In midair.

Xiao Qixiu was thoroughly shocked. He'd thought the kid's "Sword Soaring Technique in Reverse" was already the greatest out of what Xu Xiaoshou had acquired, not realizing that said technique was but the beginning.

​​

"Who was it who taught him 'All Things are Swords'?" he thought.

"Who in Tiansang Spirit Palace is more capable with a sword than me?

"Furthermore…

"I understand how 'All Things are Swords' is at work now, but how is it possible that even Mu Zixi is emanating sword will? Just what the hell is happening right now?

"Do you even realize that she's human, kid?"

From Xu Xiaoshou's perspective, anything and anyone could indeed be a vessel for "All Things are Swords," but then again, he was still only half-way through his research.

Using his Spiritual Energy, he expelled the seed Mu Zixi had secretly planted in him, causing a startled expression to appear on her face, as she knew that her cover was blown.

Things around them continued to rumble. While Xu Xiaoshou was in a serene state, he was nonetheless all wrapped up by the trees.

While everyone was still anxiously waiting, he silently sheathed Hiding Pain in its scabbard.

And all the sword will around them dissipated all at once.

He seemed to have given up resisting and was letting the trees grow into a forest.

The audience was baffled.

"What the hell? That's it?"

"I thought he was prepping for some ultimate move, yet there wasn't even a single fart in the end."

"He gave up just like that? Well, good for him, I guess. Sister Mu may just go easy…"

Mu Zixi go easy?

What kind of a joke was that?

The girl saw Xu Xiaoshou sheath his sword and knew right away that something was off, yet she was unable to place what exactly was wrong. As such, she simply took the initiative to strike first.

"Here I come!"

She clapped her hands again, and over one hundred trees throughout the entire ring immediately rushed at Xu Xiaoshou.

Some in the audience had already closed their eyes, not wanting to see Xu Xiaoshou be reduced to mush.

Xu Xiaoshou was actually still utterly unfazed in the face of the howling, towering trees rushing at him.

He simply waited with his aura being still. He unsheathed his sword an inch before returning it to its sheath.

"What is he doing here?"

"Did he unsheathe his blade?"

"Did he just put his blade back?"

Despite being surrounded by the trees, there were still some who were able to see his movements through whatever gaps were left between the trees, and they were all very curious.

The very next second, all of the trees stopped moving, and a rumbling sound was heard. Mu Zixi was sent flying by a tree shooting up from beneath her.

Everyone was puzzled. What just happened?

Did Mu Zixi just go crazy all of a sudden?

Was that a misfire?

In the front row of the audience, Su Qianqian leaned forward and craned her neck, her eyes filled with wonder.

Others might not have seen what happened, but she, as someone with innate sword will, had clearly sensed it all.

The moment Xu Xiaoshou unsheathed his sword an inch, the blade immediately cut several falling leaves in half.

That was some utterly terrifying swordplay at work.

First, the All Things are Swords, then his will being given form, before all that ambient sword will returned to the scabbard.

He had unleashed a terrifying circular cutting power the instant he unsheathed his sword an inch.

As expected, the roots of all the trees that had suddenly been stopped in their tracks were cut down. After remaining in place for a brief moment, the remains of the trees nonetheless came crashing into each other above him due to inertia.

Boom!

Yet another massive mushroom cloud was seen.

Despite the one hundred trees all over the place at that moment, the mushroom cloud formed at that moment was an order of magnitude below the one before.

Hsssss.

It was only then that the audience realized that Xu Xiaoshou had actually cut down every single one of those trees with just one inch of his sword unsheathed.

"Oh heavens, this…"

"What a frightening rate of progress we're seeing in Xu Xiaoshou here. That move was just awesome!"

"Wuwuwu, that move alone was enough to make me fall in love with him."

Leaves fell all over the ring in shredded pieces.

Xu Xiaoshou unsheathed his sword and stood at the then pockmarked ring. The air of awesomeness that he was basking in was enough to daze anyone within sight.

But, despite having turned the tables in his favor in such a splendid fashion, he was frowning.

He'd performed that move with flying colors and was very satisfied with his own performance. He saw no reason why Mu Zixi would discover all that sword will he'd hidden so well.

Yet, just to evade that move, she opted to shot herself out of range with a tree instead…

Why?

Mu Zixi, who was hovering in midair at the moment, was still reeling from the shock, her heart continuing to race.

She wondered if she would've been decapitated if it hadn't been for that seed she'd secretly planted in Xu Xiaoshou.

"D*mn you, Xu Xiaoshou. You dared pull something like that…"

"Alright, my turn for something big next."

She threw a seed into the air above her. It burst in midair and immediately propelled her forward, sending her flying at Xu Xiaoshou.

The corners of Zhao Qingteng's mouth twitched. This girl was really bold. Was him getting his chest pierced not enough of a lesson for her?

Everyone was puzzled by what was happening. Another one who dared to close in on Xu Xiaoshou?

To them, such a move was nothing less than a death wish.

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes glittered. Close combat, eh? Perfect.

The ground beneath him crumbled as he launched a punch at her, but the other party's counterattack baffled him.

Mu Zixi was actually clenching her fist and throwing a punch at him as well.

"What's wrong with the brat?" he thought.

"Is she getting high from the fight or something?"

However, there was no mercy to be had in the match.

Despite the possibility of rendering her arm totally useless if his punch connected, he nonetheless put all of his might behind the attack, seeing no need to go easy at all.

Poof, poof, poof.

The expected sound of bones cracking wasn't heard. Just when the punches were about to connect, the girl's punch dissolved into a mass of vines that coiled all over Xu Xiaoshou's body.

Forearms, shoulders, then everywhere else…

All of her body dissolved into vines and wrapped all around him.

Xu Xiaoshou felt like he'd punched cotton. It dissipated the force of his impact and sent him hurtling into the mass of vines instead.

"Hehe, over here."

He heard the voice of the little girl behind him, and he turned around in fright, finding to his surprise that the mass of vines coiled all around him had materialized into a human shape behind him.

"Mu Zixi!" he thought.

"Is she a snake?

"How did she manage to get behind me?"

"Get lost!"

Xu Xiaoshou used all his power to try and push her away, but to no avail.

Hmmphh.

He then felt a sharp pain in his kidneys. He glanced below and saw that her legs had turned into thorns and were stabbing into his midsection.

"Sh**! Don't do anyth… arrghh!"

It was when he wanted to pull the thorns away that he found his shoulder joints had been pierced by roots, robbing him of any control he had over his arms and making them lay completely still.

"You parasite! Get off me!" Xu Xiaoshou panicked. He found this wretched way of combat utterly disgusting.

The only part of his body he could still move at the moment was his head, so he turned around and bit, but he missed the mark altogether.

"You dare say that I'm a parasite, huh?"

Mu Zixi was angered. She then pouted and said, "Bloom, then."

Poof!

A red flower emerged from Xu Xiaoshou's head and swayed about, looking alluring.

"Hahaha!"

"Xu Xiaoshou bloomed!"

"Oh heavens, why is this so funny? Isn't this a battle? Can't you two be a little more serious?"

The audience erupted into laughter. Su Qianqian, who had been worried sick before the battle, had to cover her mouth to contain her laughter.

While everyone else was having a good laugh, Xu Xiaoshou was panicking, as his entire body had been paralyzed.

He was completely dumbfounded.

"When did another seed get into my body?" he thought. "And why wasn't I able to detect it?

"Stealth at its finest indeed!"

It was bad enough that he had a flower blooming above his head. Worse still, that flower was continuously injecting paralytic toxins into his body, preventing him from moving at all.

By this point, he was basically meat on a cutting board.

He was confident that he had never underestimated his opponent. He'd even put that Blade-draw Technique he had developed the night before to good use. Yet, even still, his opponent had rendered him completely immobile all the same.

"Gosh, the girl is really d*mn frightening," he thought.

…