When Song Mu walked down from the arena, a dead silence fell over the entire venue, lasting for several breaths.
It was not because his defeat was pathetic—on the contrary, he had lost with dignity. His swordplay had been controlled, and his appearance remained relatively tidy.
But everyone could see that this was a complete and utter suppression.
At every turn of the match, Lin Zhiyue had been one step ahead of Song Mu.
From the moment the Nine Absolute Thunder Roars was countered and suppressed by the Flowing Fire Formula, she had never once lost her rhythm from start to finish.
In the stands, some people sat up straight from where they had been leaning back in their chairs, while others set down the teacups they had been holding, their eyes closely following the departing figure.
The Qingling Sect's seating area fell quiet for a moment before someone murmured something in a hushed tone. The voice was kept extremely low, not carrying far, yet it carried an indescribable complexity.
Song Mu's face was calm as he sat back down, but his gaze fell to his hands resting on his knees. His knuckles were slightly pale, like a lingering shock that was still playing out.
The system screen popped up the moment Lin Zhiyue stepped off the arena, its edges shimmering with a golden halo brighter than usual:
【Bonus Quest Completed. Trigger condition: Over 1,000 people in the audience shocked by the host's performance. Extra Reward: God-grade skill “Jinyao Fairy's Blessing” unlocked. Skill Description: Bestows a luck buff upon those close to you. Effect lasts for several hours. Cooldown is relatively long.】
Right after, another notification popped up: 【Sect Tournament Championship rewards distributed: Limited-time quest instance outfit “Peach Blossoms Beaming” has been added to the Wardrobe. Limited-time card pool “Ancient Path, Lingering Smoke” is now open.】
Lin Zhiyue skimmed through them on her way back to the resting area, not looking too closely for the moment.
She stopped in front of the Tiance Palace seating area.
Quite a few people nearby were looking at her from various distances. Some she knew, some she didn't, their gazes lingering on her for either a brief moment or a long while.
She pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning the Azure Scale Sword against the table leg, taking a moment to catch her breath.
“Peach Blossoms Beaming” was a pink ruqun. The hem of the skirt was embroidered with intricate peach blossom patterns, and the collar and cuffs were trimmed with a very faint silver-threaded lace, looking as though an entire blooming peach tree had been tailored into a dress.
The set skill was called “Peach Bud Heart Protection”—a support, healing-type skill. Once cast, it could continuously restore the target's spiritual energy and vitality. While not applicable to fatal wounds, it served as an excellent supplement for recovery and emergency situations during prolonged combat.
After finishing the preview, she was in no hurry to draw from the “Ancient Path, Lingering Smoke” card pool. She simply closed the interface and turned her attention back to the surrounding sounds and sunlight.
...
The award ceremony was held the following morning after the Sect Tournament concluded.
A red carpet was laid across the main stage, and the spiritual light array pillars had been changed to a brighter color. The morning sunlight shone at an angle onto the stage, casting a warm, gentle luster over the neatly arranged jade caskets and brocade boxes.
The City Lord of Wanxian City stood at the front of the stage, calling out the names of the top ten in order. As each name was called, that person would step up, receive their corresponding reward, and step back into the lineup.
Lin Zhiyue's name was the first to be called.
Stepping onto the main stage with steady paces, she accepted the jade casket containing the ten-thousand-year spiritual herb. She pried open a crack to take a look. Lying inside was a spiritual ginseng that glowed with a faint golden luster. Its roots were fully intact, its spiritual energy was restrained and evenly distributed, and its surface was sealed with a thin layer of spiritual wax.
This was the most critical medicinal catalyst for the Soul Transformation Pill—the Nine-Pearl Sea Ginseng.
For breaking through to the Soul Transformation Stage, the Soul Transformation Pill was universally acknowledged as the most stable and least side-effect-prone elixir.
Countless cultivators had been stuck at peak Nascent Soul Stage for years. What they lacked was often not the accumulation of spiritual energy, but precisely the opportunity provided by this single pill.
And the Nine-Pearl Sea Ginseng was the rarest and most irreplaceable ingredient among them.
She closed the lid and stepped back into the lineup.
Second place was Song Mu, third was Lin Tangxi, and fourth was Chu Zhixun—Chu Zhixun had lost by half a move when facing Lin Tangxi in the semifinals, ranking fourth by a narrow margin.
Fifth place was Cen Xi'er. Sixth through tenth were, in order, Gu Xuening of the Piaoyin Sect, Gong Ke of the Sacred Sword Pavilion, Tang Wenjing of Luohong Valley, Shen Hanxi of the Biluo Immortal Sect, and Cui Yu'er of the Qingling Sect.
After the names were read, the crowd below began to disperse. Some took down their banners, while others packed up their belongings from their seats.
Lin Zhiyue returned to the Tiance Palace lineup and stored the jade casket into her storage space. Her gaze lingered briefly on the silhouette of the distant mountains before she withdrew her eyes and stood in line, waiting for everyone to set off together.
What she did not know was that after this tournament, the younger generation of the Sanglan Realm began to reexamine the concept of “combat style.”
The combat style Lin Zhiyue demonstrated in several matches, which focused primarily on dismantling her opponents' rhythm, had caught the attention of more and more people, and some even began trying to mimic it in actual combat.
Her final match against Song Mu was like a heavy hammer that woke everyone up: in a duel where cultivation levels were nearly identical, having a stronger cultivation technique was not the only way to win.
A true powerhouse did not need to overwhelm their opponent with brute force; they only needed to precisely discern the other's flaws and weaknesses to deflect a thousand pounds with four ounces of strength, countering and winning the match.
This year was later privately referred to by many as the “Year of Zhiyue.”
When disciples from various sects sparred, they no longer blindly compared spiritual roots and cultivation techniques. Instead, they more frequently discussed how to analyze an opponent's sword paths, how to dismantle their rhythm, and how to use the least amount of spiritual energy to gain the greatest advantage.
Lin Zhiyue was entirely unaware of these changes.
At that moment, she was sitting on the returning spirit boat, leaning against the window with her eyes closed to rest. As the spirit boat ascended, the silhouette of Wanxian City gradually shrank outside the window, its banners and spectator stands condensing into a blur of colors.
Leaning by the window, listening to the chatter of her fellow disciples and the sound of the wind rushing past, she closed her eyes amidst the steady, gentle swaying of the spirit boat, feeling that she could finally get some good rest.
...
When the spirit boat landed at the Tiance Palace main peak plaza, the twilight was creeping in from between the three peaks, dyeing the blue stone floor in an even shade of warm gold.
When Lin Zhiyue jumped off the spirit boat, her shoulders still carried the dusty scent of Wanxian City. She took a deep breath.
When she returned to her courtyard, Yuetuan was already waiting, squatting by the door.
He sat upright on the threshold with his tail wrapped around his front paws. Upon seeing her, he stood up, walked a circle around her, patted her skirt with a front paw, and then squatted back down in his original spot, as if confirming she had indeed returned.
Lin Zhiyue bent down to rub his head, went inside, closed the door, sat down at the desk, and summoned the system screen.
The preview for the “Ancient Path, Lingering Smoke” card pool was laid out in the center of the panel.
The outfit was sleeker than she had anticipated—a short robe with narrow sleeves, a hem stitched of black and dark red, and a tightly bound belt. The overall lines were clean and restrained without any superfluous ornaments, making it highly suitable for action.
The weapon was a pair of flying blades. The blades were thin and light, with a very slight curve along the edges. They were suitable for both throwing from a distance and close-quarters parrying, and could be stored at her waist when not in use.
She flipped through her remaining Premium Draw Tickets, stacked all the usable ones together, and cast them out. The light on the screen illuminated one after another for the duration of a cup of tea. The narrow-sleeved short robe, dark red belt, sleeve bindings, wristguards, long boots, flying blades, and several other standard pieces fell one by one. When the final piece landed in the Wardrobe, a notification for completing the set popped up.
The skill description consisted of only a single line: 【Set Skill: Martial Bone. Upon unlocking, the host's physical combat capabilities will be raised to the optimal level for their current physical condition, allowing them to master weapon combat, close-quarters melee, and other practical combat skills without any prior training.】
She read the line twice, then closed the system screen.
This was incredible—she had essentially jumped straight to becoming a martial arts master! What child hadn't dreamed of being a heroic wanderer? Roaming the world with a sword, fighting injustice, and knocking villains flat on their backs with a mere flutter of their sleeves.
Outside, the twilight had already crept over the windowsill, spreading a thin layer of dark gold light across the desk.
The night wind blew from the direction of the mountain forests, whispering through her sleeves and the hem of her dress.
Rate on N.U.
