First to make a move was Ling Jie.
The moment the elder's voice fell, Ling Jie vanished!
Instead, at his place, a bright light appeared that went past Cang Yue in a blink!
Silence fell, and everyone stared at the arena with bated breath.
"It's really not easy…" Ling Jie's voice came from behind Cang Yue. He had a wry smile on his face as he turned around and looked at Cang Yue, his face becoming serious.
His right sword hand trembled as blood dripped down from it!
"What happened?" Yuanba, not understanding, asked. Not only him, but most people didn't understand what happened.
"It was an instant burst of profound art," Wushang replied. "If I am not wrong, then it should be Heaven's Might Absolute Sword - Moon Break! It's a profound art that allows its user to burst with extreme speed to reach their opponent and decapitate them! But this time, when Ling Jie was about to do the same, Princess Cang Yue dodged the slash easily and counter-slashed his hand instead, resulting in the current situation."
"Oh!" Though he understood nothing, Yuanba thought it sounded cool.
Seeing this, Wushang shook his head and returned his attention back to the stage.
Cang Yue still had a soft smile on her face. She turned around and faced Ling Jie, who once again readied himself for another attack.
He took a deep breath, and his profound energy burst out of his body like an endless tsunami.
Anyone feeling it could tell that his profound energy was many times thicker than anyone on the same level! This allowed him to jump levels and defeat stronger opponents!
Ling Jie didn't go for direct confrontation as he was aware he would lose in it. As such, he used his profound arts from the start!
Suddenly, hundreds of sword auras appeared in the sky, all targeting Cang Yue!
"Heaven's Might Sword Formation - Heavenly Star Frenzy!" Wushang commented. "It allows the user to create hundreds of different sword auras, which will attack the user simultaneously! It's like facing a hundred different people at the same time!"
Following his comment, the sword auras fell!
Like a sharp, unstoppable force, all of them launched towards the lonely standing Cang Yue.
Seeing this, Cang Yue's eyes became sharp! Without much fanfare, she simply slashed her claymore upwards.
This created a sharp wind pressure followed by a gust of gentle sword intent. The moment this wind slash and sword intent came into contact with the incoming sword auras, they burst!
The moment they burst open, Cang Yue's eyes suddenly trembled as she felt the space around her quivering! Turning to look towards Ling Jie, she saw him standing some distance away from her with both of his swords pointing upward.
There, sword beams filled the sky above him, forming a giant thirty-meter-long sword!
"This is my complete strength! Princess Sis, please be careful! Even Big Brother Yun won't take it lightly!" He shouted.
"Heaven's Might Absolute Sword, Final Form - Radiant Sky!"
Cang Yue's gaze condensed.
The grip over her weapon tightened before a fearless smile formed over her face.
Suddenly, a loud hum appeared.
Everyone looked towards the claymore in Cang Yue's hand and saw it vibrating intensely to the point that the air around it was cracking! The sound produced by it was distinct, and everyone in the arena could hear it!
Profound energy burst out of Cang Yue's body, shaking the air around her, and she raised the claymore high in the sky.
Clenching it tightly with both of her hands, she took one step forward and slashed!
A loud "Om" sound appeared, causing people with weak strength to lose control over their profound strength, shaking their internal organs! This horrified everyone!
Silence suddenly covered the arena...before a loud vibration sound appeared! A sword beam was released in Cang Yue's slash direction, obliterating everything in its path!
Ling Jie's giant sword didn't even last a second against it, and Cang Yue's sword beam ripped through it like a sword through paper and reached Ling Jie instantly!
"Jie'er!" Yuefeng and Yufeng shouted together.
Ling Wugou didn't waste time and appeared in front of Ling Jie, raising his hand to stop the incoming sword beam.
The beam fell on his hand, and a loud explosion occurred due to the clash of his profound strength and the beam.
Dust covered everything, blocking the sight behind.
"Incredible..." Ling Wugou muttered. He stared at his hand, which stopped the incoming slash and saw a small cut from where blood leaked out.
This horrified him!
He was at the Sky Profound Realm, and Cang Yue was at the Earth Profound Realm! The difference in level was massive! Yet she was able to hurt him...this scared him! If she was already this strong as an Earth Profound Realm, Ling Wugou didn't want to think how strong she would be if she reached his level.
On the other side, Qingyue, who saw this, remained silent.
Her eyes trembled, and she seemed to be deep in thought.
"Don't force yourself." Suddenly, Yuechan's voice came from the side, making Qingyue look towards her. "Thinking too much right now will only cloud your heart and mind. This will affect your strength. Just focus and remain calm; there is no need to stress it."
After a brief pause, Qingyue nodded.
She knew Cang Yue was trained by Yun Che, and the weapon she held was probably given by him too.
Unknown to others, this made her slightly annoyed and irritated.
He has been coming to meet her almost every night and would leave after spending some time talking with her. Qingyue thought, can't he give her some good weapons too?
But of course, she kept these thoughts to herself as she would never say them out loud.
She was too embarrassed to do so!
"Ling Jie vs Cang Yue...Cang Yue wins!" Finally, as the dust settled, Ling Wugou announced loudly, causing the whole arena to burst into loud exclamations!
Cang Yue released the accumulated breath and her gentle smile reappeared on her face.
"That was awesome, Princess Sis!" Ling Jie, who landed back on the ground, loudly shouted with excitement as he ran to Cang Yue. "What was that move!? It was so cool! Can you teach me too?"
Hearing him, suddenly, a weird smile formed over Cang Yue's face.
"Little Jie, if you want to learn it, then you will have to ask Brother Yun. It was Brother Yun who trained me all this time. If not for him, I would never have reached my current level!"
"Woah!"
Her statement made everyone look towards Yun Che instantly, causing his lips to twitch. He wondered what Cang Yue was up to now.
"Really?" Ling Jie had some doubts in his eyes. "But he is so weak!"
Even till now, no one could feel any profound energy from Yun Che, which meant he didn't cultivate. As such, everyone still thought he was weak. Ling Jie was no different.
"Little Jie, you cannot judge a book by its cover." Cang Yue seriously replied and pointed towards Ling Kun. "Look there, Elder Kun also doesn't release any profound energy signature. Will you call him weak too?"
"That's because…" Ling Jie's eyes widened and Cang Yue nodded her head like a wise sage.
"Exactly! Brother Yun is just too powerful for other people to feel his strength. Everyone else is just too weak!"
"..."
Everyone looked at Cang Yue with weird gazes.
Obviously, not even sect masters could feel any profound strength from him. Does that mean all of them are weaker than a junior?! They didn't dare to believe! They all thought Cang Yue was trying to lead them astray!
"Well, it is not hidden that Princess Cang Yue and Yun Che have some ambiguous relationship with each other. It's not surprising for her to stand for him."
Everyone agreed to this statement.
After all, no matter what angle they looked at it, a junior being stronger than even the sect masters of the four major clans didn't make sense to them! For them, the four major clans were the highest existence within the empire and no one should be stronger than them, definitely not a junior!
Seeing this, a frown appeared on Cang Yue's face.
Her hand itched, thinking she should just kill all of them here to prove her point.
"Wow~ I didn't think Brother Yun was this strong!" On the other hand, Ling Jie easily believed what Cang Yue said. He looked towards Yun Che with stars in his eyes and loudly said. "Big Brother, you must take me as your man and teach me your ways!"
"..."
Yun Che wondered what kind of reaction Ling Jie would show if he realized that Yun Che is now his step-daddy.
"Alright, enough." Ling Wugou spoke, interrupting them. "It's time for the next match of the semi-finals. Leave so we can repair the stage."
Cang Yue and Ling Jie nodded.
"Princess Sis, let's meet after the tournament! Then, I can ask Big Brother to teach me how to become strong too!"
"Um. I will wait for you then, Little Jie."
...
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