“We can start. You make the first move.”

Luo Lin stays standing, still as a pine in winter, with no intention of moving.

“Uh… you’re not going to attack?”

I glance at her, baffled. The trial’s win condition isn’t breaking her defense on a timer—so why the whole “bring it on” stance?

“Correct. I won’t take the initiative.”

She shakes her head, voice calm as a clear lake. “With your strength, if I strike first, the match ends in a heartbeat. That’s dull.”

…

Looked down on. Completely. It stings—even knowing she’s right, the refusal sits like a stone in my chest.

I breathe deep, smooth the ripple in my mood, and slowly lift both hands around the Shattered Light Sword.

“Then I won’t hold back—Wild Dance: Flashing Blades!”

I sprint straight at Luo Lin like an arrow loosed. In that instant, Sword Aura floods the Shattered Light Sword, and the surge shakes the air and quivers the ground beneath my feet.

A blink later I’m in her face—less than half a meter. I coil my legs and leap high, then slash at top speed, hurling a storm of Sword Aura-laced cuts at her.

“Oh? Sword Aura. Nice quality, but the quantity’s way off.”

She doesn’t even look. She just thrusts the Heavenly Lance once toward me.

“Earth-Shaking.”

For her, it’s a simple pierce. For me… it’s a mountain falling. It’s not even one percent of Xinuo’s World Sword, yet it’s far beyond what I can fully block now.

With the lance’s thrust, the Sword Aura wrapped around me crumbles like dry clay. In a breath, it’s gone without a trace. At the critical moment, I jam the blade of the Shattered Light Sword against the Heavenly Lance and dump every scrap of Sword Aura stored in the sword to slip free.

One casual strike, and I had to go all out just to barely parry. Her strength towers miles beyond my estimate. My mood sinks heavier—if I want the bell on her wrist to fall, I first have to land a hit. Right now, that feels like wishful thinking.

Forget hitting her—closing the distance is already a problem. I honestly don’t think I can block her second strike.

Give up? No. I hate quitting halfway. FrostyLily Dream said if I can’t beat her, I can ask for help at the far east or far west, but I don’t want to start like that. Call it my poor pride kicking.

So I’ll go all out first and see where my limit breaks.

“Sword Domain—open!”

Sword Intent surges, the Sword Domain blooms. I push both to my current edge, and power fills me like spring rain swelling a river. My confidence crawls back a notch.

“Oh… a Sword Domain?”

Interest flickers in Luo Lin’s eyes. She lifts her gaze and takes in the field, then nods, voice tinged with admiration. “Such pure energy. And the laws shaping this domain are marvelous—at least ten times stronger than a magus’s magic field. I’d love to know who first founded the class of Sword Wielder.”

She looks back at me, and there’s a breath of disappointment. “Shame. For me, breaking a Sword Domain at this level takes one move. But reaching this at your age is downright defiant of heaven. You don’t disgrace the name ‘Yu Gong.’”

…

Being underestimated is a bitter herb—even without malice. But sulking won’t help. I need to attack with everything. I breathe deep, sharpen mind and body to a peak, and start condensing Sword Aura like storm clouds thickening.

“Myriad Swords Unleashed!”

Inside the Sword Domain, sword arts and close-quarters swordplay swell severalfold—some techniques spike tenfold.

Tens of thousands of blades bloom around Luo Lin, dense as a flock of starlings, sealing every path. Each blade carries at least Sacred Realm high-tier force.

“Fall!”

In a heartbeat, the blades pour down like a monsoon, hammering toward Luo Lin. Even she shouldn’t break the full barrage easily… or so I think—

Her face stays still-water calm. Her body hardly moves. She lifts the Heavenly Lance and gives a light sweep around her.

“Sweeping Armies.”

“…What—!”

I stare, stunned. The blades don’t even touch the Heavenly Lance. They gutter like fireworks hitting the ground, dissolving into motes of light that drift away on the air. Bad! A vast crescent shockwave tears through the scattered glow, then howls at me with murderous force.

Where it passes, space itself splits, jagged cracks opening like broken glass. It’s unreal. If a lazy sweep is this terrifying, how strong is Luo Lin’s true power?

With Sword Intent and the Domain bracing me, I dodge by a hair’s breadth. As the crescent roars past my eyes, the breath tastes faintly of death.

Boom!!!

Far behind me, the crescent detonates in the sky. I turn. That stretch of space looks gouged into a huge, yawning crater.

“…Gulp.”

I swallow hard. If I’d tried to tank it, I’d have been ash on the wind.

“Apologies. That was the weakest I can control.”

Luo Lin offers the line with the calm of falling snow.

“…Huh? Weakest? An attack whose sheer aura could scare someone to death is your weakest?!”

I nearly spit foam and pass out.

“Will you continue?”

She lowers her right hand with the Heavenly Lance, ignoring my rant.

…

Fine. I shut up. Two moves told me enough—her strength is overwhelming, beyond my guesses. What now? From her look, she doesn’t care whether I keep going or take a break.

Should I pause and seek help? …But this bitter unwillingness gnaws at me. Running for help after two exchanges feels suffocatingly humiliating. Still… no, no “but.” If my next move gets cracked easily, I’ll sprint for help without another word.

I slap my cheeks to clear my head. Then I raise the Shattered Light Sword high and draw in every shred of Sword Aura and energy from the Sword Domain.

I’ll wager everything on my strongest strike. Please don’t let her counter force me to tumble away again.

“Destruction Invisible Sword!”

A giant sword of pure Sword Aura condenses above the Shattered Light Sword, so vast its outline blurs the eye. The radiating energy dwarfs every release I’ve managed before.