Here and now-judgment!

"Oh?"

In the bamboo grove nearby, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo poked their heads out at the same time.

"They're fighting! They're fighting!"

The two Douluos looked thoroughly excited.

"Let's see how much Little Ye has improved."

On the field, Xue Qinghe summoned his Martial Soul Possession, and a pair of snowy white wings appeared behind him.

This was the Swan Martial Soul he used as his disguise.

As for his soul rings, five circled behind him—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, and black. The fifth instantly blazed with light!

"Fifth soul skill!"

Dazzling white light gathered in his hands, forming a longsword wreathed in flames!

His gaze sharp, Xue Qinghe gripped the sword with both hands and became a streak of dazzling golden light, thrusting straight at Lin Ye with the momentum to tear through everything!

This was the strongest offensive soul skill he could currently unleash!

Yet Lin Ye remained utterly calm in the face of this thunderous strike.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile even curved his lips as White Paper floated above his palm.

In an instant, four soul rings of differing colors emerged beneath his feet!

Yellow! Purple! Purple! Black!

When that fourth ten thousand year soul ring appeared, black as the deepest ink, Xue Qinghe's eyes shook with shock!

What?!

His fourth soul ring was already a ten thousand year one?!

Hadn't this guy only had three rings before?

When had he broken through again?

And that ten thousand year aura couldn't be faked!

Although he knew Lin Ye's soul ring configuration had always been astonishing, a ten thousand year fourth ring still dealt a brutal blow to everything he thought he knew!

He was only twelve!

At the very instant the sacred sword was about to reach him, Lin Ye moved.

A strange red light suddenly flared across White Paper.

"Here and now—judgment!"

With his low roar, a two-handed greatsword appeared out of thin air in Lin Ye's hands!

This greatsword was none other than the Wolf's Gravestone from the world of Genshin Impact!

Lin Ye gripped the Wolf's Gravestone's hilt with both hands, his entire bearing instantly turning wild and unrestrained!

Flame-like crimson energy rose around him, and even the hem of his robes billowed in the waves of heat!

Without the slightest flourish, power in its purest form erupted in an instant!

"Hah!"

Meeting Xue Qinghe's sword of light head-on, a crimson firebird suddenly took flight and surged straight upward.

The crimson firebird slammed violently into the burning sword of light!

But the anticipated deadlock never came!

The terrifying heat and destructive force enveloping the crimson firebird swallowed Xue Qinghe's sword of light like a tsunami, sweeping through it as effortlessly as rotten wood!

Crack! Pop!

Sharp sounds of shattering rang throughout the Training Ground!

Xue Qinghe's "sacred sword," formed from his strongest soul skill, was actually destroyed the instant they made contact!

Yet the raging flames did not dissipate. After tearing apart the sacred sword, the crimson firebird roared onward, hurtling straight at Xue Qinghe's face with the might to burn all eight reaches of the world to ash!

Too fast! Too powerful!

Xue Qinghe's pupils suddenly contracted! An overwhelming sense of danger sent every hair on his body standing on end!

He had never imagined his fifth soul skill would be crushed so easily in a head-on clash!

"This is bad!"

Acting almost entirely on instinct, Xue Qinghe beat the pure white wings behind him fiercely, trying to escape.

The next moment, he twisted sideways in an utterly ungainly spin, narrowly skimming past the firebird's wingtip!

Whoosh!

The scorching wave of flame licked the edge of his clothes, leaving a patch of charred fabric, and he could smell the feathers behind him singeing.

That perilous dodge left his heart pounding fiercely!

Yet before he could even catch his breath, a figure appeared before him like a phantom!

It was Lin Ye!

As though he had anticipated where Xue Qinghe would land after dodging, he arrived before him the instant he regained his balance.

The greatsword in his hands had already vanished. He now held an ordinary longsword—or rather... a manifested projection of an ordinary longsword.

Yet Lin Ye did not point its tip at him. Instead, he gently but unerringly rested its cold spine, which carried not the slightest ripple of soul power, against the fair, vulnerable skin of his neck.

An icy sensation instantly spread from Xue Qinghe's neck throughout his body, freezing him in place.

It was over. Victory and defeat had been decided in an instant.

Xue Qinghe panted heavily, staring at Lin Ye's calm, unruffled face just inches away.

Sweat trickled down his temples.

Shock! Astonishment!

And... a trace of deeply buried resentment.

Why did it turn out like this every time? Why did going all out always seem so futile against him?

Hmph! What a monster!

As he looked into Lin Ye's brown eyes, tranquil as still water, extraordinarily complicated emotions churned in Xue Qinghe's heart.

Outsiders only saw a close relationship between the crown prince and a sect genius. Only he understood the deeper reason.

From the first time he met Lin Ye at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, a boy far too composed to seem like a child, and from the first time Lin Ye made him taste defeat in a spar, he had regarded him as someone truly special.

He was the only opponent among his peers who could make him feel pressured.

The only person who could truly defeat him in strength!

He longed to conquer him, to surpass him.

That obsession had sustained him through countless sessions of gritted-teeth perseverance in cultivation, even though he was already outstanding.

But their years of companionship, conversations, and private heart-to-heart talks—albeit behind a mask—also forced him to admit that this fellow, so astonishingly perceptive and deep-minded yet possessed of a certain purity, was more than an evenly matched rival. He was also a rare, cherished friend in a life of disguise steeped in deceit and intrigue.

These complicated, unspoken feelings, interwoven with rivalry and admiration, were the truest and softest part of Qian Renxue's self beneath her identity as Xue Qinghe.

At last, Xue Qinghe sighed softly. "I lost."

Lin Ye gently withdrew his sword, his usual faint smile returning as he said lightly, "Brother Qinghe, thank you for the match."

"It's been half a year, and you're still as strong as ever," Xue Qinghe said with considerable feeling.

"Luck. Just luck."

Xue Qinghe rolled his eyes at him in exasperation.

He wanted to say something, but in the end, he merely shook his head helplessly. "That luck of yours really does let you step on my head every single time."

"All right, all right, let's get back to our game!"

"I'm winning at least one round against you today!"

He turned his attention back to the board, seemingly hoping to regain some ground another way.

Behind a rocky hill nearby, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo exchanged a glance.

"Tsk, tsk, Old Bones, did you see that? That sword move was clean and decisive!"

Sword Douluo Chen Xin stroked his flowing silver hair, his face full of satisfied smiles.

That final maneuver, placing his sword against his opponent's neck in an instant, truly embodied the swordsmanship he had passed down.

A sword strike had to be swift, precise, and ruthless, while still allowing perfect control over its release and withdrawal.

Seeing his disciple perform so brilliantly, his face seemed positively radiant.

"Nonsense. He clearly used my spatial power to close the distance just now," Bone Douluo retorted.

Sword Douluo gave him a rather helpless look. "All right, all right, Old Bones. After all these years, you still have to quibble over this? We've argued back and forth so many times—when has either of us ever won?"

"Anyway, I saw him use spatial power with my own eyes just now."