Volume 2, Chapter 17 – Conclusion (Two-in-One)

Facing a fierce oncoming foe, Bai Xiang finally felt a flicker of excitement.

Her breathing was a touch quicker than before. Her black‑stockinged feet, squeezed inside gold‑threaded sandals, curled their toes to add force. With a sliding step she lowered her center of gravity, gripped her sword in both hands, and moved to meet the charge.

“Clang!”

They flashed past each other in a single pass, both blades tracing afterimages in midair.

Then, as if by wordless accord, they halted their forward rush at the same instant—Bai Xiang lifting her left foot, Liu Mengqing lifting her right. From a bird’s‑eye view, both bodies were rotating in a horizontal, inertia‑driven pivot.

“Bang!” They stamped down hard, then whipped around to slash back at each other—blades smashing together midair with a ringing metallic detonation of “clang”!

It wasn’t their only line of engagement.

The very moment steel met steel, a gale roared over Liu Mengqing’s skin; blood‑red “willow leaves” appeared around her and spun madly about Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang had been wary of those from the start. As they emerged, she released more baleful Qi, wrapping herself in it to form a slightly smaller vortex made entirely of razor‑edged sword Qi.

The head‑on clash produced a spectacular sight: the audience glimpsed the shadows of two phantoms, and then came air friction so intense it was almost visible!

“Claaang—~~~!!!”

“Screee—~~~!!!”

Both figures blurred. All that could be seen was the furious collision between a hazy swirl of wind‑blades and a pink tornado, throwing them both back and leaving two counter‑rolling, paper‑thin films of air—one blood‑hued, one pink!

How is her phantom this solid?

On the screen, Liu Mengqing had computer assist. The thin film didn’t hinder her view, but the analytical readout wasn’t what she wanted to see.

[Unknown energy form.]

[Unknown energy form.]

Every collision triggered a system alert, the warning windows strobing at over ten per second!

Unknown energy form—does it mean that pink demonic aura?

Liu Mengqing thought fast.

Demonic aura and demonic power are often mentioned together; here, “aura” is just power dispersed—an outward aspect of demonic power.

Since the power comes from the Demon Pool, the aura‑mist early on is mostly bright red, blood red; only very special cases change its color.

Like special Demon Pool abilities.

Visual ones, hallucinatory ones—even ones that interfere with light and projection.

But those don’t trigger computer alerts; they don’t count as “unknown energy forms.”

Time was too short. Before Liu Mengqing could reason it out, her expression changed.

What’s happening?

Her sword… was actually still gaining force?

The force was so steady—not a sky‑topping tsunami, not a falling boulder. If anything, it was like a flood—water that didn’t look turbulent, just a slow, relentless surge—utterly irresistible!

Liu Mengqing was almost stunned.

She stared at Bai Xiang, mind blanking for an instant.

Bai Xiang noticed the change, narrowed her eyes, poured in more power—and actually forced Liu Mengqing back a step.

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“Next, Dao Lord Liu should… Impossible!?”

Seeing this, the others felt little at first, but the PA suit analyst Qi Wang goggled, looking like he’d seen a ghost.

Whether Forge the Sword or Condensing the Aspect, those stages emphasize cultivating the “sword.”

Even though there’s a small Nurture the Spirit realm before Forge the Sword to temper the body, the name says “nurture the spirit,” not “nurture the body.” Its core focus isn’t boosting baseline physique.

It’s mainly to nurture the Heart‑Aspect; the body is incidental.

That boost to the body is enough for Condensing‑the‑Aspect cultivators to crush ordinary people physically, but compared to the “divine abilities” already mastered at Condensing the Aspect, this defense isn’t much.

So before Purple Core, fights between Condensing‑the‑Aspect cultivators are largely decided at mid‑range; unless forced, you don’t let the enemy close.

That’s also the biggest early difference between human cultivators and demons.

In pure physique, Condensing the Aspect loses to the Stain‑the‑Body Stage.

【In theory, that’s how it should be.】

Based on that, they’d set Liu Mengqing’s tactics to close‑in, blade‑to‑blade fighting.

We have the PA suit with superb protection, and it can provide assistive output for Dao Lord Liu.

Plus Dao Lord Liu underwent three years of custom‑fit augmentation. The PA suit links directly to her spine and nerves for true zero‑latency assist.

Per the assessment report, with the suit on, Dao Lord Liu’s limb strength is 1.83 times the Condensing‑the‑Aspect average—already an extreme number.

By the strength‑to‑weight formula, roughly a 1.0× strength edge and a 0.6× body‑mass edge is enough for overwhelming force.

With that confidence, why obediently trade divine arts and sword Qi at mid‑range?

You should press in, use your advantage, and crush Bai Xiang’s weakness.

But how could this be…

That was why both Liu Mengqing and Qi Wang were shocked: they hadn’t imagined that even without that odd “sword‑vibration” method, Bai Xiang could, on raw body strength alone, overwhelm a peer plus a White Ape suit!

Impossible!

Wouldn’t that mean her strength exceeds the realm’s average by over threefold?

Without voice commands, the suit engaged assistive thrust on its own—venting cold white vapor from shoulders, waist, lateral calf joints, and heel pods—almost full forward thrust to help her.

It did nothing.

She was still pushed back at an even, relentless pace.

“Heh…”

Liu Mengqing’s face turned ugly. She’d tossed away her dignity to use a tech battlesuit—and was still being crushed head‑on by a seventeen‑year‑old junior.

“Hah!” Tension and pressure wrenched a shout from her. She slanted her blade aside, trying to break the clinch.

She couldn’t get away.

Bai Xiang flicked her wrist—wrist‑vibration, then sword‑vibration in sequence. Feixiang Heaven stuck to the other blade like glue; no matter how Liu tried to fling it free, she couldn’t. The point kept seeking gaps, scraping toward Liu’s face.

After several failed attempts, Liu’s chest rose and fell. The cyclone around her drew in as red mist to the blade, condensing into a thin crimson sheen.

“Bang!”

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Like a blast at the eye of the storm, Bai Xiang kicked and slid back; Liu flipped half a turn in midair and landed half‑kneeling, a touch bedraggled.

Huff!

As soon as she looked up, a broad black shadow pressed down on her.

Still Bai Xiang.

Like a nightmare fiend, she’d instantly found the biggest gap in Liu’s guard and came in to stick close and trade blades.

Bai Xiang’s figure should have been slim and supple, but as luck would have it she wore a wide‑sleeved, retro long dress today.

The spread fabric magnified her silhouette. Light from high and to the side poured past her narrow shoulders to cast a great hazy shadow ahead. With her sliding approach, it wrapped Liu Mengqing whole.

For an instant, Liu’s spirit shuddered.

Bai Xiang’s figure, faintly, overlapped with the deepest fear in her heart.

She quickly reset her state and murmured, “Switch.”

Looks like Bai Xiang knows my strength is below hers. She won’t give up that advantage; closing fast is the right choice.

If I can’t match strength, then I can only…

[Entry No. 1083, “Shenming Sword” recorded.]

[Counter‑mode for Entry No. 1083 enabled.]

“Clang!”

A single slash fell, and Liu Mengqing caught it, both hands bracing her sword horizontally.

Hm?

Bai Xiang blinked, then used the sword‑vibration formula again, riding Liu’s blade and sending her skidding back.

Gasps rose from the stands.

They’d seen this move before.

[Matching vibration frequency…]

[Match complete.]

“Clang!”

“Hah!”

Flushed, Liu Mengqing threw up her hands and finally batted Feixiang Heaven aside!

She’d been half‑kneeling under pressure; now she exploded upward, cutting at angles fed by the computer—every strike a dismantling fragment!

“Clang clang clang clang!”

Bai Xiang set her stance and traded twenty‑three blows in place with Liu Mengqing, feeling the woman’s swordwork switch on the fly. Whatever vibration she used, Liu cracked it.

And Liu had learned: after each strike she shifted position, avoiding letting Feixiang Heaven stick to her blade again and dodging another strength‑to‑strength bind.

Relying on technique and experience?

Bai Xiang understood.

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An interesting change of pace.

“My lords, please look—this is the importance of the matching computer.”

Qi Wang finally wiped his sweat and resumed introducing the suit’s functions.

“In a close bind, someone without augmentation can’t truly enjoy this system’s convenience, because commands have transmission delay, and the computer’s prompts have delay.”

“But after augmentation, not only does she get the full strength boost; zero‑latency transmission lets Dao Lord Liu receive instant analysis of sword moves and pull the best counters from the database at will.”

“Mm…” Xu Shilin stroked his beard and nodded, clearly intrigued.

“…” Fang Xiaochun, by contrast, curled his lip and rubbed his head.

He propped his left hand on the table, chin cradled, mouth covered, lips working beneath as he muttered—“Cut her!” “Chop her!” “Ay—”—noises only he could hear.

“Clang!”

Blades met again. The red glow on Liu Mengqing’s sword shattered, turning into slim willow leaves that blew toward Bai Xiang’s face.

Bai Xiang gave her wrist a twist, spinning the blade to screen them out. At the same time, the pink sword Qi on her edge burst like petals of cherry blossom, drifting before her and neatly intercepting every leaf.

“Hah!”

Liu Mengqing crowded in, driving her knee into Bai Xiang’s abdomen.

Bai Xiang happened to be turning side‑on, her black‑stockinged ankle guiding the pivot—no time to lift a guard.

Exactly what the computer had predicted.

But in the next second, Liu’s eyes widened: Bai Xiang retreated a small step in a way that defied physics, then used the gap to bring up her other leg, smashing knee to knee!

“Bang!”

They collided—Bai Xiang unmoving, Liu jolted back two steps.

That instantly cost her the initiative. Bai Xiang seized the two‑step gap, dove in, and swung her arm wide, bringing the blade down like a giant axe.

“Clang!”

“Bang!”

It landed heavy. The red glow on Liu Mengqing’s sword split under a single stroke. She took the force head‑on, forced to one knee again, and this time her knee cracked the platform floor.

“Clang!”

“Clang!”

“Bang!”

“Clang!”

The tide turned against her again. Liu Mengqing struggled to block as her mind went white.

She still couldn’t stop replaying the moment in her head. No matter how she analyzed it, she couldn’t understand how Bai Xiang had pulled off that move.

“Good!”

Seeing Bai Xiang shift from parity to domination, Fang Xiaochun couldn’t help but shout.

“…”

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Xu Shilin and Qi Wang glanced at him. The latter frowned, set his tablet upright, and his fingers flicked rapidly—unlocking a classified file.

Password input.

Fingerprint.

Iris scan.

One more press; command sent.

At the same time, a red skull icon popped up at the top of Liu Mengqing’s HUD.

“…” She knew what it meant. Her momentum sagged at first—then swung to a perverse, manic frenzy.

“Hah!”

Her hair had already come loose under Bai Xiang’s storm of blows. Catching the sword now, her face twisted, the whites of her eyes veined with blood. She suddenly threw open her defenses, letting Bai Xiang’s thrust drive at her chest—sliding into a deep, dark crevice!

At the same time—her two‑handed downward chop arrived!

The snow‑bright edge swept down toward Bai Xiang’s brow—then smashed into an invisible barrier! The opening’s intense standoff replayed; two Demon Pool phantoms formed twin opposing air films, colliding in midair with a piercing crack!

I accounted for that…

Liu Mengqing grinned savagely, eyes vicious, and completely gave up control of the Demon Pool “Willow‑Blade Ant.”

With a bang, her longsword burst apart.

Razor shards lashed at Bai Xiang like rain, slamming into the sword‑Qi shield she’d gathered, rippling in blood‑red waves that bounced away in all directions.

At the same time, a mysterious chill descended right before Bai Xiang. Though nothing stood before or around her, the outline of an ant demon was reflected in her yellow eyes.

The Aberration’s grim snarl—and suddenly a gale ripped through the arena.

This wind was different, no longer confined to the platform—spreading wider and wider, with a trend of sweeping into the stands.

Liu Mengqing watched Bai Xiang with ringing laughter—then saw twin lances of gold explode from Bai Xiang’s eyes.

“You—”

Slash!!!

In an instant, invisible Qi‑edges carved a radial ring into the floor around Bai Xiang.

Her sword was too fast; the stone chips still quivered in the air, with no time to fall.

Slash!!!

Then eight deep sword scars of uneven length etched themselves along the ring—appearing at once and pointing in all directions. In a blink, they shredded the gale. The arena flipped from “extreme motion” to “extreme stillness.”

Clatter…

As the rubble fell, Bai Xiang turned, strode to the edge of the platform, and half‑squatted to pick up the scabbard on the ground.

Flicking off the grime of blood on Feixiang Heaven, she slid the blade home, stood where she was, lifted her head to take in half the arena, then swept her sleeve and stepped down from the platform.

Only after her figure vanished into the passage did instructed staff hurry up and throw a black cloth over Liu Mengqing’s head.

The audience had no way of knowing this Dao Lord’s end. Only those close to the stage left a rumor: when the black cloth fell, it was like a landslide—the entire “mountain” collapsed…