Zhu Xiaxia chose to land on Pingyuan Great Island, the place she most loved to use for napping.
Back when she had more free time, Zhu Xiaxia loved coming here.
Unfortunately, things had become busy lately.
Between that and having to take care of Zhu Qiu, she rarely visited anymore.
“My precious daughter, do you like the scenery here?”
The high-altitude wind blew gently, carrying the refreshing scent of flowers and grass.
“It was wonderful!”
“I like it.”
“Only Mother and you know about this place. No one else knows it exists, so you don’t have to worry about being discovered. This is Mother’s treasure land.”
In an instant, Zhu Xiaxia’s pupils changed from one purple and one red to a matching, deep red.
“Right here, let us begin our battle.”
“Huh? Are we really going to fight?”
“The venue has already been chosen, so why not?”
Zhu Xiaxia walked until she was 100 meters away from Zhu Qiu, then manifested an Ice Sword from her hand.
Compared to other elements, the Ice Element possessed a physical form.
It could stabilize its shape more effectively, making it perfect for creating a sword.
“Daughter, summon your Holy Sword. Mother won’t use Magic. I will challenge you using nothing but pure swordsmanship.”
‘What?’
Zhu Xiaxia was actually going to use swordsmanship?
‘Did I hear that right?’
“Did this person even know how to use a sword?”
“How could she dare make such a claim?”
“Why are you dazing? Is the Human Sword Saint afraid?”
“Not at all! Holy Sword, Jian Ge Yi!”
Zhu Qiu summoned her Holy Sword to face the challenge.
“Then our battle officially begins!”
Zhu Qiu held the Holy Sword with both hands, her nerves taut.
In contrast, Zhu Xiaxia stood in a loose posture.
She held the Ice Sword with one hand, letting it dangle carelessly at her side without any semblance of a proper stance.
However, Zhu Qiu was not foolish enough to underestimate Zhu Xiaxia.
Regardless of everything else, her opponent was still a Dragon King.
Even without technique, her raw power alone surpassed Zhu Qiu’s own.
To be safe, she would test the waters first.
“Slash!”
Zhu Qiu swung the Holy Sword.
A golden blade of light flew from the edge, heading straight for Zhu Xiaxia’s Ice Sword.
She wanted to see how Zhu Xiaxia would use that Ice Sword to block this strike without the enhancement of Magic.
Seeing the sword energy flying toward her, Zhu Xiaxia focused.
She raised the Ice Sword with one hand and held it in front of her body.
It was obvious she intended to tank the Holy Sword’s energy head-on.
With a sharp “clink”, Zhu Xiaxia was pushed back by the force of the strike.
She slid several meters while standing upright before finally coming to a stop.
She hadn’t used any technique or attempt to dodge.
Relying solely on her physical constitution, she had intercepted the blow.
This was a strike that contained the results of Zhu Qiu’s frequent practice over many years.
But that wasn’t what surprised Zhu Qiu.
What shocked her was that Zhu Xiaxia really hadn’t used Magic.
Furthermore, that exchange allowed her to see a glimmer of hope for victory.
The corners of Zhu Qiu’s mouth curled upward slightly.
When it came to swordsmanship, she was serious.
“Zhu Xiaxia, take two more of my strikes!”
“Slash!”
Using a standard form, Zhu Qiu released two parallel waves of sword energy simultaneously toward Zhu Xiaxia.
Because there were now two attacks, Zhu Xiaxia had to hold her sword horizontally.
She gripped the hilt with one hand and braced the blade with the other, continuing to meet the attack head-on.
She slid back an even greater distance this time before stopping, yet she still wasn’t knocked down.
“Again!”
Zhu Qiu pressed her advantage.
She leaped high into the air, swung the Holy Sword in a full 360-degree arc, and slammed it down toward the ground.
“Great Sword Slash!”
A massive wave of sword energy, several times taller than Zhu Xiaxia, flew forward slowly.
The purpose of this specific sword energy was to sacrifice speed in exchange for overwhelming power.
Zhu Qiu had picked up on the fact that Zhu Xiaxia didn’t know how to dodge and preferred to block everything directly.
If Zhu Xiaxia tried to take this hit head-on, there was a high probability she would be knocked over—or the Ice Sword in her hand would be shattered instantly.
In the past, during various competitions within the Human Race, no matter how strong a sword was, none had survived an encounter with her Great Sword Slash.
The sword in Zhu Xiaxia’s hand would likely suffer the same fate.
Zhu Qiu was determined to win with this strike!
As the sword energy slowly approached Zhu Xiaxia, everything happened exactly as Zhu Qiu expected.
Zhu Xiaxia settled into her stance, truly attempting to intercept the blow.
“Hey! Zhu Xiaxia, get out of the way! You’ll get hurt like that!”
Zhu Qiu gave a kind warning, but Zhu Xiaxia ignored it.
After sliding back more than 500 meters, Zhu Xiaxia finally came to a halt.
At the same time, Zhu Qiu let out a sigh of relief and trotted over to her.
“Zhu Xiaxia, are you a dummy? Why didn’t you dodge such a slow attack?”
Zhu Xiaxia calmly straightened the corner of her clothes and said, “This was a strike my daughter prepared so meticulously. Wouldn’t it be such a waste if I dodged it?”
‘What?’
“Eh?”
Zhu Qiu’s gaze became skeptical.
‘Is something wrong with Zhu Xiaxia’s head?’
“Daughter, you had better stay back. We are still in the middle of a duel.”
Just by looking at Zhu Xiaxia’s defensive “skills,” Zhu Qiu was certain that the woman knew nothing about swordsmanship.
She gradually began to lower her guard.
“Zhu Xiaxia, it’s your turn to attack.”
Zhu Qiu put some distance between them and settled into a defensive stance.
“Alright!”
Zhu Xiaxia gripped the Ice Sword with one hand and chose to charge straight at Zhu Qiu.
Because she didn’t know any sword techniques, she couldn’t release long-range sword energy.
She could only use the most primitive method of attacking.
Not only that, but Zhu Xiaxia didn’t use any footwork.
She simply moved in a straight line, charging forward like a bull.
Zhu Qiu was rendered speechless by such a brainless offensive.
In her life, she had seen countless ways of attacking—fast ones, slow ones, technical ones, and power-focused ones.
However, she had never seen anyone as senseless as Xiaxia.
A confident smile appeared on Zhu Qiu’s face.
‘It looks like victory belongs to me after all!’
In the blink of an eye, Zhu Xiaxia’s figure arrived in front of Zhu Qiu.
The Ice Sword swung down without any rhyme or reason.
The angle was crooked and messy; even the edge of the blade wasn’t properly lined up.
Zhu Qiu exerted her strength and held the Holy Sword horizontally, intending to use the momentum to parry Zhu Xiaxia’s sword away.
However, the moment the two swords collided, Zhu Qiu felt an incredibly powerful force pressing down on the Holy Sword, leaving her unable to react.
This force lacked any technique; it was nothing but pure, raw strength.
‘How is Zhu Xiaxia this strong? She wants to beat me with brute force?’
Zhu Qiu refused to be outdone and resisted with all her might.
Unfortunately, Zhu Xiaxia was performing a melee attack.
Unlike sword energy, which could be gradually neutralized by retreating, the power of a melee strike would only continue to grow.
The two remained locked in a stalemate for several minutes. Finally, a sharp “clink” rang out from Zhu Qiu’s hand.
The Holy Sword had snapped.
Zhu Qiu had lost.
“This… this is impossible!”
The white-haired girl’s pupils shook with shock as she stared at the broken Holy Sword in her hand.
The Holy Sword actually broke?
‘Could Zhu Xiaxia’s brute force truly be stronger than the swordsmanship she had practiced for all these years?’
“Daughter, it seems you lost this match.”
Zhu Xiaxia put away her Ice Sword and supported Zhu Qiu’s body as if nothing had happened, preventing her from collapsing to the ground.
“Waaa — how is this possible? I… I actually lost in swordsmanship… waaa —”
“Alright, my precious daughter. Now that the fight is over, we should talk about what happened last night.”
“Waaa — what could have happened last night? Wasn’t I just bullied by you? Waaa —”
“Specifically, the things you said.”
Zhu Xiaxia pulled the Purple Trumpet Flower from her pocket and released a small amount of Magic Power.
The trumpet flower then repeated all those words from yesterday, and the voice was exactly the same.