Xue Yu’s first match was on the afternoon of the second day. At that time, Penglai Island was stirring with wind, thirty-five competition platforms blazed with spiritual light, and image-recording stones placed within the platforms projected the scenes through a massive water mirror.

At that moment, a young man who had just drawn his lot stood on Platform Ten, holding a jade flute, appearing frail but possessing decent strength—he had consecutively eliminated several competitors to reach this point.

The spectators below were quite optimistic about him. One person who thought he could make it into Group A’s top two hundred looked around to see who had drawn the opponent’s lot. The next moment, his eyes went wide, and he elbowed his companion: “Stop looking. Good thing we didn’t bet. Xue Yu is getting up.”

His companion was stunned, following his gaze. After glimpsing that stunning figure approaching like a startled swan, he sucked in a breath and murmured: “It’s only the second day and Sacred Land successors are already taking the stage? How did the judges arrange this? Such a fast pace.”

“Don’t know. Look at Platform Three—Yin Ling is also taking the stage.”

Compared to other matches in the elimination rounds, the appearances of Sacred Land successors, the four major human sects, and Demon Capital aristocratic families—those already famous—were undoubtedly more eye-catching than battles between unknowns.

With Xue Yu taking the stage, before long, quite a crowd had gathered beneath Platform Ten.

Half of those who came to Penglai Island were competitors, half spectators. After all, this session’s Prodigy Rankings had quite high standards—everyone wanted to return with decent results. Observing the Sacred Land successors’ strength in advance, even if many competitors would never encounter them, understanding their gap with these elites could at least provide motivation for future progress.

As for the spectators, their thoughts were simple: watch more matches, maybe spot some clues, then place accurate bets and possibly make a fortune.

Seeing Xue Yu, the man holding the jade flute was stunned, then swept his sleeves and cupped his hands, saying with a bitter smile: “Jian Cheng of the human race’s Three Valley Mountain, requesting Your Highness Xue Yu’s guidance.”

“On the competition platform, there’s no need for empty courtesies.” Xue Yu’s sleeves fluttered, an invisible wind supporting his spine as she nodded: “Let’s begin.”

Jian Cheng fell silent. In this situation, even a fool could guess the outcome—or rather, there was no need to compete at all. But cultivators had too few chances in life to fight against peers far superior to themselves. So few that at this moment, he felt he had no time to complain about bad luck.

He said solemnly, “I know I’m no match for Your Highness. Today’s match—let one move decide victory or defeat.”

After speaking, he made his move.

One move—he used his ultimate technique.

The jade flute became a blurred shadow, stirring up an astonishing hurricane. Simultaneously, ethereal flute music slowly approached from the far distance, harmonizing with the sea breeze into some rhythmic melody, with killing intent hidden behind the calm surface.

“Hmm?” Xue Yu paused. She discovered that this Three Valley Mountain disciple wasn’t playing by conventional rules.

Rather than being a finishing killing move, this technique was more like dissecting the entire fusion process before her eyes, even deliberately exposing his weaknesses with obvious intent to seek guidance.

Jian Cheng was indeed nervous. This problem had troubled him for a long time. His masters wouldn’t focus too much on an unremarkable inner disciple, and his fumbling was as clueless as a headless fly. Some people spend their entire lives stuck at such bottlenecks. Meeting this opportunity, he truly didn’t want to miss it at all.

He wanted to find his problems in how Xue Yu responded to his moves.

Xue Yu only acted when his killing move reached her eyes. She loosely extended her left hand from within the storm, precisely grasping that jade flute like catching a snake at its vital point. Thus, both hurricane and flute music ceased together.

Wind stopped, rain ended—victory and defeat were decided.

Xue Yu flicked her finger, and the jade flute spun horizontally in view for over ten rotations before being heavily thrown down to the platform surface, rolling back to Jian Cheng’s feet. She frowned: “The attacking power in both wind and flute music is too weak. Since you’re a killing music cultivator, don’t blindly integrate traditional gentle approaches.”

Jian Cheng’s eyes brightened. After the judges raised the victory and defeat marker, he saw her turn away, leaving behind an extremely indifferent statement: “I advise you not to do such things in the future. Exposing weaknesses before enemies is no different from seeking death. When someone wants to kill you, with just that move, you wouldn’t even have a chance to surrender.”

The area below the platform had already become lively. Many competitors who thought they could glimpse something of the Sacred Land successors’ strength sighed in disappointment: “Couldn’t understand it at all. What happened? What did Jian Cheng do?”

Xu Zihua, silently observing this scene from the high platform, looked at Xu Yunqing sitting properly beside him and asked: “Did you see anything?”

“Her opponent was too weak. With such a large gap, there was no need for other tricks—overwhelming force breaks all techniques.” Xu Yunqing looked up indifferently, then slowly smiled after a while: “Xue Yu is cold on the outside but warm within. For this kind of opportunistic person, she still gave sufficient hints.”

“No wonder…” Xu Yunqing looked toward Su You, who stood like a pine tree beneath Platform Ten. In just ten years since their last meeting, he had grown much stronger than when they were in the Flying Cloud Realm, like an unfathomably deep roaring sea. Still the same face, but his aura was completely different. Xue Yu was walking toward him. “Acting docile and pitiful would be useful, but it seems he’s no longer willing to do such things now.”

“What do you plan to do?” Xu Zihua asked.

“Successful examples are right before us. Just repeat the same tactics.” Xu Yunqing slowly pointed at Xue Yu in the crowd, then looked at Xu Zihua: “Let’s go. Nothing more worth watching.”

Over the next two days, Xue Yu took the stage five consecutive times, with three opponents automatically forfeiting and surrendering.

People who absolutely couldn’t win, risking injury that would greatly affect their condition for subsequent matches, might as well surrender decisively. Most people had this mindset.

Six days later, the elimination rounds ended. Each group listed their top two hundred, and cross-group battles began.

Eight days later, the strong gathered together. Every match became interesting, and after the judges consulted, they closed twenty competition platforms and spaced matches two hours apart to allow competitors to recover.

On the tenth day, after Shan Shu defeated Lu Chengze, Su You defeated Yin Ling and Jia Xi, and Xue Yu fought and defeated Qin Mu, eldest son of the Demon Capital’s Qiongqi Qin family, the entire Penglai Island fell into thunderous excitement with an increasingly intense atmosphere.

The betting venue that Sui Yu and Chen Longzhi had invested heavily in was packed to capacity. Chen Longzhi counted money daily with a glowing face, even losing to his old rival Chen Lu’an couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. In his own words, he came here to make money; rankings didn’t matter at all.

That night, Xue Yu and Su You were urged by Jiu Feng and others to sit again at that long table in the first-floor hall.

Jiu Feng was holding a list she had just taken down, scanning the people around her as she read from bottom to top: “…Lu Chengze ranks sixty-eighth, Shan Shu thirty-third, Yin Ling twenty-ninth, Lu Qin twenty-seventh.”

“Why are the rankings so low?” Yin Ling looked at Kunlun’s head disciple: “Lu Qin, how did they rank this time?”

“The judges decided. They deliberately avoid battles between major favorites—those will all be saved for tomorrow and the day after. Why are you looking at me? I’m also being suppressed. This list is just preliminary rankings up to now. As subsequent battles begin, they’ll gradually rise. There are still four days left. What’s your hurry?”

“What else?” Cang Ju unhurriedly tapped his knuckles: “Did you eat my ranking?”

Jiu Feng couldn’t be bothered with him and continued reading upward: “Jia Xi twenty-first, Ji Tingxi twentieth, Qin Qingchuan did well this time, also twentieth. The Sui family’s second and third sons tied at eighteenth, Cang Ju eighth, Sui Jinyu sixth.”

“Su You fifth, Xue Yu fourth. Hmm? Lu Chen has already fought over forty-five matches? Not bad luck—he’s climbed to third place. Cherish this position.” Jiu Feng pressed the list on the table and patted it, speaking methodically: “Who wants to explain what kind of character this Song Heng is—the one who made Lu Chengze lose his soul and drop to new lows, now ranking first above me?”

“He’s been making quite a splash lately.” Shen Jingshi was about to take office as Regent King, so rankings meant nothing to him. These ten days, he’d been wandering around with Chao Nian, naturally picking up the conversation: “Some human prodigies ranked in the top forty are on good terms with him. I heard he gained great fortune in the Flying Cloud Realm, his cultivation leaping forward dramatically. He has several ancient array formations and quite good luck—he hasn’t encountered you all, but those he’s fought weren’t low-ranked. So far, he’s also a championship favorite.”

“This person is an authentic court faction, a human supremacist. It’s normal for human prodigies to be close to him. Hopefully, they have some brains and can learn lessons from Lu Chengze’s miserable experience.” Yin Ling said slowly: “I’ve figured it out—this person is a poison tumor. Wherever he goes, disaster follows.”

Shen Jingshi added, “He’s not even the most attention-grabbing one. Our Young Master Su You is the one drawing real attention.”

He looked at Su You, who drooped his eyelids, sitting beside Xue Yu, appearing completely out of place with the surrounding liveliness: “Though we find it uncomfortable to look at, many young ladies outside love this face. Especially his final horizontal sword strike against Ji Tingxi—not only did little girls’ hearts flutter, but swordsmen were also excited. Chao Nian and I just returned from the gambling house. Almost all swordsmen bet on him, convinced he’ll be either first or second.”

It was this face that had become cold and sharp from storing too much power—in Xue Yu’s eyes, it had changed from very handsome to just acceptable.

Su You glanced at him coolly without responding, asking: “Are tomorrow’s arrangements out? Who fights whom?”

“I should have a match.” Xue Yu picked up: “I’ve only fought five matches these past two days.”

“Yes.” Jiu Feng looked at another list with considerable interest, raising an eyebrow: “Tomorrow morning, you fight Sui Jinyu in the first match. There are two more in the afternoon—Su You and I fight, then two hours later, he goes against Song Heng.”

This exciting arrangement made everyone present look up.

Jiu Feng didn’t first worry about having to properly face Su You, but instead looked meaningfully at Sui Jinyu: “Sui Jinyu, this is your so-called benefactor. What moves will you use against your benefactor? All figured out?”

Sui Jinyu silently cursed.

“Why are two consecutive matches arranged for the same person in the afternoon?” Xue Yu frowned, looking at Lu Qin: “And the top two rankings at that.”

At this level, real fighting meant no one escaped injury. If seriously injured, those two hours wouldn’t be enough to recover, even swallowing an entire bottle of healing pills, making it impossible to go all-out in the next match.

“It’s always like this. By tomorrow and the day after, the top ten and twenty rankings will roughly be decided. Many big shots quietly watching the situation mostly wait until the tenth and eleventh days, watching the most exciting matches before leaving.”

After hearing the general news, everyone gradually left, leaving only Jiu Feng, Sui Jinyu, and other Demon Capital leaders. Xue Yu rose to leave, but Su You gently pulled her wrist: “You go back first. I’ll come later.”

Xue Yu nodded, her figure disappearing at the stairway side.

“If nothing unexpected happens, tomorrow’s match between Su You and me is the most suitable opportunity to publicly reveal his identity.” Jiu Feng looked at Sui Jinyu: “What do you think?”

“Let’s do it this way.” Sui Jinyu said.

Jiu Feng looked at Su You. The two future rulers of the Demon Capital stared at each other, neither retreating an inch. The atmosphere instantly became tense. Her red lips parted slightly: “Rulers also have hierarchies. I don’t want to hear about Tian Ao and Jiu Feng ranking theories. I don’t care who you’re fighting next or how many matches remain. I only recognize strength. If you defeat me, acknowledging ancient Tian Ao’s ranking above Jiu Feng, I’ll accept it. From now on, your absolute ruler’s authority in the Demon Capital—I’ll also accept.”

“Agreed.” Su You responded, then rarely smiled: “Chu Yaoxiang, if you hadn’t mentioned her, I might not necessarily win.”

But since you mentioned her, he would win.

Jiu Feng was about to make some mocking remarks when Feng Shangyu pulled and coaxed her away to cultivate, leaving only Sui Jinyu and Su You at the scene.

“Chu Yaoxiang is very strong—she’s the one with the purest bloodline and greatest talent in the Jiu Feng clan in nearly a thousand years. That Song Heng is also troublesome. Tomorrow will be a hard battle.” Sui Jinyu thought it over, really not feeling at ease. He searched through his storage ring, finding several bottles of top-grade healing pills and spiritual power recovery powders, handing them all to Su You: “Take all these things. After fighting Chu Yaoxiang, recover quickly…”

Sui Jinyu usually didn’t talk much either. When aloof, he had the bearing of an immortal riding the wind, but in front of Su You, his words were never few.

Very noisy, but also genuine care.

“Brother.” Su You lowered his eyes and suddenly spoke: “Tomorrow, when fighting her, don’t drag it out. Quick victory.”

Sui Jinyu was stunned.

Su You pushed the porcelain bottle into his palm: “You keep this yourself.”

Before Sui Jinyu could object, he added: “Tomorrow, you might need these more than I do.”

“…?”

Su You went straight to the second floor, thought for a moment, then pushed open his door.

The room was already lit, windows wide open, with sea breeze rushing in. Xue Yu stood before the window, her silhouette drawn into a slender, graceful line, her neck white and long, framed like a famous painting with every detail richly rendered.

“Waiting for me?” Su You walked to her side, taking her hand and asking: “What are you thinking about?”

“Many things. The dragon breath situation… I’ve never felt at ease about it.” Xue Yu wasn’t used to telling others about her inner worries, but Su You was someone she was close to and liked. That day they agreed not to hide things—she remembered it all: “Also the human race, the future of Sacred Lands, and the Demon Capital. I’m not sure if the Fusang Tree sending Song Heng and Lu Chengze back also has a deeper meaning.”

“There’s no way to investigate, all leads are cut off. We can only take things step by step.” She slightly lifted her eyes to look at Su You, pressing her lip line and saying softly: “I don’t like this feeling of having to guess everything.”

When she said these words, her expression showed startling candor and directness.

“The Demon Capital.” Su You’s grip on her five fingertips tightened slightly: “After returning this time, I’ll officially take charge of the demon race in the mortal world. Neither humans nor demons are born knowing good from evil, right from wrong. But humans have a long period from childhood to adulthood without the ability to harm others. Demons are different—when they don’t understand what should and shouldn’t be done, they’ve already committed many wrongs, so they’re detested and rejected by humans.”

“After initial integration, I’ll establish schools in the mortal world to teach them human customs and laws. Later, these can develop into sects. If they’re willing, the Demon Capital’s doors will always be open to them.”

With fewer troublemaking demons, plus Shen Jingshi and Sacred Lands mediating, harmonious coexistence between humans and demons might become possible.

Xue Yu looked at him, not knowing what to say. After a long while, she spoke two words: “Thank you.”

She could imagine how difficult this would be to accomplish.

“Thank me for what?” Su You squinted with dissatisfaction, his palm lingering over her graceful waist, bending down to bite her lip with neither light nor heavy force: “Between us, who thanks whom?”

He paused, his touch becoming gentler as he teased her, his voice rolling hot and indistinct: “A Yu… I should be thanking you.”

Because I met you, all those unbearable, hard-to-release pasts became mere clouds and smoke. From now on in this world, seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water, he would also slowly hope for stable mountains and rivers, human joy and happiness, waiting for next year’s Lantern Festival to watch brilliant fireworks with his beloved and eat hot white glutinous rice balls.

Also, thank you—that obstinate seventeen-year-old boy who stubbornly stood in the snowy night finally received the warmth he had long craved.

“Wait a moment.” Xue Yu turned her head away, her lips glistening with moisture. She pressed the palm-sized All-Life Array into his hand: “Song Heng has an ancient sealing array. Take this just in case.”

As if guessing he would refuse, Xue Yu frowned: “I don’t need this to fight Sui Jinyu.”

Su You couldn’t help but smile. He lowered his head to caress her crimson lips, humming so low it couldn’t be lower. He knew too well how to entice her, and before long, had her pressing heavily against his lips twice without any technique.

He grasped his collar and pulled down slightly, revealing a section of cold white skin at his collarbone. Under the lamplight, any small movement became a prelude to intoxication: “Bite here, Your Highness.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll take it to meet someone with undying treacherous intentions.”

The next day, the competition platform was packed with people. The judges also increased from the original three to five. When Xue Yu arrived, Sui Jinyu had also arrived, currently enduring comforting glances from Yin Ling, Jiu Feng, Shan Shu, and others one after another.

Before the match even began, he already had the illusion that he’d lost.

When the time came, both leaped onto the platform. Sui Jinyu’s scalp tingled: “Miss Xue Yu, about Nineteen’s matter, I owe you much, so this…”

Xue Yu interrupted him: “No need to say these things. Fight well.”

Sui Jinyu thought to himself that he was at least a Tian Ao who could fight Jiu Feng to a draw, even if impure, still a Tian Ao. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if inferior to Xue Yu, he absolutely wouldn’t lose too disgracefully.

At least a mutually destructive draw would be no problem.

But soon, Sui Jinyu understood why those few looked at him with such eyes, why his brother had advised him to fight quickly, and why in this world, what spiritual cultivators feared most in battle wasn’t bulky body cultivators or sword cultivators who’d gone mad and didn’t fear death, but fully matured Spirit Array Masters.

He stepped into Xue Yu’s array formation.

Really, without any awareness, by the time his mind went “thud,” he was already inside the array.

This terrifying array formation speed!

Heavy snow began falling on the competition platform, each flake soft and gentle, but transforming into blade fragments capable of severing bones upon contact with human skin—horizontal, vertical, diagonal, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, completely without pattern.

Besides this, the most troublesome thing was the array formation itself.

He had just shattered one with his front foot when his back foot stepped into another. Once, twice, eight times, ten times.

“Enough.” Sui Jinyu could bear it no longer. He gathered power in one fist and slammed it heavily into the platform surface. The ground, covered with layers of restrictions, cracked in response, shattering into spider-web crosshatched fissures. Half the image-recording stones within the array formation exploded.

The two hadn’t yet decided on victory or defeat, but one was disheveled while the other remained bright and clean.

Demons inherently loved battle and would only grow braver with setbacks. Sui Jinyu was currently in this state. He focused on Xue Yu standing in the heavy snow, slowly clenching his palm toward mid-air. A purely pitch-black long spear appeared in everyone’s sight.

The following battle no longer showed one-sided domination. With Sui Jinyu’s spear throw, array formations shattered in response, and both figures moved too quickly to track.

When the two had exchanged fifty moves, Sui Jinyu began to realize something was wrong.

His battle rhythm was almost completely led by Xue Yu’s nose. That terrifying ability she showed when analyzing mysteries was not diminished but enhanced in battle. He even felt that every step he took was within her expectations.

There was a widely spread saying among the three lands: if you feel something’s wrong when fighting a Spirit Array Master, then something is wrong, but you have no solution because you can’t stop anymore.

Indeed, he couldn’t stop.

When the two had exchanged one hundred fifty moves, the protective light barrier on the platform had been completely shattered. The judges all rose to maintain the spiritual barrier. Jiu Feng clicked her tongue and said to Su You: “Sui Jinyu is indeed very powerful—his combat ability isn’t just empty talk. But even so, Xue Yu still held back slightly. Though there are no more image-recording stones, I can guess what she’ll say to your brother.”

“Want to know?”

“I can guess.” Su You leaned against the tree trunk, his voice slightly low: “She’ll say, ‘I promised Su You to go easy on you. If you surrender now, I won’t activate this array formation.”

Jiu Feng collapsed laughing onto Feng Shangyu.

In the center of the shattered platform, Sui Jinyu looked at the massive array formation gradually outlined by his own movements, his feet bound, chest rising and falling slightly with rapid breathing, his expression very ugly.

This wasn’t the small-scale array formations from before that could be shattered with one punch, but a perfect array formation carefully constructed by a truly mature Spirit Array Master, possessing unpredictable, vast power. Even the spiritual energy fluctuations rippling from its periphery emanated a heart-palpitating aura.

“Heaven-grade Spirit Array Master.” Sui Jinyu casually grabbed a handful of broken snow threads, feeling floating light pass before his eyelids, his voice hoarse: “You’ve already reached this level?”

Xue Yu slowly crouched down, her pure white skirt hem lightly brushing the shattered ground, speaking without evasion: “Yes.”

Heaven-grade Spirit Array Master was the realm she had reached a thousand years later in her previous life.

But in this life, after accumulation in the Flying Cloud Realm, combined with absolute natural talent and the solid foundation of steady progress from her previous life, plus obtaining the ancient great array All-Life Diagram, her strength had risen like a tide. Recovering her original realm was just a matter of time.

Now, the time had come.

During this time, Su You has been very happy. I can see that the Sui family has treated him well.” As she spoke, Xue Yu’s slender fingers pressed against the ground, spiritual essence surging: “You’re his blood brother. If you surrender now, I won’t activate this array formation.”

With such words, if he surrendered, he wouldn’t even be able to look at himself with respect.

Su You was still watching from behind!

Blue veins popped out on Sui Jinyu’s forehead. He boldly used the long spear in his hand to smash the spiritual threads within arm’s reach, but before he could rise, he saw Xue Yu’s finger press down heavily.

With this press, he tumbled into the spiritual array along with his spear.

Moments later, the spiritual light barrier set up by the judges exploded, shattering into thousands of spiritual energy waves that knocked down many people who had stretched their necks waiting for results.

When the dust settled, Sui Jinyu staggered out of the competition boundary, covering his chest and heavily swallowing a mouthful of blood. Sensing the gazes from various acquaintances, he randomly wiped his face and closed his eyes quite tragically.