"Then I'm not accusing you… I challenge you to a duel!"
Wu Meiyi drew her sword, cold steel flashing in the sunlight, an echo of power humming deep within it. This was no ordinary blade; it was the steel of the northern plane.
"How did you get such a weapon?" Wu Han frowned in curiosity. Few within the Wu Clan possessed specially forged arms; they were far too expensive. Even he, as the grandson of the First Elder, had none. Only the top warriors and elders were entitled to such treasures.
"It doesn't matter how I got it!" Wu Meiyi screamed, her sword leveled at his chest. "Last time you used dirty tricks because I dropped my guard, but not this time! Now, are you afraid, coward?"
Wu Han looked left, then right, before bursting into laughter. "Hahaha! This is a trial. If you want an appointment, book one later, if I even have the time for you."
Her attempt to bait him into rage was almost adorable.
"And even if I did accept, what would I gain from it?" Wu Han's voice dropped low, calm and calculating.
A duel here was pointless.
Or was it?
Wait…
His eyes flicked back to her weapon. That sword, it could only have been gifted by someone with immense talent and background.
"The sword," Wu Han said suddenly. "If you lose, I take it."
A wave of surprise rippled through the gathered clan members.
"Wu Meiyi is one of our strongest disciples," someone whispered. "And Wu Han just accepted her challenge? Why?"
He was one step away from becoming the grandson of the new clan head, countless techniques and resources at his fingertips, yet he chose to risk it here and now?
"If I win, you must cancel the trial and leave this place!" Wu Meiyi declared.
"Hmph! This is a trial, what are you two doing!?" the Second Elder roared, his authority pressing down on the pair. But his aura was quickly countered by other elders, who deliberately created a safe space for the duel to take place.
"You…" the Second Elder grit his teeth. He alone was neutral, which was why he had been chosen as judge. But the other elders had already picked sides: some behind Wu Wei, some behind Wu Zhen.
And many of them wanted this duel to happen, because if Wu Meiyi killed Wu Han, it could save their faction from destruction.
"Fine! If you insist on fighting, then so be it! The trial will be delayed until the other participants arrive, and the duel must cease immediately if interrupted." The Second Elder set the terms.
"Thank you, Senior!" Wu Meiyi bowed, her eyes blazing as she turned back to Wu Han.
She was stronger. More battles fought, higher cultivation, better weapon, pills, and techniques, on paper, the duel was hers.
"Then let's not waste time," Wu Han called out Ming's husband's spear from his storage ring and tossed it around to see if it fit.
His grip looked strange angled upward instead of pointing at her.
"What stance is that?" Wu Meiyi frowned, confused by his posture.
"Sorry, old habit," Wu Han muttered, correcting himself. He adjusted, sliding into the viper, strike stance of Ming's husband, the very technique he had copied.
"If both are ready, then fight!" the Second Elder barked, now acting as referee.
Wu Meiyi's rage and ambition burned, her Qi surging to its peak. She shot forward like a gale, her sword gleaming with condensed light, a strike so fast it cut the air apart.
BLANG!
Her sword slammed into his spear. The impact numbed Wu Han's hands instantly, a crack running down the shaft of his weapon. Just one blow was enough to show the difference in quality between her sword and his spear.
Wu Meiyi reset her stance, unleashing another strike. But this Wu Han was not the inexperienced boy of before. He twisted the spear, slamming the opposite end into her guard, forcing her to block, then stepped back and thrust forward.
Crouching Viper!
The spear slipped past her guard and struck her shoulder.
Though her Qi shield absorbed most of the force, the sheer impact made her stumble, eyes widening in shock.
How did he grow this strong so quickly!?
No time for questions. Wu Meiyi darted in again, but Wu Han had already shifted into a tactical rhythm, keeping her at bay with the spear's reach, close enough to counter her movement techniques, far enough to keep her sword from cutting him down.
That was the truth: spear was king of weapons.
Even though this was his first real spear duel, he had watched countless soldiers wield them during his time enlisted, had drilled the basics into memory.
Stab. Sweep. Maintain distance. Repeat these three, and a spear could overwhelm any sword.
Or so he thought.
This was the cultivation world. And here, swords had no limit!
"To think you actually forced me to use this!" Wu Meiyi roared, pouring her power into the blade. Her sword flared with light, the air howling around it as she released a wave of razor-thin Qi.
Gale-Sundering Strike!
"!!"
The sudden attack ripped diagonally through the air, its range almost matching a full swing of her sword. Wu Han barely shifted before the wave carved across his body, blood spraying in an arc.
What?! Wu Han's mind reeled.
A spell that replicated a sword strike, he knew of such things.
But the ones he had studied were hollow imitations, copies of form without the weight or sharpness of steel behind them.
They were mere projections of magical energy, not true blades.
But this was different.
This was an attack that carried the essence of the weapon itself.
The sword's edge, its power, its weight, projected outward as if her blade extended!
Even Ming's memories, and her husband's too, held nothing like this.
"That's a ranged sword attack!?" Wu Zhen's eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible! Only those in the Foundation Establishment Realm should be able to release such a technique, never someone still in Qi Condensation!"
Because there are so few Foundation Establishment cultivators in Azure Peak Town, most who remain here know nothing of such techniques.
And most of those ambitious enough to know about them have already journeyed out.
"The battle must be canceled immediately; this is too suspicious!" Wu Zhen tried to intervene, but an elder from Wu Wei's faction suddenly rose to his feet.
"If you interfere, you violate the clan's rules!" Wu Long barked, and three other elders stood behind him, their auras flaring as if ready for all-out battle.
Wu Zhen's hand clenched tightly on the table, forced to restrain himself.
"Don't worry, grandfather. It's only a surprise, nothing more." Wu Han's words cut through the tension, dragging every gaze back to the stage.
His wound was still bleeding, crimson soaking into his robe.
Yet the pain only twisted his lips into a smile, too wide, haunting to behold.
"The fact you didn't follow up…" Wu Han gripped his spear, eyes narrowing.
"…it must have cost you dearly, hasn't it?"
Wu Meiyi froze, breath catching in her throat. He had seen right through her.
The technique she unleashed had been born of her Sword Dao itself, amplified through her weapon. Forged of northern coldsteel, a metal famed for channeling Yin energy, it allowed her, to unleash a ranged sword strike that should have been impossible at her stage.
But that single attack had drained her heavily.
"I still have more than enough to defeat you!" Wu Meiyi shouted, forcing her body forward.
And it worked. His wound slowed him, and she slipped through his guard.
The gamble paid off, her blade cut toward the opening.
Wu Han saw the edge closing in on his neck. Yet he didn't flinch.
To let the body, he had painstakingly cultivated for a week die here would be a waste.
"I admit it, you have talent." His voice was steady, eyes gleaming.
His veins bulged as Qi ignited within, burning inward and coursing through every muscle, every bone.
The surge locked away his Qi shield and spell, sealing his refined techniques, but in exchange his raw physical power doubled in an instant.
His frame trembled with overwhelming strength tearing against its own limits.
A cruel smile split across his face as the blade halted at his neck, unable to cut through.
"But let's see… will you live long enough to grow it?"