Seeing that Bai Ling remained standing quietly in place, hesitant to take the initiative to strike and maintaining an entirely calm and unbothered demeanor, the pride deep within Xiao Jinheng's heart was stung painfully, and he could not help but feel a surge of irritation.
To him, her composure was not a sign of a transcendent state of mind, but rather blatant contempt.
He gritted his teeth secretly, determined to tear away that indifferent look of hers today.
Having made up his mind, he no longer hesitated. With a tremor of his wrist, his long spear suddenly unsheathed, rushing straight toward Bai Ling accompanied by a piercing sound of breaking air.
All the spectators at the summit of Tianyuan Peak held their breath in unison; this long-anticipated duel had finally officially begun.
Faced with the charging Xiao Jinheng, Bai Ling did not retreat even a fraction of an inch.
With a light flick of her jade-like wrist, her silver-patterned long whip lashed out, its body transforming into several winding, snake-like afterimages that coiled forward to meet him.
In an instant, the two locked in combat. Spear shadows crisscrossed as whip afterimages flickered elusively.
After more than a dozen rapid exchanges, Bai Ling firmly maintained the upper hand throughout. Her rhythm was calm and measured, suppressing Xiao Jinheng's offensive at every turn.
Yang Qinyao explained to Ye Ling in a low voice, “Both of them cultivate Profound-grade peak-tier martial arts. Bai Ling's Firefly Whip Technique and Xiao Jinheng's Crimson Blood Spear Technique have both been cultivated to Mastery. But even so, it seems Bai Ling's foundation in her moves is still a cut above.”
Ye Ling nodded in agreement. Fairy Bai Ling's whip technique was completely natural and seamless; she was likely not far from the Great Perfection realm.
After more than ten consecutive exchanges, Xiao Jinheng remained unable to gain even the slightest advantage. He immediately withdrew a step in a hurry and barked in a deep voice, “Blindly competing with moves is too tedious. Let's both bring out our trump cards!”
As his voice fell, a chilling and domineering half-step Spear Force swept out with a bang, its pressure enveloping the entire sparring stage.
The minds of many weaker martial artists at the summit trembled, and they marveled in low voices.
“Is this a half-step Spear Force?”
“It seems Xiao Jinheng is only one step away from condensing a complete Spear Force!”
The crowd of Xiantian Realm martial artists also sighed inwardly. He truly deserved to be a top genius second only to the Five Geniuses of Qingyun; his foundation was indeed terrifying.
Seeing Xiao Jinheng unleash his spear path's grand force, Bai Ling no longer held back either. A complete Whip Force of heaven and earth, far more majestic and heavy than his half-step Spear Force, suddenly bloomed.
The Xiantian Realm martial artists at the summit instantly lost their voices. “This is actually a complete grand force of heaven and earth?”
“To have already condensed One Layer of Whip Force at the Xiantian Realm, this talent is truly terrifying!”
“Looking at the entire younger generation of the Qingyun Kingdom, there is probably no one who can compare.”
As the complete Whip Force spread, its invisible pressure suppressed all directions. The weapons of everyone at the summit began to hum and tremble uncontrollably.
On the stage, Xiao Jinheng froze completely, his face suddenly turning deathly pale.
Staring fixedly at the flawless and perfect Whip Force surrounding Bai Ling, his voice trembled. “How is this possible...”
“You've actually comprehended a complete Whip Force?”
Both of them were at the peak Xiantian Realm, yet he had cultivated bitterly for several years just to barely touch the threshold of the half-step Spear Force.
He had thought his breakthrough would allow him to turn the tables this time, but only at this moment did he clearly see that the difference in their concepts was already as vast as the heavens and the earth.
Bai Ling made no reply and took the initiative to launch the first active attack of the match.
She withdrew her externally released grand force, using the condensed Whip Force to carry her Mastery-level Firefly Whip Technique. The silver-patterned long whip swept through the air, pressing down on Xiao Jinheng.
Even though his mind was shaken and his grand force was completely suppressed, Xiao Jinheng still refused to back down.
Gritting his teeth, he poured all the spiritual energy in his body into his long spear, pushing his half-step Spear Force to its absolute limit as he raised his spear to meet her.
“Boom!”
The spear and whip clashed violently. The collision of their grand forces exploded with a piercing sonic boom, and a violent, howling wind carrying waves of air rippled outward across the summit.
Yet, the ground of the stage remained completely unmoved. The stone platform of Tianyuan Peak had been reinforced with high-grade formations by a formation master hundreds of years ago, making it impossible for Xiantian Realm martial artists to damage it.
The shockwave of the impact instantly swept across the entire venue. Many nearby martial artists were turned pale by the blast of air, stumbling backward repeatedly. Only a few martial artists in the entire crowd stood firm and unmoved.
Ye Ling stood tall with a calm expression, her posture completely unchanging despite the fierce wind whipping against her face.
Only by tightly gripping her protective jade tablet was Yang Qinyao able to stabilize her stance. With lingering fear, she said, “This shockwave is truly terrifying. If I didn't have my protective token, I probably would have been caught up in it as well.”
After just a few brief exchanges of ultimate power, the purple figure was violently blown away by the majestic Whip Force, shooting backward at high speed and crashing heavily into the mountain wall behind the stage.
The hard rock wall instantly caved in over a large area, and spiderweb-like cracks spread frantically.
Xiao Jinheng was deeply embedded within the rock. His meridians were severely damaged, and his vital energy and blood surged violently. After spitting out several mouthfuls of blood, he fell unconscious to the ground.
The spectators below the stage were completely shocked. “The power of a complete grand force is actually this terrifying!”
“Even Xiao Jinheng, who has mastered a half-step Spear Force, had no resistance at all and was crushed in a single move by Fairy Bai Ling!”
“The gap between a complete grand force and a half-step grand force is actually so vast!”
Several disciples from the Burning Heaven Martial Academy at the edge of the arena rushed onto the stage, helping Xiao Jinheng out and feeding him a Healing Pill.
One of the disciples, surnamed Lin, roared angrily at Bai Ling, “Fairy Bai Ling! This was just a friendly duel! Why did you have to strike with such a heavy hand?!”
Before Bai Ling could speak, a female disciple from Jingshui Yaotai who accompanied her stepped forward to retort.
“It was your senior brother who initiated the challenge. He was defeated because his strength was inferior, yet you turn around and blame my senior sister?”
The junior brother surnamed Lin wanted to argue further, but the senior sister surnamed Zhou beside him quickly stopped him and stepped forward to bow and apologize to Bai Ling.
“Fairy Bai Ling, my senior brother's skill was lacking, and we accept our defeat wholeheartedly. My junior brother is young and does not know the rules. I apologize on his behalf and hope you will not hold it against him.”
After apologizing, she carried the unconscious Xiao Jinheng on her back and hurriedly left the venue with the utterly unwilling junior brother surnamed Lin.
Bai Ling did not leave immediately. Standing on the stage, she used the perception of her Whip Force to sweep over the crowd below, instantly capturing the restrained and sharp Sword Force on Ye Ling's body.
She was startled. With such an age and aloof temperament, this had to be the youngest Tenth True Disciple of the Qinglan Sword Sect, Ye Ling.
The other party was not even twenty years old, yet she had already comprehended a complete Sword Force of heaven and earth. This talent was truly shocking and worldly.
She was far inferior to her.
She then sensed the half-step Sword Force on Ye Chen. Seeing the Third Prince, Yang Zhaojin, beside him, she instantly guessed Ye Chen's identity.
The talent of this generation of young people far surpassed that of her own!
However, they were still young. The Qingyun Grand Tournament after next would be their stage.
After a brief scrutiny, Bai Ling gave Ye Ling a deep look before departing on the wind with her fellow disciples.
Both Ye Ling and Ye Chen caught Bai Ling's scrutinizing gaze from moments ago, quietly standing as they watched them recede into the distance.
While discussions erupted all around them, Ye Ling had already lowered her eyes to rapidly replay the entire battle in her mind, calmly comparing the gap between herself and Bai Ling.
On the level of martial techniques, Bai Ling had deeply cultivated her whip technique for over a decade, reaching Mastery. Her moves were flawless in both defense and offense, and her foundation was rock-solid.
The two sword techniques she mainly cultivated were only at the Initial Mastery stage; her proficiency and on-the-spot adaptability were indeed slightly inferior.
But in terms of the grade of her cultivation method, Ye Ling held an advantage. The Profound-grade peak-tier cultivation method Bai Ling practiced had only ten layers, whereas the Qinglan Sword Canon she cultivated had eleven layers in total.
It was just that her cultivation time had been short, and Ye Ling had only reached the Fifth Layer.
Her physical body was even more of a strength; her physique, tempered by the True Dragon Unfettered Art, far surpassed Bai Ling's.
Both of their comprehensions of grand force were the same, both at ten percent. The only gap lay in the accumulation of cultivation methods and combat experience.
Ye Ling secretly deduced that if her current self were to face Bai Ling directly, relying on her physical body and high-grade sword canon would be enough to hold her own for several hundred moves, but she would ultimately still lose due to her lack of foundation.
Moreover, she did not know if Bai Ling was hiding any unused trump cards.
She was currently absolutely no match for Fairy Bai Ling; she still needed to improve.
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