The blazing sword [Flameflare], wreathed in roaring fire, crashed against the holy sword [Twin Xu], glowing with deliberate golden light. The two blades collided under the force of powerful sword techniques from both sides.

The flames of [Flameflare] crackled in that instant like a flash of lightning. Brilliant red sparks burst and scattered everywhere.

And the [Twin Xu] in Ling Yu's hand seemed almost alive, unwilling to yield. Amid the burning flames, the golden blade of light bloomed with a dazzling radiance.

For a moment, the magnificent sight created by their clashing swords left every student present in awe.

What stood before them could no longer be described as merely bright. It was like witnessing the newborn sun tear through the darkness of dawn, driving away all shadows as boundless light erupted forth.

Almost all the students, including the academy's teachers, couldn't keep staring at that blinding brilliance for long. Even so, the spectacle held their eyes fast. None of them wanted to miss a single moment of this trial.

Quite a few students forced themselves to endure the piercing light. So did several teachers, including the bespectacled one who had signed Ling Yu up earlier and looked after Tongxi a little.

He was one of the closest people to the trial grounds. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he chuckled and muttered, "Haha, it's been a long time since I've seen something this blood-pumping. These two are going way too hard, aren't they?"

"Master, thanks for the reminder. Please use your full strength. I want to truly measure myself against you," Xia Mo said softly as she closed in on Ling Yu.

"Alright! I also want to see the results of all your hard work these days. Better be careful," Ling Yu replied in a cheerful whisper.

Boom—!

A sound like metal exploding and countless things shattering burst from their standoff. Their swords broke apart from the clash, and the two overwhelming forces smashed into each other, producing a violent recoil.

Both of them were blasted back several meters by the force of their own power.

Ling Yu quickly reset his stance, preparing for the next wave of attacks, while his mind raced.

That silly girl Xia Mo has improved a lot. She's already trained what I taught her to this level. She even used what I taught her to create a sword style of her own!

Back then, Xia Mo had only been a terrible swordsmanship student. Before she became his disciple, she had been taken away by the demon race during a sudden outbreak of war.

At the time, she had little talent for the sword. In front of the Blood Clan, she had practically no power to resist.

Don't ask how Ling Yu knew. From the very first day she knelt before him, begging for guidance and becoming his disciple, he had already figured it out with just a slight test.

For a girl with so little talent in swordsmanship to become, in just a few short years, an outstanding knight princess who could now match him evenly in strength... honestly, that wasn't easy at all.

Their blades clashed again. Every strike of Ling Yu's swordsmanship was fierce and heavy. Xia Mo, though his disciple, did share some similarities in style.

But there were differences too. Her swordsmanship lacked his raw force, yet every move and every strike was agile and swift.

Their sword styles were only somewhat alike, but their footwork and body movements beyond the sword were astonishingly similar, almost perfectly synchronized.

Every dodge, every turn of the body, looked as if they had come from the same person.

At first, Ling Yu's attacks had clearly shown a suppressive edge over Xia Mo. But somehow, Xia Mo gradually seemed to gain more and more room to counterattack.

That trend quickly shifted from Ling Yu to Xia Mo. Ling Yu became the one being suppressed. It wasn't too obvious on the surface, but Ling Yu, who was fighting her directly, could feel it clearly.

Ling Yu raised his blade high, trying to crush Xia Mo with a powerful strike. But just as he swung, before the blade had even completed half its arc—

Xia Mo blocked it with [Flameflare], then followed with a two-hit downward combo. Ling Yu was forced from offense into defense. Gradually, his chances to attack grew fewer, while the chances of being attacked kept increasing.

The moment he realized the reversal had become obvious, Ling Yu didn't lose his head. He immediately dodged her attack, gave up every opening to strike back, and forcibly widened the distance between them.

No good. Xia Mo knows my attack patterns too well!

Ling Yu quickly ran through every motion of his attacks in his mind. Every time he swung, she always managed to block and counter a step ahead of him.

Every one of my attacks gets stopped before I even reach the point of force. And on top of that, the Fist-to-Blade Technique is a sword style that puts a huge strain on the hands. It isn't suited for drawn-out fights.

Meanwhile, Xia Mo's self-created sword style seemed built specifically to target my weaknesses. Every move costs less effort, it's more flexible than mine, and its power point comes even faster!

He breathed slightly through parted lips. His body was heating up from the strain of using the Fist-to-Blade Technique, and even the hand gripping his sword was starting to go weak and sore.

Ling Yu knew this couldn't go on. For a moment, he suddenly felt that the saying "teach the disciple, starve the master" made perfect sense.

"What is it, Student Ling Yu? Can't keep going?" Xia Mo asked with a look of complete confidence.

Even the watching students had started talking about Ling Yu, the one who had beaten three teachers from different departments in a row.

"She's amazing. That new Teacher Xia really is worthy of being Second Knight Xue Yu's disciple!"

"Sure enough, as they say in the mage world, the best way to beat magic is with magic!"

"If you can't win, then get off the stage!"

"Yeah, exactly!"

Some of the people dissatisfied with Ling Yu began echoing each other and stirring the crowd.

"Hah... these annoying idiots. What are they yelling for?" Ling Yu muttered.

"Xia Mo, let's end this fight quickly!"

"Mm, okay!"

Thinking that her master was already at a disadvantage and had little stamina left, Xia Mo agreed without hesitation.

Their movements were still nearly identical. Another storm of flashing blades erupted between them. But unlike before, this time Ling Yu was clearly suppressed the moment they engaged.

Almost every attack he launched at Xia Mo was only barely managed as a desperate counter.

Then, just as Xia Mo felt the moment had come, the flaming sword [Flameflare] twisted in her hand. This time, she shifted completely from defense to offense.

"Ling Yu, this time, you've lost!"

Ling Yu was about to look toward Xia Mo. Seeing through his movement, Xia Mo planned to defeat him with her next strike. Looking at the sword he swung toward her, she was fully confident in her own hand speed.

She didn't choose to knock his attack aside.

Instead, she thrust straight at him!

"Naive." A slight curve lifted at the corner of Ling Yu's lips.

Crack—

The [Twin Xu] in Ling Yu's right hand suddenly gave off the sound of metal splitting. The gold-and-silver sword divided into two, and with one blade, Ling Yu blocked Xia Mo's attack.

Once [Twin Xu] split into two swords, the weapon itself became much lighter. That was the only reason Ling Yu's hand speed barely managed to catch up and stop Xia Mo's strike.

Then, with the sword in his other hand, he crossed the blades and locked Xia Mo's incoming weapon in place. With practiced ease, he executed a clean neutralizing motion, then turned that neutralization into a release.

With a clever flick, he sent Xia Mo's weapon flying.

The sudden reversal nearly left Xia Mo unable to react.

But she recovered in time. Just like Ling Yu had done moments ago, she immediately leaped back and opened the distance. It was as if she had already calculated where [Flameflare] would land. After retreating, she stopped at exactly the spot where the sword fell.

Only after catching her sword again did Xia Mo let out a breath. Still shaken but unharmed, she said, "As expected of you... to actually..."

"So you panicked, Teacher Xia Mo. Didn't expect my weapon to turn into two swords, did you?" Ling Yu said with a kindly smile, now speaking in the same confident tone she had used before.

"Using two weapons against me? Are you planning to win by outnumbering me? Can someone like that still call himself a knight?" Xia Mo snapped, frustrated and embarrassed as victory slipped from right in front of her grasp.

"Teacher Xia Mo, that kind of talk won't work on me. Isn't skillfully using your own weapon exactly the kind of technique a knight should have? What's wrong with that?"

"Enough talking. Again!" Xia Mo said unhappily.

Watching the two on the field, endlessly trading blows without a clear result, the students were starting to feel a little bored.

The two of them were just about to keep fighting to their hearts' content, when suddenly—

A deafening roar exploded from the ceiling. Dust and sand poured down at once. Several massive cracks split open across the trial hall's ceiling, and the entire building began to collapse!

The ceiling broke apart. Huge chunks of rock came crashing down. The students across the hall screamed and fled in panic.

"Emergency! All students, evacuate now!" the staff teachers in the trial grounds shouted. At the same time, they drew their weapons and began helping the students retreat and disperse.

"What's going on?!"

"Stop fighting, Xia Mo! Get out of here!"

As the ceiling disintegrated, the cracks spread rapidly through the surrounding walls as well.

Boulders slammed one after another onto the square barrier around the trial field. The booming impacts sounded like drumsticks pounding on a drumhead, as if they wouldn't stop until they smashed the barrier apart.

But before the two of them could react, the barrier suddenly vanished into thin air!

There wasn't even a visible process of it breaking down. The rocks that had been pressing against it came pouring down like rain.

Seeing boulders bigger than watermelons and durians, Xia Mo instinctively raised both arms over her head to protect herself.

"Xia Mo!" Ling Yu immediately ran toward her.

But the falling rocks were merciless. Piles of them buried both of them in an instant.

"Xia Mo!"

Calling his disciple's name again, Ling Yu was already covered in wounds from the falling stone, blood running down from his battered head. Even so, he still didn't give up. He crawled up from the rubble and staggered forward step by step toward the unconscious female knight buried beneath the rocks.

Because of the exhaustion from their earlier battle, Ling Yu couldn't hold out for long under the rain of falling stone. Very soon, his whole body gave way and collapsed onto the ground.

Even so, he still refused to give up. He couldn't abandon his disciple. Xia Mo was his important disciple.

Then, an even larger boulder fell from the ceiling.

This one was big enough to bury several people whole.