The silence in the Grand Plaza following Ye Kai's one-finger victory was heavy enough to crush a mortal.
The referee, a Deacon who was still staring at the hole in the sky where Iron Ox had vanished, finally found his voice. "Winner... Ye Kai of Desolate Cloud Peak!"
Jiang Chen calmly collected his winnings. The odds had been 1:100. "That's 5 million Spirit Stones," Jiang Chen reminded the fat bookmaker, who was currently receiving CPR from a medic. "Put it all on the next match."
The crowd murmured. "He's betting again?" "Is he crazy? That first win was just brute strength! Maybe Iron Ox slipped!" "Look at the next fighter! It's the girl! She looks like she's about to faint!"
On the stage, Su Ling stood trembling. She clutched her bag of talismans to her chest. Her eyes darted left, right, up, and down. She was muttering to herself rapidly. "Wind speed 5 knots... Humidity 40%... Probability of hidden archers: 12%... Probability of the floor collapsing: 4%..."
Her opponent leaped onto the stage with a roar of flames. Lie Huo of the Heavenly Craft Peak. He was a Golden Core Level 2 expert, wielding a massive flaming warhammer. He was known as the "Human Volcano."
"Little girl!" Lie Huo laughed, swinging his hammer. Sparks flew. "You should go home and play with dolls! The arena is no place for cowards!"
Su Ling flinched. "Fire? Why is there fire? Is the oxygen content in this arena stable? If he ignites the atmosphere, we all die!"
"Begin!" the referee shouted and immediately ran for cover.
The Match: The Raging Fire vs. The Panic Attack
Lie Huo didn't wait. He wanted to end this quickly to prove that Desolate Cloud Peak was a fluke. "Blazing Hammer Smash!" He leaped into the air, his hammer glowing white-hot. He aimed to turn Su Ling into a pancake.
Su Ling looked up. She saw a burning man falling toward her. Her brain didn't register "Attack." It registered "Catastrophic Event."
"STAY AWAY!" Su Ling shrieked.
She didn't run. She reached into her bag and grabbed a brick-sized stack of paper slips. This was Jiang Chen's invention: The Talisman Gatling.
She didn't throw them at Lie Huo. She threw them everywhere.
"Zone Denial Protocol!"
POOF.
Thousands of paper slips filled the air like a blizzard. Lie Huo, mid-air, sneered. "Paper? You think paper can stop my hammer?"
He swung his hammer through the cloud of paper. His hammer touched a single slip. The slip glowed red.
BOOM.
An explosion rocked the arena. Lie Huo was blasted backward, his momentum arrested. "What the—"
Before he could recover, his elbow touched another slip. BOOM. His foot touched another. BOOM.
It wasn't a chain reaction. It was a minefield in the air. Su Ling, terrified of being touched, had filled every cubic inch of space around her with Explosive Runes.
"Don't come closer!" Su Ling screamed, eyes shut, throwing another stack. "I have allergies!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The arena turned into a fireworks display. Lie Huo was juggled in the air. Every time he tried to land, an explosion kicked him back up. Every time he tried to swing his hammer, a talisman blew it aside.
He wasn't being fought. He was being bullied by math.
"Stop! Stop!" Lie Huo screamed, his armor blackened. "I can't get down!"
"He's still moving!" Su Ling panicked. "Increase saturation!"
She pulled out the Tortoise Shell Array Flags. Usually, these were for defense. But Su Ling threw them around Lie Huo.
"Containment Field!"
A golden barrier formed around the flying, exploding man. Now, the explosions were contained inside a small bubble. The sound was deafening. Lie Huo was bouncing off the walls of the barrier like a pinball, triggering more explosions with every bounce.
The crowd watched in horror. "She... she trapped him in a box and filled it with bombs?" "That's not a duel! That's an execution!" "Is she crying? Why is she crying while murdering him?"
In the VIP section, the Craft Peak Elder (Tie Gang) stood up, his beard twitching. "That... that is bullying! She is using 50,000 Spirit Stones worth of talismans just to beat one disciple! It's pay-to-win!"
Jiang Chen sipped his tea. "It's not pay-to-win. It's resource management. Su Ling is very efficient."
Inside the barrier, Lie Huo finally had enough. "I YIELD! I YIELD! LET ME OUT!"
Su Ling peeked through her fingers. "You yield?"
"YES! JUST STOP THE EXPLOSIONS!"
Su Ling exhaled, her knees shaking. "Oh. Okay." She snapped her fingers. The barrier vanished. The remaining paper slips fell to the ground, harmless.
Lie Huo fell face-first onto the scorched stone. He twitched once, let out a puff of smoke, and passed out.
Su Ling looked at the referee. "Did I win? Can I go back to my safe space now?"
The referee stared at the smoking crater that used to be the center of the stage. "Winner... Su Ling!"
The VIP Platform Reaction
Silence reigned again. Two matches. Two instant victories. One by a finger flick. One by a bombardment of wealth.
Grand Elder Feng (the villain) narrowed his eyes. "Interesting," Feng rumbled. "The boy has body strength. The girl has wealth and arrays. They are relying on external power."
He looked at Wei Hong (Elder Wei). "But external power has limits. The final match... is different."
Wei Hong nodded, a cruel smile returning to his face. "Yes, Grandfather. The final match is Wei Wu vs Gu Jian."
"Gu Jian is a Sword Genius," Wei Hong sneered. "And Wei Wu? He is blind. Arrays and muscles won't save him. In a sword fight, if you can't see, you die."
Jiang Chen heard them. He didn't respond. He just looked at the betting board.
[Match 3 Odds] [Sword Peak (Gu Jian) vs. Desolate Cloud Peak (Wei Wu)] [Gu Jian Wins: 1 : 1.05] [Wei Wu Wins: 1 : 500]
The odds were insane. No one believed a blind boy with a rusty sword could beat the top genius of the Sword Peak.
Jiang Chen walked over to the medic team, pulled the fat bookmaker out of his coma, and slammed his new winnings (millions of stones) onto the table.
"All of it," Jiang Chen said. "On the blind boy."
The bookmaker wept. "Elder Jiang... please... if you win again, the sect will have to sell a mountain to pay you."
"Then sell two," Jiang Chen said.
The Final Match Begins
Gu Jian walked onto the stage. He looked different than before. He wasn't arrogant. He was focused. He wore the blue robes of a Core Disciple. In his hand was a new sword, [Frost bite], a peak Spirit-Tier weapon bestowed by his Master.
He looked at the waiting area. "Come out, Wei Wu!" Gu Jian shouted. "I know you can hear me!"
Wei Wu stepped onto the stage. He walked slowly, tapping his cane. His eyes were covered by the [Blindfold of True Sight]. He looked frail. Weak. Like a strong wind would blow him away.
The crowd whispered. "That's the cursed boy?" "He looks like a stick." "Gu Jian is going to slaughter him."
Gu Jian pointed his sword at Wei Wu. "I don't care about your Master's tricks," Gu Jian said coldly. "I don't care about exploding paper or heavy gloves. The Sword is the weapon of Kings. Tricks don't work on the Sword."
Wei Wu stopped tapping his cane. He tilted his head. He didn't speak. He simply reached to his waist and rested his hand on the hilt of his iron sword.
"Draw your sword!" Gu Jian commanded.
"I don't need to," Wei Wu whispered.
"Arrogance!" Gu Jian roared. "I will cut that tongue from your mouth!"
[Sword Art: Cloud Parting Slash - Second Form!]
Gu Jian moved. He didn't slash from a distance this time. He dashed. He turned into a blur of blue light. He appeared instantly behind Wei Wu, slashing horizontally at Wei Wu's neck. It was a kill shot. Fast. Precise. Unavoidable.
The crowd gasped. "It's over!"
But Wei Wu didn't turn around. He didn't duck. He simply took one small step to the left.
Whoosh.
Gu Jian's sword slashed through empty air, missing Wei Wu's neck by a millimeter. A few strands of Wei Wu's hair were cut, floating in the wind.
Gu Jian's eyes widened. 'Luck?' He slashed again. A vertical strike. Wei Wu leaned back slightly. The sword passed his nose.
Slash. Dodge. Thrust. Sidestep. Chop. Pivot.
For ten breaths, Gu Jian unleashed a storm of steel. He attacked from every angle. But Wei Wu was like smoke. He moved with minimum effort. He didn't block. He didn't parry. He just... wasn't there.
"Stop running!" Gu Jian screamed, his composure breaking. "Fight me!"
Wei Wu stopped. He stood with his back to Gu Jian.
"I am not running," Wei Wu said softly. "I am reading."
"Reading what?!"
"Your story," Wei Wu turned around. Although his eyes were covered, Gu Jian felt a terrifying gaze piercing his soul. "And your story... is full of typos."
[Void Eyes: Active.] [Flaw Detected: 100%.]
Wei Wu's thumb pushed the hilt of his sword. Click. The sword slid one inch out of the sheath.
Just one inch.
But in that inch, a beam of Sword Intent shot out. It didn't cut Gu Jian's body. It cut the Qi connection between Gu Jian and his sword.
SNAP.
Gu Jian's Spirit Sword, Frost Bite, suddenly grew heavy. The spiritual light vanished. It fell from Gu Jian's hand and clattered onto the stone floor like a piece of scrap metal.
Gu Jian stood there, his hand empty, trembling. "My... my sword... why did it let go?"
"Because," Wei Wu pushed the sword back into the sheath with a click. "It realized you were holding it wrong."
Silence.
Wei Wu walked forward. He tapped Gu Jian's shin with his cane. "Kneel."
It wasn't a command. It was a statement of gravity. Gu Jian's legs gave out. He collapsed to his knees, staring at the blind boy in horror.
"I yield..." Gu Jian whispered, his spirit broken.
Winner: Wei Wu.
Jiang Chen stood up on the VIP platform. He finished his tea. "Three for three," Jiang Chen said to the stunned Grand Elder Feng. "I believe you owe me a Peak."