The location of the Sword Trials in Aoyama was Tianguang Peak, or more accurately, the Sword Forest.
The Sword Forest was a stone forest, and it was formed by hundreds of stone pillars. These stone pillars were about ten feet thick, but they were more than a thousand feet tall. They were like countless giant swords pointing towards the sky, and it looked exceptionally magnificent.
Many of the disciples who participated in the Sword Trial of Aoyama for the first time also saw the stone forest from such a close distance. They were shocked, but they were nervous when they thought about how they would have to stand on top of the stone pillars and compete with their peers.
Different from the Inherited Sword Competition, the Sword Trial of Aoyama was more like a real battle, which was much more dangerous. Every time, there would be many injured disciples, and many of them were seriously injured. It was said that many years ago, during the Sword Trial of Aoyama, some disciples even died on the spot. Due to these reasons and the fact that they did not want the outside world to know their true strength, Aoyama Sect had never invited other sects to attend their ceremonies, not even the sects like Guocheng Temple, Shui Yue Nunnery, and Ōzawa, who had been friends for thousands of years.
Hundreds of disciples came to the surroundings of the Sword Forest and did not make a single sound.
A wide and straight black sword hung in the air above the stone platform in Silence, emitting a bone-piercing chill in all directions.
This was the main sword of Shangde Peak, the Three-Foot Sword.
Today, Yuan Qijing would personally oversee the meeting.
Thinking up to this point, the breathing of the disciples seemed to have frozen, and they didn't dare to make any noise.
Sou sou sou sou sou sou!
The sound of something tearing through the air kept ringing.
Several beams of sword light illuminated the hundreds of stone pillars in the mountains, scattering countless rays of light.
The six flying swords slowly descended and lined up behind the Three-Foot Sword.
Some swords were simple and cold, some were sharp, and some were like thunder.
Three-foot Sword!
Absolute Void Sword!
Zither Sword!
Returning Sun Sword!
Time Sword!
Tide Sword!
And … the Thoughtless Sword!
Looking at this scene, the hundreds of disciples finally couldn't control themselves any longer, and they started discussing with excited expressions.
The main swords of Aoyama's peaks, seven out of nine!
Such a scene had not appeared for many years.
Countless gazes fell on those famous swords.
The blood-red flying sword, which was ranked last, received the most attention and made many people sigh with emotion.
Some of the white-haired elders even felt as if a lifetime had passed.
Perfected Jingyang never participated in the affairs of the sect, so the Thoughtless Sword rarely appeared.
The last time the Thoughtless Sword appeared on such an occasion, the leader of Aoyama Sect was still Taiping Zhenren, and Yuan Qijing had just taken over as the leader of Shanghai Peak.
How many years ago was that?
…
…
There were nine stone platforms between the cliffs opposite the Sword Forest.
These nine stone platforms were the seats for the elders of the nine peaks. Only the second platform was occupied by the disciples of Liangwang Peak led by Guo Nanshan.
To show respect to the masters, the disciples of Liangwang Peak didn't have seats and would stand all the time.
Many gazes landed on the ninth stone platform.
Zhao Layue had arrived.
No matter whether she greeted the peak masters or the elders as equals or received the greetings from the disciples, her expression was calm, showing no discomfort or awkwardness.
The Peak Master of Qingrong thought that her temperament was much better than that of the regular disciples, similar to that of her Young Senior Master. It seemed that she deserved it.
As she looked at Jing Jiu by Zhao Layue's side, the expression in her eyes became complicated.
Many elders also had complicated feelings about Jing Jiu, though their feelings were not the same as those of the Peak Master of Qingrong.
In some people's eyes, Jing Jiu was still very young, so it was normal that he hadn't entered the State of the Undefeated, but he was still a bit weaker than Zhao Layue and Zhuo Rusui, who was still behind closed doors.
It was said that Zhuo Rusui had already entered the upper state of the Undefeated, and it was very likely that he would have entered the State of Free Travel when he came out from behind closed doors, which would shock the whole land.
But most elders of the nine peaks didn't think so.
Jing Jiu had only fought once, and that was when he defeated Gu Qing at the Inherited Sword Competition three years ago.
It was that fight that convinced many elders that this young disciple was definitely a talented swordsman.
At this year's Inherited Sword Competition, the sword style Gu Qing used was obviously from Jing Jiu, which was why the Peak Master of Yunxing wanted to take Jing Jiu as his disciple.
Until now, those elders had remained silent and hadn't made any comments on Jing Jiu, because they didn't want to attract the attention of other sects, especially Zhongzhou School.
They hoped that Jing Jiu would become the unexpected soldier of the Aoyama Sect in the future.
After knowing the agreement between Jing Jiu and Zhongzhou School at the Four-Seas Banquet, they looked forward to seeing how Jing Jiu would perform at next year's Plum Meeting.
Couldn't he defeat Tong Yan on the Go board? They didn't care.
Whether Jing Jiu could defeat his peers from Zhongzhou School was what they cared about.
…
…
The arrangement of the matches at the Sword Trial was decided by drawing lots, until the final ten winners would be selected to represent the Aoyama Sect at next year's Plum Meeting.
If one encountered a Big Brother of Liangwang Peak in the first round, it could only be said that one had bad luck.
The competition of swordsmanship emphasized that everything in the world was contained in the sword, and luck was one of the factors.
Nobody dared to cheat in the drawing of lots. Though the Sword Jail on the Shangde Peak locked up countless demons and devils, nobody knew how many empty rooms there were in the jail.
Qi Yuanliang had bad luck.
He had inherited the sword only three years ago, and he was ranked first in today's first Sword Trial of Aoyama.
To make matters worse, his opponent was Yao Songshan …
Two flashes of sword light left the ground.
Yao Songshan and Qi Yuanliang landed on two stone posts, facing each other with a distance of more than one thousand feet.
The top of the stone posts was a few thousand feet above the ground, with clouds and fog shrouding the bottom. If it were an ordinary person, he would fall to his death with his legs weakened.
Qi Yuanliang of course knew that he was no match for this Eleventh Big Brother of Liangwang Peak, but a disciple of Aoyama couldn't give up the fight.
He forced himself to calm down, and said bravely, "Please!"
…
…
Without any mishap, Yao Songshan won. Later, other disciples flew up to the Sword Forest one after another, starting the sword fights.
Compared to the Inherited Sword Competition, the Sword Trial of Aoyama was much more exciting, and of course much more dangerous.
The violent and dense sword lights traveled at a high speed among the stone posts reaching into the clouds, scraping the stone chips off from time to time.
Even with the protection of the Formation, the disciples could still hear the ear-piercing sounds of the flying swords piercing through the air, and sense the formidable sword wills.
When the fights became more intense, the two sides would ride their swords away from the original stone posts, fighting on the swords. Thunder and lightning and flames would appear from time to time.
The disciples stared at the high-speed sword lights and figures in the stone forest. They didn't want to miss anything.
The masters of the peaks were also watching the disciples' fights with serious expressions, ready to rescue them at any time.
In a sword fight like this, neither side could hold back. At the critical moment, it would be difficult to stop even if they wanted to.
Jing Jiu's eyes were not on the stone forest.
He was looking at a mountain path in the distance.
The mountain path was narrow, disappearing in the fog, leading to an unknown place.
He knew that the residence of the disciples of Tianguang Peak was around the cliff.
Liu Shisui lived there.
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