Out of the corner of Li Yuan's eye, she noticed Ji Yanran staring intently at Li Yao from below the stage, and her jealousy suddenly surged.
A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he said, "It's not over yet. Who wins and who loses is still uncertain!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he brandished his sword, unleashing a flurry of swordplay towards Li Yao's face.
Li Yao shook his head slightly and said softly, "You're asking for trouble!"
Immediately, he brandished his embroidered spring knife, sweeping across Li Yuan's swordplay with wide, sweeping strokes, breaking through Li Yuan's sword flowers, and rushing towards Li Yuan.
puff!
With a single swing of the blade, blood splattered everywhere.
An arm rolled down.
Everyone was horrified.
All that could be seen was that Li Yuan's right hand, which was holding the sword, was gone!
Li Yuan immediately fainted from the pain.
Soon, two imperial guards carried the one-armed Li Yuan off the stage.
Before this competition, Li Yuan specifically set a rule: no punishment for death or injury.
Now, he's reaping what he sowed.
After a brief silence, the scene erupted in enthusiastic cheers.
The Imperial Guards cheered in unison: "Sword God, invincible! Sword God, invincible..."
The shouts resounded through the heavens and shook the earth.
Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Li Yao happily collected the attribute orbs.
Wow, the entire platform was filled with attribute light orbs, so numerous that they couldn't be counted.
Li Yao's gaze swept across the stage.
"Ding! Successfully picked up 'Luck Point', Luck +31!"
"Ding! Successfully acquired the 'Physique' attribute, Physique +29!"
...
System notification sounds came one after another.
Li Yao could clearly feel that his various attributes were constantly rising.
This time, they really made a killing off the swordsmen from six countries.
Just then, Li Yao suddenly noticed a person wearing a black veil in the crowd below the stage, who shot two sharp eyes at him.
When the man noticed Li Yao looking at him, he immediately turned and left.
Li Yao's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly called out, "Hey, you in the hat downstairs, please wait."
Everyone was surprised and turned their attention to it.
The man did not stop walking.
Li Yao suddenly shouted, "Sword Saint, are you planning to slink away like this?"
Sword Saint?
Has Sword Saint Cao Qiudao arrived?
Everyone was taken aback and craned their necks to look.
The person wearing the hat immediately became the center of attention.
The man had no choice but to take off his hat, revealing his true face.
Han Jie and Zhongsun Xuanhua jumped to their feet, exclaiming in unison, "Master!"
Shanrou was shocked and exclaimed, "Master!"
Tian Dan immediately stood up and exclaimed, "Mr. Cao!"
Everyone else was both surprised and excited, and couldn't help but shout, "The Sword Saint has really come?"
This is going to be interesting!
"Indeed, that person is none other than the number one swordsman in the world," Cao Qiu said.
A few days ago, Cao Qiudao heard that a sword god had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the Zhao Kingdom.
At first, he didn't care, thinking that the title of 'God of Knives' was nothing but a deception.
But later, as more and more stories about the Sword God reached his ears, he began to become interested in Li Yao.
Later, he heard that swordsmen from the six states were flocking to the State of Zhao, wanting to challenge Li Yao.
Driven by curiosity, he disguised himself and rushed to Handan, wanting to see for himself just how powerful the legendary Sword God really was.
When he saw Li Yao defeat the top swordsmen of six countries single-handedly, he was shocked.
He never expected that Li Yao's swordsmanship had reached such a superb level.
It seems that Li Yao's title of "God of Knives" is not a fabrication.
But so what?
In his eyes, Li Yao's knife skills were still somewhat inferior to his swordsmanship.
However, he didn't want others to know that he was there.
Therefore, he planned to leave quietly.
He just didn't expect that Li Yao would discover him.
Chapter 73 An Earth-Shattering Battle: The Sword Saint Falls from Grace (Revised)
Cao Qiudao was dressed in white, with his jet-black hair cascading over his broad shoulders.
With a hooked nose like an eagle and deep-set eyes, he gives off a cold and ruthless feeling.
He walked proudly to the high platform, leaped onto it, and headed toward Li Yao.
With each step he took forward, a loud sound was produced, creating an irresistible and extremely domineering aura.
Li Yao felt a slight chill. Cao Qiudao truly lived up to his title of Sword Saint, possessing such a powerful aura from the moment he appeared.
Li Yao cupped his hands to Cao Qiudao and said, "I am Li Yao. It is a great honor to meet the Sword Saint today."
Cao Qiudao sized Li Yao up and down, and said arrogantly, "The God of Swords? He's nothing special!"
"Indeed! Indeed!"
Li Yao nodded slightly and chuckled softly, "The Sword Saint's three disciples are indeed nothing special; they are all my defeated opponents."
Shan Rou, Han Jie, and Zhongsun Xuanhua were all disciples of Cao Qiudao.
Cao Qiudao was extremely strict in accepting disciples, and among his disciples, four were the most outstanding: Bian Dongshan, Han Jie, Zhongsun Xuanhua, and Shan Rou.
Three of his outstanding disciples were defeated by Li Yao.
Seeing that Cao Qiudao was speaking domineeringly, Li Yao stopped giving Cao Qiudao face and directly hit Cao Qiudao's sore spot.
As expected, Cao Qiudao frowned, and an overwhelming anger rose between his brows.
The onlookers were immediately invigorated.
They saw that as soon as the God of Knife and the Saint of Sword met, neither of them would give way in their words.
Soon, there will definitely be an earth-shattering and spectacular battle.
Cao Qiudao suppressed his anger and sneered, "They are all useless and their skills are poor."
Upon hearing this, Shan Rou, Han Jie, and Zhongsun Xuanhua all lowered their heads in shame.
Li Yao laughed and said, "Is it that they are not skilled enough? Or is your title of Sword Saint just an empty name? Let's have a match and we'll know the answer."
Cao Qiudao raised an eyebrow, a fierce glint in his eyes, and said, "That's exactly what I'm thinking!"
His gaze then fell on the knife in Li Yao's hand, and he asked, "Does this knife have a name?"
Li Yao raised the knife in his hand, glanced at it, and smiled, "It's an extremely ordinary Embroidered Spring Knife. Most of the Mohists in our Mohist Guild have one like this, but it's not as valuable as the Zhanjiang Sword in your hand."
Cao Qiudao said calmly, "Once my sword is drawn, I never hold back. It's a fight to the death. You'd better be careful."
Li Yao stood still and said calmly, "Mr. Cao, please make the first move!"
Cao Qiudao laughed loudly, "There must be someone who has to make the first move. Take this!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a chilling murderous aura filled the stage, and a battle atmosphere instantly descended, making it suffocating.
Li Yao sensed the intimidating aura emanating from Cao Qiudao and dared not be careless.
Cao Qiudao truly lived up to his reputation as a sword saint; the moment he made his move, he exuded such a powerful aura.
Suddenly, Cao Qiudao attacked, and the sword in his hand immediately conjured a large number of sword shadows. The sword body suddenly appeared in the sword shadows and slashed horizontally like lightning.
Li Yao's eyes lit up. Cao Qiudao's swordsmanship was indeed extraordinary. People like Li Yuan, Han Jie, and Guan Zhongxie were not even on the same level as Cao Qiudao.
Li Yao knew that Cao Qiudao's strength was astonishing.
He was eager to experience Cao Qiudao's divine power firsthand.
So he swept his sword horizontally, parrying Cao Qiudao's full-force sword strike.
when!
Cao Qiudao felt a numbness in his arm, and the powerful force made him stagger back a few steps.
A look of surprise flashed in his eyes.
He had never encountered such astonishing force before.
He couldn't help but exclaim with delight, "Impressive! I haven't encountered such a formidable opponent in a long time."
Li Yao smiled and said, "You're not bad either. You're the most formidable opponent I've ever faced."
Cao Qiudao shouted loudly, and a burst of sword light suddenly erupted in front of him.