Jin Fei’er’s cultivation was stronger than Liu Sheng’s: she was past the peak of fourth rank and hovering at the boundary between fourth and fifth. Despite this, however, she carefully unsheathed her sword before starting the fight, so that Yun Ruoyan couldn’t play the same trick again.

“Fei’er,” Wang Kuang pulled Jin Fei’er back before instructing her, “Based on her bladework, this girl’s cultivation really isn’t anything amazing, and her stances aren’t out of the ordinary either. However, her footwork and skill with the blade are unusually practiced.”

Wang Kuang’s gaze swept over Liu Sheng, who was currently tending to his wound. Half his face had been covered in blood. Although others might not have noticed, he could tell that, once the wounds on Liu Sheng’s face had recovered, he would find that those scars would perfectly trace out the word ‘ugly’ on half his face. [1] Even he couldn’t claim to be so deft with a sword.

“That’s why you have to avoid her strengths and target her weaknesses. Rather than compete with her in terms of your skill with a blade, counter her with your spiritual energy instead.”

“Alright, Brother Wang, I’ve got it.” Jin Fei’er smiled charmingly at Wang Kuang before she walked forward, sashaying her hips.

“What’re you trying to do, take turns fighting Yun Ruoyan until she collapses?” Lin Qingxue was unwilling to entertain her; Liu Sheng had an overwhelming advantage with his cultivation alone, and now they were even sending out a second person?

Jin Fei’er smiled. “You can send someone else up too. We’ll do best of three!”

“Alright, let me go!” The Lin siblings said simultaneously, while Zhuo Yifeng stood motionless like a pillar. He only had one goal: to protect Yun Ruoyan when it became necessary.

“I don’t need help.” Yun Ruoyan’s face was as calm as ever, but her blood felt as though it was boiling. She’d had this sort of feeling even during the first encounter with a magical beast in this expedition, against that night leopard.

Even then, she hadn’t used the bracelet’s power at all, but instead solely her reflexes and skill with her blade. Even without the bracelet, she had been able to defeat the leopard in one blow, and that had immensely boosted her confidence.

Later, when she used the bracelet’s power against the saber-toothed tiger, that sort of feeling had diminished significantly. She took this to mean that she needed to make use of her own strength, rather than rely on external artifacts, to grow.

“I’ll keep fighting!” she emphasized.

Jin Fei’er readied her blade.

“Qiu, qiu, you can do it, Mistress!” As if it could feel Yun Ruoyan’s burning blood, Qiuqiu seemed particularly enervated, but it didn’t forget to remind Yun Ruoyan, “Mistress, if you can’t beat her, use the bracelet’s power immediately.”

“I’m coming.” Yun Ruoyan once again ran forward as she employed her footwork.

Jin Fei’er quickly imbued qi into the sword she held in her hands. She raised her arm and sketched out a circle with her sword, and the spiritual energy condensed into a shield in front of her body.

She didn’t hide her peak fourth-rank cultivation at all.

Blocked by her energy, Yun Ruoyan’s sword lost all its forward momentum, unable to pierce through the barrier at all.

“Your cultivation’s really quite low, isn’t it?” As Jin Fei’er swung her sword, she taunted, “Your tricks might have worked on someone as simple as Liu Sheng, but they won’t work on me!”

She stepped forward, and her energy-imbued sword bit at Yun Ruoyan’s as they exchanged blows. In a matter of seconds, Yun Ruoyan’s sword had broken into pieces and flew out of the arena.

The Lin sisters let out a shocked cry. After all, Yun Ruoyan had been facing her opponents with a paltry third-rank cultivation, and the onlookers were always on tenterhooks: one wrong move, and Yun Ruoyan could be grievously injured.

Jin Fei’er began to press in on the weaponless Yun Ruoyan, as if intending to break Yun Ruoyan just as she had broken her sword.

Zhuo Yifeng was ready to charge in on a moment’s notice, but Yun Ruoyan’s footwork was more advanced than Jin Fei’er’s, and she was ultimately faster than the other girl.

“Mistress,” Qiuqiu’s voice rang out, “If this keeps up, you’re going to run out of stamina faster than she is! Why don’t you use the bracelet’s power?”

Using the bracelet’s power would enhance her strength twice over, enough to fight at a fifth-rank’s level and overcome Jin Fei’er. Along with her accumulated experience over two lifetimes, even if she didn’t have a weapon, she would still have a decent chance of success.

But if she really did so, then she would hardly be able to train herself.

“For this fight, I’m only going to rely on my own power!” Her right hand seemed as though it was going for her bosom, but she was reaching for Pei Ziao’s spear through her bracelet’s pocket dimension.

As she chanted the incantation, a flute-like object appeared in her hands and immediately grew over ten times larger. Before Jin Fei’er’s eyes, the bright spearhead struck the center of her spiritual barrier.

Jin Fei’er’s sword tried to strike at the spear, but when it made contact, her sword flew from her hands. The tip of the spear flew towards her face, quick as lightning.

Pei Ziao’s spear was a high-grade spiritual weapon, and when Yun Ruoyan imbued it with all her spiritual energy, she could temporarily attack at a fifth-rank level. When the natural hardness of the spear’s body and sharpness of its head were taken into account, Jin Fei’er was naturally not a match.

“Wait!” A voice exploded from somewhere nearby, and Yun Ruoyan found her spear blocked with a sharp Clang!

Yun Ruoyan felt her hands go numb, and the spear almost flew from her grip. She couldn’t help but take a few steps back. Jin Fei’er gasped as she fell on the floor, supporting herself with both hands. That spear was heading straight toward her, and she just barely avoided having her nose cut off!

“A high-grade weapon!” Wang Kuang had jumped in front of Jin Fei’er and blocked the blow, his expression shocked. “You actually have a high-grade weapon.”

High-grade weapons could change their size at will and greatly enhance their owner’s attacking capabilities, and they were rare treasures indeed.

Even the wealthiest families wouldn’t have more than three such weapons at hand.

“It seems like the rumors were a lie.” Wang Kuang rubbed his square jaw as his eyes squinted.

“Wang Kuang, you’re mistaken!” Pei Ziao quickly strode forth. “That’s my family’s heirloom spear!”

When Yun Ruoyan took out the spear, he was both shocked and thrilled: thrilled, because he hadn’t lost his spear after all; and shocked, because Yun Ruoyan actually seemed able to use the spear. The spear’s full potential required at least a fifth-rank’s spiritual energy, but when Yun Ruoyan used the spear to strike at Jin Fei’er, he could clearly feel it being activated.

And how had Yun Ruoyan known the enchantment for changing the spear’s size?!

Originally, Yun Ruoyan hadn’t wanted to reveal that she had the spear. After all, she had to rely on this spear to force Pei Yingxiong to help craft Zhuo Yifeng’s arrows.

But she had dearly wanted to best Jin Fei’er in a fight, to obtain the satisfaction that she’d never felt in her past life, so she took it out with almost no hesitation.

“Ruoyan, return my family’s spear to me!” Pei Ziao stepped forward and extended a hand toward Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan looked at him, her eyes clear and cold, her lips slowly forming a smile. “On what grounds?”

She couldn’t help but think back to the past. How obediently she’d listened to Pei Ziao then! If he stretched a hand out, no matter what she had, she’d give it to him without a second thought.

But that Yun Ruoyan had died that fateful day to Pei Ziao’s force-fed poison. In this life, she had rubbed her eyes and taken off her rose-tinted glasses.

Pei Ziao was baffled by her rejection, and said without thinking, “Because it belongs to the Peis!”

“Oh?” Yun Ruoyao’s smile grew wider. “Then why don’t you call out to it and see if it’ll respond?”

“Yo-you!” Pei Ziao was furious at Yun Ruoyan’s repeated rejection. “Yun Ruoyan, I didn’t know you were such an unreasonable woman!”

“Haha, hahaha…” Yun Ruoyan broke out in peals of laughter. Reasonable? She’d been poisoned ever since she was three, and it had ruined her beauty and talent. Had Madam An ever been reasonable toward her?

For a man, she was willing to splinter relationships with her family, her siblings and cousins. And in the end, it was this man himself who had ruined her! Was that reasonable?

If the world were unreasonable, if her opponent were unreasonable, then all she had to face them were her own intellect, her martial talents, her viciousness!

Yun Ruoyan held the spear with both hands, her hair tied back. In her fiery red attire, her slender body seemed itself like a spear.

Her swollen birthmark and ice-cold smile made for a shocking sight.

No one could understand why the ugly girl in front of them had suddenly released a tremendous fighting spirit, as if she had been provoked. Her laugh sounded almost as if she were verging on insanity.

“Sister Ruoyan, are you alright?” Lin Qingxue asked from afar.

“It’s nothing. I just found it funny that someone wanted to discuss what was reasonable.”

Pei Ziao’s face turned red amidst Yun Ruoyan’s mocking laughter. If not for Yi Qianying pulling him back by his side, it seemed as though he would have rushed to Yun Ruoyan.

“Sister Ruoyan, won’t you return the spear to Brother Ziao? It’s not yours, after all, and you don’t have the right to own it,” Yi Qianying called out.

“I don’t have the right? Then, does someone who was willing to discard the spear to survive have the right to own it?” Yun Ruoyan’s question made Yi Qianying and Pei Ziao both speechless.

“Ruoyan, the Yuns and Peis are on good terms, and I recommend you not do anything that might ruin this relationship,” Yun Ruoyao began.

Yun Ruoyan hmphed. She ignored her sister and turned her gaze toward Wang Kuang, saying coolly, “Rather than reason, you prefer to argue with strength, don’t you?”

1. A less impressive feat in Chinese than in English, where the word ‘ugly’ is the character 丑, which consists of five straight strokes.