99: Chapter 99 Mysterious Valley, Chief of Heavenly Sword Peak Appears

Deep within the Wanshou Mountain Range, there was a secluded valley shrouded in dense mist.

The light here was much dimmer than outside, and a faint, refreshing fragrance floated in the air. Taking just a single breath made one feel instantly refreshed, and even the circulation speed of spiritual power inside the body accelerated by a fraction.

Right in the very center of the valley was a small cold pool.

In the middle of the cold pool was a protruding black boulder, and wedged stubbornly within the cracks of the stone was a spiritual tree only half a person's height, glowing with a cyan-green hue all over.

Hanging lonely on the branches were three fist-sized fruits, their surfaces shimmering with a faint silver halo.

They were precisely the top-tier Grade Three Heaven And Earth Treasure — xuanling fruit!

They had completely matured!

However, the surroundings of the cold pool at this moment were far from peaceful.

Lying on the ground were the corpses of seven or eight gigantic white-furred fierce apes, their fresh blood staining the muddy ground around the cold pool a dazzling red.

Not far ahead of the cold pool, more than a dozen white-robed Disciples of Tianjian Peak with long swords strapped to their backs were surrounding the entire cold pool as if facing a formidable enemy.

Standing at the very front was the chief senior Disciple of Tianjian Peak, Li Qingfeng.

He held a cyan longsword radiating a chilling, cold light in his hand, its tip pointing obliquely toward the ground as drop by drop of Yao Beast blood trickled down the blade.

He had just led his Junior Brothers to slaughter the group of Tier 2 Medium Grade white-furred fierce apes guarding the xuanling fruit. Although he had consumed quite a bit of spiritual power, that condescending arrogance of his only grew stronger and stronger.

"Senior Brother, the fierce apes have all been cleared out! Let us hurry up and pluck the xuanling fruit!"

A Tianjian Peak Disciple looked excitedly at the three silver fruits in the middle of the cold pool and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Li Qingfeng nodded, flicked his sword into a flourish, and sheathed his longsword. "Go two people and pluck the fruits."

"Of these three xuanling fruits, I will take two, and the remaining one will be distributed to the Junior Brothers who put in the effort just now."

"With these fruits to temper my Sword Qi, my Tianhe Swordsmanship will truly be able to achieve complete mastery of freedom and precision. By then, within the entire inner sect, who will still be my match?"

Several Disciples hurriedly acknowledged the command and prepared to step across the water's surface to pick the fruits.

"Clap, clap, clap."

An extremely abrupt round of applause suddenly came from the mist at the entrance of the valley.

"Fascinating, truly fascinating."

"The trick used by Senior Brother Li of killing the chicken to get the eggs was done quite prettily, helping us clear out all the gate-guarding monkeys. It really saved us a huge amount of effort."

Accompanied by a lazy voice, a youth wearing a tattered cyan linen robe, leading two grey-robed little maidservants, strolled leisurely out of the mist.

The newcomers were precisely the three of Zhao Ruoan who had hurried over following the map all the way.

Seeing these three extremely unfamiliar fellows dressed like the lowest-tier outer sect members, more than a dozen Disciples of Tianjian Peak were all stunned for a moment.

They clearly had not expected that in this deep mountain valley long regarded by them as their private Forbidden Ground, someone would actually dare to swagger right in.

Li Qingfeng narrowed his eyes and looked Zhao Ruoan up and down, his gaze finally landing on the battered fine iron sword with a somewhat curled blade that the other party was holding by its side, a flash of thick disdain crossing the depths of his eyes.

"Where did these rule-ignorant handymen come from? Who gave you the guts to barge into a place where Tianjian Peak is handling affairs?"

Li Qingfeng could not even be bothered to give Zhao Ruoan a proper look, and coldly waved his hand at the Junior Brother beside him. "Break the legs of these three heaven-defying fellows and throw them into the snake cave behind. Do not delay me from plucking the fruits."

Two Disciples of Tianjian Peak at the Early Stage of the Pulse Condensation Realm immediately drew their longswords, cruel sneers on their faces, and pressed toward Zhao Ruoan.

"Kid, remember in your next life, some people are not trash from the bottom tier like you can afford to provoke!"

The Disciple on the left gave a loud shout, and the longsword in his hand turned into three streaks of cold light, stabbing directly toward the two kneecaps of Zhao Ruoan. His move right off the bat was an extremely vicious crippling technique.

Zhao Ruoan stood in place without moving. It was not until the sword tip of the opponent was already right in front of him that he shook his head slightly.

"Too many flaws, too slow, too little strength."

"And with this you still call yourself a Sword Cultivator? You are truly dragging the two words Sword Cultivator through the mud."

Zhao Ruoan muttered under his breath. The battered iron sword he carried in his right hand was not even bothered to be held properly; he casually smashed it downward with the hilt.

"Bang!"

A muffled sound of impact rang out.

That Tianjian Peak Disciple, who had been sneering all over just a second ago, did not even see clearly what was happening before his longsword was directly struck on the blade by the hilt of the iron sword.

A massive force was transmitted over, and that valuable Low Grade spiritual sword instantly snapped into three pieces.

Yet the momentum of the hilt did not diminish, slamming fiercely onto the chest of the Disciple.

The Disciple could not even let out a miserable scream before his entire body flew backward like a parabola, crashing directly into the water of the cold pool. It splashed up water over two meters high, and then he sank straight to the bottom without even a single bubble rising.

The other charging Disciple was so frightened that his footsteps paused, and his expression changed instantly.

Zhao Ruoan did not give him a chance to regret at all. He took a step forward, reached out with his left hand, grabbed the collar of the Disciple, swung him backward, and then tossed him right into the cold pool to take a bath just like throwing away trash.

"Plop!"

Another muffled splashing sound echoed.

At this, the entire Tianjian Peak faction fell completely silent.

The remaining dozen or so Disciples all gripped their drawn swords tightly, staring at Zhao Ruoan with looks as if they had seen a ghost.

The originally disdainful expression of Li Qingfeng instantly turned ashen.

He abruptly drew the cyan spiritual sword from his back, and a chilling Sword Qi twice as powerful as before burst forth from his body with a boom, slicing tiny cracks all over the soil beneath his feet.

"I misjudged you. So you are a hidden expert."

Li Qingfeng stared fixedly at Zhao Ruoan, saying word by word, "However, of all things you should and should not do, you should not have wielded a sword in front of me, Li Qingfeng!"

"Today, I will use the supreme ultimate art of Tianjian Peak to let you know what true Dao of the sword is!"

Zhao Ruoan looked at the battered iron sword in his hand whose blade was curled beyond use, and casually tossed it onto the ground.

Then, amidst the shocked gazes of everyone around, he walked over to a large tree nearby, reached out to snap off an ordinary branch about the length of an arm with two green leaves still attached, and weighed it in his hand.

"Come on."

Zhao Ruoan pointed at Li Qingfeng with the branch and provocatively curled his finger. "Do not say I did not give you a chance."

"Use your most badass move. If you can slice this branch in my hand apart, the xuanling fruit of today and all my points will entirely belong to you."