Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, the Five Sects Tournament finally reached its conclusion.
Because today was the final match, the atmosphere in the stands had reached its peak.
“Do you think Saintess Ji will win by a landslide, or will it be a narrow victory?”
“Is there no chance at all of Wu Yan winning?”
“Impossible, absolutely impossible!”
“Oh? Why?”
“You have to realize, Xie Wenyuan—the one Wu Yan barely defeated—would, at most, be a spinning top that Saintess Ji could casually whip around.”
“When you put it that way, it makes sense. I’ll bet on Saintess Ji then.”
At that moment, the man referred to as a “spinning top,” Xie Wenyuan, was sitting in the Taiqing Sect’s preparation area, waiting for the match to begin.
Because the backlash from the Five Elements Dao Domain had been too severe, his injuries were not yet fully healed. Even so, he was unwilling to miss today’s duel.
“Senior Brother, who do you think will win?”
Li Qingzhou brought a cup of tea and placed it by Xie Wenyuan’s hand.
“Fellow Daoist Wu,” Xie Wenyuan replied.
“Oh? Why do you think Fellow Daoist Wu will be the one to win, Senior Brother?”
“The reason is clear to you.”
If he remembered correctly, this junior brother of his had also been defeated by Wu Yan. The two of them could certainly be considered the “Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix” of the Taiqing Sect.
On the stage, Wu Yan and Ji Xuerou faced each other from a distance.
“Fellow Daoist Wu, I have been looking forward to this moment for a long time,” Ji Xuerou said, her red lips parting as she spoke first.
Seeing that Wu Yan did not respond, she did not take offense. Instead, she drew Bixiao directly.
Spiritual Power surged within her body as her peak Golden Core Stage cultivation was fully released, its majestic aura sweeping across the entire arena.
In the next instant, her figure vanished.
Wu Yan leaned back, barely dodging a golden sword light that had suddenly appeared before her eyes.
‘How fast!’
Using the force of the wind, she quickly retreated, once again putting distance between herself and Ji Xuerou.
Such a swift movement technique had to be the FLOWING LIGHT ESCAPE that Bai Zhiqiu had mentioned.
Seeing that her first strike failed to connect, Ji Xuerou immediately transformed into a streak of light and closed the distance once more.
In previous battles, Wu Yan could rely on the speed advantage provided by her wind-attribute Spiritual Power to maneuver around her opponents. However, against Ji Xuerou, this advantage completely vanished. Her opponent’s speed was on par with her own, perhaps even superior.
In that case —
The blade of Wu Nian suddenly transformed into a streak of green light, as thin as a cicada’s wing.
With a flick of Wu Yan’s wrist, wind blades erupted from the blade, turning a 2-foot radius around her into a lethal gale.
Ji Xuerou’s speed increased instead of decreasing as she boldly charged into the wind field.
Clang — !
The crisp sound of a collision echoed across the stage. Several wind blades were actually reflected back, slashing toward Wu Yan.
Wu Yan had not anticipated this turn of events and was forced to hold her sword across her chest, allowing Wu Nian to absorb the wind blades.
But this was exactly what Ji Xuerou wanted.
The golden light surrounding her body exploded as she forcibly broke through the wind field. The golden radiance instantly filled Wu Yan’s vision.
Ugh — !
This strike was merciless, and Wu Yan was knocked back repeatedly. Had she not used the wind to steady herself, she might have fallen off the stage.
By the time she stabilized her footing, the wind field had already dissipated, and Ji Xuerou’s figure reappeared.
A glaze-colored light flowed around her body like shimmering rainbows. The reflected wind blades from earlier had clearly come from this.
“FLOWING LIGHT THOUSAND BLADES!”
The moment the wind field vanished, Ji Xuerou leapt into the air, pointing Bixiao straight toward the heavens.
Golden light erupted above the stage as Spiritual Power condensed into countless golden sword beams.
“FALL!”
The swords poured down like a torrential rain, leaving no room to dodge.
Wu Yan did not choose to use the wind as a shield.
She knew very well that if she chose to defend, she would only be met by Ji Xuerou’s follow-up fatal strike.
The winds surged and the clouds gathered.
A biting cold wind descended from the sky, stinging Ji Xuerou’s cheeks.
‘As expected, she won’t choose to defend.’
Just like Ji Xuerou, Wu Yan transformed the wind into swords.
The golden rain of swords and the green sword beams collided in mid-air, clashing head-on.
“This is too stunning!”
Exclamations of awe rose from the crowd. They had expected a one-sided match, but they never imagined it would be such a balanced back-and-forth.
The green light and golden radiance ebbed and flowed, making it impossible to tell who held the upper hand for a moment.
However, Ji Xuerou ultimately had a higher cultivation level and more abundant Spiritual Power. Eventually, the golden sword rain suppressed the green beams. Though its momentum was weakened, it still fell toward Wu Yan.
“PIAOMIAO SWORD ARTS: INSTANT SHADOW!”
The moment the sword rain dissipated, Wu Yan took the initiative to attack.
Rising with the wind, she closed in on Ji Xuerou in an instant.
Trailing a streak of green light, Wu Nian slashed heavily against Ji Xuerou’s GLAZE SHIELD.
“Fellow Daoist Wu, the GLAZE SHIELD possesses both defense and reflection. You will only end up hurting yourself this way,” Ji Xuerou warned.
However, in the next moment, her expression changed drastically, and she quickly retreated to the ground.
When her feet touched the floor, blood was already seeping from her left shoulder, and the GLAZE SHIELD surrounding her shattered into flecks of light.
Wu Yan had long since recognized the reflective properties of the GLAZE SHIELD. Therefore, this strike was not a simple slash. Instead, through subtle changes in force and trajectory, she had caused the attack to become erratic, successfully bypassing the reflection to hit her opponent.
Having landed a successful strike, Wu Yan used her height advantage to continue the pursuit.
“PIAOMIAO SWORD ARTS: STARTLING SWAN!”
Bolstered by both gravity and the force of the wind, her movement was nearly instantaneous.
One moment she was in her original position, and the next, she appeared right in front of Ji Xuerou.
At the tip of her sword, Spiritual Power was compressed to the absolute limit, surging violently enough to faintly distort the surrounding space.
Even when faced with such a strike, Ji Xuerou still had the presence of mind to be impressed.
‘She truly lives up to her reputation as the one who killed the Demonic Ape in the Secret Realm.’
She poured Spiritual Power into Bixiao and swung her sword.
In that instant, time seemed to be stripped away, leaving only a brilliant golden line.
Wherever the golden line passed, space was torn asunder, and black cracks spread as it collided head-on with the green sword light.
Clang — !
As the two swords met, a thunderous boom shook the stage.
Gold light blinded the eyes, howling winds roared, and sweeping aftershocks shattered the floor of the stage.
Dust flew, rocks tumbled, and a massive tornado formed, cutting off everyone’s line of sight.
Inside the storm, Wu Yan was down on one knee, holding her sword in her right hand as blood continued to spill from the corner of her mouth.
She had taken Ji Xuerou’s strike head-on, and her Daoist robes were in tatters. The sleeve of her right arm was completely destroyed, revealing her fair skin, and the plain white stockings on her legs were also torn.
Ji Xuerou was not faring much better.
Though she was not as disheveled as Wu Yan, her left arm hung limp, unable to be lifted normally after the impact.
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