“Thanks in advance for the concession!”

On the dueling platform, Huang Lan cupped his fists to the little girl. A breath later, soft ripples of Spirit Energy bloomed around him like rings on still water.

“Ha!”

He lunged like thunder cracking a ridge. Sharp currents screamed off his sleeves. His palm carried no flourish, only raw ferocity, shoving the platform’s Spirit Energy aside with a shriek, a nasty sonic boom tearing the air.

“Take my strike!”

His aura surged like a storm tide. Every ounce of his Foundation Establishment, eighth layer, roared unabashed, as if one blow would decide fate.

Across from him, Ningyi’s face stayed placid, a lake under moonlight. She watched him rush in, then lifted her arms—small as lotus roots—just a finger’s width. Her pressure dropped like a collapsing cliff. Huang Lan’s face went pale even mid-strike. Before spectators could gasp, the girl’s frame blurred, and a presence dozens of times harsher than Huang Lan’s exploded from her slight body, a volcano ripping free.

Crack-crack-crack…

That dreadful Spirit Energy filled the air like dense frost, making lungs sting. Centered under the System’s feet, the stone platform groaned and split. Jagged fissures spiderwebbed out, racing under a sea of staring eyes until they veiled the entire floor.

“What is that little thing… what kind of monster?” Disciples from Boundless Peak went bloodless. That pressure—most Golden Core Stage, fifth layer cultivators couldn’t force it out. How could an entry disciple carry such ruthless weight?

Hiss—

Hiss—

The thought barely formed before the pressure kept climbing. On the platform already shattered by the System, Huang Lan floundered like a moth caught in a killing web. No matter how he struggled, the strands held. He could only watch a stronger foe grind him down, inch by unforgiving inch.

“Ningyi, sect matches stop at a touch! Huang Lan’s already lost—stay your hand!” On the judge’s stand, the White-Brow Elder shook off his shock. A chill rolled from the System like winter wind, and if he didn’t stop it now, Huang Lan might be finished for good.

“Puff!”

The Elder’s words fell, and the System moved in the same instant.

Savage Spirit Energy poured out of the System’s body like a breached dam. Huang Lan didn’t even have time to scream. A jet of blood shot from his mouth, speckled with shredded organs, red rain spattering the platform.

“Impudent!” The White-Brow Elder’s face darkened. He had spoken at once, yet it was useless. He could only watch as Huang Lan—already more breath out than in—was slammed into a deeper ruin by the System’s strike.

“Ningyi! A disciple already said it—internal matches don’t take private lives. What are you doing?” The Boundless Peak Lord, Zhao Zhan, vaulted down from the seats. He crouched by Huang Lan and checked him. His locked brows grew heavier. Huang Lan hadn’t taken a killing wound, but at this severity, half a year—maybe a year—might not be enough to heal.

And even then, his meridians and dantian were anyone’s guess. From then on, cultivation might be a thorn patch.

He hadn’t thought such a sweet-faced girl would wield methods so vicious it made the heart shrink.

“Elder, this concerns the ownership of our Majestic Peak’s spirit peak. Our disciples going all-out is only right. As for ‘taking private lives,’ how could we?” On the platform, Nana Toki somehow had appeared, pulling her own System behind her like a cub under a mother’s wing. A cool smile curved her lips. “Majestic Peak’s disciples keep the rules. Huang Lan isn’t dead. How did we break them? And if he’s feigning defeat, and my peak’s disciple doesn’t finish the job, who wins? Right now, that’s still up in the air.”

Silence fell like snow. Eyes from every peak locked on the System and Nana Toki. Since the start, this girl called Ningyi had handed them surprise after surprise.

If blocking the battle’s shockwave from a Golden Core Stage expert without a scratch wasn’t much, then dropping Huang Lan of Foundation, eighth layer, with one move certainly was. What did that mean?

Every heart prickled with a chill for no reason. They felt it—the new disciple found by Majestic Peak wasn’t ordinary.

On the judge’s stand, the White-Brow Elder looked worse by the breath. She’d felt it clearly—a killing intent aimed at Huang Lan. Yet Azure An’s words pinned every nail straight. There wasn’t a crack to lay blame through.

Left with no choice, she told Boundless Peak to carry Huang Lan down for treatment. As for the result—Majestic Peak had the win.

“Azure An, don’t push too far. Or you’ll be the one eating bitter fruit.” Passing Nana Toki, Zhao Zhan left a line like a drawn blade, his face a thundercloud.

Nana Toki said nothing, but the smile on her lips cooled like frost on iron, aimed at his back.

Another one who dared threaten her. Did he not know the last man who tried has weeds ten spans high on his grave?

“First match: Majestic Peak’s Ningyi versus Boundless Peak’s Huang Lan—Ningyi wins. Next match: Majestic Peak’s Azure An versus Boundless Peak’s Zhao Zhan!”

As the announcer’s voice dropped, two silhouettes sprang from both sides. Every gaze fastened to Nana Toki and Zhao Zhan. Compared to Ningyi’s unknown terror, many here had a decent read on Nana Toki and Zhao Zhan.

Whispers churned like wind in pine.

“A duel between two Peak Lords. Good show.”

“Azure An’s only Foundation, fifth layer. Even with heaven’s luck, she can’t leap five whole layers and beat Zhao Zhan, half-step Golden Core.”

“Half-step? Our Peak Lord broke through days ago. He’s Golden Core Stage, first layer!” A Boundless Peak disciple cut in, and a fresh wave of exclaims flared.

“Zhao Zhan’s Golden Core already. Azure An’s chances look grim.”

“Grim or not, she has to go. If she surrenders, who saves them next—Blue Magpie pulling a miracle?”

“Don’t joke. Whole sect knows Blue Magpie’s not only dull of wit, she has no cultivation. How will she turn the tide?”

“Shen Zhan Kuang, what do you think?” Up front, Du Fei Yu watched the platform without blinking.

He figured this was the only real highlight today.

“Seventy-thirty,” Shen Zhan Kuang said, eyes on the graceful figure in the ring. “When you and I fought, Azure An noticed us early. Even with the aftershock at her face, she didn’t flinch. She might have a way to handle Golden Core Stage.”

“But Foundation is Foundation; Golden Core is Golden Core. The ravine between is deep. Unless she’s a second Ningyi, it’s tough.”

Whoosh—

They moved almost at once. Spirit Energy flashed under Zhao Zhan’s feet; his form vanished like a spark swallowed by wind. Nana Toki frowned, strange unease rising. This guy had been stuck at half-step Golden Core in the original plot for ages—how did he break through in a few days?

Was the Plot God stirring again?

Her chest tightened—Foundation versus Golden Core carried a natural handicap in spellcraft. To win, she’d need to walk a different path.

Boom-boom-boom…

While Nana Toki weighed her approach, Zhao Zhan had already driven Spirit Energy and flung a skyful of fireballs at her like meteors.

“…Seriously?” Her mood spiked—irritation first, then grit. AoE spam? How cheap.

“You really bully a weak little me just ’cause you’re stronger? Doesn’t that shame you?” She darted on quick short legs, barely slipping past each flare. She ran and still tossed barbs over her shoulder, words like pebbles meant to trip the mind.

As expected, the only answer was more fire.

Zhao Zhan’s face went black as charcoal. Their peak had just had a high-combat disciple wrecked, and she still dared mouth off about ‘the strong bully the weak’? Where was that noble talk when Ningyi steamrolled his man?

He pressed his Spirit Energy to the edge. With a low shout, his hands flashed through a profound seal. On the seats, they watched a fire-red sphere coalesce in his palms, pulsing with massive power. Even the air around it warped like heat over desert stone.

No delay. The instant it formed, Zhao Zhan shoved both hands forward, hurling that sphere packed with terrifying Spirit Energy straight at Nana Toki.

The pressure clawed up to the sky; ambient Spirit Energy sizzled like fat in a pan. Nana Toki saw the flash from Zhao Zhan’s palms, a fire-red comet dragging a storm of flames, streaking at her like lightning.