"Nalan Yanran still lacks combat experience. Pausing at such a moment—the blue light barely affects her, and she could have pressed her advantage."
Xiao Tian shook his head as he observed Nalan Yanran's actions.
Suddenly, a black shadow shot out from within the blue light with astonishing speed, hurtling toward Nalan Yanran.
Nalan Yanran's expression shifted. She swiftly retreated, an attack slamming fiercely into the spot where she had just stood.
The black shadow then launched a rapid, relentless assault. Her face was etched with solemnity and shock.
The shadow lifted its head, revealing Xiao Yan's impassive face. Freed temporarily from the oppressive weight of the Xuan Heavy Ruler, Xiao Yan moved like a ferocious beast unleashed from its cage.
The two clashed once more. A momentary lapse from Nalan Yanran allowed Xiao Yan to land an Eight Extremities Collapse squarely upon her back.
Amidst the exclamations of the Misty Cloud Sect disciples, Nalan Yanran was sent hurtling backward.
When she was roughly half a meter from the ground, she spun with an almost eerie buoyancy. With a light wave of her jade hand, she flipped in midair and landed gracefully upon the unyielding bluestone.
A formidable aura erupted from the now steady Nalan Yanran.
Gasps of awe and envy rippled through the arena.
"I never imagined Nalan Yanran's cultivation had already broken through to the Great Dou Master stage—and not a recent breakthrough at that. What astonishing talent."
Xiao Yan studied Nalan Yanran, whose aura now stabilized at the two-star Great Dou Master realm, and released a soft breath.
He twisted his neck, then drove the retrieved Xuan Heavy Ruler heavily into the ground. Emerald flames surged continuously from his body, coalescing into a suit of emerald Dou Qi armor.
"Dou Qi armor? Is he also a Great Dou Master?"
The sound of cold breaths being drawn echoed across the arena.
Xiao Yan's breakthrough to Great Dou Master was undoubtedly far more difficult for the crowd to accept. Nalan Yanran had the backing of a major power, with access to all manner of elixirs, medicinal herbs, and resources. Xiao Yan, by contrast, was entirely self-made, relying on nothing but himself.
Yun Ling, stationed within the arena, observed Xiao Yan's strength. His aged hands tightened into fists. Recalling how Xiao Yan had brazenly interrupted him earlier—and the broader enmity with the Misty Cloud Sect—the thought that this boy must not be permitted to live had already taken root in his heart.
Nalan Yanran initiated the next exchange, darting forward to thrust her sword at Xiao Yan's chest.
"Good. Come."
Xiao Yan roared, his eyes ablaze with surging battle intent. He had been concerned she might wear him down with her agility, but now that she was closing in, events were unfolding precisely as he wished.
Close combat was his greatest strength.
He sidestepped Nalan Yanran's sword tip while channeling Dou Qi into his hand to strike at her.
Nalan Yanran retracted her longsword to parry, then unleashed five spiraling sword auras. Xiao Yan deployed his Heavenly Flame and Dou Qi armor to defend.
Nalan Yanran grasped that Xiao Yan held the upper hand in close quarters and sought to create distance, but Xiao Yan refused to grant her the opportunity.
His hands, arms, elbows, legs, head—every part of his body became a terrifying killing weapon, denying her any chance to break free.
As their battle intensified, violent energy detonations thundered incessantly across the plaza from the collision of their Dou Qi.
The two transformed into twin streaks of light, clashing without pause. Nalan Yanran, ill-suited to close combat, gradually found herself at a growing disadvantage.
At last, Nalan Yanran was forced to take one of Xiao Yan's strikes head-on, her body retreating rapidly.
"Xiao Yan, let us settle this in a single decisive move."
Nalan Yanran, her robes slightly disheveled and battered, addressed him.
Xiao Yan's own garments and body bore numerous sword marks scored from a distance.
"As you wish."
Nalan Yanran's form began to rise skyward, buoyed without the aid of any propelling force or wings.
Her longsword pointed diagonally at Xiao Yan from above. The blade trembled, and the sunlight from the heavens continuously converged upon it.
The light intensified into a dazzling radiance, akin to a second sun suspended in the sky.
Xiao Yan summoned the Green Lotus Core Flame. He swallowed a pill, and a violet flame emerged from his mouth.
Green flame in his left hand, violet flame in his right. Xiao Yan's hands drew slowly together, and the two-colored flames began merging.
Their gazes met. If nothing unexpected were to occur... something unexpected promptly did.
Seeing each other's movements and techniques, their expressions froze. They stared at one another in mutual shock.
"Yan Xiao?"
"Lan Na?"
The two murmured each other's assumed names several times. Then the crucial realization struck.
Nalan Yanran's expression shifted through a spectrum of emotions—surprise, then complexity. She bit down hard on her red lips.
The only peer of the opposite sex who had shared life and death with her, whom she had admired and respected for so many years, was none other than the young man she had once dismissed as worthless, whose dignity she had trampled years ago.
Xiao Yan's face had also grown exceedingly grim. He recalled those days in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, that gentle yet resolute woman who had weathered life and death at his side, never abandoning him—the white moonlight of his heart, for whom he harbored no small measure of affection.
She was the very fiancée who had once trampled his dignity.
Both their minds dissolved into utter chaos.
As the two stood stunned, the powers they had been accumulating in their hands reached completion. A ferocious sword aura, as though descending from the heavens itself, swept overwhelmingly toward Xiao Yan.
The palm-sized violet-green Fire Lotus in Xiao Yan's hand also loosed itself from his palm, trailing a long tail like a meteor streaking toward the sword light.
Snapping back to reality, both instinctively reached to rein in the sword light and the Fire Lotus. But at their current strength, merely unleashing these two attacks had already pushed them to the limit. How could they possibly retract them?
Both could only watch helplessly as their attacks hurtled toward one another.
"No..."
They cried out nearly in unison. All present assumed it was a shout of despair, overlooking the faint trace of sorrow threaded within.
The sword light and the Fire Lotus collided with devastating force, like a cosmic impact, unleashing a thunderous roar that made every heart quake with dread.
At the point of impact, even the ethereal air blurred and warped beneath the sheer power of the energy collision.
Energy ripples radiated outward in waves, crashing against the barrier sustained by the Misty Cloud Sect disciples. Some of the weaker disciples, unable to endure the strain, coughed up mouthfuls of blood.
Yun Yun's figure shot forth from her seat. She extended her hand and channeled Dou Qi into the barrier. Moments later, a surge of violet Dou Qi also lanced onto the shield from behind her.
Reinforced by Yun Yun's Dou Qi and the violet energy, the barrier instantly became impenetrable.
Yun Yun turned and cast Xiao Yi Xian a look of gratitude.
Xiao Yi Xian smiled and nodded gently.
Good sisters. A lifetime together—no, an eternity. If you are in need, I will always lend my aid.
High above, where vision was obscured by the blinding radiance of the explosion, Nalan Yanran was continuously evading the surging waves of energy shockwaves. After dodging over a dozen, exhaustion overtook her. An energy blast struck her squarely. She coughed blood and was sent flying backward.
A second energy wave surged toward her pallid face.
Because Xiao Yan's strength, bolstered by Xiao Tian's assistance, had advanced even further to the two-star Great Dou Master realm, the power he unleashed was naturally even greater than before.
Yun Yun, who had been maintaining the energy barrier from afar, frantically beat her wings and sped toward them.
Nalan Yanran no longer possessed any reserve strength to resist. She could only watch helplessly as the energy blast bore down upon her. What surfaced in her mind was not farewell to loved ones, but rather scenes from the Magical Beast Mountain Range and the past several days.
An energy explosion resounded.
Nalan Yanran, who had closed her eyes in grim expectation of death, felt her plummeting body caught and cradled by a pair of hands.