Three days later, at night, on the outskirts of Mingdu.
A long-haired man with a ramrod-straight back had been sitting cross-legged there for some time.
His eyes were tightly shut, as if meditating—or waiting for someone.
His breathing was steady as water, yet it could not conceal his sharpness. He was like a drawn sword, poised to burst into action at any moment.
Beside him, a curvaceous woman dressed in purple squatted on the ground, bored.
Her face was full of helplessness as she traced circle after circle in the grass with one finger.
They were Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan.
Two days ago, after Ji Juechen defeated yet another challenger, a letter of challenge had appeared at his door.
It had been a long time since anyone had challenged Ji Juechen. After all, as a battle fanatic, he had gone quite a while without receiving a challenge.
As it happened, Jing Ziyan had run into him as he was heading out.
She might not have been as much of a battle fanatic as Ji Juechen, but she wanted to see what kind of expert had challenged him.
If she could witness a fierce battle between experts on a level with Ji Juechen, then even dying afterward would have been worth the price of admission.
But even after waiting from afternoon until night, the challenger still hadn't shown up.
"They're here."
Suddenly, Ji Juechen's eyes flew open, and he looked toward the dark woods.
Four figures slowly emerged from the trees. Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan recognized two of them.
One was Xuan Ziwen's student, and the other was Nana, a first-year student in the practical studies department.
The two women were dressed in maid outfits, walking behind an older man and a younger one.
In Ji Juechen's eyes, Nana and Ju Zi were unimportant. The two men in the middle were what mattered, especially Lin Yuan.
Cao Xin was so unfathomable as an opponent that it was hard to get a read on him, while Lin Yuan's sharp aura had already begun to clash with Ji Juechen's.
Their sword auras were razor-sharp. Anyone standing between them would have been cut by the force of their clash.
Experts.
The two of them reached the same assessment of each other.
Ji Juechen immediately rose to his feet, and the Meteorite Heavy Sword appeared in his hands.
His gaze was razor-sharp as he assumed a stance toward Lin Yuan.
"Shouldn't we talk first?"
Lin Yuan swung the Jade Dragon-Slayer, its blade pointed straight at Ji Juechen.
"Since you're a swordsman too, what's the point of saying more?"
The next moment, Ji Juechen lunged at Lin Yuan with a slash.
Lin Yuan's gaze sharpened, and he surged forward to meet Ji Juechen.
Clang!
The swords collided, and the clang of metal shattered the quiet night.
The two began exchanging fierce attacks, countless sword shadows crossing around them.
At first, they fought in the spirit of a sparring match, both holding back to avoid unnecessary injuries.
Compared with Lin Yuan's swordsmanship, Ji Juechen could only be called an unorthodox practitioner, and Lin Yuan steadily kept him on the defensive.
But as their clash continued, Ji Juechen slowly began to keep pace with Lin Yuan, no longer so passive.
Sparks flew with every flash of their blades, and Lin Yuan gradually began to feel the pressure.
Putting aside technique, when it came to a pure contest of swordsmanship, Lin Yuan knew he was inferior to Ji Juechen.
"Good! Good! Good!" Ji Juechen exclaimed, his expression feverish.
When facing opponents who used other fighting styles, the thrill of battle always left him feeling somewhat stifled and frustrated.
But it was different with another swordsman. Ji Juechen felt his heart pounding and his blood burning.
How long had it been since he'd encountered an opponent like this at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, where everyone was a medicine jar?
No, he'd never encountered one before!
To Ji Juechen, Lin Yuan was an extravagant feast, and he was a man who had gone hungry for who knew how many years.
As Ji Juechen laughed wildly, Lin Yuan's sword cut his cheek. Lin Yuan, too, was covered in small wounds.
With such a delicious feast before him, holding back would mean failing to appreciate it.
Lin Yuan smiled faintly. Before he knew it, Ji Juechen's fervor had infected him too, and he launched a relentless attack without holding anything back.
What swordsmanship!
What an opponent!
What a satisfying battle!
Before she knew it, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Jing Ziyan's forehead.
The two were moving so fast that even she, a Soul Ancestor, couldn't follow them. This was no longer a sparring match.
They were fighting like beasts tearing at each other, each intent on killing the other!
She decided to intervene before only one of them walked away alive.
"Young lady, what are you trying to do?" Cao Xin stepped in front of Jing Ziyan.
"Senior, we can't let them keep fighting! Someone's going to die!" Jing Ziyan cried anxiously.
Cao Xin only shook his head slowly. "Let them fight. I believe they won't go too far."
After a sustained exchange of feints, their eyes sharpened at the same time, and both swung their swords—
Clang!
Their blades collided with unprecedented force, seeming to bend in the air.
The shrill clang made Nana and Ju Zi's eardrums throb, and they clapped their hands over their ears. Jing Ziyan, too, winced at the sound.
The enormous force of the collision sent them both flying backward.
After a long series of twists and turns in midair, Ji Juechen landed and staggered back several steps before managing to steady himself.
Lin Yuan plunged his sword into the ground and also retreated a considerable distance before coming to a stop.
"My name is Ji Juechen. What's yours?" Ji Juechen asked Lin Yuan excitedly.
"Lin Yuan. Brother Ji, your swordsmanship is truly fierce," Lin Yuan replied with a faint smile.
"I'm flattered, I'm flattered. I'm just an unorthodox practitioner. Your sword skills are far more refined, Brother Lin."
Ji Juechen shook his head with a faint smile, then raised his heavy sword toward Lin Yuan, his hands trembling.
Lin Yuan smiled slightly too and lifted the Jade Dragon-Slayer. Blood trickled down its emerald blade.
"Brother Lin, you must have noticed it too, right? I feel so stifled." Ji Juechen shut his eyes tightly.
"Brother Ji, I don't want to die just yet." Lin Yuan also closed his eyes and shook his head with a faint smile.
Their unstoppable auras suddenly withdrew completely, and everything around them fell still.
Only the two of them remained in the clearing, swords facing each other. The silence was like the calm before a storm.
"What are they..."
Nana and Ju Zi walked over to Cao Xin. Ju Zi asked, her face filled with concern.
"They're planning to settle it with a single sword strike," Jing Ziyan said, looking utterly exasperated.
She knew Ji Juechen too well. He had definitely wanted to remember his opponent's name so he wouldn't forget him.
Cao Xin's expression turned grave as well. He gathered Soul Power in his palm, ready to step in and save them at any moment.
He didn't want to see either Lin Yuan or Ji Juechen cut in half, lying on the ground and telling the other, "I'm really sorry I couldn't let you go through with it."
If it absolutely had to happen, then the one who died would definitely be Ji Juechen.
Though the two men's stillness was remarkably alike, the power they had gathered was entirely different.
What Lin Yuan was building up was everything he had experienced along the way—the sweet and the bitter, the warmth and the cold, the little things he had sensed.
What Ji Juechen was gathering was the purity of swinging at empty air again and again, trying to cut apart the thing in front of him.
Both of them exhaled a breath of stale air at the same time—