Chapter 152: The Precursor of Sword Intent

  "Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!"

  Inside the courtyard, countless sword-clashing sounds rose, two figures were engaged in a rapid exchange of blows, flashes of white light flickered by, like fleeting shadows. With each exchange, several sword-clashing sounds would ring out.

  One figure's shadow was steady and yet floating, like a spirit, the entire swordsmanship was full of spiritual colors. Another person's swordsmanship, however, was filled with endless destruction and overbearing aura, as if what they held in their hand wasn't a sword but a large hammer.

  "Whoosh!"

  "Right!"

  Again, two soft sounds rang out. The long sword that was in the midst of unleashing its unparalleled swordsmanship suddenly became entangled and then instantly fell off, dropping to the ground not far away, followed by several resentful buzzing sounds.

  "I lost again." The young man shook his head with a bitter smile.

  These two were none other than Huo Jian and Xia Lin. Apparently, the one who was extremely powerful in attack was Xia Lin, but compared to Huo Jian's elegance, it seemed that he had been overpowered by gentleness every time, leaving Xia Lin feeling very powerless.

  Huo Jian let out a sigh, "It's really frustrating for me. I've spent how many years mastering this level? One year? Two years? It's been twenty years! Twenty years of practicing swordsmanship and I've finally developed my own style, with a hint of elegance in my sword moves. And you, it's only been seven days... Although your sword skills are still quite low, you already have your own style."

  It's really frustrating when you compare yourself with others.

  "What style?" Xia Lin raised an eyebrow.

  "Not bad, every sword cultivator has their own style, either heavy or light, or filled with vicissitudes. Different people have different styles, countless in number. And these are the precursors to the legendary Sword Intent. To comprehend Sword Intent, one must first have a style." Huo Jian said in a deep voice.

  Xia Lin was very interested, what is sword intent, he certainly knew. A strong practitioner of the Divine Path must have a divine technique, a life-bound divine technique, and for sword cultivators. Their life-bound divine technique is precisely the sword intent! Although the current understanding of the Divine Path is definitely limited and few in number, being able to touch upon the Divine Path without a doubt makes the sword intent terrifying.

  And surprisingly, this thing called style is actually the precursor to sword intent.

  It's probably just something like the Cold Ice Sword Intent that I've heard of. Is it that when attacking, it always gives people an extremely cold feeling, and only then can one cultivate the Cold Ice Sword Intent? Xia Lin wondered to himself.

  Xia Lin shook his head with a wry smile: "Now talking about such an esoteric and abstruse atmosphere is a bit too far-fetched. At least, it's something that should be considered after the Seven Changes of Qingyun, not something to worry about now."

  Huo Jiansheng said in a deep voice: "The road to heaven is step by step, and every step must be grasped firmly. Only then can we ensure that we will not take the wrong path."

  "Hmm." Xia Lin shook his head, about to say something. Suddenly, his ears moved slightly and his face changed color, "They're here."

  Who are they?

  Xia Lin once asked Huo Jian about this, and as a result, Huo Jian only told him that someone didn't want him to participate in the Famous Swordsmen Conference, so they planned to send someone to get rid of him.

  But Xia Lin saw a hint of sadness in his eyes.

  Huo Jian didn't say a word, nor did he ask any questions, but these people dared to come. They must be made to have no way back!

  Upon hearing Xia Lin's words, a flash of murderous intent flickered in Huo Jian's eyes. "Let's go, prepare for battle!"

  The two of them exchanged a glance, and then one of them swiftly hid out of sight.

  Just as he took a step forward, Xia Lin frowned and looked towards the door, asking: "Can Ye Jian walk?"

  Huo Jian's face changed: "Forget about him, this kid, if he knew I was in danger, he probably wouldn't leave even more."

  Xia nodded and said, "I'll go get him."

  "Okay."

  Without another word, Xia Lin took two swift steps and flashed out of the door. The courtyard gate, which had been still for several days, was once again opened.

  After Xia Lin appeared, he directly said to everyone at the door: "Huo Jian's enemy has arrived, and his strength is very strong. You all quickly retreat and don't get mistakenly injured."

  Ye Jian's face changed: "I..."

  Xia Lin grabbed his shoulder with one hand and jumped again, taking Ye Jian along with him as they disappeared into the doorway.

  "Snap!"

  A faint sound, and the courtyard gate closed once again.

  Everyone was shocked.

  "What's going on?"

  "It seems like an arch-nemesis from the past has arrived."

  "This young man is indeed a strong one, on par with Senior Huo."

  "But how did he get Ye Jian in?"

  "Could it be that Ye Jian's sincerity has moved his senior, and he plans to take him as a disciple?"

  "Hmph! Whether or not I'll accept an apprentice, let's wait until we get past this ordeal first." A kneeling disciple suddenly stood up and said with a cold sneer.

  Everyone was shocked, "Didn't you want to make Huo your master the most?"

  "Hmph, acknowledging him as a master is just giving him face, even Ye Jian's sword is taken in, and his taste isn't high to begin with." After saying that, the young man surprisingly turned around and left.

  "Scared? Won't be, just left?" The crowd discussed it in an uproar, "Really arrogant."

  "He's just arrogant." Another young man analyzed: "But seeing Ye Jian being taken away, he became jealous. Moreover, since Ho Qianbei has an enemy coming, and even let him ask a young friend for help, it shows that the enemy is very powerful. This kid probably fears that he will be unlucky if he follows him, so he clears his relationship early."

  "Hey, it really is."

  "Tsk, this kid is really cautious, no wonder Master Huo didn't want to take him on."

  Everyone was discussing it, but they also dispersed one by one in a very knowing manner.

  Joking aside, can the strong fighters of the Return to Innocence really intervene? Perhaps they might be accidentally caught in the crossfire and die, leaving behind a few curious lone heroes who are lying low on the thick walls of injustice, watching the development with a loss of composure.

  Outside the village, under the leadership of a middle-aged man, with two disciples on either side, a total of four disciples hurriedly walked towards this direction, each with a serious expression.

  "Is the news certain?" the middle-aged man asked.

  "It's confirmed that Huo Jian is at home, but I heard that a new friend came over in the past few days, suspected to be a strong person from the Return to Origin Realm, but he's too young."

  "It doesn't matter, don't mind the age. Just treat it as a strong return to the origin, and minimize the risk, can you handle it in this case?" The middle-aged man said coldly.

  "No problem." The younger brother said without hesitation, "You deal with Huo Jian, it's actually a piece of cake. We're just here to prevent him from escaping. Including you, three second-level Cloud Ascenders and two first-level Cloud Ascenders, if Huo Jian dares to resist, he will definitely pay the price."

  "Alright." A faint smile appeared on the middle-aged man's face. "Remember, your identity must be kept secret and you absolutely cannot bring any trouble to Young Master. If you're caught, take your own life. Everyone's family will be well taken care of."

  "Yes!"

  The crowd responded in unison, apparently already accustomed to this pre-death declaration.

  In less than a moment, everyone had already arrived at the front of Huo Jian's courtyard. Everyone looked around and was shocked by what they saw!

  Come on, how can this be a single return? This is clearly five returns!

  Fifty-two, it's too much of a rip-off.

  For a moment, everyone felt a chill run down their spine, and in an instant, they scattered and ran away. The battle was intense, but undoubtedly, one must survive!

  The people around cleared the scene, and those who stayed nearby were just the five of them.

  Several people exchanged a glance, surrounding the four corners of the courtyard outside, sealing off all escape routes. The powerful aura burst out from their bodies, two of them breaking through to the second stage of the Blue Clouds, and another two reaching the first stage. And in the middle, that middle-aged man had an even more terrifying explosion, his aura surging straight to the peak of the second stage of the Blue Clouds before finally stabilizing.

  Three green clouds changed twice, two green clouds changed once!

  "Boom!"

  The middle-aged man blasted open the middle courtyard door without hesitation, and the courtyard door shattered directly. However, at this moment, a terrifying sword aura condensed on the surrounding sword array, locking in the middle-aged man, and then burst out.

  "Whoosh!"

  The terrifying sword hummed with endless might, almost piercing the middle-aged man entirely.

  "Hmph." The middle-aged man sneered, his right wrist turned, and a sharp sword appeared in his hand. With a flash of white light, the middle-aged man unhesitatingly released his own move.

  The sword energy approached him, and the middle-aged man stabbed his sword into the center of the sword energy. In an instant, the sword energy collapsed.

  This seemingly terrifying sword aura was actually broken through by the middle-aged man!

  "Not bad, being able to wield the sword array to the peak of Qingyun's second transformation is indeed not bad, but unfortunately, you are still too weak." The middle-aged man sneered, "The uncontrollable peak of Qingyun's second transformation, in your hands, will also not exert too much power."

  Splash! Splash!

  The sword formation was broken, and the remaining four people finally turned over and came in, standing inside the courtyard.

  This small house has become a besieged fortress, trapped in the center.

  Huo Jian finally walked out of the house and looked at the middle-aged man with a cold gaze, asking: "Was it him who called you here?"

  Who is he? Needless to say, it's Huo Jian's elder brother from back then, and the current head of the family.

  The middle-aged man sneered, "With the strength of the host family, do you still need to worry about such things? It's Mrs. who knows you'll definitely come, so she lets me warn you: leave Jianye City and don't participate in the Famous Swordsmen Conference, or I'll spare your life."

  "Save me? Haha." Huo Jian burst out laughing, "You think you can?"

  "Hmph, you dare to resist?" The middle-aged man sneered, just about to say something, when his face suddenly changed. Only to see a sword aura rushing into the sky, in an instant it broke through the horizon. In an instant, within the entire courtyard, another sword array was formed once again.

  And the effect of this sword array is only one - shielding! Shielding all external and internal senses within the sword array, originally, this should be done by a middle-aged person, but now, it was actually performed by Huo Jianxian, how is that possible?

  Everyone knows that setting up this sword formation is a clear indication of an intention to kill and silence. And at this moment, Huo Jian's meaning has become crystal clear, but it's obvious that he's not a match for them, so who gave him the audacity?

  For some reason, the middle-aged man suddenly remembered the young man he had mentioned earlier, Huo Jian's friend. His face changed in an instant, "Everyone be careful!"