Rise of the Sword Son-in-Law

Chapter 217: Huge Pressure

"Qing Yu, it seems someone looks down on you."

Atop the platform, among the six individuals, a young man clad in a white brocade robe chuckled.

"Hmph, nothing but a small-time genius who doesn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth, too arrogant for her own good. Probably has no clue about how formidable Qing Yu is. Let me teach her a lesson on your behalf, Qing Yu." A young man in a silver battle armor snorted coldly.

"Long Hen, stop causing trouble," a handsome young man dressed in a green attire immediately chided.

The silver-armored young man who had just stood up turned to look at the youth in green upon hearing his words.

"Yu Chengshan, what do you mean by stopping me? Are you trying to use your status from the martial family of the country-stabilizing general to suppress me?" the young man in silver armor asked coldly.

"Hmpf, I don’t need the status of the country-stabilizing general’s family to press you. Long Hen, this is Qing Yu’s territory, and it’s not your place to handle things. Has the Martial King not taught you any manners?" the young man in green responded coldly as he looked at the one in the silver armor.

The Martial King, a being just below the Emperor of the empire.

In the Great Qin Immortal Dynasty, there was one Emperor, two Kings, and thirty-six Marquises.

Among these two Kings, one was the Martial King, and the other was the Snow King, both Eighth Rank Strongmen.

However, the Snow King kept out of worldly affairs and rarely made appearances. On the other hand, the name of the Martial King resonated throughout the empire, his influence was in no way inferior to a sect like the Shangxian Sect.

The young man in the silver armor was about to retort when he heard Tang Qingyu from the side persuading, "Both of you, there’s no need to ruin the harmony over such a trivial matter. That woman didn’t really say anything worth getting angry over."

"That’s right, it’s best if you two don’t argue here, so as not to tarnish the reputation of both the military family of the country-stabilizing general and the Martial King’s family," another young man with a scholarly appearance followed up with a smile.

With those words, the two stopped their quarrel, but it was obvious they still held resentment towards each other.

The few others simply smiled slightly.

They were all accustomed to these two guys bickering whenever they met; the grudge between their families continued from the previous generation, so no one could really explain why.

"I actually think this woman is not simple at all. I felt a strong Fire Attribute aura emanating from her, as if it was from the True Phoenix Bloodline," suddenly spoke a young man in a gold robe who had remained silent until now.

"True Phoenix Bloodline? That’s indeed noteworthy, but her strength is still too low – just Fifth Rank First Layer. Otherwise, she might have been a strong contender," the first one to speak, the young man in white, said with a smile, his eyes twinkling with a hint of fighting spirit as he looked towards Li Qingyi.

"Fuchen, feeling itchy to fight again? I see you’ve broken through to the Fifth Rank Sixth Layer. How do you compare in terms of strength with Qing Yu?" the scholar chuckled.

Upon hearing this, the young man in white merely smiled and did not respond to the scholar’s question.

Li Fuchen, Saint Heir of the Shangxian Sect, and bearer of the same name as Tang Qingyu.

"Of course, Brother Fuchen is stronger. My current strength is only at the Fifth Rank Third Layer, how could I possibly match Brother Fuchen?" Tang Qingyu said with a smile.

The others laughed and shook their heads upon hearing this.

Tang Qingyu, only at Fifth Rank Third Layer?

Is it really so?

Once, it was said that Tang Qingyu had slain a Fifth Rank Fifth Layer demon with a single sword strike.

Could a Fifth Rank Third Layer really kill a Fifth Rank Fifth Layer demon that easily?

And there are several others who probably have hidden much of their true strength; it’s unlikely they will reveal themselves until the very end.

They all seem to be concealing their abilities quite deeply.

These thoughts flashed through their minds simultaneously, and as for the matter involving Li Qingyi, it was soon forgotten by the group.

In their view, Li Qingyi did have some talent, but not enough to warrant their serious attention yet.

Anyone below the Fifth Rank Fifth Layer Realm was considered weak in their eyes.

"It is said that Song Kaitian has already broken through to the Fifth Rank Seventh Layer? Li Daoming, he’s from your Imperial College too, isn’t he? What’s his true strength?" the young man in a gold robe asked, turning to the scholar.

The rest also turned their attention towards the scholar.

When Song Kaitian was mentioned, even these few couldn’t help but show a serious demeanor.

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That guy is a real monster, a terrifying presence so formidable that he’s expected to contend for first place in this grand competition.

"Very strong? As for his specific strength, it’s unclear, but when that guy was at the Sixth Layer, he defeated a Fifth Rank practitioner of the Ninth Layer Realm from the academy with a single strike. Now, he’s probably even stronger," the scholar replied.

Upon hearing about that guy, his expression became extremely grave.

"Defeating the Ninth Layer while on the Sixth? His strength is certainly formidable. The key point is that this guy is only twenty-two years old, with a gift so tremendous it’s terrifying, having cultivated his Heaven-Opening Saber to the Sixth Layer," said the youth called Yu Chengshan, clad in green clothing.

"Sixth Prince, you’re also not confident about defeating him?" Tang Qingyu asked, looking at the young man in golden robes.

The young man in golden robes shook his head, "No confidence. A Song Kaitian, a Long Zhan, a Yu Chenglin, I have no assurance of defeating any of them."

"Long Zhan? Long Hen, how strong is your big brother now?" Yu Chengshan asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Long Hen replied with a look of disdain.

Yu Chengshan, angered, retorted, "I don’t know about others, but my brother has already reached the Fifth Rank of the Eighth Layer."

"Eighth Layer? That strong? Then Long Zhan is probably not far behind, right?" everyone was immediately astonished.

"My brother is also at the Eighth Layer," Long Hen responded as well.

Hearing this, everyone frowned.

This generation’s Holy Refinement is too strong, much stronger than past ones.

Even these top-tier prodigies felt enormous pressure.

At the very least, there are four towering mountains above them.

"So, are you saying there’s still one spot left for us?" Li Fuchen said with a smile.

"Not necessarily one spot left, there might be some dark horses," the scholar said with a smile.

"Dark horses? You mean those from small forces? That’s unlikely, right?" Yu Chengshan said, also surprised.

"Hard to say," the scholar shook his head.

"Not to mention others, but my ninth brother and tenth sister will also participate. On the surface, my ninth brother appears to have average strength, but I feel he’s hiding his true power. As for my tenth sister, her strength should be comparable to yours," the young man in golden robes said with a smile.

"Forget it, this generation seems hopeless," Li Fuchen said helplessly and with a laughter.

The others also had serious expressions on their faces.

Naturally, they all wanted the opportunity to enter the Jade Spirit Realm, which related to a great fortune.

But now it seems that even wanting to secure that spot is exceedingly difficult for them.

In this moment, Xu Ping’an also had a look of surprise on his face, having heard all of their conversation.

He now had an understanding of their identities and strengths.

"Fifth Rank of the Eighth Layer Realm, the gap is not small at all," Xu Ping’an said with a wry smile.

"Indeed difficult, I’m going back to train," said Li Qingyi.

"Okay, I’ll stay a bit longer, then I’ll head back too," Xu Ping’an replied.

Li Qingyi nodded, then left.

"Master?" As soon as Li Qingyi left, Song Lingxue jumped out, looking at Xu Ping’an with a beaming smile.

"Go play on your own, if my identity gets exposed, I won’t hesitate to clean house," Xu Ping’an glared at her and said in a low voice.

"Oh!" Song Lingxue puffed her cheeks, acknowledged, and left.

Xu Ping’an scanned the surroundings and finally headed towards Zhou Mengyue.

Seeing Xu Ping’an approaching, Zhou Mengyue immediately went on high alert.

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