The next morning, the arena grounds were buzzing with excitement.
Everyone wanted to see if the Hehuan Sect disciple, who had fought her way through the ranks, could end the winning streak of the Five Elements Dao Sect.
"Arena one: Duan Xianxing of the Five Elements Dao Sect versus Qinghe of the Hehuan Sect!"
Following the referee's announcement, Qinghe, dressed in pink robes, drifted gracefully onto the arena. A cold light glinted between her fingers—it was her magic tool.
Li Nanzhu waved from below the stage. "Qinghe! Good luck!"
Qinghe turned and smiled. "Junior Sister Li, don't blame me later for bullying your senior brother."
Duan Xianxing leaped onto the arena with a casual air. "Duan Xianxing. Please guide me!"
"Match begin!"
Qinghe moved first. Her fingers flicked in rapid succession, sending dozens of silver lights shooting out!
The spirit needles turned into a fine mist in the air, blanketing the entire arena!
Duan Xianxing swung his long sword, sweeping out a wave of thunderous sword qi. However, he saw the spirit needles suddenly turn ethereal. the sword qi passed right through them, and the needles continued their trajectory unabated!
"An illusion?" Duan Xianxing's pupils shrank. He hastily dodged to the side, but several spirit needles still grazed his sleeve.
Qinghe gave a light laugh. "Fellow Daoist Duan, be careful."
She formed a hand seal, and the spirit needles suddenly split into thousands. "Thousand Illusions!"
Duan Xianxing's vision blurred. It was as if he were in a sea of flowers, with petals dancing in every direction—each petal was a lethal spirit needle!
"Impressive!" Duan Xianxing's eyes lit up. It had been a long time since he'd faced such an interesting opponent. But he didn't panic; instead, he quickly performed a mudra, coordinating with Wait a Moment to release several nets of lightning.
Clink, clink, clink!
The spirit needles clashed with the sword qi, producing crisp sounds. However, more needles bypassed the lightning nets, and several bloody scratches immediately appeared on Duan Xianxing's body.
"What the hell?!" Duan Xianxing retreated abruptly. In his eyes, he had clearly blocked the spirit needles, yet he had still been injured!
"After Seventh Junior Brother returns, let's give him some extra training."
Listening to Feng Qingping's mutterings, Li Nanzhu silently lit a candle for Duan Xianxing in her heart.
He's still too young! Overconfident, far too overconfident!
On the arena, Duan Xianxing wiped the blood from his face and suddenly smiled. "Interesting!"
He didn't immediately move to defend. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused his mind, looking for all the world as if he had given up resistance!
Seeing this, Qinghe frowned slightly, not understanding what he was doing. However, her desire for victory pushed her to continue the attack!
Just then, Duan Xianxing snapped his eyes open, thunderous light flashing within them. "Found you!"
His long sword moved like a dragon, piercing directly into a certain spot in the void. Though there was clearly nothing there, Qinghe's expression changed drastically, and she scrambled to change her move!
Shlick!
The sword edge swept past, tearing Qinghe's sleeve. She flew back, her eyes full of shock. "How did you see through it?"
Duan Xianxing grinned. "Intuition!"
Qinghe's expression turned solemn as the spirit needles between her fingers took on a green glow. "Then try this move!"
In an instant, the entire arena turned into a dense forest. Countless vines tangled around Duan Xianxing's feet. What was even more terrifying was that even the spectator stands had disappeared, as if the entire world consisted of nothing but him and this eerie forest.
"An illusion realm?" Duan Xianxing frowned. Suddenly, the sound of wind rose beside his ear, and he instinctively raised his sword to block.
Clink!
A spirit needle was deflected by his sword edge. More needles came from all directions. Duan Xianxing simply closed his eyes again, swinging his sword entirely by intuition.
Clink, clink, clink!
The sword light formed a screen, blocking all the spirit needles. More amazingly, he actually began to shift from defense to offense, step by step closing in on Qinghe's true body!
"This..." Sweat appeared on Qinghe's forehead. "How is this possible?"
In the spectator stands, the elders of various sects could no longer remain seated.
"Breaking an illusion with closed eyes?" an elder of the Beast Taming Sect exclaimed. "How can someone of his age have such combat intuition!"
The white-bearded old man from the Tianyan Sect stood up abruptly. "This is a Natural Sword Physique! A Natural Sword Physique that appears only once in a millennium!"
At the Sword Heart Sect's seats, Zhao Wufeng and Immortal Venerable Ling Xiao both changed facial expressions simultaneously.
On the arena, Qinghe gritted her teeth and changed her technique. Countless versions of Qinghe appeared around Duan Xianxing, attacking simultaneously!
Innumerable silver needles pierced toward Duan Xianxing, but he seemed to have predicted them long ago, swiftly blocking them all.
"Got you!" He grinned.
In the next instant, Wait a Moment lunged straight for one of the many phantoms. Qinghe's true body dodged in a panic but was still struck on the shoulder by sword qi!
"Ah!" She let out a muffled groan. The illusion realm shattered, and Duan Xianxing's long sword was already pressed against Qinghe's throat.
Qinghe retracted her needles and smiled helplessly. "I concede. I am completely defeated."
The referee announced loudly, "Duan Xianxing of the Five Elements Dao Sect wins!"
Before the crowd could say much, the referee quickly announced the start of the second match.
Li Nanzhu had no choice but to take the stage first.
The match went unexpectedly smoothly. Her opponent didn't have many offensive methods, and his greatest strength was defense.
However, Li Nanzhu's own spiritual energy reserves were two to three times that of a cultivator of the same level. She wasn't worried at all about a battle of attrition.
In the end, her opponent was forced to give up his defense and face Li Nanzhu directly.
But unfortunately for him, while he relied on his age and rich combat experience, Li Nanzhu instead began to drain his spiritual energy.
By playing a relentless war of attrition, she forced Mo Yu to exhaust his spiritual energy first and concede.
With this, the championship for the Foundation Establishment stage was already in the bag for the Five Elements Dao Sect. It only remained to be seen which of these two—the senior brother or the junior sister—would take the final victory!
"I didn't expect the Five Elements Dao Sect would win in the end after all." Although Ling Xiao's expression was somewhat ugly, the surprise of discovering a Natural Sword Physique had completely washed away the anger from his failed plans.
"In that case..." Zhao Wufeng said, "Let them hold the match immediately. Since they are from the same sect anyway, it doesn't matter who takes first place."
...
"What? The final is happening now?" Duan Xianxing's eyes widened, and the pill in his hand almost fell to the floor.
Li Nanzhu took the notification jade slip handed over by the referee, her brow furrowed slightly. "This is indeed against the rules..."
Feng Qingping gave a cold laugh. "The Sword Heart Sect simply can't stand seeing us take both top spots, so they're deliberately trying to trip us up."
Zhu Yinxi lightly stroked his jade flute. "However, since both first and second place belong to us, it's not too outrageous."
Mu Wenyan checked the status of the two. "Your spiritual energy has recovered to less than thirty percent. Are you really going to fight?"
Duan Xianxing and Li Nanzhu looked at each other and suddenly laughed at the same time.
"How about this," Li Nanzhu's eyes sparkled. "We won't use spiritual energy. We'll simply compare our swordplay?"
"Great idea!" Duan Xianxing stood up excitedly. "We're on the same side anyway; we just need to make it look good!"
...
"Finals: Duan Xianxing of the Five Elements Dao Sect versus Li Nanzhu of the Five Elements Dao Sect!"
As the referee made the announcement, the entire arena erupted.
No one had expected this assembly to feature the spectacle of two disciples from the same sect taking the top two spots.
On the arena, Duan Xianxing and Li Nanzhu stood facing each other, both holding only an ordinary iron sword.
"Little Junior Sister," Duan Xianxing said with rare seriousness, "I won't go easy on you. If I accidentally hurt you, don't blame me."
Li Nanzhu smiled gracefully. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
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