Dark clouds gathered ominously above the hallway, their swirling mass casting a shadow over everything. A deafening boom of thunder followed, and electricity crackled in the air, illuminating the scene with bursting flashes of light.

Song Song circulated her Qi in a strange rhythm as her hair stood up. I created a simple barrier around myself to stop the lightning array from tracking me.

Ye An, on the other hand, looked confused, her hair standing on end and her eyes wide.

Then, lightning rained down with unbent fury. Ye An quickly covered herself in ice, knowing she had no chance to dodge.

As lightning struck her, the ice held strong. Despite what some might think, ice was a poor conductor of electricity.

Song Song also took her lightning bolt and let it harmlessly pass through her.

Ye An, however, was in for a rough time as lightning rained down on her continuously. There was no use in trying close-quarters combat with her, so I removed the lag between each lightning bolt. Every second, she was hit by two lightning bolts.

While ice was somewhat resistant to electricity, it was not resistant to the heat generated by the electricity. Slowly, the ice cocoon around Ye An began melting. She tried adding a new layer of ice atop her cocoon, but it was useless; before her Qi could turn into ice, lightning blasted and destabilized it.

But Ye An was undoubtedly a genius, as she figured out how to deal with this problem. Instead of adding a layer of ice outside the ice cocoon, she expanded the ice cocoon, leaving an internal part of it hollow, which she could move freely in and fill with ice.

However, I wasn't idle either and formed a simple barrier around Song Song, protecting her from lightning bombarding her.

Song Song didn't hesitate. She created two daggers out of blood and swung them at Ye An. A large, bright crimson-red slash spawned, releasing an odor of blood as it shot toward Ye An.

A loud screeching sound rang out as soon as the attack landed on the ice cocoon. Song Song's attack cut through the ice like butter and reached Ye An. Her eyes widened as something under her shirt shone a bright golden, revealing a necklace. The artifact activated a golden barrier around Ye An, protecting her from the lightning and Song Song's incoming slash.

A loud gong-like sound rang out, and Ye An's golden barrier cracked.

Ye An was strong and very talented. She could sometimes punch above her weight and battle against people at a higher cultivation level than hers, even if that level was the beginning of Foundation Establishment. However, there was a reason Ye An had attacked Song Song only when she was injured.

Song Song's arms blurred as she shot out countless red claw-shaped crimson projectiles. The golden barrier shattered when the crimson projectiles hit it, and parts of the shattered barrier were about to shred into Ye An together with Song Song's attacks.

This was it... All the attacks were lethal, and there was a good chance that Ye An was going to die. I knew there would be an implosion of her extreme physique after her death. Still, I was ready to erect the barrier and buy the split-second Song Song needed to grab me and escape.

If anyone asked in the future and figured out who killed Ye An, I was going to plead self-defense.

Song Song's attacks whistled through the air as they dug into Ye An's flesh. However, a sudden influx of Qi burst out in that instant, and an ankle bracelet shined. Usually, artifacts were not placed there, but it seemed Ye An was hiding this one out of sight.

Suddenly, a ghostly mist surrounded her, and Song Song's attacks came crashing instantly; they turned brittle like glass, and the crimson slashes broke down. The ghostly mist sent a chill through the area and took the form of a tall man with a straightened back and a frown.

My heart dropped as every instinct told me to run away!

"Who dares harm my descendants of the Ye Clan?" he declared, swiping his hand as if wiping away a bug.

The walls cracked as an invisible telekinetic wave emerged, heading toward us. We were in a slim hallway with no room to dodge.

"Wait, don't kill him!" Ye An's voice rang out.

But the man didn't seem to know the meaning of holding back, as the power behind his attack caused the hallway to come crashing down.

I had no time to put up a barrier, but Song Song hugged me from behind, her chest squishing against my back as she wrapped her arms around me. In an instant, we were enveloped in a cocoon of blood as tons of rubble came crashing down on us.

The inside of the cocoon reeked of blood and felt watery, like being inside an egg.

I spread my senses and tried to detect incoming attacks or people outside. Still, I couldn't sense anyone, not even Ye An's presence.

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Had she died? The whole place had come crashing down on her too, and there was a chance she might have died... I really hoped that was the case. She had become so troublesome.

However, the reality was often disappointing. Ye An's Extreme Physique hadn't imploded like it would after her death, so she was probably alive.

Why hadn't Ye An used that artifact when Song Song had almost killed her during the entrance exam? Perhaps she didn't have it back then? No, that didn't make much sense. Were there specific conditions needed to activate her artifact?

I was sure Ye An didn't have a ring grandpa; otherwise, she wouldn't make such dumb decisions sometimes. Even a blind man could tell that desperation reeked from each of her actions.

Slowly, the blood cocoon shifted, and it felt like it was moving. Song Song said nothing when this happened, and the only sound she made was her soft breathing next to my ear.

The cocoon suddenly opened, revealing that we were outside the wreckage zone. On one side, we had a destroyed hallway, and on the other, somewhere we could escape.

"What now?" asked Song Song, pointing at her ears and shaking her head.

As the strategist between us, I was the one who supposedly always had a plan. Though I had never thought a situation like this would come up. No, I had thought something like this might happen, just not now.

"Follow me," I said, and in case she couldn't hear me, I created a translucent jade plaque with my words written on it.

We both shot off like bullets away from the crash zone. Whatever people discovered in the future, we would either deny everything or plead self-defense. We could play it off as someone getting too excited and using their technique in the hallway, causing everything to cave in.

I spread my senses, trying to feel where Fu Yating could be, but she was nowhere to be seen. With Song Song following me, we reached the entrance to the Colosseum stands.

We walked out, and it was already the middle of a fight. The fighters were Song San and some guy from the Titanic Blade Sect.

I made my way toward my cousins and found Fu Yating there. Our gazes met, and she nodded, betraying nothing of what had happened or what she was thinking. I took out the wooden bead bracelet she gave me and handed it to her.

"Thanks, though I didn't need to use it," I said, smiling, and brought Song Song in. "Please make room for her, too. She wants to see the fights."

Song Song was no longer bleeding from her ears. While it did sell appearances, she was still injured. The regeneration she achieved by using her blood was not a passive thing.

I had Song Song sit next to Liu Qian as I sat between my fiancée and Liu Bo. I leaned in and whispered to Liu Bo. "Did you hear any crashing sounds a couple of minutes ago?"

"Hm? No, not really. The fighters haven't used any big techniques yet," he said. "Even Liang Shoushan is being gentle in the fight, despite Song San mostly dodging and doing no attacking of his own."

From what I could see, nobody seemed to notice the fighting below the Colosseum stands. Well, at least the casual viewers hadn't. As my gaze wandered toward the upper platform, I was met with the Blazing Sun Sect Leader staring at us with an unreadable look that sent chills down my spine.

I hurriedly turned my gaze toward the fight, where Song San was dodging the attacks of Liang Shoushan. The latter was using a large blade, swinging it around in a strange posture like a baseball bat. But each swing had a devastating heaviness behind it that would take out Song San with one hit if it landed.

Just then, Song San's throat swelled, and recalling the previous fight, the guy from the Titanic Blade Sect immediately backed off.

But instead of a vomit of exploding pills, only a single green pill the size of his thumb came out, glistening in his gross, slick saliva. Song San crushed the pill between his fingers, and a green mist burst and expanded outward.

"Another trick," Liu Bo frowned.

Well, Song San already had a bad reputation from his previous fight, so now there was no reason to hold back the underhanded tactics.

The Titanic Blade Sect disciple backed away too much and accidentally touched the grass outside the arena.

"Song San from the Blazing Sun Sect advances with another victory by forcing his opponent out of bounds," the announcer tried to spin this tale well. Still, there was nothing he could work with.

If this had been a real fight, the Titanic Blade Sect guy would have been right to back off as much as possible from the unknown mist. All of Song San's victories so far had been due to technicality. In a real fight, these things wouldn't count.

Liang Shoushan frowned as the green mist cleared, revealing Song San. Anger blazed in the eyes of the Titanic Blade Sect disciple, and he threw his large sword at Song San. The latter smiled, seemingly unprepared for the surprise attack.

However, before the sword could reach him, a Core Elder appeared and grabbed the sword with his bare hands. The same tall, pale Core Elder who had stopped Song Song from killing her opponent.

"I will not let another disciple attack the back of an opponent they had already lost against," declared the Core Elder in a calm, almost bored-sounding voice but with an edge that sent the lesson home.

After both contestants left the arena, the announcer declared, "Now we move on to the next phase of the tournament, the semi-finals!"

He took a paper and read, "The first fight will be Ye An from the Blazing Sun Sect against Peng Zixin from the Void Piercing Sect! The second fight will be between Song San from the Blazing Sun Sect and Song Song from the Blazing Sun Sect!"

There was a sudden popping sound, and Song Song muttered, "Finally, now I can hear something again."

I turned toward her, and our gazes met. She nodded and said, "Thank you."

"There is no need for thanks between us," I smiled, glad she regained her hearing.

I turned my gaze back toward the arena, only to be met with Fu Yating staring straight at me like a jumpscare.

"Thanks to you too," I smiled at my fiancée. Without her help, illogical thoughts would have prevailed. "By the way, what kind of food do you like?"

"Hm?" She looked confused by the question.

"Well, I have to put some effort into this date," I explained.

Then, her expression morphed into a happy yet ugly smile.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was she angry or happy?