Ling Hanbai’s eyes darted around. “I just fought you; there’s no need for another round so soon. Let me practice for a bit first.”
“Fair enough,” Gu Ningyun nodded, about to say more.
Si Puyu roared, “Gu Ningyun, are we fighting or not?!”
That roar silenced not only Gu Ningyun and Ling Hanbai but also the other disciples watching.
After a moment, Gu Ningyun heard a disciple whispering, “Isn’t Senior Sister Si usually gentle and patient? Why is she so irritable today?”
“You don’t know? From what I’ve seen, Senior Sister Si is perfectly normal most of the time. It’s only when she runs into Senior Sister Ling and Senior Sister Gu that she turns into a different person, exploding at the slightest touch.”
“Is it really that extreme?”
“That’s why they say you can tease a gentle person, but never truly push them over the edge. Otherwise, the consequences are unimaginable!”
Gu Ningyun overheard the gossip and felt it made quite a bit of sense.
She scrambled up from the table, trying to soothe the situation. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
With a grin, she opened the array at the arena entrance and stepped onto the stage one step at a time.
Once she stood at her end of the arena, her expression tightened, and she seriously performed a peer salute to Si Puyu.
Jokes were fine before the match, but once on the arena, one had to be fully committed and give their all.
This was out of respect for both oneself and one’s opponent.
After the salute on stage, the crowd below fell silent, save for the faint sound of cracking melon seeds.
Ignoring the audience, Gu Ningyun held her peach wood sword, silently gathering wind-attribute sword qi.
The scent of fire rushed toward her from across the stage. Even from ten meters away, Gu Ningyun could feel the searing heat of Si Puyu’s fire-attribute sword qi.
Wind feeds fire. How should she fight this battle?
Just as the atmosphere on the arena grew heavy enough to stagnate, the two of them raised their swords simultaneously and struck.
A swift, sharp green sword qi streaked across the center of the arena in the blink of an eye, cleaving through the slightly slower fire-attribute sword qi. It looked as though it was about to split Si Puyu in half.
Si Puyu raised her sword to block, stepping into a horse stance and shifting sideways to deflect the sword qi. The strike was knocked aside, eventually hitting the array at the edge of the arena and causing a ripple to spread through the barrier.
Ling Hanbai, a melon seed kernel still in her mouth, sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
The arenas on Fighting Peak were equipped with many defense arrays that would activate a higher-rank version based on the cultivation level of the participants.
Arena 26’s current defense array was a mysterious-rank top-grade array, capable of completely blocking attacks even from a late Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Gu Ningyun was only at Qi Refining level four, yet her sword qi—even after being weakened by Si Puyu—could still cause a ripple in a mysterious-rank top-grade defensive barrier. She was truly a force to be reckoned with.
“Cough, cough, cough...”
Oh no, she had inhaled too sharply and swallowed the melon seed kernel whole!
On the arena, Si Puyu regained her footing and looked at Gu Ningyun with a solemn expression.
With just one exchange, she had already fallen into a disadvantage.
Gu Ningyun didn’t care what she was thinking. With a flick of her wrist, she sent out three more sword qis, targeting her opponent’s shoulders and the center of her brow.
Si Puyu couldn’t shatter her sword qi, so she could only deflect the green strikes one by one.
Dodging and weaving, she drew closer and closer to Gu Ningyun.
Gu Ningyun struck while simultaneously calculating Si Puyu’s next footfall.
When Si Puyu was less than five steps away, Gu Ningyun unleashed an upward slash.
Seeing the sword qi that threatened to cleave her diagonally, Si Puyu’s pupils constricted. She swept her peach wood sword in a circle, layer upon layer of fire-attribute sword qi colliding with that single streak of green.
While she was busy dealing with the wind-attribute sword qi and finally managing to dissipate it, Gu Ningyun’s sword tip was already resting against her throat.
“You?!”
Si Puyu was startled. She looked at the sword at her neck, then at their respective positions, and realization dawned on her.
“I see. I am far inferior to you.”
Below the arena, Xi Caixuan watched Gu Ningyun, who had barely moved from her original position, and sighed with emotion. “Was Senior Sister Si trying to dodge while closing in for a melee fight? She didn't expect to be defeated the moment she got close.”
“That’s not it.”
Zhu Zijin stared at the tip of Gu Ningyun’s sword and muttered, “Every strike Gu Ningyun made was designed to force Si Puyu to move toward her.”
“What?!”
Xi Caixuan looked at Zhu Zijin, then at the arena, and finally settled her gaze on Ling Hanbai.
Ling Hanbai put down her melon seeds and nodded. “Zhu Zijin is right. Ningyun did it on purpose. To think that while we’re still honing our sword qi, she’s already researching how to apply it tactically.”
Zhu Zijin let out a long sigh. “It’s not a strong sword cultivator one should fear, but a strong sword cultivator who can calculate.”
Gu Ningyun withdrew her sword tip and mentally reviewed the battle, nodding to herself.
After the battle with the demon beasts in the secret realm, her swordsmanship had improved significantly.
The ancients did not lie; a sword cultivator truly grows stronger through combat.
She sheathed her peach wood sword and walked off the stage, planning to grind the Trial Tower once she reached a one-hundred-percent success rate with yellow-rank top-grade earth wall talismans.
With her current movement techniques and strength, dealing with that monkey on Floor 1, Level 70 should no longer be an issue.
“Gu Ningyun, let’s fight again tomorrow.”
Gu Ningyun was descending the steps when she stumbled, nearly twisting her ankle.
She turned around helplessly and looked at the battle-hungry Si Puyu. “ I don’t have time tomor—”
“Then the day after. I’m free whenever.”
Gu Ningyun: “...”
It was true that sword cultivation required frequent sparring, but surely not this frequent.
The girl couldn't even beat her yet. To make their sparring more useful, shouldn't she practice a bit before asking for another match?
She turned away decisively, not wanting to deal with her anymore.
As she left the arena and bid farewell to Ling Hanbai, Zhu Zijin stood up. “Gu Ningyun, let’s have a match in three days.”
Gu Ningyun paused.
She hadn’t fought Zhu Zijin yet, and sparring with him would likely teach her something new.
Trying her best to ignore the burning gaze coming from the arena, Gu Ningyun nodded in agreement. “Fine, see you in three days.”
Si Puyu leaped down from the arena, blocking her path. “What about me?”
“We’ll talk after I’m done with Zhu Zijin.” Gu Ningyun pushed past the youth who was half a head taller than her and fled Fighting Peak.
The reason was simple: she saw several other disciples in the crowd looking like they were about to challenge her too.
More than sparring, she really wanted to draw talismans lately.
Two days later, after sparring with Zhu Zijin, Gu Ningyun eventually exposed her true nature as a sword cultivator and began a life of constant combat.
The earth wall talismans she had been so focused on were tossed to the back of her mind.
A month later, more and more new disciples sought her out for challenges.
Another month passed, and even the veteran outer sect disciples at the Qi Refining stage came to spar with her.
The veteran disciples were truly impressive; not only was their cultivation higher than hers, but their combat techniques were far superior to those of the new disciples.
Rate on N.U.
