The beauty had peach-like cheeks and an apricot face, her sleeves fluttering as she stood in the wind, holding the eerie blue long whip, beautiful as a painting.

In comparison, the gray-robed woman carrying a staff opposite her looked rather ordinary and crude.

Standing at the side below the competition platform, Zi Luo still remembered Zanxing. Seeing this scene, she spoke with worry: “Since it’s a Serpent Bone Whip, Junior Sister Yang is probably in danger.”

The junior brother beside her asked: “What’s wrong with the Serpent Bone Whip?”

Zi Luo shook her head: “The Taiyan Sect has never restricted disciples’ cultivation methods. As long as it’s not a crooked or evil path, they can choose whatever way they’re skilled at. Serpent Bone Whip techniques are quite suitable for women because whips are small and lightweight, but if one is careless because of this, they might suffer greatly.”

“Moreover, if I remember correctly, Junior Sister Yang is currently only at the first level of Foundation Establishment.”

And Duan Xiangrao was already at mid Foundation Establishment when she entered the sect.

On the platform, Duan Xiangrao had already whipped toward Zanxing.

The Serpent Bone Whip looked like a thin, long strip, but when it came whipping over, it brought fierce wind. Zanxing leaped away, and that whip strike directly hit the ground, cracking the surface.

The crowd below sucked in a cold breath.

“Why are you dodging?” Duan Xiangrao laughed: “Didn’t you say you wanted to become an inner disciple through your abilities?”

Zanxing stopped, turned around, and faced her with the staff: “You talk too much.”

The woman’s staff was an iron staff, yet in her hands, it seemed weightless, striking and slashing with ease. She horizontally chopped toward Duan Xiangrao’s legs, who dodged by leaping away, but the staff suddenly appeared behind her—the previous attack had been a feint.

Duan Xiangrao dodged again and whipped back, but the whip was entangled by Zanxing’s staff. She wasn’t annoyed, smiled slightly, and forcefully pulled back. The Serpent Bone Whip seemed to come alive, suddenly tightening around the staff. Zanxing’s pupils contracted, sensing danger, she quickly dodged sideways, grasped the staff, and retreated several steps.

In just a few breaths, the two had exchanged several moves. The combat between women wasn’t as rough and boring as between men—graceful and elegant like dancing, the disciples below became increasingly excited.

“Good, well fought!”

“Junior Sister Duan fought beautifully! Use the whip to strike her!”

“Your staff technique is better than I imagined,” Duan Xiangrao said, looking at Zanxing. “It’s just a pity this staff is too inferior.”

“Your whip is not bad,” Zanxing replied. “It’s just a pity your whip technique doesn’t match your whip.”

Hearing this, Duan Xiangrao’s willow eyebrows stood on end: “Are you mocking me?”

Zanxing: “Yes.”

The Taiyan Sect provided newly admitted disciples with ordinary beginner equipment, but the whip in Duan Xiangrao’s hand was different. She had previously approached Wang Shao because she lacked spirit stones. Without doubt, this beautiful Serpent Bone Whip in her hand should be a gift from Hua Yue to please the beauty.

This competition system was also quite unfair. The whip in Duan Xiangrao’s hand could at least increase her Yuanli by one level.

“Someone like you dares to mock me?” Duan Xiangrao put away the smile on her face, her gaze turning cold as she declared: “The match is over.”

The whip in her hand suddenly lengthened, undulating like a snake. Zanxing circulated her Yuanli and raised her staff to meet the whip wind.

A clear voice seemed to float in her ears from the white-clothed woman in her spiritual consciousness: “High four level, advance three stabs, advance and sweep the body… bow back to meet, turn golden rooster stands alone, fix the knee, push two staffs…”

Whether it was Zanxing’s illusion or not, she could feel the breathing and flow of every inch of meridian in her body at this moment. She could precisely control the advance and retreat of her staff technique to every millimeter. Her mind was clearer than in any previous practice. She blocked the long whip attacking her face with her staff, naturally stepped forward with a hooking step, and thrust the staff tip toward Duan Xiangrao’s heart with a reverse hand.

In the distance, Xuan Lingzi gripped his fists somewhat excitedly: “This little girl uses her staff technique well. Look at that pushing staff move just now—I think she can win…”

Yueguang Daoren lowered his eyes without speaking.

The next moment, Xuan Lingzi exclaimed in shock: “What?”

The staff thrusting toward Duan Xiangrao had stopped.

Duan Xiangrao looked at Zanxing, her gaze full of mockery: “I told you, you can’t do it.”

From the staff tip, a whip had suddenly wrapped around it. This whip emitted an eerie blue light, section by section, like a snake’s body, boneless and flexible, wrapping the staff tightly. Zanxing’s heart sank. She tried to pull back the iron staff, but the whip was like an entangling python. When Zanxing exerted more force, there was a “crack” sound—the whip broke in the middle. The broken whip rushed toward Zanxing’s face along with the staff; the whip’s tail suddenly transformed into a black snake head, flicking its tongue as it struck toward Zanxing’s heart.

“Thud—”

What fell wasn’t just Zanxing, but also the staff, broken into two pieces.

“Junior Sister Zanxing!” Tian Fangfang shouted anxiously.

Zanxing spat out a mouthful of blood from her chest, feeling as if her entire body had been crushed, the pain almost bringing tears to her eyes.

Duan Xiangrao raised her hand, and the broken Serpent Bone Whip “whooshed” back into her palm, reconnecting into a complete, long whip.

Serpent bone was naturally flexible.

“How is it?” Duan Xiangrao looked down at Zanxing condescendingly and laughed lightly: “Now, are you thoroughly convinced?”

The gray-robed woman lying on the competition platform wiped the blood from her lips with her finger and said calmly: “I’m not convinced.”

The crowd below was stunned.

Zanxing struggled to support her body and barely stood up, looking directly at the person opposite her.

Duan Xiangrao was just a tool character. The tool character’s joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, even her hostility, seemed so inexplicable, so unreal. What Zanxing refused to accept was the original story’s erasure of her existence.

Being forced into the book’s world wasn’t her choice. She simply didn’t want to be a cannon fodder tool who went with the flow and became an attachment to the strong, trying to change her predetermined fate. However, once detected by the original story, she would be erased from this world through various unfair means.

Like at this moment.

Unequal cultivation levels an unfair competition.

The gray-robed woman slowly repeated: “I’m not convinced.”

Duan Xiangrao frowned: “If you’re not convinced, I’ll beat you until you are!” She suddenly raised her whip and lashed it toward Zanxing.

One whip struck Zanxing harshly, immediately creating a bloody mark that made one’s bones feel cold just looking at it. Yet Zanxing seemed oblivious, crouching down to grab the iron staff, broken into two pieces.

“What is she grabbing the staff for?” A disciple below didn’t understand: “In this state, she might as well just surrender.”

“Nothing but death throes!” Duan Xiangrao sneered and whipped again. This whip used her full Yuanli—even if Zanxing didn’t die, she would be severely injured.

“Junior Sister!” Tian Fangfang shouted anxiously: “Just surrender quickly!”

But Zanxing seemed not to hear, still turning her back to her opponent.

The whip was about to strike her. On the spacious competition platform, the woman’s figure appeared particularly small, as if this one whip would make her disappear from the six realms of heaven and earth, never to be found again.

The gray-robed woman suddenly turned around and swung forward with her staff.

This staff strike looked so weak, like an ant trying to shake a tree or a mantis trying to stop a chariot—somewhat ridiculous.

But that whip didn’t continue forward.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, at the tip of that staff, a flower had suddenly bloomed.