Later that day, the sect's grand arena once again filled with an expectant silence. The crowd that had spent days watching countless battles now sat on the edges of their seats, waiting for the semi-finals.
The elder from before appeared on the central platform, his robes fluttering slightly in the afternoon breeze.
"Well done," he began, his deep voice carrying through the arena. "For making it this far — the semi-finals — you will each receive ten jade coins as reward. Treasure them well. Now, proceed to your respective stages and prepare yourselves."
A wave of murmurs followed his announcement. Ten jade coins was a small fortune for most outer disciples, enough to buy elixirs or rare treasures that could raise their cultivation by leaps. But Bai Long didn't even blink. He adjusted his sleeves and began walking toward Stage Two, where his match awaited.
Just as he stepped onto the path leading up, a familiar voice called out from behind.
"Brother Li! Good luck!"
Bai Long turned slightly to see Xue He jogging up, waving with his usual grin — the kind that somehow always looked a little too confident for his own good.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who needs luck," Bai Long replied calmly. "All I can wish for is that you make it back alive."
Xue He gave an exaggerated sigh, pretending to clutch his chest as though struck. "You have no hope in me, do you?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Brother Li, how could you?" he cried dramatically, earning a few chuckles from nearby disciples.
Bai Long smirked faintly, though his eyes remained cool. "Go now, and try not to die."
"I'll show you!" Xue He puffed out his chest. "Watch how I win this!"
The semi-finals began with four competitors — Bai Long and his opponent on one side, Xue He and Leng Yue on the other.
The elder's voice rang out again, sharp and final.
"Begin!"
Bai Long's Match
Bai Long's opponent, a tall youth with an intimidating aura, released a surge of spiritual pressure the moment the match began. The air quivered as his cultivation at the fourth stage of Nascent Soul Realm manifested, his sword gleaming with a dark blue edge.
But Bai Long didn't even slow his steps.
He vanished.
A single blur of motion later, he appeared behind his opponent. His hand closed around the man's neck with such ease it was almost insulting. With a flick of his wrist, Bai Long tossed him off the stage like one might brush aside a leaf in the wind.
The impact shook the arena floor.
The crowd went utterly silent. Then—
"Winner of Stage Two: Number 412!"
Bai Long didn't even look back. His mind was elsewhere — on Stage One, where Xue He was about to face Leng Yue.
He turned, intending to observe. But what greeted him instead froze him in place. Leng Yue's sword was already at Xue He's neck.
The elder raised his hand. "Winners: Number 1 and 412."
"What?"
For the first time since his rebirth, Bai Long's composure faltered. He had expected Xue He to lose — no one could bridge an entire realm's difference in raw power. But to be defeated instantly? Even he hadn't foreseen that.
One Minute Earlier
"Begin!"
Xue He grinned, drawing his sword in one smooth motion. "Alright, time to show them!"
Crimson light surged along his blade as his qi flared to life."Scarlet Sun Blade: Scarlet Slash!"
A wave of scarlet energy tore across the stage, scorching the tiles beneath it as it shot toward Leng Yue with enough force to make the audience shield their eyes.
Leng Yue didn't move at first. The faintest chill rippled through the air, her long hair stirring as frost bloomed across the stage. When the fiery crimson arc reached her, she simply lifted her sword — and swung once.
Crack!
The red arc shattered like glass under moonlight. Not dissipated — erased.
Xue He blinked, frozen mid-stance. "Huh?"
Before he could process what happened, Leng Yue's figure blurred. A cold wind brushed his cheek, and he felt the sharp sting of metal against his throat. The temperature around him dropped so suddenly his breath turned to mist.
His sword arm trembled. "I— I surrender."
Leng Yue's blade withdrew as if it had never been there. She turned away, expression as calm as ever, and walked off the stage without a single glance backward. Her every movement was like a snowflake — silent, graceful, and impossibly distant.
The judge's voice broke the silence. "Winner: Number 1."
The audience roared, both terrified and entranced. Some swore they had seen her eyes glow faintly blue just before she struck — as if the spirit of ice itself had manifested in human form.
Aftermath
Xue He stumbled off the stage, still pale. He immediately found Bai Long standing near the steps, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.
"Brother Li," Xue He said, eyes wide, "that woman is scary."
Bai Long nodded faintly. "Then work harder."
"I don't think even you can win against her," Xue He muttered. "She's like… some kind of immortal snow goddess."
"Don't worry," Bai Long said with quiet certainty. "I'll be fine."
It wasn't arrogance — it was fact. He could sense her cultivation clearly now. She was not beyond the Spirit Severing realm, though her mastery of spiritual energy was unnaturally refined. But even so… she wasn't in the Body Integration Realm. And as long as that was true, she was within his reach.
Still, as he glanced toward her private box — where Leng Yue sat, eyes closed in meditation, her aura tranquil but sharp — he felt a faint stirring within his own blood. The dragon within him shifted slightly, as though reacting to her divine coldness.
'Interesting,' he thought. 'Let's see how far you can push me.'
The elder's voice once again boomed across the arena.
"Enough for today! The finals will commence tomorrow at dawn! Rest well, for tomorrow will decide the strongest among you!"
The disciples bowed before dispersing, the excitement in the air thick as thunder before a storm.
Bai Long lingered for a moment longer, looking up at the moon that had begun to rise behind the mountain peaks.
Tomorrow, he knew, wouldn't be as simple as the rest of the tournament.
Though he didn't know it yet but it would be the first true clash between heaven's frost and dragon's flame.