At that moment, anyone would agree that Xu Xiaoshou really looked like some deity who had descended to the mortal world and fall in love with him.

To start with, he had impeccable looks and sported a regal air. The way he was standing holding a sword behind his back at that moment made a lot of girls fall for him.

​​

"Oh man, I'm done for. Xu Xiaoshou is so cute!"

"Go to h*ll! Xu Xiaoshou is mine!"

Some of the girls were falling head over heels for him, but there were even more who had questions about him.

"D*mn, he sure knows how to make an entrance. Why is someone at Spiritual Cultivation Level Eight wielding a sword anyway?"

"Yeah, indeed. Isn't flying an ability only available at the Innate Stage? Did Xu Xiaoshou really get to that stage in just a single night?"

"Impossible. Just look at his aura. That's an eight right there."

"Wait, why is this guy… flying so slow?"

One of them mentioned this and everyone else slowly recovered from the awe that Xu Xiaoshou had inspired in them. All of them had puzzled looks on their faces.

Being able to ride one's sword and fly was indeed splendid, yet the speed at which he was flying...

Gosh, I can walk faster than you can fly!

If it wasn't for the wind blowing so strong today, his clothes wouldn't even be billowing.

Xu Xiaoshou simply flew at such a leisurely speed with his back to everyone else, as if only by moving at such slow speeds could he fully display his current state of mind.

"Just wait for it…"

"Why does he have his back facing us?" someone else asked.

Everyone had initially thought that Xu Xiaoshou was simply making an entrance and putting on airs, but then they discovered that something was off.

Not only was the kid flying excruciatingly slow, but the whole time he was flying his butt was facing everyone else.

It was as if he couldn't fly without facing backwards.

Mu Zixi, who was in the ring, curiously looked up and blinked her eyes at his antics. She felt as if Xu Xiaoshou was there to jest.

"Won't you… get dizzy from flying backwards?"

Xu Xiaoshou, who was on his black sword, slowly turned his head around while casting "Hiding Pain," doing his best to smile as he waved at the crowd.

His neck felt sore, as if he hadn't slept right the night before.

Which was the reason why he was flying backwards and was flying so slow...

Deep down, Xu Xiaoshou was howling and shouting. He wanted to fly forward and zip about like a bolt of lightning.

But this stupid sword technique just wouldn't let him!

He had worked on it for one whole night and found that the stupid black sword was only sapient when the tip of the blade was facing him.

He didn't know the reason why he could no longer control the sword as soon as the tip was facing away from him. He tried hundreds of times before finally deciding to give up.

After that, he finally managed to stand on the black sword, wanting to just fly out of his place, when he shot right back into his room instead.

He was utterly baffled by how that particular Sword Soaring Technique worked backwards instead and had no choice but to turn around and fly with Hiding Pain activated.

It took him over two hours to fly out of his place all the way to Chuyun Peak.

Those two hours had taught him that there was yet another type of sickness brought about by disorientation.

Sword-sickness.

Bluurggghh.

He fought the urge to throw up and waved as though nothing had happened to the people around him.

While the process was nothing short of excruciating, the reward was indeed very, very lucrative.

Impressed, Passive Points +664.

Impressed, Passive Points +882.

Envied, Passive Points +441.

Envied, Passive Points +261.

…

That process of flying got him over 4000 Passive Points, and those points were taking those from his brothers and sisters in training whom he met along the way.

But of course, those were previous records.

What was shown on the Information Bar at the moment was…

Suspected, Passive Points +563.

Ridiculed, Passive Points +446.

Belittled, Passive Points +337.

…

Yeah, the points shot by over 2000 all of a sudden.

As for the details…

"Whatever, so long as I still keep earning Passive Points, I guess," he thought.

Xu Xiaoshou kept up his façade as best he could while ignoring the earlier half of what was showing on the lines in the Information Bar.

Below.

Xiao Qixiu was feeling rather dizzy watching Xu Xiaoshou and didn't know what to say about him.

He had almost shouted for the kid to get down as soon as he saw him in the first place.

Yet, when he took a closer look, he'd realized that the kid had only acquired bits of Sword Telepathy the day before and was surprised that the kid had actually learned how to use it in just a single night.

That's a genius right there!

He had only seen such a level of talent before in Su Qianqian.

The way the technique was put to use was nonetheless baffling…

But still, a Sword Soaring Technique used backwards was still a Sword Soaring Technique, no?

Yet, he also realized that Xu Xiaoshou wasn't getting off of the sword after flying for quite a while and had actually taken to waving at the crowd instead.

"Oh boy, you're not telling me that the kid doesn't even know that he's in the first match!" he thought.

Xiao Qixiu had finally had enough and shouted, "Xu Xiaoshou, you get down here and get on with the match already!"

Xu Xiaoshou looked below him and was startled. His sword wobbled.

"My gosh, I'm flying so d*mn high!" he thought.

"Coming, coming right up…"

The audience was having a good laugh. Fights aside, Xu Xiaoshou seemed to be able to bring joy to all around him every time he showed up.

"Oh my god, I thought that dude was so d*mn surreal flying on a sword! Yet, he's flying backwards instead. Hahahahaha."

"D*mn, you're not telling me that he doesn't even know how to tell his way around? Man, my stomach is hurting so bad now."

"Xu Xiaoshou, go for it! You're almost at the barrier, steady yourself!"

Encouraged, Passive Points +1.

Xu Xiaoshou grinned, realizing that someone was actually cheering him on. He got excited and sped up at the barrier right away.

Crash!

Clang, clang!

That nightmarish noise that he'd heard over and over throughout the night was there yet again.

Due to having accelerated like that, he smacked right into the barrier all sprawled out. The black sword dropped to the ground after bashing against the barrier.

Ridiculed, Passive Points +224.

Ridiculed, Passive Points +446.

Ridiculed, Passive Points +654.

Xu Xiaoshou, "…".

Mu Zixi, who was down there, grabbed her pigtails as she looked up at the scene and almost burst out laughing.

She saw him slowly sliding down from the barrier from midair and shouted, "Windcloud Token!"

"How are you going to get inside without the token?"

"Hey, you hear me out there?..."

There was no doubt that he could hear her from inside the ring. Even if he couldn't hear her, there were still a lot of people in the audience shouting the exact same thing.

It was only then that he awkwardly fished the token out of the ring hanging around his neck and got inside the barrier.

He finally sighed in relief after seeing the lines of ridicule in the Information Bar stop appearing.

"I was really in over my head," he thought.

"I'd better make sure to master flying on a sword before ever doing this again."

Xiao Qixiu glared at Xu Xiaoshou, who gave him an apologetic look before turning around and saying to Mu Zixi, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh my, you're so hilarious!"

Complimented, Passive Points +1.

Xu Xiaoshou, "…"

"Okay, you're telling me that you couldn't see that she was laughing at me?" he thought.

"Get ready!"

Xiao Qixiu raised his right hand. Everyone immediately stopped joking around and became serious.

This was the semi-finals after all. Despite the rather hilarious entrance, the match itself would nonetheless be spectacular and have many things that everyone could learn from.

The audience all became quiet.

"The match begins!"

Xu Xiaoshou immediately became serious, manipulating sword will at his fingers and blasting beams of the sword at Mu Zixi.

He charged at her right after blasting said beams.

Mu Zixi was totally unfazed by the incoming blasts. She flung her pigtails backward and grinned right away.

"Be careful, Xu Xiaoshou.

"I'm about to attack."