Volume 7, Chapter 456 – This Still Isn’t Her Limit (Part 3)

What happened next was utterly shocking. The two divine sense barriers, which had previously been as unyielding as solid rock, instantly warped and twisted like thin plastic film. Before Zhen Chao and Shi Fei could even react, the barriers shattered with a sharp crack.

The disciples behind them, who lacked divine sense protection, were far less fortunate. Like withered leaves caught in a gale, they were swept into the air by the raging divine sense, screaming as they plummeted like falling stars across the plaza.

Of course, this was only because Qi Huang had held back. Otherwise, these people wouldn’t have even had the chance to be flung into the sky, they would’ve been crushed into bloody pulp and absorbed into the earth in an instant.

“T-This…”

The cultivators below were dumbstruck.

“Master, didn’t you say everything in the world must follow objective laws?” Disciple Cai asked numbly, pointing at Qi Huang from the entrance of the grand hall. “Then what is this?”

“Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!” Elder Zuo muttered frantically to himself, his expression bordering on madness.

“Broken? Just like that?”

On the stage, Zhen Chao and Shi Fei stared at each other in stunned disbelief, unable to accept what they had just witnessed. After all, this was a Divine-grade protective talisman, purchased by the Shixin Sect for a staggering 200,000 taels of silver, capable of withstanding attacks from Divine Realm experts.

“Could it be a counterfeit?”

The same thought flashed through their minds simultaneously, and they turned accusatory gazes toward the members of the Huxiao Sect watching from the sidelines.

Zhou Ming, too, wore an expression of shock, but there wasn’t a trace of guilt on his face. Of course not, the talisman was genuine. He had nothing to explain.

“My heavens! Wasn’t that a Divine-grade protective talisman? And she shattered it that easily?”

“Could the talisman have been fake?”

“How could that be? Didn’t you see earlier? Countless cultivators tested it, including experts at the late-stage Incarnation Realm, yet the barrier didn’t even budge. Nothing below Divine Realm could’ve achieved that.”

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“Does that mean Qi Huang’s divine sense surpasses even a Divine-grade protective talisman? Just how strong is her divine sense?”

“No idea. But from the looks of it… this still isn’t her limit!”

Once the cultivators below processed what had happened, the crowd erupted like boiling water in a cauldron.

Qi Huang, however, had no patience left to drag things out. Her mind was preoccupied with the safety of the Shuiyu Valley disciples. With a flick of her wrist, the Cicada Wing Sword materialized before her, then vanished in a flash.

“AHH! MY HAND!”

Two agonized screams tore through the sky.

The audience shuddered, their gazes snapping toward Zhen Chao and Shi Fei. Their swords had clattered to the ground, along with the five severed fingers of their right hands.

“Hiss—”

The cultivators below sucked in sharp breaths. As the saying went, the fingers are connected to the heart. How excruciating must this pain be?

“Since Senior Brother claimed that even if he lost an arm or a leg, his wife wouldn’t mind… then me cutting off five of your fingers shouldn’t be a big deal, right?”

Qi Huang floated gently upward on her small stool, her delicate face wearing a mocking smile. Truthfully, she had initially considered severing their entire right arms, but in the end, she restrained herself.

“Demoness! How dare you resort to such cruelty?”

Below, Protector Hong of the Shixin Sect erupted in fury, hurling curses at her.

“Oh? As far as I recall, the Evergreen Conference only prohibits killing, not injuring. Isn’t that right, Elder Zuo?”

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Qi Huang turned her challenging gaze toward the elder standing at the grand hall’s entrance.

Elder Zuo’s face flushed red with anger, but he couldn’t refute her words.

“Now, why don’t you roll off the stage? I’m feeling a bit faint at the sight of blood.”

With a mere thought, Qi Huang’s divine sense sent Zhen Chao and Shi Fei tumbling off the platform, their screams echoing through the plaza. The loss of their right-hand fingers meant they would now have to rely solely on their left hands to wield swords, and without the ability to dual-wield, their combat prowess would be severely diminished.

Qi Huang had done this for two reasons:

Retribution, for their earlier insults.

Deterrence, to intimidate the remaining sects.

She was in a hurry to deal with the Shuiyu Valley crisis and had no time to waste on prolonged battles in the Evergreen Conference. The most efficient solution was to make her opponents back down voluntarily.

“Winner, Number Six!”

A trembling disciple from the Immortal Alliance announced the result.

Qi Huang calmly retrieved her stool and stepped down from the stage. The surrounding cultivators hastily cleared a path, their faces filled with fear.

With that, the fourth round of the Evergreen Conference had only one final match remaining.

Returning to the Honghua Sect’s ranks, Qi Huang glanced at her fellow disciples and asked cautiously, “Was I… too cruel just now?”

“Cruel? If I had been up there, those two foul-mouthed bastards wouldn’t have lost just a few fingers, they’d be missing entire arms!” Ruan Lingyu fumed indignantly.

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“Junior Sister, if anything, I think you were too merciful,” Shen Yuan agreed.

Qi Huang felt slightly reassured but still took the time to explain her reasoning.

“Qi Huang’s considerations are sound. Given the speed of the Shuiyu Valley group, they should reach Yongning Prefecture in seven or eight days. We can’t afford to be bogged down here. Scaring off opponents and reducing the number of battles is the best strategy,” Xu Mei affirmed.

“After this, I doubt anyone will dare face Junior Sister Qi Huang,” Ruan Lingyu mused.

“Once tomorrow’s final match concludes, only three factions will remain: us, the winner, and Sixth Princess’s Longchang Sect. I don’t know about the other sect, but the Sixth Princess won’t back down, so I’ll have at least one more battle ahead,” Qi Huang stated firmly.

After all, the Sixth Princess had already made her stance clear.

“What exactly is the Sixth Princess thinking? She knows she can’t win, why insist on a formal defeat? Doesn’t she realize how humiliating it’ll be to lose in front of everyone?” Shen Yuan couldn’t help but grumble.

“She has no choice now. If she retreats, it’d be seen as fleeing without a fight, which is even more shameful than losing,” Yun Fei analyzed.

“Serves her right. Junior Sister already warned her, she brought this on herself,” Shen Yuan retorted bluntly.

“Don’t say that. The Sixth Princess has a decent character. Without her, the Shuiyu Valley disciples might not have escaped at all,” Xu Mei chided.

“Master, that’s exactly why I’m complaining. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t even bother. But she’s the one who’ll be embarrassed, why should I care?” Shen Yuan huffed, her tone sharp but her heart soft. Her words weren’t born of malice toward the Sixth Princess but concern for her reputation.

“If she insists on a match, then so be it. The path was of her own choosing,” Cheng Hongling interjected coolly.

Late at night, in the depths of silence, Elder Zuo sat in his quarters, drowning his frustrations in alcohol. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that a backwater like Western Radiance Dynasty’s Huangtian Prefecture, a literal rat’s nest, would produce such a monstrous genius. It had left him, a dignified Immortal Alliance elder, physically and mentally exhausted, with no solutions left.

“Master… what should we do now?”

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After a while, Steward Cai entered cautiously.

“Cai De! Are you the head of Yongning Prefecture’s branch, or am I?” Elder Zuo took a deep breath and countered.

“I am!” Cai De instinctively replied.

“Then shouldn’t you be the one figuring things out? Why must you consult me on everything? Do you want people to think you became an Immortal Alliance steward through nepotism? Because if so, even I won’t be able to save you,” Elder Zuo lamented, frustrated by his disciple’s lack of initiative.

“But… this disciple truly has no solutions left. That’s why I came to seek your guidance,” Cai De admitted awkwardly.

“Didn’t I tell you to think of ways to alter the rules to counter her? After all this time, this is what you’ve come up with?” Elder Zuo demanded sharply.

“I did consider raising the participant limit to twenty… even thirty. But Qi Huang’s divine sense has already reached mid-stage Divine Realm. At this point, numbers won’t make a difference, unless we outright ban the use of divine sense in the Evergreen Conference,” Cai De replied weakly.

“And what justification would we use? Divine sense is a cultivator’s most fundamental ability. On what grounds could we prohibit it?” Elder Zuo fired back.

Disciple Cai opened his mouth but found no rebuttal.

“Fine. There’s only one last method to try. Let’s hope her divine sense hasn’t surpassed mid-stage Divine Ability Realm,” Elder Zuo finally gritted out.

“What method?” Cai De pressed eagerly.

“My divine sense is weaker than hers. But what if there were ten of me? Twenty? Thirty?” Elder Zuo’s eyes gleamed with ruthless determination.

“Change the rules immediately, raise the participant limit to thirty! I refuse to believe we can’t suppress her!”