The air beneath the Echo Pillar was deathly still. Even the glowing runes on the stone seemed to dim in anticipation.
Fang Xi stood motionless, dagger held low in a reverse grip. His robe fluttered in the cold wind, but his expression was stone.
Liu Yimei faced him ten paces away, her twin blades gleaming like crescent moons. Her eyes locked onto his — sharp, unreadable, like a viper about to strike.
She's faster. But predictable.
I only need one mistake.
Jiang Ping stood behind them, wide-eyed. "This is insane—can't we just—!"
Neither fighter answered.
The duel had already begun.
Yimei moved first.
A blur. Blade to the throat.
Fang Xi sidestepped.
The second blade arced low — aimed to sever his hamstring.
He dropped to one knee, the attack whistling past his ear.
He twisted, slashed upward — and missed.
Yimei danced backward, smirking. "You'll have to do better than that, Demon."
She underestimates me.
Perfect.
She came again.
High feint, low stab, pivoting to his blind side.
Fang Xi activated Mirror Vein Insight — not to read her flow, but to gauge her fatigue, the rhythm of her pulses, the slight hesitations.
He saw it.
Left shoulder weaker. Old injury?
Favoring right knee. Over-reliant on momentum.
There.
He parried both blades, twisting slightly, and rammed his elbow into her temple as she overcommitted.
She staggered.
Fang Xi struck — low, quick, shallow — a cut across her thigh.
Blood bloomed. Not fatal, but it slowed her.
She cursed and backed off.
They circled now.
Fang Xi didn't chase. He waited.
She lunged again — a wild arc — and this time, he let her get close.
Too close.
At the last instant, he dropped his blade, caught her wrist, and used her momentum to flip her over his hip, slamming her onto the cold stone.
She gasped.
He moved instantly — stepped on her hand — and drove his second dagger to her throat.
One breath.
One kill.
But he paused.
Her eyes locked on his. For the first time, there was fear.
Then rage.
"You… can't win alone," she hissed. "You're still just one man. The sect will eat you alive."
Fang Xi smiled.
"I'm counting on it."
He drew the blade.
And cut her throat.
Silence.
Her body twitched once. Then stilled.
Blood pooled beneath her, staining the ice-red stone of the Echo Pillar.
Fang Xi turned to Jiang Ping.
The boy backed up, trembling. "I—I didn't know she'd—"
"I know," Fang Xi said quietly.
He picked up Yimei's token and walked to the monolith.
Three Tokens
Fang Xi placed one token.
Jiang Ping placed another, hands shaking.
The final token — Tie Ba's, bloodstained and cracked — Fang Xi laid gently in the last slot.
The monolith pulsed with silver light.
A deep rumble echoed through the dome. The path to the Inner Sect had opened.
Only two would walk it.
And Fang Xi was already calculating what came next.