Chapter 1076: I Will Fight You
In the desert, yellow sand swirled, forming tornadoes that shot up into the sky with a howling wind.
This time, Zhang Ruochen remained silent for a long time, staring at Han Qiu across from him. "I have never treated you as a servant. Everything you desire, I can give you. I have never been stingy with any cultivation resources for you. But some things, I truly cannot give."
If Zhang Ruochen compromised today and agreed to Han Qiu's conditions, she would only demand more in the future, leading to unpredictable crises.
The Han Qiu of now was like a sharp, poisonous needle. If he couldn't give her affection, he shouldn't touch her.
Once touched, it would lead to utter ruin.
Han Qiu bit her lower lip tightly, crystalline tears glistening in her eyes. Her two slender fingers formed a sword seal.
"Whoosh—"
A sacred sword flew out, suspending before her, radiating layers of black light.
"Fight me. If you win, I will never force you to do anything again. If I win, you must marry me and make me your Crown Princess." Han Qiu's will was resolute.
Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands behind his back and gently shook his head. "Why must we fight? Can't we even be friends? Must we become enemies?"
"Will you fight or not?" Han Qiu demanded.
"I will not."
Zhang Ruochen hadn't expected their relationship to reach this point.
If he fought her today, no matter who won or lost, they could only be enemies from then on. Even if Zhang Ruochen won, Han Qiu could no longer stay by his side and follow his orders. And if Han Qiu won, Zhang Ruochen would never marry her.
Sometimes, fighting couldn't solve problems—it only deepened the conflict.
Han Qiu bit her lip so hard it bled, the blood flowing into her mouth with a sweet, metallic taste.
"Shua—"
The sacred sword surged with sharp, cold light, flying out to strike Zhang Ruochen's heart. She was forcing him to act.
Suddenly, a white sacred light, carrying another sacred sword, flew out and collided with Han Qiu's blade.
"Bang."
Both swords—one white, one black—flew away.
One fell into Han Qiu's hand.
The other flew into the distance, landing in the grasp of another stunning beauty.
Huang Yanchen held the sacred sword, its tip dragging across the ground as she walked out from afar, step by step. Her sapphire-blue hair danced in the wind, and a cold aura radiated from her. "If you truly have feelings for him, then no matter what, you should never draw your sword against him. Pressuring him will do no good. If you truly want to fight, then fight me."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze shifted to Huang Yanchen, his brow slightly furrowing. "Senior Sister, I think you should stay out of this. Let me handle it."
Huang Yanchen shook her head. "This concerns me too. I believe it's better for women to settle matters among themselves."
Seeing Huang Yanchen appear, Han Qiu's aura surged rapidly, becoming more than ten times stronger than before.
She sneered, "Huang Yanchen, you think you can fight me? If Zhang Ruochen hadn't helped you become a Realm Son, how could you have achieved what you have? With your physique and talent, you're not even fit to hold my shoes."
"Is that so?"
Huang Yanchen was icy cold but remarkably calm. "Let me ask you this: Without Zhang Ruochen's help, could you have survived the backlash of your Dark Body?"
"Without the opportunity Zhang Ruochen gave you, could you have joined the Liangyi Sect and learned the sect's foundational code, the Taiji Primordial Heaven Technique, to balance the two opposing forces within you?"
"Without Zhang Ruochen bringing you into the Scroll World and providing you with endless cultivation resources, could you have reached your current level of cultivation?"
Han Qiu didn't deny any of it. "Fine. Since you dare to accept the challenge, I'll grant it. Even if you've become a Realm Son and achieved extraordinary success beyond most, there's still a huge gap between us. If you die by my sword, blame only your own overconfidence, not me."
"If you lose to me, then from now on, you'll listen to me."
Huang Yanchen radiated a sharp aura. Sword-shaped sword Qi spread out, enveloping a hundred miles in a deadly domain.
Any creature below the Half-Saint level that entered this hundred-mile radius would surely die.
"Senior Sister has broken through to the Ninth-Step Half-Saint realm."
Zhang Ruochen had been worried about Huang Yanchen's safety, knowing Han Qiu possessed a Dark Body and the Dark Path, giving her terrifying offensive power.
Even if the Dark Body wasn't fully matured, Han Qiu's strength at the same cultivation level wouldn't be weaker than a Realm Son-level figure.
Huang Yanchen, however, had only an ordinary physique. Even with various opportunities later that compensated for the gap, there were still some deficiencies.
At the same cultivation level, Huang Yanchen would likely lose to Han Qiu.
But now, Huang Yanchen was a full realm higher, making the outcome harder to predict.
"Rustle."
Streams of black light automatically coalesced around Han Qiu, converging above her head into a black sphere dozens of feet in diameter.
That black sphere was nearly identical to a black hole in the starry sky, capable of devouring any matter or energy. Even light approaching it couldn't escape.
In an instant, all the sword Qi within a hundred miles was swallowed by the black sphere.
Then, Han Qiu stomped the ground, causing the entire earth to spin into a massive vortex.
A suction force emanated from the vortex, trying to pull Huang Yanchen underground.
Huang Yanchen's feet seemed fused with the earth, unable to move. But pulling her into the ground wasn't easy for Han Qiu.
"Break."
Huang Yanchen murmured, swinging her sword to strike the vortex's weakest point.
"Think breaking my Dark Rules is that easy?"
From Han Qiu's palm surged an extremely evil and malevolent dark fiendish Qi, pouring into the ground vortex and forming black tentacles that wrapped around Huang Yanchen's sacred sword.
Huang Yanchen channeled sacred Qi to her arm, trying to retrieve the sword.
But as soon as the sacred Qi left her palm, it was devoured by the dark force.
"Is this all you've got? Making you a Realm Son is a waste of Kunlun Realm's resources."
Han Qiu sneered, her voice crisp as she laughed. Then, she launched the black sphere hovering above her head toward Huang Yanchen, intending to devour her.
"Return to One Sword Art."
Huang Yanchen murmured, and the sacred sword in her hand erupted with immense power, releasing a blinding beam of light.
Even Zhang Ruochen had to close his eyes to avoid being blinded.
When he opened them again, the ground vortex and the black sphere in the air had both been shattered by Huang Yanchen's sword, broken into pieces.
"Chi Yao actually taught her the Return to One Sword Art."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes narrowed in surprise.
The Return to One Sword Art was a technique created by Qing Emperor after reaching the Great Saint realm, summarizing his life's achievements and fusing countless martial arts into a single sword move.
Though it was only one move, it contained infinite sword Dao mysteries.
Even Sword Emperor Xue Hongchen, then hailed as the number one swordsman under heaven, had said that Qing Emperor's Return to One Sword Art had no counter. If cultivated to its peak, it could break any sacred technique in the world.
Of course, even Qing Emperor himself hadn't perfected it.
Now, Huang Yanchen's execution of the Return to One Sword Art showed considerable skill, unleashing power surpassing many sacred techniques.
Han Qiu was also surprised, not expecting Huang Yanchen's swordsmanship to be so profound. She transformed into a shadow, retreating.
"Xuanwu Sacred Hexagram."
Huang Yanchen swung her sacred sword, and above her head, a patch of green clouds covering dozens of miles formed.
Then, the phantom of a mountain-sized Azure Fire Xuanwu emerged from the ground. On the Xuanwu's back was an ancient Eight Trigrams mark.
Huang Yanchen stood at the center of the Eight Trigrams mark, her posture straight, merging with the Xuanwu phantom below and the green clouds above.
"Boom!"
The immense aura radiated outward, forcing even Han Qiu to retreat.
"Senior Sister is actually using the Xuanwu clan's ancient method—feet on the ground, head holding up the sky, creating her own world." Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly.
Huang Yanchen had refined the Azure Fire Xuanwu's sacred source, gaining some of the Xuanwu's knowledge, so using their ancient method wasn't strange.
Legend said that Xuanwu was one of the first beings born when heaven and earth first split, using its body to support a corner of the world.
Han Qiu quickly steadied herself, leaped into the air, and spread her arms, releasing all her dark force.
"Spirits and ghosts, heed my call! Gate of the Underworld, open now!"
She bit her tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The blood hung in the air, gradually dispersing to form a blood-red ghost gate.
The blood infused with dark force intertwined with Dark Rules, forming slender chains that pierced space, connecting to the Underworld.
From behind the ghost gate surged countless spirits and ghosts, forming an army of ghost soldiers. Additionally, powerful undead corpses crossed the gate, entering the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm.
"Roar!"
A bone dragon several kilometers long flew out, emitting a yin-fiend aura comparable to a beast king, circling in the sky.
In truth, Han Qiu could only freely traverse the yang and yin realms and summon ghost soldiers for her use if she cultivated her Dark Body to full maturity.
But Huang Yanchen's pressure forced her to consume a large amount of blood to forcibly open the ghost gate and summon an army of the dead.
Han Qiu's face grew paler as her blood loss became severe. She dared not sustain the ghost gate any longer.
So, she withdrew her hands, gracefully landing on the bone dragon's head, facing the cold wind like a peerless demoness, staring at Huang Yanchen.
Without the dark force to sustain it, the ghost gate immediately closed.
The real battle had only just begun.
...
(Requesting recommendation votes.) (To be continued.)