Chapter 98: Whose Fight Is It?

　　Lu Mingshu acted fast and attacked first.

　　No matter how confident in their ability, if one was fighting Jie Wenhan, no one would let down their guard.

　　That was because the most powerful individuals in the competition were none other than Jie Wenhan and Kuai Xin!

　　Kuai Xin had a strong foundation; within a few years, he would be in the Spirit Realm. Compared to him, Jie Wenhan had a very strong ability as well, so she didn’t lack by much.

　　Sparks could be seen before the sword-light expanded into a halo as it surrounded Jie Wenhan.

　　Jie Wenhan waved her sword. It shone as mystic light burst out and dashed at Lu Mingshu.

　　Clink Clink Clink——

　　The sound of the swords clashing against each other lingered in everyone’s ears. Both parties moved so fast that they couldn’t be seen clearly.

　　In the blink of an eye, the number of times the swords clashed was already uncountable.

　　Now that Lu Mingshu was going up against Jie Wenhan, she realized how scary the ability of a genuine successor disciple was.

　　She thought that she was already pretty good at controlling her mystic force, but Jie Wenhan was no worse than her. Jie Wenhan had smooth control, which showed how much effort she put into polishing her use of mystic force.

　　Indeed, the ability that was gained through an artificial boost was no match for ability gained through repeated training.

　　Even so, Lu Mingshu had faith in herself that she would win this fight!

　　Sword-shadows flew past like lightning back and forth on the platform. Below the White Magnificent Peak, disciples were whispering in one another’s ear.

　　“Interesting! I thought the fight with Senior Brother Shao would be the best, but this one with Senior Aunt Jie is way better!”

　　“That’s what happens when the strongest meet up with each other.”

　　The fight with Shao Zhengyang displayed Lu Mingshu’s ability as close to his. The defeat of Shao Zhengyang was seen as a close shave, which made it seem like a fight that made one’s heart speed up.

　　With this fight against Jie Wenhan, it was revealed that Lu Mingshu didn’t actually display her true ability back then!

　　The fight was still ongoing even after half an hour when the figures on stage split apart all of a sudden.

　　Lu Mingshu was gasping for air, her clothes now drenched in sweat.

　　“Junior Niece Lu,” Jie Wenhan smiled politely. “Seeing that you’re out of energy, why don’t we stop now? A tie isn’t a bad result, is it?”

　　“Is Senior Aunt Jie winning?” Whispers among the crowd could be heard.

　　In the spectators’ eyes, she was indeed in a better condition compared to Lu Mingshu, who looked like a wreck; not only was she drenched in sweat as well, there was blood oozing out of her wounds.

　　After all, one party had a winning streak of sixteen while the other was nurturing her strength and biding her time.

　　However, as long as Jie Wenhan won, nothing else would matter. Lu Mingshu’s streak of sixteen wins would go down the drain.

　　Lu Mingshu stood up straight facing Jie Wenhan.

　　“Senior Aunt Jie, I believe you are aware that some things shouldn’t be left unfinished.”

　　As fast as lighting, Lu Mingshu dashed forward once again.

　　Cling Cling Cling—–

　　The sound of the swords hitting against each other could be clearly heard once more.

　　Jie Wenhan started taking the fight lightly, and the corners of her mouth curved upwards.

　　Silly kid, even though she has great ability, she’s still a greenhorn in a fight. As long as she’s triggered…

　　Silly kid, doesn’t she realize that she just fought sixteen people? What makes her think that she would be energetic enough to fight me? The more delicate her moves are, the easier it will be for her to make mistake.

　　And she’s injured too. I bet she can’t even move her left arm now.

　　As a Martial Practitioner, once a part of the body was hurt, it would affect the accuracy of any moves.

　　She’s injured and still wants to fight me? Hah….

　　Jie Wenhan’s eyes shone as she felt Lu Mingshu’s movement. Without the slightest hesitation, Jie Wenhan counterattacked.

　　The sword in Jie Wenhan’s hand trembled slightly as the mystic light passed through it, dispersing throughout the air and striking toward Lu Mingshu’s injury.

　　Szzzz——

　　The sword pierced through Lu Mingshu’s left arm.

　　Jie Wenhan let out a smile, which quickly faded when she felt something cold on her neck.

　　As it happened, Jie Wenhan’s strike didn’t knock Lu Mingshu back, who decided to counterattack instead. Lu Mingshu ignored the sword that was piercing through her arm as she stepped forward to get closer to Jie Wenhan, simply letting the sword pierce deeper into her arm.

　　A few strands of hair fell to the ground.

　　The sword stayed on Jie Wenhan’s neck.

　　Jie Wenhan’s smile stiffened. She looked up slowly at Lu Mingshu.

　　Lu Mingshu was gasping for air, and the sweat trickling down her face was blurring her vision, but she gripped her sword tightly, pointing it at Jie Wenhan’s neck.

　　The sword-light blinked rapidly, causing a chill to run down Jie Wenhan’s spine.

　　This scene caused an uproar.

　　“Who was defeated? Senior Aunt Jie? ”

　　“Are you an idiot? Can’t you see the sword pointing at her throat?”

　　“But… she wounded Lu Mingshu….”

　　“So what if she wounded Lu Mingshu? Even if Lu Mingshu lost an arm, the one with a sword at their throat is the loser! If Lu Mingshu continued, Senior Aunt Jie would need to wave her head goodbye!”

　　“What happened? Isn’t Senior Aunt Jie on the winning end?”

　　“She was….”

　　Elsewhere among the spectators, the Fluffy Cloud Elder stood up abruptly at the scene, nearly flipping the table over.

　　“Calm down, my dear Senior Sister. Sit,” The Elder of the line of Dawn commented sarcastically.

　　The Fluffy Cloud Elder’s face changed. She gritted her teeth and sat down.

　　After this, the Zhou family’s face would be completely gone.

　　After sixteen rounds, Lu Mingshu was obviously no longer in her best condition. Jie Wenhan had a major advantage going against Lu Mingshu in such a state, and yet she still managed to lose. The real reason the Zhou family allowed Jie Wenhan to fight, in the guise of Jie Wenhan wanting to retrieve face, was because they wanted to take control over Kuai Xin. However, they never expected that Lu Mingshu would show up out of nowhere and ruin the entire carefully laid plan.

　　“You let me win,” Lu Mingshu sheathed her sword.

　　Jie Wenhan took a deep breath before she withdrew her sword.

　　Blood flowed out of Lu Mingshu’s arm incessantly.

　　Jie Wenhan put her sword back and took out some ointment, then proceeded to help Lu Mingshu wrap up her injury.

　　After stopping the blood, Lu Mingshu nodded, “Thank you, Senior Aunt Jie.”

　　“Why would you thank me? I played dirty against you,” Jie Wenhan smiled bitterly.

　　“I know,” Lu Mingshu smiled. “I knew from the start. Back then, you only fought Senior Uncle Kuai for show.”

　　“What…?”

　　“I could tell from that fight that you are someone who would use dirty tricks for your own benefit. Other people would think so as well, and they would look down on you.”

　　That left Jie Wenhan speechless, before she shook her head and smiled, “Stupid me, thinking that you fell into my trap when you figured out my weaknesses instead.”

　　Jie Wenhan got the title of genuine successor disciple three years ago. Being someone who was low-profile, not many people knew her well. Most thought she was a straightforward and short-tempered person when she fought with Kuai Xin at the lower door and quarrelled with Zhou Yinru.

　　However, it would result in a loss if one saw Jie Wenhan that way.

　　Jie Wenhan intentionally let more than ten disciples fight Lu Mingshu first before she went up in order to drain Lu Mingshu’s energy. During the fight, she used strong moves so that Lu Mingshu would reveal her weakness, before finally attacking straight away to secure her win.

　　It was nicely planned, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

　　Silly me. I thought that Lu Mingshu had fallen into my trap when actually, I was the one falling into hers. Lu Mingshu had already clearly seen through Jie Wenhan’s tricks and pretended to be weak, tricking Jie Wenhan into thinking that Lu Mingshu was no challenge, all so she could identify Jie Wenhan’s flaws and turn the tide at the last second.

　　“Indeed, there’s talent in every part of the world. I admit defeat.”

　　Not only is my ability weaker, but I’m also a worse schemer. Jie Wenhan tightened her fist as she made a decision…

　　…which was to just leave immediately. Her title as a genuine successor disciple wouldn’t be affected anyway since she was in the top ten in the previous competition, so losing this time around wouldn’t affect her title.

　　Jie Wenhan slapped Ban Qin’s arm softly before leaving, “Young man, it’s your problem now.”

　　The real reason she participated, to begin with, was to control Kuai Xin. Seeing that Kuai Xin wasn’t intending to help the line of Jade Terrace, her part was done.