Gu Ningyun suppressed them with a single sword strike. As her sword qi flared, the cords holding the wooden tokens at their waists snapped in the wind, and the tokens flew into her hand.
She held the bundle of tokens, waved them threateningly, and then ignored the group, rushing toward the other side of the woods.
Jiang Haosi clutched his racing heart. "Senior Brother Shao, aren't we going to run?"
"The tokens are in her hand. Where is there to run?" Shao Yuqi said, his voice sounding a bit bitter.
"Don't the rules say that once the points are gone, the tokens return to their owners?"
"You blockhead, didn't you understand what Senior Sister Gu meant just now? She was telling us not to run around, otherwise, there's no guarantee she won't damage the tokens.
Besides, she has a wind spirit root. If she really chases us, can we even escape?"
Shao Yuqi clutched his chest and took a deep breath. "If I had known she was a sword cultivator, there's no way I would have provoked her."
"We were all misled by Qin Xiaosheng." Jiang Haosi felt very depressed at the thought.
A silent team member suddenly spoke up. "The key isn't Qin Xiaosheng.
Didn't you notice? Senior Sister Gu didn't use a sword once during the entire individual competition."
Jiang Haosi gasped. "You mean she knew we were all wary of a sword cultivator's strength, so she deliberately didn't use one?!"
"Exactly. I suspect she started this grand game of chess the moment she saw Qin Xiaosheng's jade slip.
Every single one of us is just a piece on her board."
Jiang Haosi: "Then should we tell the other teams and expose her scheme?"
Shao Yuqi slapped the back of his head. "Of course not! Do you think they'd believe you if you exposed her?
Besides, why should we be the only ones getting screwed over? Let them suffer too!"
Meanwhile, Gu Ningyun had already reached the other side of the woods.
Behind the thickets, Jun Luo and Jiang Yao were each being ganged up on by five people.
The group attacking Jun Luo was Si Puyu's team, while Ling Hanbai's team was attacking Jiang Yao.
Seeing that Jun Luo could still hold his own, Gu Ningyun leaped toward Jiang Yao and shattered Ling Hanbai's sword qi with a single strike.
Ling Hanbai's expression changed instantly. "Gu Ningyun? You can use a sword?!!!"
Jiang Yao, now freed, began to deal with Ling Hanbai's teammates.
Gu Ningyun didn't waste words. With a flick of her wrist, her wind-attribute sword qi silently sliced through the air, aimed at Ling Hanbai's sword-wielding wrist.
Glimpsing a flash of bright green light, Ling Hanbai's hair stood on end. Pushing aside her shock, she instinctively raised her sword to block.
"Clang!"
The wind-attribute sword qi collided with the thunder-attribute sword qi. Without slowing down for a second, it sliced through the lightning covering the blade and struck Ling Hanbai's peach wood sword with a crisp sound.
The impact numbed Ling Hanbai's wrist, nearly making her drop the sword.
Her vigilance reached its peak. She pulled a hairband from her storage bag and tied the hilt of the sword to her hand.
By then, Gu Ningyun's wind-attribute sword qi was coming from all directions, cutting off all her paths of retreat.
Trapped, Ling Hanbai didn't stop her swordplay. Purple streaks of thunder-attribute sword qi shot out repeatedly, trying to block the incoming wind.
The wind-attribute sword qi was incredibly sharp, easily cleaving the purple thunder-attribute sword qi in two.
However, the electrical nature of the thunder-attribute sword qi could stall the wind for a split second or even cause it to dissipate slightly.
Ling Hanbai took advantage of these brief moments, retreating slightly from the encirclement with every strike.
Gu Ningyun's eyes widened. If Ling Hanbai had focused entirely on the fight without trying to escape the encirclement, it would have been fine.
Her foundation in sword dao was solid, making it difficult to find an opening while she was fully focused.
But by trying to find a way out while fighting, she quickly exposed a flaw.
The moment Ling Hanbai raised her hand, Gu Ningyun's long-prepared strike finally lashed out. A streak of green sword qi reached Ling Hanbai's forehead in the blink of an eye.
Ling Hanbai's pupils constricted.
This strike was incomparable to the smaller gusts Gu Ningyun had used to surround her earlier.
Ignoring the other green sword qi around her, Ling Hanbai ducked to the ground, narrowly avoiding it.
Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief and prepare to break through the encirclement again, she felt a chill at her throat.
She looked down to see the tip of a peach wood sword, wrapped in wind-attribute sword qi, pressed against her throat.
Following the blade upward, she met Gu Ningyun's eyes.
Those almond-shaped eyes were wide and round, filled with seriousness and caution.
Meeting such a gaze, the complex emotions in Ling Hanbai's heart slowly settled, replaced by a sense of finality.
So that was it. It was all a massive lie.
She gave a silent, wry smile, sheathed her peach wood sword, and voluntarily handed over her wooden token.
Gu Ningyun took the token before pulling back her sword.
She ignored Ling Hanbai, who remained motionless on the ground, and turned her attention to Jun Luo's side.
Ling Hanbai's gaze unconsciously followed the tip of Gu Ningyun's sword.
It was this sword, with its unstoppable sword qi, that had defeated her so easily.
With Jiang Yao handling the other team members, Jun Luo was fighting Si Puyu one-on-one and had already gained the upper hand.
Gu Ningyun kept her role as a cannon fodder in mind and never dragged out a fight.
Even though the two of them could handle it, she stepped in to help. Together with Jiang Yao, they subdued the eight team members.
After collecting the eight wooden tokens, Jun Luo also disarmed Si Puyu and took the token.
With the job done, the three of them exchanged looks and, without saying a word, headed back to the center to regroup with Wen Xuan and Mu Chenze.
By now, those two had already defeated the four members of Lian Anping's team. One held a mace and the other a folding fan, warily watching the groups of Lian Anping and Shao Yuqi, who had already lost their tokens.
Seeing that they were both fine, Gu Ningyun breathed a sigh of relief.
Hearing movement behind her, Wen Xuan turned around.
When she saw the teams of Ling Hanbai and Si Puyu following behind Jiang Yao, her hand holding the mace paused. "Ningyun, they are..."
"Oh, those two teams wanted to play the oriole, but they got beaten by the hunter instead."
Although Si Puyu had been suppressed by Jun Luo earlier, he had seen Gu Ningyun using her sword out of the corner of his eye.
The moment he saw Ling Hanbai being dominated by Gu Ningyun, he understood everything.
They had been played.
At this realization, no matter how good his temperament was, he felt himself starting to crumble.
He gave Gu Ningyun a complex look. He tried to hold back, but in the end, he couldn't.
He said through gritted teeth, "Gu Ningyun, after the competition is over, we're going to have a rematch!"
He added at the end, "With swords!"
Ling Hanbai looked at him in surprise.
This guy had been targeted by her for three days and had a bunch of demon beasts stolen without ever mentioning a duel. Now... he'd been screwed over so badly by Gu Ningyun that he'd completely lost his cool?
But... could he even beat Gu Ningyun?
Wouldn't he just lose his cool even more after the fight?
It wasn't that she was talking up Gu Ningyun and belittling Si Puyu.
Her strength wasn't that different from Si Puyu's, and she had been completely suppressed by Gu Ningyun. Si Puyu...
Well, she'd make sure to bring some melon seeds to watch when the time came.
Hearing this, Gu Ningyun turned around. Meeting Si Puyu's battle-hungry eyes, she gave a slight smile. "Sure."
Wen Xuan walked over to Gu Ningyun's side with her mace on her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the two across from them. "You two were the top performers in the individual competition, and yet you teamed up to attack our one group?"
"And you still lost," Jiang Yao added helpfully.
Ling Hanbai and Si Puyu's faces froze at the same time.
Rate on N.U.
