Chapter 85 - The Tournament - Round of 32 - Day 4 - Part 3 (1/2)

After that whole thing happened, Xia Qingyue just released a sigh of frustration. For she knew that this would happen if she lost her veil and people would see her real face. Deciding that this was not worth it, she quickly put this whole thing out of her mind. But she was thankful for Mesa for ending more quickly.

Ling Yun's mind on the other hand, was still in chaos and unable to settle down. Though he started to feel thing he had never felt since the day he saw her at the barbeque at the courtyard of the Blue Wind Imperial Family. But now that he saw her face, he was certain. He was truly in love with her. Just like his father had fallen in love with a woman he could never have when he was young, now he too had in love with one.

Xia Qingyue, knowing full well that she couldn't hold back anymore against Ling Yun, decided to go all out as well. She stored her crystal ice sword away and took out her strongest weapon, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, a Sky Profound Realm weapon. This was a twenty foot long, half a foot wide white ribbon that acted like it had a mind of its own, circling around Xia Qingyue. What she did then, was grab the pendant that was hanging by her neck and yanking it off. What happened next shocked people there. Her strength level suddenly started to rise. From level 8 Spirit Profound Realm, it started jumping to level 10 Spirit Profound Realm, breaking through into level 1 Earth Profound Realm and finally it stabilized at level 3 Earth Profound Realm.

Ling Yun and everyone else watching, were completely stunned by this new development. They didn't expect that Xia Qingyue, who is 17 at the moment, had such a high level of strength, hers was equal to Ling Yun, who himself is 20 at the moment. Ignoring all the chaos and utter madness that came with Mesa's matches, this was the greatest surprise of the whole tournament.

Ling Yun, who was still stunned at this sudden development, heard Xia Qingyue speak to him in a soft voice: ”Sir Ling, many thanks for going easy on me with your previous strike. Otherwise, I would have already lost. Now, I will go all out now.”

Hearing her voice, Ling Yun still couldn't focus, until he heard his father's voice in his mind that snapped him out of his daze: ”Yun'er, focus!”

Bringing his Celestial Yuan Sword to his chest, Ling Yun readied himself for what was to come next. Using his previous move, he assaults Xia Qingyue with the same sword lights he used earlier. Dozens upon dozens of sword light start raining down on her, but to his dismay, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon Xia Qingyue was holding started acting like her shield and caught all of the sword lights raining down on her. Seeing a chink in the 'armor' of the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon, Ling Yun charges his sword with Profound Energy and charging it into this opening. But even then, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon intercepted this attack of his and entangled his sword, ensuring that he couldn't continue on anymore.

And this went on and on. No matter how much Ling Yun attacked Xia Qingyue, his attacks would be either deflected or entangled by Xia Qingyue's Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon. While at the same time, Xia Qingyue would use every defense, every deflection or entanglement of Ling Yun's attacks to inject some cold energy into him, causing him to use more and more Profound Energy to disperse her cold energy. Seeing the intense battle on the arena, everyone's eyes were glued to it. Nobody wanted to look away, even for a second for fear of missing the fight.

At this point Ling Yuefeng, started to look at the match, not with a calm expression, but with a worried expression. He hadn't expected for Xia Qingyue to be this strong and to able to take on Ling Yun's attacks like that and still come out unscathed.

It became so bad for him, that his father, Ling Yuefeng, threw him another, the Celestial Yang Sword, which was Ling Jie's sword. With both Celestial Yuan & Yang Sword in hand, he was finally able to use his secret technique: ”The Sword Spirit Doppelganger.”

What happened next was… weird. Ling Yun held his swords in front of his chest, when all of a sudden, a shadow version of himself is created behind him. This shadow version of Ling Yun acted independently and using this, Ling Yun could surround Xia Qingyue and force her to use up all her strength.

And so, Ling Yun managed to drive Xia Qingyue into a corner. Every time she defended herself from an attack from one Ling Yun, the other one would be right behind to attack her, thus forcing her to keep switching her focus. And it was this what Ling Yun wanted.

Watching from the side, Chu Yueli wasn't very worried that Xia Qingyue would lose. Looking over to her sister, she could see that she was in a trance like state. What Chu Yueli remembered was, that 30 years ago, when a younger Chu Yuechan fought against a younger Ling Yuefeng, he used this same technique against her and won. Chu Yuechan was probably remembering this exact fight as she watched Xia Qingyue being driven into a corner by Ling Yun, using his Sword Spirit Doppelganger technique.

”I'd have never thought that Ling Yun could actually already be able to use the Sword Spirit Doppelganger… Elder sister, I remember that it was also because Ling Yuefeng had used this strange Sword Spirit Doppelganger trick to cause you to be defeated that year.” Said Chu Yueli to Chu Yuechan.

”Yes, it was this same technique that he used back then why I had lost.” Said Chu Yuechan calmly, gaze still transfixed on the match between Xia Qingyue and Ling Yun.

Closing her eyes, Chu Yueli activated a spirit sound transmission, ensuring that none would hear her except the target: ”Qingyue, it seems like there is no other choice. Activate 'Domain', I believe that once the Mistress knows that Ling Yun is capable of utilizing the Sword Spirit Doppelganger, she will not blame you for activating the Domain.”

The Xia Qingyue's movements, who had been doing her utmost best to hold her own against both Ling Yuns, became sluggish. Suddenly, the ice spirits around her body floated, and a humongous ”Ice Lotus Prison” exploded under her feet, causing both Ling Yuns to retreat at the same time.

The two Ling Yuns withdrew 30 meters away, then approached again at lightning speed. But at that moment, ice blue light was suddenly released from Xia Qingyue's body. She closed both eyes, as she opened her arms slowly, her long purple hair floated up even without any wind present and a wave of biting cold wind suddenly came crashing down from the sky.

”Frozen… Cloud… Domain….”

In a split second, it was as if the world suddenly switched over. The air in a 300 m radius that surrounded her turned into a world of snow and ice in a flash. In this huge ice-blue domain, the air was as frigid as purgatory. Ice and snow filled the sky as they fell. Water vapor in the air also rapidly solidified into countless ice crystals, forming a sheet of pure white that grew thicker by the second.

The movements of both Ling Yuns stopped simultaneously as layers of ice began to quickly solidify on their bodies. Deep shock was revealed on their faces.

”This is… This is… This is...”