At the age of fifteen, being able to defeat someone of Mr. Parker's level is the mark of a super genius. Although not quite on par with Ashley Carter and the other, even among Xuan-level sects, such a person would be outstanding—let alone in this lowest tier of Huang-level sects.

"You go first."

Mr. Parker looked at Brian Clark, his hands clasped behind his back. He did not draw his sword, nor did he even place his hand on it. He would not draw his sword; Brian Clark was simply not worthy. Not just Brian Clark—even if it were any other newcomer, or even one of those famously talented youths, he still would not draw his sword.

This was a kind of pride, a pride shared by many like him!

It was not contempt or disdain; it was outright disregard!

Since that’s the case, just keep holding back for me—best if you never draw your sword.

Brian Clark was decisive. He wielded his iron sword and launched a direct attack. It looked like a plain strike, but it was one he was quite proud of. After all, this was a test of his swordsmanship, and he wanted to show his best.

Yet this strike was far from simple. If one studied it closely, they would find it was quite exquisite—capable of both offense and defense, with endless variations.

However, very few could see the subtlety in this strike. Among those present, only one person could: the opponent, Mr. Parker. And even he only realized its brilliance afterward. At that moment, he simply responded with a casual finger-sword technique.

Using his finger as a sword, Mr. Parker had no intention of drawing his blade. But this did not mean he was going easy on Brian Clark. Brian Clark did not understand this at first and was quite pleased, changing up his moves and slashing at Mr. Parker's finger.

"?!" Mr. Parker's expression changed slightly, as if a bit surprised, but the look flashed by in an instant.

"Clang!"

Brian Clark's sword struck Mr. Parker's sword-finger, producing the sound of metal clashing. Then the sword broke. That's right—it was Brian Clark's sword that broke, not Mr. Parker's finger.

Mr. Parker had already reached the Five Meridians stage. Normally, after the third meridian, a martial artist begins to temper their flesh and blood, and their physical toughness increases with their strength. In abnormal cases, this happens even earlier; those who focus on body cultivation start tempering their bodies from the very beginning.

Therefore, after reaching a certain level, ordinary people simply cannot break a martial artist's defense. Even if a hundred thousand people each took a swing, they wouldn't draw blood.

Of course, that's with ordinary blades—just like Brian Clark's iron sword now, a very ordinary weapon that only regular people would use. It couldn't possibly harm someone of Mr. Parker's level, even if Mr. Parker used no internal energy at all.

However, just now, Mr. Parker did use a bit of internal energy; otherwise, Brian Clark's iron sword wouldn't have snapped.

Mr. Parker felt quite ashamed about this. He had promised not to use internal energy, but ended up using it anyway. What made him feel even more embarrassed was that he had actually been struck by this young man's sword.

On the surface, it looked like Brian Clark's sword had simply collided with Mr. Parker's sword-finger. But the problem was, Mr. Parker had intended to use his sword-finger to avoid any edge of Brian Clark's blade, to suppress Brian Clark while weaving gracefully through the sword light.

Yet, in that moment, he simply couldn't dodge. He even panicked a little and instinctively used his energy to block. Thinking back, this kid's sword strike was truly exquisite—on pure swordsmanship alone, even the sword masters of the sect were no better.

But he had underestimated his opponent, or he wouldn't have been caught off guard by Brian Clark so easily!

Now, however, he would never admit it. He wouldn't even admit it was an accident. If he did, he'd be slapping himself in the face. So, he could only go against his conscience and disqualify Brian Clark.

"Young man, you still need to work harder. You're not qualified to be an outer disciple yet. Next." Mr. Parker said, face calm and unflustered.

"Um, I know I'm not qualified. I'm here to apply as a menial disciple."

Mr. Parker's shameless behavior led Brian Clark to mistakenly believe that his swordsmanship was still far from adequate, causing him to underestimate his own strength for a long time and think himself weak.

Fortunately, he did not give up practicing swordsmanship, because it increased his stamina—in simple terms, it made him stronger, and also improved his reflexes and agility.

As for the others, there was nothing more to say. They couldn't judge the quality of Brian Clark's swordsmanship at all, and also mistakenly thought he was just a weakling with a combat power of five.

None of this mattered to Brian Clark. Even if he found out later, he wouldn't feel the need to change anything. A loss is a loss, whether it was in swordsmanship or not. If he had no talent, so be it. As long as he could be a little menial worker, that was enough.

Chapter 15: Alchemy Peak (Part 1)

"Menial disciple? That, you can do." Mr. Parker seemed a bit embarrassed, but allowed Brian Clark to enter the Qingyun Sword Sect as a menial disciple.

He wasn't worried about this being discovered. Brian Clark's sword move might have just been a stroke of luck, and besides, Brian Clark's cultivation was lacking. No matter how good his swordsmanship was, it wouldn't matter; he was likely to lose in a real match, so no one would notice the issue.