The remnant energies from the clash of sword qi caused the flowers all around Rong Yuehong and Yun Ruoyan to shower down on them like rain. Those onlookers closest to the two of them also had their hair and robes ruffled by the resulting clash.

“What strong sword qi!” Someone praised.

“Are they really fighting? Aren’t most of the duels at this flower-viewing party not physical in nature?”

“You fool!” Someone else exclaimed. “Can’t you tell? The two of them clearly have some grudge against each other. They must both be students from Kongming Academy, to be so arrogant as to have a fight to the death here!”

On the Chenyuan continent, the status of a Kongming Academy student was unparalleled. Even if a student were to murder someone, Kongming Academy was the only entity that could punish them—and in Kongming Academy, power was law.

This was why Rong Yuehong dared to announce her intention to kill Yun Ruoyan, and Yun Ruoyan herself naturally wouldn’t hold back.

When the two of them began to clash, Rong Yuehong found that she had indeed underestimated her opponent. In shock, she realized that Yun Ruoyan’s spiritual energy was no weaker than her own.

Because she’d thought that Yun Ruoyan was only a fourth-rank blademaster, she’d only used the spiritual energy of a fifth-rank blademaster. Against a fourth rank, that would have been more than sufficient!

Yun Ruoyan’s capabilities, however, surpassed Rong Yuehong’s expectations. The fifth-rank spiritual energy imbued in her willow branch was blocked by equally strong spiritual energy from Yun Ruoyan’s flower stalk.

What’s the matter? Isn’t she just a fourth-rank blademaster? Rong Yuehong turned to Yun Ruoyao in a confused manner, but the latter girl appeared as confused as she was.

At the beginning, Yun Ruoyao had even thought that Rong Yuehong was deliberately pretending to be weaker than she really was to progressively pressure her. That was a common tactic that the strong often used against the weak. However, the seemingly desperate glance that Rong Yuehong shot her made her feel as if something had gone wrong once more.

In her shock, Rong Yuehong hurriedly raised her spiritual energy from an early fifth-rank’s level to a peak fifth-rank’s.

Similarly, Yun Ruoyan raised the level of her own spiritual energy.

Rong Yuehong’s relaxed face quickly turned anxious, then frightened. By the time she began using her sixth-rank spiritual energy in its fullest, her face had already turned the color of puce.

On the other hand, although Yun Ruoyan looked ugly, her face remained impassive, even insouciant. This unexpected event left the crowds, who were hoping to laugh at Yun Ruoyan’s quick defeat, at a loss.

“What’s the matter? Isn’t the second daughter of the Yuns weak? How can she continue facing the eldest daughter of the Rongs for such a long time?”

“Right? During their first match, didn’t this ugly girl forfeit on the spot? Where’s her spiritual energy coming from now?”

“Unless… unless she was hiding her true capabilities all along?!” Someone finally gleaned the truth.

Following this comment, the crowd gasped. That was the only plausible explanation for this sort of scene, but why?! Why would this ugly girl try to hide her own talent, rather than flaunting it like the rest of them?!

Even Li Qianhan was craning his neck to get a better view of the duel. He was a little surprised, and a little excited.

“Who would have thought, who would have thought?” He turned toward Li Mo. “This ugly lass’s stronger than I thought! Isn’t she surprising?”

“Hmph!” Li Mo snorted and said acidly, “She’ll give you more surprises yet!”

“What do you mean, Uncle?” Li Qianhan asked curiously. It seemed as though there were a deeper meaning behind his uncle’s words, but he really didn’t understand what it could be.

But Li Mo only lowered his head and continued drinking, neither speaking nor even looking at the ongoing duel.

The emperor and empress heard the discussion even before they’d entered the gardens, and they couldn’t help but frown slightly.

One of the eunuchs guarding the entrance to the garden saw the emperor, Li Xiu, and his empress approaching. He was about to loudly announce their presence when the emperor motioned at him from afar; only then did he close his gaping mouth and bow obsequiously.

Li Xiu was somewhat thin. He was middle-aged, about forty years old, with a pale face and long beard. He was dressed richly in purple and gold, and a gold crown adorned his head. His almond-shaped eyes occasionally seemed to gleam.

As he motioned at the eunuch, he raised his head and observed what was going on within the inner garden.

The inner garden was where the rarest and most unusual plants and herbs were cultivated, as well as where the imperial family would host high-ranking officials as well as honored guests. There were frequently tea parties and flower-viewing parties within the garden. To make it stand out, the walls surrounding the garden were made not of bricks, but instead of creeping vines.

Past the vines, Li Xiu could see the leaves and flowers that had been tossed up into the air by waves of spiritual energy. He couldn’t help but stroke his beard and turn toward his empress. “It looks like there are some pretty good seeds in this year’s batch. Impatient ones, too.”

The empress was decked in a robe of golden phoenixes. Her hair was richly decorated with twelve ruby hairpins, giving her a striking, flamboyant appearance.

“Whose family are they from? Don’t they know that combat duels are frowned upon here?” The empress was still frowning.

Li Xiu smiled gently as he stepped into the garden with her in tow.

The crowd’s attention was all on Yun Ruoyan and Rong Yuehong, and for the moment, no one had noticed that the emperor and empress that they’d been waiting for had arrived.

The empress frowned more deeply as she looked at the two girls. She was about to raise her voice in displeasure when Li Xiu shook her head at her.

Only then did she snap her mouth shut, her gaze still fixed on the offending girls.

The battle raged on.

Just as Rong Yuehong looked as though she couldn’t handle fighting any longer, Yun Ruoyan would lower her spiritual energy output, giving her opponent some room to breathe.

But when Rong Yuehong took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, thinking that her opponent was similarly weakened, Yun Ruoyan’s spiritual energy would flare up once more and dash her opponent’s dreams.

“Yun Ruoyan, you… you’re playing around with me!” Rong Yuehong shouted as her face turned puce once more.

“Ha!” Yun Ruoyan smiled. “Why would I do that? I’m not as boring as you are.”

“You… aren’t you going to admit it?” Rong Yuehong continued to speak arrogantly, despite being on the losing end of the battle. “You pretended to be weak and hid your strength so I’d lower my guard. But now that you’ve dropped the act, aren’t you going to admit that you did it intentionally so I would lose face in front of everyone? You’re despicable!”

Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help but laugh. Did this girl think the whole world revolved around her? Today, Yun Ruoyan would show her what ‘despicable’ truly looked like!

She smiled viciously. The spider-like birthmark on her face accentuated her features, making them look even more frightening and sinister. “Haven’t you realized what type of situation you’re in? I’m not messing around with you; I’m crushing you! I might even just kill you!”

“You… you dare!” Only then did Rong Yuehong begin to feel fearful. Although she’d talked on and on about killing Yun Ruoyan, she’d never associated death with herself, because she was always on the winning end. “This is… the palace, and my aunt… is the empress herself… Don’t you know?!” Rong Yuehong was so strained that even speaking was an exertion. Nevertheless, she was as arrogant as ever.

Yun Ruoyan retracted some of her spiritual energy so that she could finish her words in one go.

Feeling the pressure dissipate, Rong Yuehong thought that her words had frightened Yun Ruoyan. “The Yuns will be in big trouble if you hurt me, let alone kill me.” She straightened up and continued, “Three years ago, when you severely injured you, your father expelled you from your family academy in order to settle my family’s anger. Otherwise, how would he have received my father’s commendation? Today, if you hurt me again, I’ll make sure you’ll have no place in the Yun family!”

Yun Ruoyan finally seemed perturbed. “You mean the reason I was expelled from my family’s academy three years ago was because of you?”

Those memories that she’d never forgotten but never tried to relive swarmed back into her mind.

During her last match in the academy, she’d lost to both Yun Ruoyu and Yun Ruoyao, who had never before been able to best her. As she lay exhausted on stage, blood dripping out of one corner of her mouth, Yun Lan told her coldly, “Yan’er, I’m very disappointed in you. In these last six months, you’ve just been getting worse and worse.”

“I’ve never seen such a situation before. If your cultivation’s regressing at such an early age, you’ll likely never be able to improve again.”

“That’s right! The family academy is supposed to foster talents, not to raise useless trash.”

As soon as Yun Lan spoke, so too did other scions from the family and their instructor.

“It’s widely known that childhood potential doesn’t necessarily translate into youthful talent, but I didn’t expect this to happen to you, Yan’er. In the future, don’t return to the academy.”

Yun Lan walked off after these cold, icy words, leaving Yun Ruoyan to lie helpless on stage, shivering as she bore the crowd’s scorn and tittering.

She’d always thought that the reason she had been forced out of the academy was because her cultivation had regressed. For a long period of time, she had continued to wonder why it was that she had been kicked out despite her status in the family. Even if her cultivation was slowly regressing, she was still doing better than quite a number of the less capable students from the branch families.

But as time passed, she gradually accepted this reason without questioning it further. Who would have known that this had been the reason?

It didn’t seem to be beneath Yun Lan to sacrifice even his own daughter for advancement.

“Well? Are you scared?” Sensing that Yun Ruoyan was attacking her more and more weakly, Rong Yuehong raised her prideful jaw once more. “I advise you to stop now, or—!”

Before Rong Yuehong could finish speaking, she sprayed out a mouthful of blood, and her entire body was swept off stage by a strong gust of spiritual energy.

“Hong’er!” By the corner of the stage, the empress shouted at Yun Ruoyan. “How dare you hurt my Hong’er!”