After sunset, the moon hung half-hidden in the sky as heavy snow fell over Yi Xiu Academy. Almost no one could be seen outside. The temperature dropped at night—while other academies enjoyed the warm spring breeze, only Yi Xiu remained in the depths of winter, cold enough to make people shiver.
As a high-level disciple of Yi Xiu Academy, Jiang Ying had her private residence, though she rarely stayed there. After handling Yi Xiu affairs and finishing her cultivation, she would usually return to Cui Yuanxi’s dwelling.
Ming Li intercepted her on her way back, timing it perfectly.
It was on the same lotus pond bridge as that night, with stone lanterns casting dim yellow light around them. Ming Li waited on the bridge, watching Jiang Ying emerge from the bamboo path.
When Jiang Ying saw her, she narrowed her eyes. Just as she reached the bridge’s entrance, Ming Li tossed something toward her—Xu Bin’s Star Fate token, which fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Ming Li said, “I never expected Martial Sister Jiang would value a worthless bracelet so much that she would send such formidable people after me.”
Hearing these words from her mouth and seeing the Star Fate token on the ground, Jiang Ying found it incredibly ironic. Her expression cooled, with a hint of surprise in her heart.
A newly admitted junior disciple had somehow managed to defeat several high-level disciples.
Ming Li had obtained Xu Bin’s Star Fate token to create a pretext for confronting Jiang Ying without raising suspicion.
Today, she needed to confirm whether Jiang Ying’s star meridians were the same as her martial sister Qing Ying’s.
“You’re more formidable than I expected,” Jiang Ying said softly as she strolled forward.
“Why doesn’t Martial Sister Jiang take action personally? Then you could truly see how formidable I am,” Ming Li said, walking toward her. “Remember what I said during the day—you should be more careful when you’re alone.”
Their Star Power erupted simultaneously. This time, to test Ming Li, Jiang Ying chose close-quarters combat without immediately using Circulating Qi incantations.
The Star Power blasted away the falling snow within their combat range. Each punch Ming Li threw carried tremendous force and pressure. Jiang Ying was inwardly shocked—although Ming Li’s Body Techniques meridian wasn’t at full boundary, the power she exerted nearly matched the full boundary level.
Close combat and rapid movement relied on the Body Techniques meridian to enhance physical capabilities. This meridian could enhance skeletal structure up to 180 times at full boundary, while the non-full boundary limit was 100 times.
This demonstrated the power gap between full boundary and non-full boundary.
Jiang Ying didn’t immediately activate her Body Techniques meridian enhancement, but she did activate her Heavy Eyes meridian to accurately see through Ming Li’s movements. Starting combat by activating the Heavy Eyes meridian was her habit, stemming from her past as an ordinary person who couldn’t perceive cultivators’ movement trajectories.
When she gained a new life with the ability to cultivate, Heavy Eyes was the meridian she chose to focus on.
Even so, Jiang Ying still found it difficult to see Ming Li’s speed and techniques.
This feeling was one she hadn’t experienced since she first began cultivation. After years of relentless effort and diligent practice, she had grown confident enough to face even Li Yansi in combat.
Yet now, she felt an unfamiliar pressure from a newly admitted junior disciple.
Jiang Ying’s expression grew colder as jealousy uncontrollably spread through her heart.
She despised anyone with natural talent.
Eight meridians awakened—I have that now too, so why do I still feel pressured? She only has a single meridian at the full boundary. With my six meridians at full boundary, shouldn’t I be able to subdue her?
Anger and jealousy made Jiang Ying’s attacks increasingly heavy. As she traded punches with Ming Li, she exhaled and said, “Sound Bind.”
Waves of sound explosions burst around Ming Li, forcing her to retreat. Her toes touched the bridge railing, and then she saw Jiang Ying point at her: “Wind Break.”
As explosive sounds erupted around her, the natural Qi flow reversed, gravity pressing down on Ming Li’s shoulders and back, stripping away her Star Power and forcing her to kneel.
Ming Li reacted with lightning speed, retreating from the range of her Wind Break spiritual technique. This retreat took her into the lake, where she steadied herself on a snow-covered lotus leaf and looked up at Jiang Ying standing on the bridge.
Jiang Ying raised her chin, looking down at her from above: “Martial Sister Zhou, you’re not the only one in Nan Que who knows Circulating Qi incantations.”
Ming Li responded with a half-smile: “That Circulating Qi technique was beautiful, but unfortunately, it didn’t harm me in the slightest. Martial Sister Jiang, your training is somewhat lacking.”
Jiang Ying became furious at these words, finally unable to hold back a cold laugh: “Then let’s see how well you’ve trained.”
Qing Ying’s main focus was the Thunderous Roar meridian, which enhanced hearing and hearing-related spiritual techniques.
Jiang Ying hadn’t used it at all, and Qing Ying’s Spiritual Court meridian was exceptionally powerful, greatly aiding in Circulating Qi incantations, though Qing Ying didn’t enjoy learning them.
Ming Li couldn’t see any trace of Qing Ying in Jiang Ying’s techniques.
The two had completely different cultivation paths.
Ming Li had fought with Qing Ying countless times. As martial siblings, they frequently sparred to encourage her cultivation progress, making Ming Li intimately familiar with Qing Ying’s star meridian power and techniques.
Qing Ying was intelligent, always finding the reason for her failures. Sometimes, before Ming Li could say anything, Qing Ying would already be sighing and summarizing what went wrong.
Her martial sister always took their sparring seriously, never relaxing her guard as if it were mere play. When Ming Li attacked, the person standing before her was an opponent, not just her martial sister.
Ming Li appreciated this seriousness in her martial sister, so she taught her wholeheartedly.
Even when Ming Li had a sharp tongue before turning sixteen, she never spoke harshly to Qing Ying during their sparring sessions.
They had grown up together, from childish faces to later becoming radiant young women. They had spent decades together through springs, summers, autumns, and winters at Bei Dou. They whispered secrets to each other at night, and after returning from distant journeys, Qing Ying would eagerly find her and say happily: “Martial Sister, I’m back!”
As Ming Li looked at the face before her, identical to her martial sister’s, memories flashed through her mind, and her gaze grew colder.
Jiang Ying was forced to retreat by Ming Li’s swift and fierce attacks, looking somewhat disheveled. Her expression turned vicious as she activated the Eight Demon Eyes, which she wasn’t yet skilled at using, attempting to seal Ming Li’s Star Power.
But Ming Li mercilessly mocked her: “Too slow.”
She raised her hand and, a second before the seal took effect, struck Jiang Ying’s eyes with falling snow, hearing her scream and fall to the ground.
“My eyes…” Jiang Ying covered her sightless eyes, unusually panicked, as Ming Li said, “You won’t go blind. It’s just some snow. Why is Martial Sister Jiang so flustered?”
Towering rage ignited in her heart.
Jiang Ying gritted her teeth: “Zhou Li, you’re… asking… for… death.”
Ming Li looked down at Jiang Ying climbing up from the ground and said: “Your Body Techniques meridian isn’t fast enough, your Circulating Qi meridian is inferior to mine, and you’re not proficient with your Heavy Eyes meridian. Martial Sister Jiang, what else can you do?”
She was waiting for Jiang Ying to use her martial sister’s main star meridian, Thunderous Roar.
Jiang Ying didn’t want to use the power of the Thunderous Roar meridian because it was Qing Ying’s main star meridian, containing most of her power, which had been transferred to Jiang Ying to some extent.
Ironically, Jiang Ying was reluctant to use Thunderous Roar spiritual techniques because they disturbed her.
Qing Ying’s blood had healed her star meridian reversal, but because Qing Ying’s Spiritual Court meridian was overly powerful, it allowed the power contained in Qing Ying’s main star meridian, Thunderous Roar, to transfer to Jiang Ying, making her acutely aware:
This was someone else’s star meridian, not her own.
Only when operating the Thunderous Roar meridian would Jiang Ying have this thought.
Perhaps it was when she first discovered the possessiveness hidden in Cui Yuanxi’s gaze toward Qing Ying—something he hadn’t noticed. Or perhaps it was when she first smelled that woman’s fragrance on Cui Yuanxi. Or perhaps… when she discovered that Cui Yuanxi had uncontrollably fallen in love with Qing Ying, Jiang Ying began to resent the Thunderous Roar meridian.
That fool didn’t even know who he truly liked, too cowardly to admit and face it. The high and mighty Young Master of Nan Que was a coward who couldn’t face himself.
Jiang Ying found it laughable when she thought about how Cui Yuanxi shared a bed with her but always sneaked out at night to see Qing Ying. How ridiculous.
What was this foolish man still thinking? He had reduced that woman to something neither human nor ghost, yet still dared to hope for what? Since he had betrayed her, she was happy to watch Cui Yuanxi torture himself.
She made Cui Yuanxi feel increasingly guilty toward her, further depriving him of the courage to acknowledge his feelings for Qing Ying.
Cui Yuanxi might no longer care for her, but the position of Nan Que Young Master’s wife must be hers.
Jiang Ying had already obtained the cultivation opportunity she most desired; whether a coward liked her or not was no longer important.
At this moment, Jiang Ying, provoked to anger and jealousy by Ming Li, lost some rationality, forgetting that Cui Yaocen had warned her not to use the Thunderous Roar meridian unless necessary.
Once her eyes regained clarity, Jiang Ying looked at Ming Li standing on the lotus leaf in the lake and said with a gloomy face: “What else can I do? You’ll see.”
She finally employed her Thunderous Roar meridian, enhancing her hearing several times, making it as acute as a beast’s.
Ming Li sensed the Star Power between them fluctuating, and the natural Qi within range emitted a sharp sound. Knowing which spiritual technique Jiang Ying was using, she opened her mouth as intended: “Martial Sister Jiang—”
After the first three words, the rest of her voice was swallowed by something invisible, her throat as if gripped by an invisible hand.
Seeing Ming Li suddenly silenced, Jiang Ying’s lips curved into an eerie smile.
Thunderous Roar Advanced Spiritual Technique: Sound Devouring Twist.
Sound Devouring Twist swallowed Ming Li’s voice, invading her body through her voice to form small vortices that would tear at the flesh of her neck, eventually breaking through the skin, severing her tongue, and causing death.
It was a rather bloody high-level spiritual technique.
Jiang Ying stared intently at Ming Li, wanting to personally witness this hateful newcomer become a bloody mess before her!
Ming Li felt the pain in her throat, yet through this pain, she sensed the power she most dreaded feeling.
The power from her martial sister Qing Ying’s Thunderous Roar meridian, faintly mixed within, yet unmistakably familiar to her.
She hadn’t blocked or avoided Jiang Ying’s Sound Devouring Twist precisely because she wanted to find proof of her suspicions in the Thunderous Roar meridian power.
But Ming Li would rather believe that Qing Ying had died in Bei Jing Gui Yuan, died in the north, died where she had perished, than that she had died alone and silently in the distant Nan Que, lonely and watching her blood drain away until death.
None of her fellow disciples, masters, or friends knew the truth of her death.
After confirming her suspicions, Ming Li found it absurdly laughable. How could such a thing happen? What exactly had occurred?
She slowly raised her eyes to look at Jiang Ying standing on the bridge.
Kong Yi and the others, who had just arrived at Yi Xiu Academy, sensed something was wrong the moment they landed. Hiding in the shadows, they all looked toward the two figures ahead, surprised by the killing intent that suddenly spread in that instant.
Whose was it?
It seemed both of them harbored killing intent.
Kong Yi turned and fled, pretending he had never been there.
The others quickly followed.
But they had barely taken two steps when they were shocked by an explosion of Star Power and turned back to look. Jiang Ying, who had seemed to have the upper hand just moments ago, was unexpectedly struck by natural Qi flow and sent flying into the water. They saw Ming Li raise her hand to wipe blood from the corner of her mouth, her voice slightly hoarse as she said: “Sound Devouring Twist? You’re not worthy.”
The Sacred Pilgrimage Fire burned her star meridians, but couldn’t stop Ming Li’s rising killing intent. The star meridians blocked by the Sacred Pilgrimage Fire desperately connected with the Star Power beyond the wall. At the moment when her former full-boundary Thunderous Roar meridian connected with her new one, Ming Li achieved full boundary in the Thunderous Roar meridian.
Ming Li stood on the lotus leaf, watching the disheveled and panicked Jiang Ying emerge from the water. Jiang Ying’s expression changed slightly, her gaze horrified as she looked at Ming Li in disbelief.
Jiang Ying opened her mouth but dared not make a sound. A familiar power hovered around her neck, making her realize that she was now the target of the other’s Sound Devouring Twist. If she made even the slightest sound—
Ming Li raised her hand, pointing at her, her gaze flickering as she said: “Sound Bind.”
Jiang Ying finally reacted, gritting her teeth as she rose from the water, but failed to dodge this attack. The Sound Bind exploded against her face, precisely destroying the tear-shaped mole at the corner of her eye, leaving it a bloody mess. Unable to hold back a cry of pain, she immediately knew it was over. Back on the bridge, she clutched her throat, screaming in agony and spitting blood.
Watching from a distance, Kong Yi and the others felt their scalps tingle, not daring to step forward. When their gazes fell on Ming Li, they all had the same thought: She’s ruthless.
“Stop!”
Just as Ming Li was about to point another Circulating Qi incantation at Jiang Ying, she was intercepted by Li Yansi, who had rushed over after noticing the disturbance.
Li Yansi was shocked at the sight of Jiang Ying, soaking wet and disfigured. Seeing her clutching her throat, Li Yansi realized that Jiang Ying was still being tortured by Sound Devouring Twist and immediately stepped forward, pointing a finger to disperse the twist trapped in her throat.
Jiang Ying clutched her throat, collapsing to the ground and gasping for breath.
Li Yansi turned to Ming Li with a grave expression: “Do you realize what you’ve done?”