Qu Ming split his mouth in a grin, baring a row of sharp, sawlike teeth.
The claws of his right hand shot forward, sending five dark-blue slashes tearing through the sky.
They were like the five claws of a giant Abyss beast reaching out from the Void, straight for Murong Zhuangning's face.
Where the claw slashes passed, space was ripped apart by force. Five pitch-black rifts opened like tears in a canvas.
Violent spatial currents surged from the rifts, carrying power enough to grind all matter to dust.
The claw slashes moved with terrifying speed, faster even than Murong Zhuangning's sword light. Almost the instant Qu Ming struck, they were within three feet of her.
Murong Zhuangning tapped the ground with her toes and drifted backward like a purple petal caught by the wind.
Her retreat was graceful and unhurried. As her purple dress fluttered, she looked like a purple lotus swaying in the breeze.
At the same time, she traced a perfect circle before her with her sword.
Purple light flared within the circle, forming a vortex. Sword Qi crisscrossed inside it like a shield woven from blades.
Every strand of Sword Qi spun furiously, like tiny sword wheels rising and sinking in the vortex.
Qu Ming's five claw slashes plunged into the vortex, where the dense Sword Qi sliced and tore them apart.
Dark-blue light and purple Sword Qi ground against each other, unleashing a string of piercing shrieks.
The shrieks were as sharp as a host of vengeful ghosts wailing across the Arena. The cultivators watching nearby went pale.
The claw slashes were finally shredded, but they tore a rift through the sword vortex as well.
Murong Zhuangning used the force to retreat another thirty feet. With a flick of her sword, the silver markings along its