Long Meiling let out a shout as she swung her sword down at Long Jingfei, who deftly parried it with one of her daggers before slipping into her range and thrusting the other at her abdomen. Meiling was already expecting this, however, jumping back and slashing at Jingfei's neck, forcing her back.
The two young women glared at each other from their respective sides in the arena, panting heavily from the exertion. Long Meiling, in particular, was nearing the limits of her endurance; she'd lost count of how many times their blades had met, both of them covered in sweat from head to toe.
Suddenly, one of Jingfei's daggers flashed through the air, going straight for Meiling's chest, Jingfei rushing in right behind it. Meiling quickly deflected the thrown dagger, but failed to block the next blow that landed on her side. She cried out in pain as the tip of the blade sunk deep into her flesh, prompting an involuntary yelp from her lips.
"Ready to give in, sister dear?" Jingfei hissed as she pressed her assault, eyes fierce with determination. Her pupils were shaking slightly, however, and her movements were starting to become erratic.
Meiling was in much the same state, though she defiantly endured the pain as she snarled back at her.
"Don't think I'm finished, yet!"
Jingfei just growled as she lunged forward again, a brutal slash aimed at Meiling's midriff. Meiling jumped up, narrowly avoiding the strike while simultaneously swinging at Jingfei's head with a slash of her own.
Jingfei was forced to duck and roll underneath, coming up in a crouch with labored breaths and catching the deflected dagger from her first attack. With a grunt of effort, she pushed herself upright and threw her knife at Meiling again, who only barely managed to evade it by leaping away.
They continued like this for several more exchanges, neither being able to land a decisive blow against the other. They were evenly matched, if not slightly favoring Jingfei due to her greater experience, but it wasn't enough to tip the scales in her favor.
The crowd watched on in tense silence, eyes glued to the fight unfolding before them. The other matches had already concluded, by now, and as if to also give the announcers a chance to see the spectacle that was Meiling and Jingfei's fight, no new matches were called for.
Meiling was still breathing heavily, her arms trembling under the weight of the strain. Her foundation was still unstable, having just broken through, and although the fight was quickly tempering her new cultivation, she had already expended much of her energy.
The only thing keeping her in the fight, now, was her hybrid qi\mana cultivation. It was difficult, controlling both the mana and qi flowing through her meridians at the same time, but conversely, it also meant she could use mana to substitute for qi in her techniques.
With mana being all around her, it effectively meant the energy cost of utilizing her techniques could be cut in half; so long as she maintained the focus necessary to control it, of course.
That also meant that, if she was ever distracted when fighting...
She shook her head, ridding herself of those unnecessary thoughts. She needed to keep her mind clear, focused on what was directly in front of her, or she would lose.
'I can't lose here!' she thought, ignoring the pain in her side and gritting her teeth as she readied herself for the next exchange.
Jingfei, too, looked exhausted, but she tried to hide it with her usual mocking smile.
"Come on, sister dear! Don't you want to end this quickly?!"
Meiling just growled and pushed forward, once more.
The two of them clashed with their weapons, their bodies moving almost instinctively, now, as they danced around each other on the bright, sunlit stage. Their blades flashed through the air, meeting over and over again as they traded blows, neither one of them managing to land a clean hit.
However, one of them was bound to slip up, eventually. A single moment of hesitation, a single mistake, and it would all come undone.
This opportunity came when Jingfei, errantly judging Meiling's next move, lunged overly far with her dagger, stumbling as Meiling stepped to the side instead of parrying.
Long Meiling saw her chance and swung for Jingfei's neck, hoping to end this contest right here.
Unable to move out of the way in time, Jingfei took the only course of action she could; stabbing towards Meiling's abdomen in hopes of making her retreat.
But it would all be for naught. Gasps arose from the crowd as she felt her dagger bury itself into Long Meiling's soft flesh, and she couldn't help but gasp herself. Why hadn't she dodged?!
However, the feeling of cold steel pressed up against her neck gave her her answer, and she looked up to see Long Meiling standing over her domineeringly, sword at her throat.
"You've lost, sister," Meiling said, her voice steady even as her face paled from her wounds.
"Give up."
Jingfei's hands trembled around the dagger that was currently buried in Meiling's side, gnashing her teeth in frustration. It would be too easy to twist the knife and end it, once and for all!
...But eventually, her hand dropped away, and she let go of her other dagger, as well.
"...I surrender."
There was a heavy silence, before the crowd erupted into wild cheers, thunderous applause drowning out the announcer's commentary on the end of the fight.
"Unbelievable! Long Meiling is the winner! Long Meiling wins!!!" he shouted, desperately trying to be heard over the crowd, to no avail.
For her part, as soon as she was able to stand, Long Jingfei turned around and walked away, leaving the stage without saying anything further.
"Amazing fight," someone commented at her side as she walked off the stage, causing her to turn around with a sour expression.
"Though, I suppose you didn't expect her to be so strong, did you?"
Li Daoming stood there with a smug grin, his eyes sparkling as he waited for her reaction.
"..."
He would be disappointed, however, as she simply turned and walked away without a word.
"Hmph," Daoming snorted, bringing his attention back towards Long Meiling, who was currently walking off the stage as she was swarmed by her worried subordinates.
"Young Miiiisssss!!!"
Yuhan rushed up to Long Meiling with tears in her eyes, carefully fussing over her many injuries and applying a healing poultice, where she could.
"Young Miss, let's hurry and get you to the infirmary!" Cheng Hui added, trying to lead her away.
Long Meiling shook them off and ignored them as she kept walking, sparing a glance back at Li Daoming as she went. Taking a deep breath, she stood before the Long family's VIP box, looking up to see her father, Long Junfeng, looking down at her impassively.
The crowd, sensing that something was amiss, quickly quieted down, many of them silencing their neighbors and pointing to where Long Meiling was currently confronting her father.
"Father..." she began hesitantly, instinctively avoiding his gaze, though she seemed to get filled with a bout of determination, clenching her fists and looking back up resolutely.
"I request that you call off my engagement with Li Daoming."
There was a long silence as Long Junfeng simply stared at her with no reaction, before he finally sighed, shaking his head.
"Your engagement with Li Daoming will stand--"
"I object to the engagement!"
The crowd gasped in surprise, looking towards the source of the objection to see... Li Daoming?!