Tang Fei’er jabbed her finger at Li Xiang. “If I win, then that establishes that All-Heavens Sect is more powerful than your trifling Starbound Sect. You will go to All-Heavens Sect, so that your genius can be properly nourished!”

Hui jolted, shocked. Wait, what? Not Li Xiang! I won’t allow it!

“Although you know those words to be true, I, Li Xiang, will nonetheless… prove them to be false,” Li Xiang said quietly. She drew her sword, and her eyes flashed with cold light. Although she stood completely still, she emanated an unstoppable air, as if she had the momentum of a landslide behind her.

Eh, wait. She didn’t make that a condition of our fight… well, to be fair, I refused to have a proper fight and then ‘died’ immediately, Hui thought to himself. Are they specifically targeting Li Xiang, or did I just happen to throw her off her pace too much? Hmm, in this world, it’s very easy to throw people off, isn’t it?

Still, that’s not a very cute thing to say. I don’t think Tang Fei’er herself is the one who wants to say that. After all, I acted a little unexpectedly, and she completely forgot to add that condition to our ‘fight.’ Instead, it feels like someone else has put those words in her mouth. Gui Delun, if I had to guess. Which means All-Heavens Sect is specifically targeting Li Xiang… or should I say, Starbound Sect’s strongest inheriting disciples!

If All-Heavens Sect steals away all the inheriting disciples… well, they’ll have plucked all the future potential off Starbound Sect! All the future Peak Lords or potential Sect Masters will be gone. This… is not only an aggressive maneuver, but—with the right mindset, one could see it as a hostile takeover! They mean to completely supplant Starbound Sect. Even if they let us disciples return after a time, they’ll have had the time to change our cultivation methods, our mindsets, and everything. Wiping out our old cultivation methods and replacing them with new, even if those new methods are ‘stronger,’ and it’s done with ‘good intent’—it’s the same thing as wiping out the inheritance of Starbound Sect’s Peak Lords.

Although I believe I can hold out, since I haven’t met anyone in this world with the kind of mental resilience it took to survive in my old world, I’m not too sure about the others! Li Xiang… is smarter than she seems, but she’s proud. As for the other inheriting disciples, I've never met them, but I doubt they have the kind of mental resilience it takes to play dead—ahem, survive that kind of event!

Ah, it’s possible I’m getting ahead of myself, and they don’t mean anything of the sort, and this really is a friendly exchange, and yet… Hui narrowed his eyes at Tang Fei’er. It doesn’t feel very friendly.

Opposite Li Xiang, Tang Fei’er struck a cute fighting pose, her face determined, yet still adorable, cheeks puffed in concentration, her brows furrowed just enough, a tiny pout on her face. “Here I go!”

Tang Fei’er leaped at Li Xiang. A shockwave flew out behind her, and a footprint appeared on the practice platform. In the blink of an eye, she delivered a dozen blows at Li Xiang.

Li Xiang’s face didn’t flicker. Her blade darted forth, deflecting every blow. Not a single fist landed on her robe.

“Ha! Not bad! Way better than Weiheng Hui,” Tang Fei’er declared.

A puzzled murmur rang through the crowd.

“Was that ever in doubt?”

“How much is Tang Fei’er looking down on our Li Xiang? Comparing her to Weiheng Hui…!”

“The All-Heavens Sect goes too far in their insults!”

Amidst the crowd, Hui licked his lips and wafted himself gently with his fan, making no comment. Elder Brothers, Elder Sisters, this small Hui is in Starbound Sect as well, you know that, right?

“Alright! Let’s see if you can take this! Tiger Consumes the Sky!” Tang Fei’er landed and drew her fist back. A projection of a tiger appeared behind her, rippling in brilliant orange, fangs bared. It let out a vicious snarl, as if on the verge of starving. She punched at Li Xiang, and the tiger flew with her fist, charging toward Li Xiang.

Li Xiang took a single step forward, the first time she’d moved the entire fight. Heaven and earth seemed to move with her, as the momentum she’d gathered found motion. She struck downward, just once, an ordinary sword strike.

The tiger charged past, unmoved, and continued rushing toward Li Xiang. Tang Fei’er laughed. “It’ll take more than that to—”

Abruptly, an inch from Li Xiang’s nose, the tiger projection froze. It let out a piteous yowl, then fell in two, each half flying by Li Xiang to impact harmlessly in the fields behind her. She lowered her head slightly, staring at Tang Fei’er without a word.

Tang Fei’er stared. “That… that…”

Hui’s eyes widened, and he began to smile. Li Xiang has gotten more powerful again. The strongest sword cultivator of Starbound Peak is nothing to shake a stick at! Tang Fei’er may put on airs as if she’s the strongest, but the true strongest need to do no such things. Their strength speaks for itself. And Li Xiang is exactly that kind of person.

Scowling cutely, Tang Fei’er struck another pose. “You destroyed Tiger Consumes the Sky. So what? That’s the weakest of my twelve suuu-per adorable Zodiac Punches. Let’s see… if you can withstand the rest of the attack!”

Li Xiang closed her eyes. “You’ve already lost.”

“Bleh! We’ll see who loses in the end!” Tang Fei’er drew back her fist and punched again. One, two, three… eleven punches! Each one created startling projections which rushed at Li Xiang without pause. A rabbit, a dragon, a serpent, a horse… each of the zodiac animals burst to life and closed in on Li Xiang.

“One With The Sword: A Single Sword Devours the Heavens,” Li Xiang intoned quietly. Eyes still shut, she held her sword up before her face, the flat facing Tang Fei’er. Right when the first of Tang Fei’er’s projections was about to reach her, her eyes snapped open. She turned the sword blade-side out and swung downward once.

The projections shattered. Tang Fei’er coughed up blood and staggered backward as the backlash slammed into her. Her back foot reached the edge of the practice field, and she grit her teeth and hung on, refusing to take that last step. Determination gleamed in her eyes. “I won’t—”

Blood burst out from her face, her chest, down her entire body. A narrow line appeared, bisecting her in two. She shrieked and clutched her face, stumbling the final step out of the ring.

Li Xiang sheathed her sword. She looked at Tang Fei’er simply. “If I hadn’t retracted my attack when I did, you would be dead right now.”

“You—you—” Tang Fei’er stared, then shook her head, unwilling to accept it. “There’s no way Starbound Sect is this strong! You’re weaker than us! All-Heavens Sect is stronger than you in all regards! When I fought Weiheng Hui, I—”

Li Xiang turned her eyes on Tang Fei’er, and the girl fell silent instinctively. “Weiheng Hui… is not someone you can easily provoke to battle. When you fought him, did he fight back? Did he raise a hand against you?”

Tang Fei’er gaped. “You—how do you know?”

Hui turned his head away and snapped his fan out, embarrassed. Er… it’s common knowledge that I’m a bit of a coward, Elder Sister Fei’er.

The crowd around him scoffed.

“Not easy to provoke to battle? That’s one way to put it.”

“Afraid to fight, more like.”

“Ha! Even if he did, what—”

Li Xiang’s gaze passed over the crowd, and they fell silent. A chill fell over them, almost a premonition of danger. Only Hui felt nothing.

She turned back to Tang Fei’er. “His path is not a simple one, upright and straightforward, like my own. However, if you had managed to provoke him to fight… you would have found him an even more difficult opponent than myself.”

Hui shook his head. Not so, Elder Sister. I can’t compare to you! Those twelve punches… I don’t even know what I would do with them! Your battle prowess is utterly incomparable to mine. If you are the Heavens, then I am the earth!

“More difficult? Yeah, only because he’ll flop over in the middle of the fight!”

“It’s difficult to fight a limp body, I guess…”

“Ha, what a joke.”

Tang Fei’er grit her teeth and stomped her foot. “One more time! I wasn’t taking you seriously!”

“Even if you came at me with all your strength, the result would be the same,” Li Xiang stated. She turned away.

Hui backed out of the crowd, shifting around the border of the masses to meet Li Xiang. If Li Xiang said it, it must be true.

“I won’t believe it. I won’t! I’m not weaker than the disciples of this stupid lesser sect!” Tang Fei’er scowled at Li Xiang’s back.

Abruptly, Tang Fei’er’s animated expressions vanished, as if a hand wiped them from her face. She darted out silently toward Li Xiang with speed that she hadn’t shown before. Her hand thrust toward Li Xiang’s back, clenching a thin needle.

Hui whirled. Li Xiang!