"And what if I win?"
Zhong Mingâs words immediately made Xie Yuzhuâs expression turn cold.
"Impossible. Iâm at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, and I have Heavy Abyss. Thereâs no way you can beat me."
Facing the supremely confident Xie Yuzhu, Zhong Ming didnât refute her directly. He simply smiled and said, "It would indeed be very difficult for someone like me at the early stage of Qi Cultivation to defeat you, Miss. But accidents can happen. What if, by some chance, I win..."
"There will be no accidents. Iâm guaranteed to win."
After firmly declaring her inevitable victory, she continued, "Although I think youâre just daydreaming, since you insist, Iâll make you a promise."
"If you manage to beat me, from now on, Iâll cover all the costs for upgrading your flying sword."
As she finished speaking, Xie Yuzhu shot Zhong Ming a glare. "Any more problems?"
"None at all. You may make your move, Miss Xie."
As he spoke, Zhong Ming pulled his left foot back, settling into a sword-drawing stance.
VMMMM...
As he assumed this stance, a unique aura enveloped the area several meters around Zhong Ming.
It was like a treacherous patch of water, calm on the surface but roiling with undercurrents, whirlpools, and an endless abyss below.
Zhong Ming, now in his sword-drawing stance, caused the surrounding atmosphere to grow unnaturally still.
Standing within this area, Xie Yuzhu, thanks to her exceptional Spirituality, was not fooled by the surface calm. Instead, she felt a chill and a sense of danger.
But this didnât frighten her. On the contrary, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Youâve got some real skill. No wonder you were rated A Class on Longxi Peak."
"But itâs not enough to deal with me."
BOOM!
Before her words had even faded, she erupted with immense Qi Force, brandishing her heavy sword and charging furiously toward Zhong Ming like a humanoid T-Rex.
BOOM!
Midway through her charge, her Magical Power transformed into Flame and infused the patterns on her Heavy Abyss Sword. This caused the already massive Heavy Abyss Sword to extend with a Flame Blade several meters long.
RUMBLE...
Wielding the nearly seven-meter-long Flame Giant Sword, Xie Yuzhu swung it down fiercely in Zhong Mingâs direction while still a great distance away.
Ferocious, domineering, unstoppableâthis was the impression Xie Yuzhu gave Zhong Ming.
As a mid-stage Qi Cultivation practitioner who had been nourished by Heavenly and Earthly Treasures since childhood, her Qi Sea Magical Power was three to five times more abundant than that of an ordinary practitioner at the same stage.
To Zhong Ming, her swinging a high-grade Magical Artifact at him felt like a mountain was collapsing on him.
âSo this is a prodigy from a powerful family? Sheâs absurdly strong. I canât block this attack.â
Realizing he couldnât block it, Zhong Ming, in the end, didnât even try.
"Huh?!"
Zhong Mingâs refusal to defend himself stunned Xie Yuzhu for a moment, then made her anxious.
"You idiot, are you trying to die?! Dodge it!"
In her panic, she even tried to pull back her sword.
Unfortunately, having been suppressed for so long and holding a certain admiration for Sword Cultivators, she had put her all into this strike. Because she held nothing back, she couldnât retract the sword herself.
In the end, she could only watch helplessly as her Flame Giant Sword came crashing down and see Zhong Mingâs figure dissolve into a burst of bubbles within the fiery shockwave.
"Itâs over, Iâve killed someone... No, wait, bubbles? That wasnât Zhong Ming!"
"A clone? An illusion? Where is his real body?"
At this point, Xie Yuzhu already had a bad feeling and desperately tried to find Zhong Mingâs true body.
But by the time she realized it, it was already too late.
SHING!
Just as Xie Yuzhuâs sword strike missed, the crisp ring of a sword suddenly sounded at her side.
Along with the sound came a swift and sharp flash of Sword Light.
At some unknown point, Zhong Mingâs figure had already moved to her side. What he had left in his original position was merely an illusion created using the light refraction of the Flow of Water and the Cloud Mist Technique.
âNot good!â
The Longxi Sword-Drawing Technique was known for its speed and ferocity. Since Xie Yuzhu hadnât anticipated this at all, by the time Zhong Mingâs Sword Light flared, she could do nothing but watch helplessly as the sharp Sword Light slashed toward her body.
BANG!
In the end, Xie Yuzhu was sent flying over a dozen meters.
Zhong Ming had no intention of killing her. At the last moment, he had turned his sword from a vertical slash into a horizontal strike.
Of course, as the sword descended, Zhong Ming realized he had overthought things. When Xie Yuzhuâs life was threatened, a brilliant protective shield was instantly activated from the necklace around her neck, causing Zhong Mingâs sword to ultimately strike the shield.
âShe even has life-saving equipment. A disciple from a prominent family is really in another league.â
"Despicable!"
While Zhong Ming was marveling at this, Xie Yuzhu, who had been knocked away, had already gotten back on her feet.
Thanks to the shieldâs protection, she was mostly unharmed.
But now, her face was flushed with clear anger, and she felt Zhong Mingâs methods were underhanded and shameless.
"Youâre a Sword Cultivator! How could you use such a despicable tactic..."
Before Zhong Ming could even reply to this, a derisive laugh rang out from the side.
"Who told you that Sword Cultivators canât use such tactics?"
The one who spoke was Qi Hong.
His appearance, along with several others, and the sharp Sword Cultivator aura emanating from them, left Xie Yuzhu confused.
"Arenât Sword Cultivators supposed to be honorable and forthright, free and unrestrained?"
"Heh heh..." Xie Yuzhuâs words only deepened the sneer on Qi Hongâs face. "Honorable and forthright? Free and unrestrained? Heh heh, any Sword Cultivator like that died out long ago. Demons and monsters wonât play by those rules. Sneak attacks, assassinations, lures, self-detonation, psychological warfare... To kill us, Demons and Evil Spirits will use every sinister and wicked method imaginable."