If they really want to take on apprentices, who will be the one to take on whom?

However, just as everyone thought Lin Xueer would be heavily injured by this strike, and might even be left with a psychological shadow...

Lin Xueer moved.

She didn't dodge, she didn't block, and there wasn't even the slightest change in her expression.

She simply... slowly raised her right hand, pressed her fingers together like a sword, and towards that whistling red giant claw, she casually slashed out!

There was no earth-shattering sword light.

No world-destroying Aura.

That sword light appeared so simple and unadorned, so ordinary.

Like a Disciple who had just begun learning the Dao of the sword, swinging a common slash at will.

But at the moment she swung her hand,

An invisible, intangible, yet incomparably sharp and strange rhythm, as if it could sever everything in the world, suddenly rose from her body!

That rhythm flashed and vanished in an instant!

"Buzz—!"

The qinglan sword emitted an unprecedentedly joyful sword hum!

However, it did not leave its scabbard.

If it left the scabbard, it would mean killing; the arena challenge of the Sect Grand Competition didn't need to go that far.

Then, a seemingly slender azure Sword Qi shot out from her fingers, meeting the sky-blotting Crimson Refined Gold-Melting Hand!

In the next moment!

"boom——!"

A loud explosion shook the entire venue!

The scene many had expected, of Lin Xueer being blown away, did not occur.

Under the gaze of countless horrified eyes,

That overwhelmingly powerful Crimson Refined Gold-Melting Hand, the moment it touched that slender Sword Qi, was actually split in two from the middle like it was made of paper!

The violent fire-element spiritual power instantly lost control, exploding into a rain of fire across the sky!

And that azure Sword Qi, after slicing through the Gold-Melting Hand, did not lose its power or speed, moving at a pace that surpassed the reaction limits of many Disciples.

It flashed and vanished!

"Pfft!"

A figure, as if struck by lightning, spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward off the arena at an extremely high speed!

"Thud!"

The dull sound of a heavy object hitting the ground rang out again!

That figure, wearing the crimson-gold robes of a Personal Disciple and carrying the high hopes of Danxia Peak, fell heavily below the Martial Arts Field.

He cracked the hard bluestone slabs.

After struggling and coughing up blood twice, he could no longer get up.

This person was... Qian Mo!

His strongest Move, performed with all his might, couldn't even withstand a single blow from Lin Xueer!

He was sent flying with a single strike!

The entire venue fell into a deathly silence once more!

Many people were simply stunned.

If Wang Hao being insta-killed before had brought shock to everyone,

Then now, Qian Mo being insta-killed brought only numbness, and a sense of unreality as if they were dreaming!

Another... single Move???

This was Qian Mo! The Genius hailed as being close to the hidden dragon ranking list!

The Senior Brother of Danxia Peak with a Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer peak cultivation, who could Breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm at any time! The Personal Disciple of the Peak Master of Danxia Peak!

Unexpectedly, just like Wang Hao,

He was cleanly and decisively insta-killed by that girl in white with just one Move???

This...

Everyone is in the Foundation Establishment Realm, so why does Qingxuan Peak's Lin Xueer feel like she's delivering a dimensional strike when she fights?

"Whoosh—!!!"

After a brief dead silence, an earth-shattering uproar ten times more intense than before erupted!

"I'm crazy! I must be crazy! Senior Brother Qian Mo... was also insta-killed in one Move?"

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible! Cheating! She must be cheating!"

"Foundation Establishment Seventh Layer... insta-killing a Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer peak with one sword strike? Is... is she still human?"

"If Qian Mo is close to entering the hidden dragon ranking list, then... what about Lin Xueer?"

Exclamations, gasps, and voices of disbelief stirred up a heated discussion, the massive clamor seemingly about to flip the Martial Arts Field over!

The fanaticism and worship on the faces of the Danxia Peak Disciples completely froze, turning into dazed confusion.

Their proud Senior Brother, the invincible existence in their hearts, had just... lost?

And he lost even more cleanly and thoroughly than Wang Hao?

On the Viewing Platform.

"Crack!"

The armrest in Zhao Qian's hand was crushed into wood chips by him!

His eyes were wide, his eyeballs almost bulging out of their sockets, and his mouth was open wide enough to fit an egg.

He panted heavily, his expression one of extreme, indescribable ferocity and disbelief!

"Fuck!"

This unexpected result, this absurd scene, and this blood-vomiting frustration made him unable to resist cursing fiercely in his heart.

And that Peak Master of Danxia Peak, who had always been resting with his eyes closed and acting composed, could no longer maintain his calm!

He suddenly opened his eyes!

In those deep eyes, there was no longer the calm of a still well, but an unconcealable shock!

He stared fixedly at that white figure on the arena who remained as calm as a light breeze, his breathing becoming somewhat uncontrollably rapid!

Mo'er, whom he had painstakingly taught and viewed as his successor, actually... lost?

However, in fact, the one with the biggest reaction in the entire venue right now was not him, nor Zhao Qian.

It was Elder Li, Elder Li Changqing!

"Swish!"

He suddenly stood up from his seat, only to plop back down, his eyes filled with shock and horror as he looked at Lin Xueer.

His heart was even more despondent!

Others might have only seen the power of Lin Xueer's strike and the result of Qian Mo being insta-killed.

But him!

As someone who had just touched the threshold of that level of Sword Intent and sensed the Nascent Sword Intent, he felt it clearly!

Nascent Sword Intent!

It was Nascent Sword Intent!

Within that sword strike Lin Xueer just unleashed, it unexpectedly contained the Nascent Sword Intent that Sword Cultivators dream of!

And... Elder Li's fingers trembled slightly.

He could feel that the Nascent Sword Intent contained in Lin Xueer's strike—its degree of condensation, its sense of sharpness, its feeling of harmony... actually far exceeded the bit of surface knowledge he had finally managed to comprehend not long ago!

What did this mean?

This meant that this eighteen-year-old girl's understanding and perception of the Dao of the sword were actually deeper and further than his, a Golden Core Elder who had cultivated for hundreds of years!

A terrifying thought exploded in his mind!

He instantly remembered that just now, he had used Divine Thought transmission to recruit Lin Xueer with a high-and-mighty attitude.

He remembered saying he would teach Lin Xueer his insights on "Nascent Sword Intent" with a boastful intent.

He remembered his boastful words about guiding her in her sword Cultivation.

And he also remembered the strange look Lin Xueer gave him when she looked up after hearing those words... He understood!

He finally understood!

That look wasn't because Lin Xueer was young and didn't know the heights of the heavens.

It was clearly a kind of... pity!

It was as if she were saying: Nascent Sword Intent? You only sensed it at your age?

Lin Xueer had sensed the Nascent Sword Intent at such a young age.

This was like an incredibly wealthy tycoon watching a beggar holding a copper coin and showing off his wealth triumphantly!

Ridiculous!

I, Elder Li Changqing, am simply ridiculous!

"Pfft—!"

Shame!

Unparalleled shame!

A surge of blood rushed to his throat, Elder Li felt the world spinning, and his old face instantly turned the color of pig liver.

Then it turned from red to purple, and finally into a deathly gray!

Take a Disciple?

Steal Ye Qing's Disciple and teach her to comprehend Nascent Sword Intent?

How embarrassing! It was simply mortifying!

He finally understood how ridiculous and absurd his words must have sounded to Lin Xueer!

In the path of the sword alone, this girl had walked much further than he had!

Never mind taking her as a Disciple!

She... was even enough to be his own sword teacher!

If he really wanted to take a Disciple, he'd probably have to ask: who exactly is taking whom?