Martial Arts Tournament Opens, Hidden Danger Lurks in Killing Array

As the third bell of the morning rang, I stepped onto the stone stairs of the arena.

The "Qi Qi Rune" I'd carved last night had long since vanished, and the slight warmth on my fingertips had faded. Yet, the wisp of Origin connecting me to her in my palm still pulsed faintly, like a buried ember within my flesh. I glanced down at the dust on my Cloud-Treading Boots and brushed my sleeve—a casual gesture, but in that brief moment of closing my eyes, I forced my Pseudo-Primordial Body to its absolute limit. My meridians were like a dry well, my Spiritual Power stagnant water, and even the Heaven-Slaying Origin lay dormant and silent.

On the high platform, Ji Hantian stood, fanning himself. His Purple-Gold Python Robe rustled in the wind. His gaze swept over me, and the corner of his lips curled. "A good-for-nothing like you dares to ascend the stage?"

I looked up and smiled. "Cousin, are you standing so high because you're afraid of falling and getting hurt?"

A few people in the crowd chuckled softly before quickly suppressing it. His expression shifted slightly, and he tapped his palm with his fan. "You know the rules—draw lots for opponents, no mercy for life or death."

As his words fell, a bronze basin was brought up, and the lots were shuffled. My opponent was Ye Qingwan.

She walked onto the stage from the other side, still in her moon-white dress, her Medicine Pestle held diagonally, the wooden hairpin in her hair as simple as ever. But I could tell her breathing was half a beat slower than usual; that was the sign of her Blood Phoenix Body being suppressed. She didn't look at me, standing only ten feet away, her fingertips curled slightly.

I knew she was waiting.

Deep beneath the ground, the劫气 began to circulate. A minuscule tremor traveled up my spine from the soles of my feet. The killing formation had entered its pre-ignition phase, only needing a fuse.

I stood with my hands at my sides, my gaze fixed on her sleeve. That Jade Slip was still there, hidden close to her body, untouched.

Ji Hantian suddenly raised his hand, his voice ringing out, "This grand gathering today shall be consecrated with blood! Everyone, please witness—"

He flipped his palm, and a beam of blood-red light shot into the sky, piercing the clouds!

In an instant, the world trembled. The stone slabs at the four corners of the arena cracked, dark red patterns spreading like a spiderweb. A fishy, blood-tinged crimson glow seeped from the fissures in the ground. The sky suddenly turned crimson, as if the entire firmament had been steeped in blood.

It was done.

The Twin Blood Seal was activated.

Within the same breath, I sensed her change—a sharp pain in the meridians of her left shoulder, her bloodline forcibly pulled, her life force beginning to leak. But just as the blood threads were about to pierce her skin, her five fingers clenched fiercely!

"Crack!"

The sound of the Jade Slip shattering was incredibly faint, yet it struck the core of the killing formation like a thunderclap.

A pale golden barrier exploded from her palm, enveloping her body like ripples. The light was not dazzling, but it carried a heavy sense of oppression, like some ancient rule whispering. Immediately after, the Phoenix Mark on her brow flashed, and crimson flames erupted, coalescing into two illusory wings that circled her body.

The blood threads touched the flames and were instantly incinerated.

The two layers of protection held firm, and she stood amidst the light and fire, her breath slightly unsteady, but she hadn't retreated a single step.

"He didn't lie to me... it can really hold," she murmured, her voice barely audible.

But I heard it.

On the high platform, Ji Hantian shot to his feet, a flicker of shock and rage in his eyes. "How is this possible?! How could she be prepared?!"

He couldn't believe it.

Of course, he couldn't believe it. They had planned this for three years, set up the formation for seven days, and calculated even the flow of the earth's veins. How could they have anticipated that a young master with crippled bones would see through their killing intent in advance?

Even less could they have imagined that the power hidden within my Heaven-Slaying Origin had already resonated with her bloodline.

I remained standing, motionless. But the Origin within me was boiling, following that trace of pain upstream, directly towards the southeast corner of the formation's core—the main channel of the Blood Seal.

"The red light has risen!" Ji Hantian roared. "You are already sacrifices; struggling is useless!"

He formed hand seals, and Demonic Qi surged from his left arm, six illusory arms appearing and disappearing as he accelerated the formation's operation. The red patterns on the ground surged, more blood threads erupting from the earth like venomous snakes lunging at Ye Qingwan.

She gritted her teeth, enduring. The golden barrier flickered, and the flames weakened.

Now.

I moved.

No charge-up, no fluctuation of Spiritual Power, just a gentle draw of the wooden sword at my side—the one Afu had given me the day before yesterday, rough, unsharpened, even the tassel frayed.

The tip of the sword touched the ground.

The Pseudo-Primordial Body instantly connected! Pale golden patterns rapidly climbed from my ankle to my arm, meridians surging like rivers, the Heaven-Slaying Origin roaring to life!

I leaped into the air, my wooden sword carving an arc of light, stabbing directly into the crack in the stone tiles in the southeast corner—the core node marked on the Jade Slip last night.

The sword fell.

The entire killing formation shuddered violently!

The red light distorted, flickering wildly like a candle in the wind. A muffled roar came from beneath the ground, as if something was collapsing. The main vein of the Blood Seal, buried deep within the earth's meridians, began to flow backward the moment the wooden sword touched it!

Ji Hantian's pupils contracted. "Impossible! That's the formation core forged with Thousand-Year Yin Iron!"

I hung in mid-air, the wooden sword deeply embedded in the crack, golden light spreading from its body, growing along the fissures. This wasn't Spiritual Power; it was the Heaven-Slaying Origin, after devouring the Remnant Dao, the calamity qi, and the Battle Intent Fragments, its first true backlash.

"Cousin's formation is well-built," I said, my voice as cold as ice scraping across stone. "Unfortunately—its foundation is built upon my Remnant Dao."

As my words fell, the wooden sword erupted in blinding golden light!

BOOM--!

The formation core exploded! Bricks and stones flew, the crimson light dispersed, and the formation patterns in all directions shattered inch by inch. A recoil force surged along the earth's veins directly towards the high platform. Ji Hantian stumbled backward, his fan snapping with a "crack," half of it falling to the ground.

He stared at me, his eyes as if seeing me clearly for the first time.

Not the waste of a cousin he could trample on.

But... someone who could shatter his killing formation with a single sword strike.

Before the dust had settled, I landed back on the arena, my wooden sword pointing to the ground. My robes were dusted, but the faint red scar on my left cheek burned—the Heaven-Slaying Origin violently vibrated from the successful breaking of the formation, the next wave already condensing.

Ye Qingwan retracted her phoenix fire, her crimson hair tips silently fading back to ink black. She walked half a step to my side, the Medicine Pestle still in her hand, her voice very soft, "Next, you decide."

I didn't answer, only looking at the disheveled figure at the edge of the high platform.

Ji Hantian stood by the broken railing, his lips trembling, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't make a sound. Behind him, in the shadows, a bloodstain slowly appeared, winding like a snake, crawling from his sleeve towards his neck—that was the sign of the Blood Crystal's backlash.

I knew Mo Xuan's Human Puppets hadn't made their move yet.

The Blood Butcher's nine-headed blood dragon had also yet to appear.

Yan Jiuxiao was in the City Lord's Manor's secret room, staring at the unburnt secret letter.

Qing Ming's jade gourd still hung from the ancient tree's branch, the scent of wine not yet dissipated.

But at this moment, I only wanted to look at him.

Look at this man who had personally destroyed my Dao Bone, bit by bit losing all his support in front of me.

I raised my hand and gently turned the wooden sword.

The tip pointed precisely at the cracked floor tile beneath his feet.

"In this game of chess," I said, "you lost the first move."