After the quick exchange, they both grabbed their own weapons. Murong Xue Meng pulled out the sword she had bought from the Weapons master earlier, and Nangong Xue Yan pulled out an exquisite bow and manifested several yuan qi arrows. He placed one of the arrows and shot it at Murong Xue Meng. He then stepped back and shot three more arrows in quick succession. She brought up her sword and deflected the arrows effortlessly, each arrow crashed onto the arena ground near her and exploded creating a scene of utter devastation.
Nangong Xue Yan's face twitched a little at the sight. Although the arrows he shot out before weren't his strongest, they were by no means weak. The way Murong Xue Meng deflected those arrows scared him a little. Either she was much stronger than she let on, or she had calculated exactly where the arrows would come from and used a small amount of force at just the right moment to slightly alter their trajectory. Either way, she was much stronger than what her age and cultivation suggest.
The two looked at each other once again, and as if a silent command had been issued, they both attacked each other. The fight was fierce, and after another stick of incense of time, they were both bruised and bloodied, and the arena floor was close to being non-existent. However, compared to Nangong Xue Yan, Murong Xue Meng was just slightly more battered. She knew that if this battle dragged on, Nangong Xue Yang would definitely win. It's all or nothing.
"Nangong Xue Yan, do you dare to end this with one move? I know that you have trump cards you don't want to expose, and neither do I. So how about it?"
"Hmm, not a bad suggestion", he raised his eyebrow slightly ", sure"
Both again shot out, and a horrifying aura burst out from both of them.
"One Line Sword!"
"Hurricane Arrow!"
When the two moves clashed, many elders suddenly rushed to the arena to enforce the barrier. The arena was only designed to accommodate strength below the 9th layer of the harmonisation realm, and the clash of the two moves resulted in its complete destruction.
When the attacks dissipated, the audience could only see two small figures facing each other, both heavily injured. However, Murong Xue Meng couldn't hold on any longer, with the overuse of her yuan qi and the exhaustion from the clashes before she collapsed, her vision turning black.
.
.
.
When Murong Xue Meng woke up, she saw a young man sitting at a study table near the bed. He looked to be only around 20 years old, but gave off a peculiar air of maturity that didn't fit with his youthful face.
"Oh, you're awake"
He turned around, and a few strands of his long hair swept across his face. The setting sun cast its light on his elegant features, evoking a scene reminiscent of a celestial painting.
"There is some porridge and fruit by the bed. There is also tea if you'd like some."
"...Thank you, Nangong Xue Hai."
"It's no problem, Lady Murong."
He then swiftly made his way back to his desk, once again picking up his brush. While slowly saying,
"Lady Mur-"
"Just call me Murong Xue Meng"
"Murong Xue Meng, as you have gotten first place, along with my brother, I am inviting you to join the organisation that I have established, Ling Yue Pavilion. Although there are only a few members, they are all elites, and we hold a fair amount of sway amongst the sect. "
This shocked Murong Xue Meng; not only did she get first place equal with Nangong Xue Hai, but she also had an entire organisation whose name sounded very similar to her old self.
"...Does the name have any importance to you?"
"....It's the name of someone."
"I see"
Seeing that he was reluctant to talk any further about the subject, Murong Xue Meng moved on but didn't brush aside the fact that it might just be a coincidence.
"I would be glad to join the Ling Yue Pavilion."
"I look forward to working with you, Murong Xue Meng."
"As am I"
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The next day, Murong Xue Meng returned to her own residence after being cared for. She sat alone in her cramped room. Her residence was small, just one courtyard with a house. There was only a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, the very minimum that someone could live in. It could even be said to be worse than a servant's living quarters. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Nangong Xue Hai's room itself is bigger than her entire residence.
Since living here, Murong Xue Meng had realised that she didn't have many life skills at all. After having maids take care of her daily needs but out of sight, she realised that she really couldn't do anything by herself, and she really did need servants. However, she couldn't trust any of those people; any of them, if not all, could be her stepmother's spies.