TAP, TAP, TAP—
"Has your will to fight crumbled?"
Qin Feng circled Zhou Yu, maintaining a "coiled" posture as he paced, speaking softly as he prepared to finish her off.
"No."
Zhou Yu replied.
Her agitated, bloodshot eyes slowly closed, only to snap open a moment later.
All her anxiety, anger, and helplessness were forcefully suppressed in that instant.
In their place was a do-or-die calm and resolve.
She no longer attempted to execute the relentless attacks of the Ninefold Thunder Saber. Instead, she held her Long Saber horizontally before her, assuming a purely defensive stance.
’If I can’t attack, then I’ll defend!’
’Defend until he reveals an opening! Defend until the very last moment!’
The rhythm of the battle changed in an instant.
If before it had been Qin Feng’s one-man show, now it had become a truly suffocating game of offense and defense.
Qin Feng’s Long Spear transformed into a sky full of starlight, raining down on Zhou Yu’s defensive circle from all directions.
As for Zhou Yu, she poured all of her focus into her defense.
Her saber was as fast as lightning, each swing precisely parrying the deadly spear tip.
"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—"
The sound of metal clashing rang out as densely as a torrential downpour, echoing throughout the grand hall.
All the spectating students were dumbfounded, completely captivated by the sight.
They could no longer even clearly see the two’s movements, only a silver blur of the spear’s afterimage and a black streak of the saber’s light, clashing and intertwining madly in the center of the arena.
On the arena stage, the fire of battle was truly lit between them.
Under the extreme pressure of defending, Zhou Yu’s understanding of the Ninefold Thunder Saber was deepening at an unprecedented rate.
With every parry, she skillfully dissipated the force coming from the spear tip.
And Qin Feng was equally engrossed in this exhilarating confrontation.
’It’s not enough! My pressure isn’t enough!’
He no longer restricted himself to simply controlling the field, but began to unleash the cunning and vicious killing moves from the Thousand Army Spear one by one.
Uplifting, stabbing, cleaving, collapsing, pointing, sweeping...
Every one of his spear thrusts seemed to have been forged through a thousand refinements, carrying the Iron Blood killing aura of the battlefield.
Amidst this extreme exchange of offense and defense, both of their spirits seemed to transcend their physical bodies, entering a profound and mysterious state of enlightenment.
In Zhou Yu’s eyes, the sky full of the spear’s afterimages seemed to become slow and clear.
She could sense his intent with every thrust and predict the spear tip’s next point of impact.
Her saber moved with her thoughts, her defense becoming impenetrable.
Zhou Yu no longer attacked proactively. Instead, she looked for the moment when Qin Feng’s momentum was spent to ready her own saber’s power.
And in Qin Feng’s eyes, fine veins of energy flow appeared on Zhou Yu’s seemingly flawless Heavy Armor.
He could see that every parry caused a minuscule drain on her armor’s energy.
He could clearly calculate the number of attacks and the amount of force required to shatter this suit of Heavy Armor.
"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—"
The sound of clashing metal piled one layer upon another.
The fire of battle blazed, forging heroic spirit!
You attack, I defend; you defend, I attack. Every move was a battle of wits, every form a deadly setup.
It was utterly exhilarating; the two of them were completely oblivious to the world around them.
-----------------
SWOOSH, SWOOSH, SWOOSH—
Inside the Thunder Martial Arts Hall, the experts from the Martial Hall shot to their feet.
Cries of astonishment filled the air.
"Enlightenment! The two of them actually entered a state of enlightenment at the same time!"
"Geniuses! These two kids are both true geniuses of the Martial Dao!"
"This battle, regardless of victory or defeat, is a monumental stroke of fortune for both of them!"
As experts who had stepped into the Star Sea realm, they were worldly and knowledgeable, recognizing Qin Feng and Zhou Yu’s state at a single glance.
CLING, CLANG—
The crowd listened quietly to the sounds of clashing steel, their attention completely fixed on the battle in the arena.
Zhou Yu, who had been in a passive defensive state the entire time, seized a fleeting opportunity!
One of Qin Feng’s cunning Retreating Horse Spear attacks was anticipated by Zhou Yu; his momentum was spent, and his next move had yet to begin.
This was the moment!
A sharp glint flashed in Zhou Yu’s eyes. She stomped her foot, and her entire body shot forward like a cannonball, the body of her saber braced against her upper arm as she crashed toward Qin Feng’s chest!
This was her all-or-nothing, last-ditch counterattack!
Faced with this sudden, powerful close-quarters assault, Qin Feng’s face showed no trace of panic.
’Here it comes!’
His focus sharpened to its absolute peak.
’I can’t forget! I absolutely cannot forget! The humiliation of being cornered by the Boxer in the seventh match! The helplessness of being toyed with by the Assassin in the fourth!’
The painful defeats from the past nine battles had already carved the deepest muscle memory into his body.
At every moment, Qin Feng reminded himself to be wary of close-range enemies.
’At all times, I must imagine I’m surrounded by countless enemies! At all times, I must guard against a fatal blow from any angle! Especially from a close-range enemy!’
This obsessive, extreme focus had become his combat instinct.
In the split second before Zhou Yu crashed into him, Qin Feng’s body made an unbelievable move.
He didn’t retreat. Instead, using his left foot as a pivot, his body spun like a high-speed gyroscope, carving an arc toward his side and rear.
Thousand Army Spear’s Body Technique—Wandering Dragon!
This was the manifestation of him reaching a new realm of understanding! In his state of enlightenment, he had combined the experience of his previous defeats with the Thousand Army Spear’s innate battlefield footwork.
In that instant, deep within Qin Feng’s left brow bone, a tiny, almost invisible, dark-gold micro-rivet flickered silently before vanishing.
"SWOOSH!"
Zhou Yu’s sure-hit close-quarters saber strike grazed the corner of Qin Feng’s clothes, hitting nothing but air.
Because she had overcommitted, she revealed an unprecedentedly massive opening.
And Qin Feng had already spun to her side.
The Long Spear in his hands was already poised to strike.
All his power, all his focus, and all his killing intent converged upon the tip of his spear.
"Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion!"
A low shout echoed across the arena.
A brilliant spear light, seemingly capable of sundering mountains and sweeping aside a thousand soldiers, swept out and precisely struck the waist of Zhou Yu’s Heavy Armor.
"CRACK—!"
A piercing sound, like shattering glass, rang out.
Under the force of that one spear strike, the Energy Shield on Zhou Yu’s sturdy Heavy Alloy Armor was instantly annihilated. The physical armor cracked from the point of impact, spiderweb-like fissures spreading across it before it shattered completely.
[VICTORY!]
The cold system prompt announced the final outcome of the breathtaking battle.
Before the light screen, inside the Thunder Martial Hall, you could have heard a pin drop.
All the students stared, dumbfounded, at the straight-backed figure standing with his spear, at the ID: "Qin".
On the arena stage, Zhou Yu’s figure slowly dissipated.
In the moment before she completely dissolved into points of light, she straightened her body, faced Qin Feng’s direction, and solemnly performed a standard Imperial Army salute.
She had lost this battle, utterly and completely convinced.
Qin Feng stood in place, his chest heaving slightly, savoring the exhilarating thrill of victory.
He also raised his hand and, facing the direction where Zhou Yu had disappeared, solemnly returned the Imperial Army salute.
This was the purest form of respect between Martial Artists.