Hua Yining’s domineering thrust missed its mark.

Su Zhuyi had already shifted her footing, dodging behind a golden lotus petal.

However, with countless flying swords darting everywhere, no matter how fast she moved, there would be times when she couldn’t dodge them all. At this moment, several cuts had appeared on her body, drawing blood. Su Zhuyi’s murderous intent naturally began to rise considerably. She knew that on this martial arts platform, she couldn’t use lethal force and had been restraining her power all along. However, now she forcefully kicked with her foot, actually kicking up the golden lotus petal, while simultaneously her sea of consciousness trembled as her primordial spirit’s pressure directly crushed forward.

They were all at the Foundation Establishment stage, and when young disciples competed, their cultivation levels didn’t differ much, so their primordial spirit strength was naturally similar as well. Therefore, no one would deploy pressure techniques since they would have no effect. But Su Zhuyi was different—though her primordial spirit seal hadn’t completely broken, it was still far stronger than ordinary people. As her pressure burst forth, Hua Yining’s movements stuttered. She had originally thrust her sword with lightning speed, but who could have expected her body to freeze mid-air? Struck by the flying golden lotus, she fell to the ground like a kite with severed strings.

She rolled twice before getting up, her posture extremely disheveled from the fall. Just as she rose and hadn’t yet steadied herself, her body was dragged by a great force. Her heart tightened as she shouted again: “Rise!”

The Dongxue Sword had long been refined into her natal flying sword. At this moment, one sword strike chopped down, directly severing the spiritual energy rope of Su Zhuyi’s Great Grappling Hand technique, and even shocked Su Zhuyi into retreating three steps. Having a formidable flying sword was indeed somewhat troublesome to handle.

It was unfortunate she had no handy weapons. Now that the flying sword was spinning around Hua Yining’s side so densely it was impenetrable, approaching her would no longer be easy. But she had only practiced the first level of the Tianxuan Nine Swords, so her sword qi definitely couldn’t break through that flying sword barrier. Thinking of this, Su Zhuyi simply used the Great Grappling technique to grab that golden lotus petal and used it as a shield.

“Don’t think a golden lotus petal from the martial arts platform can block my sword!” Though Hua Yining appeared somewhat disheveled, her desire for victory was now even stronger. She frantically circulated her spiritual energy, pouring it into the Dongxue Sword. Ice and snow directly covered the sword’s body, making the flying sword into a frozen blade. Being invaded by this cold qi, her meridians would be severely injured.

The martial arts platform was covered in ice and snow, the entire golden lotus seeming buried under ice and snow. The cultivators watching below were all extremely shocked, with some appearing worried.

“That Dongxue Sword has a huge advantage. Little Junior Sister won’t have an accident, will she?” said a Gujian Sect cultivator. Qinghe wasn’t here right now, otherwise, his face would have turned green. If Little Junior Sister had an accident, Qinghe would probably go berserk.

“Yunxiao Sect’s martial arts platforms all have barrier restrictions. Injuries are certain, but they won’t damage the foundation. Look, there’s still a late Golden Core sword cultivator standing there. If something happened, he would intervene to stop it.” The speaker pointed to a light boat floating in mid-air. At this time, several martial arts platforms were holding matches simultaneously, and that boat flying high in the sky made it more convenient to control the entire situation.

On the platform, amidst the ice and snow, Su Zhuyi merged her Blazing Palm into the golden lotus. She slowly infused spiritual energy, completely refining the golden lotus, but then used a thin layer of spiritual energy to freeze it, making it appear no different at first glance.

The material used to craft this martial arts platform’s golden lotus was golden meteorite stone, bright in color with very transparent golden hues that looked extremely beautiful, which was why people used it for decoration. Hua Yining held a high position in the Yunxiao Sect and had specifically chosen this beautiful lotus platform. The golden color beneath her feet made her appear even more charming and noble.

However, after being refined with special techniques, that liquid had corrosive properties. This was something only weapon refiners would know. It just so happened that Su Zhuyi knew everything and was quite proficient in many things. Therefore, at this moment, she sneered coldly, neither dodging nor avoiding, using the golden lotus as a shield to meet Hua Yining’s sword.

The thin protective layer on the golden lotus was pierced by one sword strike, and a large amount of golden liquid splattered. Hua Yining had long relied on high-grade defensive treasures, plus had spirit sword shadows spinning around her for protection. Having just poured all her spiritual energy into the sword to trigger the Dongxue Sword’s yin cold qi, waiting for one decisive strike, she hadn’t even cast a spiritual energy barrier for herself. Instantly, golden liquid splattered onto her face and body, causing her to let out a miserable howl as she directly covered her face with her hands.

Su Zhuyi had long since cast a spiritual energy barrier for herself, so naturally, not a drop of the golden liquid splattered on her.

However, that Yin cold qi was somewhat troublesome. Even though she had already executed Shadowless Trace and fled far away in a flash, she was still injured by the cold qi. Feeling the cold qi beginning to invade her meridians, Su Zhuyi’s eyes became extremely gloomy.

If she hadn’t cultivated the Meridian Moistening Formula since childhood, with this cold qi invasion, her meridians would likely be severely damaged. This woman was truly black-hearted, wanting to cripple her cultivation. Since that was the case, don’t blame her for being ruthless and merciless.

She infused spiritual energy into her fingers, her five fingers still formed into claws. Then her sea of consciousness churned as she rapidly chanted several incantations.

The Heart-Leaving Curse. Losing soul and heart, those struck by this curse would experience temporary mental confusion and soul displacement according to their cultivation depth, subconsciously obeying the one who cast the curse. This curse technique was what Su Zhuyi could think of that was least bloody and sinister, with no clear distinction between righteous and evil. She cast the curse when Hua Yining was injured, covering her face and emotionally agitated, succeeding in one attempt. Then Su Zhuyi approached and whispered in her ear: “Take off your clothes!”

When the master’s consciousness was confused, natal treasures would automatically protect their master. But Su Zhuyi only approached to whisper something and then ran away. The sword had to protect its master and couldn’t give chase, only managing to make her retreat to the other end of the martial arts platform.

At this time, Hua Yining had already quickly undone her waist sash, leaving those below dumbstruck.

“Yining!” The late Golden Core cultivator in mid-air shouted, and Hua Yining immediately came to her senses.

After all, the Heart-Leaving Curse wasn’t a very sinister curse technique and could only take effect for a short time. Now being reprimanded by someone whose cultivation far exceeded theirs, the curse technique was directly broken. Hua Yining instantly realized what had happened, and her face, originally flower-like and charming but now bearing some reddened scars, became even more twisted.

She still didn’t know what her face looked like and had no mind to care about it.

She had thought she was first among disciples under a hundred years old in the competition.

She felt defeating Su Zhuyi would be effortless.

She had always been conceited, feeling she could form a Golden Core in at most a year or two. A Golden Core cultivator under seventy was extremely rare even in the Yunxiao Sect. Among the younger generation, she rarely had opponents. Even the so-called Qinghe from Gujian Sect had only formed his core at a hundred years old and was still at the Golden Core stage after three hundred years.

However, now she had been toyed with and humiliated by a sixteen-year-old female cultivator who hadn’t even been forced to draw her sword. For her, this was simply an utter disgrace. Similarly, it taught her a profound lesson, her face burning painfully as if she’d been slapped.

Under heaven, there were still people with better aptitude and more diligent cultivation than her. She could no longer be so proud and arrogant.

If at first she wanted to teach Su Zhuyi a lesson because of her close relationship with Qin Chuan, now she was fighting for herself. For her sword dao, for her dignity.

She wanted to win, to win beautifully.

Hua Yining raised her hand, grasping the Dongxue Sword once more. However, this time, the aura around her had completely changed.

Surrounding spiritual energy rushed toward her, forming a spiritual energy vortex around her. The Dongxue Sword in her hand let out a joyful, long cry, like clear wind passing through bamboo forests and spring water tinkling melodiously.

“This is, this is a mental state breakthrough. Is Senior Sister Hua going to form her Golden Core mid-battle?”

“Look quickly, look quickly—Golden Core tribulation clouds have appeared above the martial arts platform!”

Su Zhuyi wanted to curse everything at this moment.

Could it be this coincidental?

Hua Yining was going to undergo tribulation at this time! Speaking of Golden Core tribulation, its power wasn’t great—after all, this was the first minor lightning tribulation cultivators encountered after advancing in cultivation. It could be easily endured and wouldn’t harm others, so when people saw Hua Yining breaking through mid-battle, they only marveled at her strength without worrying much about her safety. However, Su Zhuyi was worried about her own life!

This damned heaven had eyes and specifically targeted her for striking!

“Can’t let her break through!” Su Zhuyi circulated her spiritual energy to the extreme, executing Shadowless Trace with her feet while triggering Blazing Palm with her hands. Under the rapid movement of Shadowless Trace, the Blazing Palm afterimages connected into a line like a fire dragon, roaring toward Hua Yining.

“The final level of Blazing Palm—Burning Sky Furious Flames—was comprehended by a Foundation Establishment cultivator?” Seeing that fire dragon, many people were dumbfounded. There weren’t many cultivators of this age group watching, and with Qinghe’s match today, basically ninety percent of people, especially those with strong power, including the elders, had all gone to watch over there. The remaining people exclaimed repeatedly—today truly wasn’t a wasted trip.

Hua Yining had been closing her eyes to circulate her mental cultivation method. At this moment, she suddenly opened her eyes, sneering inwardly: “Mere flames dare to compete with my winter snow.” She wasn’t afraid of Golden Core tribulation; what she feared was mental instability, causing the Golden Core tribulation to be delayed. However, now, let her condense her Golden Core on the martial arts platform and shine brilliantly!

As if to echo her, the Dongxue Sword’s cold intent condensed into frost, colliding with the fire dragon.

At the same time, tribulation clouds gathered in the sky with faint lightning and thunder. Everyone saw Su Zhuyi make a grabbing motion as if taking something from a storage bag.

Finally, finally, someone had forced Gujian Sect’s Su Zhuyi to draw her sword!

“She’s only drawing her sword now. Perhaps her swordsmanship is truly divine and transcendent—the outcome still can’t be determined!”

But the next moment, everyone was in uproar.

They saw that what Su Zhuyi held in her hand on the platform wasn’t a sword, but an extremely exquisitely crafted Straw Man substitute…

The watching cultivators were stunned by this scene, and below the platform fell into dead silence for a long time.

What made them even more speechless was that a golden lightning bolt struck down from the tribulation clouds above, but it landed on Su Zhuyi, who was very close to Hua Yining.

This?

Could heavenly thunder also strike crooked sometimes?

Even Hua Yining herself was stunned. She was now full of fighting spirit, achieving unity between person and sword with the Dongxue Sword. Though she didn’t have much spiritual energy in her body, because of her breakthrough, she was frantically absorbing spiritual energy and wasn’t afraid of the heavenly thunder above. She had prepared to be tempered by heavenly thunder, but who could have known that heavenly thunder would strike crooked?

Strike! Crooked!