Emotional Outburst

“These opponents possess truly terrifying methods. I fear I won’t even make it past the first round,” Mo Qinyin admitted, a hint of disappointment in her voice. Watching the fight unfold, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of despair.

Having never endured true life-or-death combat, her mental fortitude naturally paled in comparison to Ye Qingyun’s.

Ye Qingyun, observing for a moment, remained remarkably calm. He understood that fear was a futile emotion when confronting an enemy. The techniques of the evil path were inherently sinister and dreadful; the first hurdle was always to conquer that sense of dread.

Otherwise, even superior cultivation would be significantly diminished.

“Qinyin,” Ye Qingyun murmured softly, “there’s no need to be afraid. These are merely tools of the evil path, manifestations of malevolent energy. Think of these vile constructs as nothing more than their weapons. The more you let fear consume you, the less effectively you’ll be able to fight.”

While the logic was undeniably sound, and Mo Qinyin understood it perfectly, confronting such horrors in person was an entirely different experience.

“I… I’ll do my best,” Mo Qinyin conceded, her voice laced with a helpless resignation. What else could she do?

Ye Qingyun observed Mo Qinyin’s aura, noting the pervasive and intense fear radiating from her. When such dread reached a critical point, it completely extinguished any courage to continue the fight.

After a moment’s consideration, Ye Qingyun decided to lend Mo Qinyin a hand. With that resolve, he subtly activated the power of his Serpent Charm Art, secretly influencing Mo Qinyin’s emotional state. In battle, a surge of righteous fury was often the most potent ally.

The fiercer the rage, the greater the power it could unleash.

Soon, it was Mo Qinyin’s turn to ascend the stage. Her opponent was a disciple from the Toad Spirit Pavilion, whose sinister and deranged expression immediately marked them as a non-player character.

“Hahaha, woman, surrender now! You are no match for me!” the Toad Spirit Pavilion disciple cackled, a chilling sound.

Mo Qinyin’s gaze fell upon the Spirit Poison materializing behind her opponent, and an instinctive tremor ran through her. Yet, as the disciple’s taunts echoed, an inexplicable spark of anger ignited within her heart.

“Hmph, and how exactly do you know I’m not your match? The true victor can only be determined through battle!” Mo Qinyin shot back, drawing her sword. She practiced the Spirit Snake Sword Art, a powerful technique from the Snake Spirit Pavilion.

“Oh, you’re quite bold, aren’t you? Refusing to concede, I see. Then allow me to introduce you to true fear! Wuyuan, attack! Teach this little girl a proper lesson!” The female disciple commanded her Spirit Poison, sending it directly towards Mo Qinyin.

Turning back to Mo Qinyin, an inexplicable rage continued to intensify on her face, even though Ye Qingyun had ceased stimulating her emotions.

‘Hmm? What’s happening?’ Ye Qingyun muttered to himself, observing Mo Qinyin on the stage. ‘I’ve stopped channeling the rage, so why is her fury intensifying so rapidly?’

What was truly happening? At that moment, Mo Qinyin’s thoughts drifted to her prolonged confinement within the game, to the unknown state of the real world she had left behind. The more she pondered it, the more her anger surged.

Over time, a deep-seated rage had been suppressed within her, and now, inadvertently, Ye Qingyun had unleashed it.

When anger consumed a person, all fear was invariably expelled—a fundamental aspect of human nature.

Mo Qinyin unsheathed her sword and surged forward, directly at the toad spirit. In terms of cultivation, she was clearly outmatched; a minor realm separated them. Her opponent commanded Iron-level Inner Cultivation Eighth Layer, while Mo Qinyin had only reached the Sixth Layer.

An uncontrollable surge of killing intent now coursed through her, directed squarely at the Toad Spirit Pavilion disciple.

Her sword swiftly cut through the toad Spirit Poison, aiming directly for the female disciple’s true body. Such a decisive assault momentarily stunned the disciple.

The disciple quickly raised her hands, a pair of spectral claws manifesting to lash out at Mo Qinyin. These ghastly talons functioned as potent weapons.

Mo Qinyin neither dodged nor retreated. Her sword, now imbued with a menacing, dark aura, signified her intent to unleash a powerful sword technique.

As she closed within ten meters of her opponent, the malevolent glow on her sword erupted. A crimson blade of light tore through the air, arcing directly towards the disciple’s neck. The sheer ferocity of that strike made the female disciple’s hair stand on end.

The chilling specter of death loomed. She had never anticipated Mo Qinyin unleashing such a formidable attack. The crucial point was the sword’s relentless, unyielding trajectory; it was a strike that no phantom could parry, and her own ghostly claws would likely prove just as ineffective. Instead, it was she who now felt a surge of fear.

“Snake Dance Across the Sky! Die!” Mo Qinyin’s eyes glowed with a crimson light, and her attack was unleashed with utterly no reservation.

Yet, the female disciple was not so easily subdued. A single strike would never defeat her. She swiftly raised her spectral claws, deflecting Mo Qinyin’s blade. But Mo Qinyin’s assault was far from over; another sword thrust immediately followed, aimed directly at her opponent’s heart.

Mo Qinyin was consumed by a singular desire to end her opponent’s life. The two became fiercely entangled. The female disciple, too, grew ruthless, determined to meet Mo Qinyin’s aggression head-on.

“Die! Why won’t you just die?!” Mo Qinyin shrieked, delivering strike after deadly strike. Each sword thrust was lethal, forcing her opponent into a desperate, purely defensive stance. The battle raged with terrifying intensity.

“Are you insane?! You’re trying to kill me!” The female disciple, too, was now driven to a furious rage. She finally began to counterattack.

Her opponent’s attacks began to grow in power and ferocity, and Mo Qinyin found herself increasingly unable to parry effectively. This was a natural consequence; her cultivation base was inferior, and her earlier advantage had only been sustained by exploiting her opponent’s initial complacency.

Once her opponent fought with genuine intent, the situation grew dire.

Mo Qinyin began a steady retreat. The female disciple’s spectral claws were as unyielding as solid steel, and their clashing attacks ignited a barrage of dazzling sparks. Scratches began to mar Mo Qinyin’s skin, each one a testament to the ghost claws’ sharp talons.

Meanwhile, her opponent was in a far better position. Protected by the toad spirit, Mo Qinyin found it impossible to even touch her.

“You? Just now, I merely grew careless. You are still too green to ever hope of defeating me,” the female disciple sneered.

To Mo Qinyin, gazing upon her opponent’s triumphant smirk, her fury surged to an unprecedented peak. Her sole desire was now to kill. Her eyes, gradually bloodshot, reflected a sudden, wild frenzy. Abruptly, she ceased defending against her opponent’s assault, allowing the female disciple’s claws to rake savagely across her shoulder.

Despite the wound, Mo Qinyin uttered a fierce roar, and it was her opponent who cried out in pain.

Far from retreating, Mo Qinyin instead unleashed a piercing roar, driving her sword directly through her opponent’s shoulder, her intent to kill undeniable.

“Die!”

This single strike channeled every ounce of Mo Qinyin’s power. Under the woman’s horrified gaze, her body was on the verge of being cleaved apart.

But just then, a blood-stained hand shot out from the side, seizing Mo Qinyin’s sword blade with astonishing speed. The referee had intervened.

“Stop! The match is over, you have won,” a male disciple in his twenties declared, his voice deep and firm, as he held Mo Qinyin’s sword.

This was none other than the referee for martial arts stage number two.

Yet, Mo Qinyin remained consumed by a furious rage, her anger utterly uncontrollable.

“Get out of my way! I’m going to kill her!” Mo Qinyin snarled, her bloodshot eyes fixed on her opponent.

That gaze, brimming with what seemed like deep-seated hatred, sent shivers down the referee’s spine.

“Crazy woman! I’m not playing with you anymore! I surrender!” Seeing this, the female disciple scrambled off the stage, hastily trying to staunch her own bleeding. She was truly terrified.

The truly ruthless feared those even more brutal, and those most brutal feared the ones who utterly disregarded their own lives. At this moment, Mo Qinyin was clearly one such individual, utterly reckless.

“Quite interesting. I hadn’t realized our sect harbored such a ferocious combatant,” the referee scoffed, a cold smile playing on his lips. “However, you cannot kill her. Now, step down.” With a dismissive wave of his large hand, he sent Mo Qinyin stumbling backward, her body utterly unable to halt its momentum.

Ye Qingyun saw this, and quickly leaped onto the stage to support Mo Qinyin. As soon as Ye Qingyun made contact, the furious aura around Mo Qinyin rapidly dissipated, and her intense anger subsided.

“Qinyin, are you alright?” Ye Qingyun inquired, his voice filled with concern.

Mo Qinyin glanced at Ye Qingyun, then muttered to herself, a bewildered expression on her face.

“What just happened? What was wrong with me? I couldn’t control my emotions at all.”