The terrifying momentum of the fire dragon lasted only a moment before a sharp sword light split it in two from jaw to crown.
It shattered with a loud bang, turning into sparks that drifted down like rain across most of the Martial Arts Stage.
Yun Xuechang held her sword and looked up. At some point, Hua Yan had suspended herself in mid-air.
The Array Disk in her hand was gone, replaced by a Seven-Colored Magic Net.
The moment the fire dragon had been slashed apart, this net had quietly positioned itself above her head.
“It’s not over yet! Again!”
With a sharp cry from Hua Yan, the Seven-Colored Magic Net suddenly expanded.
It lunged down from the air, shimmering with light, and instantly trapped Yun Xuechang inside.
Yun Xuechang’s expression tightened as she swung her sword at the net.
However, the mesh was incredibly resilient.
She felt the force of her sword being entirely absorbed; even with a strike of 100% strength, only 30% could actually damage the net’s surface.
At the same time, Hua Yan did not stop her movements in mid-air. She quickly stuffed a pill into her mouth and slapped two talismans onto her body.
Then, with a backhanded wave, a purple poison mist filled with a rotten sweet fragrance surged out, covering the sky.
With another flick of her sleeve, a buzzing, aggressive cloud of black mist rolled in.
Upon closer inspection, it was a dense swarm of Black Poisonous Bees, each covered in carapace armor with long, thin black needles on their tails.
Just as the poison mist and the bee swarm closed in, Yun Xuechang, trapped in the net, suddenly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
When she swung her sword again, the Autumn Water Sword in her hand gained a soft, fluid quality.
Her movements flowed like a surging river. Instead of cutting the net, she used the force to flip the entire thing away.
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Style 12, Flowing Water!
However, the moment she escaped the net, the purple mist and the bee swarm converged from all directions, completely trapping her.
Yun Xuechang lowered her stance, powered through her waist and legs, and suddenly flicked her long sword upward.
In an instant, swirling Sword Qi erupted from her body, turning into an airtight storm of blades that shredded most of the poison mist and the bee swarm!
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Style 10, Tornado!
Yet, Hua Yan’s offensive was far from over.
In the gap while Yun Xuechang was dealing with the poison and bees, Hua Yan waved her hand and scattered a group of Mechanical Automatons.
In a breath, those automatons transformed into red-haired, sword-wielding girls who looked exactly like her.
Hua Yan herself blended among them, then pulled out a Jade Painting Brush and began to draw rapidly in the air.
Within moments, even more figures of red-haired girls appeared, suspended over the entire Martial Arts Stage, surrounding Yun Xuechang so tightly that not even water could leak through.
The white-haired Fairy holding the sword was not flustered at all.
Her toes tapped the ground as she moved gracefully through the air, shattering the first “Hua Yan” that approached with a single strike, turning it into mechanical fragments.
But when she spun and swung her second strike at another “Hua Yan” beside her, the blade felt as if it hit empty air.
The opponent’s body twisted slightly, its colors faded, and it vanished into nothingness.
‘A mix of real and fake…?’
Yun Xuechang’s mind raced as she reacted quickly.
She adjusted her strength and changed her move, swinging her sword backhandedly to shatter another “Hua Yan” attempting a sneak attack from behind.
‘With this mixture of truth and lies, if I try to distinguish and kill them one by one, I’ll have to be extremely careful while guarding against openings. Yan’er will surely consume a lot of my spiritual power…’
‘Better to solve it all at once!’
With her mind made up, the aura around her shifted abruptly. Her long sword moved like a clear breeze brushing against willows—light yet incredibly swift.
In an instant, she swept away all the surrounding copies of “Hua Yan.”
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Style 13, Clear Breeze!
But at that moment, one “Hua Yan” was not shattered by the light sword technique.
Instead, she raised the thin sword in her right hand and lunged straight for Yun Xuechang’s lower back!
That was the real body!
Clang!
the crisp sound of metal clashing accompanied a surging shockwave that exploded on the Martial Arts Stage, making the surrounding protective barrier tremble.
Yun Xuechang had once again brought her sword back in time, using the blade to steadily block Hua Yan’s certain-kill strike.
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Style 6, Parry!
Immediately after, her long sword acted like a spiritual snake winding around a tree, coiling directly around Hua Yan’s thin sword.
With a sudden burst of power from her wrist, she sent the opponent’s weapon flying!
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Style 8, Twist!
‘Hah, I knew you’d use Twist after blocking!’
Hua Yan was not surprised that her strike was blocked. Instead, a smile that said “just as I thought” flashed in her eyes.
Taking advantage of the opening created when Yun Xuechang twisted her sword away, Hua Yan’s left hand suddenly shot out.
Her palm was wreathed in bolts of purple lightning she had been gathering for a long time, and she slammed it mercilessly into Yun Xuechang!
Boom!
The terrifying lightning exploded with a roar, and Yun Xuechang was blasted out of the air, crashing hard onto the Martial Arts Stage.
But it wasn’t over! As Yun Xuechang hit the ground, blazing flames suddenly erupted from the floor of the stage. Lightning and fire combined, instantly swallowing her whole!
‘Hah, did you think I sacrificed the Array Disk at the start just to release a single fire dragon?’
Hua Yan looked at Yun Xuechang, who was enveloped in lightning and fire, and a triumphant smile curled her lips.
An Array Disk was, naturally, used to set up a Formation!
The fire dragon at the start had merely been a distraction to hide her true intent.
Her real scheme was to quietly lay down this hidden fire formation while releasing the dragon, all for the sake of dealing this heavy blow to Yun Xuechang now.
Up to this point, the situation on the field had been firmly in Hua Yan’s favor!
“Whoa!”
An uproar instantly broke out among the crowd.
Even though everyone had guessed to some extent before the match that anyone capable of standing on the same stage as the Cloud Sword Head must not be weak, no one expected that the Sword Head’s beautiful red-haired Dao Companion would be this powerful.
After such an intense battle, she had actually managed to suppress the Cloud Sword Head the entire time.
“Wow! I knew Daoist Friend Hua would be amazing!”
In the stands, Lin Qianqian clapped her hands excitedly, looking even more thrilled than the two children beside her.
Of course, this might have been because the two little ones had low cultivation and couldn’t see the subtle details of the fight, so they felt less of the direct shock.
Amidst her excitement, a bit of confusion surfaced.
“But… how can she use so many different methods in a row?”
The techniques Hua Yan had displayed were truly diverse: formations, five-element fire spells, lightning spells, mechanical arts, poison arts, sword arts, and insect control—not to mention that mysterious painting path… It was as if she were a master of everything.
“Heh, that is because Hua Yan practices the unique secret manual of the Hundred Flowers Valley — the Hundred Flowers Returning to One Manual.”
A gravelly, gentle voice suddenly sounded in her ear.
Lin Qianqian quickly turned her head, only to see a white-haired old man holding a teacup standing beside her at some unknown time.
Yet, among the noisy crowd, not a single person seemed to notice his presence.
“Sect Master?” she hurriedly sent back via Telepathy.
“Mhm.” Ye Qingyuan nodded with a smile. “Qianqian, would you like a cup of tea?”
“Thank you, Sect Master!”
Lin Qianqian hurriedly took the teacup from the elder with both hands, took a light sip, and followed up with a curious question through Telepathy.
“Sect Master, the Hundred Flowers Returning to One Manual you mentioned… what kind of cultivation technique is it exactly?”