Villain Cultivator

"Dear candidates, after this round, many people who didn\'t pass the first two rounds will lose the qualifications to take the 4th and the 5th exam. Therefore, take this round seriously."

The players and local cultivators, who had failed the two prior rounds, gazed at the elders in solemn. They gulped and trembled, getting nervous.

"Now, I shall announce the next trial. As usual, your cultivation base will be suppressed to the 1st-stage. However, your intelligence and your natural sword knowledge will be put to a test!"

At that moment, Miaomiao\'s eyes become round. Tang Ting and Sima Yi glanced at the former and held back their laughter.

"There goes your first place, Miaomiao," Tang Ting giggled.

"My lord. Having a couple of flaws doesn\'t mean you can\'t become a great man. Please do not dwell on the ranking," Sima Yi consoled Miaomiao.

Hearing their remarks, Miaomiao clicked his tongue.

"I might not be the brightest, but I was once a freaking great dao sage, mind you! Whatever it is, I\'ll prove to you that my intelligence, IQ, and EQ have improved!"

Both Tang Ting and Sima Yi gave him a sympathetic look.

​ Seeing their expressions, Miaomiao pouted and sobbed, "Just you wait! I\'ll show you how it\'s done!"

Tang Ting laughed and hugged Miaomiao to soothe him. Fortunately, everybody\'s attention was on the elders, and nobody noticed Miaomiao\'s unsightly expression.

The elders continued, "In this third round, we shall create 260,804 images of basic and variant sword movements. You must pick three techniques and master them within one week! After one week, you must display the sword movements in public and we shall grade you depending on your comprehension of the technique!"

The cultivators were excited. This assessment test was well-known among the locals, and they had done their homework.

Every decade, they used this method to filter talented swordsmen from the group of average swordsmen. They often showed the same images in every assessment test, and the locals had recorded most of the movements in books. As such, many cultivators had already mastered them beforehand and planned to pass this test by relying on their pre-trained techniques.

On the other hand, the majority of players murmured as they hated this exam. More than half of them took it for granted that skills and spells came from skill books and spell books. Some of them were the lazy type, who relied on automatic movements and auto-skill mode.

They worked hard in their world and became rich enough to afford this game. They didn\'t want to work hard in-game as they wanted to enjoy the fantasy world without stressing themselves. As for the rich children, they naturally hated self-training, hardworking, and chores like spoiled young masters in novels. In short, they didn\'t want to work to get a skill manually!

No matter what the players thought, it was too late to protest. The elders clapped their hands and 260,804 gold image of a faceless swordsman\'s movement appeared in the sky.

The suppression array was active again. This time, every player and cultivator in the area, except disciples, deacons, and elders of the sect, got their cultivation base sealed.

Miaomiao sweated profusely and looked at the sky. He saw a thrust movement post image, but the poster raised his left knee and stood on his right toe.

"Huh?"

He was taken aback. The movement was nonsense since his Death Fortress Sword Style emphasized firm stance, momentum, flow, and efficiency. Using a fancy kung-fu post like that was stupid.

Miaomiao looked at the other images. Similar to what he had seen earlier, the other movements were trash as well.

"They\'re all trash. Are you serious?!"

Miaomiao and Tang Ting complained in unison. Then, they looked at each other.

They paused for several minutes before they burst into laughter.

"I guess our level surpasses this," Tang Ting giggled.

"Your sword skill is my sword skill! You simply read my memory and copied mine!"

"Whatever I can use is mine, stupid husband!" Tang Ting leaped away from the crowd to regroup with her clansmen.

Miaomiao slightly smiled. He also returned to Mao Hao\'s group as this assessment exam didn\'t restrict him to be in front of the sect at all times. All images were in the sky, and Miaomiao could still see them from afar.

When Miaomiao went back to Mao Hao, the latter was surprised.

"Do you need help, young master?"

"No. I just want to get a place to sit back and relax."

"But young master, this assessment test is very important. It teaches you the foundation of a swordsman. You should at least pay attention to every detail of every movement, and you will learn many things."

"Like that one?" Miaomiao pointed at an image of a man, who did a taekwondo spin-kick instead of using the sword in his hand.

"That is a basic martial form movement. It can be handy, and it can surprise your opponents!"

"True. But if you need to use that in a sword fight, you\'re trash!"

"Eh?"

"Listen here. If you master this, you don\'t need those shitty movements!"

Miaomiao pulled a sword from Mao Hao\'s belt and unsheathed it. He simply held it casually in his left hand and took a kendo stance without using his right hand.

He stood still and stared straight, imagining an enemy before him.

"Young master, what are you doing-WHAT?!"

As soon as Miaomiao got into a trance, his sword intent erupted. The ground in front of him dent, and the grasses were cut from their roots. Everything in the range of 10 meters in front of Miaomiao turned into a wasteland!

Miaomiao kicked the ground, leaving an afterimage.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

Sounds of something sharp cutting through the wind echoed in the empty plain, and a word was left behind below Miaomiao\'s feet.

The word was "Death".

As soon as Miaomiao finished his sword movements, all green grasses within a kilometer around Miaomiao withered. Even the ground turned dark as if it became the land of death.

Miaomiao turned around and passed the sword back to Mao Hao.

"See? What\'s the use of a spinning kick when you can kill your opponents in the first 10 moves or so? Kick your enemy to keep a distance? Surprising your opponents with an unpredictable movement? Meh, if I want to surprise my opponent, I\'ll surprise them by killing them before they can even move."

"…"

Miaomiao spat in frustration and disappointment. He turned around and leaped back to the platform. Then, he shouted to the elders.

By the time that he got there, he found Tang Ting, who also returned with an ugly expression on her face.

"Disappointed?" Asked Miaomiao.

"Very."

"Yeah. Let\'s skip this one. I\'ll show them Death Fortress Sword Style and be done with it. I don\'t care about points anymore."

"Same. I\'d rather die than learn those useless movements."

Their voices were so loud that the disciples, elders, and players overheard them. They turned toward the couple and glared at them.

"Braggarts!"

"Tsk! You must have it easy for being NPCs."

"Stupid event."

Miaomiao glanced at the people and scoffed at them. He turned toward the elders and shouted.

"We would like to demonstrate our sword skill! We will not learn those sword movements!"

"WHAT?!"

As soon as Miaomiao declared the crowd clamored in shock. Even the overseeing elders were taken aback.

One of them descended and landed in front of Miaomiao. He stared into the latter\'s eyes.

"Are you sure, junior? This is your fortuitous opportunity to learn unique sword movements from us for free. Normally, you need to enter a sword hall to get a chance to have a glimpse of one movement. You should treasure your opportunities whenever you have them."

"No need. Those movements are useless to me."

"!!!"

At first, the elders admired Miaomiao\'s demeanor and polite attitude. Now, Miaomiao crossed the line.

"Don\'t be arrogant, Young Master Mao. Our sect\'s sword style is not something you can laugh at."

"Watch my sword movements first before you talk."

Hearing that Miaomiao would demonstrate his sword skill instead of learning from the countless images, the elder frowned.

"You will embarrass yourself. Do you think the immature techniques that you learned elsewhere are better than our techniques? Even if our sect master personally teaches you, your bone age and physique aren\'t strong enough to handle a proper sword style. Even the top prodigies of our sect took years to master one movement!"

"Shut up and watch."

Miaomiao pointed his palm toward a weapon rack, and a wooden sword flew toward his hand by itself. Then, he faced the elder by holding the wooden sword with both hands.

RUMBLE

Miaomiao\'s killing intent and sword intent erupted. This time, the platform under him cracked!

The elder widened his eyes while his knees trembled. The killing intent of Miaomiao manifested an illusion of a Cathulhu, whose pupils and iris expanded and menacingly stared down at the elder. Moreover, the sword intent of Miaomiao made the elder see his death.

The elder bellowed and activated his sword domain to repel Miaomiao\'s killing intent and sword intent.

But Miaomiao simply raised his wooden sword overhead. Then, he swung down once.

It was a simple downward swing that kendo practitioners usually practiced. Even newbies knew this move.

BOOM!

Behind the elder, the ground and the platforms sunk as if a massive blade cleaved through the land.

Miaomiao switched his stance to a fencing style. Then, he pushed the sword forward into a basic thrusting movement.

BOOM!

As if a cannon had been fired from the elder\'s neck, something flew away at a Mach speed and left behind a sonic boom. A large hole suddenly appeared on the mountain several kilometers away after the mysterious energy went through them.

Miaomiao switched his stance again and swung from right to left.

The elder managed to react this time. He unsheathed his earth-grade sword and parried the strike.

CLANK

The earth-grade sword got knocked away from the elder\'s hand, but the wooden sword remained intact.

WHOOM!

Anther mysterious energy erupted behind the elder, creating a crescent energy wave. It flew toward the holed mountain and hit the mountain top.

Unfortunately, the energy of this sword wave was incomplete as the elder disrupted the flow and the momentum. It simply left a deep and long sword mark on the mountain instead of cutting through it.

Miaomiao scoffed and tossed the wooden sword back to the rack. He faced the elder again.

"Done. Is that enough?"

"…"

While the elder was speechless, Sima Yi clapped his hands and took over the lead.

"That was the three basic movements – Downward Slash, Horizontal Slash, and Front Thrust! When you master these three movements and understand their principles, such sword intent and killing intent can be produced. Of course, those three movements exist among the images in the sky. I think it\'s enough to qualify this as a pass."

As soon as Sima Yi openly approved of Miaomiao\'s sword techniques, the two overseeing elders readily followed suit.

"T-That\'s right! Well done, Young Master Mao! Y-You pass!"

"O-One hundred! Definitely one hundred points!"

The two elders glared at the elder in front of Miaomiao and sent their sound transmission at him. The latter\'s face turned white. Then, he looked behind to see the aftermath of Miaomiao\'s sword intent.

He took a deep breath. Then, he announced.

"Young Master Mao Miaomiao, perfect score. 100 Points!"