Supreme of the Heavenly Realm
Chapter 259 - 256: Duel between Two Women

Chapter 259: Chapter 256: Duel between Two Women

Unfortunately, all these were just the male disciples’ wishful thinking. The phrase "time breeds affection," and "the nearest tower gets the moon" never crossed the mind of the concerned party, Ye Xuan. The Ice Moon Hall was spacious enough for two people to live comfortably. Ye Xuan resided opposite Nangong Yao, but they were far from actually "living together."

After moving in, Ye Xuan spent most of his time on cultivation—for such a favorable place, it would be a waste not to cultivate.

However, considering that Nangong Yao had an important fight coming up in a month, Ye Xuan naturally wanted Nangong Yao to win the duel and secure the Ice Toad Blood, which would enhance her cultivation.

Just thinking about it wasn’t enough, concrete measures were needed. Nangong Yao might have had a high reputation in Xuanbing Mansion, but winning a duel relied on genuine skills, not on the number of people voting. To win, she needed to demonstrate strength superior to that of Zhuo Yanyun.

"Yaoer, if you were to battle Zhuo Yanyun right now, how confident are you?"

Ye Xuan and Nangong Yao walked along the verdant paths of the inner court as he brought up the subject of the duel.

"It’s hard to say."

At the mention of this topic, Nangong Yao’s expression turned solemn. "She is one stage higher than me in cultivation. She achieved the Fourth Grade Martial Sect realm not long ago."

"Xuanbing Mansion’s two top-notch cultivation techniques, Heavenly Mountain Jade Girl Scripture and Innate Ice Emperor Skill—the former is cultivated by Zhuo Yanyun, and the latter by me. In terms of cultivation techniques alone, she’s no match for me. But, she has cultivated several Middle Stage Heavenly Grade martial arts to perfection. When it comes to martial arts skills, I fall short."

"What about combat experience?" Ye Xuan raised an eyebrow and asked.

"I’m not as good as she is."

Nangong Yao earnestly answered.

"Zhuo Yanyun once went to the extreme battlefields of Golden Island. I remember her ranking on the Battle List being fifteenth."

"Then your chances of winning are at most thirty percent. With the advantage of your Xuanyin Body, it won’t exceed a forty percent chance of victory," Ye Xuan pondered for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

Although practicing martial arts wasn’t about quantity but quality, having more was better than less unless Nangong Yao could, as he did, thoroughly master one martial art and even create her own moves. Of course, Ye Xuan didn’t expect Nangong Yao to possess such a monstrous Martial Arts talent.

However, Nangong Yao had her strengths; born with the Xuanyin Body and now training in Xuanbing Mansion’s Innate Ice Emperor Skill, it had become a formidable innate advantage. This was exactly why Xuanbing Mansion valued Nangong Yao so highly. Despite being a slightly weaker disciple, given time, she was bound to become a star of Xuanbing Mansion’s future.

And the speed of Nangong Yao’s cultivation stood as proof of this. She had reached the Third Grade Martial Sect level, surpassing even Ye Xuan in terms of cultivation realm.

At that moment, several figures were approaching from the opposite direction, led by two women; one of them was Zhuo Qian, who had previously attempted to harm Ye Xuan.

The other woman, dressed in a smooth moon robe with a noble yet cold demeanor, was not a peerless beauty but certainly first-class. She bore some resemblance to Zhuo Qian.

Without a doubt, this woman in the moon robe was the same Zhuo Yanyun mentioned by Nangong Yao.

As they passed by each other, there was only an exchange of cold looks; not even a greeting was made before they went their separate ways.

"Hmph, to think that a treasured daughter of Xuanbing Mansion would live in the same room, shoulder to shoulder, with a man of unknown origin. Such shamelessness tarnishes our mansion’s reputation. What treasured daughter? She’s more like a harlot," Zhuo Qian sneered mockingly as they brushed past each other.

"What did you say, you whore?" Nangong Yao, already loathing Zhuo Qian to the extreme, immediately turned around and countered coldly upon hearing this.

"Who are you calling a whore? Mind your language. Did I say anything wrong?" Zhuo Qian’s expression darkened; with her power, she wouldn’t dare to mock Nangong Yao to her face, but with Zhuo Yanyun by her side, she felt emboldened.

"Respect? You vile woman first plotted against Brother Ye Xuan with your malicious schemes, which I’ve yet to settle with you, and now you babble nonsense and spew filth. Do you really think I’m afraid to teach you a lesson?" Nangong Yao sneered coldly, her hand on the hilt of her sword, which she drew. In an instant, a biting chill rapidly spread around them.

"Junior Sister Nangong, there’s no need to be so aggressive. This inner court is not a place for you to do as you please," Zhuo Qian retorted, stepping back involuntarily, while Zhuo Yanyun, by her side, stepped forward and drew a silver longsword. An icy surge as intense as Nangong Yao’s swirled out, presenting a formidable challenge.

Seeing the two women poised for confrontation, Ye Xuan was about to intervene, but then he thought of the duel in a month’s time. Perhaps it was better to take this opportunity to observe Zhuo Yanyun’s real strength, martial arts style, and her strategic moves.

Zhuo Qian and the other inner court disciples following Zhuo Yanyun also subconsciously stepped back. The antagonism between the two was nothing new, as conflicts like this had happened more than once. They had grown used to it.

"Cold Wind Assault!"

Zhuo Yanyun launched her sword, the tip sweeping upward from below, and in the next instant, it stirred up a severe cold wind. Within that frigid gale, containing shimmering cold ice crystals, it swept towards Nangong Yao.

Whoosh whoosh!

Although it was an opening move, the cold wind was bitingly chill, as if the depths of winter had descended. Merely touching it could freeze an ordinary person stiff.

Facing the oncoming cold wind, Nangong Yao stood unmoved. She twisted her wrist, and a strange layer of black frost covered her sword blade. Then, she suddenly thrust it forward.

Swoosh!

The black frost left a sharp trajectory in the air, her sword qi flashing like lightning and vanishing, but beneath it all, that severe cold wind was cleaved in two by a single stroke.

Zhuo Yanyun wasn’t surprised by the breaking of her move. With her hair flying and moon robe fluttering, as her precious sword swung, a vortex of cold Qi formed before her, seamlessly connected to the first move, enveloping Nangong Yao.

By comparison, Nangong Yao’s swordsmanship seemed much more straightforward and brutal. She directly used her body to guide her sword, her sword qi surged forth, charging straight at the vortex of cold Qi.

Boom!

The two powerful forces collided, cracking the ground beneath and spreading web-like fractures across it. But in the next moment, the fractures were abruptly frozen by a thick layer of ice, halting their spread.

After clashing for three moves, both of them rose from the ground into the air, fiercely dueling overhead, racing along rooftops, their sword qi arcing like rainbows, brushing over tree and rooftop and creating a rustling sound.

Watching the fight between the two, Ye Xuan revealed a contemplative expression.

From the battle, one could tell that Zhuo Yanyun’s mastery of Martial Arts was indeed much superior to Nangong Yao’s, the latter relying mainly on her strong innate advantage. Although she had also practiced in the past, she had seldom done so with diligence. Truly counting the time spent in cultivation, it had barely been over two years, whereas one could tell Zhuo Yanyun was a genius who practiced martial arts from a young age, steadily progressing, naturally stronger by a notch than the rapidly-risen genius Nangong Yao.

As the fight progressed, Zhuo Yanyun began to gain the upper hand, while Nangong Yao still posed a threat but was clearly at a disadvantage.

Ye Xuan’s palm sucked in, grasping two pebbles, then with a flash of light in his eyes, the pebbles suddenly shot out, aiming at the two still in mid-air combat.

The pebbles traced a spiral in the air, and the faces of the two women changed, barely avoiding Ye Xuan’s stones. However, they showed no intention of ceasing battle, as if determined to distinguish a winner and a loser.

"No choice, then."

Ye Xuan shook his head, then a flicker of light flashed between his eyebrows, an invisible fluctuation seemingly released with the motion of his palm, entering the void before him.

At that moment, an inconceivable scene unfolded in mid-air. The stones that had just grazed by Nangong Yao and Zhuo Yanyun unexpectedly turned in the air, propelling back towards the two once again!

"What?"

The expressions of both women changed again as they hastily shifted their tactics to dodge this unpredictable assault.

"Telekinesis, such strong soul power."

Zhuo Yanyun inwardly exclaimed, her gaze settling on Ye Xuan. She hadn’t anticipated that this obscure young man by Nangong Yao’s side possessed such formidable soul power.

Typically, Martial Artists focus on the body, while Spirit Medicine Masters and Artifact Refining Masters usually concentrate on soul power. Talented individuals generally possess soul power far stronger than ordinary people, but they focus more on practicing Martial Arts. However, that doesn’t mean soul power isn’t important. To cross from the Martial Sect Master Realm into the Martial Venerate level, one needed to condense a Martial Soul, and strong soul power is indispensable for this process.

In other words, the role of soul power isn’t apparent in the early stages, but to break through to Martial Venerate later on, the condition of one’s soul power must be met.

Their Xuanbing Mansion’s records state that the Soul Realm is divided into Mortal, Xuan, Heavenly, and God Realms.

At their current level, most people’s soul power was termed as Mortal Realm since it was still budding and hadn’t reached the stage of transcending the mundane to touch upon the profound. But Ye Xuan’s soul power had likely already reached the Xuan Realm.

Ever since achieving Sword Heart Clarity, Ye Xuan’s soul power had also made substantial breakthroughs. Whether it had reached the Xuan Realm or not, Ye Xuan hadn’t tested and couldn’t say for sure. However, he wasn’t particularly concerned about it. With the Martial Arts Primordial Spirit still lingering in his mind, as it slowly healed, reaching the God Realm of the Soul Realm was only a matter of time.

After staring at Ye Xuan for a while, Zhuo Yanyun withdrew her gaze, then turned to Nangong Yao with a cold look, "Nangong Yao, you’re lucky this time to have someone helping you, otherwise your defeat would have been certain. You should know by now that there is a gap between us and who truly is the number one young genius of Xuanbing Mansion."

According to her plan, winning against Nangong Yao in this battle would have allowed her to deal a blow to her opponent’s confidence and momentum, paving the way for a match in a month. But now that the fight had been interrupted and she had gained some advantage, there was no need to continue.