"My glasses!!!" Glasses Bro wailed, staring at the shattered remains beneath Winter Leaf’s boot.
"Enough crying. Who else came with you?" Winter Leaf pressed. "Do you realize how much trouble this causes?"
"Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan," Glasses Bro replied.
"Thirteen didn’t come?"
"He was injured by Ouyang Zihao. He’s in the hospital now."
"Good," Winter Leaf sighed in relief. "Let’s head to Sister Xueer’s place. If we’re late, she might be in danger."
Glasses Bro nodded.
Just as they turned to find Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan, a piercing alarm blared across the estate.
"Lin Jie’s been discovered!" Winter Leaf grabbed Glasses Bro’s arm. "Hurry!"
They sprinted toward the banquet hall. Thanks to Winter Leaf’s presence, no one stopped Glasses Bro.
Inside, they found Lin Jie, Xiao Zhan, and Winter Xueer surrounded by guests.
Ouyang Zihao addressed the crowd: "To liven up the banquet, I’ll duel this red-faced warrior." He pointed at Lin Jie. "And since a duel needs stakes—I vow before all of you: if I lose, I’ll cancel my engagement to Miss Winter Xueer and let them go."
A stunned murmur rippled through the hall. No one expected this on his engagement day.
"But if I win," Ouyang Zihao paused, "the engagement proceeds, and this gentleman will gift me the Flame Spirit Sword as a wedding present."
At "Flame Spirit Sword," expressions shifted. Those unfamiliar leaned in to ask neighbors. When they grasped its value, their faces paled.
The Dong Family’s rise began with one of the Five Spirit Swords. Their abundance of ice-wielders stemmed from the Water Spirit Sword. No one imagined the Ouyang Family had found the Flame Spirit Sword.
"Correct," Lin Jie confirmed. "If he wins, he takes the sword. If he loses, he breaks the engagement."
"Witness this," Ouyang Zihao declared, striding out. "Follow me to the training ground."
"Why do men always do this?" Winter Leaf muttered to Glasses Bro.
The crowd trailed Ouyang Zihao to the arena.
As Lin Jie and Ouyang Zihao took position, an invisible barrier sealed the training ground.
"You’ve installed spatial barriers already?" the Dong Family head remarked to the Ouyang patriarch. "I heard these can withstand S Rank attacks."
"Custom-built for Zihao," the Ouyang head boasted. "Ordinary grounds can’t handle his training anymore."
"Oh? Confident in the boy, are you?"
"Zihao is a rare genius. This duel will showcase his strength."
...
On the platform, Lin Jie and Ouyang Zihao faced each other.
"Won’t you use the Flame Spirit Sword?" Ouyang Zihao asked.
"This suffices." Lin Jie lifted his Azure Dragon Crescent Blade. "But are you sure you don’t need a weapon? This blade is dangerous."
"This is enough." Ouyang Zihao smiled faintly, raising one finger. "One finger will do."
"Hmm." Lin Jie remained unmoved. "Begin."
"Very well." Ouyang Zihao flicked his finger. Invisible sword qi shot toward Lin Jie—silent, colorless, lethal. Even S Rank fighters would’ve been pierced off-guard.
But Lin Jie wasn’t ordinary.
"Oh?" He deflected the qi with a casual lift of his blade. It shattered against the barrier behind him, rippling the energy field.
"Is this how you injured Thirteen?" Lin Jie’s eyes narrowed. "Interesting technique."
"You sensed my sword qi?" Ouyang Zihao’s grin widened. "Good. This just got fun."
He lunged—faster than Ouyang Rui, rivaling S Rank speedsters. Mid-charge, four sword qi bolts fired at Lin Jie’s vital points.
Ouyang Zihao closed in, finger aimed at Lin Jie’s chest. Confident the strike would end it, he barely registered the blade swinging toward him. Lin Jie’s blade backhanded the air—then reversed mid-swing.
A glacial chill sliced toward Ouyang Zihao. He vanished just as the blade carved moonlight across the arena. The four qi bolts disintegrated in its wake.
But Ouyang Zihao reappeared beside Lin Jie, finger pressing against his skull. *No time to turn after that swing.*
He was wrong.
A fist slammed into Ouyang Zihao’s face before his finger could strike. Lin Jie had pivoted silently. The blow sent Ouyang Zihao crashing into the barrier.
Cracks spiderwebbed across half his face.
"So that’s why you came unarmed," Lin Jie flexed his fist. "Particle-weave armor. Without it, that punch would’ve shattered your bones."
Ouyang Zihao wiped blood from his lip. The cracks sealed as he stood. "You’re strong. Fast. But you can’t break this armor."
Lin Jie advanced. "You control those robots. You’ve hurt many heroes in H City. Since you’re armored... I’ll enjoy beating you longer."
His lone stride radiated the weight of an army.
Ouyang Zihao’s hands glowed as energy gloves materialized.
Lin Jie’s blade descended like a falling star.
Ouyang Zihao met it with a finger—space itself warped around his condensed sword qi.
Blade met qi.
Ouyang Zihao’s pride shattered first. His world-splitting strike evaporated against Lin Jie’s blade-light.
*Impossible.* His qi could cleave the estate in half. Lin Jie’s cut felt barely strong enough to break stone—yet it shredded his technique like paper.
He dodged the downward slash, then stabbed at the blade’s edge to shatter the weapon.
His finger met steel.
A dragon’s roar erupted from the blade. Azure light flared. Bones crunched in Ouyang Zihao’s hand. Before his scream could form, Lin Jie’s horizontal sweep sent him flying into the barrier again.
Silence gripped the crowd. Every ear still rang with that dragon’s cry.
"You..." Ouyang Zihao forced his broken fingers straight, glaring at Lin Jie’s approaching figure. Behind him, a phantom azure dragon coiled, eyes icy. The red mask on Lin Jie’s face fused seamlessly with the vision—like the God of War incarnate.
"So that’s why you left the Flame Spirit Sword behind," Ouyang Zihao rasped, rising as his armor sealed the cracks. "That’s the true Azure Dragon Crescent Blade."
