Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 314: Chapter 314: Victory and Defeat

Fairy Qing Wan was instantly caught in a dilemma.

Dodge? As soon as she touched the white frost particles, it would trigger a chain reaction; the space mirrors could silently bring Nie Yun’s fist force within a foot of her, making it impossible to dodge or block. She had already taken four punches—if it weren’t for the soft armor on her body absorbing enough of the force, Fairy Qing Wan would have lost all fighting power by now.

Then, take it head-on? In a situation where she couldn’t move to dissipate the force, forcibly accepting such powerful fist force would require her to reverse her True Qi. Once or twice, that’s manageable, but what about eight or ten times? Did anyone really think that reversing True Qi had no consequences? By then, Fairy Qing Wan’s meridians would be shattered by the backlash from such intensive reversing.

Faced with such a predicament, Fairy Qing Wan did not lose her composure. Aside from her slightly flustered expression after taking the first punch, she quickly steadied herself. Incredibly, she stood motionless, relying solely on the swing of her wrist to block most of Nie Yun’s long-range fist force. But the blood at the corner of her mouth grew heavier—the backlash from reversing True Qi was quickly damaging her body.

Suddenly, Fairy Qing Wan closed her eyes, relaxing her entire body, and instantly entered a state that to others seemed almost trance-like.

Nie Yun thought to himself that this was his chance. Channeling all his strength, he unleashed a punch with a cunning angle.

But just as this punch was about to land on Fairy Qing Wan, a bizarre thing happened—as if she had predicted the direction, speed, and force of the punch, her wrist turned slightly. Then, with a sidestep and a gentle tap and push with the sword’s spine, she actually neutralized it.

Yet, this sidestep caused Fairy Qing Wan to touch the white frost particles beside her. Panels of space mirrors swiftly formed, and Nie Yun, of course, wouldn’t waste the opportunity: both hands flashed, his fists appearing through the space mirrors triggered by Fairy Qing Wan, crossing dozens of feet in an instant to strike at point-blank range—powerful blows.

But...

"Clang! Clang clang clang!"

Four consecutive strikes. Nie Yun’s face turned ashen. As he pulled his fists back, they trembled. Even while wearing magical artifact gloves, his hands had gone numb. More importantly, he knew in his heart things were going wrong.

She blocked them!

Punches thrown at such close distance were all blocked by Fairy Qing Wan’s sword!

The punches landed less than a foot apart, Nie Yun’s punching speed so fast that not even a tenth of a breath passed, and the attack angles were all calculatedly tricky. How could anyone possibly react in time?!

It was beyond comprehension, but it was the truth.

After blocking Nie Yun’s four consecutive punches, Fairy Qing Wan was no longer trapped in place—instead, she began to walk forward slowly, step by step, like she was taking a leisurely stroll.

"Clang clang clang..."

As she walked forward, she unavoidably bumped into more white frost particles, which quickly turned into space mirrors—Nie Yun’s shortcuts for attack. Yet now, no matter how cunning the angle or how fast the punch, which had already reached Nie Yun’s limit, he could no longer land real blows as before.

With just a single sword, Fairy Qing Wan had, once again, unraveled the deadly formation Nie Yun had so painstakingly arranged.

The others had no way of knowing how Fairy Qing Wan accomplished this, except for Zhong Hongye on the viewing platform, whose smile bloomed brilliantly: "Sword Heart Qing! I did not expect this child Qing Wan, so silently, to have cultivated the Ten Thousand Swords Return to Essence Technique to such a level. This degree of mastery is perhaps no less than Senior Brother’s, back in the day? Haha, even if she can’t maintain it long, it’s more than enough to deal with that brat from Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute."

Another who recognized this technique was Yu Ao Feng from the Celestial Toad Sect. He had heard that within the Ten Thousand Swords Return to Essence Technique was a magic technique that allowed the caster to enter a state where their spiritual sense was completely clear, dramatically increasing reaction speed, True Qi circulation speed, physical sensitivity, and bodily vitality for a short time.

Impressive, truly impressive. With this, the white frost particle surprise attacks could be countered, and the situation was once again evened out.

No, counting the heavy blows Fairy Qing Wan had taken earlier, Nie Yun still held the advantage—after all, just from injuries and energy loss alone, Fairy Qing Wan’s strength was no longer at its peak.

But next, the offense and defense switched again

Now, Fairy Qing Wan had taken the initiative to attack, clearly unwilling to drag things out with Nie Yun any longer. Her movements weren’t fast—it wasn’t clear if that was because this "Sword Heart Qing" state made it impossible to move quickly, or for some other reason. Still, nothing kept her from unleashing her killing move.

"Sword Ascending!"

It was like singing, or reciting poetry, accompanied by the flawless grace of Fairy Qing Wan’s form—even in combat, it was like a beautiful dance. Yet the price for such beauty, was blood.

In an instant, icy crystal swords rapidly condensed around Fairy Qing Wan. Each sword was only a foot long, but there were more than thirty in total.

This was the effect of the Five Elements Water Ice Technique—condensing ice swords out of thin air, then imbuing them with True Qi, making them as tough as ordinary iron blades!

In Nie Yun’s perception, the energy fluctuations on these ice swords were nearly identical to a low-grade magical artifact!

Within a few beats, the ice swords arranged themselves in mid-air into a sword array!

"Sword Edge Swings the Remnant Clouds!" Next, Fairy Qing Wan uttered a soft shout, pointed her sword forward, and the ice sword array slashed viciously toward the fully prepared Nie Yun.

If only a single sword, Nie Yun could still dodge, but now with thirty-some swords coming at him in an array, he had no way to evade unless he leapt out of the arena and admitted defeat—he had no choice but to fight head-on!

"Bang!"

Nie Yun’s fists swept up torrents of force, cascading like liquid silver as he forcefully collided with the ice sword array head-on!

In that instant, a surging might exploded throughout the arena, spraying remnants in all directions. Even the specially reinforced arena floor was overturned and sent flying; those on the viewing stands had to use True Qi to shield themselves for safety.

"Intervene now!"

Xu Lingyan at the edge of the arena shouted sharply, noticing that the True Qi within had already broken apart—this meant both sides had fought to a point of mutual destruction, a situation unacceptable to Chang Baifeng. She intervened at once, signaling the other Profound Sea Realm elders to do likewise.

Amidst flying shadows, as the dust settled in the arena, those on each viewing platform stood up nervously to see what had happened.

Shen Hao saw Nie Yun, protected behind Xu Lingyan, and let out a great sigh of relief.

Nie Yun looked battered, a sword wound slashed across his chest, but his complexion looked fine, wearing a satisfied smile—as if thoroughly delighted by the fight, wholly exhilarated.

Opposite Nie Yun, shielding Fairy Qing Wan, stood Zhong Hongye. This Profound Sea Realm expert of the Mountain of Ten Thousand Books had managed to save his own disciple from the viewing platform in time.

"Deacon Nie, and Miss Qing Wan, shall we call this match a draw? What do you say?" Xu Lingyan couldn’t allow the duel to go on, and easily offered a compromise.

But Nie Yun replied, "Elder Xu, you needn’t save face for me. I, Nie Mou, have slightly superior cultivation to Fairy Qing Wan. To have fought to this degree—I have, in truth, already lost."

With those words, Nie Yun cheerfully cupped his hands toward Qing Wan on the far side, all ease and poise.