Bab 16: You have talent

"If the famous Hua Tianshu isn't there, it won't be any fun," Shi XiuYing sighed out loud as he spoke, "My dear Junior brother Ming has been looking up to him for so long. I was quite interested to see a match between them. It's a pity that Hua Tianshu couldn't take part this year."

For some reason, Jie Fu Lian felt a little embarrassed as he heard Shi XiuYing's words.

He never looked up to Hua Tianshu! He only looked to compare their skills and achievements! Why the hell was everyone mistaking him for a fan?!

"Well, even if his name isn't included in the competitor list, if a winner of a match challenges him on stage, he can still choose to come down and have a dual," The HuiXue sect disciple politely spoke with a small smile, "But of course, it's completely up to him whether he would accept the challenge or not."

Shi XiuYing side glanced at Jie Fu Lian and with a small smirk he spoke, "If he accepts, it would be quite interesting. If he doesn't, it would still be interesting."

The group didn't bother conversing on the topic any further and the HuiXue disciples led them to sect master Quan who had invited Jie Fu Lian.

"Greetings to Sect Master Quan," Jie Fu Lian politely cupped his hands together and bowed as he exemplified both his outstanding manners and his respect for the man.

Sect Master Quan nodded his head with a small smile and looked to be quite pleased with this greeting.

"Your father sent me a letter," Sect Master Quan calmly spoke, his voice a bit deep yet soothing and cool, "I was quite surprised with your achievement. You have achieved something that others have only dreamt of achieving. You have talent and dedication. Your future would certainly be bright."

They were all words of compliment but as soon as Jie Fu Lian heard the words 'Talent' and 'Bright future', he couldn't help but feel a little awkward.

"When it comes to talent, I am far inferior to sect Master Quan's disciple, Hua Tianshu." Jie Fu Lian smiled as he spoke.

Sect Master Quan's eyes narrowed down on Jie Fu Lian as he heard the boy's words and he was silent for a few minutes before he asked, "How old are you?"

"I turned fourteen this year."

"You are quite young. Although it may seem like Hua Tianshu has surpassed you, in reality, there is still space for you to grow and improve. In the future, it is very much possible for you to surpass him in terms of skills. You shouldn't compare yourself to him. At the end of the day, the road you take is going to be much different from his. You shouldn't give up hope this soon."

Jie Fu Lian gulped as he heard these words and raised his head to look at Sect Master Quan with surprise.

Somewhere inside his heart, he felt a little touched. He had always longed to hear such words from his own father but he had never been able to.

Whenever the name Hua Tianshu was brought up, his father would just tell him that the two were incomparable and it was a waste to try to catch up to him with Jie Fu Lian's mediocre talent.

"You have talent," Sect Master Quan continued as he spoke, seeming to have guessed all of Jie Fu Lian's thoughts and inner worries, "Isn't the celestial grade Qi-collecting sword an example of your talent and dedication?"

Jie Fu Lian gulped as he heard this and slowly nodded his head as he looked back down at the ground, feeling a bit shy.

That day, the two comfortably talked for almost an hour and Jie Fu Lian proudly showed Sect Master Quan the celestial grade Qi-collecting sword.

When he saw the beautifully plain yet elegant sword exuding a strong aura of grace and authority, Sect Master Quan looked to be very impressed and showered Jie Fu Lian with even more praises and compliments.

At first, he was even a bit reluctant to accept the sword as a gift but Jie Fu Lian insisted and in the end, Sect Master Quan couldn't help but give in.

"In the future, if you ever need help, be sure to contact us," Sect Master Quan spoke with a warm smile as he looked at Jie Fu Lian, "The HuiXue sect would always be there to provide assistance to you."

Just as his father had wanted, Jie Fu Lian was able to make a good relationship with the sect master of the HuiXue sect and even got to participate in their annually held sword competition.

After talking with the sect master, Jie Fu Lian was also able to clear up his feelings regarding the Qi-collecting sword and he was able to give it away without feeling any guilt or grief.

If Hua Tianshu was also as kind and capable as Sect Master Quan then Jie Fu Lian could rest assured that the sword would be wielded by a good master that would match its brilliance and grace.

Four rooms were prepared for the four guest disciples from the Yan sect and they were treated very well.

Xian Huan, Xue Liang and Jie Fu Lian talked to the sect master about joining the sword competition and their names were included in the official participating list.

Shi XiuYing, who had enquired the most about the sword competition was completely uninterested in actually joining the competition and instead, was much more interested in watching the competition.

The sword competition was only five days away and they had time to prepare, but instead of preparing for the competition, the four disciples from the Yan Sect went around exploring the HuiXue sect.

During these five days, they learned a lot about the HuiXue sect.

The HuiXue sect was much larger than the Yan sect. There were more than ten thousand disciples currently studying in the HuiXue sect while the number of disciples studying in the Yan sect hadn't even crossed five thousand yet.

All the disciples were ranked according to their achievements and seniority.

Out of the ten thousand disciples, there were many skilled and talented individuals. Compared to the Yan sect, it could clearly be seen that the HuiXue had more upcoming talents.

Jie Fu Lian wasn't exactly a social type of person so it was only natural that he didn't make any friends, however, it was only inevitable that he bumped into some who seemed to be interested in him.

In these five days, Jie Fu Lian came to learn an interesting rumor about himself. Unexpectedly enough, he was quite famous in the HuiXue sect.

He was nicknamed as 'the idiot that defeated a high-ranking demon by a stroke of luck' and 'the idiot with luck'.

When Jie Fu Lian first heard it, he was quite surprised and didn't know how to react to this new nickname. However, after thinking about it for a while, he couldn't help but feel a little offended.

Sure, luck had played a big part in his victory over the high-ranking demon!

But he had almost sacrificed his life for that achievement!

Calling him an idiot who had won due to pure luck was too cruel!

When Shi XiuYing noticed Jie Fu Lian's foul mood, he couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, "Junior brother Ming, if you are unhappy with it, why don't you show them your skills? The sword competition is just around the corner. If you can prove your skills then nobody would dare call you an idiot with luck."

Jie Fu Lian clenched his jaw and looked to be quite inspired by these words as he exclaimed, "I'll show them!"

Before they knew it, the sword competition had arrived.

The sword competition was divided into five rounds. All participants were grouped according to their cultivation level.

During the starting rounds of the competition, one would only need to face off opponents with similar cultivation level, however, as the competition continued and the number of competitors decreased, the selection of opponents started becoming more random.

Jie Fu Lian passed the starting two rounds with atmost ease.

During these two rounds, he faced off against ten opponents and he beat them all with just a single sword technique.

At first, the audience was actively cheering for him and everytime he defeated an opponent, there would be roars coming from the excited crowd. However, as he entered the third round of the competition, the opinions of the crowd started to change.

Jie Fu Lian listened in on the gossip just out of pure curiosity, however, what he heard really made his blood boil.

"Isn't that Changbo sword made from the bones of a peak stage God realm cultivator? Fighting with such a sword in a competition is clearly a bit unfair, isn't it?"

"What more can you expect from an idiot with luck?"

"Maybe the sword was the real reason why he was able to beat that high-ranking demon."

"That sounds more possible."

"Although his cultivation speed is quite impressive, I've heard that he doesn't even have an ounce of talent in him. If it hadn't been for his amazing luck, he couldn't have made it this far."

"Badmouthing somebody behind their back. Is this what you have been taught?" Hua Tianshu glared at the bunch of gossiping disciples and scolded them with a cold threatening tone that made then instantly quiet down.

However, Jie Fu Lian never heard the scolding words uttered by Hua Tianshu.