'Clang—!'
In the next instant, a surging immense force came from the sword blade placed horizontally before his chest. The violent vibration made Yanqing's sword-holding hand go numb. A tearing pain came from his tiger's mouth, nearly knocking the longsword out of his hand.
The force from his hand caused Yanqing's body to retreat continuously. During this, the youth kept stomping on the ground with his feet to help dissipate the force.
'Scrape—!'
However, even after using various methods to dissipate the force, Yanqing's body still retreated dozens of steps. Only when he reached a wall did he finally manage to stop himself.
"Just who are you?"
Shaking his somewhat numb arm, Yanqing gripped the longsword in his hand tightly once more. The three-foot green blade pointed straight at the girl before him, his tone full of vigilance.
'He actually blocked it?'
Seeing the youth before her completely unharmed, with only a slightly numb arm, a strange look also flashed in Yunli's eyes.
Truthfully, the moment she subconsciously swung her sword, the girl had already regretted it.
It must be known that what Yunli used was a heavy sword. As the saying goes, a heavy sword has no edge, and great skill seems clumsy.
The reason a heavy sword needs no sharp edge is that even if the blade cannot directly cause too much damage to the enemy, thanks to its unique advantages, a single collision from a heavy sword can injure a person's internal organs and cause severe internal injuries.
Although that sword strike just now was only Yunli's subconscious counterattack, it was by no means something an ordinary person could withstand.
Yunli could say without exaggeration that even a valiant and skilled Cloud Knight soldier would inevitably suffer heavy injuries after taking that strike from her. This was exactly why the girl regretted swinging her sword afterward.
However… what she hadn't expected was that this blond skinny monkey before her only felt slightly uncomfortable and showed no other reactions.
"I'll ask you one more time. Just who are you? What is your purpose in appearing on the Xianzhou Luofu?"
Yanqing spoke again with a cold voice. He was now very certain that the girl before him was no ordinary person.
Although saying this might sound a bit arrogant, the fact that the other party could so easily put him—a Cloud Knight Lieutenant—at a disadvantage in combat meant that a powerhouse of this level would not be common even across the entire Xianzhou Luofu.
"Who I am is none of your business. If you really want to know, then defeat me with your sword. Speak with your sword instead of flapping your lips here!"
Yanqing's rude questioning made Yunli very unhappy. The two were similar in age and both top geniuses of their respective Xianzhou. In other words, who didn't have a bit of pride? Since Yanqing spoke to her so rudely, Yunli had no reason to indulge him.
"Since you refuse to explain yourself, then please forgive me for being rude!"
Yanqing held his longsword. His figure turned into an afterimage. After several flashes in the air, he thrust straight toward Yunli.
Facing the longsword that suddenly appeared before her, Yunli gripped the sword hilt tightly. The heavy body of 'Old Iron' stood like a black iron shield, protecting the girl firmly behind it.
'Clang! Clang—!'
The longsword's edge collided with the heavy sword, producing a teeth-aching scraping sound. Accompanied by eye-catching sparks, it left a shallow mark on the heavy sword's body.
Failing in one strike, Yanqing did not get discouraged. His figure spun, using the flexibility of the longsword and his own light-as-a-swallow, agile and ever-changing footwork to wage guerrilla warfare with Yunli as the center.
"Tch, annoying guy!"
Due to the heavy sword's characteristics and Yanqing's shameless fighting style, our Miss Yunli could only passively defend, constantly shifting the direction of her sword body to block the attacks coming from all directions.
Of course, during this time, the girl did not give up on the idea of counterattacking. While enduring the attacks, she was also observing Yanqing's movement patterns, waiting for even the smallest mistake from him to launch a thunderous counterattack.
"Now!"
After clashing for about half a minute, Yunli finally spotted a flaw in Yanqing's attacks. She immediately swung her heavy sword with unstoppable momentum toward that flaw.
'What sharp intuition!'
Seeing Yunli swing her sword in counterattack, Yanqing immediately understood her intention. He hurriedly mobilized the Path power within his body and laid down a defense at the flaw—or rather the 'eye'—of his sword technique.
"Path of [Hunt]?"
Feeling the [Hunt] Path aura coming from Yanqing, Yunli was slightly startled. Then, as if remembering something, her gaze became even sharper.
At the same time, a power full of destruction and the desire for annihilation rose from the girl's body. The aura of the [Destruction] Path pressed down on Yanqing without reservation.
'Bang—!!!'
The longsword and heavy sword clashed. The two Path powers of [Hunt] and [Destruction] collided. In an instant, a force seemingly capable of destroying heaven and earth spread outward with Yunli and Yanqing at the center.
'Crack crack—! Crack crack—!'
The marble pavement beneath their feet could not withstand the immense force of the clash and let out trembling groans until it shattered into powder, kicking up clouds of dust.
"Hu hu…!"
A short while later, after the dust settled, the figures of Yunli and Yanqing reappeared. However, at this moment, Yanqing's condition did not look very stable.
A huge red wound was clearly visible on the youth's handsome face. Fresh red blood flowed down the wound, dripping onto the ground drop by drop.
At the same time, the icy sword in his hand had also suffered heavy damage in this clash. The blade was slightly bent, and a deep notch had been chipped at the edge.
Let us turn our gaze to Yunli. Compared to Yanqing, the girl at this moment did not look nearly as miserable.
It could only be said that the battle just now had left Yunli's body somewhat tired and her clothes slightly dirty. Other than that, there were no further reactions.