At the moment of life and death, from just half a staff, facing the fierce whip wind, a small flower bloomed.
This small flower was light pink, suddenly appearing at the staff tip like a flower branch that suddenly sprouted in spring, carrying a tentative beauty.
“What is that?” Duan Xiangrao frowned and instinctively tried to withdraw her whip. The Serpent Bone Whip, usually flexible and free-flowing, now seemed entangled by some unknown thing, making it difficult to pull out for a moment.
The harder she tried, the deeper the Serpent Bone Whip sank, as if an invisible swamp had appeared between her and Zanxing, sucking the whip into it.
“What’s happening? Why isn’t Junior Sister Duan moving?” The disciples below only saw Duan Xiangrao’s sudden stillness and spoke in confusion.
Zanxing looked coldly at Duan Xiangrao and pushed forward with the other broken piece of staff in her hand.
On the spacious competition platform, where whip and staff intertwined, ripples suddenly appeared, like lake water under moonlight on an autumn night, filled with moonbeams under the night sky. That round of bright silver moon rose and fell with the ripples, making it impossible to distinguish between water and sky.
This scene was not crude at all, but rather full of poetry, leaving all the disciples momentarily stunned.
“Crude technique,” Duan Xiangrao mocked: “Is this the move you used to pass the first round of assessment?” She released her grip, letting the Serpent Bone Whip fly toward the water mirror in front of Zanxing, then suddenly gathered Yuanli in her palm and struck toward the whip, shouting: “Serpent Shadow—”
Zi Luo below became nervous: “This is bad!”
The technique Duan Xiangrao had chosen was called “Serpent Whip.” The third-level move in Serpent Whip was Serpent Shadow. Serpent Shadow was extremely powerful, and for Duan Xiangrao to cultivate to the third level in just over ten days was already extraordinary. But ordinary people rarely used this move against fellow disciples, because this technique was ruthless—once Serpent Shadow entered the body, it would frantically absorb a person’s Yuanli. Those injured would suffer setbacks in cultivation at best, or face mortal danger at worst.
Zanxing’s cultivation was already inferior to Duan Xiangrao’s, and now, with Duan Xiangrao using the killing move Serpent Shadow, Zanxing would probably suffer greatly.
Sure enough, the Serpent Bone Whip trapped in the water mirror suddenly turned into shadows, then in an instant, split into dozens and hundreds of thin whips. Looking carefully, these weren’t whips at all, but moving black snakes. Countless serpent shadows pounced toward Zanxing.
The water mirror that had originally shown gentle ripples suddenly developed a crack, then made a clear, loud sound. The ripples scattered, and moonlight shattered across the ground.
“Go die!” Duan Xiangrao’s whip was already before her eyes.
Zanxing stepped diagonally upward, withdrawing her staff to strike back. But the serpent shadows seemed endless—each one that landed beside her would “whoosh” into her body, stealing away a portion of her Yuanli.
The gap between late Foundation Establishment and early Foundation Establishment was simply too vast.
In just a moment, Zanxing’s gray gauze robe was already stained red with blood. Duan Xiangrao spread her hand, and countless serpent shadows flew back into her palm, gathering into a long whip flashing with eerie blue light. She flew toward Zanxing, raising her whip: “You can get off the stage now!”
Zanxing gritted her teeth, raised her staff to meet the attack, and said: “Don’t speak too soon!”
At this critical moment, a familiar voice seemed to echo in her spiritual platform. This voice was clear and gentle, awakening like a great bell between heaven and earth. She said: “The beauty’s color, sound in emptiness, color in appearance, moon in water, flower in mirror.”
As this woman’s voice finished, the broken staff in Zanxing’s hand suddenly grew longer. She felt the Xiaoyuan Pearl within her body seemed about to break free from its constraints, so she simply stopped controlling it and let the Xiaoyuan Pearl’s Yuanli wrap around the broken staff.
The white-clothed woman in her spiritual consciousness stood under a flowering tree, the wind from her dancing staff sweeping down the flowers from the tree. Now, on the competition platform, there was no flowering tree, yet at the point where the staff tip indicated, layers upon layers of rosy clouds bloomed.
Hibiscus like beautiful women, painted boats and towers forever hidden in bright spring colors, without spring and autumn, without sun and moon, without twilight, without glory and decay. Thousands of peach trees and ten thousand years of medicine—what could make one remember the mortal world? The so-called azure clouds and crimson mists, fleeting in an instant. Through the turning of stars and shifting of time, what remained unchanged was only the mirror, the flower, the water moon itself.
At the staff tip on the platform, a sea of flowers appeared. This sea of flowers was layered in crimson colors, making even the evening clouds on the horizon pale in comparison. Amid the red clouds, the gray-robed woman standing in the center seemed to blur into an absolute beauty. She held two broken staffs, clearly in a disheveled state, yet displayed a breathtakingly enchanting beauty.
In the distance, Yueguang Daoren’s hand trembled as he spoke in shock: “Jing Hua Shui Yue—she learned the complete Jing Hua Shui Yue?”
Being able to execute half a move was already beyond expectations. Setting aside Zanxing’s comprehension ability, with her current cultivation level alone, it should have been impossible to execute the complete “Jing Hua Shui Yue.”
Duan Xiangrao on the platform already sensed something was wrong and vigorously swung the Serpent Bone Whip in her hand. However, when the Serpent Bone Whip struck the layer of flowers, not only did it fail to crush the flowers, but it bounced back as if hitting a solid barrier.
Zanxing suddenly circulated all her Yuanli.
In the dozens of days of cultivating “Qing E Nian Hua Gun,” she had used this move, Jing Hua Shui Yue, many times, but without flowering trees, she could only execute “Shui Yue” without “Jing Hua.” Today, at the moment when Duan Xiangrao forced her into a desperate situation, Zanxing suddenly comprehended the deeper meaning of “Jing Hua.”
It turned out “Jing Hua” was illusory from the beginning. Since that was the case, there was no difference between “having flowers” and “having no flowers.” The “flower” was false, but the “staff” was real. Yet the “staff’s” existence was to dance out the “flower.”
Just as this world in the book was false, she was a real person. She bore this tool character’s identity only to create a real path that belonged to herself, rather than being an appendage, not knowing where fate would cast her next moment.
She simply wanted to live, wanted to control the direction of her destiny.
The staff chopped and thrust in the air, and wherever it struck, the sea of flowers flowed like a waterfall. The flying flower staff made it impossible for Duan Xiangrao’s serpent whip to approach, while she was forced to retreat step by step.
Seeing herself about to be forced to the edge of the competition platform, Duan Xiangrao gritted her teeth and once again gathered Yuanli to swing her whip: “Serpent Shadow!”
Countless serpent shadows flew toward the sea of flowers. Illusion against illusion, fierce darkness against delicate beauty, making even this spacious competition platform eerily magnificent. Everyone’s hearts rose to their throats. No one could guess the outcome.
“Bang—”
The eerie blue whip broke into two pieces, its luster quickly dimming, becoming like a piece of rotten wood, no longer fierce and agile. The next moment, the gray-robed woman turned and rolled, striking toward her opponent’s knees and feet with the broken staff in her hand.
Duan Xiangrao flew off the platform.
On and off the platform, complete silence.
The gray-robed woman withdrew her staff. The ripples, sea of flowers, and rosy clouds that had spread through the air instantly disappeared, as if everything had just been a magnificent dream.
The announcing disciple’s voice echoed throughout the entire competition platform: “Group thirty, Yang Zanxing wins—”