Chapter 141: Victory
But under the silks, under the wine, their claws were still sharp.
They’d been waiting for a true challenger.
And Ling Yu had stepped into their den.
The third to rise was Lord Hei Guan of the Black Scales faction. A towering man, his frame corded with muscle, his armor fashioned from the hides of slain beasts. His weapon was a massive glaive, nearly as tall as himself, the blade etched with ritual scars.
He leapt from the balcony, the arena floor quaking under his landing.
The crowd roared. Hei Guan was a favorite; he had once slain a wyvern bare-handed, or so the stories claimed.
****
The third to rise was Lord Hei Guan of the Black Scales faction. A towering man, his frame corded with muscle, his armor fashioned from the hides of slain beasts. His weapon was a massive glaive, nearly as tall as himself, the blade etched with ritual scars.
He leapt from the balcony, the arena floor quaking under his landing.
The crowd roared. Hei Guan was a favorite fighter among the crowds, since he had once slain a wyvern bare-handed, or so the stories claimed.
Ling Yu measured him with calm eyes. His aura was heavier than Zhan Lei’s and Bai Mei’s, a suffocating pressure pressing down like stone. He wasn’t just bluffing about his strength; he had what it took to come face to face with Ling Yu.
But strength alone was never enough.
Hei Guan’s voice boomed. "You’ve shamed my peers. But here, girl, your arrogance ends."
He spun the glaive, the air shrieking as the blade carved a storm.
Ling Yu’s pulse quickened, but not from fear. This... finally, a proper fight.
The clash was thunderous.
His glaive came down like a falling tree, a blow that would have cleaved any lesser hunter in two. Ling Yu’s blade intercepted it; her arms jolted numb from the force. The sand beneath her cracked.
The crowd gasped.
For the first time, she hadn’t danced away untouched.
Hei Guan grinned savagely, teeth bared. "Not so easy now, is it?"
Ling Yu steadied her breath, adjusting her grip. Her eyes narrowed, calculating. He was brute force incarnate, yes, but unlike Zhan Lei, his strength was disciplined, honed. He wasn’t thrashing wildly. He was testing her, probing her defenses.
Their weapons collided again and again, sparks raining, each impact echoing like a hammer on an anvil. The sandstorm of their duel blinded the first few rows.
The divine beings stirred, their voices overlapping.
Ding!
[New Divine Beings are entering the Stream.]
[The hosts’ Stream audience is rising.]
[Blood Fang Deity shows excitement as it enters the Stream.]
[Ah... finally, prey that bites back. Tear him apart, little wolf.]
[Whispering Serpent deliberates slowly.]
[He is not a prey. He is the shadow of the anchor’s will. Careful, vessel...]
[Unknown Cosmic Deity sneers at other Divine Beings.]
[Push harder. Show them what happens when the chains of a wild dog break.]
[Unknown Cosmic Deity sponsored 500 gold coins.]
’Did he just compare me to a wild dog that needs to be chained?’
’...’ Ling Yu was speechless.
Well, it doesn’t matter. Since she already had an idea that she could be worse than that. This retort was nothing at all.
Ling Yu smirked through the storm. Yes, she would push through till the end.
She let him press harder, blow after blow ringing against her blade, until his breath grew heavier, his swings a fraction slower.
Then she struck.
Her feet blurred in a sudden shift, stepping inside the arc of his weapon. Her blade slashed low, slicing across his thigh. Blood sprayed.
Hei Guan roared, swinging downward in retaliation, but Ling Yu twisted aside, her blade stabbing upward into the gap beneath his armor.
The glaive slipped from his grip as he staggered, blood gushing from two wounds.
Ling Yu spun once, her blade tracing a silver arc, and Hei Guan fell to his knees, throat nicked, frozen in the realization that one more fraction of pressure would have ended him.
She leaned close, her words cold. "Strength means nothing without precision."
The crowd fell into stunned silence.
Three.
But before she could even finish her declaration, the fourth lord rose.
Lady Yan Shuang of the Scarlet Mantis faction.
She was lean and deadly, her crimson robes fluttering like the wings of insects. Twin daggers glinted in her hands, their curved edges coated in a sheen of venom.
Unlike the others, she didn’t descend with arrogance or mockery. She moved like a whisper, slipping from the balcony and landing silently on the sand.
Her gaze was fixed, sharp, predatory.
Ling Yu’s heart thrummed. This one... this one wasn’t playing.
Yan Shuang attacked first.
The sand exploded as she blurred forward, her daggers flashing in a flurry of arcs aimed at Ling Yu’s throat, heart, and joints. She was fast, far faster than Zhan Lei or Bai Mei, and sharper than Hei Guan.
Ling Yu parried desperately, her blade a wall of steel against the twin shadows dancing around her. Sparks flew as dagger met sword, each strike accompanied by the acrid hiss of venom sizzling on metal.
The crowd roared, wild with bloodlust.
Xu Mochen leaned forward, his knuckles white on the railing. Even he seemed torn between fury and fascination.
Xie Lingzhou’s expression remained unreadable, but his eyes burned with something else, interest and ruthless calculation.
The divine beings murmured again.
Ling Yu gritted her teeth. Yes, this was the fight she’d wanted.
Yan Shuang wasn’t wasting strength on intimidation or theatrics. She struck to kill her opponents.
And Ling Yu, for the first time that night, felt her blood sing.
The duel raged across the arena, their movements a blur.
Steel clashed, sand sprayed, the torches guttered under the force of their dance. The crowd could barely follow, only gasps and cheers marking each near strike, each narrow dodge.
Ling Yu’s arm throbbed where a dagger had grazed her, the venom sizzling faintly against her protective coating. A reminder: one true cut, and this fight could end very differently.
But she adapted.
Every strike she parried revealed a rhythm. Every dodge mapped Yan Shuang’s speed. Slowly, like a puzzle falling into place, Ling Yu began to weave the pattern.
Then she caught it.
A feint, a shift in weight, a dagger meant to distract, Ling Yu twisted, her blade slashing across Yan Shuang’s forearm, disarming one dagger.
The crowd gasped.
Yan Shuang hissed, eyes blazing. "Impressive."
Ling Yu’s smirk was sharp. "But not enough."
Her next strike came like lightning, disarming the second dagger, her boot slamming into Yan Shuang’s chest, sending her sprawling across the sand.
Ling Yu’s blade pressed against her throat.
Four.
The silence was deafening.
The lords, who were thoroughly humiliated, bloodied, and defeated, lay sprawled across the sand.
And Ling Yu stood above them all, blade gleaming, her aura fierce and unyielding.
She turned slowly, her voice rising once more.
"These are your lords?" she demanded, glaring at the crowd. "These are the ones you bow to? Cruel tyrants hiding behind chains and slaves, too weak to defend even their own honor?"
The crowd shifted, unease spreading like wildfire.
Xu Mochen’s face was white with fury, but he did not move. Not yet.
Xie Lingzhou’s lips curved into the faintest of smiles.
Ling Yu raised her blade, pointing it at the balconies.
"I will not be shackled by cowards. I will not bow to parasites. If this fortress must have rulers, let it be those with true strength."
The anchor pulsed in the distance, its eerie call resonating faintly. The divine beings whispered, menacing and amused.
And for the first time, the fortress trembled, not from monsters, but from rebellion.
.
.
.
The arena reeked of iron and smoke.
The sand beneath Ling Yu’s boots was stained dark, and the echo of her final strike still hung in the air. Around her, silence stretched. A silence that felt heavier than the sound of any applause. The spectators, those who had come for bloodsport and cruelty, stood frozen, faces ghostly in the torchlight.
The four lords were defeated, and the old power structure was naturally shattered.
But after her victory, Ling Yu knew, it was only the beginning of the next problem.
Because what came after the fall of tyrants?
Chaos.
And if she didn’t take the reins, the city would descend into it before the sun rose again.
She lifted her gaze to the balconies. Xu Mochen’s pale face twisted with rage and disbelief; Xie Lingzhou, meanwhile, sat composed, chin resting on one hand, watching her with a faint, thoughtful curve of his lips, a smile that wasn’t mockery, but of his quiet approval.
The torches flickered as the crowd murmured uncertainly.
"W-what now?"
"Who rules, if the lords are gone?"
"She killed them all, she’s going to destroy the fortress!"
"Is she... going to take over?"
Ling Yu let the whispers wash over her, then spoke.
"I came here not to destroy your home," she said, her voice ringing across the pit, firm and calm, "but to destroy the chains that bound you."