Bai Yiyi stood below the Arena, completely stunned. She had never imagined that things on the Arena would take such a dramatic turn.
Envoy Leng… was actually a woman?
Aside from Ye Ling, she had never really interacted with men her own age. At most, she'd occasionally felt that some of Leng Qingqiu's small gestures seemed oddly familiar, but she had never thought too deeply about it.
Besides, Leng Qingqiu had come to inspect the Heavenly Gate Sect. As the Sect Master, Bai Yiyi had no spare attention to waste on such minor details.
So when she saw Ye Ling strike Leng Qingqiu in the chest, she was left utterly dumbfounded.
Good heavens…
My good disciple, this is one situation your master really can't help you with.
That thought aside, Bai Yiyi still quietly formed a spell seal, ready to intervene at any moment.
On the Arena, Ye Ling instinctively swallowed.
As the target of Leng Qingqiu's killing intent, he could clearly feel his aura being locked onto. The moment he dared to move, he would immediately be met with her thunderous retaliation.
Unlike his own body techniques, Leng Qingqiu's spells were something he couldn't even begin to understand. Yet just from the pressure radiating off her, he could tell they were anything but ordinary.
It was a bright, sunny day, yet to Ye Ling it felt as if dark clouds had gathered overhead, wild winds raging around him, a storm on the verge of breaking.
Still, he wasn't afraid to fight. From their earlier exchange, he knew that as long as he could drag Leng Qingqiu back into close-range combat, victory would be his.
Across from him, Leng Qingqiu was completely focused. Her expression was so dark it seemed as if water might drip from it.
Her aura continued to rise, thickening as though it were about to take physical form.
True Qi surged through her body, draining the surrounding Spiritual Qi dry. Lines of spell runes appeared out of thin air around her, gradually wrapping around the entire Arena.
The only thing marring the scene was the state of her face. Bruises and swelling covered her once-refined features, giving her an oddly comical look and greatly reducing the sense of oppression she exerted on Ye Ling. After all, every blow Ye Ling had landed had gone straight for the weak points of the head.
At the same time, she had to keep one hand pressed over her chest, leaving only the other free to form seals and cast spells.
"Envoy Leng, there's really no need for things to turn into a fight to the death, right?"
Seeing that Leng Qingqiu's spell was nearly complete, Ye Ling hurriedly spoke up, sounding a little awkward.
If Leng Qingqiu were a man, he wouldn't have hesitated to beat her senseless.
But Leng Qingqiu wasn't just a woman. She was clearly a beauty. Even dressed as a man, people wanted to cross swords with her. If she wore women's clothes, there was no way she'd be unremarkable.
As the saying goes, one's values tend to follow one's looks.
Leng Qingqiu may have offended Bai Yiyi, but the beating she'd just taken could be considered venting enough anger.
Continuing to fight wouldn't lead to anything good. If he could end this without further violence, that would be ideal.
"A fight to the death? Heh!"
Leng Qingqiu was so angered by Ye Ling's shamelessness that she laughed instead. Even though she had long cast aside her identity as a woman, when her chest was struck, it was impossible for her heart not to react.
Of course, that reaction was nothing but extreme fury.
Ye Ling had first beaten her ruthlessly, then taken liberties with her, and now he wanted to simply call it even. How could things possibly be that easy?
"Envoy Leng, I've already proven my strength. How about we call it a draw?"
Ye Ling knew full well that this wouldn't end so neatly, but there was no way he was willing to let Leng Qingqiu beat him in return.
Besides, she should reflect on her own attitude. After behaving the way she had, getting beaten wasn't exactly unjustified.
And dressing as a man had been her own choice. His real mistake lay only in that final move.
But that had been an instinctive reaction as a man. By the time he realized what he'd done, it was already too late. Even he didn't possess that level of self-control.
"You go back to the Righteous Path Alliance. I'll continue cultivating at the Heavenly Gate Sect. We'll mind our own business. My Master isn't one to spread gossip. This matter will be known only to Heaven and Earth, you and me, and my Master. Let's end it here, alright?"
After a moment of thought, Ye Ling added,
"How about this. I'll give you a promise. As long as it's within my ability and doesn't go against righteousness, I'll agree to it. What do you say?"
This was already Ye Ling's greatest concession. In the end, aside from having taken liberties with Leng Qingqiu, which he truly couldn't deny was wrong, he hadn't crossed any major lines.
As for beating Leng Qingqiu, that was entirely because of her disrespect toward Bai Yiyi. Who told her to bully Bai Yiyi in the first place?
So, in his view, trading a promise in exchange for Leng Qingqiu's forgiveness was more than sufficient.
After all, in Ye Ling's eyes, Leng Qingqiu wasn't some once-in-a-generation genius. He had only used forty percent of his strength and she was already barely holding on. If he went all out, wouldn't she surrender on the spot?
Yet instead of backing down, Leng Qingqiu grew even angrier at Ye Ling's so-called bottom line.
Bah!
Just a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, relying on the advantages of body cultivation, and he still hadn't managed to knock her, a Dao Cultivator, to the ground. And he dared to make promises to her?
Leng Qingqiu said nothing more. With a sweep of her now-free right hand, countless Void Swords condensed out of thin air.
Void Sword Technique · Rainstorm!
The Void Sword Technique was a peerless sword art from the Primordial Era, capable of extracting space itself and transforming it into invisible, formless blades.
Back in the Qi Cultivation stage, each time Leng Qingqiu reforged herself, she could only extract a single Void Sword. But after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, she could now draw out hundreds at once.
In midair, hundreds of Void Swords all pointed toward Ye Ling, waiting only for Leng Qingqiu's command to skewer him like a hedgehog.
The Void Swords had no physical form. Ye Ling could only sense their presence through shifts in the airflow. This also meant that Leng Qingqiu hadn't yet reached the Golden Core stage. Otherwise, her Void Swords could hide within the void itself, killing an opponent before they even knew what had happened.
"Hey! This is going a bit too far."
Faced with such a display, Ye Ling knew his instincts were right. He couldn't give Leng Qingqiu any opening. Otherwise… fighting her was just too exhausting.
"Don't die."
With a wave of her hand, Leng Qingqiu sent the Void Swords surging forward. Driven by her aura, they fell upon Ye Ling like a torrential downpour.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
What Leng Qingqiu hadn't expected was that Ye Ling reached into empty space, and an ancient-looking longsword appeared in his hand.
He didn't know any sword techniques, but with the Heavenly Fate Eye, he could clearly see where each Void Sword would strike.
If too many came at once, he would pull back and evade. If there were only a few, he would rely on the sharpness of his weapon to cut them down directly.
The power of a high-grade Spirit Artifact was no joke.
"A high-grade Spirit Artifact?"
Leng Qingqiu clenched her teeth. She couldn't believe that such a treasure would end up in Ye Ling's hands.
This insignificant sect really kept giving her one surprise after another.
But don't think this is the end.
When it came to magical treasures, she was confident she wasn't inferior either.