Chapter 104: Warm Fragrance at His Side, The Celestial Maiden’s Flying Needles

The matchups for the top eight were drawn and announced quickly, with no extra long and boring segments in between. It was so fast that many Dao Spells with short cooldowns probably had not even recharged yet.

“Yu Shuangxue. I humbly request your guidance, senior brother.”

The first one scheduled to fight was another beauty besides Manzhu Lver. Yu Shuangxue had an elegant aura and, in comparison, carried a more mature charm. Her appearance alone made the Players below the Dueling Stage click their tongues in admiration, cheering and shouting words of encouragement loudly.

Her opponent, Mo Feng, felt a bit helpless. He raised his sword horizontally as a form of salute in return. He was the only one among the Seven Great Disciples of Qingcheng from the Closed Beta who had made it into the top eight. Dongliu Cangshui had been unlucky, running into Long Wushuang early and was eliminated back in the top 128.

After both sides exchanged salutes, they each brought out their Flying Swords and began their fierce fight. As soon as Mo Feng summoned his Juque, Ye Rong was startled.

The Flying Sword in his hand was almost as big as a door plank, and it seemed even larger than during the previous ten-man arena match. It was very likely it had been upgraded another rank. If it really was a sixth-rank Juque, it might very well be the highest-ranked Flying Sword in Qingcheng so far.

Ye Rong had already asked Dongliu Cangshui about how to accept and proceed with the quest for the replica versions of the Four Famous Swords.

But as soon as he heard the questline, Ye Rong’s desire for it faded; he lost most of his interest.

Each of the Four Famous Swords had a corresponding talisman. Once you obtained the talisman, you could go to Chang’an City and find a blacksmith to activate the corresponding Flying Sword quest. Dongliu Cangshui actually had the Famous Sword Talismans. If Ye Rong wanted them, he could take them anytime without needing to put in the effort himself. However, just to obtain a first-rank replica Juque, you had to complete a Chain Quest with over ten parts.

Furthermore, every time you wanted to upgrade it a rank, a quest with doubled difficulty would be issued. Dongliu Cangshui had only explained half of it before Ye Rong decisively gave up.

By the time he could obtain a fifth-rank Juque using this method, he could have long since gotten the Cast Snow Sword from Tiancanzi.

“Right, I’ve been defeating opponents on the Dueling Stage. I wonder if that counts towards the Sin and Karma quest?”

Ye Rong took out the glass bead and looked. The amount of resentment inside had indeed reached the full value of 100. That meant he had already completed the final part of the Sin and Karma quest to summon the karmic flames. He could go claim the Cast Snow Sword anytime.

The temptation of a fifth-rank Immortal Weapon, ready to be acquired at any moment—if he weren’t currently unable to leave, Ye Rong would have really wanted to go get the Cast Snow Sword immediately.

“Never mind. Even if I got it, I couldn’t equip it. It wouldn’t help even with the Neither-Thought-Nor-Non-Thought Sword Scabbard’s property of reducing the required Level.”

Ye Rong shook his head and abandoned the thought. Flying Swords like Manzhu Lver’s Huan Xisha, being fifth-rank, had such low usage Level requirements because they were personally refined by their owners—that was a special case. Generally speaking, even the worst fifth-rank Flying Sword required a Level of over 40 to equip. Even with the Neither-Thought-Nor-Non-Thought Sword Scabbard reducing it by five Levels, Ye Rong still couldn’t equip it.

The sixth-rank Juque swept horizontally, releasing a wide swath of Sword Light along with a whooshing sound of wind, possessing the courage to stand against ten thousand.

Yu Shuangxue merely let out a light, tinkling laugh. She patted the needle pouch at her waist, and a strand of silver needles flew out, forming a circle as they met the attack.

“Those are Yu Shuangxue’s Celestial Maiden Needles. There are eighteen of them, forming a complete set.”

A big shot like Dongliu Cangshui naturally wouldn’t just stand. Someone had already brought rattan bamboo chairs. Ye Rong, along with Manzhu Lver, was lucky enough to get to sit. Manzhu Lver leaned over and murmured softly into Ye Rong’s ear, her warm breath spraying against his earlobe, feeling warm and ticklish.

The two were already sitting close, and with this whisper directly into his ear, half of Manzhu Lver’s body ended up leaning against Ye Rong. Feeling the soft and elastic sensation transmitted through his arm, a warmth stirred in his heart, and he felt a strange sensation.

This girl really is a little enchantress!

“What rank are these Celestial Maiden Needles? Do you know their properties?”

Ye Rong could see Manzhu Lver’s cheek glowing like a luminous pearl, her jade-like skin radiant, the corner of her small, rosy lips slightly upturned. If he turned his head just a little, his mouth would touch the tip of her nose.

Warm fragrance and soft jade, a beauty by his side—this was exactly what it felt like. Ye Rong had no intention of pushing away such a wonderful feeling.

“I don’t know that. Yu Shuangxue mostly keeps to herself. She only recently formed a small group, recruiting only female Players. They all call her ‘Big Sis’.”

Manzhu Lver’s lips pouted slightly, seeming a bit unconvinced. However, Yu Shuangxue’s appearance and temperament were indeed much more mature than hers, so it was normal that those younger girls were willing to follow her.

Flying Needles were a very unique type of weapon in Far Shore. They weren’t Flying Swords, nor were they Magic Treasures. They were extremely difficult to refine, and to unleash their full power in use, it was best to have a matching needle technique.

Ordinary Flying Needles were equipped in the Weapon Slot, used just like Flying Swords. But if, like Yu Shuangxue, one could obtain a needle pouch, then all the Flying Needles could be stored inside the pouch and equipped in the Talisman Slot.

These Celestial Maiden Needles were just tiny individual needles. Even a thousand of them put together wouldn’t compare to a single Juque. But somehow, these eighteen Celestial Maiden Needles formed some kind of formation, firmly trapping Mo Feng within it. It was like a giant whirlpool; even though he wielded the Juque with immense power, he still couldn’t break the formation created by the needles.

Yu Shuangxue pointed a slender jade finger, and a cold gleam shot out abruptly, piercing straight through Mo Feng’s body. With a loud ‘bang’, Mo Feng’s entire body exploded, leaving not a trace of his bones or ashes behind.

Manzhu Lver let out a soft “hmph”, clearly feeling very unconvinced. From now on, the title of the top female disciple in Qingcheng would be fiercely contested between the two of them.

After the winner was announced, the next pair immediately took the stage. It was Long Wushuang versus Red Dust White Hair. These two were strangers in Ye Rong’s memory; today’s minor competition was the first time he had seen them in person, and he was particularly impressed by Long Wushuang.

Ye Rong immediately became more alert. If he wasn’t mistaken, Long Wushuang would very likely become the biggest obstacle to him winning the championship.

This person was extremely mysterious. He hadn’t had much of a reputation in Qingcheng before either. It was after the skirmish with Emei that he began to stand out and appear in everyone’s sight. All that was known was that he possessed outstanding strength, was good at helping others, had assisted many Registered Disciples in completing their Initiation Tasks to become Formal Disciples, and had already built up a decent amount of prestige.

Moreover, in the previous matches, he seemed to be intentionally imitating Ye Rong, using nothing but a single Flying Sword and no other Magic Treasures. He hadn’t even used a single Daoist spell or technique, leaving an extremely deep impression on everyone.

In comparison, Red Dust White Hair, with his more non-mainstream appearance, seemed somewhat inferior.