"Murong Zhuangning."
As she spoke, she gently drew the longsword from her back.
A cold gleam flickered along the blade in the air.
Her eyes gazed calmly ahead.
"Qu Ming."
After giving his name, Qu Ming said nothing more.
The two simply stood on the arena, silently facing each other.
Cold light pulsed along Qu Ming's claws, and the oppressive aura surrounding him grew ever heavier.
The cultivators watching around the arena looked on in silence.
They were all quietly waiting for the two to strike.
"Come."
"Make your move."
Both spoke at once.
The instant their words fell, Murong Zhuangning moved.
Her figure flickered, dispersing like a cloud of purple smoke. In the next instant, she appeared thirty feet in front of Qu Ming.
Her speed was staggering, leaving only a faint purple afterimage where she had stood.
Her cool, austere Sword Intent lingered within that afterimage. It remained condensed, slowly revolving in the air like a miniature purple lotus blooming in the void.
Her longsword swept out horizontally, releasing a streak of purple sword light from its edge like a crescent moon.
Countless strands of sword dao law filled the sword light, each rising and falling within it like a miniature sword shadow.
The sword light cleaved through the air, through space, and through the distorted field of pressure surrounding Qu Ming, slashing toward his waist and abdomen like a purple blade from the heavens.
Wherever the sword light passed, it left a purple trail in space that lingered like a sword scar carved into the void.
Within that sword scar, strands of sword dao law glittered like a host of stars. Every star was a miniature wisp of Sword Intent, holding enough power to sever mountains and rivers.
Qu Ming's pure blue pupils contracted slightly. Rather than