"Jiang Qingyi's incredible."
"I heard that when Elder Xiao first brought Jiang Qingyi to the Dragon Spring Sword Sect, she couldn't even enter the Qi Refining Stage for months."
"Isn't that the truth? Back then, people said Jiang Qingyi was practically useless. Who knew she'd suddenly have some great awakening and improve so quickly?"
"Elder Xiao really does have a good eye."
People around Xiao Mo in the spectator stands were all talking about Jiang Qingyi.
Watching Qingyi receive treatment, Xiao Mo felt a little dazed, too.
Xiao Mo had never imagined that Qingyi would actually make it into the finals.
It was like...
Qingyi was the protagonist of a novel. Every time she was on the verge of defeat, she would grasp some insight at the critical moment—or else make a breakthrough in her cultivation.
Take the semifinal, for instance. At the brink of disaster, Jiang Qingyi had refused to surrender, no matter what. In the end, she had broken through to the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer!
Xiao Mo began to wonder whether the "experience a life" in the Book of a Hundred Lives meant that every life was the struggle of a protagonist, while he himself merely played the role of their supporting character.
If that was true, Xiao Mo didn't mind. At least Qingyi had a protagonist's halo; at least she wouldn't be so likely to meet with an accident.
"Final! Jiang Qingyi of Linggan Peak versus Xiao Yan of Yunhai Hall!"
A deacon shouted the announcement.
Jiang Qingyi stood and walked toward the largest Formation in the center of the plain.
The moment she entered the Formation, Jiang Qingyi turned to look in Xiao Mo's direction and smiled brightly.
Xiao Mo furrowed his brows and mouthed four words at her: "Don't push yourself."
Before the finals, a master could surrender on behalf of their disciple.
But in the finals, only the disciple could surrender.
And which person who made it to the finals wasn't a proud, arrogant genius?
Unless they were too beaten to get back up, there was no way they would surrender.
In fact, people had even died in past New Blood Martial Arts Competition finals.
Jiang Qingyi stepped into the Formation as if she hadn't heard her master's warning.
The match began. Xiao Yan truly lived up to his reputation as the favorite to win and the most gifted young genius of his generation.
Having absorbed three kinds of Exotic Fire, he was half a step from Foundation Establishment, and the quality of his cultivation was astonishing.
Each of the Exotic Fires around Xiao Yan had different properties. When he swung his long sword, their power made his attacks even more formidable.
Jiang Qingyi had no room to fight back at all. She could only keep dodging, searching for an opening.
"Is running all you can do?"
Xiao Yan sneered and raised his sword high.
A wave of sword energy, imbued with the properties of Bone Spirit Cold Fire, came crashing down.
Jiang Qingyi couldn't dodge in time. She forced her Mystic Frost Sword up to block it.
The girl was sent flying twenty meters.
Her sword plunged into the ground. Jiang Qingyi coughed several times, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.
Xiao Yan gave Jiang Qingyi no chance to catch her breath.
In an instant, Xiao Yan's sword came at her again, aimed straight at the space between her brows.
Jiang Qingyi deflected it with her sword and used the second form of the Grass Character Sword Art—Dragon-Snake Brushstroke.
The girl's swordplay was like wild cursive calligraphy: every move was strange and unpredictable, yet it flowed with effortless grace.
Her Sword Qi left ink-like trails in the air.
Although Jiang Qingyi lacked strength, her footwork was nimble.
She paired her footwork with her sword techniques, making the angle of every attack viciously tricky.
Even as Jiang Qingyi attacked, afterimages lingered in the air. They were faintly disorienting and could remain for a brief moment, constricting her opponent's room to maneuver.
In fewer than ten exchanges, Xiao Yan's body was covered in cuts.
Some people thought Jiang Qingyi had turned defense into offense and even gained the upper hand.
But Xiao Mo and the other elders and deacons knew the truth: Jiang Qingyi's attacks could do little to Xiao Yan, and he was building up to a powerful move, hoping to kill her in one strike!
"Interesting, but unfortunately, it's not enough. I'm taking first place in the New Blood Martial Arts Competition."
After opening some distance between them, Xiao Yan decided the time was right.
He stepped forward, and Sword Lotuses bloomed one after another across the ground.
Scorching flames ruffled Jiang Qingyi's long hair.
"As your fellow disciple, I'll give you one last chance. Surrender! Otherwise, you'll die when I unleash this move!" Waves of fire surged around Xiao Yan.
He was clearly only a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, yet at that moment, Xiao Yan was like a god.
Jiang Qingyi took a deep breath and rose to her feet, pulling up her long sword. "Come on!"
"You've got guts!"
Xiao Yan roared. Sword Lotuses bloomed beneath his feet, one after another.
Cracks appeared in each flower.
The next moment, the Sword Lotuses burst apart.
"Qingyi! Surrender!" Xiao Mo shouted.
Even if this was only a life experience, and Xiao Mo knew that everything in the Book of a Hundred Lives was fake, how could he feel nothing for Qingyi after spending so much time with her?
It was like watching a drama. When Ran Bing in the Spirit Cage turned into Wangwang Crushed Ice, it still hurt.
Xiao Yan's Sword Qi, Spiritual Energy, and Exotic Fire mingled together.
Each shattered lotus sent a shockwave surging toward Jiang Qingyi.
When the ninth Sword Lotus shattered, blood streamed from Jiang Qingyi's seven orifices. She knelt on one knee, unable even to stand, but she still refused to surrender.
The last Sword Lotus was about to shatter, and it was also the most powerful one.
Looking at that Sword Lotus,
Jiang Qingyi remembered the bandits who had stormed into her home. Her parents had stuffed her into a cabinet, and through a crack, she could only watch helplessly as they died before her eyes.
She remembered being taken away by the bandits and brought to a grand, lavish mansion, where they said they wanted to take her bones.
She remembered waking up after they had thrown her onto a hillside, where corpses lay everywhere.
She remembered begging on the streets, living one day at a time.
At last,
the girl remembered stealing a few buns and nearly being beaten with a stick by the bun shop owner, just before her master stepped in front of her.
Because she had met her master, she had been able to live.
Because she had met her master, she had been able to cultivate.
I can't let Master down!
Master is my everything.
The girl took a deep breath and rose to her feet. One streak of sword intent after another burst from the Mystic Frost Long Sword in her hand.
Nine in all.
"That's... the fourth form of the Grass Character Sword Art, Nine Leaves Sword?"
"Boom!"
The instant the last Sword Lotus burst apart, the girl thrust her sword forward.
A tremendous crash rang out from the Formation, and dust billowed more than ten meters into the air.
Xiao Mo hurriedly flew down from the spectator stands and charged into the Formation.
He waved his hand, scattering the dust, and saw Qingyi standing where she was.
On the other side of the Formation, Xiao Yan lay motionless, completely unconscious.
"Qingyi!" Xiao Mo shouted.
Hearing him, Jiang Qingyi turned around and smiled faintly at her master, then fell forward.
Xiao Mo hurried over and caught her in his arms.
"Master."
Held in Xiao Mo's arms, Jiang Qingyi spoke weakly.
"The money you bet, Master—I won it back for you."
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