Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1707 – Board

The teamwork of the underdog team became better and better. Along the way, they met trouble several times and they were able to conquer the demons without much trouble.

Qin Yu's expression was calm but he could not help having a strange feeling. He felt like expectations and reality were far apart.

What happened to the scheme from the Main Sword Masters? I have waited for so long but things are still so peaceful.

Or was it not time yet? However, the people from the Opening Heavens Sword Sect had been here for so long already; what needed so much preparation?

What masterpiece were they creating?

It was not that Qin Yu had some disorder. Instead, he really wanted to know what Rourou was planning. When the other party took action, he would surely be able to discover something.

The twelve man team which included Zhang Xiashan had bright eyes and they were very alert. As they traveled through the area, they had their eyes wide open and their ears perked up for anything in the surroundings. They were definitely careful, but it seemed like they were even more eager.

If he could translate their facial expression, it would be – where is the Sword Demon? Come, hurry up, I am starving!

Qin Yu's lips twitched. He felt like the egos of this team were too high. When they met a fierce opponent, they would cry.

Right now, they were already away from the shallow levels of the Sword Prison and they had one foot in the middle level of the Sword Prison.

According to Hu Zhiming, the Sword Prison was split into four levels: the shallow level, middle level, deep level, and the level that no one had ever stepped into – the core level.

As one went deeper into the Sword Prison, the strength of the Sword Demons would constantly increase. When they reached the middle level, the danger would be much higher.

They had to be careful. If they let their guards down, they would end up in great danger.

However, the next two days went by even easier than the shallow level of the Sword Prison.

They only met a middle grade Sword Demon once. From its looks, it was probably injured before this and was hiding underground to recover. After the team shocked it awake, it attacked them.

The eager underdog team instantly had their eyes brightened and they dashed ahead enthusiastically.

A middle grade Sword Demon was truly much stronger than a low grade Sword Demon. However, it was not able to escape the binding of the sword array and Zhang Xiashan's Light Flow Sword was stable and fierce.

With injuries all over its body, the middle grade Sword Demon howled a final time before it exploded with a bang. Streaks of pure sword aura gushed out.

The 'starving' team immediately sat down and did their best to absorb the sword aura and assimilate it with their bodies.

As for wariness…although they could not see their Sect Master, he was there. If something went wrong, he would definitely wake them up.

This was also a silent understanding of the Sword Sect Contest and it did not break the rules.

As such, a lot of sword sects would choose guardians not because of their cultivation realm. It was more important that the guardian was sharp in their senses.

This was to give the sect disciples sufficient warning, and it would be very effective.

Qin Yu looked down. There was an obviously bigger and bright red dot that appeared on the jade pass. This showed that the Opening Heavens Sword Sect killed a middle grade Sword Demon.

The points awarded for killing Sword Demons went according to a strict guideline. It was about ten times more points awarded compared to a low grade Sword Demon. The exact points would differ according to the strength of the Sword Demon itself. This was how results could be differentiated more clearly.

This unlucky middle grade Sword Demon was, in Qin Yu's opinion, at most eight times stronger than a low grade Sword Demon. After all, it was originally in a bad position.

Furthermore, Qin Yu felt like the middle grade Sword Demon had dashed out from the underground not to ambush the team but to…run.

That's right, it was to run!

However, before this middle grade Sword Demon had managed to act upon its thoughts, the waiting underdog team cleared it quickly.

Yet, this was weird.

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The underdog team seemed to have insane luck and the dangers that they met along the way were not at all like Hu Zhiming described.

Could it be a hidden card that Rourou gave them? Maybe it was something that carried her aura and it scared off a large number of Sword Demons.

As such, the underdog team did not need to worry about how many Sword Demons they killed. They only needed to explore the place.

This would tie in with what Rourou said before – to continue ahead.

If that was the case, the difficulty of the Sword Prison had tumbled immensely…but if this was true, why did Rourou ask him to go personally?

A trip to the Sword Prison? Forget it, who had so much spare time?

Something was definitely wrong.

Qin Yu frowned for a long time but he knew too little and could not find a breakthrough. Hence, he could only suppress his thoughts. Forget it, he would take it as it went. Since Rourou told him to come here, he would get his answer in due time.

Mm…there was another thing that Qin Yu suddenly thought about. Why was the trouble from the Main Sword Masters still missing?

If the other party was borrowing another person's sword, and was using the Sword Demons in the Sword Prison to eliminate the Opening Heavens Sword Sect…

Sss –

This plan would be very hard to implement!

……

The underdog team of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect was seeking out Sword Demons impatiently. If they could tattoo the words, 'These swordsmen are looking to fight' on their heads, they would have done so. However, the rest of the teams from the various sword sects who had entered the Sword Prison had all met trouble.

There were too many Sword Demons!

There were more demons than their sects recorded. Furthermore, their powers seemed to be much greater than previously known.

Bigger swords sects were fine as most of their disciples were strong. Furthermore, Sword Immortals were supporting them. After the initial shock, they were still able to slice the demons like they were cutting vegetables.

Middle grade Sword Demons were points delivered directly to their hands.

This was not the case for smaller sword sects.

Although they could establish their sects in Swallow Mountain, they occupied a small territory and there was a limit to these sects' resources. They were not able to compare with the bigger sects in terms of riches.

This resulted in the weapons and equipment they carried being much poorer than those of the bigger sword sects' disciples.

Because of the difference in their fame, a large number of talented swordsmen would be attracted to the bigger sword sects. This further added to their strength.

People died in the beginning.

Some small sects were ambitious or they ignored their disciples dying; the guardians rarely interfered.

However, some guardians could not help it and they stepped in to save their disciples. They were already weak and if their top disciples were killed here, there would not be anny inheritors for their sects.

Interfering also meant elimination and their ranking would drop. They would end up as the lowest ranked in the Sword Sect Contest this time.

According to the rules of Swallow Mountain, sects who ranked low in the Sword Sect Contest would end up with smaller territory and fewer resources. After another round of cutting off, these smaller sword sects would end up weaker.

"Elder, don't interfere, the rest of us can still fight!" A swordsman cried. His face was pale, there was a large gash across his chest, and blood stained a majority of his torso.

There were only six swordsmen left beside him. Five of their fellow sect members were heavily injured in the Sword Demon attack just now.

The remaining seven swordsmen wore a determined look.

With a long sigh, the tall elder of the sect had a dark look in his eyes. He appeared behind them and lightly said, "You guys did well and you performed much better than we expected. I cannot allow you to continue remaining in the Sword Prison."

He lifted his hand and stopped the disciples from speaking, "I know that you guys wish for the sect to attain a better ranking. However, remember that talented disciples are the future for the sect. If all of you die here, what is the point even if the sect's ranking increases?"

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"Elder…" The group of swordsmen had a bitter look. Among them, two girls started to cry.

"Don't cry, you are all outstanding and you are the future of the Cliff Sword Sect!" The elder smiled, "Don't worry, as long as us old bones do not fall, we will hold up the skies in Swallow Mountain for you!

"Those who are heavily injured, hurry up and stabilize your breathing. Those who are better, respectfully store the bodies of your fellow disciples. I will lead you guys away in an hour."

Shoosh –

A sword flash flew past and sliced the Sword Demon in front of him directly.

Kong Weijin sighed inwardly. The opening of the Sword Prison this time was different from in the past. Otherwise, this group of disciples should have been able to get a good result.

If they returned like that, the Sect Master would be very disappointed. However, Old Kong believed that the Sect Master would approve of his decision.

The team of twelve who entered the Sword Prison this time were the last hope for the Cliff Sword Sect. They could not die here.

"Let's go."

Kong Weijin crushed the jade pass that recorded the results in his hand. This meant that Cliff Mountain had dropped out of the contest. Cheating? It was impossible. The Main Sword Masters had employed a technique that no one had managed to break. And no one dared to break it.

At this point, there were a number of others who made the same decision as the Cliff Sword Sect. They gave up on the contest to protect their disciples.

It was common to have wins, losses, and eliminations in the world of cultivation. If one wasn't powerful enough to set the rules then one could only operate within the rules.

In contrast to the smaller sword sects who dropped out, the teams of bigger sword sects were bravely moving ahead. They killed Sword Demons continuously and went deeper into the Sword Prison.

One part of the overall results was the number of Sword Demons they killed, and the other part was how deep they managed to explore in the Sword Prison.

Small sword sects that dropped out headed for the exit aboveground while bigger sword sects continued to power through the Sword Prison. To them, entering the deep level of the Sword Prison was where the real test began. Before this was just a warm up for them.

……

At the entrance of the Sword Prison, there was a large mountain that had been sliced by someone. A clean surface that felt like a mirror had formed on the slope of the mountain because of that slice. Right now, it was reflecting a soft light that displayed numbers. They were the ranks of the sword sects.

The left side was a dark red color and it represented the ranking of Sword Demon kills by sword sects. The jade passes that were distributed would send a message back to this board.

The right side was a light blue color and it showed how deep the various sword sects had explored in the Sword Prison. Similarly, it was based on the locations of the jade passes.

As for the exploration depth, the recording jade pass could capture the auras of all participants unless a member died. It would only record the location of the sect if all members were together.

Aside from that, the patrol team would also conduct a confirmation as the contest progressed to ensure that sects did not cheat.

On the right side, the sword sect ranked highest was the Frost Cold Sword Sect. This was nothing out of the ordinary.

After all, as one of the sects in the Main Sword Masters, the Frost Cold Sword Sect was one of the top ten sword sects in Swallow Mountain and they were good at offensive techniques.

The disciples in the sect practiced a Frost Cold Sword Skill and when they attacked, they could cause cold winds to sweep through the land, taking a life with them.

Ranked second was the Spring Wind Sword Sect.

This was also not surprising. No one underestimated the strength of this sect. Furthermore, the sword skill they practiced was good at controlling Sword Demons.

Ranked third was the South Sea Sword Sect.

They were a new member of the Main Sword Masters and they displayed the might of foreigners here at the Sword Sect Contest. This was a huge blow to their enemies in Swallow Mountain.

Most of the remaining rankings were occupied by bigger sword sects. The board recorded up until the hundredth ranked in the contest, but the Opening Heavens Sword Sect's name was nowhere up there.

Similarly, their name was not found on the light blue board.

Hu Zhiming frowned and there was a helpless look in his eyes. Although he anticipated this, he could not help but be disappointed with it presented in his face.

After all, Sect Master Qin Yu and Grand Elder both seemed very confident.

Was this it?

Hu Zhiming smiled bitterly. He did not harbor any more hopes and he only wished that the Sect Master could lead the Opening Heavens Sword Sect disciples back safely.