Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1357: Chapter 440: Cai Qiu Sword Saint, Haphazard Naturalization, Miss Mengya

“19…20…21… No, the Qi Muscle movement is at least 20% stronger than mine. This person must have at least 22 Jun of strength. A Xianyang Level at this age, accustomed to using a Longsword, can’t be found among the Four Vassals. Claiming to be a Princely Heir—is it a false identity, or is he a talented scion from the Outer Domain…”

Even though they were over a hundred meters apart, Cai Yunzhou quickly deduced Xia Hong’s strength from the fluctuations of his Qi Muscle. Coupling this with Xia Hong’s self-proclamation as a Princely Heir, several thoughts flashed through his mind, and his expression naturally became serious.

“This is how Cai Qiu treats guests from afar?”

From Xia Hong’s words, he was the only one who truly understood the meaning.

Recalling the aura he sensed at the City Lord’s Hall earlier, Cai Yunzhou looked down at Xia Hong, his gaze growing sharper.

With such an aura inspection, it was just a preliminary greeting. However, if he thought he could come to Cai Qiu and act recklessly with merely 22 Jun of strength, he was sorely mistaken.

“Visitors from afar are of different natures. For good guests, we, Cai Qiu, have fine wine and delicacies to welcome them. But if it’s a hostile guest forcing entry, this City Lord doesn’t mind adding a few degrees of bloodiness to this blizzard.”

Boom……..

As Cai Yunzhou’s words fell, Xia Hong’s eyes slightly tightened. A surge of intense heat erupted from within him, dispersing the surrounding cold flow, and his body abruptly soared like a projectile, standing directly opposite Cai Yunzhou in mid-air.

“In the end, it still depends on skills, doesn’t it!”

Xia Hong gazed at Cai Yunzhou from across the void, a thrill passing through his eyes. The opponent’s expression was serious, but the intense fighting spirit in his pupils could not escape his notice.

“Never mind whether you’re a good guest or a hostile one, the name of Cai Qiu Sword Saint I have long heard of. Let’s see just how true this title is!”

If he’s going to pretend to be a big shot, he might as well play the part to the end.

Xia Hong directly questioned the credibility of Cai Yunzhou’s Sword Saint title, staring him down with disdain and arrogance—a veritable display of a young aristocrat from a powerful vassal family.

“Then let’s see just how capable you really are!”

The anger hidden within Cai Yunzhou’s deep words was quite evident, but he maintained his composure, finishing his sentence, taking a deep breath before making a move.

Whizz……..

A streak of powerful light suddenly emerged from his waist, instantly drawing a terrifying sword edge hundreds of meters long in the air.

No need to gauge the force of that sword edge; just from the sudden vacuum trail several miles long above the city gate along its direction, one could tell how powerful it was.

Whoosh……..

The airflow above Qinghua City South Gate suddenly retreated to both sides, crashing against the walls of the gorge with a loud bang. Many people queuing to enter the city wobbled back and forth, and some who were too weak even fell directly to the ground.

“It’s the City Lord’s Splendid Light Sword!”

“He’s drawn his sword directly; the City Lord is serious.”

“That guy in black must be really strong.”

“Isn’t it obvious? Just look at his attire, and you can tell.”

………

What seemed slow was actually a fleeting moment.

The exclamations from the crowd below hadn’t even ended when the first round of exchange between the two in mid-air had already begun.

Facing Cai Yunzhou’s extremely fast sword, Xia Hong didn’t react exaggeratedly. With a simple sword drawing motion, he casually unsheathed the black-handled longsword hanging from his waist.

The whole action wasn’t even particularly fast.

Clang!

A mysterious longsword dotted with bright spots emerged from its sheath, precisely blocking the Splendid Light Sword.

The clash of sword points and blades in mid-air created an explosion of brilliant light. The already howling airflow became several times more violent than the disturbance caused by Cai Yunzhou’s sword just moments before.

Though Cai Yunzhou’s Basic Strength was only 18 Jun, under the augmentation of his Martial Arts and sword technique, his instantaneous explosive power surged over 30%, pushing his true displayed strength to at least over 23 Jun.

Thus, under this sword, Xia Hong’s body inevitably moved backward, and the Shattered Star Sword was pressed to his shoulder area, falling into a disadvantageous position.

Yet, the facial changes of the two in the sky after the exchange, compared to what the people below saw, told a different story.

Cai Yunzhou’s pupils held even more gravity;

Whereas Xia Hong, appearing to be at a disadvantage, had a smirk forming as he retreated.

“Fast sword, indeed, Brother Cai Qiu Sword Saint, I also have a fast sword move, please, Brother Cai, allow me to demonstrate!”

With Law-level Martial Arts mimicry and analysis support, Xia Hong instantly saw through the trajectory of energy and force principles, as well as the evolving rules within the meridians, of Cai Yunzhou’s sword strike.

Not only did he perceive it, but in an instant, he deduced the most complete version of that very sword move.

As Xia Hong’s words fell, leveraging the terrifying pressure from Cai Yunzhou’s downward force, his body seamlessly shifted downward. The Shattered Star Sword suddenly retracted, his body flipping to gather strength, and the Shattered Star Sword returned along the same path, in a split second heading towards Cai Yunzhou’s face.

Seeing the returning Shattered Star Sword, Cai Yunzhou’s pupils abruptly contracted. A flash of familiarity and puzzlement crossed his eyes, immediately dismissed and replaced by astonishment, causing his body to transform into a white light and quickly retreat backward.

“Faster than my Heaven-pulling Sword Technique, how is this possible!”

Whizz……..

A similarly several hundred meters long black sword edge appeared, densely filled with countless starlights in the middle. At night, Xia Hong’s sword strike seemed to conjure a radiant galaxy in the sky, with both sword and man almost instantly bearing down on the retreating Cai Yunzhou.

With nowhere to evade, Cai Yunzhou could only turn and raise his sword. Realizing he couldn’t accurately parry, he immediately made a second choice, forcefully swinging his sword to disrupt the direction of Xia Hong’s sword edge.