Chapter 207: Don’t Underestimate the Bond Between Us!

Across from her, Qian Xueqing saw Ling Xiaoyou waving and interacting with a young girl in the audience.

Seeing them gazing at each other from afar and the smiles blooming on their faces in unison, Qian Xueqing instantly understood something and sighed inwardly.

‘What? So she’s already taken.’

‘I thought I’d met a cute little girl I could get to know, but it turns out her heart already belongs to someone else.’

‘Oh well. Since that’s the case, I won’t go easy anymore. I’ll end this fight seriously.’

‘If I can’t win her heart, then winning the championship is fine too.’

Just as Qian Xueqing was thinking this, she heard the referee announce,

“The match begins!”

The spell for Body Enhancement activated in an instant, strengthening her already powerful physique.

Qian Xueqing drew her longsword and was about to charge toward Ling Xiaoyou when her expression suddenly changed.

She turned sharply to look at Ling Xiaoyou.

There, Ling Xiaoyou was standing still.

Her gaze had already withdrawn from the young girl in the audience, and she was now staring thoughtfully at the ground.

Everything seemed perfectly ordinary.

But just moments ago, Qian Xueqing had suddenly sensed a fleeting, terrifying aura.

The source of that aura was exactly where Ling Xiaoyou was standing.

‘Was that an illusion?’

After all, based on the battle footage of Ling Xiaoyou from before, although she was strong, she definitely wasn’t strong enough to make Qian Xueqing feel unsettled.

‘But was it really an illusion?’

Qian Xueqing had quite a bit of confidence in her perception and had never made a mistake during combat.

So there was no way she could have misjudged such an overwhelming presence.

‘In other words…’

‘The one who emitted that overwhelming presence was indeed this little girl!’

Qian Xueqing stared gravely at Ling Xiaoyou, trying to see through the guise of a cute little girl to find the terrifying inner nature.

On the other side, Ling Xiaoyou had just finished using an overclocked spell to check whether there were any traps left by Qian Xueqing nearby.

She let out a slight sigh of relief.

Although she wasn’t necessarily afraid of traps, if she accidentally triggered one during battle, it would be annoying.

So to be safe, she had to scout things out before the fight.

But…

Ling Xiaoyou turned to Qian Xueqing and scratched her little head in confusion.

She’d thought Qian Xueqing would attack while she was checking the surroundings.

She had already prepared to counter, but unexpectedly, the other party didn’t attack.

And…

Why did she look so on edge?

‘Do I look that scary?’

Ling Xiaoyou looked at Qian Xueqing oddly and asked,

“Aren’t you attacking?”

‘Why is she asking me that?’

‘Could it be that she’s dissatisfied with me not attacking?’

Qian Xueqing was momentarily stunned, then a word popped into her mind.

‘Fishing for an attack!’

‘That’s it. Those interactions were just a decoy. Thinking carefully, it’s obvious. There’s no way she’d greet her companion in the audience during a match like this. She was clearly putting on a show for me.’

‘And her purpose…’

Qian Xueqing paused imperceptibly and glanced around Ling Xiaoyou.

If she remembered correctly, after the match began, Ling Xiaoyou’s gaze lingered around her own body for a moment.

If her guess was correct, there were now layers upon layers of traps set there.

If she approached, she would fall into those countless traps.

Then, her life or death would be in Ling Xiaoyou’s hands.

Thinking this, Qian Xueqing couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

‘This girl is definitely not simple. At the very least, she’s not as harmless as she appears.’

With that thought, Qian Xueqing’s gaze grew even more cautious, and her expression became more solemn.

Ling Xiaoyou: “?”

She looked oddly at Qian Xueqing, who was on guard just because of one word from her, and couldn’t understand what was wrong with her.

But standing there doing nothing was also boring.

Many spectators were already starting to protest.

‘Boredom. I want to see blood flow.jpg.’

Her little head full of strange thoughts, she tilted it and said to Qian Xueqing,

“Since you’re not attacking, I’ll start first.”

Hearing this, Qian Xueqing’s expression changed.

‘Has this girl seen through my plan? Is she getting angry now?’

Before she could think further, dark clouds suddenly gathered.

Rolling black clouds, carrying furious winds and torrential rain, arrived at this place, unleashing the sky’s wrath.

The rain poured down, but it wasn’t ordinary rain—each drop was a tiny, sharp sword.

“Ten Thousand Swords Return to One!”

Ling Xiaoyou shouted the somewhat chuunibyou attack name excitedly, controlling the small swords made of raindrops that were, in essence, imbued with her Spirit Power.

The next moment, countless small swords, following the movement of Ling Xiaoyou’s finger, traced countless graceful arcs through the sky and shot toward Qian Xueqing all at once.

It was a scene like the apocalypse.

The sharp, water-blue swords covering the sky all shot toward her, making it seem as if she were a sinner hated by both heaven and earth, suffering divine punishment.

‘Is this really an opponent at my same cultivation realm?!’

‘Did the host make a mistake in the group division?’

‘Shouldn’t her strength be classified into a higher realm?!’

Qian Xueqing raged inwardly at the Xuantian Martial Tournament host, but her face remained calm, her expression serious and solemn.

Though she complained, she still had to figure out how to take this attack.

A demonic aura spread around Qian Xueqing.

Her pupils instantly turned vertical, becoming sharp fox eyes.

Then, her gaze quickly swept through all the rain swords charging toward her.

A gleam of brilliance shone in her red eyes.

‘Found it! The weak point of this technique!’

Her bloodline spell from the Fox Clan activated rapidly.

A giant fox phantom appeared and enveloped Qian Xueqing.

Once enveloped by the phantom, Qian Xueqing appeared in the head of the fox.

Perhaps the bloodline phantom had some kind of position-correction feature.

Once she entered it, the fox phantom’s eyes immediately lit up with life.

It no longer looked like a mere illusion but a sentient existence.

She cried out to the sky, and the fox’s claw slammed down on the weak point Qian Xueqing had spotted earlier.

With the claw’s impact, the “Ten Thousand Swords Return to One,” which had been forming a sword momentum, was scattered and its power decreased by thirty percent.

The remaining smaller swords attacked Qian Xueqing but were blocked by the fox phantom.

That phantom seemed to be the sturdiest defense, protecting Qian Xueqing completely without letting any attack hit her.

Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou nodded her little head thoughtfully.

‘So she’s a fox. No wonder she was so familiar earlier. It must be the Fox Clan’s nature acting up.’

‘Wait, does that mean… her invitation to dinner earlier wasn’t what I thought?’

Ling Xiaoyou noticed a key point.

Regarding this, she…

‘Mm, let’s just pretend I never thought of that. No matter what her real intention was, I’m not going anyway.’

‘After the match, I’m having a victory celebration with Bai Shuanglian!’

‘I’m not having dinner with this Qian Xueqing!’

Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou flipped her small hand.

Surging waves appeared instantly on the field, carrying an aura that seemed capable of washing everything away.

Then, Ling Xiaoyou controlled the waves to strike the giant fox, planning to break through the phantom first and then defeat Qian Xueqing protected inside.

But to her surprise, the giant fox was far sturdier than she expected.

The crashing waves didn’t break it, only dimming the phantom slightly.

‘Pretty tough.’

Ling Xiaoyou muttered inwardly and prepared to continue attacking the phantom.

Suddenly, she felt her vision turn crimson, as if a layer of bloody gauze had been draped over her eyes.

Ling Xiaoyou was startled.

She turned her head sharply and met the fox phantom’s vertical pupils.

Unexpectedly, those pupils were not devoid of emotion as she had imagined.

On the contrary, they contained a wealth of emotion.

Joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, shock, fear, thought…

It was as if all the emotions a human could imagine were contained in those eyes.

Anyone could find their own feelings reflected there.

Ling Xiaoyou was no exception.

Seeing her own reflection in those eyes—showing “thought,” “doubt,” “surprise,” etc.—she furrowed her brow slightly.

‘What kind of spell is this? It can even change the world I see. Could it be some powerful technique exclusive to the Fox Clan?’

Before Ling Xiaoyou could think further, she suddenly saw the giant fox begin to change.

It was shrinking!

In just an instant, the originally gigantic fox shrank to the size of a young girl, and its form and face twisted and changed continuously.

Then, Ling Xiaoyou saw it.

It was a delicate, exquisite face.

Snow-white skin set off those crimson eyes, making them incredibly beautiful and moving.

The cute smile at the corner of her lips was like a charming little angel.

It was herself.

Ling Xiaoyou looked at the giant fox that had suddenly become exactly like her, then glanced around at the bloody world.

She vaguely understood.

‘Am I… caught in an illusion?’

‘To think even a Spirit, who excels at illusion, can be trapped in one. This must be the Fox Clan’s specialty.’

Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou didn’t take her eyes off the “fox-transformed Ling Xiaoyou.”

Based on years of reading anime and novels, to break this illusion, she had to defeat this replica of herself.

With that thought, Ling Xiaoyou felt a bit strange.

‘On the first day of the match, I created a replica of my opponent. Now it’s my turn to be replicated. Really, the heavens have a way of repaying.’

Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou raised her small hand and directly activated her most powerful spell, Sigh of the Tides.

Instantly, water like a collapsed heavenly river surged toward the “fox Ling Xiaoyou.”

Beneath her feet, a whirlpool made of water was already ready, locking her firmly in place.

Then, seemingly endless water engulfed the “fox Ling Xiaoyou.”

Ling Xiaoyou clenched her small hand.

With a rumble, she triggered a water explosion at the spot where the “fox Ling Xiaoyou” had been submerged.

‘She should be dead, right?’

Ling Xiaoyou watched the water surface gradually calm and thought this.

But then her expression changed drastically.

She looked up at the sky.

As if history was repeating itself, a flood of water covering the sky came rushing down, while Ling Xiaoyou found herself unable to break free from the suction beneath her feet.

Ling Xiaoyou’s pupils contracted.

She stared at the scene in disbelief.

Then she looked toward where the “fox Ling Xiaoyou” had been and saw a stream of water condense into a humanoid form, becoming Ling Xiaoyou’s likeness.

This was…

Sigh of the Tides!

The replica formed by the illusion had used the same move.

The “fox Ling Xiaoyou” stared expressionlessly at Ling Xiaoyou, then mimicked her by raising her small hand and clenching it.

Another rumble.

But this time, the target wasn’t the “fox Ling Xiaoyou”—it was Ling Xiaoyou herself.

The water surface gradually calmed.

Ling Xiaoyou’s figure was nowhere to be seen, as if she had been destroyed by the spell.

But the “fox Ling Xiaoyou” didn’t disappear.

She just stared in the direction Ling Xiaoyou had vanished, as if watching her through the water.

“Huff… I knew it wouldn’t be that easy to kill her…”

Ling Xiaoyou let out a long breath and abruptly emerged from the water.

As the caster of the technique, she naturally wouldn’t be hurt by this attack.

Still, it had left her a bit disheveled.

But fortunately, this was an illusion space, so no one could see her like this.

Ling Xiaoyou looked at the “fox Ling Xiaoyou” across from her.

Seeing that it wasn’t attacking anymore, she was momentarily stunned.

Then, as if understanding something, she murmured,

“So she’s just trying to keep me trapped in the illusion?”

Qian Xueqing’s purpose wasn’t hard to guess.

Once caught in the illusion, Ling Xiaoyou would be unable to fight, making victory easy for Qian Xueqing.

‘I wonder if my defensive artifact has held up against Qian Xueqing’s attacks.’

Ling Xiaoyou’s gaze sharpened, and she said,

“I can’t waste any more time here. I need to get out quickly.”

She looked around, focusing on the “fox Ling Xiaoyou,” and said,

“I have to deal with this replica quickly.”

As she spoke, an idea struck Ling Xiaoyou.

She flipped her small hand, and the Imprint Dice appeared in her palm.

Then, Spirit Power surged around Ling Xiaoyou, and something intangible and formless subtly shifted.

The “fox Ling Xiaoyou” stared blankly at all this.

It only reacted to Ling Xiaoyou’s attacks and ignored everything else.

The next moment, a sword light carrying cold energy suddenly cut through the air, slashing into the “fox Ling Xiaoyou” and freezing her in three inches of ice.

The “fox Ling Xiaoyou” raised her hand slightly, trying to mimic Ling Xiaoyou and release a sword qi.

But then her movement abruptly stopped.

No relevant usage method was detected.

In other words, she couldn’t wield this sword strike.

The “fox Ling Xiaoyou’s” almost nonexistent intelligence didn’t understand what had happened, but the instinct to execute her orders made her repeatedly imitate the motion of raising and swinging a sword.

Seeing this, Ling Xiaoyou gave a satisfied snort.

The ice-formed longsword in her hand swung sharply, and several clean sword lights sliced into the “fox Ling Xiaoyou,” shattering her.

In the next moment, the illusion shattered.

What greeted Ling Xiaoyou’s eyes was an enormous fox and Qian Xueqing, who was staring at her in shock.

“That’s impossible. How did you break the illusion so quickly?”

Ling Xiaoyou glanced at the ice-blue longsword in her hand and smiled slightly, saying,

“Of course, by relying on the bond between me and my friends!”