by Fat Bread
A perfect pose of a "hero saving the princess". However, Yun Xi wasn't the hero. He was the princess who was saved.
"Chi!" The two-handed sword dropped down, directly sticking the male Fiery Dragon's head, pinning the scarred giant monster to the ground.
The evil dragon was killed.
"Little Xi, don't come to such a dangerous place."
"I'm happy to take the sword you gave me, but this big one was a little too powerful for you." Though she said that, her face was full of happiness; even Yun Xi could clearly see it.
A little powerful... Yun Xi dumbly looked at the male Fiery Dragon, who was sliced and diced but still giving off an appalling sense of pressure.
It was a hero-ranked monster, known as a nightmare who had the power to eliminate a whole army!
Before today, when he saw Hua Huo using her God's Sword Skill - Sky Flying Sword (Beginner). Yun Xi had made many guesses about what was the "God's Sword Skill".
However, even his wildest guess was still pale and weak if compared to Hua Huo's record of killing the male Fiery Dragon.
The power of the "God's Sword Skill - Sky Flying Sword" was way beyond Yun Xi's understanding, and it was also beyond the common sense of the people of Sky Sword God's Domain.
As a 3rd-ranked swordmaiden, she could kill the hero-ranked male Fiery Dragon as easily as if it were an ant. That was how terrible and powerful the Sky Flying Sword was.
Yun Xi had never heard of such a sword skill!
Jumping down from Hua Huo's arms, Yun Xi walked to the male Fiery Dragon's corpse, which still retained the temperature of the flames. He aimed at the area where the defense was most weak, the connection part between the wing and body.
Nine sword lights burst out together, which meant that Yun Xi had completely mastered the strongest skill from Hua Huo's seed - Flying Swallow Sword.
"Hiss!" Though the newbie iron sword had been enhanced three times, yrt it only made a screeching sound on the male Fiery Dragon's patagium, and only made several light scratches on it. After a few seconds, the scratches also disappeared.
"What..." After trying it himself, Yun Xi really understood how terrible a hero-ranked being could be.
It was the weakest part of the dragon! Besides, after being killed by Hua Huo, the male Fiery Dragon's corpse had lost the support from its blood and energy.
If the male Fiery Dragon was still alive and had its blood and energy as support, even if Yun Xi attacked it all day, he probably couldn't deal any damage to it.
Yun Xi's ultimate attack could hurt a 3rd-ranked swordsman, but couldn't even damage the male Fiery Dragon's weakest spot. That was the difference between the Mortal rank and the Hero rank.
When faced with a monster like the male Fiery Dragon, Mortals - even if it was an army of a hundred thousand - were just a number.
As the being who had hero-ranked power, it could kill Mortals as though it was crushing ants.
"Hua Huo... you're too strong..." The more he knew Hua Huo, the more Yun Xi found how unusually strong his childhood sweetheart was.
She couldn't belong to this common small village!
As a girl who knew how to use the God's Sword Skill - Sky Flying Sword, she could even ignore the difference between the Hero rank and the Mortal rank to kill the male Fiery Dragon. If this was a story from the Western God's Domain, she definitely had the talent as a "Hero"!
"Hee hee... that was not much..." As hearing Yun Xi's praise, Hua Huo blushed, seeming a little sheepish.
"It was just a male Fiery Dragon. If it was a female Fiery Dragon, it would be big trouble."
"However, the male Fiery Dragon was moving alone, it shouldn't have a spouse. So, I used it to practice my sword skill after I found it..."
I knew. You were so brilliant like the stars or the wide ocean.
Your smile was so bright, just like the sun.
You were my most excellent childhood sweetheart! Yun Xi raised his head up, gazing at Hua Huo.
Always, he knew that Hua Huo was a genius, a sword genius who was far better than all the people in the village.
Now, he would correct it.
Hua Huo wasn't only a genius on sword skill. She was also a genius in battles.
With the passage of time, she would naturally emit a brighter light, leaving every contemporary behind her.
"Yun Xi... thank you..." Comparing to her behavior when she was killing the male Fiery Dragon, under Yun Xi's gaze, Hua Huo looked pretty rattled.
Ah, Yun Xi saw her unladylike behavior!
But she had no choice. Though it was just a male Fiery Dragon, but her weapon was too subpar. In order to kill it, she had to use the Sky Flying Sword.
Would Yun Xi think that she was too violent? Because in the past, she always left him the expression as a cheerful and lively sword girl.
However, she broke the male Fiery Dragon's claws, head, wings, and tail, and finally sliced and minced it... it did make her a little unlike a lady...
Oh, that was all the stupid dragon's fault! Hua Huo pouted, kicking the male Fiery Dragon's head, though it had already totally died.
"Hua Huo..." Yun Xi looked at his childhood sweetheart, with many ideas passing in his heart.
"Yun Xi..." Hua Huo lowered her head and peeped at Yun Xi.
For a moment, the two fell into a weird silence...
Until Yun Xi heard the ethereal and antique-y voice of stars suddenly appearing beside his ears.
"Side Quest: Completed. Please receive your reward."
Then, a transparent line which Yun Xi was pretty familiar with, suddenly appeared between Hua Huo and himself, linking the two people together.
Inside of Yun Xi's body, Hua Huo's seed started to grow fast again.
Not only so. The completion degree of Hua Huo's seed started to drop sharply.
31%, 27%, 15%... As Yun Xi looked at it incredulously, the completion degree of Hua Huo's seed dropped to 1%.
Chapter 52: Hua Huo Joins the Team
It wasn't because the skills Yun Xi obtained from Hua Huo was decreasing.
Quite the opposite, there was more information flowing from Hua Huo to Yun Xi's body, expanding the limit of the seed.
Quicksilver Motion (Perfect).
Flying Swallow Sword (Perfect).
Sky Flying Sword (Beginner): 10% done.
When he obtained the seed from Hua Huo, the information about this part was all hidden in mist, but now, they all opened up to Yun Xi.
After stepping into the 2nd rank and finishing the "Side Quest: Help the Girl Defeat the Evil Dragon", not only did the closeness degree between Yun Xi and Hua Huo increase, but it also let him obtain more benefits from Hua Huo.
As the completion degree of the seed dropped from 33% to 1%, that also meant that the information Yun Xi obtained from Hua Huo was increasing to a new realm.
Even the Sky Flying Sword, which Hua Huo used to kill the male Fiery Dragon, also showed its truths to Yun Xi for the first time.
Though it had only been analyzed by less than 10%, but as a terrifying God's Sword Skill, it had opened a door leading to a new realm for Yun Xi.
This time, the seed expanded ten times. Most of the data was about the God's Sword Skill, which Yun Xi greatly desired and was also the most important part.
Quicksilver Motion (Perfect) and Flying Swallow Sword (Perfect) were the precondition to studying Sky Flying Sword. As long as Yun Xi followed the steps recorded in Hua Huo's seed to practice the two secret skills to their limits, he would touch the door leading to the God's Sword Skill.
Yun Xi even saw a "???" mark in Hua Huo's seed, which he never saw before. It was an area which Yun Xi couldn't understand now.
Hua Huo, who the hell are you!
After the seed updated its data, Yun Xi felt that his childhood sweetheart became more and more mysterious.
She was like an inexhaustible treasury. Every time he learned something new from the seed, he would then find that more unknown knowledge was hiding in the origin
al seed.
If Yun Xi didn't have a high affinity with the original seed, he would probably never guess what a wonderful talent and sword skill his childhood sweetheart owned.
Perhaps choosing her seed in the newbie trial was the best choice Yun Xi had made.
"Yun Xi, is there anything on my face?" As Hua Huo curiously looked at Yun Xi, she didn't know that Yun Xi had found out about her secret.
As a God's Sword Skill, the Sky Flying Sword wasn't a skill that everyone could see through. It was a top-most legacy from a far away God's Domain, even better than the twin witches' Witches' Legacy.
Of course, the twin witches also had phenomenal talent. They were already beyond the White Lotus Sword Domain's Witches' Legacy. Even in the Western God's Domains, they were still very famous.
"No... Hua Huo... we meet again." Yun Xi pretended that he knew nothing.
How could he tell her the truth! He couldn't tell her that he had her seed and had seen a lot of secrets from it.
If things kept going on like this, would the seed forever link Hua Huo and me together? No matter how long the distance between us was, would we always share this special relationship?
The stars, what is in your mind?! Wasn't this seed system too strange?!
If the seed's completion degree went to 100%, what would happen?
"Hum, great! Tonight's dream is a really good dream!
"It's too lucky to meet a monster who could be used to practice my skills on. Besides, Yun Xi was slaying the dragon together with me." Hua Huo smiled so much that her eyes almost narrowed shut, as her ponytail swung in the air.
"However, Little Xi, this is just a dream.
"In the real world, I won't be so violent as to cut a dragon into pieces.
"And I'm only good at using the Flying Swallow Sword."
Yun Xi looked on weirdly seeing his childhood sweetheart's nonsense.
Well, if I didn't have your seed, I would think the Flying Swallow Sword was your strongest sword skill.
After all, it was the Flying Swallow Sword which she used to defeat the Five Tiger Generals.
However, if compared to the terrifying Sky Flying Sword, the Flying Swallow Sword was just like a feeble small bird.
Besides, why were you so skilled when you used the two-handed sword?!
The beheading skill could even cut the dragon into two pieces. It was really way too powerful.
"Little Xi, you don't like a strong girl?" Hua Huo vaguely felt that something was wrong. She asked her childhood sweetheart carefully.
"No. I like the way you are."
"The Hua Huo who can use the Flying Swallow Sword and the Hua Huo who can slay the dragon, they both are my Hua Huo." Looking at Hua Huo who seemed a little restless, sincere words naturally came out from Yun Xi's mouth.
"Yay! Great! This dream is great!" Hua Huo put her palms together devoutly and yelled with excitement.
Ah, yes. Hua Huo was always lively and confident. She is my childhood sweetheart and my first love.
Looking at the cheerful Hua Huo, Yun Xi smiled faintly. However, he didn't know why, but a girl with a white witch uniform suddenly appeared in his heart.
Yes, the trial was still going on.
He should continue fighting.
The side quest of the girl fighting against the evil dragon had been completed. Hua Huo's favorability had been increased and Hua Huo's seed had also been updated.
Next, he should go challenge the ultimate goal.
Save the Princess from the Giant Tower - that was the ultimate goal of his formal trial.
"Hua Huo, goodbye." As waving his hand to Hua Huo, Yun Xi was ready to step on the new battlefield -
"Hey, Little Xi, where are you going?!" Hua Huo came after him.
Wait, why didn't Hua Huo disappear?!
Yun Xi inanely looked at his childhood sweetheart walking toward him.
The side quest had been completed and he had also obtained the reward. Shouldn't Hua Huo return to the real world? Just like what happened at the end of the last trial?
No, there was something different this time. Quickly, Yun Xi realized the difference.
Last time, in the newbie trial, he completed the ultimate goal before Hua Huo caught him. He perfectly finished the trial, letting Hua Huo return to the real world and treat the whole event as a dream.
Now, Hua Huo was just a part of the side quest. After defeating the male Fiery Dragon, she didn't disappear because Yun Xi hadn't completed the ultimate goal of the trial.
In other words, he had to challenge the ultimate goal together with his childhood sweetheart?
Well, well. He was glad to know that Hua Huo would team up with him since she could be really helpful. However, Yun Xi had a strong sense of foreboding.
"What? Yun Xi, you will go to challenge enemies to practice your sword skill?
"Tell me, who dared to hurt you? I will kill them all!
"Don't be shy. No matter who they are, as long as they dare to hurt my Little Xi, they can only die!
"My blade is yours!"
Chapter 53: The Third District
In the formal trial, in front of the third district, Yun Xi was standing together with Hua Huo aside the flaming bonfire.
This was the only way to the tall tower. Not far away, there were dozens of 3rd-ranked people scattered on the huge bridge.
Looking into the distance, on the square below their ultimate goal - the tall tower, there were three red stone soldiers standing amongst a group of top-level stone soldiers. Obviously, they were Yun Xi's last enemies before he entered the Great Tower.
Yun Xi had even guessed the identity of the three red stone soldiers.
In the small village, except for Hua Huo, the twin witches, the strange beasts, and the male Fiery Dragon, everyone knew who the three people strongest were.
They were from the noblest families of the White Lotus Sword Domain; they received the best education since their childhood, having best weapons and talent. In a word, they were the three hottest people in this exam of the Sword Palace.
Childe Yun He, Childe Si Nian, and Childe San Quan.
"Is that all?" After seeing the stone soldiers on the bridge and square, Hua Huo dragged the two-handed sword as her toes lightly touched the ground.
"Swish!" With a flash of her sword, Hua Huo didn't give Yun Xi a chance to say anything; she killed all the 3rd-ranked enemies on the bridge.
As some of the Mortal rank's strongest people, they all were not inferior to the Five Tiger Generals. Many of them were servants of noble families; a few of them were even famous masters of noble families. However, their couldn't even hold for one second when facing Hua Huo.
Instant kill, instant kill, and instant kill. Like cutting grass, Hua Huo killed all the so-called strong people instantaneously.
"Wait, Hua Huo!" When Yun Xi reacted, Hua Huo had already stepped onto the last square.
No kidding. If he let Hua Huo kill them all, he wouldn't obtain a piece of their souls - like the dragon scales. That was the answer Yun Xi got from the volcano zone.
This trial was a battlefield the stars prepared for him, not for Hua Huo who was at 3rd rank but could actually kill the hero-ranked male Fiery Dragon.
So, even if he had to borrow Hua Huo's power, that wouldn't happen before he had to face an unbeatable enemy - which would probably appear in his ultimate goal, the Great Tower.
As for the enemies who were under the Hero rank, no matter how strong they were, Hua Huo could kill them all in an instant. So, he decided to kill them by himself.
With the aid of an external force, perhaps he could sweep away all the enemies in this zone quite simply, but that did no help to increase his personal ability.
"Tut, what a troublesome rule." After knowing of Yun Xi's trial, Hua Huo felt a little aggrieved and pouted her small mouth.
In her mind, they were just some wastes that she could kill by the tens with one brandish of her sword. But her Little Xi still had to strenuously beat t
hem down one by one... that was too weird.
"I will borrow your power at the last moment. Let's fight together by that time." After advising her earnestly, finally Yun Xi stopped Hua Huo from her desire to kill all the enemies at once.
To Hua Huo, the trial in the third district was nothing but an extremely easy mode. She could even clean up the district with her eyes closed.