Chapter 446: The Empress’s Smile Captures the Country (6,000 words, please give me a monthly ticket)
The Battle of the Legend... The moment these four words came up, Zhao Duan himself smiled first.
The only thing that can be called "legendary" is the fight between Zhenbao and Wu Xiankui next year.
As for today's martial arts competition in Taoyuan, it is more like a footnote passed down from ancient times. However, if it can be related to the martial arts competition in the "Heaven and Human Realm", it will indeed be the biggest longing in the hearts of countless warriors in this huge world.
"...In this case, it's not early, let's start now."
After Xu Zhenguan finished speaking, he calmly announced the start of the martial arts test.
After saying that, she turned around and walked towards a table and chairs prepared by servants not far away.
Xue Shence, Dong Xuan and other onlookers also followed, and Zhao Duan and the other worshipers also retreated to the vicinity of the empress.
Only Qiye and Song Jinxi were left in the field.
“The first game, the Qingshan Swordsman Qiye, duels with the Yu State to worship Song Jinxi!”
The commander of the Jinwu Guards, who was pulled away to act as the "referee", announced loudly, and then retreated, leaving the peach forest clearing to the two of them.
Both parties were high-ranking divine seals. Qiye, who was blindfolded with black cloth, stood on the spot and "looked" at the worshiping eunuch standing a few feet away opposite.
Song Jinxi's face lost the flattery and laughter that he used to have in front of Zhao Duan, and his dignified posture was completely different from before.
He slowly lowered the scabbard from his waist and held it horizontally in front of his chest. He held the scabbard in his left hand and the handle in his right hand:
"Please advise."
< br>
Qiye also raised the sword called "Black Inkstone" horizontally and assumed the same posture:
"Okay."
So rude? You are very confident... Zhao Duan, who was standing in the crowd, raised his eyebrows and immediately saw both sides drawing their swords at the same time.
"Qiang!"
In the spring light, there were two sounds of unsheathing, one sword and one sword, unsheathed at the same time. Song Jinxi took the lead to take a step, and his figure suddenly "popped" Disappeared, only a glimpse of a "shadow" on the ground could be seen attacking Qiye who was standing motionless at a very fast speed, like an underwater torpedo!
"Where is the person? Why is the person missing?" Master Dong was stunned for a moment, and the bachelors behind him were also very surprised.
"In the lineage of martial gods, there is also the art of shadow escape, but it is different from the sorcerer. It is an elusive footwork." Eunuch Hai gathered the sleeves of the bright red python robe, explained lightly, and added Sentence:
"Song Jin likes to be good at butterflies He has devoted himself to studying the shadow escape technique for many years, and is a first-class assassin."
As he spoke, Qiye, who was holding the sword, suddenly stood up in a shadow on the ground. The sword's light was like lightning, soundless and silent, slashing towards the back of Qiye's neck.
However, the blade passed by, but it was missing. Qiye Zai took a breath and twisted sideways, and stabbed out the sword calmly.
There was a "ding" sound as it hit the side of the blade, knocking Song Jinxi back a few steps before disappearing again with a "pop" sound.
Next, Song Jinxi was like a top assassin hiding in the shadows. Every time he suddenly swooped out from different angles and retreated with one blow, Qiye's response was even more simple and simple, only "kill" " and "stab" are two actions.
"Your Majesty, fighting in the daytime seems to be detrimental to Song Jinxi."
Although Mochou is not good at spiritual practice, he also understands that assassins should hide in the shadows, like maggots on the tarsus, not An honest fight.
Xu Zhenguan has a majestic and noble posture, sitting on the large carved dragon chair that was moved out, with his hands on the dragon head armrests and a calm expression.
"What Mo Zhaorong said is true, but the martial arts he has practiced in Qiye is the ultimate sword. It seems calm, but the sword is extremely destructive. Otherwise, one sword would not have broken more than twenty armors that day. With a sharp sword, no one can defeat him in the same situation. Song Jinxi has a strong footwork and can dodge in time with his wandering technique."
Xue Shence, who ranked first among the generals in the court, analyzed calmly.
As expected, Song Jinxi kept relying on his steps to dodge and wait for opportunities to attack, while Qiye remained unchanged and responded to the changes. Every time he drew his sword, the sword edge split into thin black lines.
Finally, after another failed assassination attempt, Song Jinxi was unable to dodge. When his figure turned into the "shadow" state, he was rubbed by the sword energy on his forearm. In an instant, blood gushed out and stained his sleeves red.
The expression of the worshiping eunuch changed, and he completely hid in the darkness. He saw groups of black shadows wandering around Qiye, and he didn't know which one was real and which one was fake.
Delay in attacking again, or waiting for an excellent opportunity.
Qiye just stood still, holding the sword in one hand, his wrist shaking slightly, and the blood on the sword's edge splashed a bright red line on the ground.
In the solemn atmosphere, inside an hourglass on the table next to the empress, fine sand flowed and fell every second, which meant that the prescribed time for this scene was constantly decreasing.
Suddenly, the ears of Qiye, who was blindfolded with black cloth, moved slightly. Immediately, among the rushing shadows on his side, Song Jinxi suddenly stood up with a knife in hand!
However, his knife suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if the pause button had been pressed.
Because the sharp edge of the sword was already one step ahead and pressed against his throat.
"You lost." Qiye sheathed his sword calmly and walked towards Chai Keqiao and Xiao Ran who were waiting not far away.
Song Jinxi half-knelt on the ground dejectedly, blood running down his arm and staining the handle of the knife red.
The commander of the Jinwu Guards who acted as the referee sighed:
“The victory has been decided!”
Dong Xuan and other bachelors could not hide their disappointment, and all the worshipers felt heavy, but Xue Shence was not surprised.
"Your Majesty, slave..." Song Jinxi walked dejectedly to the empress' throne and half-knelt on the ground.
Xu Zhenguan said calmly: "You have done your best, go down and heal."
Song Jin was so happy that he burst into tears.
……
other side.
Qiye walked back to the team and said:
"Unexpectedly weak, it depends on you next."
Wearing a bamboo hat, using thin threads to strangle her fair skin Xiao Ran glanced at him indifferently, looked at the worshipers opposite, and whispered:
"Then Zhao Duan did not carry any weapons."
Chai Keqiao nodded and whispered: "Maybe he is not ready to play."
Xiao Ran couldn't hide his disappointment, but he was not surprised: "Young man."
She took a step forward Walking to the field, he casually pulled out the soft sword, his black and white eyes were indifferent and arrogant:
"Who is coming?"
A group of worshipers looked at each other in confusion. They did not know the detailed list of people participating in today's battle.
"What Miss Xiao said is strange. Didn't you and I agree to have a discussion that day? Who are you looking for?" Suddenly, Zhao Duan crossed his hands and walked out of the crowd slowly.
There was a smile on his face, and the spring breeze ruffled his hair, which was in stark contrast to the nervous worshipers around him.
"Zhao Shaobao? Do you want to face the enemy?"
"If I remember correctly, this Xiao Ran is a top-grade divine seal...Has Zhao Shaobao already entered the top-grade?"
< br>“There is a good show to watch.”
"It's not good... Mr. Zhao's warranty period is still short, I'm afraid..."
The onlookers had different mentality, but generally they were worried.
Even a mortal like Dong Xuan understood that Zhao Duan "cheated" in the Buddhist and Taoist fight that day and borrowed Emperor Taizu's sword to defeat Monk Tianhai.
Although several months have passed, there are very few records of Zhao Duan's public actions. The last time he fought with Tang Zhao, he unexpectedly used a new spell to achieve success.
Therefore, even if Zhao Duan performs miracles repeatedly, it is still inevitable that people will not be optimistic about him.
"Your Majesty...he..." Mochou looked at the empress hesitantly, but saw that Xu Zhenguan's expression was still calm. It didn't seem surprising, and it was also difficult to guess his inner thoughts.
“You want to fight me?” Xiao Ran raised his eyebrows, extremely surprised.
Zhao Duan smiled lightly and said: "Are you surprised?"
Xiao Ran suddenly laughed, but his smile was a little cold:
"Last time you used the number of people to order I’m at a loss, no one will help you today.”
After a pause, she seemed to have guessed something. She glanced at the latter's empty hands with undisguised disdain in her eyes:
"What? You don't even bring a sword. You are preparing to summon Tai'a Sword again." ? No wonder you have such confidence."
Zhao Duan shook his head seriously and corrected:
"Why use a sword to defeat you?"
< br>Why use a sword? Does it mean you are not planning to use Taizu's remaining soldiers? That's right, in this kind of sparring competition, if you have to use it, even if you win, you will be defeated... The crowd is not too surprised.
"No, Zhao Shaobao said why you need to use a sword, not Tai'a." Bachelor Han Zhou frowned and caught the wording.
The surrounding bachelors also noticed it, but did not care about it:
"Xu just left out the word Tai'a. How can he underestimate the enemy's carelessness when competing with Qingshan disciples? With bare hands?"< br>
"Perhaps Master Zhao is referring to using a knife." Some people also speculated that Zhao Duan was playing a boring word game.
However, the next scene stunned everyone, including Xiao Ran.
Zhao Duan was seen holding one hand behind his back, slowly raising his right arm, and making a light stroke with his fingers together.
“Chi.”
A peach tree branch nearly as long as a dagger was cut off and fell down, and he caught it casually in his palm.
Zhao Duan turned his wrist lightly, and peach blossoms fell from the branches, leaving only the smooth wooden sword in his hand. He smiled and said:
"This is enough."
Xiao Ran was stunned.
Xue Shence was stunned.
Eunuch Hai also raised his eyelids, showing a slightly surprised look, and then, as if he had guessed something, he turned to look at the empress of the Yu Kingdom who was sitting on the throne, watching the battle with an expressionless face.
There was a low cry from the crowd. No one expected this scene, but Chai Keqiao on the side of Qingshan was stunned for a moment, but he seemed to understand.
“He wanted to prove himself.”
"What?" Qiye held the sword with a cold attitude and turned to look at him in confusion.
Chai Keqiao narrowed his eyes and explained in a low voice:
"Don't everyone in the world think that his martial arts skills are mediocre, but he relies on Emperor Taizu's magical weapons to achieve fame and reputation? Therefore, he simply failed to do so today. No swords are used, only ordinary mahogany wood is used. Soldier."
Qiye frowned:
"Is this person crazy? He tried his best to defeat Xiao Ran, but he wants to reverse Feng Ping like this today? He is going to use some magic weapon."
Chai Keqiao shook his head:
"If he borrowed a foreign object, then the act of folding the peach blossom and thinking it was a sword would be meaningless. Xiao Ran is afraid that he is in danger. Maybe we have underestimated him."
< br>Qiye shook his head and said: "You overestimate him. Martial arts cultivation is not about power. You can achieve it quickly. Is he worthy?"
...
In the middle of the field.
Xiao Ran's face turned ugly, her eyes were cold:
"Don't regret it."
Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"I have a lot of bad habits. , but one of the few advantages is that you have no regrets." Xiao Ran smiled. At this moment, she was no longer too lazy to talk nonsense and took a step without warning.
"Bang!"
The girl's boots stepped on the spring grass like a dragonfly, but they made a heavy roar. If you listen carefully, you will find that it is the roar of the mellow Qi in her Qi Sea.
Xiao Ran's body was like an arrow leaving the string, pulling out a string of afterimages. In an instant, he was approaching Zhao Duan. The soft long sword in his hand was like a poisonous snake, raising a cold light.
Xiao Ran took action without any reservations, with a full-strength sword. The sword almost tore out and exploded. According to her thought, this sword was enough to defeat the empress lackey in front of her, who made her sick, and comforted her. The hatred of being kidnapped.
“Be careful——”
Someone around them exclaimed.
The sword was too fast and fierce. Cold sweat broke out on Song Jinxi's forehead as he was pushed into the crowd. He thought to himself that with his own footwork, it would be difficult to completely avoid the sword.
Is Mr. Zhao going to lose like this?
This thought couldn't help but arise, but soon, I saw Zhao Duan's figure falling backwards, his body almost flush with the ground, and the peach blossom branch in his hand slid out of the mud in an exaggerated half arc. The man clung to the ground in a way that violated the laws of physics, passing by Xiao Ran who jumped up and thrust out the sword.
“Escaped?!”
Xiao Ran's pupils were shaking, and he was filled with great astonishment. It was clear that half a month ago, this guy's physical skills were much inferior to his own.
Without any time to think about it, Xiao Ran stabbed the air with his sword, twisting his slender waist in mid-air. His body was like a millstone, turning abruptly, and using the posture of "returning a carbine", he slashed the long sword with remaining strength backwards. .
Zhao Duan slapped the ground heavily with his left hand behind his back, and stood up with the help of his strength, stabbing out the mahogany branches quickly from his hand.
There was a "ding" sound as it hit the weak point of the rapier.
Eunuch Hai's eyes lit up. With his eyesight, he could naturally see that there were twelve collisions in what seemed like a "ding".
Zhao Duan used the power of a split second to thrust out twelve swords, one after another, which weakened Xiao Ran's sword by 90%. However, because it was too fast, the sound merged into one.
As a price, even though it was wrapped in the glow, the ordinary peach wood branches were still overwhelmed and exploded into countless pieces.
However, Zhao Duan remained unhurried. He tapped his toes on the ground and swept back like a big bird. At the same time, he reached out and cut off a new branch from a peach tree next to him.
The most indispensable thing in the Taoyuan is the peach tree, which is also his inexhaustible arsenal.
“Is this the level of martial arts he can possess?”
Chai Keqiao was well prepared, but he was still shocked.
Qiye's face was also obviously stunned. With his extremely superior hearing, he more clearly captured the subtlety of the twelve sword strikes in that moment.
Xue Shence, the "Divine General" of Dayu, was also stunned. He took a deep look at Zhao Duan in the field and murmured:
"Could it be the long-lost Peach Blossom Divine Sword..." According to rumors, Emperor Taizu created it in his early years and it was not included in the inheritance of the God of War..."
No, the key is not the sword technique, but the basic skills of martial arts.
The solid and amazing reflexes, speed, body skills, and ability to resolve Xiao Ran's sword that Zhao Duan just showed are definitely not what ordinary divine Zhang realms or even worldly realms can possess.
Furthermore, Xue Shence, who is a strong man in the army, can taste that Zhao Duan's martial arts style is not like a Jianghu man but more like...
It can only be learned through life and death fighting. Got it.
He read it right. Zhao Duan's original martial arts skills were indeed mediocre. But in the past six months, on countless nights, he tried again and again to break into the ruined temple in the scroll in the "Six Chapters" , and again and again with the former world The number one female sorcerer fought... to be precise, was killed...
The sparring partners enshrined by Song Jinxi and others were nothing more than ordinary strong men in some paintings, while Zhao Duan's sparring partner was a hidden boss...
Therefore, it seems that he wanders around all day, handling cases and arresting people at every turn, and has no practice, but in fact he has grown extremely rapidly.
This is also a special place in the inheritance of "Martial God". Just like the original Xu Zhenguan, he studied and practiced in the palace for many years, but he was able to hone his martial arts countless times in the Martial God Picture Scroll. This is how Xuanmen came into being. During the coup, one man defeated a thousand troops with one sword.
The one who was really most shocked at this moment was Xiao Ran who was fighting against Zhao Duan.
After a few short rounds, she suddenly realized that she had been cheated!
In the fight between the two parties outside the Cold Palace half a month ago, the man named Zhao did not use his full strength at all, but was frantically hiding his clumsiness!
As a result, her judgment of her strength was completely distorted! Moreover, after several collisions, she also confirmed that Zhao Duan had indeed entered the "high level". Although it was not as long as her own, it was still at the same level, and the cultivation level was almost different.
What surprised her even more was Zhao Duan's control of Qi. It was not as wasteful as when he broke the armor half a month ago.
Now, even if he is not as good as Qiye, he no longer needs anything to restrain and save his internal energy...
"Zangzhuo! Zangzhuo! This thief is indeed insidious and cunning! He broke the armor that day. At that time, he was deliberately misleading us... Deliberately making us mistakenly believe that he relied on conserving his internal strength to break the armor... so that he could be underestimated..."
Xiao Ran cursed in his heart.
However, if she knew that Zhao Duan did not cheat half a month ago, but spent half a month practicing the "Peach Blossom Sword Technique" and improved... she would probably be even more devastated.
"Ding-ding-dang-dang..."
At this moment, the two have fought for hundreds of rounds. Xiao Ran changed his defensive posture that day and fought extremely fiercely, repeatedly. attack.
However, they were all resolved one by one by Zhao Duan with his superb martial arts. The peach tree branch in his hand broke once, and then he replaced it with another one. The two of them had been entangled for hundreds of rounds, but they did not lose at all.
The more Xiao Ran was beaten, the more frightened and annoyed he became.
Because she realized that Zhao Duan had only used martial arts to fight with her so far, but the "Martial God" path can also practice "spells"!
Both come together, it is by no means a simple one plus one.
Therefore, in order not to give Zhao Duan a chance to use his spell, she could only attack wildly, forcing Zhao Duan to be too tired to deal with it and have no time to distract.
However, as Zhao Duan adapted to her attacking rhythm, Xiao Ran's pressure increased sharply. She looked hard and suddenly changed her sword moves.
The figure rolled around in mid-air, and the soft sword, as thin as a cicada's wings, was propped on the ground, bent like a bow, and then suddenly straightened.
"Boom——"
A layer of turbulent white power shot out from the sword body, approaching Zhao Duan in a straight line along the ground.
As we passed along the way, the ground suddenly exploded with clouds of smoke and dust.
Zhao Duan spread his arms flat, like a big bird returning to the forest, and retreated violently backwards. The tip of his boots tapped the ground lightly, and the sword energy exploding at the tip of his toes chased after him.
He pushed all the way into the peach blossom forest, then slowly stepped down, stamping out the sword energy at the end of the crossbow.
"Miss Xiao also eats my Peach Blossom Divine Sword!"
Zhao Duan laughed, stretched out his arms, spread his fingers, and grabbed it suddenly!
"Chichi——"
The branches of peach trees on both sides fell one after another, and for a time the fallen flowers were colorful. The spring breeze blew through the peach blossom forest, scattering three to five kilograms of peach blossoms.
In the astonished eyes of everyone, Zhao Du Anshen's peach wood swords were suspended in the air one after another, being pulled by invisible energy, just like countless crossbow arrows shot by his generals.
"Go!"
Zhao Duan's body is like an iron bow, and he pushes his arms forward!
Dozens of peach wood swords turned into a shower of arrows, stabbing towards Xiao Ran.
Xiao Ran's complexion changed slightly, and he quickly turned to defensive sword moves. The soft sword in his hand shook out the sword flower, jingling, resisting the rain of arrows, and peach wood branches fell one after another.
At this moment, Zhao Duan gently picked up a new peach blossom branch, slowly opened his legs, and closed his eyes slightly.
"Rust, rustle..."
The wind started blowing.
The countless peach blossoms scattered on the ground are like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, wrapped in the spring breeze, spinning and circling with Zhao Duan as the center.
The peach blossoms are like dragon rolls.
It is vast and boundless.
Zhao Duan was in a trance, as if he had once again returned to the Buddhist and Taoist fighting arena last year. With a set of "Peach Blossom Sword Techniques" practiced layer by layer, superimposing the internal power in the sea of qi to its peak, Zhao Duan calmly used peach wood as his sword, Delivered to Xiao Ran through the air Ex:
"One sword, open the sky."
Boom——
The peach blossoms in the sky are like split sea water, rolling towards both sides, in the destructive sword energy , peach wood branches turned into powder.
After killing the last "arrow", Xiao Ran seemed to have come to his senses. He only had time to make a hasty defensive sword move before his body felt as if he had been hit by a running train. His feet lifted off the ground and flew into the air. Get up and fall backwards.
The man was in mid-air, the soft sword was released, and half of it penetrated into the ground with a "chi" sound.
The bamboo hat on his head cracked in the middle and exploded in half with a "bang", and the long black hair that was tied up all over his head was scattered.
“Peng!”
Xiao Ran fell heavily to the ground, licking his throat and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
She tried her best to get up, but she saw a figure above her head approaching, casting a large shadow on her face, blocking the sun.
Zhao Duan stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the girl lying on the ground, smiled and said:
"You lost."
The spring breeze blew through the peach garden.
There was silence.
Chai Keqiao had no expression on his face and just held the ax handle tightly.
Qiye looked dazed, and could no longer maintain the posture of holding the sword on his chest.
Xue Shence's pupils narrowed, and the color of surprise in his eyes was extremely strong.
Master Dong couldn't understand anything else. He just held in his breath for a long time and finally let it out as if he was relieved.
Eunuch Hai sighed in admiration, feeling in a trance, as if he was distracted.
The eunuchs enshrined in the Wugong Palace and the commanders of the nearby Forbidden Army were also stunned.
Open the sky!
During the great competition between Buddhism and Taoism, the sword that Zhao Duan had used appeared again, and he defeated the Qingshan disciple neatly.
But this time, there was no Tai'a sword in his hand, not even a sword, only a peach tree branch that could be seen everywhere.
Everyone recalled what Zhao Duan said before the competition:
“Why use a sword to beat you?”
yes.
Why use a sword?
But before that, almost no one present took this sentence seriously, and understood it more as a provocation to speak harshly before the war.
But who would have thought that Mr. Zhao actually did it?
“When did his martial arts become so powerful...”
Mochou stared at the scene in a daze, and then subconsciously turned his head to look at the empress beside him.
However, I saw Xu Zhenguan, who was sitting in the dragon chair and had no other expression except majesty since entering the Taoyuan, with the corners of his mouth raised and a beautiful smile on his beautiful face that was not like what should be seen in the human world. .
Can conquer a country.
……
Typos help to catch bugs
(End of this chapter)