LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 176: Defeated!
On the highest seat, above the sea of disciples, a figure slowly rose.
A white robe fluttered lightly, untouched by the winds of the arena.
The Celestial Peak Lord.
She turned her head slightly, her voice calm, emotionless. "Yue Xi. Do not disappoint the master."
A disciple, standing behind her in silent reverence, bowed deeply.
"Yes, Master."
But the Celestial Peak Lord—
Did not stay.
She took a step forward, her delicate yet unshakable presence fading into the distance. As if the entire match—no, the entire sect gathering—was beneath her interest.
And then—She yawned.
A soft, careless sound, carrying absolute confidence.
"I'll take a rest. Call me when the match is over."
Then, she was gone.
The peak lords froze.
The disciples stared, dumbfounded.
"What?!"
"The Celestial Peak Lord… she just… left?!"
"After a thousand years of seclusion, she only showed herself for a few hours?!"
Disappointment and awe mixed.
Even Su Xiaobai's eyes stayed on her fading figure. Beneath her robes, her movements were fluid, effortless.
Smooth, pale legs carried her away—
And though her body was covered, Su Xiaobai could tell.
Her waist, her presence—
She was different.
Not in the same way as Zhu Qing, whose beauty was sharp, deadly, drenched in killing intent. No—this woman carried an untouchable mystery.
Something about her felt familiar.
But—
He did not know why. Yue Xi, her chosen disciple, descended towards the arena.
And though the Celestial Peak Lord had already vanished, her presence still marked over the battlefield.
The match resumed.
The sect pretended that everything was normal.
But deep down—
They all knew.
This was merely the calm before the storm.
And now, with the Sect Master himself openly ordering Liu Chenfu's capture before the entire sect—
Something monumental was about to happen.
___
The arena, once rubble and ruin, stood pristine again.
Array masters worked like ghosts, weaving formations in the air, their light flickering, vanishing. The battlefield shone anew, its surface whispering with freshly sealed defensive formations.
But no one left.
If anything—the crowd had swollen.
Disciples climbed walls, rooftops, even trees. Elders, usually withdrawn, leaned forward. The arena buzzed—a storm of murmurs, ragged breaths, roars barely held back.
All eyes on Su Xiaobai.
The man who butchered his way to rank #4 in a day.
If he won this?
Fastest rise in sect history.
The sunset poured gold over the battlefield. Shadows stretched long, swallowing the two figures still standing.
Su Xiaobai. Yue Xi.
The final clash was here.
"Take it. I won't fight a cripple."
Yue Xi's voice landed light as moonlight—cold, soft, but carrying firmness.
In her hand, a top-grade Qi Replenishment Pill.
Su Xiaobai's lip curled. He plucked it from her fingers, gaze flicking to her hand—pale, boneless, delicate.
A woman's hand. Beautiful.
A thought crept in.
If just her fingers looked like this, then beneath those robes…
He swallowed the pill and the thought in one go.
But something itched.
A wrongness, too faint to name.
His smirk deepened. Arms folding, he tilted his head, voice lazy—
"Won't you take off your robe?"
A simple question. Casual.
But, the wind stilled. The crowd hushed.
Yue Xi didn't move.
"We do not show our faces to Nányì."
Her voice stayed steady.
Su Xiaobai's brow lifted.
"Nányì?"
A flicker passed beneath her veil—too fast to catch. But her words came smooth, even.
"Male servitors." She let it settle. "In my nation, men exist 'only' as laborers, scribes, or temple attendants."
A wind swept through, drawing an invisible line.
Su Xiaobai's sneer sharpened. "I look like a Nányì to you?"
Amusement filled his voice, but his gaze gleamed—sharp.
Then, slow, deliberate—his eyes slid toward the balcony.
"What about your Celestial Peak Lord?"
Silence.
"Rules for thee, but not for me?"
And then—
A shift.
Yue Xi, hidden behind silk, smiled.
"Master isn't showing her face…"
Soft. Almost a whisper.
But the words...Master isn't showing her face.
Something sank in his mind.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOM!
The war horn split the heavens.
A battle signal.
And in that instant—
It clicked.
A chill raced down Su Xiaobai's spine.
That bitch.
That cunning, two-faced, silk-wrapped fox.
Celestial Peak Lord had never revealed her real face.
Not once.
Not to him. Not to anyone.
A perfect illusion. A lie so deep the entire sect swallowed it.
His pupils shrank.
But too late.
Because Yue Xi was already moving.
And the final battle began.
Swoosh!
In front of everyone, Yue Xi raised her hands behind her back—
And then—Clang! Clang!
Two swords materialized, dark as a phantom's whisper, their edges shimmering with a cold, lunar glow.
Su Xiaobai's eyes narrowed.
"Another swordsman?"
His lips twitched.
"Great. As if I haven't beaten enough of you sword-waving virgins today."
But Yue Xi—
Did not respond.
Instead—
"Moonlight Severance."
A voice as soft as midnight mist.
Then—
She vanished.
Not disappeared—but multiplied.
Dozens of afterimages—illusions woven from pure speed—spread like an endless lunar mirage, encircling him from every direction.
Her aura—Peak Soul Fusion Realm.
Her footwork—[Lunar Mirage Steps].
To the untrained eye, she had become an army of ghosts.
But Su Xiaobai?
He scoffed.
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The ground cracked beneath him as his body transformed.
Muscles coiled, bones strengthened, dragon scales pulsed with omnious violet light.
His pupils pierced through the mirage.
And then—
His palm expanded outward.
[Soul Shatter Palm]!
A technique he had never used before.
A six-foot ethereal palm, brimming with pure soul force, descended like the heavens' judgment—
And slammed toward her.
Su Xiaobai felt his chest tighten in excitement.
This was his first true soul attack!
Let's see if she could handle—
SWOOSH!
She dodged.
Too easily.
As if she had seen it coming before he even moved.
And then—
She looked at him.
[Dreamshatter Gaze.]
Su Xiaobai's world lurched.
His vision blurred, his body froze.
"What?!"
"Why isn't he moving?!"
"Brother Su, you wanna die?!"
The crowd roared in panic, but to Su Xiaobai—
He was still moving.
No—he was still fighting.
But—
It wasn't real.
His claws ripped forward, aiming for Yue Xi's throat—
But her twin swords met him first.
SLASH! SLASH!
A thousand cuts, like moonlight slicing through the night.
Pain.
Burning. Ripping. Tearing.
"AGH—!!"
He flew.
His body crashed against the edge of the arena, his back cratering the stone.
Blood dripped from his arms, his chest—his very bones felt like they had been sawed through by a thousand raging bulls.
But—
His body was fine.
Not a single real wound.
Because none of it had happened.
Because he was still trapped.
[Dreamshatter Gaze.]
A technique that imprisoned its victims in the illusion of their own defeat.
And right now—
Su Xiaobai was living his own downfall.
And Yue Xi?
She watched with her cold gaze.
Waiting.
To see if he could break free.
She sighed softly.
Her veiled face carried no emotion, only the cold indifference of one standing above lesser beings.
She had already seen the outcome.
"His soul is too weak…"
A fresh Nascent Soul cultivator?
Not even worth finishing off.
She turned away, glancing up at the towering balcony.
"It's over."
Two words. No hesitation.
Behind her, Su Xiaobai's body twitched.
Frozen.
Trapped in a world of false defeat.
The peak lords exchanged glances.
Zhao Tianxuan sighed.
"It seems he must stop here today…"
His fingers rose slightly, ready to declare the match—
But then—
"Roar—!!"
A bone-chilling howl ripped through the heavens.
The air vibrated. The sky cracked.
A sound not of a man, but of a beast clawing its way out of an abyss.
The pavilion shook.
Many disciples clutched their chests, an invisible pressure squeezing their souls.
"That… that sound!"
Zhu Qing's pupils shrank.
"Soul Piercing Howl?!"
She had given him the technique, but she had never recommended it
Too wild. Too unstable.
Too useless.
But now—
It worked.
The illusion shattered like glass.
And in that instant—
Yue Xi's eyes snapped wide.
Something burned into her back.
A sensation she had never—
BOOOOOOOOM!
A dragon's breath erupted.
An all-consuming ray of void energy, blasting straight into her spine!
The force hurled her forward like a meteor, her body twisting violently in the air before—
CRASH!
She slammed into the far end of the arena, her white robes splattered with dust and blood.
The once untouchable moon—
Sent crashing into the dirt.