With peach-like cheeks, an apricot complexion, and her robes billowing in the wind, standing there with the azure whip in hand, she looked like a painting.
In contrast, the woman in a gray robe across from her, holding a staff, appeared rather ordinary and coarse.
Ziluo, standing just below the competition stage, still remembered Zanxing. Seeing this situation, she worriedly spoke, “With the Serpent Bone Whip, Junior Sister Yang might be in danger.”
Her junior disciple by her side asked, “What’s wrong with the Serpent Bone Whip?”
Ziluo shook her head, “In the Taiyan Sect, we’ve never restricted disciples in their cultivation techniques. As long as they aren’t practicing forbidden arts, they can choose the path they excel in. The Serpent Bone Whip technique is actually quite suitable for women because the whip is small and lightweight. But if one underestimates it for that reason, they might suffer significant losses.”
“Moreover, if I remember correctly, Junior Sister Yang is only at the Foundation Establishment First Stage now.”
In contrast, when Duan Xiangrao entered, she already had the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
On the stage, Duan Xiangrao had already swung the whip towards Zanxing.
The Serpent Bone Whip appeared long and slender, but when it swung, it carried a powerful gust of wind. Zanxing leaped back, and the whip struck the ground, splitting it open.
The audience below gasped.
“What are you avoiding?” Duan Xiangrao smiled. “Didn’t you say you wanted to become an inner disciple based on your own skills?”
Zanxing stopped in her tracks, turned, and held her staff to confront Duan Xiangrao. She said, “You talk a lot.”
The woman’s staff was made of iron, but in her hands, it seemed weightless as she swung it effortlessly. She brought it down horizontally towards Duan Xiangrao’s legs, but Duan Xiangrao leaped and dodged. The staff had only been a feigned strike.
Duan Xiangrao dodged once more, and with a quick turn, she whipped the staff around. However, it was caught by Zanxing’s staff. Unperturbed, she smiled and tugged it back, causing the Serpent Bone Whip to coil tightly around Zanxing’s staff. Zanxing’s pupils contracted, realizing the danger, and she swiftly moved aside, grabbing the staff and taking a few steps back.
In just a few moments, the two women had exchanged several moves. The combat between the women was not as brutish and dull as the men’s fights; it was elegant and graceful, akin to a dance. The disciples in the audience grew more and more excited.
“Great, they’re doing well!”
“Junior Sister Duan’s performance is stunning! Whip her!”
“Your staff technique is better than I imagined,” Duan Xiangrao looked at Zanxing. “Unfortunately, this staff of yours is subpar.”
“Your whip is good,” Zanxing replied, “but your whip technique doesn’t match its quality.”
Duan Xiangrao raised an eyebrow, “Are you mocking me?”
Zanxing nodded, “Yes.”
While the Taiyan Sect provided ordinary novice equipment to new disciples, Duan Xiangrao’s whip was different. She had sought out Wang Shao earlier due to her lack of spirit stones, and without a doubt, this beautiful Serpent Bone Whip in her hand was likely a gift from Hua Yue to win her favor.
This competition’s rules were quite unfair. Duan Xiangrao’s whip could at least increase her elemental power by one level.
“You want to mock me based on your standards?” Duan Xiangrao concealed her smile, and her gaze turned cold. She scornfully said, “The match is already over.”
Her whip suddenly extended like a snake, winding its way towards Zanxing. Zanxing channeled her elemental power, meeting the whip’s wind with her staff, cutting it down. In her ears, she seemed to hear the crisp voice of a white-clothed woman from her spiritual consciousness, giving clear instructions: “High Four-Level, Advance with Three Thrusts, Advance and Pivot, Carry the Bow and Turn to a Golden Rooster Stand, Stabilize Your Knees, Push with Two Staves…”
Whether it was an illusion or not, Zanxing could feel the breath and flow of every inch of her muscles and meridians in her body at this moment. She could make precise adjustments to her staff technique down to every fraction of an inch. Her mental clarity surpassed every previous practice. She blocked the oncoming whip with her staff, then gracefully stepped forward and thrust the tip of the staff towards Duan Xiangrao’s heart.
Xuan Lingzi, watching from a distance, clenched his fist with excitement, “This young girl’s staff technique is impressive. Did you see that push with the staff just now? I think she can win…”
Daoist Yueguang remained silent.
In the next moment, Xuan Lingzi exclaimed, “What?”
The staff, which had been thrust toward Duan Xiangrao, came to an abrupt halt.
Duan Xiangrao looked at Zanxing, her gaze filled with mockery, “I told you, you’re not capable.”
From the tip of the staff, a whip suddenly coiled around it. This whip emitted a faint blue light, segmented like a snake’s supple body, winding tightly around the staff. Zanxing felt her heart sink as she tried to retract the iron staff, but the whip was like a stubborn python. When she exerted more force, a crack sound was heard as the whip snapped in half, and the broken end of the whip, along with the staff, surged towards Zanxing’s face, the whip’s end abruptly transforming into a dark snake head, spitting out venom towards Zanxing’s chest.
Thud!
What fell to the ground wasn’t just Zanxing; it was also the staff, broken into two pieces.
“Zanxing, Junior Sister!” Tian Fangfang shouted in distress.
Zanxing spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling as though her entire body had been crushed, the pain almost bringing tears to her eyes.
Duan Xiangrao raised her hand, and the broken Serpent Bone whip swiftly flew back to her, reassembling into a complete, unbroken whip.
Serpent Bone whips were naturally flexible.
“How does it feel now?” Duan Xiangrao looked down at Zanxing condescendingly, wearing a light smile. “Can you accept defeat now?”
The woman in the gray robe lying on the competition stage wiped the blood from her lips with her fingers and calmly replied, “I don’t accept it.”
The audience below was momentarily stunned.
Zanxing struggled to lift her body, managing to stand with great effort, and she gazed directly at the person across from her.
Duan Xiangrao was just a tool, and the emotions of a tool, even her hostility, appeared so inexplicable and unreal. What Zanxing couldn’t accept was the erasure she faced in the original work.
Being forced into the world of the book was not her desire. She simply didn’t want to be a cannon fodder tool, going with the flow and becoming a pawn of the strong. She tried to change her predestined fate, but once the original story detected her, this world would use various unfair means to erase her.
For example, at this moment.
Mismatched cultivation levels, unfair competition.
The woman in the gray robe repeated slowly, “I don’t accept it.”
Duan Xiangrao frowned and said, “If you don’t accept defeat, then I’ll make you accept it!” She swiftly cracked her whip, lashing it towards Zanxing.
The whip struck Zanxing fiercely, leaving behind a bloody trail that sent chills down one’s spine. But Zanxing remained seemingly unaffected, squatting to snatch the broken iron staff back into her hands.
“Why is she trying to grab the staff?” Some disciples in the audience were puzzled. “She should just admit defeat at this point.”
“It’s just a dying struggle!” Duan Xiangrao sneered, lashing her whip once again with full force. Even if Zanxing didn’t die, she would be severely injured.
“Sister!” Tian Fangfang anxiously shouted, “Just admit defeat.”
Zanxing, however, seemed as if she hadn’t heard, keeping her back turned to her opponent.
The whip was about to strike her. On the open competition stage, the woman’s figure appeared exceptionally small. It was as if with this one lash, she would disappear into the vastness of the world, becoming hard to trace.
The woman in the gray robe suddenly turned and swung her staff forward.
This strike appeared so weak, like a feeble attempt to challenge a giant, making it look somewhat absurd.
But the whip unexpectedly didn’t advance any further.
In the full view of the audience, at the tip of that staff, a flower suddenly bloomed.