——(POV third person)——

'An inch away from death…' Li Huang thought to himself with a smirk.

He might not be as strong as Cai ZhenKang on the paper but he can fight him on an equal footing.

'I don't know his exact Qi Cultivation realm but I am almost certain that he is at least at the tenth stage of Meridian formation as I had news of his breakthrough a year ago but a lot could happen this year so I wouldn't put money on it.' Li Huang tried to get a grasp of his opponent.

'He is also at the copper body in body cultivation so I might have to overexert myself…' Li Huang deduced as he looked at the dim glow of Cai ZhenKang's body.

Cai ZhenKang started the fight by rushing toward Li Huang and delivering the first attack.

He swing his axe in diagonal lines and formed an 'X' with his Axe Qi that was going straight toward Li Huang's chest. He didn't wait there and was running after the Axe Qi to meet Li Huang right after the weapon Qi.

This move was a pure show of his personal power as he didn't use any martial art to amplify his power.

This attack made Li Huang think about a way to counter it efficiently and something told him that the [Peeping eye of heaven] is the answer to it.

Deciding to trust his guts, he activated the artifact and what he saw made him grin like Cai ZhenKang. He could see the strong points and the weak points of this Axe Qi attack as it was closing in on him.

'This…changes everything…' Li Huang muttered with a grin on his face. With this new discovery, he could use the minimal amount of Qi and counter this attack.

Without wasting any time Li Huang got into an offensive stance like a fencing Olympic athlete and attacked the 5 weak points that he found with his Sword Qi in consecutive thrusts.

The Axe Qi dispersed the moment that the strands of sword Qi touched it and Li Huang couldn't be happier about it. No, this attack didn't have any significance in itself but the discovery about the newfound application of [Peeping eye of heaven] opened new doors for him.

Cai ZhenKang was surprised by how good Li Huang handled the situation, but didn't let it distract him and used his axe to attack with a heavy-hitting overhead chop to Li Huang's face.

The full force of Cai ZhenKang's body was backing this attack, so Li Huang couldn't afford to react to it lightly.

Li Huang sidestepped and brought his sword's hilt above his head as he was gripping it with two hands in a way that his sword was pointing to the ground in a slopping manner as to cover his body.

Like this he met Cai ZhenKang's incoming downward strike with his blade, offering just enough resistance to divert its course from his body. While diverting the axe he slowly changed the position of his sword by lifting his sword up until Cai ZhenKang's attack passed him and Li Huang could easily aim for his neck.

Without any care for Cai ZhenKang's safety, as he was sure he wouldn't die (hopefully), he tried to chop his head off. With his sword now over his rear shoulder as the flat was touching his front shoulder and angled slightly backward, he now used his full force against Cai ZhenKang and performed a powerful strike.

Cai ZhenKang who felt the attack coming toward his neck, didn't hesitate and kicked the ground and repelled himself backward. His experience told him that he shouldn't try his luck with this attack.

To slow Li Huang down a little so that he can collect himself, he took out some throwing-axes from his storage ring and throw them toward him one after another.

Li Huang who saw that his path to advance was barred as Cai ZhenKang was throwing hurlbats expertly, had no choice but to deflect them. With a couple of precise sword slashes, Li Huang was done with the hurlbats but Cai ZhenKang was able to land safely.

This all happened in a span of few seconds, but to the disciples who were watching felt like minutes as each small move had to be done precisely correctly or the fight could have been ended at any moment.

Heavenly sword sect disciples now know why Li Huang wasn't taking the selection seriously as he is obviously on a level of his own, well all disciples except Jin Fen who was cursing the heavens for playing favorites.

They also all felt something else; if Li Huang is this strong, how strong is Hu Anjing? Their respect for their leader rose to another level right there.

"HAHA, I think I can't call you little brat anymore." Cai ZhenKang said as he dusted off his robes by slamming the side of his axe to his chest.

"…So should I call you a chicken now?" Li Huang said with a raised eyebrow as he taunted Cai ZhenKang for running away. He was leisurely walking forward as he carried his sword's blade on his shoulder.

"You could call me stupid if I were to leave myself open to your attack, HAHAHA." Cai ZhenKang said as he pointed his axe at Li Huang.

Li Huang just laughed and continued the fight by lunging forward.

He held his sword in front of him with two hands, pointing at Cai ZhenKang's face. Cai ZhenKang who analyzed this move didn't think much of it and tried to block it with his axe handle. If he was a swordsman like other disciples of the heavenly sword sect, he would see the error of his move right this instant, but unfortunately, he wasn't.

He blocked the move but Li Huang's goal was not to land a hit with this slash. Li Huang moved his hand that was gripping the pommel of his sword and when his sword was completely horizontal, he stabbed with the point of his sword (A/N: head of the sword) toward Cai ZhenKang face.

Cai ZhenKang was shocked as he thought Li Huang was testing him by his move and wasn't aiming to finish the fight but he was proven wrong.

Their distance was short and the stab was so fast that all Cai ZhenKang could do was to move his head to the side to avoid his vitals. The stab still grazed his neck and drew his blood for the first time in a while.