Lü Yun, who had said before the tournament, "I'm only here to try my luck. If I meet someone I can't fight, I won't force it," indeed fought only two matches on the River Viewing Terrace—one in the main bracket and one in the losers' bracket.
In the first, she fought until her body collapsed. After being rescued and brought around, she wept her heart out beneath the stage.
After wiping away her tears, she entered the losers' bracket. In the second match, she fought until her soul was incomplete and her divinity shattered, putting East King Valley's medical team to an extreme test.
Just as many had expected before the tournament, she truly was the weakest contender in the main bracket, unable to take even a single victory... yet she was also the one whose medical expenses in the Inner Palace Arena were the highest.
After those two matches, no one looked at her askance again. The twelve-year-old young count of Qi State even sought her out to apologize, solemnly retracting his earlier contempt and granting the highest recognition to her will to fight.
Bao Xuanjing said, "Only now do I understand that the divide between humans and water does not lie in what is heard or seen, but in what we blindly believe and stubbornly cling to."
"Only now do I understand that the heights of the arena and victory or defeat are but fleeting; the heart of the strong stands rugged for a lifetime. In the name of Shuofang, I make this vow—henceforth, I will look upon others with clear eyes and cautious judgment, act with humility and steadfastness, and no longer measure people by the height of their cultivation, their sect, their nation, or their race!"
Given the grace Bao Xuanjing and Lü Yun had displayed