Feng Yudie fell headfirst onto the stage.
Seeing her appearance on stage, Bai Yuelin, who was one of the examiners, immediately felt displeased. She called out three times before Feng Yudie finally got on the stage, and it seemed like she had been thrown up by someone from the audience.
Such people were usually rascals.
She glanced at Feng Yudie and then sighed softly, furrowing her brows as she questioned, “Where is your courtesy?!”
Feng Yudie quickly stood up, wiped her face, looked at her left and right hands, and only then noticed that her sword was still by Pei Lengxue’s side, not thrown up to her.
Suddenly, she felt a bit embarrassed and moved to the edge of the practice sword platform, taking a wooden sword to weigh it.
“Mhm, mhm!”
After that, she returned to the center of the stage, bowed respectfully, and performed a martial salute to Bai Yuelin.
“Please teach me, senior sister.”
“Senior sister?” Bai Yuelin’s face turned sour. “You haven’t even joined yet; you should call me senior.”
“Ah… please teach me, senior.”
Bai Yuelin frowned, carefully sizing up the silver-haired girl in front of her. Silver hair was a rare sight, and this girl had a fairy-like quality in her appearance.
Perhaps it was jealousy of her looks, or maybe it was because of the way she carried herself so carefreely, not taking things seriously. Bai Yuelin suddenly felt a sense of anger.
The measure of skill in this sword trial was up to her.
Normally, she wouldn’t go all out; otherwise, these Qi Refining cultivators from other sects wouldn’t be able to last against the disciples of Sky Cloud Peak. So, the Sky Cloud Peak disciples were holding back.
But this girl before her…
Bai Yuelin wanted to give her a lesson, to make her remember her place. She intended to defeat her after just a couple of moves.
She lowered the wooden sword in her right hand and raised her chin toward Feng Yudie. “Come, make your move.”
Feng Yudie nodded and observed Bai Yuelin’s sword grip. She softly cautioned, “Senior, be careful.”
In the blink of an eye, Feng Yudie took a step and was suddenly right in front of Bai Yuelin.
Swish —
A cold light flashed, accompanied by the sound of a sword breaking through the air.
Caught off guard by this blink of an eye, Bai Yuelin nearly failed to react. She hurriedly raised the wooden sword in her hand to defend.
But the instant her wooden sword blocked Feng Yudie’s sword, she felt her wrist bones let out a mournful cry.
Feng Yudie’s sword felt as heavy as a boulder.
And in the next moment —
With a crisp “crack,” the wooden sword Bai Yuelin was holding snapped in half.
Feng Yudie was also taken aback and quickly changed the direction of her sword.
The sword that had been aimed at Bai Yuelin’s neck suddenly curved, flicking upward near her nose.
“… …”
Half of the wooden sword fell onto the stage, and Bai Yuelin was left dumbfounded.
She looked at her broken wooden sword, then at the perfectly intact wooden sword in Feng Yudie’s hand.
Both wooden swords clashed, but why did hers break while Feng Yudie’s remained unscathed?
“Senior, you’re too kind.”
Feng Yudie stepped back two paces and performed a salute.
In just one exchange, victory and defeat were determined.
The disciple recording the results stood still, stunned.
There was a saying that “those not involved can see clearly, while those involved are in a daze.” As an onlooker, he hadn’t even seen Feng Yudie’s movements clearly; he only heard the sounds of “swish” and “crack” before it was over.
He looked at Bai Yuelin, then at Feng Yudie, hesitated for a while, and finally shouted, “Feng Yudie wins by breaking the move!”
With his announcement, the previously noisy practice arena fell silent.
Even the disciples on the other practice platforms, who were still in the midst of their duels, stopped and turned their heads to look at the Sky Cloud Peak platform.
They couldn’t believe their eyes. Someone from Sky Cloud Peak had actually been defeated in a move in the sword trial.
And this was Sky Cloud Peak, the main training ground for Profound Star Sect’s sword cultivators. A sword disciple was unexpectedly defeated in a move by a Qi Refining cultivator.
But more than just curious about who broke Sky Cloud Peak’s sword trial record, they were more curious about which disciple of Sky Cloud Peak was defeated.
This year’s sword trial was different from the previous ones.
In the past, only one or two elders would come to observe the sect’s sword trials.
But this time, not only all five elders were present, even the parrot kept by the sect master was there.
Even the disciples from the weaker Moon Spring Peak were on high alert today, afraid of being defeated by the participants from other sects and losing face.
Yet now, someone had been defeated in a single move.
In an instant, their sympathetic gazes turned to Bai Yuelin. They felt that after this, she would surely face heavy punishment from the elders of Sky Cloud Peak.
Bai Yuelin swallowed hard, still not believing what had happened.
But the broken sword was on the ground, and she still held the hilt in her hand, making it impossible for her to argue her way out.
And, if she had been defeated after a back-and-forth exchange, that would be acceptable, but to be defeated in an instant…
Bai Yuelin trembled as she raised her head, looking at the other practice platforms. She sensed the sympathy in the eyes of her fellow disciples and her legs began to shake uncontrollably. Her face turned crimson, and her ears burned red.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
The disciple recording the results quickly sent a mental message to Bai Yuelin: “Senior sister Bai, don’t just stand there! Perform a martial salute quickly and ask that girl to step down.”
“Ah…” Hearing the reminder from her fellow disciple, Bai Yuelin was startled. She managed to hold back the tears that were about to fall from her eyes and quickly performed a bow to Feng Yudie, saying, “Ah… I concede… I concede.”
Feng Yudie lowered her head and looked at Bai Yuelin’s face. Seeing her on the brink of tears, she quickly consoled, “Senior, winning and losing are common in martial arts. Don’t take it to heart. It’s not shameful to lose to me.”
Though Feng Yudie genuinely wanted to comfort her, her words felt like salt in the wound to Bai Yuelin.
“… …”
Bai Yuelin’s nose twitched, and she quickly lowered her head, using the sleeve of her robe to wipe her face, trying to hide her tears.
The disciple recording the results also gestured urgently to Feng Yudie: Get off the stage!
Feng Yudie understood and bowed deeply to Bai Yuelin again. She then placed the wooden sword back on the rack and hopped down from the stage, making her way back to the rest area.
Arriving at Pei Lengxue’s side, Feng Yudie looked at Xiao Yunluo, who was also staring at her with disbelief. She couldn’t help but rub her nose in a somewhat smug manner and grinned foolishly.
“Hehe, wasn’t I amazing?!”
“You…”
Xiao Yunluo bit her lip lightly, momentarily at a loss for words. She had originally thought that she could secure the first place by holding out for half an incense stick’s worth of time on the Sky Cloud Peak platform. That way, she could show her growth to her mother.
But the limelight had been completely stolen by this seemingly carefree silver-haired girl.
“… …” Clenching her fist, Xiao Yunluo nodded begrudgingly and admitted, “Yes, it’s quite impressive to defeat a disciple of Sky Cloud Peak in their sword trial.”
“Hehe.” Feng Yudie chuckled triumphantly, then blinked at Pei Lengxue, playfully asking, “Junior sister Pei, what about… the promised hug?”
“When did we agree on that?” Pei Lengxue looked at her with a slightly disgusted expression. However, thinking that she might also draw Bai Yuelin later, she asked, “Is that senior sister powerful?”
“Mhm…” Feng Yudie drew out the sound thoughtfully for a moment and then gave her a thumbs-up, grinning widely. “Junior sister Pei, you’ll be just fine. If you draw her, you’ll definitely win with ease!”
Pei Lengxue weakly nodded, seemingly lacking confidence.
At this moment, the Sky Cloud Peak platform also called out Pei Lengxue’s name, but because she was participating as an accompanying disciple, an honorific title was added.
“Next contestant, Pei Lengxue, Sky Cloud Peak sword-trial peak, please step onto the stage!”
“Ah… here I go!!!!!!”
Upon hearing her name, Pei Lengxue immediately stood up from her seat, standing up straight.
Beside her, Xiao Yunluo looked puzzled and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Ah…” Pei Lengxue froze for a moment, then awkwardly pressed her lips together and explained, “My senior brother used to say that when your name is called, you should shout ‘here I go!’ loudly… I got used to it…”
Xiao Yunluo wrinkled her nose, chuckled, and said, “Your senior brother is quite peculiar.”
“He can be strange at times.” Pei Lengxue thought of her senior brother’s face and giggled shyly, “Ehehe.”
“Go up quickly.”
“Mhm.”
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