Chapter 5186 — Conceding Ten Moves
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Wei Zhao immediately warned Qiu Lingshan: "Be careful in a moment. That creature has listened to Xue Jianming and is preparing to go for the kill against you. If you can't manage, just concede outright—whatever you do, don't take risks and try to tough it out. Safety first, understand?"
"Don't worry, I know my limits." Qiu Lingshan nodded. Amid the cheers and encouragement of the crowd, she stepped calmly into the arena with no small measure of a general's bearing.
Wei Zhao nodded to himself. After years of tempering in the mysterious Investigation Bureau, Qiu Lingshan's strength had not advanced much, constrained as it was by objective conditions, but her whole bearing and spirit had matured a great deal. In a sense, such a transformation was even more heartening and precious than an advance in strength.
At Xin Yi'an's command, the duel formally began. Qiu Lingshan had not the slightest intention of seizing the initiative—after all, in terms of raw strength she was at an absolute disadvantage. A reckless assault would not only fail to gain her any advantage but would instead expose flaws for her opponent to exploit. The best strategy for her was defense and counterattack.
Seeing Qiu Lingshan's stance, as though facing a great enemy, Luo Shasheng immediately laughed. "Since that's the case, I won't hold back! This blade of mine is called the Slaying-Life Saber—drawn, it must see blood. You had best look out for yourself, young lady!"
He had been contemptuous from the start, and now he paid Qiu Lingshan even less mind. Drawing his long saber, he came straight at her with a vertical chop—at first glance nothing remarkable, seeming like a careless blow born of underestimating his opponent.
"Not even using the Snow Sword Sect's mental cultivation method, and he thinks he can casually hack me to death?" Qiu Lingshan frowned slightly and chose to retreat and evade. Had Wei Zhao not repeatedly warned her beforehand, she might well have launched a counterattack at this moment.
She didn't take the bait? Luo Shasheng frowned as well. This strike of his was indeed plain and unremarkable—to onlookers it looked like nothing but brute force, devoid of any subtlety. Little did they know it was merely a surface-level smokescreen.
On the surface Luo Shasheng looked like a thick, burly brute, but in truth he was deeply calculating. His posture of careless contempt was three parts genuine, but seven parts put on for show. If Qiu Lingshan thought she saw an opening and rashly attacked, that would be exactly what he wanted.
At first glance his strike looked crude beyond words, but hidden within it were exceedingly dangerous follow-up variations. With a single shift of his intent, he could transform it at any moment into one of the Snow Sword Sect's most perilous techniques: the Snow Slaughter Form.
Qiu Lingshan did not yet know that she had just skirted the gates of hell. Had she truly fallen for Luo Shasheng's scheme, with her current strength there would have been no chance of survival—unless Wei Zhao forcibly intervened to stop it, and then she would have lost.
Utterly unaware of all this, Qiu Lingshan simply followed Wei Zhao's prior instructions, enduring a full ten moves in a row, forced back again and again by Luo Shasheng, in constant peril. Fortunately, her early Foundation Establishment strength was no mere ornament—even if she could not beat Luo Shasheng head-on, as long as she focused solely on dodging, she could still hold out for a while.
"Heh heh, I wonder what foolish tactic Wei Zhao gave her, to actually concede ten moves in a row and let Luo Shasheng so easily complete his snow momentum. Is there any need to keep fighting after this?" Xue Jianming mocked.