Five minutes into the battle, the cloud platform where the two were fighting had undergone a complete transformation. The once gleaming white floor was now covered with thick frost, with cone-shaped ice towers rising up all around, continuously growing upwards in the Frost Forest that was completely enveloped in frosty Qi.

Zhilan was a peerless sword cultivator, her sword energy sharp enough to give even Tiran a hard time. However, her pursuit of extreme sharpness left her sword with no other special attributes besides cutting, making it difficult for her to counter Tiran's hit-and-run strategy against her sharpness. She could only continue to float above the frosty forest on her flying sword, continuously slashing out sword energy to shatter the ice spikes growing beneath her feet or using her flying sword to chase Tiran.

Yet, even this caused some trouble for Tiran.

"What the heck, do these things have auto-tracking too?"

Standing on a transparent ice crystal hoverboard, swiftly weaving through the gaps in the ice tower forest, Tiran unintentionally glanced back to see five flying swords swiftly chasing her from behind. Despite Zhilan's line of sight being unable to observe this location that constantly grew and changed the ice spires, she could avoid them.

The flying swords were fast, at least faster than her hoverboard speed, but Zhilan probably wasn't planning to defeat Tiran in the tower forest with just a few swords. Her goal was simply to force Tiran out and face her head-on.

"But flying out now definitely leads to a critical hit, do I look stupid... Positioning, positioning..."

Dodging a flying sword that almost grazed her with a swift maneuver of the hoverboard, Tiran decisively struck upwards with her sword from below, "Retreat!"

The surrounding ice towers instantly grew several times faster. The rapidly freezing ice blocks seized a few flying swords, either deflecting them with Tiran's sword or allowing them to pass by before trapping them.

Maybe it'll be easier to deal with a few swords less? Probably.

However, the frozen swords in the ice restlessly wiggled and, in no time, broke through the ice blocks from within and flew back up to Zhilan's side.

"...Useless." Tiran felt a bit frustrated. With one sword, a sword cultivator can counter myriad techniques. Even though her approach was a bit single-minded, becoming extremely difficult to deal with, it was still fortunate that she hadn't reached the level of the Holy Rank yet. If the laws were at her command, even a sword as sharp as The Realm level would likely not dare to face it head-on.

There's no other way. Although I also want to win with swordsmanship in a dignified manner, it's just that the opponent is a monster in swordsmanship.

Zhilan gently closed her eyes. When she planned to re-adjust and release her flying sword, the sensation from her skin and spiritual perception indicated that the temperature around was rapidly dropping.

As a sword cultivator, Zhilan had trained her body and mind not just to wield her own sword but to use it effectively. Her body, strengthened by various celestial materials and top-level techniques, and her heightened perception allowed her to maintain a state of "clear mind and calmness," where all movements couldn't escape her senses.

Therefore, besides the cold, she could also hear another sound.

Rustle, rustle...

It was the sound of the ice towers growing. Just now, it was only like the rustling of paper, but now, it seemed like...

I don't know if you've ever seen a documentary about forests, where in a time-lapse, many seedlings emerge from the soil, and the sound of their dense growth is like the rustling of leaves when new shoots burst forth.

After realizing something was amiss, Zhilan opened her eyes. At this moment, there was no view of the original ground of the cloud platform below; there were only countless densely packed ice spires growing upwards, resembling clusters of bamboo, dense like... numerous 19-tube 70-millimeter rocket launchers?

Standing directly below and looking up at the tower where Tiran's growth towered, Tiran tilted her head inexplicably and came up with a strange metaphor.

The Cloud Platform was the arena of the Gai Xia Academy, and of course, it couldn't be without boundaries. There were protective barriers resembling boundaries all around and above. Tiran's task was to forcefully compress Zilan's activity space by using her overpowered Chi.

Although this approach had nothing to do with swordsmanship anymore, who cared? Winning was the ultimate goal, and brute force was a sense of beauty. Your sword couldn't strike in all directions at a 360-degree angle, could it? As long as she couldn't crush all the ice blocks simultaneously, she would either be completely sealed in ice in the end, or she would struggle until she exhausted her strength.

Tiran had even planned the next step to deal with this. The best way now was to find a weak point to break through. That was why she had already left a relatively thin layer of ice above her head, waiting for Zilan to come up and deliver it to her.

But Zilan unexpectedly stood on the top of the arena, calmly stepping on her sword, watching the ice columns pressuring from all directions.

Even at such a moment, she displayed no signs of impatience or anxiety, instead giving Tiran a sense of impending danger.

What was this, the self-discipline of a sword immortal?

The white-clad girl on the flying sword casually grabbed a sword floating beside her, and swung it towards the ice layer that had almost reached her face, without any buildup of force or sword energy mixed in her movement, as casually as cutting vegetables.

"Oh shit."

However, when Tiran truly felt what was attached to that sword, only these two words remained in her mind.

As someone who had once mastered the rules but later fell because of her own recklessness, the princess had a say in such matters.

No mistake, it was the power of the rules. The reason for the ordinary sword swing was that it didn't require any skill; the rule was the rule. It was the most fundamental law that made up the world, something no being in this world could resist.

She had been hoodwinked! If she had known that Zilan could use the rules, she wouldn't have fought her no matter what, and now she was definitely going to lose.

Within the Cloud Platform, everything that was visible and invisible was crushed. The ice layer shattered into ice crystals, dissipating in the sunlight. Zilan landed slowly, with the sunlight dazzling behind her, like a celestial being descending to the mortal realm with her own divine light.

Crack.

After the ice tower vanished, the area fell into absolute silence for a moment. The only sound that broke the silence was a clear cracking sound.

The flying sword that Zilan had just used to sever the rule shattered crisply on the ground in front of the princess, into metal shavings. Yes, it couldn't even be called fragments; those particles were so tiny that not a single bit of the original shape could be distinguished, they could only be called shavings.

Just as Tiran had yet to comprehend what was going on, Zilan, without warning, knelt down on one knee, and the flying swords that had been floating around her fell to the ground like hailstones.

"I don't think you need to bow like this..." Tiran scratched her cheek and awkwardly commented.

"It's fine... I lost." Zilan managed with a weak voice, her hands struggling to support her body on the ground.

With Zilan's surrender, the battle ended, and the Cloud Platform descended back to the ground. It was then that Tiran noticed several people standing outside.

"Senior Sister!"

"Your highness!"

Mimi and Moyi quickly ran up to join the two.

"I'm telling you, Senior Sister, there's really no need to put yourself in this state." Mo Yi furrowed his brows, holding Zilan up while incessantly reprimanding her. "It was the same during our cultivation in the past, every time either you couldn't stand properly or you were covered in injuries all over. At least you're a girl, you should take care of yourself a little bit!"

"Not like this... I can't become stronger." Even though Zilan's body was weak and limp from exhaustion, her attitude remained unchanged.

Mo Yi was also helpless. Even if he didn't have the distinguished background of being from the exceptional technique door of aristocracy, he himself was the son of a vassal house in the empire. In the Western regions, he would be considered a young gentleman with outstanding talent and a prestigious family background. Watching a girl get hurt repeatedly in front of him truly made him feel uncomfortable.

However, it was also because of this that she became the senior sister of the academy, the number one beneath the Earth Immortals.

"Your Highness Tiran, I will take Senior Sister to rest first. I have already taken the maid to arrange temporary accommodations. I will come back later to visit and inform you about future matters."

With a polite farewell, Mo Yi simply carried the unsteady senior sister on his back and left.

Zilan was wearing a loose and elegant dress that didn't show off her figure much, but when she leaned against Mo Yi's back, it was obvious she had a perfect figure. Coupled with her face pressed close to his ear, her breath lightly brushing his cheek.

The first time Mo Yi carried Zilan back, he was in his adolescence, blushing all the way and always worried about whether the girl on his back would think he was taking advantage of her. But once he got used to it, he completely stopped caring.

As a branch of cultivation for immortals, the Southern Tian Academy had many short-distance teleportation points within the campus to facilitate students. After leaving the Cloud Terrace, Mo Yi quickly arrived at the cave mansion area using one of the teleportation points.

The so-called cave mansion area was actually similar to the living area, except that compared to the ordinary dormitories for students, the cave mansions were more like detached villas. Here, most of those who owned cave mansions were teachers or students like Zilan, whose strength rivaled or even surpassed the teachers.

For Mo Yi, the abundance of spiritual energy in Senior Sister's cave mansion was secondary. The main reason was that the cave mansions were privately owned, which was more convenient. Otherwise, he hadn't figured out how to explain to Senior Sister's roommates about carrying the limp Senior Sister on his back.

"Senior Sister, you should rest first. I will go and inform Your Highness Tiran and the others about Princess Xiang Ling's arrangements."

Having settled Senior Sister on the bed, Mo Yi breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to leave.

"Wait."

Regaining some strength on the way back, Zilan grabbed Mo Yi's sleeve.

"Um, Senior Sister?"

"I got dirty during the battle just now, and I want to take a bath."

"So..." Mo Yi's forehead started to sweat.

"I'm too weak, help me." The young girl said seriously, after thinking for a moment she calmly added, "It's Senior Sister's order."

That's right, she remembered her master saying that Senior Sister could command younger martial siblings to do things.

Was there no other choice?!