Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 229: Unexpected Apprenticeship
Not only Zhulang wanted to test Mr. Li's cultivation, the people of Xiandao Academy also wanted to see what level of cultivation he had. The sudden appearance of Mr. Li had gained Ying Zheng's trust, which had threatened the position of Xiandao Academy in the court. If his cultivation was stronger than Xu Shi's, then this person was really terrifying.

Mr. Li is the respectful title given to him by Ying Zheng. Others only know that his surname is Li but not his name or origin. In fact, he is not very old, only in his early twenties, but he is called Mr., which makes it awkward for the elders to call him that, but they have to call him that because this man does have extraordinary wisdom. However, this will not convince these cultivators because they, like Zhulang, only believe in the strong ones with high cultivation.

Mr. Li naturally knew this, and said calmly: "There are many famous people here, but I am not famous. Even if you defeat me, it will not improve your reputation. Why bother?"

Zhu Lang said: "Although you have no reputation, I still want to kill you, because with you around, I will never become the number one swordsman!"

Mr. Li said, "I don't have the same ideals as you, how can I affect your future?"

"Because what you said affected me and ruined my mood."

"If you think I'm wrong, you don't have to listen. How can it ruin your mood?"

"It is because what you said is right that you ruined my state of mind. Moreover, your understanding of swordsmanship is deeper than mine. Only by killing you can I calm my mind." He spoke very little, but he said a lot to Mr. Li.

Jin Xingzi said with a smile: "If you want to challenge my master, you have to defeat me first!"

Zhulang didn't look at Jin Xingzi, but stared into Mr. Li's eyes and asked, "Do you think your apprentice can withstand my sword?"

Mr. Li said, "Within ten swords."

"You still have self-awareness."

"I think you should listen to the end. If you can't defeat him within ten moves, then you will be the loser."

When everyone heard this, they all felt that Mr. Li's words were a bit exaggerated. With Ji Jie's cultivation level, he couldn't dodge a single move. Jin Xingzi's cultivation level was not stronger than Ji Jie's, so how could he possibly defeat Zhu Lang.

What I didn’t expect was Zhulang’s answer, “How do you know I only know ten moves?”

Mr. Li said, "Because you always defeat your opponent within ten moves."

"They were defeated within ten moves because they were not strong enough. There was no need for me to use the eleventh move."

"Although there is some truth in what you said, I know that people who only train their muscles and bones will never practice too many moves. It is a taboo in swordsmanship to have too many moves without being refined. Even the 'Drunken Sword God' only uses three moves: stab, chop, and sweep. They are simple and solid, fast and accurate. You can say they are not moves. Even people who have never learned swordsmanship can do it, but he uses them to perfection. If you can use ten moves, it is already complicated. If you have more, it is better to practice both mind and spirit, then you will have more moves and be more unexpected."

For the first time, Zhulang's eyes showed fluctuations, a rare fluctuation. If Mr. Li's previous words revealed his weakness, then these words pointed out the root of the weakness. Anyone who could say these words must have a very good understanding of the sword's purpose and must have reached a certain level to guide others in their practice.

However, Zhulang believed that he would definitely defeat Jin Xingzi within ten moves, because he had practiced these ten moves countless times, and he thought that each move had almost reached its peak, otherwise he would not have come here to challenge the immortal-level master.

Zhulang glanced at Jin Xingzi and said, "Go ahead and attack!"

Jin Xingzi jumped onto the lake and said with a chuckle, "It was you who wanted to challenge me, not me challenging you. You were the one who made the first move."

Zhulang held the hilt of the sword and said coldly: "Okay!" His eagle eyes were focused on Jin Xingzi. In his opinion, the posture of Jin Xingzi was completely empty.

The wind seemed to have stopped, and there was not a ripple on the lake, as calm as a mirror. Everyone felt the powerful sword intent emanating from Zhulang's body, and they squinted their eyes to watch his every move, but Zhulang did not move at this time.

Just as Zhulang was about to move the muscle of his thumb, he suddenly heard Jin Xingzi say, "Wait!"

Zhulang asked: "What are you waiting for?"

"Since this is a challenge, you should pay a price if you fail. What is your price?"

"I won't lose. You will never be able to avoid my ten moves."

"What if it's more than ten moves?"

"If you can withstand ten of my moves, I will do whatever you want without complaint."

Jin Xingzi chuckled and said, "Okay, your words are enough." It seemed that he was confident about what he said.

Just as Jin Xingzi finished his words, "clang..." Zhulang's sword was unsheathed. There was a sound when the sword was unsheathed, but the sound disappeared after the sword was unsheathed. The speed of lightning is the fastest, and this sword was like lightning, stabbing towards Jin Xingzi.

When the flash of lightning was seen, the sword tip had already reached Jin Xingzi's throat. Few people could dodge this sword. Some people had already imagined the scene of blood gushing out when they saw the light.

But the sword stopped at Jin Xingzi's throat. In fact, the sword did not stop, but Jin Xingzi was retreating and the sword was following. Although the sword stabbed quickly, the sword body appeared when it was ten feet away. The sword would not become longer and the sword power was old. Jin Xingzi had escaped this distance. What was left was the body movement. Zhulang's body movement at this moment was not much faster than Jin Xingzi's.

Although Jin Xingzi dodged the sword, he did not feel good. The invisible pressure almost crushed his throat and his breathing was blocked. If he had not listened to his master and kept this distance, this sword would have been enough to take his life. This kid was too ruthless. He wanted to kill people with one move.

Zhulang's sword missed, but he knew what Jin Xingzi intended, so he sped up his movements and closed the distance by half a zhang. His long sword rolled up, flashing silver light, and the sword body bent, bypassing Jin Xingzi. The sword tip turned around and stabbed behind Jin Xingzi, blocking his retreat.

Jin Xingzi did not retreat. When the distance was shortened, he rushed towards Zhulang. The 'Red Refining Flame' in his hand roared and stabbed towards Zhulang's chest. His speed was not slow.

Zhulang snorted coldly, and with a flick of his wrist, the sword suddenly swept towards Jin Xingzi. Jin Xingzi thought that as long as he got close to Zhulang, his sword would be constrained, but he didn't expect that the sword was so agile. The closer he got, the more dangerous it became. He was already surrounded by sword shadows in front and behind him. As long as he couldn't dodge, he would be defeated. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and a fire sword appeared in his left hand. He used the fire sword in his right hand to resist the sword body and the fire sword in his left hand to push away the sword edge.

"Dang..., bang..." Two sounds rang out almost at the same time, and Jin Xingzi was blown away like an arrow, sliding ten feet on the water before stopping, stirring up waves several feet high, while Zhu Lang stayed firmly in place. Everyone could see that Jin Xingzi was defeated. It was not easy for him to take three moves of such a fast sword. If he continued, he would be asking for trouble.

"That's three moves. Let's see how many more you have." Jin Xingzi obviously didn't admit defeat.

Zhulang said, "Okay!" The sword swept across the water, creating a wall of water that covered Jin Xingzi like a waterfall. Then, the sword flashed, and the long sword was hidden in the water curtain. This sword was so strange that few people could see where the sword was. The entire water curtain seemed to be the sword's blade.

Jin Xingzi had not expected that Zhulang would actually use such a move. All the water droplets in front of him concealed sharp sword intent, and the speed was so fast that he could no longer dodge. The sword edge would inevitably appear in a place where he could not dodge. He was not afraid at first, but now he was really afraid, because everyone would be afraid when facing death, and even gave up resisting.

"Dang..." The long sword made a pleasant sound, and the sword body appeared. The sword actually stopped, and the water curtain fell into the water.

No one saw what happened. Why did the sword stop when it was about to kill Jin Xingzi? Did Zhu Lang not want to kill Jin Xingzi?

Zhulang stood in the water, his eyes filled with fear, a fear he had never felt before, because he was the only one who knew what was happening.

He believed that this sword skill, which he had practiced thousands of times, could be seen by no one in the world, let alone blocked by anyone. He didn't even need to use this sword against Jin Xingzi. He just wanted to defeat Jin Xingzi as soon as possible and then challenge his master.

But the sword was blocked by a drop of water. The blow was heavy, and it even made him doubt the saying "God rewards hard work". He was a genius and hardworking, but genius plus hard work were nothing in front of a drop of water. His arm felt numb and he had not yet regained consciousness. What would have happened if the drop of water had hit his body?

Only at this moment did he truly understand what sword intent was. His sword intent had gone astray and was nothing more than an unnecessary trick.

Zhulang looked towards Mr. Li. Mr. Li's eyes were clear and calm, and the unstoppable sword intent had disappeared from his eyes.

After a long time, Zhulang said in a deep voice: "I lost!" and slowly put away his sword. This was the first time he said this to someone.

When these words were spoken, everyone was dumbfounded. No one saw how Zhulang lost, and it was such an inexplicable loss.

Jin Xingzi regained his composure and said, "Now I know that there are always people better than you."

"Yes!"

"Since you lost, you should let me handle it!"

"I didn't lose to you, I lost to your master."

When everyone heard this, they recalled what happened at that moment. Mr. Li had been standing on the boat and hadn't even moved, so how could he have taken action?

Jin Xingzi said: "It's the same thing. You wanted to challenge my master. If you lose, you should keep your promise."

"It's different. I didn't promise anything to your master."

Jin Xingzi said angrily, "Okay, you are cheating, I won't argue with you, go away, and from now on don't say you want to be invincible, change it to being shameless."

"I do not go!"

"You're not leaving? Do you still want to challenge my master?"

Zhulang did not speak, but jumped up and landed lightly on the ship. Lingkongzi held the hilt of the knife and blocked Mr. Li. He was about to attack, but he found that Zhulang knelt in front of him with a "bang". He said solemnly: "Sir, please accept me as your disciple!"

Jin Xingzi jumped back on the boat and said with a smile, "You are really pushing your luck. You are so shameless. You wanted to kill me before, and now that you lost, you want to become my disciple. You want to be my master's disciple? No way. My master only accepts two of us as disciples. It's useless for you to kneel for a year. You'd better go away and stop getting in the way."

No matter how Jin Xingzi humiliated Zhulang, Zhulang always knelt there with his head down. The people in Xiandaoyuan were stunned. Even Dong Shezi frowned, unable to understand why Zhulang wanted to become his disciple.

Only Zhulang himself knew that if he did not take Mr. Li as his master today, his ideal would only be an ideal and his life would be wasted. He had never taken a master before because no one he had met was qualified to be his master. But Mr. Li, whom he met today, convinced him and he did not want to miss him. Even though this person was very young and not famous, as long as he looked into his eyes, he would know that those were not important.

Mr. Li was silent for a long time, and said lightly: "So what if you become the world's number one swordsman?" He did not ask Zhulang why he wanted to be his disciple.

"The sword is my life. If my sword cannot make the world famous, my life will be in vain."

"If you follow me, you won't become the best swordsman in the world. You will only become a killer who kills without blinking an eye. All I need is a killer who obeys my orders." Everyone who heard this believed it.

Zhu Lang said: "As long as my sword can make the world famous, it doesn't matter how many people I kill, and I don't care what the fame is."

"A killer may not just kill people. He may kill more than just people."

"As long as I can follow the sir, I won't blink an eye even if I kill anyone." Some people believed this statement because he did not blink when he dueled.

"Okay, get up now. From today on, Lingkongzi and Jinxingzi will be your senior brothers."

Without any ceremony, Zhulang became Mr. Li's disciple, and there became a cold-blooded killer on the luxury ship.

(End of this chapter)