Singing with a Sword

The following is the main text of the novel "{?$article_title?}" ({?$jieqi_title?}) provided by {?$jieqi_sitename?}. Please enjoy! After leaving Xiaoru's place, Yiran Xiao brought the little stone monkey to Huangfu Cheng. "Huangfu, can you help me see what kind of monkey this is?"

While in the valley, the little stone monkey was able to discover the existence of the waterway. Because of this alone, Yi Ran Xiao felt that this little stone monkey was definitely not as ordinary as it looked. Maybe...maybe it was a divine monkey! Maybe the opportunity he felt was this monkey!

Huangfu Cheng, the expert in beast taming, began to examine Dingding closely. His expression remained calm, showing no surprise. After a while, he shook his head and said to Yi Ranxiao, "Senior Brother, this is just an ordinary miniature stone monkey."

Upon hearing this, Yiranxiao was quite disappointed, and Dingding was also somewhat disappointed. He had also wanted to be a divine monkey, so that his master would be very happy, but who knew he wasn't; so he looked at Yiranxiao with some grievance, as if to say: Master, I'm not a divine monkey, please don't abandon me.

Yi Ranxiao is by no means a snob. She patted Dingding's head as if she were patting Xiao Fan's head, "So what if it's not true? It doesn't matter."

At this moment, Huangfu Cheng suddenly said, "By the way, Senior Brother, the Hall Battle is starting in three days!" His tone was filled with barely concealed excitement and exhilaration! Having rediscovered himself, Huangfu Cheng had long wanted to show off his skills and prove his strength!

Yiran laughed heartily and said, "Yes, it's finally about to begin! Finally, my Shenfeng Hall can show its might!"

……

……

February 28th, Jianling City, Xianfeng Hall.

Yi Ranxiao arrived in a flurry with the Shenfeng Hall members, bringing with him a full thousand Qi Cultivation Pills in his storage bag! If their branch hall battle was lost, these Qi Cultivation Pills would have to be unconditionally given to the Vanguard Hall. This was the price of a branch hall battle! Therefore, branch halls generally wouldn't initiate a battle unless they were absolutely certain of victory!

In the eyes of the Vanguard Hall disciples, the Divine Wind Hall simply did not have the strength, so they thought that the people from the Divine Wind Hall were all fools who were just there to give away pills for free.

Why would the people of the Vanguard Hall care about a fool? So there wasn't even a welcoming party at the entrance of the Vanguard Hall…

"Damn it, the Vanguard Hall didn't even come out to greet us," Xu Chu grumbled in dissatisfaction. This time, Yi Ranxiao had brought Huangfu Cheng, Wei Wuzheng, Ji Yuantao, Jian Yun, and Xu Chu—almost all of the hall's elite disciples—a truly impressive lineup. For the Vanguard Hall to not send anyone out to greet them was indeed a bit much.

Just then, a disciple from the Vanguard Hall ran out and shouted at the people from the Divine Wind Hall from afar, "Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Why are you illegally gathering in front of our Vanguard Hall?"

Well, they've been mistaken for an illegal assembly, but Xiao Ke isn't going to bother with a mere gatekeeper. He simply says, "We're from the Divine Wind Hall, and we've come here today to have a battle with your Vanguard Hall."

The man said, "Oh, I remember now, today is indeed the day of the Divine Wind Hall's battle. Hehe, so you are from the Divine Wind Hall? Oh, right, right... I remember again, that guy who was seriously injured by our Senior Brother Xu last time was also from your Divine Wind Hall."

The gatekeeper showed absolutely no respect; his words were full of contempt and insult!

Yi Ranxiao got angry, her eyes suddenly turned sharp as she stared at the disciple, and a powerful pressure enveloped him!

This disciple was merely a gatekeeper, a cultivator at the third level of the Transcendent Realm. How could he withstand Yi Ranxiao's oppressive aura? His knees immediately buckled, and he knelt on the ground! His disrespect instantly turned into fear!

Weren't the people of the Shinpudo supposed to be weak, cowardly, and incompetent? How come...

"Ah, Senior Brother Yi... I was a little disrespectful just now, please forgive me..." the gatekeeper disciple said tremblingly. "The... the battle will be held in the arena ahead. If possible, I will personally take you there!"

Yi Ranxiao snorted and said, "Our people can find their way; we don't need you to lead them." Ji Yuantao and the others had all been to the Vanguard Hall before, so they naturally knew where the arena was.

The group filed in, and after a short walk, they came to the arena. A huge stage had already been set up. Many disciples had gathered around the stage, waiting to watch the battle. Although they felt that the Divine Wind Hall had no chance of winning, this did not dampen their enthusiasm for watching. Firstly, it's human nature to watch a spectacle, and secondly, cultivators never miss a battle between fellow cultivators.

However, among these people, Zhang Qiang, the eldest disciple of the Vanguard Hall, was nowhere to be seen, nor were Han Shuo and Xu Chen, the second and third disciples. Yi Ranxiao looked left and right. All around him were ordinary disciples, none of whom were in charge. There was only one familiar person—Xu An.

Xu An sneered as he looked at the people from Shenfeng Hall. "These bastards actually dare to challenge our Vanguard Hall! They're truly overestimating themselves." Yi Ranxiao, seeing Xu An's disdainful gaze, didn't want to waste any more words. "Defeating you later will be the best response!"

The members of Shenfeng Hall waited for a while, but Zhang Qiang and the others didn't arrive. However, an elder from the Vanguard Hall arrived just in time. —A hall battle is still a competition, and every competition needs a referee. This elder was there to act as the referee. The elder's name was Wu Changfeng, a Vanguard Hall elder of relatively ordinary status within the sect. Upon seeing him arrive, everyone, including Yi Ranxiao and the others, bowed to him.

Wu Changfeng glanced at everyone, frowned, and asked, "Zhang Qiang and the others haven't arrived yet?"

To be honest, Zhang Qiang didn't take Yi Ranxiao seriously at all. At this moment, he was still sleeping in his room, completely relaxed and not at all serious, because he felt that Yi Ranxiao was no match for him.

The disciples responded. Wu Changfeng casually said to one of the disciples beside him, "Go and call him here."

……

……

A few knocks came from the door. Zhang Qiang, still half asleep, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and shouted unhappily, "Who is it? Don't you want your senior brother to sleep so early in the morning?"

The disciple outside had come from the martial arts arena and was sent by Elder Wu to inform Zhang Qiang, "Senior Brother, the people from Shenfeng Hall have arrived and are waiting for us to go over for the hall battle."

Zhang Qiang remained lying in bed, lazily saying, "Oh? They're here? Then let Han Shuo and Xu Chen go up and fight them first. After they win, come and call me, and I'll personally deal with that Yi Ranxiao."

Upon hearing this, the disciple stammered for a moment before saying, "Senior Brother, aren't both sides supposed to send out five people each in the battle? No matter how I calculate it, we only have three people on our side, so we're still short two."

"Damn it, do you not have a brain? We need five people, but to win, we only need to win three rounds! We only need three people! Do you think anyone from a branch of the Divine Wind Hall could defeat a disciple of our Vanguard Hall? So three is enough."

The disciple nodded and left to urge Han Shuo and Xu Chen on their way.

On the arena, the Shenfeng Hall disciples, who lacked composure, had long been impatient. Why hadn't the Vanguard Hall's contestants shown up yet? Were they putting on airs? However, the three masters, Xiao Huangfu Cheng and Wei Wuzheng, remained calm and composed, their faces relaxed.

The more anxious you are about something appearing, the longer it will delay its arrival. But if you stay calm, it will arrive soon. Sure enough, the disciple who went to report has finally returned, and the disciples from the Vanguard Hall who participated in the battle have also arrived. The problem is, why did he only bring two people? And Zhang Qiang is nowhere to be seen.

What's the situation?

The members of Shenfeng Hall looked at Han Shuo and Xu Chen with suspicion. Han Shuo, being a proud man, immediately said arrogantly, "Don't be suspicious. Old Xu and I will go first. After we win two rounds, our senior brother will come over." After saying that, he bowed to Elder Wu.

Elder Wu did not blame these people for their arrogance, because he felt that facing an opponent like Shenfeng Hall with arrogance would not lead to the defeat of Xianfeng Hall.

Yi Ranxiao understood; he had been looked down upon again. However, he wasn't angry. He simply smiled slightly. All true masters possess a certain composure; why let the arrogance of their enemies disturb their peace of mind? The best way to respond to their arrogance is to defeat them!

Han Shuo glanced at Yi Ranxiao and the others, and asked arrogantly, "Have you prepared a thousand Qi-Nourishing Pills? Our Vanguard Hall is short of these basic pills these days."

Another blatant act of contempt! Xu Chu wasn't a master, and he didn't possess the composure of Yi Ranxiao, Huangfu Cheng, and Wei Wuzheng. "Damn it, I—" Before he could finish speaking, Ji Yuantao covered his mouth. Ji Yuantao gave him a wink, then said to Han Shuo, "We're ready, but you can't take it away at all."

Han Shuo laughed. These people actually dared to provoke? They even had the right to provoke?

"I'm too lazy to waste words with you. Come on, I'll fight the first match, who's going to go first on your side?" With that, he leaped onto the arena.

On the Shenfeng Hall side, Huangfu Cheng stepped forward and said to Yiran Xiao, "Senior Brother, Huangfu will lead the charge!" After saying that, he flashed onto the stage.