A dagger formed from golden lightning blocked a saber two fingers wide.
Two identical pairs of eyes met across their blades.
Mountains Xunge narrowed her eyes slightly. "You came looking for me?"
That line again. Yu Xunge, who had heard it more times than she could count, flicked her wrist and knocked Mountains Xunge's saber away.
Ever since learning that another version of herself existed, she had imagined countless scenarios in which they might meet: a chance encounter in the main city, a deadly pursuit outside the city, or an encounter in the Demon Game.
But she had never expected to end up spending two Demon Game attempts to seek the other woman out inside the game herself.
So this was what her other self was like.
She experienced Song Gui's helplessness. Against Mountains Xunge, she had no power to fight back at all. The other woman had not even taken out [Whale Fall in the Wind]; combat techniques and SSS-rank Skills alone were enough to knock her down again and again and trample her underfoot.
But Mountains Xunge was the best teacher in Quiet Mountains.
Because only Mountains Xunge was strong enough, cruel enough, and, for the moment, reluctant to kill her.
Because only Mountains Xunge could provoke her pride the most. Her existence left Yu Xunge no excuse for her own weakness.
And throughout their duels, the passive effect of [Ship, Prologue, Rhapsody] remained active.
"When you swim against the current to face an existence stronger than yourself, you will activate Rhapsody Mode, recording, analyzing, and learning your opponent's combat techniques and experience for your own use."
Ever since finding Mountains Xunge, Yu Xunge had made a point of bypassing every location that would trigger a quest at the start of each Demon Game and heading straight for