The White Spirit Blossom’s Embrace

Three days later, atop the azure arena,

Chi Qiu stood quietly in a corner of the arena. Her expression was impassive, her gaze fixed intently on the slender figure in green robes across from her.

The green-robed figure, Gong Lingfeng, stood with a smile playing on his lips, hands clasped behind his back. His bearing was extraordinary, a stark reminder of the man who had violently attacked Chi Qiu in the Yinglong Tomb.

“Miss Chi, it has been quite some time since we last met. These past few years, I must confess, you have constantly been on my mind…”

Before the spar even began, Gong Lingfeng took the initiative, greeting her from afar.

“Constantly on your mind, you say? I, too, vividly recall the sight of you being smashed to the ground by Hanxing’s spear.” Chi Qiu’s voice was faint, yet her words, like steel needles, pierced Gong Lingfeng’s heart with a sharp pang.

“No matter how intimately you address me, it was not you who defeated me. Do not forget the pathetic state you were in when I casually captured and nearly killed you in the Yinglong Tomb.” Gong Lingfeng’s brows furrowed tightly, his expression exceedingly grim. He gnashed his teeth, these words seemingly squeezed from between them with immense effort.

“Back in the Yinglong Tomb, you relied on your family’s power, leading several God Concealing stage cultivators to besiege me, only then managing to defeat me. To bully with numbers, to prey on the weak – do you truly dare to wag your tongue here now?” Chi Qiu snorted with disdain. She rubbed her wrists, clearly eager for the fight.

“Victory is victory, defeat is defeat. Had the shadow of Yinglong not suddenly appeared that day, you would now be a captive within my Gong family, not standing here to defend this arena.” Gong Lingfeng’s expression gradually regained its composure. With a flick of his wrist, a long spear appeared in his hand.

“Your strength may be lacking, but your audacity is certainly not. This time, however, you have no cultivators from the Gong family to assist you.” Chi Qiu narrowed her eyes, her voice laced with anger.

“Are both of you ready?” The black-robed middle-aged man had observed their war of words with keen interest. Once both sides fell silent, he finally spoke.

Chi Qiu nodded, then slowly advanced. Her ink-black hair billowed in the wind, and the dark-colored skirt armor she wore swayed with a sound like clashing metal and shattered bricks.

“Naturally, I am ready.” Seeing Chi Qiu’s slow advance, Gong Lingfeng refused to be outdone. Gripping his long spear, he effortlessly covered half the arena in a few light steps, arriving at the center of the stage.

“Excellent. Then… let the challenge begin!” The black-robed middle-aged man offered a slight smile, clapped his hands once, and retreated from the arena.

Gong Lingfeng watched Chi Qiu approach him, her hands empty. A vicious expression crossed his face as he channeled his true qi, preparing for an attack. He then began to speak, “If you…”

Bang!

Scarcely had two words left Gong Lingfeng’s lips when Chi Qiu’s foot flashed, her speed abruptly accelerating. She transformed instantly into a withered leaf, propelled by a fierce gust of wind, drifting before Gong Lingfeng to unleash a palm strike.

Gong Lingfeng barely managed to block the strike, staggering back repeatedly from the impact. He felt an exceedingly strange force coil around his long spear, refusing to dissipate.

Having suffered this blow, Gong Lingfeng no longer dared to be careless. He retreated several more steps, channeling his true qi to gather on his long spear. Then, stomping his foot heavily on the arena, he instantly shot into the air.

“Triple Mountain Shatter—”

Gong Lingfeng chanted under his breath, raising his long spear high and aiming it at Chi Qiu before unleashing three lightning-fast swings. Majestic true qi, drawing forth the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, roared out, instantly coalescing into three colossal mountains that bore down upon Chi Qiu.

“You are merely a female rogue cultivator. Today, I shall let you witness the supreme art of my clan.”

After summoning the three mountains, Gong Lingfeng slowly descended. Despite his provocative words, his hands were not idle; he furiously gathered true qi, preparing to unleash another secret technique.

Chi Qiu gazed upward, her eyes fixed on the three towering mountains descending upon her. She focused her mind, condensing both her true qi and spiritual soul force, then furiously channeled them into the Thunder Core within her sea of qi.

In that instant, Chi Qiu’s eyes blazed with intense light, two golden beams shooting forth directly towards the three mountains. Then, vigorous thunder erupted. Streaks of powerful lightning surged from Chi Qiu’s eyes, coiling around her body and illuminating her dark scale armor with a dazzling golden brilliance.

“Your clan’s supreme art, it seems, is nothing more than this.” Chi Qiu clenched her fists, savoring the destructive power of the lightning. Then, she leaped upward, unleashing both fists directly against the three colossal mountains.

Rumble…

As the two forces collided, a deafening roar erupted. The immense shockwave kicked up dust from the arena and its surroundings, while spectators in the surrounding stands strained their eyes, eager not to miss a single detail of the battle.

“It seems your journey to the Yinglong Tomb granted you no small opportunities, to be able to shatter my Triple Mountain Shatter.” Gong Lingfeng’s expression was grave. He planted his long spear into the ground, and a strange sound immediately emanated from beneath his feet. The sound was like surging ocean waves, continuous and tumultuous.

Chi Qiu landed and stood firm, but when she tried to lift her foot, it felt as though it was burdened by a thousand jin, impossible to move.

Another domain-binding secret art? Chi Qiu looked down, observing that the previously azure-gray arena had now transformed into a light blue, shimmering with ripples as waves occasionally swept across it, much like an ocean.

Chi Qiu understood that these pale blue “water splashes” were formed by Gong Lingfeng’s secret art, channeling true qi infused with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Within this domain, he would move like a fish in water, while she would find every step arduous.

“It seems you all know my secret arts and treasures quite well, seeing as each of you has resorted to domain-type secret arts or artifacts.” Chi Qiu remarked with disdain, glancing at the pale blue domain beneath her feet.

These were secret arts, much like the one wielded by a red-robed member of the Gong family that day, all specifically designed to counter her formidable close-quarters combat. However, while such methods had proven highly effective against Chi Qiu when she was still in the Yinglong Tomb, against the current Chi Qiu… they were utterly useless.

Chi Qiu unhurriedly extended her right hand, opening her palm. There, a flower, like pure white jade, slowly blossomed. The blossom was no larger than Chi Qiu’s palm, yet its structure was incredibly intricate. Numerous layers of petals spiraled around its pistil, adorned with dense Dao patterns that could make one dizzy just by glancing at them.

This was precisely the White Spirit Flower, a flower Chi Qiu had once gifted to Su Hanxing.

With a flip of Chi Qiu’s palm, the White Spirit Flower immediately dropped into the pale blue domain Gong Lingfeng had conjured. The moment it touched the true qi-infused water, it spread like wildfire. In less than a breath, the arena floor within a three-zhang square around Chi Qiu was completely covered in White Spirit Flowers, resembling radiant white jade.

“What kind of flower is that? It’s beautiful.”

“Those dense Dao patterns on the flower… it’s clearly no ordinary item.”

“This… this seems to be the White Spirit Flower that can devour true qi!”

A buzz of discussion rippled through the stands. Then, a knowledgeable spectator recognized the pure white flowers still rapidly growing around Chi Qiu, exclaiming in shock.

“It can devour true qi?”

“Such a dangerous spiritual plant actually exists?”

Chi Qiu, naturally, paid no mind to the clamor in the stands. She merely observed Gong Lingfeng, who stood dumbfounded nearby, desperately trying to maintain his secret art domain. A hint of ruthlessness appeared on her face.

“If you have any other tricks, you had best use them quickly. If not, you won’t get another chance.”