Chapter 410 - 214: Their Respective Paths

Chapter 410: Chapter 214: Their Respective Paths

The trajectory of each beam of sword light was erratic and unpredictable, making it difficult to tell the real from the illusory. This was the essence of her style: overwhelming with numbers, creating chaos through constant change.

Shi Zheng remained motionless.

The sixteen beams of sword light slammed into the golden barrier, creating a dense flurry of ripples, yet not one broke through. He was like an unyielding boulder, standing firm no matter how the currents swirled and changed around him.

But breaking his defense in a single blow had never been Leng Zhi’s intention.

The deflected beams of light did not dissipate. Instead, they transformed into even finer spiritual threads that clung to the surface of the golden barrier. The unique, seeping quality of their water-and-wood-aspected qi was like spring rain soaking into frozen earth, attempting to dismantle the solid defense from the outside.

Shi Zheng’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. The Peace Mirror’s defense was formidable, but it required a constant supply of his Spiritual Qi to maintain. His opponent’s seeping infiltration, though not intense, was relentless. It was like being cut by a dull knife—a slow drain that consumed far more energy than a direct, powerful assault.

Then, the muscles in his right arm suddenly tensed. The wide-bladed short saber let out a low hum, like the growl of a tiger.

He had gathered enough power. Then, Shi Zheng struck.

There were no flashy Sword Formulas, no complex Dharma Seals, not even an aerial slash. He simply took a single step forward, his saber arm releasing like a fully drawn bowstring, and hurled the sheathless, wide-bladed short saber like a javelin!

The instant the saber left his hand, the air cracked with a piercing shriek.

This short saber was no flying sword; it was not built for agility. Its entire purpose was to be the embodiment of extreme speed, extreme weight, and extreme, brute force.

Wherever the blade passed, it carved a deep gouge into the green flagstones, sending shards of rock flying. The sixteen residual sword lights clinging to the golden barrier were violently blasted apart by the tyrannical force of the impact. The saber, carrying enough ferocious power to cleave through iron armor, shot straight for Leng Zhi!

This was Shi Zheng of the Beixuan Sect.

Motionless, he was a mountain. In motion, he was like lightning sundering the earth, every strike a killing blow.

The classic military style.

Leng Zhi’s pupils contracted. She knew with absolute clarity that she couldn’t block this attack.

’I can’t block it.’

’So... I won’t.’

A Spiritual Light flashed beneath Leng Zhi’s feet as she executed her Body Technique at full power. Her entire body became like a wisp of cloud scattered by a gale, drifting sideways and evading the attack by a hair’s breadth.

BOOM—

The saber grazed past her afterimage and slammed into the flagstones three zhang behind her. The stone slabs shattered on impact. Arm-thick cracks radiated out from where the blade landed. The violent aftershocks of Spiritual Qi swept over her like a tempest, whipping her sleeves and robes. A few strands of her hair, severed by the sharp force, drifted slowly to the ground.

’Too close.’

’Just a split second.’

Leng Zhi steadied herself, her breathing slightly ragged. She looked over at Shi Zheng. That single attack had exhausted the momentum he had built up for so long. His short saber was now embedded in the distant rubble, its blade still humming and vibrating. Meanwhile, the golden light from the Peace Mirror before him had dimmed noticeably, a consequence of him diverting his focus to attack.

’His saber is powerful.’

’Strong enough to decide the match in a single blow. But the attack was too direct. So direct its trajectory was easy to read. So direct you could see him gathering his power. So direct that once it missed, he had nothing left in reserve.’

This was a saber style born for charging into an army of thousands. On a battlefield, there’s no need to conceal your attack. Enemies are everywhere; every swing is bound to find a target. But this was an arena. And his opponent was just one person.

He was perfectly suited for the battlefield, and perfectly unsuited for the dueling ring.

Now, Leng Zhi knew exactly how to win. Her form suddenly became ethereal and indistinct as she began to move rapidly around the arena. The sixteen beams of sword light split once more, this time into thirty-two. Like a sky full of swirling willow catkins, they descended on Shi Zheng from every conceivable angle.

But she never clashed directly with the Peace Mirror’s golden barrier. Instead, her attacks were like pecks—touching the shield and then instantly retreating. A hit-and-run strategy.

Shi Zheng’s brow furrowed deeply.

His defense was still solid, and Leng Zhi’s sword lights still couldn’t penetrate it. But she wasn’t even trying to. She was simply wearing him down.

Every beam of sword light that struck the golden barrier drained a sliver of the Peace Mirror’s Spiritual Qi. Every probing attempt forced him to divert his focus to maintaining his defense. He didn’t even have a moment to recall his short saber.

Down below the stage, Wu Qing watched with rapt attention. She suddenly understood why Lei Yue had called her final, desperate gamble against Sun Chen foolish. It hadn’t been a tactic; it had been a bet on her own life. What Leng Zhi was demonstrating now—this was true battle intelligence.

Without realizing it, a fine sheen of sweat had formed on Shi Zheng’s brow.

His Spiritual Qi reserves far surpassed Leng Zhi’s, and his saber could still deliver a fatal blow. The problem was, he couldn’t get an opportunity to unleash a second strike. The Peace Mirror’s defense remained firm, but under the relentless attrition, it was fading at a rate visible to the naked eye.

His strategy had always been to first secure an invincible position, then look for an opening to end it all in a single, decisive blow.

But Leng Zhi wasn’t giving him any such opening.

She was like an uncatchable cloud, everywhere at once yet nowhere to be found. He was a reef, weathering any storm but ultimately unable to move even half a step to pursue her.

This match had been unfair from the very beginning. Not because of a disparity in Cultivation, but because of a disparity in their "Daos"—their fundamental paths.

Time ticked by, second by second.

When Shi Zheng’s Peace Mirror finally let out a final, mournful hum and the golden barrier shattered like colored glass, he made no further attempt to recall the short saber he had never been able to retrieve.

He stood his ground, silently watching the turquoise flying sword that hovered before Leng Zhi. Its tip was a mere three feet from his throat, its blade shimmering with a gentle, jade-like, water-and-wood-aspected light.

"I’ve lost."

Shi Zheng’s voice was perfectly steady, as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.

Leng Zhi immediately recalled her sword. She quietly regarded the man before her, who had not moved a single step from start to finish. His face showed no sign of resentment or dejection, only the calm of someone settling a debt.

He accepted his defeat.

His saber, his stance, his Dao—they were all forged for the battlefield. His defeat in the arena today wasn’t because he was weak, but because the path he had chosen was never about winning or losing a single duel in a single moment.

"Your saber, Junior Brother..." Leng Zhi said suddenly. "On a battlefield, I wouldn’t have been able to stop it."

Shi Zheng looked up at her, silent for a moment before nodding slowly. "Mm."

Then he turned and walked toward the short saber embedded in the rubble.

Leng Zhi sheathed her sword in its case.

On the arena floor, the crisscrossing sword marks and the deep gouge carved by the saber stood in silent opposition.

Qin Huaiming and Lei Yue exchanged a glance. Lei Yue gave a slight nod.

"The third match..."

Qin Huaiming’s steady voice carried across the arena. "Winner of the third match: Leng Zhi of Yunji."

Leng Zhi’s steps were steady and her expression remained cool as she walked off the stage. Lin Xiyun came forward to greet her, offering a simple handkerchief with a smile. "You worked hard, Senior Sister."

Leng Zhi took the handkerchief and dabbed at an almost invisible bead of sweat on her temple, saying nothing.

When Shi Zheng returned to the Beixuan Sect’s designated area, the short saber was once again in his hand. Its blade was flecked with stone dust. He took out his own handkerchief and began to wipe it clean, inch by inch.

Wu Qing opened her mouth, wanting to offer some words of comfort, but found she didn’t know where to begin. She had never considered Shi Zheng weak. In fact, in her heart, she believed her senior brother was truly the strongest person the Beixuan Sect had brought.

But today, he had lost.

"Senior Brother..." she called out softly.

Shi Zheng didn’t look up, his focus remaining on wiping his blade.

"Mm," he grunted in response.

Wu Qing suddenly felt that perhaps nothing needed to be said.

Shi Zheng finished wiping the last inch of the blade, laid the short saber across his lap, and looked up toward the arena.

After a brief silence, Qin Huaiming’s voice rang out again, pulling everyone’s attention back to the arena. "The fourth match..." His gaze swept over the Xuanyue and Beixuan Sect’s seating areas. "Yang Wenqing of Xuanyue versus Wu Qing of the Beixuan Sect."

He paused, then added, "As both combatants have already completed one match, this fight will be postponed. It will resume here in the Martial Arts Arena at one-thirty this afternoon."

Such were the rules of the Three Sects’ tournament. There was no deliberate favoritism, but also no excessive demands. Winners needed time to recover, and losers needed time to heal. It was a cycle of tension and release, with each contestant managing their own condition.

Hearing this, the tension in Wu Qing’s shoulders eased slightly. She said nothing, but slowly exhaled a long breath and closed her eyes again. The medicinal effects of the elixir were still circulating through her meridians.