Chapter 5187 — They Took the Bait

Unfortunately, he had said all this only to the disciples of the North Island Cangwu Sect; he did not dare overstep his authority and presume to instruct Qiu Lingshan and the others. For one thing, they were not true disciples of the North Island Cangwu Sect, and for another, he still had to consider the face of his martial granduncle Wei Zhao. If he rashly started throwing his weight around, not only would they not appreciate it—they might well take offense for no reason at all.

Then again, Xin Yi'an was a veteran Golden Core expert of the Grand Antiquity Alliance. It was no wonder he knew how to deal with the snow momentum. But the others would not have known it so clearly—especially someone like Qiu Lingshan, a member of the secular world, who could not possibly have known the inner workings of it.

When the enemy is strong and we are weak, retreat and yield ground at first, then wait for the opponent's edge to dull before seeking a chance to counterattack. From Qiu Lingshan's perspective, such a strategy was already quite brilliant—unfortunately, her opponent was Luo Shasheng of the Snow Sword Sect.

The gap in strength between them had been there from the start, and now that ten moves had passed and the snow momentum was fully formed, the disparity had grown even more glaring. Qiu Lingshan could no longer have the slightest chance of counterattacking. If at the beginning she had still had one chance in ten of winning, then by dragging things out to this point, even that meager one-in-ten chance was gone.

"Perhaps, Martial Granduncle, you should just have her concede. Where there's life, there's hope," Xin Yi'an said in a low voice, stepping over to Wei Zhao's side to advise him. Conceding meant losing only one bout—there were still four chances left. So long as she strove for them, it was by no means certain she would fail to earn the trial qualification. But to force herself to drag it out would be more than a matter of losing a single bout; there was every chance she would throw her very life away.

Wei Zhao merely smiled at this and shook his head. "You may see Lingshan as a frail young woman, but she has always been fiercely proud. Unless she herself is willing, it would do no good even if I said the word."

"This..." Xin Yi'an could only sigh helplessly and say no more. After all, with so many eyes upon them, he could hardly speak too freely in full public view, or he would be accused of showing favoritism.

Xue Jianming cast Wei Zhao a cold sneer. When experts of the same level dueled, once the snow momentum was formed, nothing could stop it. Any casual move could kill with ease, and no one could raise any objection afterward. Just wait to collect the little wench's corpse!

While they were talking, the situation in the arena had already changed abruptly. Earlier, Qiu Lingshan could still barely dodge and circle; now that Luo Shasheng had linked his snow momentum, every lift of his hand and every step he took became unstoppable. She could no longer even circle him at all—and besides, dodging on and on had never been a viable long-term plan to begin with. Given the depth of her cultivation, it was already remarkable that she had held out this long.

"Haha, still trying to dodge at a time like this? Can you dodge?" Luo Shasheng laughed aloud. Seizing the moment when the snow momentum was at its peak, he pressed three moves in quick succession, forcing Qiu Lingshan into a position where there was no evading him. Then, without a moment's delay, he unleashed his trump card, the Snow Kill Style. He feared that if he struck too late, the opponent might see how the wind was blowing and call for a concession to stop the fight, and then it would be hard to land the killing blow.

The instant the Snow Kill Style emerged, the Shasheng Saber was covered in a thick layer of invisible snow, and then this heavy snow suddenly scattered and drifted down, shrouding Qiu Lingshan's entire body in a tight embrace.

In that instant, Qiu Lingshan's movements slowed by a full sixty percent or more. She had been moving with great speed, but now suddenly it was as though her motions had been slowed down, and the scene at once became exceedingly strange.

"The Snow Sword Sect's snow momentum really is formidable!" The Grand Antiquity Alliance disciples present burst into astonished cries. Though the snow momentum was the hallmark of the Snow Sword Sect, truly linking it together in actual combat was no easy feat—especially at the relatively low level of the early Foundation Establishment stage. Ordinary disciples would have struggled to grasp such an exquisite technique as the snow momentum; unless they held an overwhelming advantage, in normal times they would rarely get to witness its power with their own eyes.

"Indeed! They say the snow momentum becomes truly extraordinary once it accumulates layer upon layer. I never imagined that, besides greater destructive power, it could impose such a powerful restrictive effect as well. No wonder they say the snow momentum cannot be formed—but once formed, none can match it!" the crowd marveled.

Techniques with a restrictive effect were few to begin with, and most at best slowed a person by ten or twenty percent. Those that could restrain a person's speed by more than thirty percent were already as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns—and one had to know that a thirty percent effect was already very pronounced. Yet now it was a full sixty percent!

In such a situation, let alone an expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage, any random Heaven-rank cultivator at the Great Perfection stage would probably have defeated Qiu Lingshan with ease, to say nothing of Luo Shasheng, who held every advantage. Once the Snow Kill Style emerged, his Shasheng Saber was practically already at Qiu Lingshan's throat; in his eyes, she was already a dead woman.

"Heh heh, what a pity—such a lovely beauty too. I never did care for this sort of rough work, trampling flowers underfoot, but now that Xue Jianming wants you dead, you have no choice but to die!" Luo Shasheng sighed inwardly, yet his blade showed not a trace of mercy as it went straight for Qiu Lingshan's neck.

The onlookers turned pale with fright. With one slash of that blade, her head was bound to leave her shoulders—this Luo Shasheng was truly ruthless!

"Martial Granduncle, are you really going to do nothing?" Even Xin Yi'an, the supervising martial uncle, could not help but feel his eyelids twitch at the sight. Had he not been bound by his role as referee to remain neutral, even he would have been unable to resist stepping in to stop it.

"No need," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile.

Not far away, Xue Jianming frowned at the sight, his gaze shifting back and forth between Wei Zhao and Qiu Lingshan. He could not help pinching his chin in puzzlement. Was this fellow truly not worried in the least about whether Qiu Lingshan lived or died, or was he putting on an act, deliberately playing at mystification?!

And just as Xue Jianming was puzzling over it, the situation in the arena changed abruptly. Qiu Lingshan—whom everyone had taken for dead beyond any doubt—suddenly surged with speed at the very last moment, narrowly and perilously evading the opponent's lethal strike.

"So fast!" Luo Shasheng was startled on the spot, and the onlookers all cried out in astonishment as well, every one of them stunned by the speed Qiu Lingshan had suddenly unleashed.

"Oh no! Luo Shasheng has taken the bait!" Xue Jianming, after all, was an expert of the early Golden Core stage and the senior disciple of the Snow Sword Sect. As a bystander with a clear view, he grasped the situation at once.