1460 Sparring With Bai Lianhua

"Whenever you are ready," Yuan said as he casually stood on the stage with a calm smile on his face.

Bai Lianhua readied her sword and took a deep breath before dashing at Yuan at full speed.

"Hah!" Bai Lianhua began their confrontation with a quick sword thrust that aimed straight at the spot between Yuan's eyebrows.

She expected Yuan to easily dodge her strike, and he did, so without delay, she immediately raised her right leg to kick his waist, aiming for his badge.

However, right as her feet reached his badge, Yuan's hand appeared out of thin air and grabbed onto her leg.

Seeing that she had been caught, Bai Lianhua hastily pulled her feet back but quickly realized that she did not have the strength to break out of Yuan's hold. Yet, she did not panic and swung her sword at his face for a second time.

However, she was forced to stop midswing when Yuan abruptly lifted her into the air and swung her around like a cowboy with a rope.

"W-wha?! Yuan?!"

Bai Lianhua cried out loud.

A few more circles later, Yuan tossed her to the other side of the stage.

After barely landing on her feet, Bai Lianhua looked at Yuan with wide eyes, seemingly in disbelief about what had just transpired.

The spectators also couldn't believe their eyes.

"Yuan… can you treat our fight more seriously?" Bai Lianhua asked with a sigh.

"Hm? But I am," he said with a nonchalant expression.

"..." Bai Lianhua was speechless.

After a moment of silence, she clenched her sword and charged at him again.

This time, she kept her distance and used a martial technique.

"Illusion Sword Arts!"

Bai Lianhua propelled her sword in a stabbing motion, aimed at Yuan's forehead again.

However, from the spectators' view, there were several swords flying at Yuan, almost as though Bai Lianhua grew a few extra arms.

"There it is! Senior Sister's Illusion Sword Art!"

"Wow! She's managed to create seven illusions!"

Yuan raised an eyebrow at the crowd's mumbling.

'Seven illusions? What are they talking about?' he wondered inwardly, as he couldn't see any illusions.

Once Bai Lianhua's sword almost reached him, Yuan casually swung his sword, deflecting the strike.

"He saw through it so easily!"

"As expected of Yuan, not even Senior Sister can fool him!"

Unbeknownst to them, Yuan's soul strength was so high that Bai Lianhua's Illusion Sword Arts were completely ineffective against him. In fact, Yuan thought he had to defend against invisible attacks.

Bai Lianhua sucked her teeth after seeing how easily Yuan had blocked one of her stronger techniques.

"Okay, let's fight for real now!" Bai Lianhua released her cultivation base, filling the headquarters with the aura of a peak Spirit Lord.

Yuan nodded and also released his cultivation. Even though he was only a peak Spirit Grandmaster, the aura and pressure he exuded were far superior to Bai Lianhua's, who was an entire realm higher.

The spectators subconsciously distanced themselves from the stage.

"Here I come!" Bai Lianhua warned as she flew at him, unleashing a series of powerful sword techniques.

Yuan did not back away, even approaching her as he blocked and deflected all of her strikes with ordinary sword swings. However, since his wooden sword could not handle Bai Lianhua's spiritual energy alone, he had to cover it with his own energy.

Over the next several minutes, Bai Lianhua showcased all of her techniques and experience without holding anything back. On the other hand, Yuan only casually swung his sword without any techniques. However, his thousands of years of experience in combat was overwhelming and as clear as day even to the inexperienced.

Several more minutes later, using nothing but ordinary sword techniques, Yuan cornered Bai Lianhua and made her feel completely hopeless.

"I-it's your win…" Bai Lianhua dropped her sword and forfeited.

Yuan lowered his sword, and both withdrew their cultivation bases.

The moment their spiritual energy dispersed, the wooden sword in Bai Lian Hua's grasp cracked. Meanwhile, the sword in Yuan's grasp exploded into thousands of tiny fragments.

Seeing this, Bai Lianhua sighed, "I couldn't even get you to use a single technique. I am simply too weak."

Yuan shook his head and said, "Don't feel bad. Unless you've practiced sword techniques since you were young, you're already very good with the sword at your age."

"What about you? Does that mean you've been practicing sword techniques even before you were born?" she asked in a joking tone.

He smiled.

"Something like that."

He then swept the crowd with a calm gaze and asked, "Does anyone else want to spar?"

"You should get some rest, Yuan. After all, the Faction War between Demon Sealing Faction and Fiery Locust Swarm is tomorrow."

"I will rest as soon as everyone gets their chance to spar with me."

After sparring for a few more hours, Yuan spent the rest of the day teaching Yu Rou how to wield her fan properly.

"Since when did you learn to use the fan, brother? I thought you only learned to use the sword and dagger." Yu Rou asked him after seeing how perfectly he handled the fan.

He casually lied, "I trained with several other weapons during my spare time, such as the fan and spear."

In reality, the God of War had complete mastery over every weapon in existence, and Yuan merely remembered how to use them after regaining Tian Xian's memories.

Later that night, Yuan left the headquarters of Eternal Lotuses with Yu Rou, Bai Lianhua, and Xia Jingyi, Yu Rou's friend, who joined the Eternal Lotuses at the same time.

"Good luck, Yuan!"

"Give those bastards a good beating! I know you can do it!"

Sometime later.

"It's been a while, Yuan. Sorry, I didn't spar with you. As a Zither Cultivator, I have a mostly support role, so it would be a waste of time to spar with you…" Xia Jingyi said to him as they made their way to the airport.

Yuan casually waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I understand your special position. Zither Cultivators are not suited for one-on-one until you have a high enough cultivation, after all."