An Changqing VS Guan Jinyue

He lost this time, but he wouldn't keep losing forever.

And those defeated by his hands were never again seen as rivals. Even if he gave them time to catch up, they could never overtake him.

He would keep moving forward until all his opponents were left far behind, completely out of sight.

"Are you alright?" Long Ao came up to him, looking away as he asked with feigned indifference, handing over a recovery potion.

"I'm okay." Chen Guan took it, paying no mind to Long Ao's contradictory attitude. He took a gulp; the bitter potion brought a trace of warmth, soothing his physical pain and mental exhaustion.

"That guy's ability is troublesome."

The gray hair on An Changqing's head swayed with his movements: "Atomic manipulation... it counters almost most conventional abilities. However, he isn't invincible. His ability consumes a massive amount of energy, and his defense against mental attacks is a weak point. Your mental shock made him pause just now, which means there's a chance if you rely on mental power."

Chen Guan nodded, taking An Changqing's words to heart. This defeat was a valuable lesson, showing him the gap between himself and the truly top-tier geniuses.

Time was still too short. Just one year—give him one more year, and he was confident he could catch up to these top geniuses.

In the following matches, Long Ao and An Changqing remained dominant, defeating their respective opponents and advancing to the top eight.

Su Yuehe, however, encountered the top student of Shengu Academy, Kamishiro Chizuru, in the quarterfinals and unfortunately lost.

Guan Jinyue's matches continued to be one-sided beatdowns. She advanced easily without even meeting an opponent capable of making her draw her sword.

The top four were finally decided: An Changqing, Long Ao, Kevin Ross, and Guan Jinyue.

Shengu Academy was eliminated early, failing to even reach the top four. After all, their top student, Kamishiro Chizuru, had bad luck and ran into Long Ao in the quarterfinal match, getting directly eliminated, which also served as a sort of revenge for Su Yuehe.

Li Yan's usually cold face showed a rare hint of a smile. Regardless of who took first place, their Huaqing freshmen had already stolen the spotlight this time.

The senior students were not to be outdone; they were the big winners.

The semifinal draw: An Changqing vs. Kevin Ross, Long Ao vs. Guan Jinyue.

Both were highly anticipated matches.

The semifinals were held in the afternoon.

The duel between An Changqing and Ross was practically perfect. Ross's atomic manipulation caused tremendous trouble for An Changqing, but An Changqing used his own ability to reflect the damage Ross inflicted right back at him.

Seeing his spiritual energy hitting rock bottom while his opponent wasn't even flushed or out of breath, Ross had no choice but to helplessly concede.

Meanwhile, the match between Long Ao and Guan Jinyue once again showcased Guan Jinyue's terrifying strength.

Long Ao went all out from the start. His crimson aura burned to the extreme, and the compounding power of his endless combat style made him resemble a humanoid tyrannosaurus, his attacks fiercely unparalleled.

However, Guan Jinyue's sword was no joke either. Her footwork was elusive, and her spatial abilities made her seem like a phantom. The vast majority of Long Ao's attacks hit nothing but empty air, and when Guan Jinyue finally struck, it took merely three sword strikes.

The first strike shattered Long Ao's protective aura.

The second strike crushed Long Ao's gathered fist momentum.

The third strike—the tip of her sword tapped Long Ao's chest, and the hidden sword aura penetrated within, instantly sealing several of his vital acupoints, leaving him frozen in place, unable to move.

Three strikes to defeat Long Ao!

Clean and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Long Ao was left speechless by his defeat. His opponent's utilization of space completely exceeded his current ability to cope.

He sighed heavily as he walked off the stage. He couldn't even touch the corner of her clothes, so what was the point of fighting? He had nothing to say about his loss. Fortunately, there was still a decent opponent for the third-place match.

Long Ao's gaze locked onto Ross. Surely he could beat this guy, right?

The finals would unfold between An Changqing and Guan Jinyue.

All discussions temporarily died down as countless eyes focused on the two figures on the stage.

On one side, Huaqing Academy's top student, An Changqing, dressed in white purer than snow, a golden longsword hovering by his side.

On the other side, also a top student, the mysterious sword cultivator, Guan Jinyue.

Wearing a moon-white martial outfit, her silver hair like frost, the ancient sword in her arms remained sheathed. Her dark eyes were calm and unrippled, as if nothing in the world concerned her.

This was the final showdown of the individual battles in this year's Four Academies Tournament, as well as a head-on collision between the new generation of leaders from two top-tier academic institutions.

This match was highly anticipated. Compared to An Changqing, the son of the Association President, Guan Jinyue's grassroots background was much more talked about.

"Finals, begin!"

The moment the referee's voice fell, An Changqing moved.

No probing, no hesitation. He knew full well how powerful Guan Jinyue was, especially her unpredictable spatial abilities. He had to seize the initiative and drag her into his own rhythm.

"Calm the Storm!"

The golden longsword let out a clear, resonant dragon cry. An Changqing took a step forward, his figure seemingly merging with the sword. A single golden sword light, as if capable of pacifying the storms of the four seas, thrust straight out. Wherever the sword light passed, the air stagnated, aiming directly at the center of Guan Jinyue's brow.

This strike was fast, accurate, and steady!

Seemingly simple, it sealed off most of Guan Jinyue's dodging space, forcing her to use her spatial abilities.

Guan Jinyue's eyes flickered slightly. She didn't draw her sword. Her figure left a faint afterimage in place as her true body shifted three feet sideways like a ghost, perfectly evading the sharpest point of the sword's edge.

At the same time, she brought her fingers together like a sword, cold moonlight-like sword aura spitting from her fingertips, and precisely tapped the side of the golden sword light.

Ding!

A crisp ringing sound echoed, like jade striking stone.

An Changqing felt a sudden concussive force transmitted from the blade. He turned his wrist slightly, his spiritual energy flowing to stabilize the sword. Without changing the momentum of his strike, he pursued her like a shadow.

Guan Jinyue's footwork was light, as if strolling through a courtyard. She shifted and maneuvered within a tiny square of space, always dodging the sword's edge at the very last millisecond, constantly neutralizing An Changqing's fierce attacks with the minimal price.

Her footwork implicitly aligned with the power of space. It looked slow but was actually unimaginably fast, leaving behind a series of afterimages that were hard to distinguish from reality.

"Not a bad movement technique." In the stands, a bespectacled man dressed like a refined scholar gave a slight nod.

He had definitely come to the right place; there were quite a few good seedlings among these kids.

The refined scholar-like man was none other than White Tiger from the Origin Return Group, whom Chen Guan had seen not long ago.

It was just a pity... White Tiger looked at Guan Jinyue. It was absolutely impossible for this child to be used by them.

An Changqing remained entirely focused, exerting his full power. The golden sword light split into thousands, pouring down like a torrential rainstorm, covering every inch of the arena. Each ray of sword light contained his formidable will, attempting to lock onto Guan Jinyue's elusive true body.

Guan Jinyue finally drew her sword.

The moonlit longsword left its sheath, producing a single ray of sword light as cold as the moon of the nine heavens and as clear as the autumn waters of a deep pool.

As the blade sliced through the air, wherever its arc passed, the sky full of golden sword rain seemed to encounter an invisible barrier, deflecting away one after another.

"Spatial folding?" someone knowledgeable exclaimed.

Spatial folding. Using her sword as a guide, she had laid down a layer of imperceptible spatial folds around her body. Like a mirror, it folded the incoming attacks away in other directions.