Thirty-Six Slashes, and the Wind Stilled

The twenty-fifth slash struck the Sun Wheel Blade.

The blue banner's shadow wavered at the impact, and the turbulent air around Yuan Yu gathered toward it. Several currents Feng Xiaotian had drawn on to change direction were pulled along with it, leaving him suspended in midair for half a breath.

Yuan Yu raised his blade.

"Azure Sky!"

A golden arc of blade light rose from below. Feng Xiaotian crossed his wings and drove straight down with the force built up through his twenty-fifth slash. Blue and gold light collided in midair.

Feng Xiaotian was thrown more than ten meters upward.

He flipped over in the air, his grin only widening.

"Now that's more like it!"

The twenty-sixth slash fell.

Yuan Yu did not use Azure Sky again. Sun Breathing consumed a great deal of Soul Power, and Feng Xiaotian still had ten slashes left. Each would hit harder than the last.

He held his blade across his body, turned his wrist, and shifted sideways.

The Sun Wheel Blade caught the Wolf Wings three times in succession with the smallest possible movements. By the end of the twenty-eighth slash, the stone beneath Yuan Yu's feet had shattered, and a thin line of blood ran from his right hand.

The sidelines fell silent.

Everyone remembered their match in the Preliminary Tournament. Yuan Yu had cut off the force Feng Xiaotian relied on before the twenty-ninth slash could arrive.

The twenty-ninth slash fell from high above.

Yuan Yu did not swing early.

He gripped the hilt with both hands and held the blade before him.

Boom! The blue Wolf Wings bore down on the Sun Wheel Blade. Wind blades flew past Yuan Yu's cheek, carving several-meter-long cuts into the ground.

Yuan Yu's feet sank into the earth, his knees bending slightly.

Feng Xiaotian