A sharp hum of spiritual energy suddenly pierced the air.
Boom!
An enormous translucent dome enveloped the entire arena with a flash of runic light. This was no ordinary shield—it was a Grade 7 Defensive Array, etched with thousands of layered inscriptions and refined over centuries by grandmasters of array formation. The array pulsed faintly with power, strong enough to contain even the devastating attacks of a late-stage Elysian Realm cultivator.
The audience gasped collectively as the dome shimmered to life. "It's the Heaven Vault Shield Array!" someone exclaimed. "That thing could stop a back hole itself!"
Meanwhile, down below, Yun Tian's body began to transform.
A sharp, sickening crunch echoed through the arena as his bones shifted beneath his skin. Golden patterns resembling the fangs of a great beast lit up across his arms, radiating intense energy. His once-handsome features twisted—teeth cracked and splintered until they became rows of jagged fangs. Coarse wolf-like fur sprouted from his shoulders and chest, while his eyes turned feral—lupine irises glinting with a primal hunger.
A beastly aura exploded from him.
He was no longer fully human.
Cheers and awed murmurs spread through the crowd like wildfire.
"He's transforming!"
"That's the Sacred Devil Wolf Bloodline!"
"Its regeneration alone is monstrous! I heard even if you chop off his head, he'll grow it back in seconds!"
From the opposing side, Rong Xiulan stood silently, her snowy white robes fluttering in the lingering breeze of Yun Tian's transformation. Her black hair shimmered faintly under the spiritual lighting, and her eyes, glacial and unreadable, stared with a detached calm.
"So this is the famed beast bloodline of the Heaven Beast Clan," she said coldly, voice barely above a whisper, yet it carried across the hushed arena like falling snow. "And as the core disciple of the main branch… the infamous Sacred Devil Wolf, no less."
Yun Tian licked his fangs and let out a low chuckle, now distorted and animalistic. "I'm surprised the Snow Fairy Sword knows of it. Not unexpected, I suppose… but flattering nonetheless."
Then, without any signal, without any hint of movement…
He vanished.
A blur of black fur and golden light streaked toward Rong Xiulan. He reappeared only inches from her, his claws, longer than daggers, slashing down for her face with enough force to even make mincemeat out of peak Nirvana Realm cultivators.
The audience barely had time to react.
But Rong Xiulan didn't even blink.
Crack!
A sudden, ear-piercing sound tore through the arena. Yun Tian's entire left arm froze solid in mid-swipe—glittering with frost, covered in jagged crystalline ice. The next second, with a delicate, whisper-like shatter, the arm exploded into a mist of frozen dust.
Gasps filled the air.
"She didn't even move…" someone whispered.
The frost encasing Yun Tian's limb hadn't come from her sword.
It came from her body.
A chilling mist now surrounded Rong Xiulan. The very air around her was crystallizing, forming tiny shards of frozen qi that drifted like snowflakes. Her frosty aura was so intense it was suffocating—pure, unrelenting yin.
The disciples from the Twin Soul Sect seeing that they exchanged glances.
"That aura…" Guo Bohai murmured. "It's just like Shen Yuan's…"
"No," Xiang Xiaoli corrected softly, eyes narrowing. "It's stronger."
Back on the arena floor, Yun Tian's face twisted in pain and disbelief, though not from him being attacked.
"My regeneration…" he growled, voice tinged with panic. "Why… why isn't it activating!?"
It was because he couldn't regenerate. Even though he should be able to regenerate any lost limb very easily within seconds, but this yin qi was negating the very regenerative nature of his blood.
That arm—his precious beast blood-enhanced arm—was gone. Forever.
He backed away slowly, growling. "This… this isn't just normal Yin Qi…"
High above, in the grand seating platform where sect masters and the World Lord himself watched, the silence was broken by a gruff voice.
"That's not ordinary yin," said Beast Chief Wen Tu, leader of the Heaven Beast Clan, his eyes narrowed and lips twisted in disdain. "She's reached the Extreme Cold State."
Every sect leader turned at once.
Now the crowd erupted again, voices layered in speculation, awe, and disbelief.
"Extreme Cold?!"
"That's the peak of all yin-based cultivation paths!"
"So she's not just any yin cultivator…"
From the audience below, members of the Sword God Sect nodded solemnly, almost proudly. Meanwhile, members of the Heaven Beast Clan grit their teeth.
Sect Leader Jian Weihuang, robed in silver and blue, finally broke his silence. "Once yin qi reaches the Extreme Cold state, it is above mortal ice. The cultivator's very body becomes a source of freezing energy, capable of turning any ambient qi into pure yin. Even the regenerative properties of beast bloodlines become irrelevant. All that's left is stillness—eternal stillness."
Below, Yun Tian's fury boiled over. His ego, pride, and beast blood screamed in rage. A scarlet sword formed in his hand from his own blood essence, sizzling with corrupted qi. "You think you're special?" he roared, voice cracking. "Just because you've got a fancy yin technique doesn't mean you're stronger! The Heaven Beast Clan is unmatched!"
Rong Xiulan didn't speak.
She simply sighed.
With a roar, he jumped at her. The blade howled with bestial rage as it sliced down toward Rong Xiulan.
This time, she raised her crescent sword.
The two short blades clashed—except they didn't.
With a flick and twist of her wrist, her sword traced a cold arc through the air, severing Yun Tian's blood blade like it was made of mist. In the same breath, her body blurred forward in one elegant step.
A silver flash.
Yun Tian didn't even register the strike. His body fell into two halves—sliced cleanly from shoulder to hip. His face still bore a look of fury, disbelief… and fear.
Both halves were instantly encased in frost. Frozen so deeply that not even spiritual flames could thaw it.
Silence.
It lingered for a heartbeat. Two. Three.
Then the coliseum exploded with noise—cheers, gasps, wild applause. The spectators roared in appreciation for Rong Xiulan's elegant yet cold display of dominance. Only the Heaven Beast Clan remained silent. Their faces were pale, their cheers silenced.
High above, Beast Chief Wen Tu's fists clenched. But surrounded by other sect leaders—and the World Lord Han Bolin, who sat impassively beside his envoy—he could do nothing but swallow his fury and grind his teeth.
Back in the arena, Steward Yan finally stepped on the arena again and raised his hand.
"Winner of the first duel," he announced, his voice resonant and calm, "is Rong Xiulan of the Sword God Sect. One point awarded."
The barrier dissolved with a soft hum.
Rong Xiulan turned and stepped down from the arena as if she'd just finished a morning stroll. Her cold eyes swept over the Twin Soul Sect's team.
"I'm only interested in one thing," she said after a moment of silence, her voice still frost-laced. "Fighting Shen Yuan… so tell him to entertain me when he comes out, I wanna see whose Extreme cold is superior."
She turned and walked away.
Guo Bohai gulped audibly. "That guy really knows how to make enemies even without showing up."
Dong Chen smirked. "For once, I agree with you."
Meanwhile, workers carefully cleared the arena, disposing of Yun Tian's corpse, now just frozen remains.
Moments later, Steward Yan returned to the center of the arena and raised his hand again.
"Following the first match," he said, "the scoreboard stands at: Sword God Sect – 1, Heaven Beast Clan – 0."
The crowd stilled.
"The next duel," Steward Yan continued, "will be between Ren Zu of the Sword God Sect and Yun Hanfeng of the Heaven Beast Clan."
Two new figures emerged from opposite ends of the arena.
From one side, a man wearing a silver-blue robe stumbled forward, rubbing his eyes sleepily. His long dark hair was messy, and heavy bags hung under his lids. He looked like someone who hadn't slept in months.
This was Ren Zu, and his nickname among the people was, sleeping sword.
From the opposite end, a hulking man stepped forth, his bronze skin glinting under the arena lights. He wore black gauntlets pulsating with raw spiritual energy. His body was covered in tattoos shaped like bull horns and oxen hooves.
This was Yun Hanfeng—a rising star of the Heaven Beast Clan known for his explosive physical strength.
As the two combatants took their place on the field, Steward Yan lifted his hand once more.
Boom.
The arena barrier shimmered back into existence.
With a calm but firm voice, he declared: "Begin."