And she hadn't tipped anyone off at all that day. Wasn't it a matter of time before the Enforcement Squad caught him for violating sect rules and bullying fellow disciples?
Even if Feng Yulong defeated Song Zhizhi today, Sword Venerable Mingxiao wouldn't appreciate him for it. On the contrary, it would backfire, and Sword Venerable Mingxiao would jot it down in his little book.
Yet Feng Yulong was equally oblivious to these inside details. Right now, his mind was consumed by a single thought: defeat Song Zhizhi and prove himself!
Feng Yulong took the initiative to pick a fight with Song Zhizhi, raising his sword to point straight at her face. Possessing Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation, he moved twice as fast as an ordinary Qi Refining practitioner. If her reaction were even a fraction slower, this single sword strike might have been enough to settle the outcome.
Feng Yulong wanted to win prettily, securing victory in this sparring match with an overwhelming posture. He used seventy or eighty percent of his strength for this strike.
The sword arrived right before her eyes, yet Song Zhizhi stood rooted to the spot without moving. In the eyes of others, she looked completely startled and had yet to react.
"Zhizhi, watch out!" Liu Changfei let out a cry of alarm from beneath the stage.
At the same time, Song Zhizhi moved. Feng Yulong's speed certainly looked fast in the eyes of the outer sect disciples, but Song Zhizhi trained with Xie Xiuji every day and had already grown accustomed to Xie Xiuji's striking speed. Feng Yulong's sword forms looked no different from slow motion in her eyes.
Her head tilted slightly to dodge Feng Yulong's sword, and then she flipped the spiritual sword in her hand, sweeping it toward Feng Yulong's wrist. Feng Yulong hastily moved to parry, but the sword in Song Zhizhi's hand twisted, striking fast, hard, and accurately against the numbness-inducing acupoint on his hand. Then, taking advantage of the lingering numbness in his hand, she swiftly flicked his spiritual sword away.
"Clang—"
The spiritual sword landed on the ground with a crisp sound. In the previous second, Liu Changfei down below was still feeling nervous for Song Zhizhi; in the next second, the outcome of the sparring match was already decided.
The area beneath the stage fell silent for a split second, immediately followed by an outbreak of intense discussion that carried up onto the platform.
"Little Junior Uncle won? Is Feng Yulong's Foundation Establishment cultivation fake?"
"Did you guys see Little Junior Uncle's sword strike just now? It was too fast. My vision blurred for a second, and Feng Yulong's sword was already dropped."
"Little Junior Uncle truly lives up to her name. Even with mere Qi Refining, she can completely crush Foundation Establishment."
"You lost," Song Zhizhi said to the frozen Feng Yulong.
Feng Yulong gritted his teeth and picked up the spiritual sword from the ground. "I didn't lose!"
Liu Changfei let out a scoff. "Feng Yulong, have you no shame? You've already lost and still refuse to admit it? Elder Yu, didn't Feng Yulong just lose!"
In the Cultivation World, only cultivators at or above the Nascent Soul stage were addressed by their Dao titles, while those below Nascent Soul addressed one another by their given names. The elder lecturing today happened to have the surname Yu.
Elder Yu glanced up at the stage with a cold expression in his eyes and said, "Feng Yulong has not lost. The rule of our Sword Sect's Martial Arena is that unless one party falls off the Martial Arena or loses the ability to resist, the outcome cannot be considered decided. This sparring match continues."
Tomorrow Feng Yulong exits the story; he's just a tool character to advance the plot, haha.
In about three more chapters, the male lead will find out that the female lead is pregnant, so don't rush~
Chapter 21 Sparring Injury
Liu Changfei vaguely sensed that something was amiss. Anxious, she checked the time and quietly slipped away from the group.
Feng Yulong had already picked up his spiritual sword and charged at her. Left with no other choice, Song Zhizhi had to choose to meet the challenge.
Facing Foundation Establishment with her Qi Refining Ninth Layer, Song Zhizhi had seized the initiative earlier only because Feng Yulong had underestimated her. Now that Feng Yulong was no longer holding back his strength, she had to gather her focus and respond with caution under the powerful onslaught of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
At this moment, the drawbacks of the Qi Refining stage became apparent. Although Song Zhizhi possessed more exquisite sword skills and held the upper hand there, her Qi Refining spiritual power lacked the boundless depth of the Foundation Establishment stage. Under the assault of the Foundation Establishment opponent, she could barely manage self-preservation. From a surface perspective, Song Zhizhi was only defending without attacking, having already fallen into a disadvantageous position where defeat was only a matter of time.
"It looks like Junior Uncle Song just took advantage of a clever trick. If they actually fought seriously, since they're both sword cultivators, how could the Qi Refining stage ever be a match for the Foundation Establishment stage?"
"I bet this match will be decided in under a quarter of an hour. For a Qi Refining stage cultivator to hold on for this long under a Foundation Establishment practitioner is already enough."
Everyone assumed Song Zhizhi would not win, or that her chances of winning were slim. Yet only those in the thick of it understood that both were waiting—waiting for the other to reveal a flaw and seize the moment to defeat them.
The longer Feng Yulong stayed locked in a stalemate with Song Zhizhi, the more alarmed he grew. Although his Foundation Establishment had been propped up by medicinal pills and his spiritual power was somewhat more vacuous than that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, it shouldn't have been weak enough to lose even to someone in Qi Refining.
Every step he took seemed to be seen right through by Song Zhizhi. Whether it was a frontal assault or a surprise sneak attack, all of it was completely blocked by Song Zhizhi; she could always guess his next move.
Song Zhizhi's defense was like an airtight dome, and he simply could not find a single flaw. Feng Yulong felt the illusion that he was sparring with a high-cultivation senior member of his household.
He appeared to be on the offensive, but the spiritual power consumed by his frequent attacks was far greater than that consumed by defense. Before Song Zhizhi's spiritual power ran dry, he feared he would be the first to fall to defeat due to exhausted spiritual power.
Sweat broke out on Feng Yulong's forehead: If Song Zhizhi's cultivation were any higher, I probably wouldn't even last three moves under her hands.
No, he couldn't afford to lose!
Gritting his teeth, Feng Yulong turned ruthless as a dazzling light burst from the spiritual sword in his hand. Abandoning the Heavenly Profound Sword Art, which prioritized cleverness over unfamiliar technique, he switched to employing a set of moves Song Zhizhi had never seen before.
Song Zhizhi tried to block it, only to discover that the force behind this set of sword forms was immense, sending a dull, aching numbness through the web between her thumb and forefinger. If she continued to just defend without attacking as before, her hands would give out even faster.
Sure enough, anyone capable of entering the Sword Sect's inner sect was no simple character. Even with Feng Yulong, whose cultivation was built entirely on pills, Song Zhizhi still found herself struggling a bit to cope, while at the same time feeling a spark of excitement as the fighting spirit in her heart was fully ignited.
Fight!
Dropping her previous defense, Song Zhizhi swung her sword and charged at Feng Yulong. Feng Yulong's sword style was 'heavy', while Song Zhizhi's sword art was 'fast'—so fast that even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators struggled to capture it with the naked eye. Beneath the stage, only Elder Yu of the Golden Core Stage clearly saw Song Zhizhi's moves. That was the most foundational Heavenly Profound Sword Art.