Dormitory Strife, Part 3

The Streamer Arrows streaked across the arena, like fireworks suspended in daylight, or like stationary meteors in the night.

Su Qing stepped on the arrows, leveraging her feet, her body rotating, passing through layers of arrow rain.

Man Qing Sword hummed, accurately hacking towards Tian Ning’s right shoulder.

Having too many magical artifacts was indeed hard to defend against, but the downside was that sometimes they would attack indiscriminately, requiring Su Qing to allocate extra attention to dodge Tang Yueling’s attacks.

It was at this moment that Tang Yueling instinctively thrust out her sword.

She aimed for Tian Ning’s left shoulder.

With Fire Phoenix Sword unleashed, regardless of what followed, for a moment, its momentum was aggressive and unrivaled.
Under the pincer attack, Tian Ning showed not the slightest panic.

She knew in her heart that Su Qing’s sword was heavy and powerful, making her quite strained to face it.

But the disadvantage of a sword intent as majestic as a rainbow was that once triggered, it was difficult to retract, lacking flexibility.

Tang Yueling excelled at mobilizing spiritual energy and overwhelming opponents with force, but her understanding of the sword was inferior to hers and Su Qing’s.

She was prone to disarray, and close-quarters combat was not to be feared.
As her thoughts arose, Fire Phoenix and Man Qing simultaneously assailed her.

One sword was as heavy as a thousand catties, the other burned fiercely.

This pincer attack seemed to seal all of Tian Ning’s escape routes.

However, at this moment, she suddenly leaned back and bent her body, her waist pressed down, folding flexibly like a willow. Her dark hair swept across the arena.

In the next instant of bending backward, she lightly tapped her toes, and her body spun deftly. Her dark hair behind her exploded like ink-colored water, rippling outwards.

The greatsword was unleashed with the force of a wild beast.

Even though Su Qing had noticed early and adjusted her sword’s direction in time, the blade only narrowly grazed Tian Ning’s shoulder and the fluttering strands of hair.

A few dark hairs, gleaming with a faint shimmer, were cut by the blade, drifting into the air, then slowly falling again.

The force of her sword was so immense that it even cracked deep fissures into the arena floor.

But if it didn’t strike the person, it was useless.

Tang Yueling didn’t think much about it.

Seeing Tian Ning bend backward, she readjusted her sword stance and thrust her sword backwards at Tian Ning’s waist.

Unfortunately, the blade only grazed her waist, merely tearing the corner of Tian Ning’s clothes, not harming her in the slightest.

Conversely, as Tian Ning’s body rotated, the Snowfall Sword in her hand naturally traced an arc of sword intent.

Ice spiritual energy surged out, and tiny ice crystals visibly formed in the air.

Su Qing and Tang Yueling’s sword qi were forcibly halted by the ice spiritual energy; their movements were a half-beat slower.

Half a beat, it was merely half a beat.

Tian Ning precisely seized the chaotic gap between the two, switched her sword to her left hand, and restarted her charge.

With a flash of spiritual light from her left hand, the Snowfall Sword flew out, attacking directly at Tang Yueling’s vitals.

Su Qing noticed her intention, but she stepped forward and did not try to stop it.

After all, she had seen Tang Yueling put on several layers of magical robes herself.

For a short while, Tian Ning truly couldn’t do much to her.

She couldn’t do much to her, but she could at least stall her for a few breaths.

At least, one person was always easier to deal with than two.

Tang Yueling blocked with the Fire Phoenix Sword, but the Snowfall Sword had a spirit.

It was a divine sword renowned for a thousand years, possessing its own offensive style.

Its unconventional path allowed it to turn and flip in mid-air, striking Tang Yueling’s wrist with its hilt. Her hand stung with pain, and the Fire Phoenix Sword flew out of her grasp.

The Snowfall Sword, utilizing its momentum, then aimed for Tang Yueling’s vitals.

As the sword hilt left her hand, Tian Ning pursed her lips. Her right hand rose, and she slapped towards Su Qing’s chest!

“What a fast sword, what nimble footwork.” Ling Xiaorui exclaimed, “This tricky pincer attack was just broken by her like that. The situation has shifted back to her side again!”

Li Chaosheng said, “That’s how it is. In terms of cultivation realm, she is above the other two.”

Su Qing clearly saw Tian Ning’s palm strike, but they were too close. It was too late to dodge, and there was no need to dodge.

From below, the spectators saw that Su Qing not only didn’t avoid it, but instead moved forward.

As Tian Ning’s palm landed on her dantian, her hand also landed on Tian Ning’s lower back.

Su Qing tripped her, directly executing a wrestling takedown, forcibly pinning her beneath her.

Since they were both from the Body School, and beyond sword cultivation, it was still body cultivation, then it was reasonable to compete physically.

Su Qing took Tian Ning’s palm strike head-on.

She, of course, knew that the opponent had struck deviously, specifically choosing her dantian to seal it with ice spiritual energy, making her spiritual energy sluggish and powerless to fight, then recalling the Snowfall Sword to eliminate her with a single strike.

This move worked well on others, but on Su Qing—

The dense ice spiritual energy, upon entering Su Qing’s body, instantly froze her blood into ice needles, like countless thorns, piercing her from within—a true torment.

And the spiritual energy in her dantian, as if winter had descended, rapidly began to freeze.

It should have been like this, but the jade immortal bone in Su Qing’s dantian, sensing spiritual energy that did not belong to Su Qing, flickered slightly and began to circulate, transforming the bone-chilling ice spiritual energy into flowing spiritual energy that nourished Su Qing in return.

Su Qing, knowing the wondrous effects of the immortal bone, met the palm strike head-on without panic, creating an opportunity to close the distance with Tian Ning.

The plan indeed went as she had envisioned.

She suppressed Tian Ning, forcefully throwing her to the ground.

Comparing sword skills was a losing battle, so Su Qing cheated once, using her own strength to counter.

Tian Ning was instantly subdued beneath her.

She saw the cold, trembling depths of Tian Ning’s eyes. The two were so close they could feel each other’s breath, slightly disordered from the fierce fighting.

It was clear no one was truly calm and composed.

Such close range was actually very suitable for divine sense attacks, but Su Qing didn’t have a good grasp of it.

She was afraid of causing irreversible damage to Tian Ning, so she ultimately gave up on the idea.

She chose to strike with simple punches.

In such close-quarters combat, there was no room for the dignified elegance of a sword cultivator’s “a sword’s frost chilling fourteen states.”

The two immediately switched from sword cultivator mode to body cultivator mode, ungracefully engaging in a brawl, causing everyone to open their mouths, wanting to speak but finding it awkward to do so.

Originally, in such a fight, Tian Ning wouldn’t be a match for Su Qing, but unfortunately, she had just undergone a Golden Core stage lightning tribulation for over three months.

Under the suppression of her realm, she had already transcended ordinary Foundation Establishment body cultivators.

But Su Qing was no ordinary Foundation Establishment body cultivator either.

She threw the first punch, her fist covered in metal spiritual energy, like molten dragon scales, continuously attacking three acupoints on Tian Ning’s upper chest, connected to her dantian’s main spiritual meridians: Xuanji, Zigong, and Yutang.

Her punches landed heavily.

She wasn’t necessarily stronger than Tian Ning, so holding back would be foolish.

Tian Ning was no pushover either.

Her eyes seemed to widen in shock for a moment, then became extremely cold.

She took two punches, blocked one with her arm.

The parts of her body close to Su Qing emitted bursts of cold energy, penetrating Su Qing’s meridians, attempting to freeze her movements.

At the same time, her left knee wasn’t idle, delivering a knee strike aimed at Su Qing’s Shenque acupoint on her abdomen!

Both grunted in unison, feeling half their bodies go numb.

Yet, their hands didn’t stop, continuously feeding each other punches.

The dull thud of fist against flesh, for some reason, was more heart-stopping than the booming clash of swords.

The spectators all felt as if they were experiencing it themselves, inexplicably aching all over their bodies.

Su Qing took a blow to the face, and Tian Ning’s jaw also received a punch from her.

For a moment, the smell of blood surged in both their throats.

While a confrontation with blades and swords was dangerous, it often didn’t lead to continuous attacks.

Both sides would retreat to find an opportunity to fight again, giving the audience a chance to breathe and think.

Nowhere was it as barbaric as body cultivators, who, at the slightest disagreement, would just go at it, continuously.

Tian Ning’s hair lay scattered on the ground.

She struggled to resist Su Qing’s arm, turning her face to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Although she knew Su Qing had great strength, she never expected it to be this great…

Su Qing was also vexed.

Her flesh and skin were all forged by pouring in spirit stones.

The spiritual herbs she had digested, the expensive formulas she had used—how could that compare to Tian Ning, who clearly focused on pursuing the sword dao, yet also trained her body to be indestructible?

Their gazes met for a moment, and they became even more unyielding. Tian Ning was provoked to anger, and her attacks became fiercer with each strike.

Su Qing was not good at much else, but she excelled at taking a beating. She endured it, and returned even harsher attacks.

The two were very quiet, simply attacking each other’s most vulnerable spots relentlessly.

Ling Xiaorui looked at Su Qing, whose eyes were bleeding, and Tian Ning, whose mouth was bleeding.

She wondered, ‘Could it be that the reason their dorm produced three Foundation Establishment cultivators was because they fought every day like this, without mercy?’

Li Chaosheng blinked, seemingly at a loss for words. “It seems these two must have some irreconcilable feud. Perhaps they are destined rivals…”

It was at this moment that Tang Yueling finally resolved the Snowfall Sword’s fatal blow at the cost of ten immobilization talismans.

She had intended to forcefully strike it down with Fire Phoenix, but saw that, under its master’s summons, it actually floated in mid-air again, flying towards Tian Ning.

And because Su Qing was wrestling with Tian Ning, the Snowfall Sword’s tip was aimed directly at Su Qing’s back!

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Danger—’

“Quick, get out of the way!”

The Fire Phoenix Sword was recalled to her hand, then launched again to intercept, but no matter how fast it was, it couldn’t compare to Snowfall’s free movement, having been warmed and nourished in Tian Ning’s dantian day and night.

Fortunately, just as the Snowfall Sword was about to pierce Su Qing’s back, Man Qing Sword suddenly stood erect, and with a “bang,” perfectly parried this fatal blow.

The ground beneath Tian Ning had long been covered in ice and snow.

Utilizing this geographical advantage, she turned sideways, evading Su Qing’s restraint, and tried to flip herself up. Just then, Su Qing shouted, “Cough cough, let’s have some fire!!”

The “fire” she referred to, of course, was the Tier 4 Earth Fire, Ten Million.

Throughout this struggle, one point needed to be clear: only the Tier 4 Earth Fire, which was above Tian Ning’s realm, could possibly defeat her.

Tang Yueling was not without other high-tier magical artifacts, but she had to use them sparingly, otherwise the nature of this match would change.

It wouldn’t be an honest confrontation, but rather a display of family status and wealth to overwhelm the opponent.

Moreover, high-tier magical artifacts required immense spiritual energy.

She might only be able to use a few strikes before her spiritual energy was depleted, making her a burden on the arena instead.

Therefore, the only high-tier spirit item she could wield as easily as her own arm was the Tier 4 Earth Fire, Ten Million, which she had initially disdained.

And although Su Qing possessed an immortal bone and was capable of divine sense attacks, these were means that could not be easily revealed.

If they caused irreversible damage, it would be counterproductive.

In the path of the sword, the two of them were temporarily no match for Tian Ning.

In terms of cultivation, Tian Ning had recently broken through to Golden Core, directly crushing them by an entire realm.

Moreover, she was not someone whose cultivation was superficial due to consuming pills. How could this gap be compensated?

Su Qing and Tang Yueling were left with only one choice: use fire. Fire naturally countered ice.

Using high-tier earth fire against it offered a greater chance of winning.

The only problem was that Tian Ning wouldn’t simply let herself be burned.

Who would restrain her became the issue.

“Fire? Fire! At this time?” Tang Yueling couldn’t make up her mind.

She was extremely agitated, unable to harden her heart for a moment.

“You two are so close; this fire will surely burn you both!”

Su Qing had only ever endured the scorching of Tier 3 Earth Fire at most, but Ten Million was a Tier 4 Earth Fire.

According to the original plan, the innate fire spiritual root Tang Yueling should have restrained Tian Ning.

But it had to be admitted that Tian Ning far surpassed her.

Tang Yueling could barely protect herself from Tian Ning, let alone launch any powerful attacks, much less restrain her.

‘Damn it, truly damn it, why is she… so weak?!’

Su Qing, while restraining Tian Ning, also diverted her attention to control Man Qing Sword to intercept Snowfall Sword’s tricky attacks.

Her forehead twitched erratically, cold sweat mixed with blood streamed down her brow.

She squeezed out words from her throat, “Don’t miss this opportunity—”

If she didn’t act now, it would be too late.

Tang Yueling’s mind jolted. Her brows furrowed, and her determination showed. “Ten Million, go!”

In an instant, raging flames surged forth, engulfing the two of them.

Tang Yueling, unwilling to be outdone, rolled up her sleeves and also stepped into the roaring inferno.