As Murong Xue Meng landed on the platform, she had a good look at her opponent. She was around 16 to 17 years old and also used a sword. From her aura, her cultivation wasn't low, at least the fourth layer harmonisation realm, if not, the peak fourth layer harmonisation realm.
The woman saw that her opponent was merely at the peak of the first-layer harmonisation realm and couldn't help but snicker. Of course, she knew that her opponent won all her matches with one move, but seeing her low cultivation realm and small stature, who wouldn't underestimate her? The woman thought that Murong Xue Meng was only lucky, being matched against weak opponents, that although her strength was above average, she still wasn't a match for herself. If she really knew that Murong Xue Meng was at the peak of the 5th layer harmonisation realm, she'd probably just admit defeat.
" number 394"
"number 201"
"You may start!"
"Junior, this older sister will give you three moves as a head start so as not to bully you."
"....Are you certain you want to do this?"
For others, it might be hard to gain an advantage over this woman at the first layer of the harmonisation realm with only three moves, but for Murong Xue Meng, she could probably kill her in those three moves. Her control of yuan qi was refined to extraordinary precision, considering her cultivation because of her strengthened soul. However, this advantage would soon fall away in the face of brute strength and once people started to cultivate their souls.
What she needed was to learn new techniques and reach full proficiency in them.
"Ye-"
"check-"
Just as the woman confirmed her handicap, Murong Xue Meng was already in front of her. She swung her arm, and a yuan qi blade was already at the woman's neck.
"-mate"
Once again, she gave a fist-cup salute and left the stage wordlessly.
"Number 394 is the winner!"
The woman, number 201, was eliminated just like that.
"...What? So I lost, I...." As the realisation dawned on her, a helpless look appeared on her face. She knew that there was no way for her to win against Murong Xue Meng, the speed, precision and ruthlessness she showed were already enough for her to lose hope for winning.
.
.
.
And so Murong Xue Meng won most of her matches in a similar fashion until the finale; she was either going to be first or second place.
Her opponent was Nangong Xue Hai's younger brother, Nangong Xue Yan. Just like his older brother, he was a genius. Although he was only in the mid-third-layer harmonisation realm at 12 years old, he was still a genius.
"Heh, so you're Murong Xue Meng, the infamous trash, illegitimate daughter and stain on the Murong family?"
"I suppose I am."
"hmm... Interesting, it's quite good that you've gotten so far, surpassing your... talented sisters."
"Mmm... And? Anything else you want to say?"
"...You aren't really at peak first layer of harmonisation realm, are you?"
"Heh, so you saw through it, I thought someone would by now."
Murong Xue Meng placed her hand on the cultivation crystal. This time, instead of the peak first-layer harmonisation realm shown, it was the peak fifth-layer harmonisation realm.
Shock ran through the midst of the crowd.
"No way! Even Nangong Xue Hai was only a third-layer harmonisation realm at 10 years of age!"
"She's a monster!"
"Even though she's done so well don't forget she's Murong Xue Meng who hasn't even awoken her martial spirit yet, no matter how good she is now, she will get left in the dust!"
"True!"
While heated discussions broke out among the disciples, the two finalists faced off.
"You...." Nangong Xue Yan stuttered
"Me what? You're not peak third-layer harmonisation realm, either, are you? At least peak fourth layer, perhaps peak fifth layer as well?"
"Ah, so you saw through me too..."
An aura of mid sixth-layer harmonisation realm radiated out from him. It seems that Nangong Xue Yan's talent is just as good as Nangong Xue Hai's.....
"Unfortunately you're a little bit off.."
This was gonna be fun...
.
.
.
"You may start!"
There was a moment of silence before the two clashed; the exchange of moves was merely a probe of each other's strength, but the shock waves of this exchange caused even the shield protecting the stage to ripple.
Although it looked as if they had an even exchange, by the end, Murong Xue Meng had taken 11 steps back while Nangong Xue Yan had taken only 9. Even though Murong Xue Meng was slightly weaker than Nangong Xue Yan, it wasn't to the point where she was guaranteed to lose; she still had a few trump cards left to use, such as the one-line sword. Although one line sword could only be used at the end of the match it could still determine the winner and loser of this contest. Other than that, she had yet to use any techniques thus far, so Murong Xue Meng's strength was quite well hidden. On the other hand, however, this could also be said of Nangong Xue Yan. He had defeated his opponents in a similar fashion to Murong Xue Meng, both with one move for each match. This means that he also hadn't revealed any of his true strength, making it hard for either side to gauge the other's strength.