Fang Hong vs. She Yutang

"There are a few promising seedlings among this batch of newly promoted disciples."

In the eastern stands, Ying Yang watched the two combatants, then turned to Zhang Jun and the silver-haired woman with a smile.

Zhang Jun pointed at Fang Hong. "This boy is the legitimate son of that great Golden Core cultivator of the Yunchuan Fang Clan. How could he lack ability?"

"No wonder he has a supreme-grade first-tier flying sword... Hmm, the Golden Core cultivator from Yunchuan Island?"

Ying Yang's expression shifted slightly, as though he were recalling something. After a pause, he smiled. "I remember now. He's that aristocratic clan cultivator who has some entanglement with Yun Yanling, the Golden Core elder of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, isn't he?"

Zhang Jun chuckled, a somewhat peculiar look on his face. "Indeed. They say Elder Yun of the Nine Cauldrons Sect also bore him a son and a daughter. As for any entanglements of love and hate, those are merely outside rumors. The actual truth is unknown."

"I've met that elder from the Nine Cauldrons Sect. She certainly has quite a temper." Ying Yang shook his head with a sigh.

Zhang Jun was about to reply when his expression suddenly shifted. He was just about to intervene, but stopped.

On the Dharma Combat Platform.

Xun Yan's demonic vines moved with uncanny agility. Once severed, they instantly grew back, coming without end as they attacked Fang Hong from every direction, seeking to surround and entangle him.

Meanwhile, golden sword light danced nimbly around Fang Hong, severing every demonic vine in its path.

The two exchanged several rounds. Just as everyone thought the stalemate would continue for a while before a winner emerged, the golden sword light suddenly flared, pierced several demonic vines at a devious angle, and flashed across Xun Yan's neck like lightning.

Clang!

The sword's ringing cry resounded in every direction.

Caught completely off guard, Xun Yan had his protective spiritual light sliced apart like paper in an instant, and a crimson line slowly appeared across his neck.

Had Fang Hong not held back, his head would surely have parted company with his body.

Even Zhang Jun cast a sidelong glance, deeply surprised by the speed of Fang Hong's sword light. "This swordsmanship... rather interesting."

Xun Yan clutched his neck, a trace of relief appearing on his face. He chuckled softly. "Thank you for showing mercy, senior brother."

Fang Hong recalled his flying sword and said evenly, "Thank you for the match."

Without another unnecessary word, Xun Yan immediately flew off the Dharma Combat Platform and returned to the stands to treat his wound.

Though he had lost, not one disciple in either stand dared underestimate him.

After all, a Second-Tier Demon Vine was not so easily severed.

With sword intent empowering it, the sword light of a supreme-grade first-tier flying sword was scarcely inferior in power to a low-grade second-tier flying sword.

Otherwise, Fang Hong would never have won so easily.

Moreover, through his sword intent, he had sensed that Xun Yan clearly still had a trump card he had not used. The sword light had simply been too fast for him to unleash it.

He collected the thousand Yin-Yang Talisman Coins Xun Yan had offered from Zhang Jun, then rose and returned to the stands.

By now, all the inner disciples in the stands wore grave expressions, regarding Fang Hong with greater wariness and respect.

This time, before Zhang Jun could speak, another figure gracefully flew out of the southern stands.

The newcomer wore a magnificent gown with a trailing hem and had an exquisitely proportioned figure, but her features carried a killing intent that warned strangers away.

Yet not a single person in either stand dared meet her eyes. Everyone looked wary at her appearance.

Chai Hongzhou, Xiao Yuansha, Gu Hongchen, and the others were even more nervous, terrified that she would choose them.

The woman gracefully saluted Ying Yang, Zhang Jun, and the silver-haired woman, then smilingly presented a jade box.

Zhang Jun examined the contents of the jade box, the corner of his eye twitching slightly. He then closed it and asked with a smile, "Junior Sister She, whom would you like to challenge?"

This woman was none other than She Yutang.

Her phoenix eyes swept across the northern stands and settled directly on Fang Hong. Her lips curved as she laughed. "Little Senior Brother Fang, you didn't seem to have had your fill just now. Why don't I give you a proper bit of fun?"

Zhang Jun frowned. "Junior Sister She, Junior Brother Fang has already fought a match. Why not choose someone else?"

She Yutang blinked at Zhang Jun and said frankly, "Senior brother, I'm not interested in anyone else. Besides, the sect rules don't say it's forbidden."

Somewhat helpless himself, Zhang Jun turned to Ying Yang.

Ying Yang laughed heartily and asked in a ringing voice, "Fang Hong, how about giving you an incense stick's worth of time to take a pill and regulate your breath?"

Fang Hong stood. "There's no need."

Su Yao watched She Yutang on the platform with cold eyes, quietly slipped something into Fang Hong's hand, and spoke a few words through voice transmission.

Fang Hong gave her a reassuring look, then flew down onto the Dharma Combat Platform once more.

In the stands, Xiao Yuansha sat as straight as a spear. Only after Fang Hong took the platform did the fists clenched inside his sleeves slowly relax.

He exchanged a glance with Chai Hongzhou, both looking relieved.

Neither of them could afford to lose now. One defeat would cost them their current cave abodes, to say nothing of seeking guidance in cultivation from a True Disciple senior brother.

Who knew what next year's Fish-Dragon Assembly would be like, or whether there would be any newly promoted inner disciples?

On the Dharma Combat Platform, magical power surged throughout Fang Hong's body as sword intent circulated.

His fight with Xun Yan had consumed little magical power to begin with, and he had taken a Nurturing Origin Pill upon stepping onto the platform. As he circulated the Black Water True Explanation, water roared within his body, and his magical power had already returned to its peak.

She Yutang watched him with undisguised frivolity on her face, her gaze growing ever more naked and unrestrained, as though she wished to swallow him alive and strip him bare.

Just as she was about to say something, a golden flash appeared before her eyes, and an incomparably sharp, icy sword gleam was already bearing straight toward the space between her brows!

Clink!

Her smile did not diminish. At some unknown moment, a crescent-shaped azure blade inlaid with silver had appeared before her forehead, precisely intercepting the sword light.

"You're too impatient, senior brother." She cast Fang Hong a sidelong look as a murderous aura soared skyward from her body and saber intent burst forth.

She, too, had mastered saber intent while still in the Qi Refining realm!

She casually formed a hand seal, and the crescent-shaped, silver-inlaid blade spun rapidly into a razor-sharp ring, abruptly knocking aside the sword light and slashing toward Fang Hong.

Not surprised in the slightest, Fang Hong likewise drove his sword light forward to intercept the gleaming silver blade ring.

She Yutang's flying saber was also a supreme-grade first-tier weapon, its power in no way inferior to Fang Hong's flying sword.

Moreover, her magical power and divine sense surpassed Fang Hong's, and she had long since comprehended saber intent. Her saber light carried a mysterious demonic quality, shifting nimbly and striking with extreme ruthlessness.

Had Fang Hong not honed his ability to adapt in combat within the Romantic Painting Album, she would certainly have thrown him into a fluster by now.

For a time, sword light and blade ring clashed repeatedly over the Dharma Combat Platform, exchanging more than a dozen blows in an instant.

Both his sword light and her blade ring were incomparably swift, now ahead, now behind, shifting unpredictably as they traded attacks, each aiming for the other's vital points.

The slightest carelessness would leave either of them cleaved in two!

The stands surrounding the Dharma Combat Platform were silent as the grave. Everyone watched the battle intently, inwardly appalled.

Su Yao was even more tense, her beautiful eyes unblinking, her gaze never leaving Fang Hong for a moment.

She knew perfectly well that Fang Hong possessed formidable means of protection, yet she remained terribly nervous, as though she herself were the one on the Dharma Combat Platform.

In the blink of an eye, Fang Hong and She Yutang had already exchanged over a hundred moves.

For the moment, neither could break the stalemate.

She Yutang suddenly laughed softly. "You've forced me to use this move, Senior Brother Fang. Even in defeat, you can take pride!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she pointed a finger. The fiercely cold blade ring suddenly trembled and actually split in two, each tracing an arc as they slashed toward Fang Hong's neck and waist.

Saber light division!

Normally, this was likewise a divine ability that required Foundation Establishment cultivation to master.

Many disciples in the stands widened their eyes, unable to stop a surge of schadenfreude as they all looked toward Fang Hong.

Fang Hong's brows knitted. Spiritual light flickered over him, and he was already in the sky.

The two blade rings followed close behind, catching up in an instant.

Clink-clink!

He drove his sword light to strike the two blade rings in succession, with astonishing speed and precision down to the hair's breadth!

Then a talisman flashed out of his hand, transforming into a streak of jade-green light that struck She Yutang.

A low-grade second-tier talisman, the Immobilization Talisman!

Jade-green light flashed over the Dharma Combat Platform, dazzling the spectators and blinding them for an instant.

Several breaths later, when everyone regained their sight, they found a mass of rippling jade-green light on the platform. Within it was a magnificent gown, immobilized in the same shape it had held when worn, only there was no one inside.

She Yutang herself had also reached the air. She wore only a bellyband and underdrawers, her fair legs and thighs fully exposed, but no one could spare the attention for another look.

"Junior Sister She has already refined her Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell spell to perfect mastery."

In the stands, Ying Yang offered this praise with keen interest, apparently quite familiar with She Yutang.

She Yutang's twin rings of saber light relentlessly besieged Fang Hong from either side, changing unpredictably and moving with incredible speed.

Relying entirely on the ability to respond to mortal danger that Yan Suyue had "trained" into him within the Romantic Painting Album, Fang Hong drew his sword light back to within three feet of his body and struggled to defend himself.

"Is that the extent of your skill, Senior Brother Fang? Why not concede?"

She Yutang smilingly drove her saber light, looking utterly at ease.

"Not necessarily."

Fang Hong put something into his mouth, then swept his sleeve and sent out a pink flower bud.

The moment the bud flew out, She Yutang's expression changed drastically. She hurriedly flew backward, steering her saber light clear, not daring to touch it.

Puff!

The flower bud abruptly burst of its own accord between them. A dense cloud of intertwined red and pink pollen—the Pollen Miasma—spread rapidly, filling a radius of ten zhang and engulfing them both.

The next moment, She Yutang fled out of the Pollen Miasma in panic, spiritual light blazing all over her body, yet countless scarlet blotches remained clearly visible on her skin.

At that moment, her internal organs felt as though they had caught fire, the pain excruciating. Her magical power rampaged uncontrollably throughout her body, and her protective spiritual light dissipated as well.

Fang Hong flashed into view before her, reached out with his large hand, and seized her neck.

He applied a little force, the muscles in his forearm swelling as he held She Yutang aloft, as immovable as an iron clamp, and said evenly:

"If we weren't inside the sect, believe it or not, you wouldn't survive three moves against me."

"Go back and practice some more."

With that, he tightened his fingers. Only after She Yutang passed out did he release her and toss her onto the Dharma Combat Platform.

The northern and southern stands were utterly silent.

Their battle had seemed complex and lengthy, but in truth, it had lasted only a brief moment.

From the division of the saber light to the second-tier Immobilization Talisman, then to the Pollen Miasma, the succession of changes had unfolded like a hare springing up and a falcon swooping down, too swiftly for the eye to follow, only to end abruptly.

Ying Yang watched Fang Hong, then suddenly said to Zhang Jun beside him, "Junior brother, on this trip to Bloodrock Island, you might as well take a few more newly promoted disciples along and cultivate them properly."

Zhang Jun's expression shifted slightly. After considering it for a moment, he nodded in agreement. "All right."