As Su Yueli was pondering, over a hundred small barriers simultaneously activated on the massive floating martial arena.
With the start of the tournament, the imperial family announced the rules, and the contestants stepped onto the stages.
For a moment, the sky was filled with a chaotic barrage of colorful spells and divine abilities.
Fireballs crashed down like meteors, ice spikes flew like torrential rain, and various flying swords streaked through the air with sharp, whistling screeches.
To the mortals of the Great Li Dynasty, this scene was no different from the wrath of the gods, grand and awe-inspiring to the absolute extreme.
In these preliminaries, the elite disciples from the major sects displayed absolute dominance.
The Blue Moon Sect, the Cangyun Sect, and several other top immortal cultivation forces within Great Li made high-profile appearances, sweeping through the loose cultivators and minor sects like a crushing steamroller.
“Look over at that stage! The Young Sect Master of the Blue Moon Sect is up!”
Accompanied by a wave of earth-shattering cheers from below, Shen Huai'an, dressed in his white robes and white jade crown, unhurriedly stepped onto one of the arenas.
His opponent was a loose cultivator at the peak of the Fourth Realm, but in front of Shen Huai'an, that man did not even have the time to form a hand seal.
Shen Huai'an simply raised his right hand expressionlessly. A blinding flash of pure white spiritual light surged from his palm, transforming into a thick bolt of lightning that crashed down with a deafening boom.
Boom!
With a single move, the arena returned to silence. The elderly loose cultivator was directly blasted out of the barrier by the violent spiritual energy.
“The power of a Heavenly Bone is truly terrifying!”
The mortals were utterly dumbfounded, singing his praises frantically.
Immediately after, a clamor rose from an arena in another direction.
Jiang Ran, the personal disciple of the Grand Elder, held a green longsword. Using only a single sword-controlling art, he shattered the protective spiritual shield of an opponent who was also at the Fifth Realm early stage, defeating him cleanly in an instant.
Su Yueli raised an eyebrow.
Wearing her white carved mask, she watched with a cold, detached gaze.
Hearing the crowd's wild boasting about these two “unrivaled geniuses,” she felt no ripples in her heart, and even found it a bit amusing.
In the eyes of those ignorant, low-level loose cultivators, Jiang Ran's green sword qi flying across the sky looked incredibly profound, as if it could overturn rivers and seas.
And compared to the mundane Martial Arts Tournament she had participated in last time, this was indeed far more spectacular and powerful.
But now, in the eyes of a Ji Dao martial artist like her, who had walked the path of the Eleventh Realm Delusion Breaker, the combat style of these cultivators was riddled with glaring weaknesses.
When he thrust his sword, there was a gap in his spiritual energy under his left ribs that lasted for half a breath.
Before summoning his protective jade pendant, he habitually shifted his center of gravity to the right.
His physical body was too weak, and the blood qi inside him was loose and scattered. If she could get close and land a single punch, his internal organs would instantly be ground into mush.
Su Yueli thought to herself, rapidly analyzing Jiang Ran's every combat habit in her mind, as well as the activation speed and weaknesses of the high-grade defensive magic treasure he wore.
Cultivators relied too heavily on their divine sense and magic treasures, making them as slow as unweaned infants when it came to instinctive physical reactions.
Locking all these crucial details in her mind, Su Yueli patted the crumbs off her hands with satisfaction.
This round of information gathering had been highly successful.
Knowing oneself and one's enemy was key. When an opportunity to strike actually presented itself, she would ensure a one-punch kill, never needing a second move.
...
Soon, the first day of the preliminaries came to a smooth end, yet the entire Imperial City remained immersed in the excitement of the day.
Everyone knew that the true clash of geniuses would only begin on the following day.
As night fell, the night market of the Great Li Imperial City was brightly lit.
Su Yueli sat by the window on the second floor of an inn. While sipping bland, mundane tea, her martial sense spread out silently like a tide, keeping a tight lock on the movements of the Cangyun Sect's temporary residence not far away.
Just then, the idle chatter of some low-level cultivators gossiping in the tavern below reached her ears.
“Have you heard? The Young Sect Master of the Blue Moon Sect specially sent someone to deliver an invitation to the Cangyun Sect.”
“Heh, I heard about that too. He invited Immortal Master Jiang Ran to the Mirror Lake Immortal Estate outside the Imperial City to enjoy the scenery and cultivate in peace before the main tournament begins tomorrow.”
“Indeed. Although these two super sects are secretly competing, the geniuses still have to maintain their hypocritical social pleasantries in private.”
Hearing these discussions, a playful curve formed on the corner of Su Yueli's lips.
Mirror Lake Immortal Estate.
That was a great place. Located in the mountains thirty miles outside the Imperial City, the scenery was decent, but it also meant it was not protected by the Great Li Imperial City's top-tier grand array.
This was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity. After all, it was rare to catch Jiang Ran going out alone without any elder bodyguards.
As for Shen Huai'an...
Su Yueli thought about it. As long as she acted quickly enough to finish the job before the two met, nothing should go wrong.
Late at night, during the hour of Zi.
The back door of the Cangyun Sect's residence suddenly opened silently, and a young man wearing a blue-and-white Daoist robe with a green longsword hanging from his waist walked out alone.
Jiang Ran.
Under the faint moonlight, Su Yueli could see him very clearly. There were no Cangyun Sect elders acting as Dao protectors behind him.
With a little thought, Su Yueli understood Jiang Ran's mindset.
This guy was proud and arrogant. Being personally invited by the Young Sect Master of a super giant sect had given him a massive ego boost.
To show off his elegant taste and capabilities in front of Young Master Shen, who possessed a Heavenly Bone, he had decided to set out alone a few hours early in the dead of night. He wanted to reach the Mirror Lake Immortal Estate ahead of time to arrange the venue and enjoy the night scenery.
In Jiang Ran's eyes, this was the foot of the Great Li Imperial City, where powerful experts from various sects were gathered.
Even if those mundane loose cultivators were given ten thousand times the courage, none would dare lay a hand on the personal disciple of the Cangyun Sect's Grand Elder.
Safety? It was a complete non-issue to him.
Behind the wooden window of the inn, Su Yueli watched the solitary figure flying toward the outskirts of the city using the wind-riding technique. She could not help but let out a cold, low laugh.
“There is a road to heaven, yet you refuse to take it; there is no gate to hell, yet you barge right in.”
This freshly washed dish had actually brought itself out of the city, plate, seasoning, and all.
Without any delay, Su Yueli calmly secured the white carved mask on her face. She then took a deep breath, suppressing the terrifying blood qi of her Delusion Breaker Realm to the deepest depths of her marrow like ultimate glacial ice.
As the night wind brushed past, her vital signs instantly dropped to the absolute minimum, making her feel as cold and inert as a senseless boulder in the dark night.
With a flash of her figure, Su Yueli became like a ghost merging into the darkness, silently following him along the rooftops.
Tonight, she would leave no survivors.
She never intended to leave any...
...
In Rocky Valley, massive grayish-white boulders lay scattered haphazardly across the ground, with no signs of human life for dozens of miles.
Jiang Ran was leisurely flying through the air on his sword.
In his mind, he was calculating how to build a good relationship with Shen Huai'an and how it would benefit his future in the sect.
His white robes fluttered as he rode the wind, feeling exceptionally pleased with himself.
Suddenly, the wind in the air ahead grew sharp.
A woman in a green skirt and a white carved mask abruptly blocked the air above the narrow entrance of Rocky Valley.
She stood hovering quietly in the air, her robes rustling loudly in the howling wind.
Jiang Ran yanked back his flying sword, halting in midair.
Frowning, he instinctively swept his divine sense over her.
No spiritual energy fluctuations, no aura of any Daoist cultivation technique.
There was not even the slightest trace of spiritual energy.
Jiang Ran was stunned for a moment, and then he found it incredibly amusing.
The arrogance of a cultivator made him chuckle contemptuously as he looked at the green-skirted woman. “A mundane martial artist without a shred of spiritual energy dares to play highwayman? You must be tired of living.”
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