Bai Kaluo

Top-tier elite!

Those four words instantly seized the nerves of everyone present.

The clan tournament was held once a year, yet it had been over a century since a "top-tier elite" had emerged.

To be crowned with that title meant this person was almost guaranteed to advance to the cosmic level in the future, and even breaking through to the domain lord level was not out of reach.

"Who exactly is Bai Luoyan? Why have I never heard her name before?"

"Bai Luoyan, Bai Luoyan—do you even need to think about it? She must have been personally brought here by Lord Bai Luoyan."

"I see, no wonder Lord Bai Luoyan made a special trip for this."

The cosmic-level experts exchanged words among themselves.

Though the young girl's strength was still far beneath theirs, everyone knew that perhaps before long, she would stand on equal footing with them, or even surpass them.

In the Blade Tomb World, Bai Luoyan shook her head slightly.

"Too weak. Is there really no one in this batch who can make me take things seriously?"

At this moment, dozens of people had already surrounded her from all sides.

"This woman's strength is no joke—let's all go together!"

"Kill!"

The dozens charged as one, their momentum fierce, each unleashing their strongest techniques.

Yet the young girl's long sword hummed softly, and her figure vanished in an instant.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

She moved like a drifting wind, weaving through the crowd, and with every flash of her blade, one person was eliminated.

In but a moment, the girl sheathed her sword and stood still, while all dozens had been eliminated.

On the plaza outside, the dozens of figures had just materialized when gasps erupted around them.

"Impossible... how could this be? Dozens of us joined forces, and we were still so helpless?"

"Too strong—her strength is on a completely different level from ours."

"And here I was, always thinking of myself as a genius. Now it's clear—compared to a true genius, what is my meager talent worth?"

These people were all geniuses from some region of Blade Planet, but when set against the truly top-tier geniuses, the gap was laid bare in an instant.

Meanwhile, Bai Xingyun had also encountered a formidable opponent—at least, in the eyes of the crowd, the other truly qualified as such.

"Heh, I've heard your blade technique is strong, but... the one who wins will be me." Bai Tianluo's lips curled into a smile, his confidence undisguised.

This battle also drew the attention of several cosmic-level experts.

Bai Tianluo had only been rated a second-tier elite because of his age, but in terms of actual combat strength, he was not far behind the level Bai Xingyun had shown so far.

"Let's see just how far this Bai Xingyun can go," someone remarked with interest.

As for Bai Xingyun's origins, they had already gathered the information.

This man had come from a remote town, where the strongest person he had ever seen in his life was only at the stellar level, and his training environment was even worse than that of Bai Yuan and the others.

Yet, for a genius who emerged from such barren ground to reach this level—it was truly astonishing.

A fierce fighting spirit flickered in Bai Xingyun's eyes.

He had always loved battle, but from childhood to now, he had never met a peer who could truly match him.

Even here in the Blade Tomb World, where geniuses from all over gathered, the situation remained the same—no one had yet forced him to use a second strike.

"First, take this one slash from me!"

Before his words had faded, his body was already in motion.

Blade light bloomed like snow, silent and radiant.

In the air, dozens of silver arcs seemed to flash simultaneously, the real and the illusory interwoven, impossible to distinguish.

"His blade isn't fast! How can it produce so many afterimages?"

Bai Tianluo's face changed drastically as he pushed his vision to its limit, his gaze sweeping frantically through the layers of blade shadows.

Finally, in the gap between the real and the false, he caught the truly lethal strike!

Clang!

The war blades clashed, sparks flying.

Bai Tianluo stumbled back three steps, his grip on the blade numbing, but in the nick of time, he had blocked that ghostly, unpredictable blow.

Seeing his blade blocked, Bai Xingyun did not grow angry—instead, he laughed.

In that smile, there was no trace of frustration, only pure, blazing excitement.

"Good!"

He slowly uttered the word, his war blade lowering slightly, while his aura began to climb, step by step.

"You've earned my seriousness."

In that instant, Bai Xingyun struck again.

But this time, both blades came out together!

Blade shadows filled the sky like a raging storm, sweeping in with indistinguishable truth and falsehood—impossible to tell which was real and which was fake.

Self-created blade art—Thousand Blade Afterimages!

Puchi...

Bai Tianluo's body froze in place.

The next moment, his head was completely severed from his torso.

"So it wasn't that the blade was slow, but that it was so fast even my eyes couldn't keep up..."

With that final thought, his figure was teleported out of the Blade Tomb World.

On the plaza, Bai Tianluo subconsciously touched his own neck, then shook his head with a sigh:

"This tournament's first place is undoubtedly his."

At this very moment, even the cosmic-level powerhouses watching from afar had a flicker of surprise in their eyes.

Many didn't bother hiding their admiration, openly speaking up on the spot, wanting to take Bai Xingyun as a disciple.

"Such fast blades! Though he wields both swords at once, to train speed and the interplay of real and false to this level is no easy feat!"

"This kid is truly extraordinary. If he takes another step forward, he'll likely become another top-tier elite."

"I want this child."

"Old Xin, you don't even use dual blades. Forget it—a disciple like this should enter my school."

"We'll see which he chooses when the time comes."

The strength Bai Xingyun displayed now was even a bit greater than last tournament's champion, already approaching the threshold of a top-tier elite.

With talent like this, a little nurturing would give him immense hope of advancing to the cosmic level in the future.

And the master-disciple relationship had always been one of the strongest bonds on the path of power.

No one was willing to let such a promising seedling slip by.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Over at Bai Yuan's side, he too had encountered an expert who had comprehended a concept.

"Impressive! A mere apprentice eighth-rank, yet able to contend with me!"

His opponent's dual blades danced wildly, an unbroken, airtight barrage of attacks forcing Bai Yuan to retreat step by step, leaving him no chance to counter.

Bai Yuan's brows knitted tightly, his gaze growing increasingly calm.

"It seems I must go further."

"Sharp Metal Seven-Fold Slash!"

In an instant, eight layers of hidden force erupted from the blade's edge!

At the same time, his body and blade intent merged as one, the Sharp Metal Concept piercing through.

The blade light flashed, its sharpness biting to the bone!

That originally airtight net of wild blades was split open by this single strike, a fissure carved through it.

His opponent's expression shifted drastically, but his reaction was astonishingly fast—his footwork turned on a dime, a perfect-grade movement technique unfolding instantly as he retreated.

Yet Bai Yuan's blade was faster than his retreat.

Puchi!

Blood burst forth. Though the blade didn't strike bone or sinew, it sliced through skin, and blood dripped along the edge of the sword.

His opponent staggered to a halt, looked down at the thin, bloody gash across his chest, and the shock in his eyes could no longer be hidden.

"Your force amplitude is even stronger than mine! Reaching over six times! What's your name?"

"I'm Bai Yuan. And you?" Bai Yuan asked casually.

"This Humble One is Bai Kaluo," the other replied frankly.

Bai Yuan hadn't paid much attention at first, but when he heard the name Bai Kaluo, he immediately realized.

Dual blades, Wind Concept, a blade art that grew stronger with battle...

Clearly, this was Bai Kaluo—the Blade Clan member who would later be taken in by Luo Feng.

"Bai Kaluo hasn't broken through to planetary level yet. That means it's at least several thousand years until Luo Feng is born; at the furthest, it could even be tens of thousands of years apart."