In the East Courtyard rest area, Xu Wuyi, Shen Wei, and Zhou Mingxuan were surrounded by a crowd of excited students.

Xu Wuyi stood amidst the crowd, watching the celebration with a faint smile. After a long, hard-fought journey, they had finally won this prestigious championship.

After a short break, the atmosphere in the arena didn’t cool down, because the match for third place between the South Courtyard and the North Courtyard was next.

Compared to the climactic showdown between the East and West Courtyards, this match drew slightly less attention, but it wasn’t without its own points of interest.

Especially since Zhao Qingwei and Li Hao, two top-tier geniuses, would be taking the stage again.

In the North Courtyard rest area, Zhao Qingwei slowly rose to her feet. Her cold gaze swept over her two teammates, then to Luo Liang, who wore a complicated expression after their recent setbacks.

"I’ll go first."

After a series of brutal fights, the North Courtyard’s morale was damaged. They needed a clean and decisive victory to boost it.

Her taking the stage herself was undoubtedly the best way to achieve that.

Over in the South Courtyard, the atmosphere was even more solemn.

Li Hao sat in his chair, his clasped hands pressed against his forehead.

"Li Hao, we..." a teammate’s voice trailed off, filled with uncertainty.

Li Hao looked up. The bloodshot veins in his eyes hadn’t faded, but his gaze had become sharp once more. "We do our best. I’ll go last."

He planned to wait at ease for an exhausted opponent, facing Zhao Qingwei in a final duel after she had expended some of her energy. In theory, this was the South Courtyard’s only chance of winning.

On the stage, Zhao Qingwei stood with her sword, facing the first member of the South Courtyard team.

The fight was devoid of any suspense.

Zhao Qingwei didn’t even need to use that world-shocking sword strike. She relied solely on her incredibly solid Swordsmanship and a Swordsmanship Realm far surpassing her opponent’s. Within ten moves, she precisely flicked his weapon away and pressed the tip of her sword to his throat.

"North Courtyard, Zhao Qingwei wins!"

The second member of the South Courtyard team took the stage, but the result was the same.

Facing Zhao Qingwei’s Swordsmanship, which was as swift as a fleeting shadow, he held on for a little longer. Still, he failed to force out her trump card and was run through the heart on the twenty-third move, dissolving into white light.

"North Courtyard, Zhao Qingwei wins!"

After taking two consecutive victories, Zhao Qingwei’s breathing remained steady, but her gaze grew even sharper, like polished, cold ice.

She stood quietly in the center of the stage, waiting for the South Courtyard’s final opponent—the only one who could pose a threat to her.

All eyes in the arena were focused.

Li Hao’s figure materialized in a flash of light. He gripped his dual blades tightly, his eyes locked firmly on Zhao Qingwei.

All of the South Courtyard’s hopes now rested on his shoulders. He had to win, not just for the honor of his courtyard, but also to break the inner demon plaguing his heart.

"South Courtyard, Li Hao," he announced in a low voice. The aura around him began to climb as his Speed Realm quietly unfolded. His entire being was like a taut bowstring.

Zhao Qingwei gave a slight nod in return. Her right hand rested gently on the hilt of her sword.

Without another word, the atmosphere grew taut with tension.

"Match, begin!"

The moment the referee’s voice fell, Li Hao pushed his Body Technique to its absolute limit. He transformed into a blurry blue afterimage, cutting in from an extremely tricky angle to strike at Zhao Qingwei’s flank!

He had learned his lesson from being suppressed by Xu Wuyi’s Domain. Pushing his speed even further, he tried to seize the initiative before Zhao Qingwei could even draw her sword, denying her the chance to gather power for that heaven-shaking strike.

However, Zhao Qingwei’s response once again exceeded his expectations.

Facing Li Hao’s ghostly assault, Zhao Qingwei didn’t respond with conventional Swordsmanship as she had with her previous two opponents.

It was as if she had long anticipated Li Hao’s preemptive strike. The instant the blue afterimage moved, her Spirit, will, and Qi and Blood had already unified, surging to their peak.

CLANG—!

The clear ring of a sword, as if transcending the physical world, once again echoed throughout the arena!

That familiar, impossibly brilliant sword light erupted from her waist once more!

It was that same soul-stealing strike! So fast it surpassed all reaction, acting directly upon the soul!

Li Hao felt everything before him suddenly vanish, his consciousness completely flooded by that pure Sword Intention of "Speed"!

No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t outpace the transmission of this intention!

’This is bad!’

An intense sense of crisis made his scalp tingle. He desperately activated his Spiritual Power, trying to break free from this state of having his Heart and Spirit seized.

But his Spiritual Power cultivation was never his strong suit; it mostly served to augment his Speed Realm. Now, facing this strike from Zhao Qingwei—one that condensed all of her Essence, Qi, and Spirit—he found it exceptionally difficult to resist.

Slower than Tana had been before!

His thoughts seemed to sink into a mire, his body stiffened, and his forward momentum came to a fatal halt.

To outside observers, it looked as if Li Hao was deliberately charging into that deadly sword light.

Zhao Qingwei’s eyes were icy cold. The sword light aimed straight for Li Hao’s throat without the slightest hesitation.

Just as the tip of the sword was about to touch his skin, a crazed look erupted in Li Hao’s eyes!

An intense will to survive and the bitterness of impending defeat, mixed with the formless pressure from the Qin Family’s sponsorship, transformed into a desperate power that allowed him to forcibly break through part of the Mental Suppression!

"Aaargh!"

He let out an inhuman roar. Ignoring the sword aimed at his throat, he crossed his dual blades, gathered all his remaining Qi and Blood and will, and slashed at Zhao Qingwei’s abdomen like a madman!

He was going for mutual destruction!

This was his only, and final, choice!

SQUELCH!

SHUNK—!

The sword light flashed past. A small, bloody hole appeared on Li Hao’s throat. The light in his eyes instantly dimmed, his body went rigid, and he then dissolved into white light.

But his dual blades had also successfully struck Zhao Qingwei.

Although his Heart and Spirit had been suppressed, preventing him from unleashing his full power, the sharp blades still broke through her Protective Qi and Blood. They left two horrifying, bone-deep wounds across her abdomen, and blood instantly soaked through her training uniform.

Zhao Qingwei let out a muffled groan. Her face instantly turned ashen, and she had to lean on her sword just to keep from collapsing.

The intense pain caused beads of cold sweat to form on her forehead.

"North Courtyard, Zhao Qingwei wins!"

"In the match for third place, the North Courtyard is victorious!"

The referee’s announcement rang out, bringing this brief yet brutal duel to a close.

Applause filled the arena, both for Zhao Qingwei’s stunningly beautiful sword strike and for Li Hao’s desperate final counterattack.

However, the South Courtyard’s spectator section was silent. Li Hao’s figure rematerialized in the rest area. He kept his head down, remaining silent for a long time.

He had given it his all, even managing to wound Zhao Qingwei, but he still couldn’t change the outcome of his defeat.

The feeling of failure in his heart was even worse than before.

Zhao Qingwei was teleported back to the North Courtyard rest area. Her injuries healed instantly, but her mental exhaustion didn’t dissipate so quickly.

Luo Liang and her other teammate hurried over, but she just waved them away, walked to the side alone, and sat down cross-legged to regulate her breathing.

She had single-handedly defeated all three opponents to claim third place for the North Courtyard. She had done it, but the process was far more difficult than she had anticipated.

With the end of the battle between the North and South Courtyards, the dust finally settled on this year’s Star Martial University first-year inter-courtyard tournament.

A massive overall scoreboard floated in the center of the arena, clearly displaying the final rankings of the elite combat tournament:

First Place: East Courtyard!

Second Place: West Courtyard!

Third Place: North Courtyard!

Fourth Place: South Courtyard!