"What am I even thinking..."
Jiang Ye shook his head slightly, suppressing that somewhat absurd thought.
Meanwhile.
The situation on the platform changed abruptly.
The icy energy crept up the blade with faint cracking sounds. Hu Lingyu's expression changed, and she unleashed a sudden surge of Innate Gang Qi through her hand, shattering the ice crystals coating her sword before swiftly retreating.
She put some distance between herself and her opponent.
Seeing this, Ying Xue instead returned her sword to its sheath.
"Huh? That Sakura Kingdom woman..."
"What's she trying to do..."
"Why did she suddenly sheathe her sword???"
Many spectators looked bewildered, a buzz of discussion rising from the stands.
Just then, a martial artist with some knowledge of Sakura Kingdom swordsmanship cried out, "This is bad! She's about to use Iaijutsu..."
Before he could finish.
Ying Xue's sword left its sheath again, so fast that many could not even register it with the naked eye.
Whoosh—
Where the blade swept past, a chilling silver-white sword light slashed through the air. Like a cold crescent of moonlight descending from the heavens, it enveloped Hu Lingyu completely.
Huh?! Why does this move look so familiar...
Jiang Ye's brows lifted slightly.
His eyesight was exceptional. He recognized at once that the move the Sakura Princess was using bore an uncanny resemblance to the saber technique of the Seven Kill Cult fiend who had attacked the Azure Sky Sect.
There was no way this could be explained away as coincidence.
Could the Seven Kill Cult... also have ties to the Sakura Kingdom...
Thoughts raced through Jiang Ye's mind, and a shadow flickered in his eyes.
On the platform, Hu Lingyu did not panic before the chilling sword light tearing through the air toward her. A gust of wind sprang into being beneath