The exchange between the Drunken Swordsman and Alex was indeed just a simple and friendly sparring match between peers.
Seeing that Alex's sword techniques were still merely at the fundamental stage of controlling the sword with internal energy, the Drunken Swordsman approached the exchange quite lightly. His intent was mainly on guiding and instructing this promising junior rather than defeating him.
While Alex's Shave technique and vibranium gloves genuinely surprised him with their unique properties, he did not take them overly seriously as game-changing advantages.
However he had absolutely not expected that Alex's vibranium gloves could not only perfectly block incoming damage but could even triple the raw force of his counterattacks. Completely unprepared for this amplification effect, he was solidly struck by Alex's enhanced punch. The force was so tremendously powerful that he was knocked backward several stumbling steps.
"Thank you very much for the instruction..." Alex said hurriedly while ending the exchange immediately.
This abrupt ending made the Drunken Swordsman genuinely want to continue fighting and test himself further. But he simultaneously felt quite embarrassed about pushing for more. He felt as though he was holding back an incredibly strong emotion deep inside but was unable to properly release it.
"He actually managed to gain the upper hand against him?" Li Xiaoyao who had been carefully watching Alex and the Drunken Sword Immortal spar muttered to himself with a visible look of surprise and disbelief spreading across his face.
He had not personally recognized the Moon Worshiping Sect Leader's true identity and reputation. But he knew the Drunken Sword Immortal extremely well through their time together and he understood the old master's overwhelming power even more intimately.
Alex's supposed victory over the Moon Worshiping Sect Leader had not been particularly surprising or impressive to Li Xiaoyao initially. But now seeing Alex actually gain the upper hand against the legendary Drunken Sword Immortal himself genuinely surprised and shocked him deeply.
"No wonder I was not his match during the previous arena tournament..."
Well after seeing the Drunken Sword Immortal suffer a minor defeat at the skilled hands of Alex, Li Xiaoyao suddenly felt that his own defeat during the previous martial arts competition was completely understandable and nothing to be ashamed of.
"This guy appears to be about my same age right? But how could he possibly have developed such incredibly advanced skills already? How did he even manage to cultivate them so quickly?" Li Xiaoyao was also secretly puzzled and confused. For someone so remarkably young to already possess such apparently unparalleled martial arts abilities was truly astonishing and beyond normal comprehension.
"Your swordsmanship techniques are genuinely exquisite and your overall realm of understanding is quite impressive for your age. However you are still limited to the level of controlling the sword with your internal energy alone. If you can eventually reach the far more advanced level of controlling the sword with your spiritual consciousness directly, your cultivation will surely reach an entirely higher realm of mastery."
The Drunken Sword Immortal was not a petty or vindictive person after all. After exchanging several moves in their brief spar, he generously recounted what he had carefully observed and analyzed to Alex without holding back his insights.
"Well your analysis is quite accurate and not bad at all" Alex nodded sincerely while agreeing completely with the Drunken Sword Immortal's professional assessment.
"However although your overall cultivation level is admittedly a bit lower than it could be, you clearly know and have mastered many truly amazing techniques. You also possess several remarkably good magical treasures and weapons. If ordinary opponents are not extremely careful during combat they will genuinely suffer painful defeats at your capable hands. With your current combined abilities and equipment you cannot quite say you are completely unrivaled throughout the entire world. But at the very least you definitely possess sufficient ability to travel the world freely and protect yourself from most dangers."
Thinking back carefully on everything Alex had just demonstrated when he took decisive action, the Drunken Sword Immortal paused thoughtfully for a moment before continuing his evaluation.
"What if I genuinely want to join the Mount Shushan Sect as a disciple?" Following naturally from the Drunken Sword Immortal's complimentary comments, Alex followed up immediately with his own carefully considered ideas.
While Alex had plenty of alternative ways to eventually replicate Mount Shushan's legendary skills and accumulated knowledge through his copying ability, his internal storage capacity remained frustratingly limited. If at all possible he would still strongly prefer to copy only specific and carefully chosen pieces of knowledge. This naturally required gaining much deeper understanding of Mount Shushan's complete knowledge system and available skills first. Otherwise he would waste precious storage space just like he had done with swordsmanship knowledge. Copying Luo Xian's simplified knowledge first and then later copying Wuming's far more comprehensive grandmaster knowledge had been a complete and inefficient waste of valuable space.
"You actually want to join Mount Shushan?" Alex's unexpected words made the Drunken Sword Immortal look at him with genuine surprise and confusion. He seemed genuinely surprised that Alex would even consider making such a humble request given his already quite advanced current cultivation level.
But upon reflecting more carefully, Alex's sincere desire to learn Mount Shushan's legendary sword techniques and cultivate the Dao through dedicated swordsmanship seemed perfectly reasonable and understandable.
Back during his own time in the mortal martial arts world, he had already achieved considerable personal cultivation and strength. But had he not also joined Mount Shushan out of deep admiration for the ancient legends of the Shushan sect's profound path to enlightenment through swordsmanship?
Upon hearing Alex's genuine desire to join Mount Shushan, the Drunken Sword Immortal began pondering the implications carefully.
After the devastating incident involving Senior Brother Jiang Ming approximately one hundred years ago, Mount Shushan's formerly glorious reputation had plummeted dramatically. Now was definitely the perfect time to actively recruit promising new talent. While Alex would enter as a junior disciple, was the Drunken Sword Immortal himself not also technically still a disciple?
Furthermore judging objectively by their recent exchange, Alex's swordsmanship techniques and realm of understanding were both genuinely impressive for someone his age. The Drunken Sword Immortal believed Alex could quite quickly rise to become a top-tier combat force within Mount Shushan.
And of course the most personally important point was that this promising young man possessed truly exceptional alcoholic beverages of extraordinary quality. If he could somehow be permanently retained within Mount Shushan's walls...
Well thinking specifically of this last selfish point, the Drunken Sword Immortal found himself wholeheartedly agreeing with Alex's stated intention to join Mount Shushan.
Of course he was not actually the official head or leader of Mount Shushan. So while he personally agreed with the idea completely, he could not make any final binding decision regarding someone formally joining as an official disciple.
"This important matter absolutely needs to be decided by the sect head who is my Senior Brother. If you truly wish to join Mount Shushan then you should probably accompany me back there" the Drunken Sword Immortal finally said after a long moment's thoughtful hesitation.
"So he is actually not originally from Mount Shushan? It seems that Elder Shi and the others had completely misunderstood the situation before" Lin Yueru and the others who stood nearby murmured quietly in their hearts when they overheard the revealing conversation between Alex and the Drunken Sword Immortal.
...
"Zhao Ling'er you must come with me immediately" the Sword Saint spoke calmly. He was a dignified figure with pure white hair and a long white beard that gave him an immortal appearance. A completely natural spiritual aura radiated from his entire body.
He appeared to be walking quite slowly and casually. But in actual fact he crossed the distance and came to stand directly before Zhao Ling'er in a single instant before speaking with absolute authority.
The Sword Saint looked carefully at Zhao Ling'er who stood before him with an appearance like a celestial fairy. He sighed deeply in his heart with complex emotions. "Is this Qing'er's daughter? Sure enough they are all blessed descendants of the goddess Nuwa."
Thinking back on memories of Qing'er from long ago, the Sword Saint still felt a slight painful tingling sensation in his weathered heart.
The romantic feelings between him and Qing'er back in those days had been extremely sincere and genuine. But Zhao Ling'er was ultimately the child born from Qing'er and another man entirely.
"Who are you exactly? Where are you planning to take our princess?" Anu who had been standing protectively nearby heard the Sword Saint's commanding words. She immediately moved to stand defensively in front of Zhao Ling'er with a fierce appearance of absolute loyalty to her beloved mistress.
"Old man who are you? Why do you want me to go to Mount Shushan with you? I need to find Brother Xiaoyao right now" Zhao Ling'er looked directly at the Sword Saint with her innocent eyes. But she did not look scared or intimidated at all by his imposing presence. She maintained her innocent expression while shaking her head slightly to politely refuse his demand.
"That will not be necessary. You absolutely should not go to Nanzhao Kingdom with him under any circumstances. Otherwise everything will merely become a tragic repetition of past sorrows..." After shaking his head firmly at Zhao Ling'er's innocent words, the Sword Saint moved with impossible speed. He came to stand directly at Zhao Ling'er's side in a fraction of a second.
Then he gently but firmly took Zhao Ling'er's delicate hand in his own. He began walking slowly away with her. But despite his seemingly casual pace they both disappeared rapidly into the distance.
"Princess! Princess!" Seeing Zhao Ling'er being forcibly taken away by a complete stranger, Anu shouted out anxiously from behind them while desperately trying to chase after them.
However the Sword Saint did not appear to be walking particularly fast while holding Zhao Ling'er's hand. But no matter how desperately hard Anu pushed herself to chase after them, she simply could not manage to catch up with his impossible pace. She could only watch helplessly as the two figures quickly disappeared completely before her tear-filled eyes.
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