"You have to do better than that if you wish to defeat me."
Long Mengchen was not an opponent of the silhouette with the current set of skills she was showing. Even if her sword art was compelling, she was not able to match in power to the black silhouette.
The audience began to sympathize with Long Mengchen. Her talent was top-notch, and all the sects were trying to recruit her. The matriarch of the Green cloud palace wanted to recruit a personal disciple to be a successor. She was a candidate.
.........
Long Mengchen continued her attack pattern. The black silhouette kept disrupting her stance, injuring her.
"Even after knowing that she couldn't injure me, why is she continuing with the same set of attacks." It is what gave rise to a gut feeling, and he dodged back. 'Swish,' a sword attack landed and ripped a piece off its hood.
The masters were trying to make sense of what just happened.
...............
" So miss managed to understand the real meaning behind the swordplay. That's good news." The other figure nodded too.
They knew the profoundness of the moon sword art. It was something that the moon fairy created with her life experience in conjugation with all the skills she learned in her life.
The first stage of the art was the progressive randomization of one's movement. It would never be the same as the strike before, but even that will have its limits somewhere.
This limit marked the end of the first part of the moon sword art. The next part was the level of differentiation comprehension.
..............
It was where the user needs to comprehend different growth pathways, which leads to a whole new set of random arts and then combine all them into a singular technique.
It was a formless sword art. What they wanted to know was how many pathways could the little miss of theirs comprehend.
" How many did you manage to comprehend until now" Even after his cultivation realm being so high, he was still just in the second level. What sort of art was this?
......................
"Such a talented girl, she was able to step into the second step of the formless. Good going. I wish she were one of the inheritors." The Keeper said. It was all true.
It was also an opportunity for him. He could use this girl to deepen his insights and then better his understanding of the sword.
As he continued to fight, he started getting more and more inspired by the usage of the sword by his enemy. He managed to understand the flow once more and disrupt the flow of her sword.
Long Mengchen had a look of absolute helplessness. She had managed to gain insight into the fight and was able to create and comprehend another growth way, but it, too, was seen through her opponent. It was frustrating.
She couldn't find an inspiration or a breakthrough anymore. She already understood that if she wanted to defeat her opponent, her full power needs to be utilized.
...................................
" You are the younger sister of that disabled person from the Long Clan right. The one who was mercilessly killed. I didn't expect much from a clan so weak that they couldn't manage a payback. But you managed to surprise me. "
After hearing these words, the people of the Long clan had raged on their faces, but they couldn't retort the fact in the least. Long Shen was the one whose mood was the least good. It was his son that he lost, and he was helpless to do anything.
..................
Long Mengchen was a small child when she was first accepted into the clan. She was wondering in the wilderness when she first encountered a demonic beast and started fighting.
When another two beasts joined in the fray, she was at a considerable disadvantage. Just as she was about to lose, a boy emerged and started clashing with the monsters along with her.
It was none other than Long Tao. He was wandering around when he found that this young lass was being attacked and wanted to protect her. Long Tao asked her if she would like to come to his clan.
The girl complied and followed him back to the Long Manor, where Long Tao introduced her to Long Shen and his mother, Bi Luo.
............................
When the couple saw the young girl and understood her situation of being an orphan, they instantly thought upon adopting her as a foster daughter.
After that, Long Mengchen and Long Tao were continuously together, training, and playing with each other. Long Tao was the nearest to her heart, one she could never forget.
But then the incidents happened.
.............................
When she heard the words of the hooded figure, she was enraged. It didn't matter if he mocks her, her clan, but the one sore spot was her brother.
She dashed and attacked the figure, but rather than dodging the attack, for the first time, the silhouette used a fist art. She was sent flying to the edge of the arena and blood flow to her mouth.
"Didn't I said before if you want to defeat me, you need to use the full power of your body at least.".
Long Mengchen rose, wiped the blood, and closed her eyes. Her aura was retracted; it was as if she had no fighting intent for a second. The black figure stood there in anticipation of what was about to happen.
He had huge expectations from this lass. After some time, the atmosphere seems to have changed. A colossal pressure started building on the arena as long Mengchen opened her eyes.
She looked at the black figure with icy cold eyes, released her breath, and the aura inside her gushed out.
....................................
All the guests invited, even the king and the clan lords, stood upon their seats from the view of what they could see in front of them. "Ninth layer of Qi child," Jiao Sheng gasped a mouthful of cold air.
How could this be? The youngest participant present in the whole gathering had the cultivation realm of the 9th layer of Qi child. Only a step away from the Qi master realm. What sort of monstrous talent was this?
"Good. Finally, you are willing to use your true power against me. Now that you have shown you true power, I need to show some of mine, too, don't I." Saying that the hooded figure too started releasing his cultivation. '7th layer of the Qi child'.
......................................
"I didn't expect the little miss to be triggered by those words. Although it is good news for us that little miss is already at the peak of the Qi child realm. She can have a breakthrough now that she will get to cultivate in the forbidden zone of the royal clan. "
The other guy didn't even lookup. "Let me correct you a bit," an aura was released by the other guy.
" We are just servants of little miss. The most we can do is advise her, as long as she stays within limits decided by his majesty. Neither I and especially you are not worthy enough to order her around".
The other guy broke in a cold sweat and cursed himself of what he said earlier.
"But I didn't expect the memory of that boy to be so impactful for the little miss. It might be a blessing in disguise.".
................................
Two of the most dazzling people of the younger generation were fighting on an equal basis on the arena. The audience was silent and watched without a blink.
The silhouette didn't block the attacks or dodged them. Long Mengchen was continuing to attack with her sword and fists simultaneously.
But the figure opposite to her was also matching her power with a similarly exquisite attack style. It was another incredibly insightful art.
" Did you think you could win just because you have a larger Qi reserve than mine" The figure smiled and taking a step back, and concentrating his power, assimilating it to a considerable amount, attack Long Mengchen at her chest?
She was thrown away again, and this time massive injuries were inflicted on her. But how could she give up? She stood up, gathering all the strength, and decided even if she has to pay the price, she will defeat the opponent in front of her.
"This is bad. The miss is going to use her bloodline power. It has not awakened fully. We can't let her use it now". The two figures instantly stood up and disappeared from view.
............................
In the arena-
The silhouette looked at his opponent.
" You have grown Mengchen, being able to take one of my punches at full power "
Long Mengchen 's figure, stiffened. Not only her, but even Long Shen also stood up after seeing this. This voice was something both of them were familiar to.
The hooded figure stood there and slowly took off his hood. A boy of around 16 years came into view. This figure would be ignored if seen walking around in the street, but here he had an immense significance.
It was one of the finalists. But he had another identity. He was the crippled young master of the Long Clan, Long Tao.
How could he still be alive after the attack on him at the range? Long Shen and the people of Long Clan were spellbound.
Long Mengchen was already a shining star, but the other figure who was also a finalist and more potent than her was their late young master.
Just because he had a disability, no one even bothered about taking any revenge for him. But the scene in front was a massive slap on their faces.
...................................
"Honestly, I expected you to be more talented and will be already thinking of leaving the clan, given your great background. But you chose to stay in the clan of utter cowards. I pity you."
"Your mentality betrayed the expectations I had from you."
Long Mengchen had tears in her eyes. Tears of joy initially upon seeing her elder brother who she loved dearly. But his words shocked her. The figure before her didn't resemble the brother from her past.