Chương 68: Finals (Part II)

Trapped within the mist of the Sanguine Blood Banner, Bai Ning had to remain on guard every single moment. Her shield stayed fully activated, enclosing her in a protective dome, while circular swordlights streaked around her, forming a second, whirling layer of defense. It was only a stopgap. She knew she couldn't defeat Fu Zhan like this. But it was a necessary one, buying her time until she could bring her counter to bear.

The mist to her right suddenly twisted into a fearsome shape; a winged tiger that lunged at her, fangs bared. Bai Ning met it with a sweeping strike of the Green Karma Sword, cleaving it in two. Both halves dissolved back into swirling red mist. Yet in that same instant, two more beasts had already formed: a crimson wolf and a bloody bat, slamming into her shield from opposite sides. The impact made her teeth rattle and sent her qi reserves plummeting.

By the time Bai Ning brought her sword around, they too had dispersed into mist, their purpose already fulfilled. Fu Zhan allowed her no respite. A massive ape emerged directly before her, every strand of its fur woven from churning red mist. It raised both arms and smashed them downward, as if to hammer her into the ground. Bai Ning hurled the Crimson Parasol up to meet the blow, but even so, the collision rattled her bones.

The ape vanished immediately after its strike, only for a pack of vicious, carmine raptors to replace it. Her retaliatory swordlights passed straight through them, dispersing their forms for a heartbeat before the mist knitted itself together once more. She was losing. Only moments within the fog, and already she was being driven back this hard. Bai Ning clenched her jaw. She had to seize back the momentum, and she had to do it now.

Gritting her teeth, Bai Ning stopped moving and poured her qi into the Crimson Parasol. She had barely recovered enough strength to keep fighting as she was; doing this would leave her dangerously drained if the next steps went wrong. Still, it was a gamble she had no choice but to take. She would not repeat the mistake of thinking she could play the long game here. Yun Hanyue, Fahai Sattavadeva, and who knew how many others.

All of them had learned the same lesson: within this mist, the longer one lingered, the more Fu Zhan's advantage grew. Better to be reckless in breaking free than to remain trapped. The seamless barrier generated by the Crimson Parasol fractured, its surface breaking into the overlapping pattern of dragon scales as it twisted and reshaped into something far tougher. Just in time. An enormous serpent of red mist surged toward her, jaws yawning wide enough to swallow both her and her barrier whole.

It smashed against her newly reinforced defense and broke apart, spilling over her like a crashing tide of crimson fog. Bai Ning ignored it, even as she felt the hollowness spreading through her dantian and meridians. She truly was running on empty. If this sword technique didn't work- She banished the thought. Closing her eyes, she drew in a soft, steady breath. Get rid of all distractions. Her defense would hold long enough for what she needed to do. After that, she would either find a way out… or she would lose.

She exhaled. The world is something meant to be cut. She remembered the nameless swordsman recorded in the jade slip, effortlessly cutting down enemies without even looking at them, without bothering to sense them. He simply raised his sword in the right place, at the right moment, and his foes were already there to be cut. She had done it once before against the bandit Kong. Anything could be cut, no matter what it was. A sunrise. Doubt and hesitation. Even this mist.

Her sword would always find the right place to swing. Something inside her sharpened. The once-impenetrable mist became easier to parse; not that she could suddenly see through it or discern clear patterns, but the oppressive sensation of facing a vast, all-consuming tide beyond mortal resistance began to fade. What remained was only what she needed to sense. Bai Ning opened her eyes. Her qi was dangerously low. Still, she wasn't worried. This would work.

She dismissed her barrier, and the opening was seized instantly. A horde of bloody, mist-formed beasts surged toward her. A flood dragon – smaller than the one Fu Zhan had conjured earlier – loomed overhead, fangs bared. An eight-headed owl swept in from her left, its beaks gleaming with a metallic crimson sheen. From the right lunged a carmine lion, its mane flaring as it finished forming. At her back, a pack of ravenous Moonblight Wolves prowled, waiting to pounce in staggered succession.

Above and around her, a dozen blood wasps hovered, serrated stingers poised to strike. Her sword cut them all down at once. Bai Ning moved as if she were dancing, every step mapped out before it was taken. The tip of her sword pierced straight through the flood dragon and emerged in a heartbeat. She flowed with the motion, spinning as an almost invisible swordlight flashed outward in a perfect arc.

The eight-headed owl and the lion scattered like mist before a gale, blown apart, while the pack of wolves was shredded into drifting clumps of fog. The wasps dove, but Bai Ning had already completed her turn. The Green Karma Sword flashed again, curving like a serpent through the air, piercing each one with unerring precision before they could even reach her. She leapt, narrowly avoiding the antlers of a massive stag she hadn't seen form, but had sensed, guided by that ineffable awareness now leading her.

In midair, a colossal tortoise head coalesced around her, snapping its beak shut like crushing jaws. The Green Karma Sword twirled around her body, scattering the construct into nothingness. She landed amidst another dozen beasts, relentless in their assault. Yet once more, she moved like lightning. She wasn't faster, nor was she expending more qi. She was simply taking the right step every single time. The mist churned around her, forced to break apart again and again beneath the edge of her malleable blade.

Now, its advantage over a traditional sword truly came into play. Against an enemy that was everywhere at once, it was far deadlier than any rigid weapon could have been. She decapitated a six-legged panther, carved her way through another pack of wolf-like beasts, and slipped past a grotesque, rat-shaped creation, before she felt it. There, to her right. Bai Ning didn't pause. She didn't slow, and she gave absolutely no indication that she had sensed anything at all.

A Xuanwu formed on her right; a massive tortoise with a serpent's tail, charging forward on blood-red feet, intent on trampling her. It wasn't alone. Another horde of savage beasts erupted around her: a Cloud Elephant, a duskcat, and a massive tusked boar among them. She tore through them, waiting, letting it come. Then she swung. An invisible swordlight leapt from the edge of her ribbon-like blade, slashing straight into the Xuanwu's head. For the first time, there was a reaction.

The creature recoiled, roaring in pain before shattering into mist like all the others, but so did every other beast assailing her. The surrounding fog convulsed violently, the crimson streaks darkening as the bellow of pain echoed and then faded. Bai Ning grinned. It had worked. Fu Zhan might be merged with this red mist, but he could still be hurt through it. She had a chance. The crimson fog around her churned warily, almost uneasily, blood-red whorls spiraling through its depths.

Then, like a beast driven to the brink, the mist turned furious, even wrathful. Fu Zhan had been hurt, and he would not take that sitting down. A hundred beasts formed around her in an instant. Bai Ning's sword was already cutting them down even as they took shape. She moved through the onslaught, every step flawless, more like she was idly waving her sword than fighting for her life. Yet each languid swing erased enemies by the dozen, until once more there was nothing left but ever-thickening fog.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. There. She sensed it again, this time from above. It was fast, slipping in and out of her perception. Something that flew. Something that flew very fast. Bai Ning gave no sign that she had noticed. She spun and danced and slashed, carving through creature after creature, almost as if she were cutting apart the mist itself. Fu Zhan wouldn't strike blindly again. She needed to lure him in, to offer an opening. So, she slowed.

Her blade swept toward an armored ox demon and deliberately missed, dispersing only its front leg into mist and allowing it to retreat. She scattered a swarm of blood bats, but feigned a misstep and let one escape into the fog. A sinuous serpent lunged and was driven back, a long gash spilling red mist from its side; wounded, but intact. Gradually, the number of beasts surrounding her grew, even as Fu Zhan conjured more and more to press in. Come on, she urged silently.

The Green Karma Sword threaded the eye of the needle once more, inevitability itself, piercing straight through an enormous crocodilian beast as it tried to snap its jaws shut around her. Fu Zhan took the bait. Like the tide pulling back before a surge, the number of beasts harrying her slowed and thinned. Instead of pressing in, they gathered around her, hemming her in from every side, too many to simply cut through all at once. Under any other circumstances, the sight might have unsettled her.

But the technique she was using had no need for such concerns. All things could be cut. Numbers did not matter. Then the tide rushed in. The stampede poured toward her, less a horde of beasts than a wave of crimson fog crashing in from all directions. Her sword flashed, weaving a tight, whirling circle around her, but the pressure mounted. Even she was beginning to be overwhelmed. Come on, she thought again. Fu Zhan chose his moment perfectly. Her back was turned. A swarm of blood wasps orbited her.

A massive boar was a heartbeat away from goring her side, while a gigantic, bloody crane waited just beyond her guard. He lunged. Bai Ning barely caught sight of him – a small, sinuous dragon streaking in from behind. It seemed Fu Zhan was fond of that shape. She approved. Dragons were undeniably cool. If she turned, if she tried to strike him directly, she would be hit as well. He was being cautious, stripping away her options while all but guaranteeing a successful blow.

His speed would have overwhelmed her on any other day. But her technique did not need to react. She had already known where he would be before he moved. Her sword rang like a bell. She didn't swing it. Yet all the same, an omnidirectional swordlight erupted outward, dozens of intersecting arcs exploding from her blade at once. The tide of beasts was shredded instantly. Fu Zhan's dragon form took the swordlight straight through its torso, and this time the shriek of pain was longer and louder.

He dispersed, but the entire mist convulsed, writhing in agony. The sound that followed was like metal twisting and tearing itself apart. There. She sensed it again. Fu Zhan had reformed at the edge of the ring, wearing yet another shape. It was an opportunity. If she could land a clean hit while he was still reeling- She took a step toward him, already half-activating the Divine Water Lightning Technique to gain the burst of speed she needed- And stumbled. The misstep caught her completely by surprise.

For a brief moment, her perfect rhythm faltered. The mindset she had aligned so carefully with that nameless swordsman wavered, nearly slipping away. She had almost no qi left. The Divine Water Lightning Technique would consume everything she had, granting her no more than a few seconds of speed. Unless she could end the fight with the next blow… She couldn't. The dissonance between knowing exactly what to do and being unable to do it nearly shattered her technique, perfect instinct clashing with harsh reality.

Yet at the last moment, she held on. She could still win. The world was something meant to be cut. Even as she centered herself, that moment of distraction proved costly. A sharp-clawed monkey had formed directly in front of her, lunging for her throat. Bai Ning sensed it too late. She twisted aside, one claw scoring a bloody line across her cheek before she cut the creature into pieces. Blood streamed down her face as she tore through the pack forming once more around her. Fu Zhan was gone.

He had sensed her step toward him and dispersed instantly, reforming at the opposite edge of the arena. Bai Ning focused, clearing her surroundings of savage beasts even as her thoughts returned to the missed opportunity. If she couldn't rely on the Divine Water Lightning Technique, then she would have to depend on her ordinary speed. And there was something else: why was Fu Zhan taking a form at all? Why not remain dispersed as mist continuously?

He could attack by reforming only at the moment of impact, so there was no need to maintain a shape otherwise. Unless… Unless he couldn't remain without a coherent form for long. Perhaps a Core Formation cultivator could manage it. Or a Nascent Soul cultivator. But Fu Zhan wasn't one of them. He was like her, standing at the peak of Foundation Establishment. The Sanguine Blood Banner might be a Nascent Soul grade treasure, but he was still constrained by the limits of his own realm.

Fu Zhan needed a physical form to anchor himself. Which meant that, all at once, Bai Ning realized she had a far larger window of opportunity than she had first believed. Was Fu Zhan the type to remain cautious for long and fight from a distance? She recalled the twisted rage on his face when Yun Hanyue had escaped, the relish he had taken in his battle with Fahai Sattavadeva. No, he would attack. His nature demanded nothing less. He would observe, judge, and measure first, but in the end, he would leap.

She would wager all her spirit stones on it. Well, perhaps Master Mo Jian's spirit stones, if not her own. That thought was validated only moments later. The churning mist around her surged and reshaped itself, every strand coalescing into the same form. Bai Ning recognized it instantly: a vermilion bird. A spirit beast of antiquity, famed for its command over fire and its incredible speed, and often mistaken for a phoenix, though the two were entirely different creatures.

Vermilion bird after vermilion bird, all formed from blood-red mist, streaked toward her. She cut them down one by one, dispersing them back into fog. Then she sensed Fu Zhan behind her, in the same form. Ah. He was disguising himself among the flock, hoping to confuse her as to which one he truly was. Unfortunately for him, her perception didn't work that way. His presence stood out clearly, no matter the shape he wore. Even so, he did not strike immediately.

Cautious once more, he allowed the flock to build up again, wave after wave of identical forms. Bai Ning danced through them, her sword spinning like a ribbon, trailing red mist as she swept vermilion bird after vermilion bird aside. If his strategy was to hide himself and ambush her from within a mass of indistinguishable creatures, he should have chosen something smaller and more unassuming. This incessant need to assume grand forms: dragons, Xuanwu, vermilion birds, only drove him into further mistakes.

A swarm of insects, or even bats, would have been far more troublesome. They would have forced her to spend precious time simply thinning their numbers. That aside, she repeated her strategy, letting the numbers build again. She knew exactly what Fu Zhan was aiming for. He wanted to bait her into wasting a strike, then swoop in, but she had a counter. As her sword shimmered around her, it left trails of swordlight in the air, faint and nearly invisible, like ink painted on a blank canvas.

Undetectable to anyone but her, they lingered, sinuous streaks of green light waiting to be triggered at the precise moment. She spun them all around her, tracing a net of razor-sharp swordlights with herself at the center. Once more, the tide of beasts, or rather, the flock of vermilion birds, slowed, hesitated, and then surged forward. Claws and beaks struck from every direction, feathers slicing like blades hurled through the mist.

She danced, ducked, and carved her way through the onslaught, retreating a step with every heartbeat. Fu Zhan waited. Bai Ning judged the timing perfectly and triggered her omnidirectional swordlight again. Techniques like this drained qi rapidly, and she had to be mindful of every drop, given how little remained. The mist around her shredded instantly. The mass of savage beasts dissolved, leaving nothing but crimson fog. She stood there for a heartbeat and exhaled. Then Fu Zhan struck. Even now, he was cautious.

A dozen vermilion birds coalesced from the fog, rushing at her from all directions, and Fu Zhan dropped from high above, bloody talons extended to crush her. She smiled. With a flick of her will, she triggered the web of swordlights she had spun in the air. The birds dove at her… and tore themselves apart on it. Fu Zhan flapped back, roaring and screeching in pain, and Bai Ning seized the opening. Before he could disperse properly, her sword whipped out and pierced his head.

The bloody-red bird exploded like a volcanic eruption, blasting outward in a collapsing wall of crimson mist. Bai Ning spun her sword, clearing the space around her as the mist roared. It was deeper than a bellow of pain; this felt like something dying, and her ears rang with the sound. Then the mist began to clear. In seconds, patches appeared in the bank of fog, spreading rapidly, and within moments, it was gone. The sudden light and noise slammed into Bai Ning like a wall.

She had to blink, seeing the sun and the sky above her instead of the oppressive red. The arena shone pale white, and the formation dome enclosing it shimmered in scintillating hues. From above, a wave of shouting, screaming, cheering, and hollering hit her as the spectators erupted to their feet, feverishly excited. The last traces of red mist spun into a column in front of her, taking the shape of a man. Fu Zhan turned back from mist to flesh, his expression grim and wild, looking like a mess.

A massive cut lanced down his torso, shoulder to hip, and two gashes crisscrossed his face, one from forehead to cheek, barely missing his eye, the other slicing through half his nose. He looked… like a wild beast now. He was panting, teeth bared, and Bai Ning suddenly realized he was on his last legs. Not unlike her. Her qi was nearly exhausted as well. One last strike, then, to finish him. Thoughts fluttered at the edges of her mind: winning the tournament, claiming the prize, the future that awaited her.

She brushed them aside like the distractions they were, before they could loosen her grip on her sword technique. Bai Ning raised her hand, the Green Karma Sword fluttering through the air, then brought it down. The ribbon-like blade whipped forward, bearing down on Fu Zhan's head.

"As if!" he roared, summoning the Sanguine Blood Banner back into his grasp. Her sword struck the pale shaft of the banner and stopped, unable to cut through it. Fu Zhan dropped to one knee, the strain plain on his face, and the crowd erupted once more. Bai Ning gritted her teeth and pushed down harder. Fall, she commanded silently, pouring everything she had left into the strike. Fu Zhan growled, his hands white-knuckled around the pink wood of his banner.

"I get it now," he spat, ferocious.

"You are like me. I should have sensed it sooner." Bai Ning ignored him, letting the final reserves of her qi surge through her limbs, amplifying the strength behind her strike. She didn't even try to cut through the banner with her sword's qi: an artifact forged by a genuine Nascent Soul cultivator was beyond her power to sever. Better to batter Fu Zhan down with sheer force. Or so she thought. Suddenly, Fu Zhan's lips curled into a feral, inhuman smile.

"I forfeit!" he bellowed, his voice echoing across the arena. For a heartbeat, silence fell. Then the arena erupted. A tidal wave of sound crashed over her; shouts, cheers, and screams of astonishment rolled together, shaking the ground beneath her feet. The formation dome above shimmered and split into ribbons of dazzling light, casting prismatic rays across the arena. Dust and fragments of the dissipating red mist swirled in the air like a storm of fire and blood. Seconds later, the announcement came.

"Winner of the Grand Tournament: Bai Ning."