On Arena One, Xiao Liuli and Li Xin faced each other from a distance.
Li Xin was one of the outstanding talents among the younger generation of Qingyang City, known for his fierce and domineering Blazing Fist.
Last year, he had already reached the level of Qi Refining Realm, Eighth Layer.
He looked at Xiao Liuli, whose beauty seemed almost unreal, and his heart burned with excitement.
In a loud voice, he said, “Miss Liuli, your reputation precedes you. Our two families have always had close ties. If you admit defeat now, I, Li, can guarantee your…”
His words came to an abrupt halt.
Because Xiao Liuli merely raised her eyes quietly, those clear eyes as cold as a deep pond looked at him lightly.
Just that one glance.
No killing intent, no contempt, not even a hint of emotion.
It was like the bright moon atop a mountain, overlooking ants on the ground.
Li Xin’s heart suddenly shrank.
A strange chill rushed up his spine, choking all his bold words in his throat.
“Begin!”
The voice of the steward elder rang out.
“My apologies!”
Li Xin roared.
The bluestone beneath his feet shattered as he shot forward like a fierce tiger, flames blazing on both fists, striking straight toward Xiao Liuli’s face!
A wave of heat washed over the crowd below, as if the very air was about to ignite.
Ye Tianjiao clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.
He knew the power of that punch.
If it were him, he would have to go all out to take it.
He watched nervously, a sliver of despicable hope rising in his heart, hoping to see Xiao Liuli forced back by that punch—so he could prove his earlier decision wasn’t utterly foolish.
However, the intense clash he anticipated never occurred.
At the moment when the burning iron fists were about to touch Xiao Liuli, her figure floated to the left by barely an inch, like willow fluff caught in a breeze.
Just an inch.
Li Xin’s earth-shattering punch brushed past her sleeve and crashed heavily into empty air.
The wild force of the punch lifted her dark hair, but even as the strands danced, she didn’t blink once.
Li Xin’s attack missed—his old strength spent, new strength not yet gathered. It was the most vulnerable moment.
And at that instant—
Xiao Liuli moved.
No one saw how she struck.
In people’s eyes, there was only a fleeting afterimage, like moonlight.
Ding.
A faint, nearly inaudible sound.
Li Xin froze in place, maintaining his punching stance, eyes filled with utter shock and confusion.
He slowly lowered his head.
A slender, crystalline sword tip hovered quietly before his throat—no more than a finger’s width away.
The chill radiating from the blade made his blood feel as if it would freeze.
He had lost.
Without the opponent even using the slightest bit of spiritual power, he was defeated in a single move.
Xiao Liuli slowly sheathed her sword in one fluid motion, her breath undisturbed from start to finish.
She turned, nodding slightly toward Li Changqing on the high platform, then stepped down from the arena in the deathly silence that gripped the entire audience.
“…Xiao Family, Xiao Liuli, wins!”
The steward elder’s voice trembled out several breaths later, as if awakening from a dream.
“Hiss—”
Only then did the sound of sharp inhalations ripple through the crowd.
“What just happened? I… I didn’t see!”
“How did she move over? That step… It was like a ghost!”
“It’s not speed—it’s foresight!”
On the high platform, Li Changqing’s eyes shone with unprecedented brilliance as he murmured,
“She saw the outcome the moment Li Xin struck.”
Ye Tianjiao’s face was deathly pale.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand—it was precisely because he understood that he felt a soul-deep fear and regret.
That level of mastery, that control over the battlefield, was something he could never hope to reach.
What he lost was no ordinary gem.
He had thrown away a vast, boundless starry sky that could have belonged to him.
—
On another arena, Ling Qingshuang’s opponent was Wang Mang of the Wang Family, a body cultivator famed for his innate strength.
“A blind girl entering the tournament? What a joke!”
Wang Mang grinned at the slender figure opposite him, flashing white teeth.
“Little lady, I suggest you step down yourself. My fists don’t know how to pity beauty!”
Ling Qingshuang paid no heed.
She merely stood still, head tilted, listening.
The wind, the sound of a heartbeat, the distant murmurs of the crowd, her opponent’s heavy breathing, and the nearly imperceptible scrape as his feet met the ground.
In her world, everything had its sound.
As the bell signaling the start of the match rang out, Wang Mang charged like a raging bear, roaring with every step that made the arena groan beneath his weight.
He intended to crush this arrogant blind girl with pure force!
Yet, facing this overwhelming pressure, Ling Qingshuang did not move a single step.
Just as Wang Mang’s fist wind neared, she shifted forward by half a step—a movement so slight it was barely noticeable.
At the same moment, the cloth-wrapped iron sword on her back was drawn out by her right hand—just an inch.
Only an inch.
She didn’t even use the blade.
With the exposed end of the hilt, she lightly tapped a spot in the air.
Thud.
A muffled sound, like an old monk tapping a wooden fish.
Wang Mang’s massive body froze midair, as if held by an immobilization spell.
Then the smile on his face twisted into pain and confusion.
He crumpled to the ground, curling up in agony, shuddering uncontrollably—unable to make a sound.
The arena plunged once more into an eerie silence.
If Xiao Liuli’s victory was graceful and ethereal, then this blind girl’s victory was precise and mysterious.
“What… what was that? Acupoint strike?”
“Impossible! Wang Mang is a body cultivator with skin like armor. How could a normal acupoint strike affect him?”
“She struck at the weakest node of Wang Mang’s energy flow at the moment of attack!”
Li Changqing’s voice trembled with barely contained excitement.
“To break the whole by targeting the point, to overcome strength with gentleness—this… this is a sign of mastery in Sword Heart Illumination! She doesn’t see with her eyes, but with her heart! She perceives with her sword’s spirit!”
The following hour became a rare spectacle in the history of Qingyang City.
Arena One and Arena Three seemed to become two independent worlds.
Regardless of the opponent, their family, or their choice of weapon.
Xiao Liuli’s battles were always solitary dances, light as wind and cloud.
She evaded all attacks within the smallest space, and at the most unexpected moment, delivered a single sword strike to end it all.
Ling Qingshuang’s fights, meanwhile, were silent chants of zen.
She remained rooted in place, responding to all with calm stillness, countering only when the time was perfect.
One was ethereal as a fairy under the moon, the other tranquil as bamboo after rain.
They cut down all the so-called “geniuses” with effortless ease, making the process feel almost absurdly unreal.
At last, as the final semi-final ended, the steward elder announced in a near dreamlike voice,
“Final match—Xiao Family, Xiao Liuli, versus… Ling Qingshuang!”
The roar of the crowd reached its peak.
Xiao Liuli stepped onto the central arena, her gaze—for the first time—truly settling on the blind girl in white.
For some reason, seeing the other’s empty eyes stirred the faintest ripple in her heart.
She sensed a familiar aura from this blind girl, but it was vague, indescribable, and vanished in an instant.
On the other side of the arena, though Ling Qingshuang could not see, her senses clearly registered the presence of the woman opposite her.
It was a silent, frozen lake.
Yet beneath the surface, enough power to freeze everything lay hidden.
This feeling… This feeling was entirely different from the serene presence of her teacher, yet at its core, that sense of “unchanging” essence was uncannily familiar to Ling Qingshuang.
The wind swept across the empty arena, lifting their robes and hair.
Ten paces apart, they stood in silence—strangers, neither speaking a word.
Yet in the air, it seemed countless invisible blades of sword intent had already begun to clash.
A duel destined to shake all of Qingyang City was about to begin.