Under the relentless pressure from the combination of Lu Zhiying's Utopia and Myriad Fields Backpack, Qi Yuanyuan eventually made her first misstep.
Bang-!
Lu Zhiying's fist struck her cleanly on the back, sending her tumbling forward.
The threads on the bamboo javelins immediately shot towards her, seeking to bind her to the ground once and for all. Bamboo javelins flew down from all angles, threatening to rip apart that smooth skin of hers.
At this moment, Qi Yuanyuan finally revealed a look of concern before raising two fingers and pressing them against the claw-shaped tattoo on her forehead.
Boom-!
A seal seemed to have been unlocked as a storm of world origin energy rapidly formed around her, creating a tornado of energy dense enough to be completely opaque. That said, this tornado of energy only lasted for a short moment before bursting apart, sending a wave of energy bursting out in all directions.
This wave of energy not only blasted away all the bamboo javelins and threads that had been headed her way, but also directly disrupted the connection between Lu Zhiying and the javelins, causing all of the latter to fall limply to the ground.
Even as she was sent stumbling a few steps back, Lu Zhiying grinned, not because her attack had been stopped, but because something interesting had appeared before her eyes.
As the tornado of energy cleared, it revealed a Qi Yuanyuan who now looked slightly different from before.
Her basic features did not change, and neither did her height or clothes. However, her eye pupils had now turned into vertical slits with serrated edges, akin to those of a lizard. Pieces of scales had appeared on her skin, covering almost five percent of her face and body. Her nails had grown sharp and pointed, seemingly capable of tearing apart anyone unfortunate enough to fall into her hands.
Not just that, but world origin energy continued gathering from the surroundings and pouring into her, almost like she was a living magnet for energy.
Zhao Yunxiao widened his eyes in shock.
This was the activation of a special bloodline – bloodline transformation!
In this world, there were many cultivators who possessed special bloodlines.
These special bloodlines could be hereditary in nature, or they could be forcibly extracted and assimilated from foreign sources such as spirit beasts or monsters. But regardless of how these bloodlines were obtained, most cultivators who possessed special bloodlines would also possess unique advantages in certain aspects.
In order to make up for his clear lack of talent, Zhao Yunxiao had always been hoping to refine and assimilate a foreign bloodline into his body. Because of that, he had performed numerous experiments over the years to test the compatibility of his blood to that of spirit beasts and monsters, all to no avail.
Now that he was looking at someone else who possessed a special bloodline, he could not help but feel envy filling his heart.
That said, Zhao Yunxiao was not surprised about the fact that Qi Yuanyuan possessed a special bloodline. He had long since recognised the claw-shaped tattoo on Qi Yuanyuan's head – the mark belonging to members of the powerful Qi Clan.
Members of the Qi Clan had always been known for possessing the bloodline of an ancient earth dragon, bestowing them a boost in terms of their passive cultivation rate. Not only that, but this also allowed them to perform bloodline transformation, temporarily taking on the characteristics of a dragon to increase their combat capabilities.
That said, most members of the Qi Clan were only capable of performing bloodline transformation after entering the Essence Gathering realm, when they opened their dantian and refined their own essence energy.
This was the first time that he had ever heard of a Qi Clan memb- no, not just that. This was the first time that he had ever heard of any Foundation Building realm cultivator performing bloodline transformation!
Was this yet another wonder made possible by the possession of golden spiritual meridians?
What a cheat!
It was not just him feeling this way, either.
Rife discussions arose all around the Black Guardian Square. At this very moment, Qi Yuanyuan's name had been etched deep into the memories of all those present.
There was not a sliver of a doubt. If allowed to grow, this shy young lady was destined to become one of the main characters in charge of steering the future cultivation world!
The moment Qi Yuanyuan's gaze fell upon Lu Zhiying, the latter could feel an immense pressure bearing down upon her. Not only did it send a chill down her back, but it also made it difficult for her to even breathe properly!
Qi Yuanyuan did not emanate any trace of killing intent. Instead, it was quite the opposite. A clear sense of indifference had risen up within her, almost as though it were a waste of her time to deal with the opponent standing before her.
And the real problem was that Lu Zhiying did not even find that to be arrogance. Rather, it all felt only natural, as though she were nothing but an ant standing in the path of a moving elephant.
Why would the elephant even care about the presence of the ant?
If the ant ended up being crushed along the way, so be it. If it did not, then it did not matter either. In any case, all that had no impact on the elephant whatsoever, so it would just move forward as it wished. Despite that, the ant would still have to do everything in its power just to avoid getting crushed.
This sensation that Lu Zhiying was feeling was similar to that – a biological and instinctual fear resulting from a fundamental difference in the levels of their existence!
...How exciting!
But just as the two young ladies were about to make their moves, Qi Yeti suddenly stepped behind Qi Yuanyuan and placed a hand on her tiny shoulder.
"That's enough, Yuanyuan," Qi Yeti said solemnly. "Let's forfeit."
Feeling his hand on her shoulder and hearing his voice, Qi Yuanyuan's pupils suddenly reverted from being vertical slits. She turned around to look at Qi Yeti, who slowly shook his head.
Seeing this, Qi Yuanyuan's expression fell before letting out a resigned sigh. The scales on her skin, the sharp claws, and the world origin energy gushing into her – all of them quickly disappeared as she deactivated her bloodline transformation.
"Eh?" Lu Zhiying blinked blankly in confusion. "What's going on?"
"I forfeit this match," Qi Yuanyuan bowed respectfully towards Lu Zhiying. "You are the winner."
Silence fell upon the Black Guardian Square as everyone was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events. Gazes quickly fell upon the members of the Azure Dragon Sect, but all they saw were expressions of helplessness.
"What's going on?" Gu Qiansi turned towards Zhao Yunxiao and asked.
"It would appear that there are consequences to performing a bloodline transformation at the Foundation Building realm after all," Zhao Yunxiao's eyes gleamed brightly in excitement. "Since this is essentially a friendly duel among allies, her brother probably did not want her to harm herself for the sake of victory. How lucky!"
Lu Zhiying had actually won!
Just like that, her name would be recorded in the annals of the sect history, adding to the short list of new disciples to have ever broken the victory record of the Azure Dragon Sect!
It was not just him. Loud chatter broke out throughout the Black Guardian Square as everyone realised that the result had been set in stone.
Qi Yuanyuan looked at Qi Yeti apologetically, and the latter gently shook his head.
"It's not worth it," Qi Yeti said. "There is still a long road ahead of us."
"I understand..." Qi Yuanyuan's expression fell.
"Wait a minute, this is not right!" Lu Zhiying grumbled. "We are not done yet!"
"Apologies, Fellow Cultivator Lu. However, fighting in that state will only hurt Yuanyuan," Qi Yeti answered. "I hope you understand."
"So what?" Lu Zhiying retorted. "Don't listen to that guy. Who said that you have to fight in that state? Why can't you just keep fighting like you were doing earlier? You were doing well anyway!"
"My apologies, Fellow Cultivator Lu. After cancelling my bloodline transformation, my body will be left weakened for a while, so I am in no state to continue the fight," Qi Yuanyuan replied bitterly. "However, I have to admit that I was already unable to deal with your moves before. Either way, it was only a matter of time before I lost."
"Mm..." Lu Zhiying sulked, clearly unhappy with this outcome.
Zhao Yunxiao felt the corner of his lips twitch.
What was she doing? Why couldn't she just obediently accept the victory?
"Haha, what an anticlimactic end," Ou Fengtian skipped over to wrap her arms around Lu Zhiying's arm. "In that case, we will be looking forward to meeting Fellow Cultivator Qi in the future. Perhaps the two of you can bring this fight to a satisfactory conclusion in the future?"
Zhao Yunxiao smiled upon seeing this.
Not bad, this Ou Fengtian seemed to know what to say to appease Lu Zhiying.
"Right, we have to!" Lu Zhiying nodded in agreement. "This is not an acceptable end!"
Qi Yuanyuan's eyes widened in surprise and turned to look at Qi Yeti, who nodded silently in response. This seemed to have given her the courage to reply.
"Okay! Let's properly bring our fight to a satisfying end next time!" Qi Yuanyuan agreed.
"It's a promise then!" Lu Zhiying emphasised.
"It's a promise!" Qi Yuanyuan nodded. With a flick of her wrist, a set of sect robes appeared in her hand. "Here."
"Got it," Lu Zhiying casually received her sect robes with one hand. "Next time, I will be looking to claim a second set!"
"I will try not to let you do that!" Qi Yuanyuan rejected.
"Hahaha! All right then, you can finalise the details of your promise off the stage," Elder He Luoxuan laughed heartily, clearly glad that the Black Tortoise Sect had claimed victory this year. "If there's nothing else, you may all return to your seats."
With a wave of his hand, the bamboo javelins littered all over the Black Guardian Square flew back towards Lu Zhiying, lining up neatly as they reassembled into the Myriad Fields Backpack behind her back.
"Yes, Elder He!" the twelve new disciples answered in unison.
Even as they slowly returned to their seats, the audiences continued to discuss about what just happened before their very eyes.
Possessing golden spiritual meridians and capable of bloodline transformation at the Foundation Building realm, there was no doubt that the Azure Dragon Sect representative Qi Yuanyuan was extremely impressive. That would hold true even when compared to the representatives of previous years.
It was certainly only a matter of time before she became a true powerhouse of the Duyuan Empire, yet she had still been forced to eat humble pie here at the Meeting of the Great Symbols.
Would this loss serve as a form of motivation for her, or would it result in her downward spiral?
And this Lu Zhiying... she might have been the better one today, but would she be able to keep up with the growth of Qi Yuanyuan?
When the two truly met again as promised, would the result still be the same?
Everyone had their own conjectures, but only time would be able to tell for sure.
"Good job, Junior Martial Sister Lu!" Gu Qiansi cheered as Lu Zhiying returned to her seat.
"I don't know, it doesn't feel like I won," Lu Zhiying pouted before turning to Zhao Yunxiao. "But Senior Martial Brother Zhao, you understood what I was trying to do, right? What do you think about the brand new Myriad Fields Backpack?"
"It's amazing... you are amazing," Zhao Yunxiao said honestly.
Come to think of it, did Lu Zhiying name it the Myriad Fields Backpack simply because he had brought her along to the Myriad Fields Pagoda for his interview for Elder He Luoxuan's work trip to the Origin Lake Sect?
What a frivolous decision...
"Here!" Lu Zhiying offered up the Azure Dragon Sect robes that she had received from Qi Yuanyuan.
"What do you mean?" Zhao Yunxiao raised an eyebrow.
"I won this with your help, so you can consider this a return gift for the Myriad Fields Backpack!" Lu Zhiying said matter-of-factly.
"Haha, that's not true. You won the duel fair and square, so you deserve to keep it for yourself," Zhao Yunxiao laughed while patting her on the head. "In any case, these are female robes. I won't be able to fit in it."
"That's true. In that case, I will hold onto it for now!" Lu Zhiying nodded.
"Now then, it's time to reveal the list of participants selected for the Duyuan Martial Meet," Elder He Luoxuan announced. "Here it goes!"
He lightly threw out a scroll, which quickly unrolled itself upon landing in the centre of the Black Guardian Square.
The moment it fully unravelled, beams of golden light shot up from within, forming into a large array of words that hovered in the air. These were none other than the names of disciples who had been selected to attend the upcoming Duyuan Martial Meet!
Everyone quietened down in an instant, focusing all of their attention on the list of names hovering in the air before them. Even the core disciples were no exception!