“Unfair! Totally unfair!”
Lin Nan frowned with displeasure. Her usually gentle nature was thoroughly vexed by Zhao Lei’s tantrum and shameless cheating.
She waved her hand. “Then we’ll have a rematch. You use your Eighth Rank strength.”
Zhao Lei’s shout abruptly stopped.
He chuckled twice, gripped his treasured sword again, and True Qi burst forth all over his body, blue light and white lightning flashing suddenly around him.
His long hair was lifted by the rushing True Qi. He sneered contemptuously, “Junior Sister Lin, you’re truly arrogant and presumptuous, utterly ignorant of your place in the world.”
Lin Nan finally reached her limit.
She sighed, somewhat helplessly, “How can you be so shameless, taking advantage and still acting all innocent?”
“Ha!”
Zhao Lei roared fiercely, continually refining his True Qi, forcibly pushing himself from the peak of Ninth Rank down to Eighth Rank. But that wasn’t the end; he dashed forward madly, again stopping at the peak of Eighth Rank. One wrong thought and he would fall back to Seventh Rank, revealing his true combat strength.
“Petty and narrow-minded, scheming all the way, that Zhao Lei…”
Not just Lin Nan and the surrounding disciples felt awkward—this time even the Sword Peak Master was losing face. Clearing his throat, he took a long sip of tea, then put the cup down and feigned surprise, “Eh? I only glanced away for a moment, how come they’re having a rematch again?”
Zhelian let out a cold chuckle but didn’t dare expose him in front of the Sect Leader.
“Your Thunder Sword is quite different from the Danxia Sect’s Blood Fiend Technique you encountered before,” Zhao Lei said confidently. Of course, he couldn’t be the top fighter of the same realm, but in his eyes, suppressing a peer who wasn’t the best in their realm was still within his grasp.
He held his sword sideways, lightning crackling along the blade. Centering on Lin Nan, he paced slowly, step by step.
As if seeking her weakness, ready to strike one decisive blow for a grand victory.
“Though both rely on explosive killing power, my Thunder Sword never exhausts True Qi, nor does it expose glaring flaws like that idiot Cao Xingzhi.”
“To a Senior Brother a realm above, Junior Sister Lin, I must warn you: cultivation across realms is like crossing mountains and seas. This strike will be swift. You’d better be careful.”
Having said that, Zhao Lei just happened to circle behind Lin Nan. True Qi flashed violently along his long sword, still using the initial instant-flash move, but this time his speed was noticeably faster. In the blink of an eye, he closed in.
The blue lightning sword stabbed straight at the back of Lin Nan’s heart.
This time, thunder roared in tandem with the sword.
The thunderous roar echoed in Lin Nan’s ears, severely disrupting her judgment.
Yet she remained calm, slightly bending her knees, and the next moment she sprang away instantly.
No matter how fast Zhao Lei was, everyone here was only Third Realm cultivators. Even if he used his full Seventh Rank power, his instant-flash couldn’t teleport him right in front of her.
So she didn’t need to think about dodging—just charge forward.
Her jade-green eyes flickered with a golden light. The cat-shaped Flowing Shadow Body quietly activated. Lin Nan’s speed surged dramatically compared to before. After leaping a great distance forward, she leisurely turned around.
Not-Seeing-Green stood sideways in front of her, perfectly blocking Zhao Lei’s second heavy thunder strike.
With a crisp clash of swords, the second boom of thunder rang out.
“You fell for it,”
Zhao Lei grinned broadly, True Qi bursting forth. Blue lightning exploded along the sword’s blade, piercing through Not-Seeing-Green and stabbing straight at Lin Nan’s face.
“Junior Sister Lin, your Summon Demon Art is useless!”
Lightning flashed violently, True Qi pushing the girl’s white hair high into the air.
Those eyes, always gentle, remained calm and composed.
Whether abandoning her physical form or using the Flowing Shadow Body, she could have escaped her current predicament. But it wouldn’t be appropriate. Even with Summon Demon Art to cover her, and with Shu Ying and Xuanzhenzi backing her up, a Monster body couldn’t be so casually used.
“Senior Brother Zhao, you may have forgotten one thing,” the girl said quietly, facing that worm-like lightning stabbing toward her without even frowning.
“What?”
“The Qingyun Heart Sutra is famed for its overwhelming aftershock. The more transitions it has, the greater the combined force, and the more apparent the killing power.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, I almost forgot, Senior Brother Zhao never studied the Qingyun Heart Sutra,” she said with a touch of apology.
But that sentence felt like two hard slaps across Zhao Lei’s face. He suddenly felt embarrassed. Gritting his teeth, he no longer held back. The lightning spear shot out violently.
Lin Nan held a horse stance, waist and legs flexed with reverse power. Blue light flashed in her eyes.
In Zhao Lei’s eyes, that lightning spear shattered with a thunderous boom, exploding into a blinding white light, turning the world into a haze.
But she said, “Do you know why the Thunder Sword will never be as powerful as the Qingyun Heart Sutra?”
Clang!
Not-Seeing-Green pointed diagonally at the ground. In front of her, Zhao Lei looked dazedly at his flying sword that had been knocked away.
Before he could figure out what was happening, in the blink of an eye, Lin Nan’s green glowing sword qi tore through the air.
Zhao Lei retreated several steps, right hand forming sword formations as the blue light flickered. The sword wailed mournfully as it flew back swiftly into his palm from beyond the sky.
The Thunder Sword, known for offense, had to condense True Qi into a lightning wall, using it all-out for defense.
“Bang, bang,” continuous sounds rang out. The green glowing sword qi struck the lightning wall. Unlike before when the two could contend with each other, this time Not-Seeing-Green broke through like a battering ram. The sound shattered the thunder, and the lightning wall was smashed to pieces, sparks flying everywhere. The green sword qi remained undiminished, even growing fiercer like a raging beast, clawing and roaring as it charged at Zhao Lei.
Zhao Lei’s face turned pale. With nowhere to dodge, he exerted all his strength, fingers moving rapidly. The sword emitted countless white lights, forming a shield before him.
True Qi no longer restrained itself, breaking through realm limitations to reach Seventh Rank.
“Boom—”
A massive explosion sounded as the green sword qi hit the white light. Though the shield wasn’t shattered immediately, it was pushed backward. Zhao Lei’s eyes widened. Using every ounce of his strength, he barely held the unstoppable green sword qi about a foot from his body.
At that moment, the green glow dazzled his eyes. The cold wind howled fiercely, close enough to touch, as if facing a ferocious beast in a death match.
One moment it was the white cat bearing a ridiculous grin, and the next, it was a ferocious tiger, baring fangs and roaring through the forest.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Panicked, Zhao Lei shouted three times in a row.
The shattered thunder light scattered like broken porcelain across the land. In the center of the “porcelain shards,” a blue sword pierced through countless lightning bolts, calmly resting just an inch from Zhao Lei’s nose.
The girl’s beautifully eerie white hair floated lightly down, gently settling behind her head.
Her eyes showed no killing intent or malice—just the usual gentle, distant calm.
Zhao Lei’s pupils trembled as he stared at the sword’s cold gleam. He instinctively took a step back.
Lin Nan flourished the sword once more. After sheathed, Not-Seeing-Green was cradled in her arms.
Her voice was soft. “Senior Brother Zhao, this time, you have no excuse left.”
Zhao Lei collapsed to the ground, blankly staring at the sky, mind empty and heart heavy, not knowing how to respond.
An excuse—he truly couldn’t find one.
It was said that when Lin Nan used the Summon Demon Art, her emerald True Qi would turn dark blue. But just now, her True Qi’s color never changed.
In other words, he had lost under her Qingyun Heart Sutra.
He couldn’t even blame their realm difference, since he had abandoned the promise of suppressing realms and used Seventh Rank power to resist Lin Nan’s sword. The result was still defeat.
“Actually, you could find a reason,” the girl chuckled softly. “Senior Brother Zhao, if you had used your Seventh Rank strength from the start, before my Qingyun Heart Sutra had stacked, you might have had a chance to win.”
What kind of excuse was that? Wasn’t that just an insult?!
Suddenly, he realized this wasn’t a reason for him—it was a mocking counterattack from the girl.
He smiled a little.
This Junior Sister Lin was truly interesting: vindictive, aggressive, and quite scheming.
Was this Lin Nan’s flaw?
“Lost is lost, Junior Sister Lin. I admit defeat.”
He shook his head, realizing that after this battle, his cultivation path would likely be plagued with mental demons.
The girl smiled like a spring breeze. She gestured politely, “Since everyone’s here, Senior Brother Zhao, please fulfill your promise.”
Zhao Lei’s face turned pale. Gritting his teeth, he stepped forward slowly to the Sword Peak Master, then knelt down with a loud thud, kowtowing three times.
Using True Qi to amplify his voice, he broadcast his words throughout the Martial Transmission Hall.
“Thunder Sword is not as powerful as the Qingyun Heart Sutra.”
“Thunder Sword is not as powerful as the Qingyun Heart Sutra.”
“Thunder Sword is not as powerful as the Qingyun Heart Sutra.”