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Baili Xiao took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes as the spiritforce around her surged violently.

A lotus flower slowly bloomed beneath her feet, lifting her entire body into the air.

The lotus seemed to contain endless principles of the Dao. As its petals unfurled, the sound of the Dao resonated through the air, and all noise instantly fell into silence.

No matter how loud the surroundings had been before, now everyone seemed to go deaf, unable to hear a thing.

As the lotus continued to open, everyone's minds felt drawn toward it.

Once the lotus had fully bloomed, the spiritforce between heaven and earth erupted like a tide. The lotus changed color, turning into a cyan lotus.

Baili Xiao stood on the cyan lotus, her eyes deep and unfathomable. A majestic aura roared around her like a coiled dragon.

But that wasn’t the end.

With the blooming of the cyan lotus, another lotus began to condense in front of her.

It formed quickly, transforming into a black lotus. Then more lotuses began appearing and blooming in midair, eight in total.

Their colors: cyan, black, white, blue, red, yellow, purple, orange.

Once all eight lotuses had bloomed, Baili Xiao began stepping forward in midair, treading a path paved by these floating lotuses. With each step, her aura grew stronger.

“This lotus looks familiar…” a disciple murmured below.

“It’s the Myriad Dao Lotus, ranked eleventh on the list of the world’s rarest treasures!” another shouted in shock.

“That’s not the real Myriad Dao Lotus,” said a disciple more familiar with the legends. “The cyan lotus of the Myriad Dao is still sealed in the Sword-Washing Pool of our True Martial Sacred Ground. The others disappeared when Grand Empress Hongtian ascended to a higher world. I’ve read records about her, supposedly she comprehended the secrets of the Myriad Dao Lotus and created a unique meridian technique. No one knows if it’s true.”

Baili Xiao stood in the air, her gaze cold and emotionless. The eight lotuses spun beneath her, each releasing a thick mist of primordial essence.

When she waved her hands, beams of light shot out from the eight lotuses, each one a different color. The beams intertwined and wrapped around each other.

As the eight colors merged, the lotuses beneath her also began to fuse.

During the fusion, the sound of the Dao rang like flowing water over stones, soothing and serene, while the spiritforce in the air became so thick it almost wouldn’t disperse.

Xu Zimo narrowed his eyes at the display. He sat down cross-legged, placing his curved blade, Shadow Tyrant, before him.

His action quickly drew the attention of the audience.

“What’s Senior Brother Xu doing?” someone asked in confusion.

“I’m not sure,” another said. “But have you noticed? The meridian techniques he’s using, we’ve never seen any of them before.”

As Xu Zimo laid his blade before him, a dazzling light enveloped it. Shadow Tyrant began to tremble.

Baili Xiao continued walking forward in the air. The eight-colored lotuses fully merged into a single lotus of chaos.

With a wave of her hand, endless brilliance erupted from the lotus and shot into the sky before hurling itself toward Xu Zimo.

Just then, Xu Zimo stood slowly. The blade in his hand trembled faintly, shrouded in a deep gray spiritforce.

As that energy spread across the blade, the sacred Dao sounds from the Myriad Dao Lotus began to tremble.

Baili Xiao frowned, she could sense fear coming from the lotus itself.

“That’s the apex of the Dao… it’s the ultimate Dao,” said one of the supreme sect leaders watching below.

“Brother Qingshan,” said Luo Changhe with a smile, “for your son to comprehend the peak of the Dao at such a young age… his future is limitless.”

Other sect leaders murmured in agreement.

Xu Qingshan fixed his eyes on the blade in Xu Zimo’s hand, watching the gray energy with an intense gaze.

As the Myriad Dao Lotus crashed down toward him, its massive petals filled with Dao resonance and lethal intent, Xu Zimo smiled faintly.

He whispered,

“Nineteen Forms of Dao-Seeking, Ninth Form: Celestial Rift.”

With a powerful slash of Shadow Tyrant, the gray aura condensed into the blade.

Space collapsed into eternal stillness.

Yet, instead of the massive explosion everyone expected, everything vanished.

For a moment, the world seemed gone.

Within the mist, a single blade cut open the heavens.

And in everyone’s eyes, there was only that one slash.

All of existence compressed into a single point. Heaven and earth began with a single line.

The Myriad Dao Lotus was shattered instantly. The glowing blade, its momentum unbroken, slashed directly toward Baili Xiao.

“Enough, Xiao’er admits defeat!” a crisp voice rang out.

A massive palm appeared in the air, intercepting the blade and smashing it apart.

Sixth Grand Elder Xiao Ruoxuan flew in and stood protectively in front of Baili Xiao.

“Xiao’er admits defeat. This match goes to you,” she said, looking at Xu Zimo.

“Grand Elder, that’s not very by-the-book,” Xu Zimo said with a faint smile, slowly sheathing Shadow Tyrant.

Xiao Ruoxuan looked toward Xu Qingshan. He sat still, eyes closed, deep in thought, making no move to intervene.

“Xiao’er is the Grand Empress’s successor. Whatever else happens, you’re still of the same sect. There’s no need to fight to the death, right?” she said.

Xu Zimo glanced once more toward Xu Qingshan. Seeing no reaction from him, he smiled and nodded.

“If your status as a Grand Elder means you can interfere in matches at will… I have nothing more to say.”

As Xu Zimo stepped down from the arena, all eyes turned to Xu Qingshan, waiting for his response.

But he remained still, eyes closed, saying nothing.

The Sixth Grand Elder led Baili Xiao off the stage. She turned to look deeply at Xu Zimo one last time.

Somewhere in her heart, she felt it, Xu Zimo hadn’t even used his full power.

…

With the match between Xu Zimo and Baili Xiao finished, attention turned to the final semifinal: Chu Yang vs. Xuanyuan Xuantian.

Most people didn’t know much about Chu Yang. All they knew was that he had recently become the Holy Son of the Yin-Yang Sect.

But Xuanyuan Xuantian was famous.

He had made his name long ago.

According to legend, on the day he was born, a streak of divine light flew from the heavens and merged into his body.

Later, people learned that the divine light contained one of the Hundred Battle Physiques, the Golden Emperor Battle Physique, ranked 100th.

Though it was the last on the list, any physique that made that ranking… was nothing short of extraordinary.