On the massive platform, only Jiang Huai and Chi Huang were left.
Cold wind swept across the icy surface, kicking up light snow.
The atmosphere felt stagnant for a moment.
Chi Huang held one arm, her crimson eyes wandering.
Sometimes she looked at the Dragon Shadows dancing in the distance, and sometimes she stared at the ice beneath her feet, refusing to meet Jiang Huai’s gaze.
Bitterness, complexity, grievance, and unwillingness—all sorts of emotions churned inside her like a tangled mess, clogging her throat and leaving her unsure of where to even begin.
“Let’s begin.” Jiang Huai skipped any unnecessary pleasantries. With a sharp *shing*, he drew the sword at his waist.
On the blade, the pure Two Energies of Yin and Yang flowed endlessly, and his Sword Intent quietly permeated the air.
Since he had agreed to the trade, he would be diligent and do his best to help Chi Huang gain something from their sparring.
Chi Huang, however, took one small step back. Her voice was low and dejected. “I haven’t practiced my sword skills these past few days.”
“Besides, I don’t really want to practice anymore.”
“I feel like my efforts are useless…”
Jiang Huai’s brow furrowed instantly.
He moved, his figure lunging forward like a ghost, instantly closing the distance between him and Chi Huang.
The sword in his hand didn’t hesitate for a single second.
The tip of the blade turned into a point of cold starlight, piercing straight toward Chi Huang’s throat.
The sword strike was fierce and incredibly fast, carrying a very real, bone-chilling killing intent.
“You don’t want to practice?” Jiang Huai’s voice rang out amidst the whistling wind of the sword. “Did you think I came here to chat and keep you company?”
“Draw your sword!”
In the time it took to speak those two sentences, the blade was already upon her, showing no sign of stopping or pulling back.
It looked as though it would pierce through Chi Huang’s throat in the next heartbeat.
The sharp Sword Intent brought a genuine threat of death, terrifying Chi Huang.
In her haste, how could she care about being depressed? The instinct for survival instantly overwhelmed everything else.
She let out a sharp cry, and a crimson Dragon Scale Phantom instantly covered her body.
At the same time, she leaned her waist back sharply and followed with a frantic sideways roll, narrowly avoiding that lethal strike.
While rolling, she finally drew her crimson sword with a resonant *shing!*
Before she could even steady herself, Jiang Huai’s second sword strike followed her like a shadow. The sword light was ethereal, its trajectory unpredictable.
“You! Do you really want to kill me?!” Chi Huang was both shocked and enraged. She swung her sword to parry, the impact numbing her arm.
She finally realized that the killing intent and pressure carried by Jiang Huai’s sword were entirely genuine.
Back in the Secret Realm, she had been able to fight Jiang Huai back and forth, their clashes ending in a draw.
Why did she feel so utterly powerless against him now, like a child facing an adult?
Jiang Huai turned a deaf ear to her questioning.
With a flick of his wrist, the blade traced an arc.
The Two Energies of Yin and Yang surged, skillfully leading and parrying her strike.
*Clang!*
Chi Huang felt the crimson sword in her hand vibrate violently, nearly flying out of her grip.
She tightened her hold desperately, barely managing to keep her weapon, but her entire arm was now sore and numb.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Huai stood with his sword, his voice still calm.
“Did losing once to a maidservant you spent every day with break your Dao Heart so badly you can’t even hold a sword steady?”
“Or is it that, deep down, you actually look down on Chi Lian? Do you feel that losing to her is a massive humiliation that you can’t accept?”
“I don’t look down on her!” Chi Huang seemed stung by those words.
She snapped her head up, her crimson eyes burning with anger as she shrieked, “I just… I just look down on myself!”
She gripped her sword tightly, her chest heaving.
The emotions that had built up over the past few days finally found a breaking point and surged out.
“I’ve cultivated for so many years! I was called the genius of the Red Dragon Clan! The Honored Master’s best disciple!”
“I worked so hard, gave everything to my sword practice and cultivation! And the result? I was defeated so easily by Qin Xuange!”
“Even Chi Lian, who was always by my side and whom I knew best, has now surpassed me!”
“Shouldn’t I be sad? Shouldn’t I doubt myself?!”
Her voice gradually took on a tone of despair.
“I don’t want to practice anymore. I can’t compare to them anyway. Once Chi Lian receives the Honored Master’s true legacy and returns, I’ll be even less of a match for her!”
“I don’t even know what I’m practicing for anymore! What’s the point?!”
In the past, even if she wasn’t the strongest among her peers in the Five Provinces, the gap hadn’t been large.
She believed that as long as she worked harder, she could always catch up.
She was proud because she believed that with her talent and hard work, she had the chance to become the strongest.
But Qin Xuange and the current Chi Lian were like two mountains that had suddenly appeared before her. For the first time, she truly felt that some gaps could not be closed by effort alone.
This cruel realization had nearly crushed the pride she had always held.
Jiang Huai paused. He withdrew his sword and walked toward the emotional Chi Huang with steady steps.
“I thought it was some formidable heart demon,” Jiang Huai said softly.
“Turns out, you just can’t accept that you aren’t the unique chosen one, or that someone is stronger than you.”
He stopped in front of Chi Huang, looking down at her as she crouched on the ground with reddened eyes.
His tone was calm and flat. “I don’t know what your Dao is, and I don’t know how to comfort or motivate you.”
He raised his hand, leveling his sword once more.
The tip pointed directly at Chi Huang, while black and white Qi intertwined and rose from the blade.
“I only know that if I stop, if I become complacent, or if I act like you’re acting now, then I will never see the person I want to see again. Everything I cherish would be ruthlessly swallowed by the Outworld Heavenly Demons.”
His gaze moved past Chi Huang, as if looking toward some distant place.
“So, whether you want to become stronger or whether you’re willing to pick up your sword again isn’t that important to me.”
“I came here because of a deal—to help Chi Lian become better and to help my own people become better.”
“As for my own cultivation, it’s so I can have the power to protect those I care about, to end this calamity, and to see my Madam one more time. That’s all.”
After speaking, his wrist moved slightly.
The sword, pulsing with Yin-Yang Sword Qi, was once again placed gently against the side of Chi Huang’s neck.
It was identical to the coldness Qin Xuange had felt in her dreams.
Jiang Huai’s voice softened accordingly. “Now, get up.”
“Practice.”
Chi Huang crouched on the ground, looking up at Jiang Huai’s emotionless eyes.
Feeling the chill and pressure of the blade against her neck, a mixture of humiliation and confusion flooded her heart.
She bit her lower lip, about to argue back.
Suddenly, a mocking and cold voice, one she found utterly detestable, drifted over from the side of the platform.
“You’re looking for her to practice?”
“What a waste of time.”
The churning emotions in Chi Huang’s heart were interrupted by this annoying voice.
She turned her head in annoyance and looked toward the source.
She saw that Qin Xuange had quietly arrived at the edge of the platform at some unknown point.
Her face was still pale from her unhealed injuries, but her posture remained as straight as a spear, exactly like Qin Qingyue’s.
Her black dress made her skin appear even fairer, and her lips curled into an unabashedly mocking smile.
“Why don’t you come to me instead?”