Formidable Strength!

"Run, sis! Xu Nianshuang is a junior who just advanced to the Intermediate Academy. The moment she advanced, she successfully defended the arena for twenty-eight consecutive matches. She's cool and she can fight—she's literally the goddess of my dreams!"

Both of them wore lovestruck expressions. Who said only men liked beautiful women? Some women were even more popular with girls.

Xu Nianshuang was clearly one of them.

Her frosty, aloof aura, exquisite features, and formidable strength made her irresistible to both men and women.

Hearing the familiar name, Xu Tianyang raised his eyes and looked into the distance. At the center of the academy's Soul Fighting Arena stood a massive hexagonal open-air platform. In the middle of it stood a little girl around ten years old. Her long ice-blue hair was simply tied behind her head, and her face bore an unhealthy pallor. Yet her sharp eyes gave her an exceptionally heroic air.

A longsword roughly three feet long hung at her waist, its entire body radiating a dreamlike ice-blue gleam. She resembled a peerless swordswoman, her edge impossible to conceal.

"The arena match will officially begin in fifteen minutes. Any friends who wish to place bets, please proceed to the counter beside me!" The host's voice came through the Amplifying Soul Tool once more.

"Today, our old friend, student Xu Nianshuang, will face a gauntlet of ten students at her level. Will student Xu Nianshuang continue her winning streak, or will her legend be ended today? Let us wait and see!"

The host shouted himself hoarse, while the audience eagerly played along. Wave after wave of cheers shook the heavens.

"The open-air arena match begins!"

With the host's loud cry, the arena's Soul Tool barrier rose. Xu Nianshuang's first opponent, a level-twenty-five second-rank Soul Engineer, instantly activated the Soul Tool thrusters on his back. To the surprise of many spectators, he did not charge at Xu Nianshuang, but instead flew toward the edge of the platform.

Xu Nianshuang had achieved an astonishing twenty-eight consecutive victories in a short time and had already gained some fame within the academy. Everyone also understood her Martial Soul abilities.

Her Martial Soul was an extremely powerful Ice Attribute Martial Soul, but what left the deepest impression on people was her fierce swordsmanship. She was an Ice Attribute Soul Master, yet her swordsmanship was actually more terrifying than that of many sword Martial Soul masters.

It was fucking absurd!

Now, anyone fighting Xu Nianshuang tried their best to avoid close combat, hoping to evade her most terrifying swordsmanship.

The battle began!

A brilliant light burst from Xu Nianshuang's icy eyes. It was a fervor filled with obsession; in her gaze, there was only her enemy and the sword in her hand.

After her conversation with Xu Tianyang, she had become even more determined to follow her path. Even if people now believed it to be a road without a future, Xu Nianshuang remained unwavering. Even if the path ahead was covered in thorns, she would use the sword in her hand to cut through everything.

As the Soul Tool Longsword at her waist slowly slid free, two Soul Rings beyond ordinary comprehension—one yellow and one purple—appeared. An incomparably sharp aura erupted from her entire body.

Sword Intent!

Sword Intent even stronger than before.

Xu Tianyang looked at the small figure in the arena in amazement. Her talent for the sword had surprised him again and again. In his eyes, Xu Nianshuang seemed more like a protagonist than he did.

She had suffered doubt and criticism in the early stages, then carved through thorns all the way forward, continuously humiliating everyone who looked down on her with the longsword in her hand until she became invincible beneath the heavens. This was absolutely a protagonist's template.

Meanwhile, he had both an exceptional background and exceptional talent. He seemed more like the template for a great villain.

In the arena, Xu Nianshuang seemed, in an instant, to merge into one with the Soul Tool Longsword in her hand. Infused with Soul Power and Sword Intent, the sword's tip trembled gently, releasing a faint hum. Xu Nianshuang's aura likewise soared at an astonishing speed.

If this sword strike was not unleashed, so be it. But once unleashed, it would surely astonish all present. Everyone could not help holding their breath, their blazing gazes locked tightly onto Xu Nianshuang, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

"Whoosh!" Xu Nianshuang moved.

Cold air surged beneath her feet. She glided across the arena toward the distant second-rank Soul Engineer as though skating over ice. Before she even arrived, her fierce Sword Intent had already risen to its peak. Even the students watching from behind the arena's Soul Tool barrier could feel that razor-sharp aura, as though it could split them in two.

Those who dared to accept challenges on the platform naturally had considerable confidence in their own strength and would not simply wait to be defeated. While Xu Nianshuang gathered her Sword Intent, he had already undergone Martial Soul Possession, transforming himself into a Soul Tool artillery platform. For a time, all kinds of Soul Tool Cannons and Soul Guidance Rays bombarded Xu Nianshuang without pause.

"Boom!"

Xu Nianshuang remained calm. Faced with the artillery filling the sky, her response was simple: she raised her sword and slashed upward. Every Soul Tool Cannon that met Xu Nianshuang's sword was like soft tofu meeting a sharp blade, cut cleanly in two with a single strike.

The next second, Xu Nianshuang's sword fell upon the second-rank Soul Engineer's chest and lightly slashed.

"Next!" As her cold, indifferent voice rang out, the second-rank Soul Engineer had already been sent flying off the platform, unable to rise after hitting the ground.

Xu Nianshuang did not linger. Her figure flashed, vanishing from the sight of the stunned spectators around her, leaving behind only a heroic and dashing silhouette.

"Ice Frost Goddess! Ice Frost Goddess! Ice Frost Goddess!"

Without question, it had been a one-sided battle. In Douluo Continent, where the strong were revered, Xu Nianshuang's strength and coldness were exactly what the audience wanted to see. The shouts beneath the stage were deafening.

"Her rudimentary Sword Intent is becoming increasingly refined. As long as she continues cultivating step by step..."

Although Xu Tianyang was not a professional sword cultivator, he cultivated as well and had heard Feng Tianxiang, a powerhouse of the sword path, describe it before. He could clearly see Xu Nianshuang's current state. She was gradually refining her Sword Intent and walking the correct path of cultivation.

"With her personality, perhaps battle is the nourishment that lets her grow quickly."

"Next."

Battle after battle followed. After winning the tenth match and defeating another level-twenty-nine Soul Master, Xu Nianshuang returned to where she had initially stood. Looking at her opponent on the ground, who was questioning his entire life, she sighed inwardly. The Soul Grandmaster stage was still somewhat too low-level. With her current strength, among Soul Grandmasters at Sun Moon Royal Academy, no one was her opponent anymore.

It was time to challenge upperclassmen across ranks. She hoped to encounter powerful opponents—opponents who could temper the Sword Intent within her.

"Hm?" She had merely glanced once more through the crowd.

Xu Nianshuang locked onto that familiar figure, and joy immediately rose in her heart. The next second, she stopped herself from walking over. Her eyes instantly sharpened like swords as they fell upon the handsome black-haired, black-eyed youth.

"Xu Nianshuang, level-twenty-four Battle Soul Master. I challenge you!" Looking at Xu Tianyang from afar, Xu Nianshuang held her sword with both hands and spoke in a cool voice.

Following Xu Nianshuang's movement, every spectator turned their heads in unison to look at the opponent she had challenged. Then they could not help freezing for a moment, astonishment filling their eyes.