Lu Mingshu slammed the door shut, then leaned against it and took a deep breath.
She stayed there until she felt better.
It's not like she had never heard rumors or slander about herself or having people look at her like she was an alien, but this was the first time somebody treated her in this way. The amount of time and energy Xie Lianzhen spent on her caused a chill to run down her spine.
The matches today had already drained her physically and mentally, so she didn't want to waste any more energy on somebody with dubious intentions.
Throwing these thoughts into the back of her mind, Lu Mingshu sat down and focused on the challenge tomorrow.
The first stage was over. Tomorrow, those who were interested in the New Generation Ranking would start to fight.
Lu Mingshu didn't know whether anyone was going to challenge her seeing that she had so many points, but she had to be well-prepared no matter what.
She placed the strengthening seals on the table.
At this point, she had fourteen strengthening seals. Subtracting the one she used when she went against Xing Kun, she had thirteen.
Among these thirteen, six were useless at the moment. She then picked out three among the remaining ones.
The first one increased the resonance of mystic force, the second one increased her defense, and the third one enabled her to puncture the opponent's defense.
Two for attack and one for defense.
Even if no one challenged her tomorrow, she would challenge someone.
Rejecting all the challenges and let Xie Lianzhen hand me a position on the New Generation Ranking for free?What's the difference between that and backing down?
...
The next morning, Tan Yubing came to her door.
They had breakfast together before heading to the tent.
"My challenge ends today." Tan Yubing smiled. "I don't know if anyone would want to get points from me though."
Over three days, Tan Yubing had seven matches. Most of them were wins, and she had accumulated twenty points.
She had a good attitude. She didn't brood over stuff.
"Good morning, Senior Aunt Tan and Junior Sister Lu!" Shao Zhengyang arrived at the tent early. He smiled at both of them happily.
Tan Yubing gave him a wide smile. "Relax. Remember, 70% ability and 30% luck. Use it wisely!"
Shao Zhengyang nodded, but he still looked anxious.
Seeing him being all panicky, Lu Mingshu couldn't help but laugh at him. "How confident is Senior Brother Shao today?"
Shao Zhengyang smiled bitterly. "3%? Actually, 1% should be more accurate." He knew himself well, and he was aware of where he stood compared to Kou Wei and the rest.
"Since there's only a 1% chance, what's there to worry about? Take it as if there's no chance at all."
It didn't sound nice, but he thought it was true. 1% as if nothing….
After chatting for a while, the bell rang, signalling the start of day four. Lin Zixin than slowly made his way up on stage.
After making his short opening speech; "Wei Chunqiu from the Seventh Truth Platform challenging the Door of Feisha's Qi Zining!"
After the announcement, cheering could be heard from the different tents.
Wei Chunqiu! He's going up first!
"The blade is out of the sheath, and the edge is exposed!" Kou Wei muttered. He could feel Wei Chunqiu's determination to win. There's no doubt we will have to go against each other.
"Qi Zining is in second place now." Tan Yubing pointed at the list. "You're lucky that he chose to not challenge you instead."
Lu Mingshu nodded her head. That day when she was stopped by State Master Jia Yan, she met Wei Chunqiu, and he said that he would be lenient on her. Lu Mingshu didn't take it to heart, but apparently, Wei Chunqiu had done as promised.
No matter how confident she was, Lu Mingshu knew that fighting Wei Chunqiu would end in defeat.
Both parties went on stage.
Qi Zining was getting more and more popular these days. He won almost all his matches and only lost one. Now, in front of Wei Chunqiu, he was shaking nervously, and he had to redo his greeting because he messed it up.
Wei Chunqiu did not beat around the bush. He only replied with a, "Please," and immediately fished out his sword.
In the eyes of the spectators, a faint sword-light flashed, and in the blink of an eye, the sword was in front of Qi Zining.
"Fast!" Shao Zhengyang was gobsmacked.
In Nine Jade Palace, the one with the fastest speed was Ban Qin, but Shao Zhengyang didn't fear him. It's not like being the fastest was a guaranteed win; Shao Zhengyang had his own ways to cope with Ban Qin. As far as winning chances went, Shao Zhengyang had the advantage against Ban Qin.
However, seeing Wei Chunqiu fight, Shao Zhengyang could think of anything. It was too fast; he would never be able to reach such a level.
Clang!
The weapons clashed as Qi Zining held up his own to block the attack.
After the clash, Wei Chunqiu changed his pattern.
The sword in his hand was like an agile fish. He swayed to his right, and the sword went right past Qi Zining, nearly cutting his right arm off.
Qi Zining didn't even have time to react. All he could do was rely on his instinct. He lowered his body and Wei Chunqiu missed by a bit.
One attack after another, Qi Zining barely blocked five attacks. The next second, he heard a sound and felt blood trickling down his back. He turned back abruptly, but he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. By the time he reacted, the weapon was no longer in him.
"Wei Chunqiu from the Seventh Truth Platform wins!" Lin Zixin announced.
Until that announcement, the spectators didn't even realized what was happening, and they suddenly started applauding.
"Wow! That's fast!"
"Yeah, I was expecting something more than that between those two. Who knew…?"
The whole process was just a few streaks of dim sword-light and then Qi Zining suddenly lost just like that.
"This is called 'back to the basics'!"
"When will Kou Wei appear? It will be so good when they fight each other."
"Definitely," the person answered firmly. "If they don't fight and someone reaches first place just by points, the spectators won't be pleased."
Yes. The two best disciples in the Harmonization Realm. How could one say they are the best if they haven't defeated the other party? Wei Chunqiu and Kou Wei were like a lion and a tiger among the Harmonization Realms. The chance had finally arrived.
Shao Zhengyang heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing the fight. "I want to correct myself – I don't even have a 1% chance of getting into the New Generation Ranking…."
During the preliminaries, the opponents were all easy, so one couldn't tell how good Wei Chunqiu was from that. Qi Zining could win so much during the first three days of the challenger's fight with his power, and yet he just lost to Wei Chunqiu in an instant.
Wei Chunqiu is already this powerful, so what about Kou Wei? Or Yue Lingyin…? Shao Zhengyang was disgruntled.
He turned around to see Lu Mingshu's poker face.
"Junior Sister Lu, how about you?"
"He's very powerful," she started slowly. "I once heard a sentence that I thought was exaggerated, but now, it makes sense."
"What is it?"
"In the world of martial arts, there is no impregnable defence; only speed is invincible."
In the world of martial arts, there is no impregnable defence, only speed is invincible? Shao Zhengyang and Tan Yubing bit their lips and started thinking. They thought about Wei Chunqiu's performance, and they totally agreed.
"That sentence is accurate." Shao Zhengyang mocked himself, "I used to think that a fast sword isn't hard to deal with, but that's just because I have never seen a truly fast sword before."
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