Referee, He's Cheating!

Quarterfinals, third match.

Chao Qingteng stood with his sword tilted at his side, head raised toward the sky, aloof and cold.

Just by standing there, he made the air several degrees colder. Flakes of snow even drifted down.

Xu Xiaoshou plunged into the barrier and suddenly shivered. The temperature inside the arena was several times lower than outside.

"Is this the power of an innate attribute?"

He clicked his tongue inwardly. He had already known that Chao Qingteng possessed ice-attribute abilities, but only in a real confrontation did he feel the terror of the innate realm.

One's own power could actually influence nature. It was nothing short of terrifying! There was time to regulate one's breathing after entering the arena, and Xiao Qixiu was being considerate of Xu Xiaoshou. Though this kid was always dawdling, he still had to be given the preparation time he deserved.

Xu Xiaoshou held out his hand. Snowflakes landed in his palm, quiet and elegant.

The audience watched, utterly entranced. A light snowfall on Cloud-Emerging Platform, three men—it was simply as beautiful as a painting.

"Referee, he's cheating!"

Before the crowd could snap out of the painting-like scene, Xu Xiaoshou pointed at Chao Qingteng and angrily said, "The match hasn't even started, and he's already affecting the environment. That's unfair!"

The snowflakes in the air paused slightly as Chao Qingteng finally looked at Xu Xiaoshou.

Mocked, Passive Value +1.

Oh ho!

Mocking me too?

Xu Xiaoshou glared right back, refusing to yield. Who was afraid of whom?

Xiao Qixiu frowned. Strictly speaking, Xu Xiaoshou was right, but once a real match began, who would care about a few snowflakes? "What do you propose?"

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled. "I'm a little cold. Have him take back these snowflakes!"

Though he looked carefree on the surface, he took this match extremely seriously.

Who knew what these snowflakes could do? Maybe they could sense his location if they touched him; maybe they were building momentum for some ultimate move...

Xu Xiaoshou would not be careless enough to face an innate expert while handing over both favorable timing and terrain. Wouldn't that be the same as losing half the battle before it even began?

The audience was somewhat displeased. Some people approved of Xu Xiaoshou's caution, but to most, this guy was simply being far too petty.

Just a few snowflakes—was that really necessary? "I can't take them back." Chao Qingteng finally spoke, his voice seeming to carry a trace of coldness as well.

"Then that's troublesome..." Xu Xiaoshou spread his hands. "You're good at casting from a distance, while I'm a close-combat fighter. And now you're cheating too. How am I supposed to fight?"

Even someone as proud and imposing as Chao Qingteng could not help but twitch at the corner of his mouth under the repeated assault of the word "cheating." "What exactly do you want?"

"How about opening the barrier and letting the sun shine on us?" Xu Xiaoshou suggested.

Xiao Qixiu staggered. What the hell did he mean, let the sun shine on them? Thousands of people in the audience were here to watch him sunbathe? "Sunbathing is impossible. Since you said you're a close-combat fighter, then why not shorten the distance?" Xiao Qixiu looked at Chao Qingteng, his gaze questioning.

Chao Qingteng nodded, and Xu Xiaoshou immediately grinned. He had taken the bait, just as expected!

"How much is 'shorten it'?" he continued asking.

Xiao Qixiu was about to lose his patience with this guy. Pushing his luck, were they? "Any distance is fine." Chao Qingteng's eyes turned cold as well before he said heavily, "They're waiting outside. Start already!"

"Any distance is fine?" Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow.

With a swish, he instantly closed in until they were face-to-face, their noses nearly touching.

Xu Xiaoshou breathed softly, "Is this fine?"

Chao Qingteng was startled by the sudden heat. Even his pale, stern face reddened slightly. He hurriedly retreated several steps, his heart pounding wildly as he hesitated for a long while...

"Fine!"

The audience nearly went insane, and some female disciples cried out, "No!"

With Chao Qingteng's strength and his frosty demeanor, he was the very embodiment of "cold and aloof," practically the prince charming of almost every female disciple in the outer court.

In the previous matches, there had naturally been more people supporting Xu Xiaoshou. But against Chao Qingteng, the crowd was overwhelmingly one-sided.

"Get away from him! Who gave you permission to get close to my Brother Qingteng?"

"You can't agree to him! Wuwuwu, Senior Brother Chao, hurry and pull away!"

"My heavens, so it can be done like this. I've learned something! I need to cultivate properly too—I want to get this close to Brother Qingteng too..."

The two in the arena stood only a step apart, staring deeply into each other's eyes.

Xiao Qixiu waved at the right moment. "The match begins!"

The instant his words fell, Xu Xiaoshou's beaming expression vanished, replaced by complete seriousness.

Amid the flying snow, his heavy fist slammed into Chao Qingteng.

Bang! Ice shards exploded. He had struck something solid, yet Xu Xiaoshou could feel that he had not hit Chao Qingteng.

"This is..."

A clone, teleportation, a substitution technique?

Countless thoughts flashed through Xu Xiaoshou's mind. Under the coverage of his Perception, the snowflakes behind him stirred, and Chao Qingteng appeared at his back.

After appearing, Chao Qingteng did not attack immediately. Instead, he chose to widen the distance.

He raised one finger, though it was unclear what he meant by it, and said indifferently, "Not bad."

Praised, Passive Value +1.

Xu Xiaoshou instead felt mocked. He had no idea how Chao Qingteng had escaped. The "fake Chao Qingteng" that his fist had struck also turned into an ice sculpture amid the snow, then shattered apart.

It was incomparably strange...

Xu Xiaoshou pretended to be relaxed. "You dodged pretty well too. I'm guessing it has nothing to do with these snowflakes, right? Otherwise, you'd be cheating right out in the open."

Chao Qingteng remained expressionless. Xu Xiaoshou inwardly sighed in regret. This cold-faced man truly was difficult to pry information from through his expressions.

He stared at Chao Qingteng as if unconcerned, but his Perception was pushed to its limit. Every snowflake forming and falling appeared clearly in his mind.

His instincts told him that this snowfall absolutely could not be ignored.

Because this snow had only appeared when Chao Qingteng faced him, Xu Xiaoshou. Before this, he had never seen Chao Qingteng use this move.

The blue Ice River Sword had an extraordinarily broad blade. Chao Qingteng slowly raised it, and the snowflakes in the air seemed to tremble slightly.

Xu Xiaoshou drew Hidden Pain. He knew that unless he broke Chao Qingteng's technique, close combat would be impossible.

At the innate Origin Court Realm, spiritual energy had already evolved into spiritual essence. Chao Qingteng poured spiritual essence into the Ice River Sword, and the blade crackled as ice crystals formed across it.

Whoosh! A sword swept past, sending a wave of frost-laden chill rushing toward him. Xu Xiaoshou chose to sidestep it.

Yet although the chill had clearly not touched his body, it released terrifying cold as it approached, severely impairing his movements.

Xu Xiaoshou finally understood why no one could dodge Chao Qingteng's One Sword Ice River.

"Hiss—"

His entire body shuddered, going so numb that he nearly could not hold his sword. Faced with the second sword aura that followed, he no longer had the strength to resist and could only barely raise Hidden Pain.

There was no collision, no thunderous blast...

Under the audience's astonished gazes, Xu Xiaoshou was frozen into an ice sculpture with a crack!

"Damn, even Xu Xiaoshou ended up like that? Frozen after just two swords?"

"Is Chao Qingteng really that strong? Against everyone, it's One Sword Ice River. Xu Xiaoshou has an innate body, so... Two Swords Ice River?"

"Is the gap between the tenth level of Spiritual Cultivation and the innate realm really this huge? I'm stunned..."

Chao Qingteng's expression remained utterly indifferent. Drawing his sword was no different from facing other small fry; Xu Xiaoshou merely counted as two of them.

Still, the other party did possess an innate body. Perhaps his Ice River spiritual essence, which was enough to freeze the flesh and blood of a tenth-level Spiritual Cultivator into necrosis, might not necessarily be enough to freeze him to death...

Chao Qingteng glanced at Xiao Qixiu from the corner of his eye. Seeing no sign that he intended to move and rescue him, he immediately confirmed his suspicions.

Continue attacking!