The righteous Fire Dance Whirlwind

Bu Zhongyao went peacefully.

After Yue Wen's attempts to open the door were interrupted twice, Bu Zhongyao stood with both sabers in hand, her expression faintly irritated. She fixed her gaze on Zhao Xing'er. "Little girl, I was planning to go easy on you, but I've changed my mind. If you want to blame someone, blame that dear brother of yours for being so noisy!"

"He's my boss." Zhao Xing'er frowned. "He's a good person. Don't talk about him like that."

"Hmph."

Bu Zhongyao snorted coldly. Her two reverse-gripped sabers suddenly swept backward as she crouched and darted forward. Like a butterfly weaving through flowers, she flashed to Zhao Xing'er's side at incredible speed.

A moment later, her left saber was already slicing toward Zhao Xing'er's ribs.

Zhao Xing'er raised the sword in her right hand to block. Sparks screeched from the clash, and her fierce, powerful sword qi instantly overwhelmed the saber's radiance, leaving Bu Zhongyao feeling completely pinned down!

One exchange was all it took to reveal the gap!

What overwhelming sword qi.

Bu Zhongyao was like a nimble waterbird that had swooped down to catch a loach, only to lift it and discover an elephant washing its dong in the water. By the time she realized something was wrong, it was too late. She had no hope of resisting the immense force threatening to fling her away!

Her expression changed sharply. The blade in her left hand flashed and actually flew free, transforming into three birdlike streaks of saber light that shot toward Zhao Xing'er's face on their own!

Devious and vicious!

This was a hidden move built into her reverse-gripped sabers. Both were magical artifacts capable of creating flying blades to attack an enemy, making them almost impossible to dodge in close combat.

She normally only used it against opponents stronger than herself. When she first faced Zhao Xing'er, she had expected a relatively easy victory.

Who could have expected Zhao Xing'er to unleash such powerful energy with her very first move? Bu Zhongyao hardened her resolve and immediately resorted to this underhanded trick.

In her mind, the point of today's match wasn't simply to win. It was to use this opportunity to demonstrate her strength and get Carefree Media to sign her. Merely participating in a livestream project wouldn't make her famous.

She didn't just need to win. She needed to win decisively.

The move caught everyone off guard. The eyes of the Astral Realm guardian at the edge of the arena sharpened, and he seemed about to intervene. Yet a moment later, the hand he had begun to raise dropped again.

Zhao Xing'er tilted her head, revealing two rows of white teeth. Not only had she instantly identified the real blade among the streaks of light, she had caught the flying saber in her mouth!

Red light flickered faintly in her eyes.

She had thought this would be a friendly sparring match, too. But Bu Zhongyao had opened with such an underhanded attack and nearly injured her. Zhao Xing'er couldn't help getting a little angry!

"Oh, this is bad." In the viewing room, Yue Wen covered his face.

"What are you worried about?" The man in the jacket behind him sneered. "That little girl actually has some skill. She even caught Zhongyao's flying saber. If you're afraid of even that level of danger, you shouldn't have brought her here."

"You'll find out what I'm worried about in a moment," Yue Wen said quietly.

With her left saber caught between Zhao Xing'er's teeth, Bu Zhongyao had no time to be shocked. She flipped her right saber and, before Zhao Xing'er could turn around, stabbed viciously toward her neck with a sharp green gleam!

Every strike went straight for a vital point.

Everyone in the viewing room frowned.

They knew that this was the style of saber technique she practiced, but it had already been made clear that this was a sparring match and they should avoid hurting anyone. Attacking like this was going a little too far.

But less than a second later, their frowns gave way to wide-eyed shock.

Zhao Xing'er completely ignored the reverse-gripped saber. Red light erupted in her eyes as she turned both swords in her hands, spinning with a thunderous roar while flames surged skyward.

"Fire Dance Whirlwind Sword Technique-"

The raging spiral of fire blasted Bu Zhongyao away at once. Then Zhao Xing'er's figure blurred, transforming in an instant into a tornado of blazing crimson flames that thundered straight toward her.

Like a tornado demolishing a parking lot!

The guardian at the arena's edge abruptly paled and shot forward.

Everyone in the viewing room was stunned. A martial technique capable of producing such a spectacular manifestation of power was exceptionally rare.

Liu Yuanjun let out a soft sound of surprise and murmured, "Martial spirit red light?"

"Why does she have another new ultimate move..." Yue Wen drew a deep breath, looking somewhat hopeless. "Hit her, then. She's the one who deserves it!"

Boom-

The whirling flames immediately sent Bu Zhongyao flying back. Zhao Xing'er's figure blurred, and in an instant she transformed into a blazing red whirlwind, rumbling as it charged forward.

Bu Zhongyao lay unconscious in the guardian's arms, half her body charred black, her fate unknown.

She looked every bit as peaceful now as she had been arrogant before.

Even the guardian didn't look much better. The half of his body shielding Bu Zhongyao was scorched and damaged, and his sleeve was still burning. He flicked it to extinguish the flames.

Even an Astral Realm expert was left in such a sorry state after taking that blow?

The sword strike Zhao Xing'er had unleashed drew countless astonished looks.

Yet she didn't seem particularly pleased with herself. Instead, looking apologetic, she approached the guardian and bowed politely. "I'm sorry I burned your clothes."

"It's... it's fine." The guardian seemed both bewildered and embarrassed. "I only got burned because I wasn't taking it seriously. I'd been meaning to get a new outfit anyway. I didn't know what to do with this old one."

"Take Miss Bu to the infirmary. The matches will continue."

He Caihua came out with a few people, checked the situation, and proceeded with the event.

Before the next match began, however, she turned back to remind everyone, "Let me emphasize this again. Please keep these matches friendly and stop once the outcome is clear. The company doesn't want anyone getting hurt."

The Immortal Sect disciples present sparred with their fellow disciples often enough. Naturally, they all knew what it meant to stop once the outcome was clear.

Bu Zhongyao had attacked so viciously partly because she wanted to show off her abilities with an opportunity at stake, and partly because she hadn't taken an independent cultivator seriously at all. She had assumed that even if she seriously injured her opponent, she would merely have to pay some compensation.

Instead, she had suffered the consequences of her own actions. She had angered Zhao Xing'er and received something even harsher in return.

After winning, Zhao Xing'er walked behind Yue Wen with her head lowered. "Sorry, boss. I still couldn't hold back, and I hurt someone."

"It's fine. It wasn't your fault." Yue Wen reassured her.

Although everything had happened quickly, anyone with a discerning eye had seen what occurred in those fleeting moments. If Zhao Xing'er hadn't been protected by martial spirit red light, she might have suffered even worse injuries than Bu Zhong-

yao had.

Of course he supported the righteous Fire Dance Whirlwind.

After that one match, the nearby Immortal Sect disciples looked at Zhao Xing'er differently.

They had originally assumed these two independent cultivators had only made it through the selection because they were good-looking, viewing them with the double prejudice reserved for independent cultivators and ornamental pretty faces.

Only when the fighting started did they realize she wasn't some decorative vase. She was practically a Molotov cocktail.

Anyone who touched her would get burned!

The next two female cultivators to face off were a saber-wielding girl with long, straight black hair, a little blouse, and a pleated skirt, whose fair skin and eyebrow-length bangs framed a sweet face with a gloomy air.

The other was a dark-skinned girl in training clothes. Tall, lean, and sunny, she also looked like someone who specialized in martial arts.

Standing together, they looked like the anime-loving girl and the dark-skinned female athlete from the same class. The contrast between their demeanors was striking.

Generally, sects that specialized in martial arts ranked relatively low in the cultivation world, because the creativity of Martial Arts Techniques was far more limited than that of divine abilities and unusual arts—unless they had the support of an immortal-physique-level blessing like Martial Spirit Red Light.

There was even a rather derogatory expression for them: crude martial brutes.

Only somewhere with few sects, like Jiangcheng City, could disciples from these martial sects get a seat at the table.

The result bore this out. The girl with long, straight black hair came from the Hidden Dragon Pool on the outskirts of City Six, and her Shadow-Mystic Divine Ability was extraordinarily elusive.

She merged her body into the shadows, appearing and disappearing without warning, fleeing after each attack. The dark-skinned girl facing her clearly had greater strength and superior martial skills, but after taking several saber cuts, she could only concede helplessly.

Watching the Shadow-Mystic Divine Ability, Yue Wen's eyes lit up. A stealth ability like this couldn't reach its full potential in a training arena. In the complex terrain of the Wasteland Zone, it would be truly impossible to predict.

He could consider buying a technique of this kind from Da Long to prepare for future adventures in the Wasteland Zone.

With the women's matches finished, Zhao Xing'er and the long-haired girl advanced through the selection. Next came the men's matches.

The first pair drawn consisted of a red-haired young man in a tight leather jacket and trousers, and a muscular hulk in a black tank top.

Rather surprisingly, the swaggering red-haired man, who looked like a biker, was also from the Hidden Dragon Pool. He was a fellow disciple of the long-haired girl from earlier.

After all, the two of them had demeanors that, if not exactly identical, could certainly be described as having absolutely nothing in common.

The muscular hulk, unsurprisingly, also practiced martial arts. His fierce, explosive fist technique stirred powerful gusts with every swing.

This showdown between a biker and a fitness trainer played out rather like a repeat of the previous match. As soon as the red-haired man entered the arena, he scattered more than a dozen dancing spirit flames and merged into their shadows, moving without a trace.

Apparently, even the same Shadow-Mystic Divine Ability had different forms. The long-haired girl cultivated saber shadows, while he cultivated fire shadows.

The hulk angrily smashed one spirit flame after another, but the scattered flames became a skyful of sparks, multiplying the more he struck them. In the end, under their relentless scorching, he could only concede helplessly.

The pinnacle of the Martial Arts Technique was overwhelming all tricks with sheer strength. Without absolute superiority in offense and defense, it was powerless against endlessly shifting divine abilities.

After watching, He Caihua smiled. "This generation of disciples from the Hidden Dragon Pool is excellent."

Then she turned her gaze to Yue Wen.

The opponent Yue Wen had drawn was none other than the man in the jacket who had been the first to mock him.

His clothes were crisp and businesslike, his slicked-back hair gleaming. He looked less like someone here for a fight than someone attending a cocktail party, and carried himself with an air of arrogance.

The man in the jacket stepped into the training arena and smiled contemptuously. "Judging by that girl's skills, perhaps you really did come prepared. But very soon, I'll make you understand exactly how great the gap between an Immortal Sect disciple and an independent cultivator is."

"What a clichéd taunt." Yue Wen shook his head, not bothering to engage. "Whatever tricks you have, show them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man suddenly sank into a horse stance. His jacket burst apart with a bang, leaving only a tank top beneath and exposing arms tattooed with dragons and tigers.

"I am Chen Hao, the twelfth-generation successor of the Sky-Piercing Gate! I have already mastered the Dragon-Tattoo Technique across my entire body! Let's see how many divine markings you can force me to unleash today! Come on! Heh heh heh heh-"

Yue Wen stared in astonishment. What kind of bizarre legacy was this Dragon-Tattoo Technique? The price of cultivating it was far too steep.

Didn't that mean you were barred from the civil service exam from the very first day you joined?