At a critical moment of life and death, with only half of a stick, facing the fierce whip wind, a small flower unexpectedly bloomed.
The small flower was light pink, suddenly appearing at the tip of the stick, like a branch of flowers suddenly growing in the spring, carrying a kind of tentative beauty.
“What is this?” Duan Xiangrao raised her eyebrows, subconsciously wanting to pull back the whip. The usually flexible and casual Serpent Bone Whip now seemed to be entangled by something unknown, making it difficult to pull out.
The more she struggled, the deeper the Serpent Bone Whip sank, as if an invisible swamp had appeared between her and Zanxing, sucking the whip into it.
“What’s going on? Why did Junior Sister Duan stop moving?” The disciples below only saw Duan Xiangrao suddenly stop, and asked in confusion.
Zanxing coldly looked at Duan Xiangrao, sending the other half of the broken stick forward.
On the spacious competition stage, within the intertwined curves of whip and stick, a shallow ripple suddenly spread out, like the lake water under the moonlight on an autumn night, filled with the moonlight under the night sky. The bright silver moon fluctuated with the ripple, making it difficult to distinguish between water and air.
This scene was not only refined but also full of poetic beauty. It left the disciples below momentarily stunned.
“Such crude technique,” Duan Xiangrao sneered, “Did you pass the first round of assessment with this move?” She released her grip, allowing the Serpent Bone Whip to fly towards the water mirror in front of Zanxing. Suddenly, she gathered her elemental force in her palm and shouted, “Serpent Shadow—”
Below the stage, Ziluo nervously exclaimed, “This is bad!”
The skill Duan Xiangrao practiced, called “Serpent Whip,” had a third move called Serpent Shadow. The power of Serpent Shadow was immense, and for Duan Xiangrao to cultivate it to the third level in just over ten days was extraordinary. However, it was rare for ordinary disciples to use this move on fellow disciples because of its ferocity. Once Serpent Shadow entered the body, it crazily absorbed the qi from the victim. The consequences ranged from regression in cultivation to life-threatening injuries.
Zanxing’s cultivation was already inferior to Duan Xiangrao’s, and now, with Duan Xiangrao using the deadly Serpent Shadow, Zanxing was likely to face some trouble.
Indeed, the Serpentbone Whip, trapped in the water mirror, suddenly transformed into illusions, then split into dozens, even hundreds of thin whips in an instant. Upon closer inspection, they were not whips but moving black Serpents, countless Serpent shadows pouncing towards Zanxing.
The water mirror, which had been rippling gently, abruptly cracked, followed by a crisp sound, and the ripples dispersed, shattering the moonlight into fragments.
“Die!” Duan Xiangrao’s whip was now inches away.
Zanxing sidestepped and counterattacked with her staff. However, the Serpent shadows seemed endless. Each Serpent shadow that landed beside her swiftly drilled into her body, stealing a fraction of her qi.
The disparity between the late Foundation Establishment stage and the early Foundation Establishment stage was indeed too vast.
In an instant, Zanxing’s gray veil was stained red with blood. Duan Xiangrao spread her hands, and countless Serpent Shadows flew back into her hand, converging into a long whip shimmering with a faint blue light. She flew towards Zanxing, brandishing the whip, “You may retreat now!”
Zanxing gritted her teeth, meeting the whip with her staff, “Don’t speak too soon!”
At this critical moment, within her spiritual consciousness, a familiar voice seemed to echo. The voice was crisp and gentle, resonating like a bell in the heavens and the earth, awakening her. It said, “The beauty of a woman, the sound in the air, the color of affection, the moon in the water, the flower in the mirror.”
As the woman’s voice fell, Zanxing’s broken staff suddenly elongated. She felt as if the Xiao Yuan Pearl within her body was about to break free from its constraints. Without restraint, she allowed the elemental force of the Xiao Yuan Pearl to envelop the broken staff.
The white-clad woman in Zanxing’s spiritual consciousness stood beneath the flowering tree. The wind from her staff swept the flowers from the tree, and now, although there was no tree on the competition stage, layers of iridescence unfolded wherever the staff pointed.
Lotuses, like beautiful women, forever hidden in the brightness of spring, without the passage of seasons, without sun or moon, without aging or decay. Thousands of peach blossoms, millennium-old herbs, recall nothing of the mortal world. The so-called azure clouds and crimson hues, fleeting in nature, amidst the changing of the celestial bodies, the only constant was the ephemeral beauty of the mirror flowers and water moon themselves.
On the stage, a sea of flowers bloomed where the staff pointed. This sea of flowers was layered in crimson, making the evening glow pale in comparison. In the midst of the red glow, the woman in gray robes standing in the center seemed to blur into an enchanting beauty. Holding two broken staffs, she appeared disheveled, yet displayed a breathtaking charm.
Daoist Yueguang, in the distance, exclaimed in astonishment, “Mirror Flowers and Water Moon… She has actually mastered the complete technique of Mirror Flowers and Water Moon?”
To be able to execute even half of the technique was beyond expectation, not to mention that, regardless of Zanxing’s comprehension ability, with her current cultivation level, it was impossible for her to perform the complete “Mirror Flowers and Water Moon.”
On the stage, Duan Xiangrao began to sense trouble. She forcefully swung her Serpent Bone Whip, but it collided with a layer of flowers. Instead of shattering the flowers, it rebounded as if hitting a solid barrier.
Zanxing suddenly activated her qi throughout her body.
In the several dozen days of practicing the “Qing’e Flower Picking Technique,” she had used the Mirror Flowers and Water Moon technique many times. However, without actual flowers present, she could only manifest the “Water Moon” aspect and not the “Mirror Flowers.” But today, in the moment when she was pushed to desperation by Duan Xiangrao, Zanxing suddenly comprehended the deeper meaning of “Mirror Flowers.”
It turned out that “Mirror Flowers” were originally illusory, and thus, there was no distinction between “having flowers” and “not having flowers.” The “flowers” were false, but the “staff” was real. However, the existence of the “staff” was to evoke the appearance of “flowers.”
Just like the world in this book is false, yet she is a real person. She bore the identity of a tool person only to create her own path, one that belongs to her and not as a mere accessory subject to the whims of fate.
She simply wanted to live, to control the direction of her own destiny.
The staff swung through the air, smashing apart the flower sea like a waterfall. The flying flower staffs above and below made it impossible for Duan Xiangrao’s serpent whip to approach, forcing her to retreat step by step.
As she neared the edge of the stage, Duan Xiangrao gritted her teeth and once again infused her elemental force into her whip, “Serpent Shadow!”
Countless Serpent Shadows flew towards the flower sea. Illusion upon illusion, sternness and beauty intertwined, making the spacious competition stage eerie and enchanting. Everyone’s heart was in their throat. No one could predict the outcome.
Bang—
The dark blue whip snapped into two pieces, its luster quickly dimming, resembling a piece of decaying wood, devoid of its previous fierceness and agility. In the next moment, the woman in gray robes executed a rolling turn, her remaining staff striking towards her opponent’s knees.
Duan Xiangrao was sent flying off the stage.
Silence filled the stage and the audience.
The woman in gray robes lowered her staff, and the rippling water patterns, the flower sea, and the hues in the air disappeared in an instant, as if it were all just a magnificent dream.
The voice of the announcing disciple echoed throughout the entire stage, “In the thirtieth match, Yang Zanxing wins—”