"Let the Yuan and Xiang lie without waves; let the river waters flow in peace."
By the time Guan Yi abruptly realized she had lost control, she herself was already caught in the melody.
The clashes between the two swords had fallen entirely into its rhythm.
She could only play her part within it, pursuing the white-robed figure before her without a moment's slack, seeking victory with her next strike.
Yet each pursuit with all her strength only made the man's staggering figure more ethereal.
Beautiful singing seemed to rise faintly. The northern wind gradually faded, and the two swords clashed like a zither's notes, leaving Pei Ye entranced.
"At dawn I gallop along the riverbank; at dusk I rein in at the Northern Islet...
I cast my jade ring into the river; I leave my pendant at the Li Riverbank."
Guan Yi slashed down, and Zhu Gaoyang released his sword with the motion, like a gentleman casting away his pendant. The sword body spun through the air like a bright moon, while Guan Yi suddenly lost all sense of the sword in her own hand.
Amid the clear clatter of the sword landing, Zhu Gaoyang held her wrist with one hand and took her sword with the other.
One standing, one bent forward, the two stopped quietly on the platform.
Precisely because he had abandoned the contest over spirit profound, the man had defeated an opponent several times stronger than himself through his attainments in the sword dao alone.
Cheers rang out in unison around the Winter Sword Platform, especially lively on Dongting's side. Pei Ye smiled and let out a relieved breath. His hands were itching rather badly, too, and he tugged at the two beside him again. "Come on, let's go fight too."
Yan Feiqing remained unmoved.