Fu Luan stood where she had been, using the wind to blow away the dust she stirred up with that last attack.
When she looked around, she couldn't see Ying Yue anywhere. It was like she vanished. There was a pit in the ground where her whip had struck, but besides that nothing. No blood. No body. There was not a trace that Ying Yue had even been standing there prior to her attack. Fu Luan had no clue what was going on.
Ying Yue had no clue what was going on either.
When she saw that whip coming for her, she panicked, and almost as if by instinct, she leapt into one of the voids. She was currently in the void. For what felt like an eternity, Ying Yue just floated about the void. It was strange, but Ying Yue didn't dislike it. Of course, she would have more time to explore this later, as right now she needed to get out of the void. She had no clue how much time had passed outside of the void, but she did know she could feel her body starting to be converted into energy, as what happens to all things that enter the void. It was happening very slowly, but it was still enough to freak out Ying Yue.
Ying Yue wasn't really sure how she had entered the void in the first place, so she started reaching out, hoping against logic that she could grab the void and tear back into reality. To her surprise, and relief, she managed to grab the void and open a hole, stepping out. What she found most shocking, however, was that she was now conveniently placed behind Fu Luan.
She watched as Fu Luan cleared the dust from the air, clearing up so that she could see. She had to stifle a laugh, not wanting to let Fu Luan know she was behind her.
The audience was the most confused of all. One moment, it looked like Ying Yue was going to be cleaved in two by Fu Luan's whip, and yet the moment the dust cleared, Ying Yue was standing behind Fu Luan, completely unharmed.
Ying Yue knew she would only have a moment before Fu Luan turned around to look for her, so she moved as fast as she could, shocking everyone watching.
The crowd was stunned, as they watched Ying Yue swiftly kick Fu Luan with all her might, knocking her out of the designated battle area. Fu Luan didn't even know what happened. One moment, it looked like her victory was assured, but then in the next moment she was sent flying. It made no sense. She was supposed to win this fight with no effort. Having her go up against Ying Yue was practically handing her a free pass to move on to the next round, and yet she lost? What was this nonsense!
The most stunned people, however, where Crown Prince Fu Longwie and Yao Xiuying.
Just what the hell happened?!
When did Ying Yue become so fast and strong? She couldn't even cultivate, so what was with this out come?!
It was absolutely silent in the arena, as no one could believe what they first witnessed.
Ying Yue stood in the middle of the arena, looking at all the flabbergasted face of those in attendance. As she was looking around, she made eye-contacted with Jiu Niu, who was absolutely petrified. When Ying Yue saw Jiu Niu, she couldn;t help but be mischievous, and once again winked at her. When Jiu Niu saw this, she directly fainted, making Jiang Won have to act quickly in order to prevent her from falling and hitting her head on the ground.
The first person to finally break the silence was Zhu Xinya.
"HOLY SHIT YING YUE!" She cried, as she ran down into the arena floor and scooped Ying Yue up into a bear hug. "Just what the fuck was that!? I thought you where gonna die but you just kicked major ass." Zhu Xinya was practically bursting with excitement and pride as she hugged Ying Yue. Of course, it didn't take long for Zhu Xinya to realize that she had total just broken the master-servant rules of touching her master without permission, and so she promptly put Ying Yue down, blushing profusely.
Seeing Zhu Xinya's antics made Ying Yue smile. This little girl was certainly coming out of her shell more and more, and Ying Yue loved it.
"There's no need to worry Zhu-Zhu," Ying Yue said, as she hugged Zhu Xinya, "I had a fortuitous encounter, and I can now cultivate, so there's no need to worry. Now, I'm super tough, so beating someone like her is no problem." Ying Yue said this quietly, so that only herself and Zhu Xinya could hear it. She wanted to hide it for longer, but seeing how her battle just went, she figured she would have to explain herself at some point.
The Emperor finally came out of his shock at the result of the match, and stood up to speak.
"Ying Yue, might We ask what just happened. How was it that you were able to defeat Fu Luan? As you know, using outside help us against the rules, and results in immediate disqualification, so We hope that you will be honest with Us." The Emperor could only explain to himself how this happened was if Ying Yue somehow received help from someone else. Of course, he couldn't quite believe this either, as who would be willing to help Ying Yue, but it was the only explanation he could come up with.
"Well, you see, a while back something really good happened to me, and now I can cultivate." Ying Yue said, trying to brush it off as nothing, in hopes that the Emperor wouldn't want to test her abilities. If he discovered all her different attributes, there's no telling what he might do. Forget about forcing her to marry Fu Longwie, he might even drag her into his harem for himself. Thinking of this, Ying Yue couldn't help but want to gag. The thought of having to share a bed with that man that was old enough to be her father was disgusting.
When Ying Yue said this, Jiu Niu was finally coming around. However, upon hearing Ying Yue's words, she promptly fainted again. Unfortunately for Jiu Niu, Jiang Won was too shocked by his daughter's words to bother catching his wife, and as such her head hit the floor with a loud (and satisfying) thump.
No one bothered with checking on Jiu Niu, as the Emperor and everyone else were simple to shocked to pay any attention to her. This was especially true for Yao Xiuying. Even though it was her own mother who had hit her head and was injured, she didn't pay any attention, as now all her focus was on how Fu Longwie would react.