Seeing that Changling was determined to fight this battle, Ye Qi didn’t try to stop her. Although she couldn’t fully utilize her internal energy, fighting with two hands against a single fist—it wouldn’t be easy for Fu Yangui to gain any advantage from her either.

As he thought this, his heart immediately relaxed. At this moment, the two people on stage had already begun to move.

The first to strike was Changling.

Back when she’d infiltrated Fu Yangui’s bedroom at the Fu residence, she’d exchanged moves with him once. Though the entire encounter lasted no more than three exchanges, it was enough to see that this person’s martial arts were unfathomably deep. Having already decided to use this martial competition to cleanly sever this sticky relationship, she leaped forward right from the start with slanted palms and fierce punches, every move directly targeting his vital points. Her strikes were so sharp and severe, they were like a life-and-death struggle.

Fu Yangui kept one hand behind his back, able to defend only with his right hand. He hadn’t expected Changling to lead with killing strikes, so he didn’t dare be the slightest bit careless. Immediately pressing his foot down, in the midst of shifting positions his legs kicked out like lightning, avoiding Changling’s offensive while also launching surprise attacks—every move was so dazzling that observers couldn’t keep up.

A jianghu sect master among the seated guests couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “This is the ‘Universe Beneath the Steps’ technique of the old master of the Qimen Sect! Not only can it advance and retreat freely to avoid enemies, it can also launch unexpected attacks when the enemy is unprepared. Every step contains the universe itself. I never imagined that your nation’s Prime Minister Fu, at such a young age, could practice this divine skill to such a supernatural level of mastery.”

Hearing these words, Zhou Qin’s heart jumped: Doesn’t that mean it’s even more powerful than our Drifting Traces Step?

Changling’s eyes flashed slightly.

Universe Beneath the Steps emphasized dodging first, then attacking, while Drifting Traces Step focused on attacking first, then avoiding. When these two leg techniques collided, it would depend on who executed their skill faster.

When Changling kicked, stomped, stepped, and tripped, Fu Yangui flashed, cut, soared, and leaped. And when he turned three times in a single step, she countered by stepping back four steps in nine circles. In short, it was using speed against speed, using even greater speed against greater speed.

The two exchanged more than ten moves with their legs while their hands weren’t idle either. In an instant, two figures on the stage rotated left and right. All that could be heard was the howling of palm winds, yet people could barely make out even their shadows.

Everyone present was utterly astonished. Someone said in a low voice, “A presented scholar ranked tenth already has such skills—what about the martial champion?”

Wang Xun watched the stage with complete focus, thinking: If it were me, I would definitely be suppressed in this fight, but she… actually matches Prime Minister Fu move for move.

However, at this moment, Changling didn’t appear as effortlessly composed as outsiders saw.

The Shimo True Scripture she’d cultivated since childhood excelled in internal heart techniques. Put simply, it relied on mysterious body movements and profound internal energy to flip over a large group with a single palm strike. Even when using a sword, it mostly killed with sword qi.

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, she naturally couldn’t use her sect’s martial arts. Every punch and palm was real, solid close-quarters combat. This type of fighting tested the speed and force of the moves executed.

If she hadn’t once challenged all the major Central Plains sects in a circuit to help Shen Yao seize the alliance leadership, she wouldn’t have studied these complex and varied martial techniques. But even so, without daily and nightly diligent practice, even when putting them to use, she couldn’t achieve the ultimate speed. As for force… every one of her strikes contained concentrated power, yet Fu Yangui’s internal energy was even deeper than she’d imagined. Not only could he receive them without the slightest error, he could even counterattack with even greater force—

Changling silently cursed.

After lying in the Ice Cave for eleven years, not only had she not gained any flesh, she’d lost all her original muscle. Having exchanged only about a hundred moves so far, her fists, arms, and even her foot bones were already aching faintly.

How could Fu Yangui not know her concerns?

He’d known early on that Changling couldn’t use her most skilled martial arts. And up until now, he’d only used sixty percent of his skill, yet she was already struggling.

He closed in, his elbow vibrating and pressing, pushing and sending, giving her no chance to borrow force cleverly.

This competition—he was determined to win.

Ye Qi stood close to the platform. Hearing their every elbow and arm contact produce muffled thuds, his heart couldn’t help but rise with concern. He knew deeply that Changling’s physical condition wasn’t suitable for taking hits head-on. But if he tossed her a sword at this moment, people would probably say it was unfair.

He raised his eyes and saw the slender plum branch inserted at the stage’s edge for decoration. He immediately called out, “Plum branch!”

With a glance from the corner of her eye, Changling spun in a large circle step and snatched that plum branch before Fu Yangui could reach it. Then her entire form swept across like an autumn goose crossing a river—the situation suddenly changed dramatically.

Though the branch was light, grasped in Changling’s hand it was like a sword blade with exposed edge. He didn’t dare catch it barehanded and could only avoid it. In this moment of distraction, the movements of his hands had no choice but to shift from offense to defense. Though steady as a rock, for Changling it meant changing from passive to active—her left hand continued to maneuver with fists and palms, while the branch in her right hand methodically pressed closer.

Everyone had just been watching them fight evenly matched, yet in an instant, this young lady had actually reversed the situation using only a plum branch. All were shocked. Though the sword moves she used were ordinary, they were swift as rushing thunder, agile as a spirit snake, under the night sky graceful as a startled swan—truly both pleasing to the eye and exhilarating!

When masters exchanged moves, victory or defeat was decided in an instant. If one continuously avoided without attacking, it was extremely easy to expose weaknesses.

Fu Yangui’s “Universe Beneath the Steps” had already been disrupted in rhythm. Changling seized the opportunity. Her left hand’s five fingers pressed together in a diagonal chop while her right hand raised the branch and flipped her wrist—with one move called “Solitary Crane Piercing the Clouds,” she thrust toward his face.

This move was both mysterious and unfamiliar—precisely the one Changling had painstakingly researched that day for Fu Yanyang, specifically adapted for platform combat.

Fu Yangui’s spirit shook. He hastily leaned back to let it pass, but was ultimately still half a beat too slow. The branch tip scraped past his earlobe, drawing a conspicuous bloody mark.

Zhou Qin recognized this move at a glance. “Isn’t this…”

“It’s the Solitary Crane Sword that Sister Ting taught me,” Fu Yanyang said in amazement. “I never thought when she used it, it would have such tremendous power.”

Zhou Qin silently glanced at Fu Yanyang, thinking: This Second Young Master Fu really is a strange person. His own older brother is being beaten like this, yet he can still analyze the sword technique so coherently?

Seeing the blood, Changling withdrew the plum branch with a backhand motion and asked with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, “Still fighting?”

During their earlier exchange, Fu Yangui had sensed that both her vigor and stamina were limited, which was why he’d held back. Now seeing her expression, an inexplicable trace of disappointment rose in his heart: I’ve yielded to her at every turn, yet her every move is ruthless. Before… when did she ever treat me this way?

On second thought, if she knew his true identity, what she dealt wouldn’t just be a ruthless hand.

Fu Yangui gathered his composure. “The incense has only burned halfway. Why stop?”

Changling’s delicate brows rose. “Fine, then let’s continue.”

With that, her left palm pushed forward while her right wrist turned nimbly. Three moves—”Swallow Crane Bone,” “Cloud Crane Pattern,” and “Crane’s Return Journey”—launched simultaneously in a furious charge.

Fu Yangui no longer evaded but faced her directly. His head tilted, and the plum branch scraped past his neck with hair-raising danger. Before Changling could hook it back, his right elbow suddenly swung out and abruptly gripped her wrist.

This move came extremely fast. Changling was caught off guard. By the time she wanted to withdraw her hand, it was already too late—she felt an enormous internal force seeping through his five fingers into her Taiyuan acupoint. In just an instant, that force flowed along the acupoint toward her four limbs and hundreds of bones. In a flash, her hands and feet went weak, and from head to toe her entire body went stiff and numb.

Changling’s heart jumped.

This was that move from that night that had immobilized Xu Laifeng!

Changling felt the internal energy gathered at her Shanzhong and Qihai energy seas dispersing, gradually flowing toward the other party. She immediately sealed her own acupoints. Although this meant her internal energy wouldn’t be absorbed, she also couldn’t act.

What kind of evil technique was this?!

Originally the two on stage had been moving so fast it was dizzying. Suddenly fighting and then just stopping—everyone present was dumbfounded. What was this situation?

Changling couldn’t move. Seeing that Fu Yangui also hadn’t moved, she remembered that night when he’d tossed her the dagger and told her to stab Xu Laifeng. From this, it was evident that the person using this move couldn’t act freely for a while either—

She was momentarily confused. Surely Fu Yangui couldn’t be hoping that by remaining frozen like this until the incense burned out, he could win this battle?

No, that’s not right!

If it were merely an evil technique that absorbed others’ internal breath, unable to fuse the internal energy, the person executing it would first enter a state of qi deviation—but at this moment, Changling could sense Fu Yangui’s own true qi flowing from top to bottom, counter to his meridians.

She froze, suddenly remembering something from a long time ago.

Back then, she’d basically reached the level of “grass, wood, bamboo, and stone can all become swords.” Hearing that a hundred years ago someone had achieved “flying flowers and plucked leaves can all kill,” she became obsessed with playing around with tree leaves.

During that period, Fu Liujing had been captured by her to the military camp and wandered around idly all day with nothing to do. Once, seeing her use a tree leaf to strike down a sparrow, he’d casually complained, “At most you can only injure little birds and rookie birds like this. You can’t kill people and just waste internal energy. Better to honestly pick something with hardness to play with.”

Changling ignored him and flung out several more tree leaves. They could only stick into tree trunks close to her; the distant ones fell down. Fu Liujing laughed gleefully at her misfortune. “See? Tree leaves are soft. Even if you can channel and drive them with true qi, the distance is very limited. You can’t very well run along with the leaves…”

Changling thought for a moment. “If distance doesn’t work, what if they could circle around my body within an inch or so? Wouldn’t that be equivalent to wearing armor of thorns, with infinite power?”

“That’s true in theory…” Fu Liujing pondered briefly, scratching his head. “But don’t you all just blast a palm and kill a bunch of people? Internal energy always goes outward. You can’t very well absorb it inward, can you?”

“Who knows? Maybe you can.”

After that casual conversation, Changling had once tried practicing the skill of reversing true qi flow. It was just that humans have eight extraordinary meridians—exactly how to reverse the flow to achieve unobstructed circulation would require at least eight hundred to a thousand attempts before possibly succeeding. Later, she became exhausted with warfare, and this matter was temporarily set aside.

Fu Yangui’s palm strike made her suddenly recall that past conception. In a moment, she understood—this Fu surname fellow happened to also be using the method of reversing internal energy. On one hand, it could temporarily subdue her; on the other hand, when his own true qi accumulated to a certain degree, he could break through and overwhelm her.

To deal with this situation, she’d need to use even deeper internal energy than his to push him away—but clearly, the internal energy in her body right now was slightly inferior to Fu Yangui’s.

Then… only one other method remained.

Changling met his eyes, her form tilting as if unable to stand steady.

Fu Yangui discovered that the true qi she’d been steadfastly guarding suddenly leaked out a trace, slowly converging into his own body’s meridians. Seeing her pale lips, he thought: Can she not hold on anymore?

Ye Qi had originally been watching them deadlocked like this, guessing that Fu Yangui had used some strange internal energy technique. He was just hesitating about whether to find a way to interrupt this competition when he saw the corners of Changling’s mouth slowly curve up in an imperceptible arc.

With almost telepathic understanding, Ye Qi halted his steps and involuntarily held his breath.

Was she waiting for some opportunity?

At this moment, Fu Yangui finally gathered his internal energy beneath his feet. He swept out forcefully, about to knock Changling down. But just as his instep was about to touch Changling’s ankle, her toes shifted, meeting that kick at precisely the right moment—

Two feet clashed with fierce force. Fu Yangui was shaken backward two steps by this power. She took advantage of the momentum to float backward, her form as light as a flying teal, landing on the bamboo branch at the stage’s edge, floating as if on water waves.

Fu Yangui’s heart shook—how did she evade it?!

Changling’s expression remained calm, but her eyes were bright and clear, more luminous than all the flower lanterns.

She tossed away the plum branch and spread her arms wide. In an instant, the leaves on the bamboo seemed to be drawn away by a powerful force, like butterflies awakened to life, attaching one by one to her garments—arms, back, legs, feet. In the next moment, she swept down in a leap. Her garment hem generated wind as she came forward, whooshing with a palm strike straight at his face.

Fu Yangui received the palm with a diagonal elbow, about to execute that earlier move again. However, the moment their palms touched, with a bang, she easily pushed him away!

“How could…” Fu Yangui’s pupils contracted. “Could it be…”

Changling glanced at him arrogantly. “Minister Fu, have you ever heard the saying: treating others using their own methods?”

In that urgent moment just now, Changling had deliberately leaked a portion of her true qi, sensing once through the order of his flowing meridians, then copied the pattern exactly as it was.

For someone who’d practiced the Shimo True Scripture, the meridians throughout the body would be more flexible than ordinary martial arts masters. Every inch of skin could absorb or release true qi. Fu Yangui’s “reverse flow rebellion” technique used on her would only become even more intensified.

At this moment, what Changling’s feet still trod was the Drifting Traces Step, and what her hands still used were ordinary, unremarkable common moves. But every palm Fu Yangui received was several times more strenuous than before—because he not only had to defend against the force of fists and palms, he also had to avoid the bamboo leaves on her body that were as sharp as knife blades. His silk garments, if carelessly scraped, would tear open with a ripping sound.

As her palm shadows danced, the flower petals on the stage floor were also stirred up by her power, falling petals flying colorfully, moving between the two. To outsiders’ eyes it was delightfully pleasing, but falling on Fu Yangui’s face it was like being struck by shattered stones, painfully stinging.

Seeing her every move like blades of swift wind, he finally had nowhere to avoid. Almost instinctively, he swung out the other hand that had been held behind his back, sweeping away with a palm all the tree leaves and flower petals obstructing him—

Changling had been waiting for exactly this palm strike. Her toes touched down lightly, spinning inverted in midair, settling gracefully behind him.

At precisely this moment, the incense stick burned out completely.

All the people present hadn’t yet recovered from this thoroughly exhilarating fight when suddenly Ye Qi’s voice rang out in laughter. “Minister Fu, you’ve lost! The competition rules stated only one hand could be used, but just now, you used both hands!”

Fu Yangui lowered his head, looking at his own hands. As he turned around, Changling cupped her fists toward him courteously. “I yield to your superiority.”

Having said this, her eyes curved subtly toward Ye Qi below the stage.

This smile was truly like a pool of clear water, making it impossible to look away.

Only it was directed at someone else.

Author’s Note:

Minister Fu’s martial prowess is very high, but no matter how high, it can’t surpass Sister Ling’s heaven-defying talent. ^_^

If you pay attention, you’ll notice I almost never repeat fight scenes. Each time the scene, opponents, and the participants’ states constantly change with the plot.

I often conceive eight to ten different fighting methods, finally selecting the one I’m relatively most satisfied with before starting to write.

Of course, even writing until now, there are still many areas where I’m not satisfied enough. I hope to improve further in the future.