[Listen.]

[This is the bell of a new era.]

…

“It’s here! A-Lu’s No.1 signature line!” Jiang Bailu’s eyes flashed like twin fireworks, joy bubbling up like a kettle about to sing.

Yekase watched this never-before-seen side of her, sighing like wind through chimes. Booze, brawls, placing bets, or fangirling a star—bright or dark, they were colors of Jiang Bailu Yekase had never seen after work.

There was never a “mode switch.” Tonight, she just flowed back to her true self, like a river finding its bed.

“Doc, isn’t that cool? Come stan A-Lu with me.”

“Eh? I’m good.”

If we’re tossing out cool lines mid-fight, Yekase’s a pro too. Yet Jiang Bailu didn’t even blink, which left a small knot in Yekase’s chest like a snagged thread.

“Doc?”

“What?”

“Jealous?”

“I drink lubricant.”

“A gynoid?!”

Jiang Bailu’s claws came over, seized Yekase’s cheeks, squeezed the air from her mouth, then kneaded like dough under warm hands.

“—Oh! This is…”

“This is the right half of my face…”

“I mean the match! Doc, look—their externalized Mind Energy’s running weird, isn’t it?”

“Mm…?”

Yekase pulled her gaze back to the screen, the glow washing her face like moonlight on water.

Luzhixing and Yu Yunxiu had closed to the distance where breath met steel, trading feeds and counters like weaving and unweaving a net, momentum locked like twin tides.

Every punch and kick, every cleave and flicker of their weapons, bloomed with brilliant Mind Energy, colors splashing like festival lanterns—clashing, tangling, bursting, and fading, painting the fight with a baroque sheen.

But…

“…yeah. At their level, externalized Mind Energy shouldn’t disperse this fast, like sparks dying in rain.”

Both were at the “stained with my color” tier. They’d chosen default skins as masks, but the quality and quantity of Mind Energy shouldn’t dip; it shouldn’t wink out like fireflies.

One of them had tinkered with her own Mind Energy in secret—and then reached through that to pluck at the other’s, like fingers on a shared string.

They looked evenly matched now, but the one making that small move had already paved the road to victory, like laying stones under fog.

Was it the juggernaut Luzhixing, or the upstart from below, Yu Yunxiu?

Too bad Yekase’s Infinite Power sight couldn’t pierce essence through a camera’s electric mirror. No deeper read today, a hawk blinded by glass.

“By the way, Bailu, you caught the Mind Energy hitch too?”

“Mm-hmm.”

So you’ve started studying Mind Energy? Yekase felt a prick of pride like sun-warmed metal—her learning curve was still a blade.

Luzhixing’s weapons kept getting knocked free, seeds scattered by wind. Calm as snow, she kept plucking fresh blades from the floor, her offense flowing like rain; she kept the fight near ground that could offer steel.

Yu Yunxiu’s long spear was water-tight, no leaks, no ripples. Even her clothes stayed smooth as still silk; her fundamentals were ironwood, and she didn’t flinch from a long, straight clash.

—But if one of them, in this hair’s-breadth storm of blade-light, could still spare a secret hand to micro-control Mind Energy?

The gap would open like a canyon under fog, unseen until the cliff broke.

The thought hit Yekase like a cold wave; her back prickled as if dew had turned to ice.

Luzhixing’s Top 1—after all—was a line from the arena, not the battlefield.

“She’s about to open a domain!”

“Huh?”

A domain?!

Wasn’t that a classic from decade-old webfantasy—strong ones who cast personal domains like drawing circles in the sky?

Think about it—Luzhixing’s whole shtick is hauling a small armory. She’s straight out of a ‘Sword God’ template, right? Name the domain ‘Sword Domain,’ throw in conjured weapons, infinite blades and all that jazz!

“Hang on. Our world’s a mess of power sources, sure, but it’s still low-magic enough for normal folks to get by, right? Since when do we have pocket domains?!”

What a joke. Yekase had thought that as long as she didn’t poke the Three Pillars, a mech plus a set of powered armor would barely keep her safe. Now these idealists were hand-spinning domains?!

“Doc, what are you thinking? A-Lu’s ‘domain’ is just an area-wide mental suppression.”

“Oh, that’s fine… huh? Why would a swordswoman have that?”

“She’s a water barrel build! Super full-stack!”

Question resolved like mist burned by morning sun.

Half-scared to death, Yekase watched, pulse drumming like rain on tin.

Luzhixing flipped some inner switch. Her Mind Energy shifted, flaring red and gold like a bonfire and its tongues.

All the weapons strewn across the floor—each at least once flicked away by Yu Yunxiu—caught fire and glowed like coals.

Then they rose together, lifting like a flock of burning birds.

“—Tell me that’s not a domain!”

“Don’t rush. Keep watching.”

Hundreds of blades and shapes didn’t lunge at Yu Yunxiu. Instead, they slammed into each other above the arena, hammer to anvil, kicking up a storm of clangor like iron rain in a hurricane.

Yu Yunxiu, standing ten meters off, settled in like a fortress—no surprise in her eyes. This was Luzhixing’s signature: top-tier style, top-tier effect. Not knowing it would be the real shock.

But knowing it is one thing. How do you counter a tide?

—If anyone had a sure counter, Luzhixing wouldn’t be reigning champion year after year like a sun that never sets.

In the torrent of iron and fire, Yu Yunxiu propped herself with her spear, dropped to one knee, and grimaced like stone cracking.

[It’s “Close-Quarters”! Luzhixing has popped her ultimate! Yu Yunxiu’s in trouble! Using a limited-use skill in group stage—does Luzhixing consider Yu a real threat?!]

[What a spectacle!]

“Soundwave attack?… No. There’s Mind Energy in the mix, and…”

…and Flash Energy.

Yekase’s breath halted like a note cut clean.

Luzhixing dyed her Mind Energy flame-red to hide Flash Energy’s crimson thread.

Two streams of Infinite Power braided together; the weapon-collisions forged soundwaves that slid in from all directions like fog, invading Yu Yunxiu’s mind. The effect was close to Yekase’s Flash Energy hypnotic audio.

But she wasn’t just pouring fear or frenzy into her foe. She conjured the battlefield through sound and setting, a slaughterhouse painted in noise, and drove it deeper, harder, like a blade into the mind.

[Ugh…!]

Even through the defense-grade energy dome capping the arena, the crowd began to shiver in unison, reeds stirring under a sudden wind.

Yu Yunxiu took the brunt. Blood leaked from both ears; she held herself up, shoulders heaving like bellows.

“It’s over. A-Lu’s move is limited—once per whole event. With this, she bags the points.”

Jiang Bailu’s voice cooled like evening shade.

“Shame about my hundred.”

“…Aren’t you a Luzhixing fan? You bet against her? A whole hundred?”

“Odds, Doc, odds. If you tail her every win, you earn pennies. One upset, and you lose the farm.”

…No idea what that means!

Luzhixing gripped the last sword that hadn’t taken wing. She walked toward Yu Yunxiu, steps steady as a drumbeat.

Sun Palace had become her courtyard, her killing field.

Here, she was the general of ten thousand blades, banners snapping like fire.

And Yu Yunxiu, who still hadn’t fallen, was the last soldier standing, worthy of a personal verdict from Luzhixing’s own hand.

Yet under that red-tinged illusion, every viewer felt the same copper taste on the tongue—she was walking over to take Yu’s head.

One step. Two.

Her tread drowned beneath the iron storm, a river beneath thunder, as she drew near.

Yu Yunxiu’s spear haft was buried deep in the floor like a rooted tree. She tilted her head and leaned on it.

Then she smiled, fierce and bleak as a cut across winter.

“She has a trump.”

The thought struck Yekase like lightning over a dark sea—she remembered the subtle Mind Energy hitch in their early exchange.

The riddle cracked open; it was Yu Yunxiu’s work.

She’d prepped the counter to “Close-Quarters” long before the sky filled with steel.

[A-Lu… ever wonder why the battlefield is so terrifying?]

[You can still talk. You’ve grown.]

Yu Yunxiu’s smile widened, bright as blood on snow.

[Because neither of us has seen a real battlefield.]

—!

Every weapon lost its lift in an instant and fell, one last ring like a bell over water.

…the battlefield went quiet.

Luzhixing didn’t speak, but her widened eyes flashed surprise like a deer catching a spark.

[We’ve fought too many times. You know me too well. You didn’t even notice the fine interference in Mind Energy. You know I only take straight fights—once my spell-shield ends, I get chain-CC’d to death.]

[…]

[So this is a skill I researched for you alone, and I’m using it on you alone.]

Yu Yunxiu pushed to her feet on the spear, rising like a reed after wind.

Blood dripped from ears, nose, and lip, dotting her white training gi with red plum blossoms—the color of war.

[I call it “Caesar Coliseum.” We take our Mind Energy… no boundaries, no names. We mix it all—then split it evenly.]

[Xiaoyuan’s…]

[Yeah. Her inspiration. I owe her dinner… wonder if all-you-can-eat sushi will cut it.]

For all the brutal pressure earlier and the frightening blood, Yu Yunxiu wasn’t badly hurt; the wounds were loud, not deep, like crimson paint on thin skin.

She tore her spear free, swung it in a full-bodied circle, wind curling around the shaft, then let out a satisfied breath.

[Come on—let’s start from zero.]

The host’s voice shook like a kite in a gale: [What, what, what?! “Close-Quarters” is cracked?! Has it—has it really been cracked?! Folks, this is historic! Top 1 Luzhixing’s “see it, you die” ultimate has been cracked by Yu Yunxiu!!]

“It’s… actually cracked?!”

“I knew it. Skills that call themselves invincible are born to be broken—”

Jiang Bailu wrapped both arms around Yekase and shook her like a rattle, voice breaking like rain: “Lu, my Lu!”

“Isn’t that good? Luzhixing gets flipped, and you cash in.”

Her eyes blinked like wet stars. “Cashing in is cashing in, but seeing A-Lu eat dirt still hurts.”

Tears in her eyes, money in her hand—that’s how she harvests the field.