Three Moves to Crush, Erasing All Shame!

The blazing sun hung high in the sky, casting down scorching flames.

Someone set up an hourglass by the edge of the platform.

The green bricks on the martial stage cracked with a brittle sound.

Xiao Yan's black robes billowed without wind, the fluttering hem revealing faint glimpses of crimson ancient characters pulsing at his neck.

Those runes seemed forged from flames, each flicker sending waves of heat rippling through the air.

This was the phenomenon born from Xiao Yan's cultivation of the Fire Cloud Art—he appeared to have awakened some kind of physique.

These runes were innate abilities akin to Dou Techniques, but he had yet to fully comprehend them.

"Dou Master One Star?"

"Impossible!"

Nalan Yanran's snow-white sword tassels fluttered without wind, her lips curling with even sharper mockery:

"A waste who forces his cultivation level with a secret technique—does he even deserve to stand here?"

The Xiao Family disciples in the spectator stands snapped out of the shock from Xiao Yan's aura.

Just as they were about to cry out in awe, they suddenly fell silent.

They saw crimson scale patterns slowly emerge on Xiao Yan's neck, as if magma flowed beneath his skin.

A deadly, dangerous aura spread through the air.

Yao Chen's phantom figure lurked in the shadow of an ancient tree, his fingers unconsciously stroking the Fen Jue hidden in his sleeve.

"Are all the swords of the Misty Cloud Sect as dull as your mouth?"

Xiao Yan flicked his finger, and a wisp of crimson flame leaped onto his fingertip:

"Three moves."

"What did you say?" Nalan Yanran's sword tip trembled.

"If you're still standing after three moves," Xiao Yan vanished from his spot, his voice exploding from all directions at once:

"I'll sever my own meridians!"

"Playing tricks!" Nalan Yanran pointed her sword at the ground, unleashing the full force of her Three-star Dou Zhe aura.

The moon-white training uniform, specially made by the Misty Cloud Sect, rippled like water—a special material for enhanced defense.

Xiao Yan chuckled softly. With a light tap of his toe, thirty-six lines of fire suddenly blazed across the ground.

They wove together into a burning star map—this was the highest realm of Shadowless Step:

The Heavenly Gang Step.

In the spectator stands, Xiao Ning's teacup shattered with a crack.

Biluochun tea dripped through his fingers:

"Is this... is this that waste?"

The first afterimage appeared to Nalan Yanran's left. Her sword swept through it, only to sever a few sparks.

A sudden sound of breaking air came from her right. As she turned to block, she found Xiao Yan's fist just three inches from her nose!

As she hastily retreated, the silver bell hair tie binding her hair snapped, and her long black hair cascaded down.

"First move."

Xiao Yan twirled the hair tie around his finger before burning it to ash with flames.

Gasps erupted from the spectator stands.

Xiao Xun'er shot to her feet. The green lotus pattern on her skirt rippled without wind, her eyes gleaming with light.

In the shadows, the branches of an ancient tree swayed slightly. Ling Ying's pupils glowed faint gold—he couldn't see through the nature of that flame!

"Cloud Split Nine Transformations!"

Nalan Yanran bit her tongue, and her sword momentum turned fierce.

Nine sword shadows interwove, real and illusory—this was the Misty Cloud Sect's secret killing move.

She had once used this Dou Technique to defeat a Six-star Dou Zhe opponent across ranks!

The sound of air splitting rang out. Where the sword energy passed, three-inch-deep grooves were carved into the green bricks.

But Xiao Yan moved as if strolling through flames. Every step he took landed precisely in the gaps of her sword momentum.

The hidden force of Eight Extremes Collapse stacked layer by layer with each step.

When the ninth sword shadow came slashing down, he suddenly flicked his finger.

A wisp of crimson flame shot up the sword blade and onto Nalan Yanran's wrist.

"Ah!"

The fine steel sword clattered to the ground with a clang. The hilt bore a melted, five-finger-shaped dent.

Nalan Yanran stumbled backward, a scorched black Qilin Claw Mark branded on her right wrist.

"Second strike."

Xiao Yan flicked the sparks from his fingertips, and the crystal hourglass at the edge of the arena had only drained a tenth of its sand.

Elder Ge Ye suddenly crushed the armrest of his seat. The Realm-Measuring Jade Plate he'd brought showed that the flame's temperature rivaled that of a Fourth-Tier Magical Beast!

Xiao Zhan burst into loud laughter, but as he laughed, his eyes reddened: That's right, he'd never been wrong!

His child was always meant to be like this—unrestrained and arrogant!

The final strike came without warning.

Xiao Yan suddenly transformed into nine fiery afterimages, each residual shadow forming a different hand seal.

Nalan Yanran was about to unleash a defensive combat technique when she realized the air around her seemed to have frozen solid.

The moment the nine fiery shadows merged into one, she saw the Crimson Inscription flowing in the depths of Xiao Yan's eyes.

Those ancient characters seemed to hail from the Primordial Era.

It was the incomplete combat technique Xiao Yan had comprehended from his awakened constitution!

"Nine Flame Lock Scales!"

Crimson battle qi swirled and interwove into nine fiery red flame chains!

"Burn."

With a single word lightly spoken by Xiao Yan, the nine chains contracted violently!

The air around Nalan Yanran suddenly twisted, her waist-length black hair instantly vaporized, and her moon-white training robes burst into flames.

Just as everyone thought she would be reduced to ashes.

The flames on the crimson chains ceased burning, binding her tightly in place.

"Kneel." Two light words, yet they sent Nalan Yanran's knees crashing heavily onto the green bricks.

It wasn't pressure, but a tremor from the depths of her bloodline.

The pride rooted in her heart, born from Misty Cloud Summit.

At this moment, like thin ice under a scorching sun, it was rapidly melting away.

When the flame chains dissipated, the entire arena fell into dead silence.

Nalan Yanran trembled as she reached for her head; her waist-length hair had been burned halfway off.

Only uneven, charred stubs remained, with melted jade hairpin residue stuck between them.

Xiao Yan stepped forward, arriving before her.

"You—"

Nalan Yanran struggled to lift her head, seeing the boy's pupils had turned into Molten Gold Vertical Pupils.

She felt that at this moment, she wasn't facing an opponent, but rather a sword embryo being tempered in a furnace.

Xiao Yan pressed his fingers together like a sword and lightly traced across her brow:

"From today on, the Misty Cloud Sect shall know..."

The sparks carried by his fingertips condensed into a blood-red Divorce Letter in the air:

"Who exactly has been cast aside."

"Xiao Yan!"

She suddenly roared, lifting her head, her pupils bloodshot:

"You're no waste—you've been deceiving everyone all along."

"But I can't lose!"

"Three years! Three years from now, atop Misty Cloud Summit."

"Three years?" Xiao Yan sneered, cutting her off.

A wisp of flame flickered at his fingertip:

"Naive! Do you think I'm a scavenger?"

"Besides, I don't have time to play house with you."

Xiao Yan turned around, uttering his final words without sparing her another glance:

"Take your Misty Cloud Sect pride and crawl back to your mountain gate to cry."

"Pfft!"

Nalan Yanran spat out a mouthful of blood, specks of crimson splattering onto the Divorce Letter.

She suddenly noticed that when the Blood Beads touched the fiery characters, they emitted a sizzling sound of burning.

Even her blood wasn't worthy of staining this Divorce Letter!

Her eyes dimmed.

And in that moment of utter silence, as everyone was shaken beyond words...

From the eastern side of the spectator stands, a silvery laugh suddenly rang out.

Xiao Xun'er's brows curved into crescent moons, lotus blossoms blooming at the hem of her dress, starlight swirling in her eyes.

Her voice was as always, tender and longing:

"Brother Xiao Yan, Xun'er has learned a new way to make lotus seed soup."

With that, she tapped her fingertip lightly, and a single golden flame branded the Divorce Letter onto the Misty Cloud Sect's banner—the fabric itself remained utterly unharmed.

In the shadows, Ling Ying drew a sharp breath.

The faint trace of aura the young lady had just released made his hair stand on end!

Sealing a Divorce Letter—and she used the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame for it.

Was that really necessary?

Outside the arena, Elder Ge Ye's face darkened as he swept his sleeve:

"Let's go!"

Two Misty Cloud Sect disciples moved to support Nalan Yanran, but she barked them back.

The girl who had once been as proud as a Phoenix staggered to her feet and walked toward the Xiao Family's gate.

With every step, she left bloody footprints on the blue bricks.

Not from severe injury—but from her bitten lip, dripping blood.

The moment the Xiao Family's gate slammed shut, the already overcast sky began to drizzle.

Yao Chen's phantom form gazed through the rain at Xiao Yan's back.

A constitution that could subdue strange flames, and that top-tier flame control ability that had condensed fire into a written seal.

This was a born genius for cultivating Fen Jue and alchemy.

And he had actually taken on such a disciple. Watching Xiao Yan's proud figure standing in the arena, a faint, imperceptible smile curled at the corner of his lips:

Was this... heaven's compensation to him?