Chapter 1031: Aftershock
"What did I just see?!!"
"Sword control?!"
"That damned brat Mo Hua—he actually knows how to control a sword?!"
"How could he possibly know sword control?!"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
This fact was so shocking that many of the cultivators watching didn't question their eyes first but their minds instead:
"Did I fall into an illusion and start hallucinating?"
"Did I take too many pills and fry my brain? I feel like I can't tell what's real anymore..."
"Maybe I drank too much last night, and the alcohol hasn't worn off yet."
"I must be dreaming… but to dream about Mo Hua using sword control? That's just ridiculous. My sea of consciousness must be malfunctioning…"
...
Of course, most cultivators were still rational and believed what they saw with their own eyes.
But that only made it harder for them to accept reality:
"That Mo Hua… is really controlling a sword?!"
"And he actually used sword control… to instantly kill Ye Zhiyuan?"
"The 'Formation Dao Leader' of the Tai Xu Sect, riding a flying sword, killing the sword prodigy of the Da Luo Sect with a single strike?!"
"How the hell does that make any sense?"
"Utterly absurd."
"This cultivation world has gone mad…"
Most people were filled with shock and confusion.
"Another question—where the hell did Mo Hua even learn sword control? How could he possibly master it?"
"There's not a single trace of sword aura on him. He obviously has no inheritance in the Sword Dao."
"What kind of sword technique is he even using?"
"There's no sign of unity between man and sword at all…"
"I've cultivated the sword for years, and I've never seen such an unconventional sword control technique…"
"Does the Tai Xu Sect even have such a sword control method?"
"Also, what kind of sword was he controlling? Why did it just explode?"
"Was that explosion intentional or an accident?"
"Did he make a mistake?"
"Did he lose control of the sword? Did his spirit sword explode? Did he just happen to kill Ye Zhiyuan by pure luck?"
"That Ye Zhiyuan… what terrible luck…"
"You guys are too focused on the sword! Didn't you notice something strange about his sword control range?"
"It seems… farther than Ye Zhiyuan's?"
"That distance is approaching the Foundation Establishment limit, isn't it?"
"From the projections on the Fang Tian Mirror, it's hard to gauge precisely, but it's at least over a hundred zhang…"
"And this is the sword control range of a formation master who doesn't practice sword techniques?"
"No matter how strong his divine sense is, this isn't how it should be used, right?"
"A formation master's divine sense is supposed to be used for drawing arrays, not for controlling swords. Does Mo Hua even have a shred of self-awareness?"
"This makes no sense at all…"
The spectating cultivators were either bewildered, stunned, confused, or utterly shocked as they murmured among themselves.
At that moment, the mountains echoed with countless voices, overlapping and buzzing incessantly.
The entire Dao Discussion Mountain was in an uproar.
It wasn't just the ordinary spectators—
Even Wenren Wan, Murong Caiyun, Hua Qianqian, Gu Changhuai, and Zhang Lan, who were somewhat "familiar" with Mo Hua, were all wide-eyed in shock.
They had never expected that Mo Hua, who usually kept a low profile and had never even touched a sword, would actually know sword control?!
Especially Zhang Lan.
He vividly remembered that back in Tongxian City, Mo Hua wasn't just untrained in sword techniques—he couldn't even lift a sword.
And yet, after a mere decade—
He had just cut down the renowned sword genius of the Da Luo Sect in a single strike at the Sword Competition.
Silent before, but earth-shattering upon his rise.
This was truly…
Like ridiculousness opening the door for absurdity—
Completely, utterly insane.
At the Viewing Sword Pavilion—
Master Hua stood there in a daze, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.
The other sect leaders also looked utterly astonished.
Inside the tea house…
The master of the Flower Valley stared blankly at Mo Hua, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.
The other sect leaders also wore expressions of disbelief.
Inside the Tea Room
The leaders of the Three Mountains—Tai Xu, Tai A, and Chong Xu—sat in silence, unable to say a single word.
Everything had happened too fast and ended just as suddenly.
The sword duel began, Mo Hua controlled his sword, sent it flying, and it exploded on impact. Then, the Dao Bell rang, and it was all over.
So...
He won?
For a moment, the three sect masters found it hard to believe, even doubting their own eyes.
The joy of victory was overshadowed by their astonishment and confusion.
In the end, the Tai A Sect Master let out a sigh:
"This child… he said he'd keep it simple, but this is…"
Not this kind of simple.
This was too simple.
From start to finish, it was just a blink of an eye, just a single flying sword.
Before they could even mentally prepare, the duel was over.
Even the tea on the table hadn't finished brewing…
With many cultivators still debating, the sword duel concluded.
The spectators dispersed, and Dao Mountain gradually fell silent.
Yet, Mo Hua's unorthodox move—a single flying sword—was so beyond common sense that it was impossible to forget.
The waves stirred by that sword strike would not settle for a long time…
Nightfall, Sect Hall
The Dao Elders of various sects gathered.
A projection of the duel was suspended in the air.
On the projection, Mo Hua drew his sword, controlled it, pointed with two fingers, and sent the flying sword soaring through the sky, piercing a disciple of the Da Luo Sect.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
But in the next moment, the spiritual sword began to glow, the sword formation activated, the sword runes transformed, and sword energy accumulated—until it exceeded its limit. The spiritual sword cracked apart and exploded into fragments.
The shattered sword pieces, mixed with sword energy, created an unimaginable destructive force…
This scene played on a loop in the grand hall.
The Dao Elders watched it over and over, at least a hundred times, from dusk until deep into the night.
Not a single word was spoken.
This method of sword control completely defied their understanding.
They kept asking themselves in their hearts:
What kind of sword control was this?
How was it executed?
What sword techniques were used?
What sword principles did it follow?
How was the spiritual power circulated?
How was the sword energy transmitted?
And why… could the sword explode?
No matter how they analyzed it, they couldn't figure it out.
Never in their lives had they seen such an unconventional method of sword control.
Why?
How could Mo Hua, who clearly didn't know swordsmanship, control a flying sword and instantly defeat Da Luo Sect's sword genius?
Where did his sword mastery come from?
Was it just blind luck?
Or…
Was Mo Hua truly an unparalleled, heaven-defying sword genius—one even greater than the prodigies of the Da Luo Sect?
Had he mastered a sword technique so unfathomable that ordinary people couldn't comprehend it?
With these overwhelming thoughts, the Dao Elders carefully and repeatedly examined the projection of Mo Hua's sword control, afraid to miss a single detail.
Finally, they understood—and furiously shouted:
"What sword control, my ass!"
"This damn thing isn't even sword control!"
"This isn't even swordsmanship!"
"For a cultivator to control a sword, their life must be connected to the sword, their mind and intent must become one. Only then can they wield it like an extension of their own body and fully unleash its power."
"Sword control is an advanced form of swordsmanship! It requires deep comprehension of the Dao of the Sword, refining sword energy, achieving harmony between sword and wielder, and uniting mind and intent…"
"And Mo Hua has none of these qualities!"
"No kidding! He's not even a sword cultivator. He's just using divine sense manipulation to control the sword."
"You think he's controlling the sword, but in reality, he's just swinging it around like a club!"
The crowd was truly enraged.
"Unbelievable…"
"This is an insult to the Dao of the Sword! A disgrace of the highest order!"
"That little brat almost tricked me again! I actually thought he was some heaven-sent sword prodigy who could master sword control in an instant…"
"But it turns out he was just playing tricks again…"
"Damn brat and his endless schemes."
"Did he really come up with this himself?"
"Otherwise, what? What proper sword cultivator would willingly self-destruct their own spiritual sword?"
"This is completely heretical!"
But some had a different opinion:
"To be fair… this technique is actually quite impressive. It's nearly indistinguishable from real sword control. You could almost pass it off as an advanced sword technique."
A sword elder sneered, "It only looks impressive. Its principles are actually crude. It has the outer appearance of sword control, but lacks the essence, structure, and spirit. It's far inferior to orthodox swordsmanship."
"But the so-called 'orthodox' sword genius of the Da Luo Sect was killed by his fake sword technique."
The sword elder was speechless for a moment. "That's because… Ye Zhiyuan is only at the Foundation Establishment realm. Once he reaches Golden Core, things will be different…"
Someone else agreed, "That's right. Right now, at the Foundation Establishment stage, it's hard to see the true power of orthodox sword techniques. But once he reaches Golden Core, the true strength of traditional sword control will be revealed."
"When that happens, Mo Hua's deviant sword technique won't stand a chance."
"Exactly."
"Once orthodox sword control fully exerts its power, Mo Hua's unconventional sword control will be utterly useless."
"Exactly."
"So, we've figured it out…"
A senior elder concluded:
"This Mo Hua's sword control is fake. He doesn't actually know sword techniques, nor real sword control. At its core, he's just leveraging his spiritual sense advantage to perform 'spiritual sense object manipulation.'"
"More or less…"
"But there's one thing I still don't understand—where did the power of his sword control come from? He doesn't know sword techniques, has no sword arts, no sword aura, no sword intent, and his spirit sword is of poor quality…"
"The spirit sword exploded."
"An explosion could have such destructive power?"
"Not just that…"
A sword elder from an aristocratic lineage who had studied sword formations spoke up:
"The interior of the sword was inscribed with a formation by Mo Hua."
"This type of sword formation was modified—it's specially designed to directly convert spirit stones into sword aura."
"And that's not all…"
"The spirit sword Mo Hua used must have been specially crafted as well."
"This type of spirit sword is made from low-quality materials, fragile and prone to shattering. Once it carries too much sword aura, the sword shards from its explosion possess considerable lethality."
"A self-destructing sword formation, combined with a self-shattering spirit sword—that is the true ingenuity behind this so-called 'sword control.'"
The gathered elders gasped in astonishment.
"So in the end, this is still a technique of an array master, not a true sword cultivator's method?"
"It merely takes the form of a sword, but at its core, it's an array technique."
"The sword is just a vessel, designed to carry a 'self-destructing' sword formation—it was meant to explode from the start."
The concept was bizarre yet highly effective.
Some orthodox sword-cultivating elders, who were devoted to the way of the sword and cherished their swords like their own lives, cursed Mo Hua for destroying spirit swords, calling it sacrilege and a disgrace to swordsmanship.
But most of the elders were deeply shaken.
This Mo Hua truly had an unorthodox, boundless ingenuity when it came to formations—a talent beyond conventional understanding.
The title of Qianxue's top formation master was no exaggeration…
Some elders even began secretly harboring thoughts of cherishing such a talent.
Of course, no matter how much they admired his abilities, business still had to be handled.
One elder sighed helplessly:
"Let's study this and come up with a countermeasure…"
That was a phrase they had repeated countless times in the past few days—to the point of numbness…
Inside the grand hall, the sect elders were tirelessly analyzing Mo Hua's "sword control," unable to rest through the night.
Meanwhile, within the Slaughter Mo Order, an entirely different kind of uproar was unfolding.
"What kind of garbage is the Tai Xu Sect?"
"Exactly."
"They just happened to surpass Da Luo Sect, taking the top spot among the Eight Great Sects—that's all."
"And Mo Hua? Just a self-promoting fraud. He can't even properly hold a sword, yet he dares to participate in a sword duel?"
"Yeah, Mo Hua can't even wield a sword… but he can control it. And with one strike, he killed… uh, who was it again?"
"Someone from Da Luo Sect, I think?"
"Wasn't his surname Ye? Ye… something?"
"I don't know. Never heard of him. Probably just another 'self-promoting fraud'?"
"You're really ignorant if you haven't heard of Ye Zhiyuan."
"Speaking of which, wasn't there a guy in our alliance yesterday, claiming to be 'Ye Zhiyuan' and saying he would 'behead Mo Hua with a single strike'?"
"Yeah, I think that happened…"
"And today, during the sword duel, someone was beheaded by Mo Hua's single strike… and that person happened to be named 'Ye Zhiyuan' as well?"
"No way."
"Could it be… that these two Ye Zhiyuans are the same person?"
"Unbelievable!"
"Impossible! Be careful, Da Luo Sect might sue you for slander…"
"Exactly, it's absolutely impossible. Do you even know who Ye Zhiyuan is? He's the renowned sword prodigy of Da Luo Sect, hailed as Qianxue's number one sword control genius!"
"Hailed as number one, and then got killed by someone else's sword control in a single strike?"
"Well… I don't really know what to say to that…"
"And the one who killed him… was a formation master?"
"A sword prodigy, slain in a single strike by a formation master?"
"Can you still call that a sword prodigy?"
"Right? 'If you can't even defeat someone like Mo Hua, what right do you have to be called a prodigy?'—who said that again?"
"Alright, enough of the small talk. The real priority is selecting a worthy leader for our alliance."
"Agreed."
"Speaking of which, wasn't our leader supposed to be crowned today?"
"Yeah."
"So where is our leader?"
"Probably got killed in a single strike…"
…
The arrogant words of the past, one by one, had now become history's cruel irony.
The once boastful words and wild remarks had now become part of "history written by time."
Like flying swords circling back, each word pierced into Ye Zhiyuan himself.
The young elites of the Slaughter Mo Order finally seized the chance to repeatedly "spam" Ye Zhiyuan's own words, mocking him with sarcasm, publicly humiliating him.
Ye Zhiyuan was seething with anger, but he could only play dead, not daring to say a word.
Inside his cultivation chamber, he set up a straw dummy.
On it, he pasted a crookedly drawn portrait of Mo Hua, sketched by his own hand.
He no longer said things like,
"The so-called young elites of the Four Sects and Eight Gates are simply blinded by hatred, treating 'killing Mo Hua' as some grand endeavor…"
"Those controlled by hatred will never achieve great things…"
He had been wrong.
Hatred was the greatest driving force.
Endurance and patience were the true marks of ambition.
Ye Zhiyuan began using the straw dummy of Mo Hua to practice the Great Luo Soaring Sword Art.
He decided to make "slaying Mo Hua" his lifelong pursuit.
Revenge—this would be his grand ambition.
A group of flying swords hovered in the air, striking again and again at the crudely drawn face of Mo Hua in the distance.
Each strike carved out a smirking, eerie grin.
At that moment, in Tai Xu Sect—
A group of junior disciples took turns toasting Mo Hua, their eyes filled with admiration.
After this battle, their reverence for Mo Hua surged like an unending tide.
With this victory in the Sword Debate, Tai Xu Sect had, at least for now, firmly secured its position as the leader of the Eight Gates.
Tai Xu Sect had once been at the bottom of the Eight Gates.
Both Tai'e and Chong Xu Sects had suffered severe losses in the past, falling in rank, nearly dropping out of the Eight Gates altogether.
But now, after the three sects merged, they had turned misfortune into fortune—climbing back up to the first place in the Eight Gates.
It wasn't just the ordinary disciples—
Even the elders of the Tai Xu Three Peaks were deeply grateful to Mo Hua.
If not for the constraints of their status and pride, they would have personally raised their cups in a toast to him.
And the good news didn't stop there.
Mo Hua went on to use his "sword control" to win two more Earth-rank Sword Debates.
Unnoticed by most, the situation was beginning to shift.
After careful deliberation, the heads of the Three Sects of Tai Xu realized something surprising—
Tai Xu Sect actually had another chance.
A slim chance, but a real one:
A chance to ascend into the Four Great Sects.
In the Qianxue Sword Debate, Tai Xu Sect wasn't the only one fighting fiercely—the Four Great Sects were also locked in brutal combat.
The Four Great Sects were not a united front; they were competitors, each striving to claim the top spot.
Externally, they might appear aligned.
But when it came to matters of true power and prestige, they fought each other ruthlessly, unwilling to yield an inch.
Among their young elites, competition was even fiercer—
Each unwilling to submit, battling to the bitter end.
As a result, after the intense Earth-rank Sword Debates and numerous duels among these young elites—
The rankings among the Four Great Sects were actually quite close.
Moreover, because of their internal struggles, they had weakened each other, consuming their own resources.
This meant that their lead over Tai Xu Sect…
Wasn't as large as it seemed.
Now, only two Earth-rank debates remained.
If Tai Xu Sect could win both,
And if any two of the Four Great Sects (excluding the top-ranked Heaven Sword Sect) lost two matches,
Tai Xu Sect might rise into the Four Great Sects.
It was a harsh condition.
Not only did it require luck,
It also depended on the failures of others to succeed.
But still—
This was Tai Xu Sect's only chance.
To be honest, even having this chance was already a miracle.
For other sects, it was outright impossible.
The upcoming Heaven-rank Sword Debate was too unpredictable to consider for now.
But as things stood—
If Tai Xu Sect could win two more battles,
They would have a real shot at becoming one of the Four Great Sects.
This possibility set the Tai Xu Three Peaks leaders ablaze with anticipation.
At this point, they had nothing else to rely on.
The only thing they could count on was—
Luck.
They prayed to the ancestors of Tai Xu Mountain—
Hoping they would bless them with a path to ascend into the Four Great Sects.
That in the next two Sword Debates, they would face "easy opponents."
Or if not easy, then at least…
Someone Mo Hua and his team could take on.
They were strong enough now—
As long as they didn't face a top-tier prodigy, they could put up a fight.
And their odds of winning weren't low.
The possibility of back-to-back victories—
Was within reach.
And so, with this eager anticipation—
The list of Mo Hua's next opponents was finalized through the Dao Debate Divination Array.
When the members of Tai Xu Sect saw the names on the list—
Their faces paled.
Their hearts sank.
"Qiandao Sect, Shen Linshu."
(End of this Chapter)