Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, only seven days remained until the Qingyun Grand Tournament.
On this day, the sky over Bailing Mountain was clear for thousands of miles, and the pool's water was as serene and quiet as a mirror.
Ye Ling walked slowly to the edge of the pool. Her entire sharp aura was completely restrained, without a single trace of Sword Force leaking out. At first glance, she looked utterly ordinary, as if she had not made any progress at all.
However, if one sensed carefully, they would detect an extremely pure and fierce Sword Force hidden deep within her physical body.
The massive body of the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish hovered above the pool, its giant lantern-like eyes filled with solemnity as they locked onto the young girl on the shore.
After these several rounds of sparring, it no longer dared to treat Ye Ling as a junior who needed it to hold back.
It had already come to view her as an equal, a sword Dao expert capable of fighting it on even terms.
Gently slapping the water's surface with its massive tail, it spoke in a deep voice.
“Looking at your aura today, it is somewhat different from before.”
“It seems you have made another breakthrough.”
Ye Ling nodded slightly, her eyes calm and composed.
“This seclusion has yielded some success. My coming here today is also my last time seeking guidance from Senior.”
Hearing this, the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish froze slightly, but it quickly understood and let out a soft sigh.
“So that's how it is. Calculating the time, there are only seven days left until the Qingyun Grand Tournament. It is indeed time for you to leave the secret realm.”
“Since this is the final battle, this seat will not hold back even a fraction of my strength. Let us have a hearty battle!”
A fiery battle intent ignited in Ye Ling's eyes. Her fingers tightened slightly around her sword as she said clearly,
“Alright!”
The moment her voice fell, the Qinglan Sword unsheathed with a resounding clang!
Buzz!
A deafening sword hum echoed through the entire mountain forest as a seamless, pure, and condensed Two and a Half Layers of Sword Force suddenly unfolded.
A heavy and overbearing invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire pool. The surrounding flowing spiritual energy of heaven and earth was completely shattered and thrown into a frenzy by this Sword Force.
The Lantern-Bone Giant Fish did not dare to be careless in the slightest. The Tongxuan Realm demonic energy within its body erupted completely without reservation, and dense, pitch-black innate demonic runes crawled all over its massive fish body.
In the next instant, the vast waters of the pool violently surged, and a bone-chilling coldness diffused in all directions.
“Ten Thousand Waters Condensing Icy Hell!”
With its innate water-attribute spell fully activated, countless faint blue spots of light exploded in the void. Thousands of ten-foot-long, diamond-shaped ice blades condensed out of thin air, blanketing the sky in layers. Wrapped in dense demonic energy, they dove down from all directions, sealing off all of Ye Ling's paths of evasion.
Facing the overwhelming onslaught of ice blades, Ye Ling's eyes remained calm and rippleless. Her wrist suddenly twisted, and the long sword in her hand slashed down heavily.
“Sword Blanketing a Thousand Mountains!”
The first sword stance of her own creation suddenly manifested.
A continuous, vast green sword curtain descended like collapsing mountains, its heavy and majestic sword pressure suppressing the entire space from above.
The ice blades flying through the sky shattered into a mist of ice one after another the moment they collided with the surface of the sword curtain. The icy offensive that the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish had exerted all its strength to unleash was forcefully stopped by this single strike.
Seeing this, the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish violently whipped its tail to stir the undercurrents at the bottom of the pool. A continuous stream of water-attribute spiritual energy surged up from the depths, and it was about to follow up with another counterattack.
However, Ye Ling's offensive suddenly shifted. Her originally heavy and rigid Sword Force abruptly transformed into a gentle, flowing state, withdrawing her Sword Blanketing a Thousand Mountains stance.
“Senior Giant Fish, watch out. This is a new sword stance I have comprehended.”
“Sword Controlling Ten Thousand Waters!”
This was her second self-created sword stance, which she had completely comprehended and formed during her seclusion yesterday after sparring with the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish several times and observing the flow of water-attribute spells day and night.
The tip of the Qinglan Sword trembled slightly as countless thin and long green sword silk threads spread out in all directions. The surrounding shattered ice water, cold mist, and free-floating water spiritual energy were all drawn in and tamed by Ye Ling's Sword Force.
The majestic water force that the giant fish had unleashed just now actually ended up surging and circling around Ye Ling instead.
Thousands of flowing streams moved in tandem with the tip of the Qinglan Sword, and layers of water currents swept toward the giant fish at the center of the pool.
Looking at the rushing water that was entirely under Ye Ling's control, the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish was instantly shocked and cried out in disbelief,
“You actually created another sword stance? And it's a water-attribute sword stance?”
Its eyes widened, its face filled with shock.
It was a water-attribute demon beast that had relied on water control as its foundation for hundreds of years. Controlling the surrounding water currents had long since become its instinct.
Yet right now, control over all the surrounding water vapor and currents had been forcefully snatched away by Ye Ling's Sword Force.
As a water-attribute demon beast, its command over the water could not even suppress Ye Ling's newly born water-attribute sword stance.
Seeing this, the giant fish's expression instantly became solemn to the extreme, without a single trace of ease remaining.
“Since that is the case, this seat will no longer hold back. I will fight you with all my strength!”
Ye Ling stood with her sword, her eyes burning with battle intent as she calmly replied,
“Senior Giant Fish, please use your full strength. Today, we shall fight to our hearts' content and leave no regrets.”
The Lantern-Bone Giant Fish nodded its massive head slightly.
Instantly, a pure and majestic water-attribute demonic energy, far exceeding all its previous attacks, violently exploded!
The vast waters of the pool beneath it trembled violently. All the surrounding water vapor and floating cold mist in the sky were forcefully pulled together, condensing and compressing frantically in front of the giant fish.
The water was frozen and refined layer by layer, ultimately condensing into a giant ice blade that was dozens of meters long, completely translucent, and bone-chillingly cold.
With a solemn expression, the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish warned in a deep voice,
“This move is called Icy Blade Slash. It is an innate bloodline talent spell that awakened from the depths of my bloodline when I broke through to the Xiantian Realm back then.”
“This move is incomparable to ordinary spells, and its power is extremely formidable. You must be careful!”
The moment its voice fell, the dozens-of-meters-long giant ice blade swept down with bone-chilling frost, crashing down with a terrifying force capable of destroying anything in its path.
The freezing cold instantly froze the air along its path, and large patches of ice rapidly formed on the surface of the pool. The heavy bloodline pressure sealed off all of Ye Ling's paths of evasion.
Seeing that she could not dodge, Ye Ling fully unleashed her newly comprehended self-created killer move, Sword Controlling Ten Thousand Waters.
Her entire Two and a Half Layers of Sword Force erupted, drawing and pulling the water currents she had previously controlled, splitting them in mid-air into hundreds of flowing, surging water swords of varying lengths.
The outer layer of each flowing water sword was covered with a condensed and heavy layer of green Sword Force. The reflection of water and green light blanketed the entire sky above Ye Ling.
Ye Ling thrust her sword forward, and hundreds of water swords surged forward in unison, directly meeting the descending giant ice blade head-on.
Rumble!
A deafening roar that shook the mountain forest suddenly erupted!
Just as the green light and the freezing icy glow clashed violently, the two forces tearing and countering each other in a frenzy,
deep within the clouds high above, a pair of cold, narrow vertical pupils hid quietly, silently taking in the entire fierce battle.
Neither Ye Ling nor the Lantern-Bone Giant Fish had noticed the prying eyes from above the clouds.
The hard, cold giant ice blade smashed ruthlessly into the cluster of water swords, its bone-chilling coldness eroding them frantically.
The water swords that came into contact with the ice blade were instantly frozen into shattered ice, and one water sword after another exploded and splashed.
However, a continuous stream of water replenished them from the bottom of the pool, and new water-shaped swords kept forming, stubbornly resisting the terrifying force of the descending ice blade.
The endless stream of water swords continuously deflected the overbearing impact of the Icy Blade Slash.
The green light and cold glow collided fiercely in mid-air. Ice shards and water vapor sprayed all over the sky, and a violent spiritual energy shockwave swept across the pool in all directions.
The giant rocks beside the pool shook endlessly, and all the trees in the nearby forest were snapped in half by the shockwaves of the two forces.
The two forces remained locked in a stalemate, with neither able to gain the upper hand for the moment.
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