Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 791 The Illusionary Feast (Part Six)
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Pei Ye carried the jade tiger onto the sword platform, stood still, and turned to look at everyone present.

Holding his sword and bowing respectfully, he said, "I am Pei Ye, a country bumpkin, and I humbly request your guidance."

He turned to look at Shao Xiuyuan and cupped his hands in greeting: "Would you like to go first? Please."

Shao Xiuyuan stood still for three breaths.

He had just recovered from the emotional state of his conversation with the Crown Prince.

He looked up at the young man in front of him, calm and relaxed, as he drew his sword.

The banquet lasted for two hours, during which nearly a hundred sword tests were held on the stage. The thousand people at the banquet chatted and laughed, getting to know each other and becoming acquainted with today's sword banquet.

So he really wasn't prepared for a boy who had never spoken before to suddenly appear.

It was as if they had all become outsiders in an instant.

Seventh on the list is Pei Ye, the "Chi Swordsman." Shao Xiuyuan had certainly heard of this arrogant name from the streets of the capital over the past few months. It was either praise or criticism of him.

Every time he heard it, he would just smile and agree, neither caring much nor ever feeling that the name would have anything to do with him.

Just now, Ming Qitian, the master of the Glazed Sword, mentioned him. Shao Xiuyuan observed the relationship between the two for a while. After the Glazed Sword Master sat back down, the two chatted casually, but their conversation was not very frequent.

He never expected that he would have a relationship with the person in the main seat.

“I want to see ‘you’ compete with them…” Shao Xiuyuan knew he was no match for the man in front of him, even if those voices said his reputation far exceeded his achievements, even if this young man was a mix of truth and falsehood, with no real background or connections. But in any case, he was associated with names like Yang Zhenbing, Yan Feiqing, and Li Zhi.

Shao Xiuyuan pursed his lips, drew his sword, and bowed, saying, "Shao Xiuyuan of Xiaoqing Lake, I'd like to learn from your superior skills."

Only two people remained on the sword platform.

The banquet hall was silent, everyone's eyes were fixed on the game, watching more intently than they had ever seen before.

Shao Xiuyuan sensed this atmosphere.

He stared intently at the boy in front of him, his sword pointing to the ground, every muscle in his body tensing up.

He still has many trump cards up his sleeve.

He wasn't truly powerless against the top twenty; he had many plans and backups in mind, enough to make it through the entire sword banquet.

He had been calm and collected in the previous rounds of chess and sword battles, but in reality, he was fully preparing for a battle against a player ranked in the top twenty of the rankings.

This is also why he took the initiative to ask His Highness the Crown Prince to select him.

"Qinghu Lu" is just the first sword technique he plans to use today; he learned "Pinghu Banyue" four years ago.

He still has the ancestral sword technique "Four Seasons Solitary Crossing" yet to be revealed, and the set of intent swords "Thoughts on the Submerged Jade" hidden within him.

His goal was simple: even if he couldn't win, he could at least gain the upper hand in a few moves and then make a graceful defeat.

What's the point of winning or losing at the sword banquet? It's not like we're really going to take the Feather Scale Trial.

Those eyes only have meaning if they remember someone.

So now, facing this boy, his intention is the same.

First, he used "Four Seasons of Solitude," then directly transitioned to "Thoughts on the Submerged Jade," leaving absolutely no room for his sword to be broken. Shao Xiuyuan scrutinized himself with absolute rigor, eliminating any sword moves that carried even a hint of luck.

He was determined to take down the young man in front of him with five moves, risking four years of infiltration and preparation.

"Please, Young Master Pei, draw your sword first," Shao Xiuyuan said respectfully.

Pei Ye was slightly surprised: "Aren't you going first?"

"Please, Young Master Pei, go first."

Pei Ye nodded, took a step forward, raised his sword, and unleashed a simple and straightforward attack called "Breaking the Earth."

Shao Xiuyuan breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He was worried that the other party would reveal himself on stage and try to establish his authority by defeating him in just a few moves. Fortunately, the young man in front of him did not seem to have such intentions, and he also attacked with a probing move.

Then his space would be much larger. Shao Xiuyuan was extremely decisive. He adopted a strange posture, pressed his wrist down, lowered his sword, and then lifted it upwards.

Like a dance of immortals.

With the enemy at a disadvantage and us in a precarious situation, Shao Xiuyuan boldly seized the initiative. Almost no one expected that it was this gentle and refined disciple who would suddenly escalate the pace of the battle. Many people were also surprised to recognize this rather iconic sword strike.

"Four Seasons of Lonely Crossing" consists of four forms, representing the pinnacle of Xiaoqing Lake's swordsmanship over the past two hundred years: one for defense, one for offense, one for evasion, and one for dismantling. Sixty years ago, the patriarch relied on it to dominate the southeast.

Shao Xiuyuan learned the first two moves in a year.

He dared not draw his sword first in front of Pei Ye, nor was he willing to reveal this sword first.

Spring arrives, flowing water washes away the dust from my hat ornaments.

As if an invisible stream followed beside Shao Xiuyuan's sword, the moment the two swords touched, a strange force suddenly lifted Pei Ye's sword upwards.

Disrupting the sword is a basic sword fighting technique that can be used for offense, defense, and parrying. As the name suggests, it involves interfering with the opponent's sword stance to prevent it from progressing.

A single disruptive sword strike imparts at least one force in a different direction. A disruptive sword strike that can be named as a sword move often imparts a dozen or even dozens of forces in different directions.

【Spring Water Tassels】There are 3,382 of them.

The sword plunges into the water, like a tassel floating on a stream; the sword's momentum will scatter in an instant, making it difficult to reassemble. It is precisely because water has no fixed shape that the patriarch spent six years creating this sword technique to simulate the movement of a tassel floating on a stream; and Shao Xiuyuan practiced diligently for nine months to master these three thousand three hundred and eighty-two subtle forces.

Without the slightest delay, he prepared to transform the flowing water into a summer downpour in an instant, followed by the chaotic "Thoughts on the Submerged Jade." This set of swordplay was smooth and continuous, extremely steep, open, and serene, enough to reveal his superb swordsmanship.

But the flowing water failed to turn into a downpour; it remained stagnant.

The sword that had been scattered into the stream returned to its original position with just one sway among the three thousand three hundred and eighty-two forces, while the stream gradually stagnated, and Shao Xiuyuan found that his sword could no longer move.

On the quiet sword platform, Pei Yu slowly lowered Shao Xiuyuan's sword until the tip touched the ground with a soft "ding".

Pei Ye sheathed his sword, took a step back, and bowed respectfully: "Thank you for your courtesy. Please, next one."

The banquet hall was eerily quiet; this stark contrast created an almost unsettling atmosphere.

The simple and easy-to-understand nature of the sword strike [Breaking the Earth] makes the scene of it suppressing [Spring Water Tassel] all the more bewildering.

People wondered if they had missed something, but the trajectory of the sword was so clear: it broke through the ground, caught the sword, scattered for a moment, and then pressed Shao Xiuyuan's sword to the ground.

Several figures suddenly stood up in an instant.

Cui Zhaoye was also slightly taken aback. After not seeing him for half a month, the young man's sword was different from what she remembered. The sharpness seemed to have melted away.

Shao Xiuyuan stared blankly as he recalled his feelings. He looked down at his sword and found that his wrist was moving freely, not frozen as he had imagined.

The feeling from that sword strike just now made it slowly press its sword down, like pressing a rushing spring stream back into the cold, astringent early spring, and then back into the frozen winter.

He stood still for a moment, returned the greeting, took a few steps back, and stood back at the sidelines.

In fact, he hadn't moved an inch since stepping onto the sword platform. At that moment, he understood the meaning of the boy's question, "Aren't you going first?" Pei Ye stood on the platform, and the next person to ascend was Shi Zhenxuan from Hebei Sword Manor.

This was a young man about the same age as Pei Ye, who had only risen to fame in the martial arts world last year. This time, Shi Zhenxuan drew his sword first, and Pei Ye accepted the sword and let him finish several moves before finding an opening to strike his throat.

Then came Ding Dao, the true disciple of the Taihang lineage, and Bian Chang, the master of Qingwu Tower… Just now, these people were all dominating the sword platform, defeating their opponents one by one with great elegance. Now, in front of the young swordsman, they still used those exquisite and gorgeous sword moves, but they no longer had that magic.

Pei Ye and each person played a round of swordsmanship, sometimes five or six moves, sometimes eight or nine.

If you focus your attention on these heroes, it's incredibly tense and exciting, with countless brilliant swordplays and dramatic ups and downs in the situation; but if you focus on the young man, it seems flat and boring.

No matter if the opponent changes their person or sword technique, it won't make any difference. If the opponent goes first, they will never use a fully formed sword technique in the end. If they go first, it will always be the same move, "Breaking the Ground".

He never used a single impressive sword move, or rather, he never used a second sword move, but no matter what his opponent used, they couldn't break through his sword stance.

As time went on, and those names became increasingly legendary in the martial arts world, they were all politely offered a "thank you for the courtesy" by him, after which the scene fell silent.

Sometimes, first-rate swordsmen always fight first-rate swordsmen, and second-rate swordsmen always fight second-rate swordsmen. Luwei will not come to fight Shao Xiuyuan. People know that names like Yan Feiqing and Qunfei are very powerful, but they do not really realize what kind of gap that is.

People are simply more accepting.

Because Yan Feiqing is the closed-door disciple of the Qingwei Daoist leader, and Qunfei is the seventh jade [young master] of the Tianshan high sect... Each of the top twenty names on the Fu Ranking is followed by the name of a sect.

People's names may be new, but the names of sects will always be on the list; that is a different world from the ordinary martial arts world.

"Pei Ye" is different.

The controversy and questioning surrounding this name in recent months stems partly from this: people can understand "Tianshan, Peiye" and "Yunlang, Peiye", but they don't know where "Fenghuai, Peiye" comes from.

People subconsciously categorize him into the broader realm of martial arts below, so without engaging in combat, he has no way of proving that he belongs to the highest level of swordsmen.

What people are more truly aware of is the power of names like Lu Zhiju, Shi Zhenxuan, Ning Shuhong, and Gao Ge.

It was only at this point that many people realized the difference between those few well-known top figures and these "renowned" geniuses.

The last one to take the stage was [Lu Banmian] Gao Ge.

This young hero is said to have killed many people in the north, but now, standing on the platform, he is dressed very neatly, with neatly trimmed nails and long, powerful hands that look very reliable when he grips the hilt of his sword.

The half of his face that was visible was neither handsome, nor ugly, nor mediocre; it was the kind of face that one would remember at a glance.

Of course, there aren't many people in the world who only have half a face.

He ranked twenty-second on the list of top swordsmen, above renowned names such as Han Xiuben of the Southern School of Yijian, Jiang Yin'er ("Little White Dragon"), and Zuoqiu Longhua ("Flying Jade"). He was undoubtedly the strongest among the ten, and many present believed that he could at least defeat one of the top twenty swordsmen.

Gao Ge, sword in hand and fist clasped, said, "Gao Ge of the North, please give me your guidance, Young Hero Pei."

Pei Ye returned the greeting: "I have learned a lot about your divine swordsmanship, esteemed brother."

The pavilion does indeed have two divine swords.

The two swords, "Fei Huo" and "Li Sheng," which were famous throughout the martial arts world, had no successor except for the man himself. He relied on them to roam the northern lands and was invincible. Everyone who saw them spoke of his great reputation.

This is probably the first time it has appeared in Shenjing.

After the ceremony, Gao Ge drew his sword.

His sword was like dancing sleeves, like a shooting star, its light as fiery as fire, dazzling and enchanting—truly a swordsmanship never before seen.

As the sword thrust forward, Pei Ye used his second sword move for the first time, which was called [Support Tree].

The moment their swords clashed, it was like sparks meeting oil; in an instant, their swordplay blossomed, almost omitting any probing steps. They clashed and exchanged blows in a dazzling display.

Gao Ge's dynamic posture shifted back and forth on the sword platform, and Pei Ye's Jade Sword poured out like a string of jade beads.

The boy was clearly encountering these two swords for the first time, but many of the onlookers had already noticed that Gao Ge was clearly the attacker, but his range of movement was getting smaller and smaller, while the boy was clearly receiving the swords, but the range of movement around him was getting larger and larger.

It's as if it's gradually being glued on.

Even after Gao Ge stood completely still, the young man continued to clink his swords around him, as if he could never leave that area.

Beautiful Sacrifice

Legend has it that a person with only half a face possesses a sword capable of binding people.

Gradually, Gao Ge's swordplay slowed down, and Pei Ye's responses also became slower, almost becoming disjointed, but they still maintained their position.

"So that's how it is," Pei Ye suddenly said.

From the very beginning, this sword was not meant for sword techniques, but for the flow of energy. From the moment they clashed, the connection between the two swords grew ever stronger, becoming inseparable the more they fought, until now they are completely unable to break free.

It is indeed a strange and eerie sword.

"Young Master Pei is tolerant." "Li Sheng" is his signature move, but "Yu Fei" is clearly not Pei Ye's trump card.

To this day, people have neither seen the legendary immortal wings nor witnessed the Heaven-Shattering Sword that slit the throat of the Fourth Prince.

"So how do you plan to defeat me?" Pei Ye asked.

"After the Sacrifice of Beauty, the Fire of the Concubine will be born. I will use the sword of the Fire of the Concubine to slay those who are bound."

"please."

Gao Ge stood still, and Pei Ye also stood still in the same spot, his aura completely locked by Gao Ge.

Gao Ge thrust out his sword, creating a brilliant flame like a bird's wing in the air, which Pei Ye caught with a "clink".

Then he let go, and the longsword flew from his hand, then, like a streak of light, swept across Gao Ge's neck.

Gao Ge held his sword firmly, a few strands of hair drifting down.

Pei Ye smiled slightly, and the jade tiger, which had been flying, swept across the crowd in an arc several dozen feet wide, becoming slower and gentler until it rang out with a clang and returned to its sheath like a swallow.

"A fine sword," Pei Ye said. "You flatter me."

Gao Ge took a deep breath, stepped back a few paces, sheathed his sword, and bowed deeply, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

Hissing and rustling voices rose from the banquet hall. Many people looked up at the main seat on the north side. Cui Zhaoye looked at the young man on the stage with her eyes wet and bright, wondering if she should go up and preside over the event. In fact, she was somewhat eager to speak to him, who was holding a sword. There were also many people in the banquet who felt that there were too many things they did not understand in the sword fight just now, and were hesitating whether they could ask questions.

But in the end, no one spoke. The prince on the north side didn't utter a word, nor did he change his posture.

The boy on stage turned around and looked up at the gauze curtain hanging above.

Then he turned back, glanced at the table, and politely clasped his hands in the same manner as before: "Brothers Yun Lang Yu Qing and Xiao Ma Jian Chen Tuo are not here. We, fellow students of Shu Shan Chu Shui Ting, often spar at the Sword Academy, so there is no need for Brother Chu to participate."

“Then… Tianshan Shuangcheng, Miss Ji.” Pei Ye looked over, holding his sword and clasping his hands in greeting, “Please enlighten me.”

He looked like he had just warmed up. Ji Jiuying, who was drinking tea next to Shi Zanxue, choked when he met those eyes, and his eyes slowly widened.

(End of this chapter)