Luo Qingchen crouched beside the bull’s carcass, busy prying off the pair of massive horns.
According to various novels from her previous life, these were all materials—it would be a waste to leave them behind.
This material had extremely high durability and was excellent for crafting defensive artifacts.
Taking them back to the market could net her quite a few spirit stones.
Ling Xiyue stood to the side, her brow remaining furrowed.
She was still replayng the scene from moments ago in her mind.
“That movement technique of yours… was it truly just for dodging?” Ling Xiyue asked.
Luo Qingchen paused her work and spun the Five Elements Blade around her fingertip.
“Fairy Xiyue, that’s where you’re wrong. This is what you call genius-level combat technique.”
Luo Qingchen stood up and brushed the dirt off her hands.
“You cultivators are usually too concerned with the sense of ceremony when you fight. You start with hand seals, put on airs when you attack, and even flourish your sword when you’re done, all for fear that others won’t see how cool your posture is. Back in my hometown, we call those ‘wind-up’ and ‘recovery’ frames.”
Ling Xiyue tilted her head slightly, clearly having never heard those terms before.
Luo Qingchen grinned and began an on-the-spot lesson.
“Look, when you thrust a sword, your arm straightens and the tip pierces out. At that moment, your movement is locked. If you want to pull it back to strike a second time, there’s inevitably a pause in between. That pause is the recovery.”
As she spoke, Luo Qingchen stepped aside to demonstrate.
“The core of the movement technique I used just now lies in ‘canceling the recovery.’ Crouching wasn’t just to dodge; it was to reset my body’s center of gravity and forcibly interrupt the stiff state of the previous action. This way, I can deliver three strikes in one second, while you can only manage one. Now, who do you think is more formidable?”
Xiao Bai rolled its eyes from behind.
Its stomach didn’t hurt anymore, so its mouth was starting to itch for a comment again.
“Keep bragging. Those three strikes of yours didn’t even scratch the bull’s hide. You just made a lot of noise for a long time, and the bull barely even got dirty.”
“That’s because my level isn’t high enough!” Luo Qingchen retorted.
“If we were in the same realm, that bull would have already been sliced into beef carpaccio by me.”
Ling Xiyue looked thoughtful.
She was a sword genius, after all.
Although she didn’t understand these strange terms, she could sense the logic behind the theory.
If one truly could eliminate the gaps between movements, their combat power would undergo a qualitative change.
“Can it really ignore the gap in cultivation realms?” Ling Xiyue expressed her doubt.
Luo Qingchen had been waiting for exactly those words.
She was feeling a bit overconfident now.
Showing off in front of the bull earlier had given her the illusion that her fate was hers to control, not the heavens’.
Additionally, Ling Xiyue hadn’t drawn her sword and had restrained her sword intent, making her look much less intimidating.
Luo Qingchen wanted to try.
She wanted to see just how fast this Senior Sister at the mid-Core Formation stage was without using any spiritual power.
“Talk is cheap,” Luo Qingchen said, gripping the Five Elements Blade in a reverse hold and leaning forward slightly.
“Fairy Xiyue, how about we have a quick spar? I won’t use spiritual power; I’ll just use this recovery-cancel method to test you.”
Ling Xiyue glanced at her, a strange look in her eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely positive!” Luo Qingchen took a fighting stance.
“If you so much as touch the corner of my clothes, I’ll consider it my loss.”
Xiao Bai found a clean rock nearby and sat down, tucking its front paws against its chest with an expression ready to watch a show.
‘It’s over. This woman has completely lost her mind. I bet she won’t last three seconds,’ the dog thought.
Luo Qingchen ignored the dead dog’s mockery.
She concentrated, her mind filled with the combo lists from fighting games in her previous life.
Left dash, right dash, crouch, cancel.
This sequence of movements had been practiced countless times in her heart, and combined with *Treading Snow Without a Trace*, it was practically seamless.
“Watch closely! Here I come!” Luo Qingchen barked.
Her figure suddenly blurred.
She didn’t rush straight in, but instead feinted a step to the left, followed immediately by an extremely rapid crouch.
This movement was so abrupt that, to Ling Xiyue, it looked as if Luo Qingchen’s legs had suddenly snapped.
However, at the moment of the crouch, Luo Qingchen used the rebounding force from the ground to launch herself forward with explosive power.
Her speed was indeed significantly faster than usual.
She became like a gray silhouette, instantly closing in on Ling Xiyue’s side.
The Five Elements Blade carved an arc through the air, pointing straight at Ling Xiyue’s shoulder.
‘Caught you!’ Luo Qingchen rejoiced inwardly.
She had used the explosive power of *Treading Snow Without a Trace* for this move, and combined with the rhythm shift, it was extremely deceptive.
‘Even a Core Formation cultivator should be flustered when caught off guard like this, right?’
However, Ling Xiyue didn’t even move her feet.
She simply turned her body slightly and raised her right hand.
Pressing her index and middle fingers together, she lightly pinched the air.
*Ting!*
A crisp sound rang out.
Luo Qingchen felt as if her Five Elements Blade had crashed into a mountain made of pig iron. The blade was held firmly between Ling Xiyue’s fingers, unable to move even a fraction of an inch.
The smile on Luo Qingchen’s face froze.
She tried to tug it back twice, but the dagger wouldn’t budge; the other woman’s fingers felt as if they were welded onto it.
“That… haha, Fairy Xiyue, your reactions are quite fast,” Luo Qingchen laughed nervously.
Ling Xiyue looked at her, her tone as calm as ever.
“Is this your ‘recovery cancel’?”
“Uh, that was just the first stage. There’s still a second stage…” Luo Qingchen tried to make an excuse.
Ling Xiyue’s wrist suddenly flicked.
A wave of pure physical force traveled down the blade.
Luo Qingchen felt her palm go numb, and the Five Elements Blade flew out of her hand.
Before she could react, Ling Xiyue was already in front of her.
She was too fast; Luo Qingchen couldn’t see her movements at all.
Ling Xiyue extended her right leg and naturally hooked it behind Luo Qingchen’s calf.
Luo Qingchen’s center of gravity vanished instantly.
“Whoa!” she cried out, pitching forward.
She expected to fall flat on her face, but her collar suddenly tightened.
Ling Xiyue had caught her by the back of the neck, lifting her into the air like a mischievous kitten.
“Flashy but hollow,” Ling Xiyue remarked, her evaluation consisting of only four words.
Luo Qingchen hung in mid-air, her limbs flailing like an overturned turtle.
“Put me down! This doesn’t count! You’re using your realm to suppress me!”
“I didn’t use spiritual power just now,” Ling Xiyue said as she lowered her back to the ground.
“That movement technique of yours is fine for dodging wild beasts, but against a cultivator—especially a sword cultivator—it’s full of holes.”
Ling Xiyue bent down to pick up the Five Elements Blade and handed it back to Luo Qingchen.
“Your movements are too fragmented. In your pursuit of so-called ‘canceling,’ you’ve abandoned the continuity of your body. To me, the moment you crouched, your entire body was an opening. If I wanted to kill you, I could have struck three times in that single instant.”
Luo Qingchen took the dagger, looking dejected.
‘Reality is indeed crueler than games,’ she lamented inwardly.
The woman before her was a cultivation genius; her nervous system’s reaction speed was on an entirely different level.
Xiao Bai was rolling on the ground laughing, its tail thumping against the earth.
“Hahaha! Three seconds! I wasn’t wrong! Luo Qingchen, you should just stick to being a little thief and stop dreaming about things you can’t do.”
Luo Qingchen glared at it.
“Shut up! You’re just a useless lump who can do nothing but have diarrhea!”
Ling Xiyue ignored their bickering and asked indifferently, “About that spiritual herb from earlier… it seems you took it all.”