The Grand Duelist

The dazzling light born from Joseph's divinity lasted for not more than a second, yet the aftermath of its appearance thoroughly shook everyone to their core. The towering double-doors of the Divine Sword Sect had actually collapsed with just a single attack!

"Jo-Joseph! What are you doing?!" Lily cried out.

When the double-doors collapsed onto the ground, as a member of Joseph's party...

She instantly saw countless red Health Bars appearing above the heads of everyone standing in front of her. In other words, the sect members of the Divine Sword Sect who originally weren't hostile to her were now her enemies!

Taking out her daggers, she rushed towards Joseph's side.

Alice also unsheathed her sword.

"Both of you, what's the meaning of this? Are you going to take the side of that man?" A sect member who looked to be a senior member of the sect furrowed his eyebrows when he saw how Alice and Lily stood beside Joseph. He unsheathed his sword and stared daggers at the two.

It was obvious that even though he still asked them such a question...

There was no way that he would let them go at this point.

"Surround them! How dare they collapse the ancestral gates of the Divine Sword Sect?! This is inconceivable! They are clearly challenging our authority!" The senior sect member roared out and dozens instantly swarmed Alice, Lily, and Joseph from all directions.

"Lily... What do you think? Can you handle them by yourself?" Joseph asked.

Lily revealed an embarrassed look.

She knew that it was impossible for her to deal with these sect members of the Divine Sword Sect by only using the skills of her secondary class. Her main class was Gunner, but alas, she only had a handgun at this moment. Her signature rifle, Karabiner 98k was still in the hands of Kayn.

She now regretted that she didn't ask for her rifle earlier.

But even though she knew that she couldn't possibly handle these sect members.

Lily's pride didn't let her admit defeat!

Particularly when Alice was provocatively staring at her right at this moment!

"I can handle them! Leave them to me!" Lily proudly declared.

Joseph nodded his head and turned to look at Alice, "How about you?"

Alice coldly scoffed, "That is a foolish question."

Joseph lightly chuckled. 

She was right. 

He did ask a foolish question.

As a Sword Adept, how could she not handle these puny members of the Divine Sword Sect?

Unless an Elder figure came out and fought her, she would be unstoppable.

And if Alice was already unstoppable despite only being a Sword Adept.

What does that mean for Joseph?

As a Grand Duelist, could these cannon fodders really do anything to stop him?

No!

Joseph raised his rapier and prepared a stance.

"Senior Brother Qin, what kind of a sword is that? It's so thin, yet it's so long! Won't a sword like that easily break?" A curious sect member asked Senior Brother Qin. He was the one who rallied the other members of the Divine Sword Sect on surrounding Joseph, Alice, and Lily.

"Hmmph! He's being pretentious! How can a sword like that survive on a battlefield? He's only using that, not because it's good but because it looks intimidating!" Senior Brother Qin coldly replied.

Indeed, seeing a sword whose length was almost half of an average human being's height on the battlefield would surely be intimidating.

But Senior Brother Qin didn't believe that such a weapon could survive a collision of weapons.

He reckoned that once his own prized sword, The Dragon Swallows the Moon collided with that so-called intimidating weapon.

It would definitely shatter and break under the might of his own prized sword. 

Despite knowing this fact, Senior Brother Qin was still quite angry.

He was considered as an inner disciple of the Divine Sword Sect. His great prestige and power came with a lot of responsibilities and one of them was managing the flow of people into the Divine Sword Sect.

In other words, he was a gatekeeper.

But right now, someone actually dared to topple the gates of the Divine Sword Sect whom he patiently guarded?

How brazen!

He felt humiliated.

Senior Brother Qin unsheathed his sword and rushed at Joseph.

Without saying anything, his sword shone in a faint light, yet when one looked directly at that light...

Their eyes would feel a hint of pain. Anyone could easily deduce that if they stared at his sword for too long. Their eyes would definitely be blinded.

This was irrefutable evidence of the sharpness of his weapon.

Senior Brother Qin lifted a cold smile on his face. He raised his head above him, clearly baiting out Joseph into blocking his attack with his thin weapon. 

"What?"

But to his astonishment, he discovered that Joseph didn't even do anything against his incoming attack. 

"You're too arrogant!" Senior Brother Qin cried out and slashed.

Joseph took a step sidewards and slapped the side of Senior Brother Qin's sword with the back of his hand. His slap looked slow and gentle, yet when it landed on Senior Brother Qin's sword. He felt as if a thousand-pound sledgehammer struck his weapon from the side.

"What the fuck?!" Senior Brother Qin almost fell onto the ground from the force of Joseph's slap. 

His experience made him recover from his blunder, faster than anyone else.

But Joseph was even faster.

Just as he raised his head in order to attack once again.

Joseph's Nameless Rapier was already pointing at his neck.

"Don't move." Joseph coldly uttered.

Senior Brother Qin's movements instantly came to a halt.

His expression became as pale as a sheet of paper. His arrogance vanished as he kneeled onto the ground and said while stuttering, "You... You can't kill me. I'm an inner disciple of the Divine Sword Sect! If you killed me then the Sect will avenge my death!"

"You will never be able to sleep peacefully again after my death!"

Senior Brother Qin threatened.

Joseph turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows.

When Senior Brother Qin saw Joseph's expression, he inwardly scoffed. Signaling to his comrades with his eyes, he slightly nodded his head in apparent tacit understanding. His expression still looked frozen in fear, yet his eyes radiated the light of determination and the will to fight. 

Obviously, once Joseph spared him from death.

He would immediately counterattack with his brothers and surround them to kill.

The Divine Sword Sect may be considered as a righteous sect, but they were ruthless to their enemies. Once they were given the opportunity, they wouldn't hesitate in taking the lives of their enemies, no matter how unethical or immoral their actions would be.

This was one of the reasons why the Divine Sword Sect prospered within the last thousand years.

Each and every disciple they produced became figures similar to heroes and myths.

There was even a rumor that the Emperor of the Empire of Truedawn, Juander was actually a Core Disciple of the Divine Sword Sect.

Of course, rumors were rumors, so it was impossible to confirm it.

The point here was that the Divine Sword Sect really was a place full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.

But was Joseph underestimating the might of the Divine Sword Sect?

Of course, not!

He only found it amusing that the disciples of the Divine Sword Sect were actually acting as if they were characters out of a xianxia novel.

"Hahaha..." Joseph let out a chuckle. 

"What are you laughing at? Do you think that what you've done is funny? You bastard! You collapsed the ancestral gates of the Divine Sword Sect! No matter what you do, we will still be going to kill you!" Senior Brother Qin pointed at Joseph in anger. 

"Oh? Is that so?" Joseph suddenly asked in a cold voice.

"Yes, that's right! If I was you, then I would disarm myself, kneel down, and await my punishment instead of doing something like this!" Senior Brother Qin became excited when he saw that Joseph seemed to have been intimidated by his words.

He immediately gave a proposal.

"If a single sin condemns me to hell, then why not commit a million sins and go down to hell as a legend?" 

"Go down to hell? What are you talking about?" Senior Brother Qin felt a strange sense of foreboding in his heart.

"Heh..."

Joseph shook his head, he didn't want to explain to someone as dense as Senior Brother Qin. 

"Now!"

Senior Brother Qin suddenly screamed. He leaped backwards and took a stance with his sword once again. His comrades that were long waiting for his signal from the distance instantly rushed towards Joseph's direction. But when Senior Brother Qin raised his head to look at Joseph...

He found that he had disappeared.

Yes, he disappeared as if he never even existed in the first place.

"Huh?" 

Senior Brother Qin was dumbstruck.

He stared at his fellow disciples and found that there was a look of horror on their faces.

"Se-Senior brother! Behind you!" A courageous disciple pointed out.

Senior Brother Qin's pupils constricted.

He turned around and slashed with his sword, but it was already too late.

Joseph's palms struck the back of his head and he immediately blacked out. 

"Shit, Senior Brother Qin..."

"He's dead!" A disciple cried out in fear.

Joseph rolled his eyes at that disciple and explained, "I didn't kill him. But I don't mind killing him if you bastards remained here without calling your elders."

"Call them! Only your elders can possibly deal with me. If all you remained persistent in fighting me, then I will have no other choice but to cut you all down!" Joseph threatened.

[Your dignity is far higher than the fools facing you.]

[You have successfully threatened your enemies.]

System notifications appeared right in front of Joseph and a light smile appeared on his face.

Behind him, both Alice and Lily successfully subdued their respective enemies.

Of course, they didn't kill them. Even without Joseph's orders, they knew that it was taboo to actually kill a disciple of the Divine Sword Sect. This sect cared for their disciples too much to the point that one could say that they were being overprotective.

But it was a fact, and killing their disciples was akin to making the entire sect your sworn enemies.

Both Alice and Lily didn't want that to happen. Joseph also thought the same.

After all, they came here to ask for help.

The only reason why they crashed the gates of the Divine Sword Sect was that they couldn't afford to waste any time.

They wanted to attract the attention of the higher-ups of the Divine Sword Sect, and what way was better than crashing their ancestral gates? 

Joseph let out a slight smile.

"Shit, let's run!"

"Yeah, we can't deal with him! He's a monster! He killed Senior Brother Qin in just a single move!"

"Let's call the Elders!" 

Some of the cowardly disciples hurriedly retreated and ran towards the towering mountain of the Divine Sword Sect.

But before they could even reach the base of the mountain, an elderly voice suddenly rang out.

"How cowardly! And you bastards still call yourselves as the disciples of my Divine Sword Sect?!" His stern voice rang like a peal of thunder, instantly incapacitating the cowardly disciples who actually dared to turn their backs towards their enemies. 

Joseph raised his head and found an elder clad in a pure-white robe.

His beard was so long that it could probably reach the floor, but that wasn't his feature that stuck out the most.

His most notable feature was the broken sword he was holding in his hand!

"The three of you obviously do not hold my sect in contempt. But why did you have to collapse the ancestral gates?" The elder descended onto the ground and stared right into Joseph's eyes.

Taking a stance with his broken sword...

He uttered.

"If I did not get a proper explanation from you, then surrender your life today!"

The elder abruptly vanished.

Joseph's pupils constricted.

He had the eyes of the Grand Duelist, no movement in the world was too fast for his eyes. He saw that the elder disappeared, not because he teleported.

It was because he jumped.

His jump was so fast and strong that he arrived in front of Joseph in just an instant.

His broken sword raised up above his head in a downwards slash, but by this time...

Joseph had already reacted.

He raised his Nameless Rapier in front of him to block, and...

Peng!

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out.