Yin Long didn't raise his sword or point it at anyone, but just the thin and excited smile present on his face made all the people present in what seemed to be a training area feel like he had pointed the weapon directly at their throat. Of course, whenever there was someone who could be excited, there had to be someone else present to pour cold water on them.

"You...Are you insane?! You have no idea what sort of cultivators live here, yet you just barge in like that?! What if they have cultivators we can't resist, what then? We need to get out before we attract the attention of the higher-ups!"

Xiao Yin Yu's eyes gleamed with traces of unease as she grabbed onto the back of Yin Long's collar and urged him on. Not even she had been told about the exact level of strength that these Swordsoul clans held so it was understandable to feel fear, it was practically dancing with death after all. But Yin Long simply turned his head slightly, waving his hand to calm down Jin Wang before he lunged forward.

"Come on now, Xiao Yin Yu, where's your courage?"

Her words were a clear warning meant to educate the wanderer who didn't have access to the same level of information as she, but Yin Long's expression hadn't changed in the slightest. In fact, his smile had twisted slightly as he questioned her, as if he was egging her on. But Yin Yu was from a prominent family so whether it was on purpose or not, she was good at arguing back against questions.

"My courage? Courage and stupidity share the same meaning, but trust me, this action has nothing to do with the first word and everything to do with the latter."

To jump head-first into something despite knowing the risks, Yin Yu had long since been taught that while this is indeed bravery, it is more often than not stupidity instead. You only had one life after all, risking it pointlessly could never be considered courage. Yin Long clearly had no interest in discussing the multitude of words that could be used to describe a single action, simply changing his question.

"Alright then, where's your confidence?"

Yin Yu's expression didn't change after Yin Long altered the question, it wasn't to the point of looking at him like he was an idiot, it was more like looking at him like he didn't understand what he was doing.

"Again, what does confidence have to do with any of this? We have no idea about the power level of the cultivators here, nor do we know how they'll respond to being antagonized like this. The risks are simply far too great, we could very well just lose our lives here."

Indeed, the way Yin Yu saw it, this was not a situation where courage or confidence played any part. For all they knew, the elders of this clan could have reached the Skyborne Doors or even higher. And if they took offence to Yin Long's challenge and decided to act, it would be the end of them, plain and simple.

"Lose our lives, risks?"

A dumbfounded expression flashed across Yin Long's face, his heel burying itself into the ground to halt Xiao Yin Yu's pulling. She tried to increase the strength behind her pull, but Yin Long raised his empty hand and grabbed onto her wrist.

"Xiao Yin Y... Forget it, that's too long. Yin Yu, why did you join this competition, why are you here?"

It may be considered a bit rude to just use someone's first name this quickly, but he was a casual person to begin with so it didn't matter to him. And from what he had seen of Yin Yu, he felt that it shouldn't matter to her either. As for Yin Yu, she couldn't help but stop slightly when Yin Long questioned her.

"...Because I want to... No, NEED to grow stronger, and this was the best place to do so."

Yin Yu didn't consider herself the exact same as Yin Long, who simply desired to grow stronger. She had to grow stronger, if she couldn't then nothing would matter, she may as well just drag her blade across her throat straight away. Contrary to her expectations, Yin Long didn't ask about why she desired strength or why she needed it so desperately, he only raised an eyebrow as he seemingly changed the topic.

"Do you know what sort of strength or skills the 180 participants chosen by the Province Emperors have? You've already planned out how to beat every single one of them?"

Now it was Yin Yu's time to have a dumbfounded expression flash across her face, what sort of obvious question was that? The two were still standing within the grounds of the Swordsoul Guardians clan's training fields so a few people were already approaching them, Yin Long pointing his sword at the girl while Yin Yu responded to his question.

"Oy, step back for a bit, I'm having a conversation, you wait your turn."

"...No. At best I know about a single possible participant, and I know that the current me can't beat him, I don't think I'm even close to being able to."

Truthfully, just knowing a single possible participant from among the 180 chosen by the Province Emperors was something extraordinary. They were selected from all across the Dominion after all, true hidden geniuses. But once again, contrary to her expectations, Yin Long didn't bother latching onto the fact she presented.

"Then why did you join this competition?"

Xiao Yin Yu couldn't help but freeze up slightly as Yin Long questioned her. She would have to be an idiot to not understand what he was trying to get at, but the realization was still enough to stop her mind for a bit.

"You don't know what sort of enemies you may face, don't know how strong they are or what skills they have. There's a very real risk to your life here, you could very well lose your life in this fractured space."

Yin Long didn't stop talking just because Yin Yu froze up, using his grip on her wrist to free his collar from her grasp. He then raised his sword, pointing the tip at the sky as if he was placing it against the throat of all existence.

"We pursue strength, the peak of our skills and technique. It doesn't matter what our reasons are or exactly what peak we aim to reach, it is impossible for us to reach it without taking risks. And if we try to go about it without risks, then we don't deserve to reach that peak because we won't even have dared to fight and struggle for it."

To live in a clan where the strong made the rules, to participate in a competition, to enter a land of fractured space, it all carried risks. Every day you lived was fraught with risks, your life could end at any moment, be it by accident or by mistake. So to say that you shouldn't do something because it's risky? To Yin Long, this was the height of stupidity, especially when you had a goal you strove to reach.

"You can leave if you want. If any elders come out, I'll stop them so that you can finish getting away to safety."

Yin Long turned his gaze away from Yin Yu and waved his free hand casually while lowering his sword. He was as casual as they came, but Yin Yu could feel it, taking a single step back here would form a wall between them, one that she would never be able to cross. But even if she hadn't felt that, she wouldn't have taken a step back.

She realized it thanks to his words, he was right, the higher your goal, the more you had to struggle to reach it. There were goals you could reach without struggling, but those were not goals worth reaching. A heavy breath escaped her lips as she felt enlightened, a heavy weight seemingly leaving her chest along with her breath.

"...No, you're right. Strength, freedom, desires, they can only be grasped through struggles and risks. I'm sorry, I've shown you something disgraceful and disappointing, thank you for pointing me in the right direction."

Yin Yu flipped her hand as she spoke, her flexible sword appearing in her grasp as she stepped forward. Her eyes were gleaming slightly, containing a mixture of freedom and inexhaustible determination. Yin Long had turned his head slightly, nodding appreciatively when he saw the light in her eyes.

"It wasn't disappointing. It would have been if you left, but you didn't. And it's not anything fit to be called the right direction, it's just a personal opinion at best."

He had recognized her desire for strength already in the past, the goal she sought to reach didn't matter to him all that mattered was her desire to grow stronger. But now that desire had acquired an additional glimmer of what he could only describe as purity, or perhaps selfishness.

It was quite similar to him, in the past, he sought to acquire strength to help stabilize his sister's position as clan master. But now, now he sought strength for himself, to enhance his technique and bring his sword to the apex of creation. Of course, Yin Yu didn't know about this similarity so she simply shook her head to his casual statement.

"It doesn't matter if it's a personal opinion, to some it is the right direction. And that applies to me right now so I can call it what I want."

He walked forward as he nodded his head without giving any comment, his gaze drifting towards the gathering clan members that were looking at each other, whispering about how to deal with the situation. He walked over to the closest earthen stage, practically just a circle on the ground, and hopped onto it while welcoming the crowd.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Alright, now you guys can come at me. One at a time, all at once, it doesn't matter, just bring out all your skills."

Arrogance or confidence, Yin Long's face showed neither as he bared his fangs, the only light visible in his dark pupils was excitement and desire. Yin Yu looked at him from the side, and for the first time since she saw him, she felt a desire to know about more than just how strong he would become. What produced that light within him, what did he go through that made him think as he did, and how did he end up feeling as free and unrestrained as he did? Her more professional and reserved interest had turned into a more personal interest, but she herself wasn't aware of that yet, nor was she aware of what path it would end up putting her on.

"I'll keep an eye on the surroundings and have a nice spar with those that are too strong for you. Watch me if you get the chance, this realm of fractured space is completely cut off from the outside so I can pull out a few tricks I couldn't use when there were too many spectators."

Yin Yu didn't step onto the stage with Yin Long and instead positioned herself at its side along with Jin Wang, her gaze directed towards the strange building serving as the centre of the estate. She would be lying if she said that she didn't still feel some worry and lingering fear, they were still risking their life after all.

But looking at Yin Long standing there without fear, she felt like this was perhaps his way of showing the difference between stupidity and fear. One ignored the danger and faced it head one, the other simply didn't know about the danger and was completely ignorant.

Yin Long sent an askance glance at Yin Yu, one of his eyebrows rising curiously. He wasn't surprised by this space being cut off from the outside, with how fractured it was it could already be considered a miracle that they could display the battles of the top 50 contestants. No, what caught his attention was Yin Yu mentioning her tricks. Things you couldn't pull out when there were too many spectators were generally considered trump cards, and Yin Long would be lying if he said that he wasn't interested in the trump cards of someone as strong as Xiao Yin Yu.

But of course, he hadn't forgotten about what he was currently doing, his senses were still focused on the crowd that had gathered. The people within it were still muttering and whispering to each other, Yin Long had once come from a pretty large clan so he could guess what it was they were whispering about.

And sure enough, after a bit more time passed, they sent forward a youthful girl that looked to be somewhat similar in age to Yin Long. She had also reached the 4th Immortal Door so it was clear that they had done their best to find someone as equal to him as possible.

The girl stepped onto the stage and brought out a simple sword, only giving a curt nod of her head to show the barest level of honour. Even that could already be considered quite magnanimous, Yin Long had kicked down their gates and arrogantly challenged them after all.

Yin Long returned the same level of courtesy and nodded his head, the girl bending her knees for a second before shooting forward. They had done what they could to find someone as equal to Yin Long as possible, but what a shame it was that there was practically no one at the same cultivation level that could be considered equal to Yin Long.

He raised his sword and brushed aside her sharp thrust, his wrist flicking as he reversed the direction of his brush, transferring it into a sideways slash that aimed at the girl's thigh. Her sword was somewhat unfortunately positioned since Yin Long had just brushed it aside, her eyes flaring up with reckless indignation as she prepared herself to suffer the attack and then launch a retaliatory slash.

But Yin Long's sword never reached her thigh, his blade stopped just as the tip reached her skin. He pulled back his weapon and simply stood there, his gaze urging the girl on to show all her skills. He wanted to see the unique sword play of this clan, ending the battle in one move wouldn't let him do that so he saw no need to end it yet. Of course, an action like that could be considered the height of arrogance, practically displaying that he could end the battle whenever he wished and was just playing with his opponent.

The girl lashed out with her sword again the moment Yin Long drew back his blade, aiming a sideways slash at Yin Long's chest. He raised his sword again, but rather than deflect it like he normally would, he simply blocked the attack straightforwardly. Her blade collided with his weapon and stopped dead in its tracks, the girl hurriedly pulling it back and launching a new attack.

But just like the previous one, Yin Long simply blocked it, there wasn't enough force behind her attacks to move his sword whenever he blocked her. No matter what angle she attacked from, no matter what she pulled out, he simply blocked it all with minimal effort, his expression slowly sinking. She showed no technique or uniqueness, she simply showcased things he had seen everywhere, it couldn't even be considered basic anymore. And by the time he blocked her 15th attack, he could do nothing but let out a sigh.

"Hmm, so this is the best you can do, how disappointing. You can leave now."

He deflected her descending slash by sliding her blade along his own sword, her blade crashing into the earth next to him. And by the time her sword actually touched the earth, Yin Long had already flicked his wrist and position his sword against her neck. A few drops of blood trickling out from the point where the edge of his blade touched her neck.

Once again he showcased that he was just playing with her, practically trampling on her emotions by not even taking her serious. She wanted to lash out again, but the coldness hidden within the depths of Yin Long's eyes told her that he wasn't above killing her if he needed to.

She could only grit her teeth unwillingly, her chest heaving from indignation at the fact that she had been toyed with like that. And perhaps even worse, this had happened in front of her fellow clan members, she had splendidly thrown away her face as a senior sister. She stepped down from the stage, Yin Long directing his gaze towards the crowd.

But even as his gaze slid across them, they didn't make a move to challenge him. This was the very outskirts of the clan, only the younger and newer students would come here to train. As a result, none of them felt terribly confident in facing Yin Long and doing an admirable job in fighting him.

"No one else wants to come?"

Yin Long couldn't help but question them as his gaze slid across the crowd. Would he have to head deeper into the clan, or wait for stronger disciples to show up? Then again, if everyone here could only bring out what the previous girl could then perhaps that wasn't a terrible idea. But as this thought flashed past his mind and the crowd lowered their heads, he noticed that his points increased slightly.

He sank part of his mind into his soulsea and checked up on the leech that was still shivering there, it still hadn't dared to move a single inch ever since it entered his soulsea. And sure enough, he saw that his points had increased by a bit, jumping from 0 up to 31. His brows furrowed for a second as he pondered about the peculiarity, but then the truth struck him.

"Yin Yu, I think I've got a clue about how the past grudge was formed."

He wasn't completely certain about his guess, the only way you could ever be perfectly certain about something was by personally being present. But with what he had seen from people while living as the Young Master of the Lang clan, he felt like his conclusion was quite reasonable.

"Oh, you've heard something?"

Xiao Yin Yu herself didn't know anything about the grudge formed between the natives and the outsiders, not even her master had ever said anything about the topic.

"No. My points just increased, but they increased by more than they should have. I got nearly eight times the points I should have gotten."

The girl had only been at the 4th Immortal Door, beating her should only have given Yin Long four points. Yet he had acquired 31 points, far more than what the Warden had said he should get from this fight. But then he thought about what the Warden had actually said back then, and that made things fall into place.

"Think about it, what did the Warden say? Did he say that we have to defeat and kill the natives to gain points? No, just making them believe that they have lost is enough to count as a win. Technically, we don't even have to engage in a battle with them, we just have to display enough power to instil fear and a sense of loss."

Yin Long didn't know exactly how the leech worked to figure out when an enemy felt like they had lost, but he guessed that it was probably tied to either some type of mental energy or soul-based energy. Yin Yu was also from a rather prominent family and had seen a lot of things in her life, so with Yin Long making the path this obvious, her expression couldn't help but shift somewhat uncomfortably.

"...I see. Then that gives a possible reason yeah. Depending on the size of the city you visit it really can be considered killing two birds with one stone, you may even pass some of the later stages with just a single attack. But really, that just sounds vile."

Yin Long hadn't raised a hand against the crowd, yet his display of strength had been enough to make them mentally admit defeat, giving him points. If he could do that here, what was to stop people from doing it on a bigger stage? What was to stop someone from entering a large city and launching a large attack that wiped out a good portion of the city?

Several natives would die and give you points, and others would feel so weak in the face of the attack that they admitted defeat, granting you more points. It was quick and effective, yet vile since it didn't account for who you killed. But just being strong didn't mean that you were kind, there were plenty of strong people who held no regards for others.

"You're not planning on doing that to force them out to fight, right? I've got a good guess, but confirming it is still nice."

Xiao Yin Yu didn't think that Yin Long was someone who was fine with disregarding everything else for the sake of growing stronger, he at least seemed like he had most of his morals still intact. And indeed, Yin Long had no plans of relying on a massacre to make this clan fight him, he just wanted to learn their sword technique after all.

"No, I want to sharpen my sword, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to slaughter innocents. Besides, there's a much easier way to force people like them to fight."

Yin Long came from a large clan himself, one that was very proud of its heritage. And he had even personally delved into the darker sides of the clan so he knew a fair bit about how the people in clans like this thought and worked. A massacre might be a good way to force them out to fight, but he knew of a much simpler and less bloody way to do the same.

He swiped his interspatial ring and brought out a very simple, rather crudely constructed wooden sign, the words painted on it drooping slightly as they had been haphazardly written in the past. Yin Yu couldn't help but be taken aback when she saw the sign he pulled out, more so by the fact that he had something like this than by what was written on it.

"That... You just had that on you?"

The sign he had brought out only carried three simple words, 'Accepting all challengers.' The paint on it had already dried so it was clear that it wasn't something he made recently, could it be that he had gone around and challenged clans like this in the past? Yin Long simply nodded his head and stabbed the sign into the earth, the corners of his lips curving up slightly.

"Yeah, used it once in the past, it's good for people like these. They're proud of their clan and technique so they're unwilling to lose and let it be tarnished, but that also means that they're too proud to let anyone disgrace it like this, even if it means that they have to fight a losing battle. At least then they can go down with their heads held high."

Pride was such a funny thing, it could stop people dead in their tracks yet also force them to move. Yin Long had already stopped them all dead in their tracks, now it was time to force them all to move, whether they wanted it or not. As such, he pulled another item out from his interspatial ring, a crystal stone that only had the effect of using Qi to project an image high into the sky.

"Right, I'll make it short. Either you spar with me or I project this sign high into the air so that most of the city can see it."

Either they fight him, or the entire city would learn that someone was challenging them. And the longer the projection stayed up, the clearer it would be that they didn't dare to accept his challenge, and that was something that would be extremely hard for their pride to bear. Fight and lose, or lose and be disgraced, Yin Long truly did not give them much room to maintain their pride.