He wrenched the Heavy Xuan Ruler upward, its blade dragging a surge of crimson flames with it. Hot wind swept gravel past Nalan Yanran's skirt, scorching several blackened, curling edges into its moon-white hem.
Yet Nalan Yanran did not retreat. Gritting her teeth, she stood braced against her sword, her eyes so red they seemed about to bleed, her back straighter than the blade itself.
"Which one of us is the useless one now?"
Xiao Yan enunciated every word, fury roiling in his scarlet eyes. He pressed the ruler's tip against the side of her neck, its searing heat curling the wisps of hair over her forehead. "Nalan Yanran, you bitch who can't bear to lose!"
At his words, Nalan Yanran sneered, the corners of her mouth lifting high.
"Heh! Trash will always be trash."
She tilted her face upward, her neck pressed against the ruler's edge. A thin line of blood wound downward through the scorching heat, yet she did not even furrow her brow.
"Xiao Yan, without that little girlfriend of yours with her heaven-reaching connections giving you high-tier cultivation methods and combat skills and medicinal pills, what makes you think you could have beaten me?"
Nalan Yanran might not have been strong, but her tongue was clearly still razor-sharp.
An uproar broke out below as everyone began whispering.
A little girlfriend?
Heaven-reaching connections?
High-tier cultivation techniques and Dou Techniques?
The spectators chimed in one after another, turning their gazes toward the black-robed Xiao Yan.
"Now that makes sense! I was wondering how he could possibly advance so quickly!"
"From three-stage Dou Qi straight to an Eight-Star Great Dou Master in just three years? Such cultivation talent is unheard of in our Jia Ma Empire!"
"Oh, what talent? That's just resources piled on top of him. Give them