Sister Li.” Wu Qianyu walked up beside her. “Your ice sword is quite amazing. I fear my Sorrowful Sword Style still has a long way to go but I ended up using Dugu’s 10th Sword. I’m sorry for my behavior.”

  “It was totally fair. it was my fault for letting it affect my judgment.” Li Yuechan replied.

  “Thanks…”

  The two walked away from the stall, continuing to converse together, their prior dispute already resolved. Chen Wentian followed behind with a wide smile, happy that his two disciples were such open-minded and decent people.

  ---

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