[Image] The Clear Sky Hammer Is Exposed! Divine Weapon Star Sword vs. Eight Spider Lances! Utter Defeat! Ten Consecutive Wins!

But in Tang San's eyes, it was nothing like that!

It felt as though it wasn't sword energy cleaving toward him—

but the entire world!

Tang San was horrified.

This attack was no longer an ordinary Soul Power or Soul Skill assault.

It was an attack of will, mixed with something akin to divine sense!

He didn't dare meet it head-on.

He hurled Hidden Weapons one after another, but they flew toward the sword energy as if toward empty air, having no effect whatsoever.

Tang San was forced back again and again.

He was on the verge of being driven off the platform—

His expression turned vicious, and purple light suddenly erupted in his eyes.

Purple Demon Eye—

A mental attack. This move really worked!

The sword energy faltered for an instant, and Qian Renxue's mind went blank.

Killing intent suddenly flashed in Tang San's eyes.

A small black hammer suddenly appeared in his hand.

It shot out at a bizarre angle with a thunderous roar,

carrying the force of Thunderous Might,

and hurtled toward Qian Renxue's head at a speed far beyond that of any Hidden Weapon!

Countless spectators watched as Qian Renxue stood dazed and the little hammer was about to smash her head to pieces.

Their hearts leaped into their throats.

Judging by its power, that blow would surely kill her.

Was this legendary genius about to meet her end here?

Ning Fengzhi and Sword Douluo both frowned deeply,

ready to intervene and save her at any moment.

The members of Shrek were on edge—

They saw that Tang San, in dodging the deadly sword energy, had already been forced off the platform and was now airborne.

If he couldn't kill or defeat Qian Renxue before he landed,

then he'd be the one to lose—or even die!

"Quick, quick, quick! You have to smash that pretty boy to death!"

Xiao Wu, Oscar, and Ning Rongrong all stared wide-eyed at the platform, forgetting even to breathe.

The Clear Sky Hammer was less than two meters from Qian Renxue—

She suddenly opened her eyes!

Seeing the hammer hurtle toward her like a meteorite, every muscle in her body tensed on instinct.

By a hair's breadth—she dodged it!

A wave of gasps rose from below the platform.

Quite a few people wiped away cold sweat,

then began to cheer in relief—

Fei Xue was going to win!

Tang San had been forced to reveal countless trump cards, yet in the end, he'd fallen just short!

As Qian Renxue dodged the Clear Sky Hammer,

things weren't going well for Tang San either.

Though Qian Renxue had been briefly controlled by the Purple Demon Eye, her sword energy had only faltered—

it hadn't disappeared.

Tang San summoned his shattered Eight Spider Lances and barely managed to block it, but the remnants of the sword energy pierced straight through his chest—

and right through his lungs.

His External Soul Bone, the Eight Spider Lances, shattered completely, and the backlash slammed into him.

His body and spirit grievously wounded, he fell straight off the platform like a limp sack.

But he gritted his teeth through the agony.

He looked at Qian Renxue, who had likewise narrowly escaped death, and a cold smile crossed his face.

Tang Sect Hidden Weapons weren't so easy to block!

Qian Renxue let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close. If not for the teacher's high-intensity training, and the Taiyi Soul Art greatly increasing my mental strength—

"I probably wouldn't have been able to withstand that terrifying mental attack!

"Let alone the killing move that followed!"

Qian Renxue was still congratulating herself on escaping disaster when she suddenly felt a faint tremor in the air.

The strongest sense of danger she had ever experienced

rose abruptly from the depths of her heart!

At the brink of life and death, her body instinctively concentrated all her mental strength to its absolute limit—

At last, she saw it!

A nearly transparent fragment, no larger than a fingernail, glimmered with an eerie purple light

as it shot toward her head!

The fragment was bizarrely fast, and it could evade detection by Soul Power and mental strength.

Even more deadly—

To dodge the Clear Sky Hammer, she had just twisted her waist as far as it would go.

Her strength was spent, and she hadn't yet regained it.

And that earlier sword strike

had drained all her Soul Power—

She had neither the time nor the strength to react!

When had this Hidden Weapon been launched...?

Could she really be about to die here?

Outside the platform,

Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and Bone Douluo saw that both fighters were gravely wounded but at least out of mortal danger,

and had just begun to relax—

when Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo sprang to their feet at the same time!

They, too, had sensed the strange fragment, aimed straight at Qian Renxue's vital point!

"What's going on? Where did that Hidden Weapon come from? When was it launched?"

Sword Douluo exclaimed. Even with his cultivation, he hadn't been able to detect the fragment's origin right away.

"It was the Clear Sky Hammer!"

Bone Douluo possessed spatial Soul Skills and had an exceptionally keen sense of space. By deducing the fragment's trajectory, he quickly figured out what had happened.

"When the Clear Sky Hammer flew out, it struck a fragment that was about to hit the ground, sending it toward Qian Renxue at an extremely bizarre angle!"

After murmuring the result of his deduction, even he couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.

"Was it an accident... or did that little devil plan it all?"

Whatever the answer, it was too late for anyone to intervene now.

Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo had the highest cultivation and reacted first.

Right behind them,

Salas, Yu Luomian, Tai Tan, Flender, and the others noticed it too.

Everyone could see where the fragment was headed.

Regret, excitement, and every other kind of emotion mingled in their eyes.

No one could stop it in time.

They all seemed to see this legendary genius's blood splattering across the platform!

At the very last instant!

A flash of white light streaked by!

Then came a crisp clang that rang throughout the entire Soul Fighting Arena.

The fragment of the Eight Spider Lances

had struck a sword as white as snow, flecked with shimmering starlight!

In an instant, it crumbled into even finer purple powder.

Under the lights of the Soul Fighting Arena, it looked like a purple crown—

crowning Qian Renxue, the newly arisen legend of ten consecutive wins!

"Teacher... was that you?"

Qian Renxue steadied herself and stared blankly for a moment at the Star Sword hovering in front of her.

But the very next instant, she credited Ling Xiao with saving her.

Only he

could have rescued her at the crucial moment!

"I said I wouldn't interfere in your match, and I won't!"

"Besides, you underestimate my skill at forging artifacts—and a divine weapon."

Ling Xiao's voice rang in her mind, tinged with pride.

"Ordinary divine weapons have a will of their own. This divine weapon, forged from the Star Core, is far superior to ordinary ones!"

"It just doesn't bother responding to you normally because your cultivation is too low."

As if responding to Ling Xiao, the Star Sword trembled lightly, as though saying:

That's right. I only saved you because I had no choice.

You're still too weak to be worthy of being my master!

Hearing Ling Xiao's words,

Qian Renxue would normally have found them grating.

But now,

her heart felt warm.

Whatever the case, she owed this to her teacher.

If not for him, she would have died today to that strange Hidden Weapon.

The thought sent a wave of lingering fear through her!

But as soon as she turned around, another emotion swept that fear away.

Ten consecutive wins!

She'd done it.

She could finally return to her Soul Ancestor cultivation!

And...

She'd defeated Tang San!

Did that mean she'd earned her teacher's approval?