Since Dong Ai's been made her voice loud intentionally, even those people who weren't paying attention to her platform previously, had now turned their gazes towards her.

''Ah? Isn't that the young miss of the Dong clan? Someone dared to say that they would actually squash her?''

''Wait! Isn't that guy Shun Long? Don't tell me that Dong Ai has enmity with Shun Long!''

''Haha, this will be interesting!''

Dong Ai herself was naturally famous as the young miss of the powerful Dong clan, while Shun Long's fame in the outer court in the last 5 months hadn't been inferior to hers in the slightest, causing people to recognize the 2 of them extremely quickly, while even more and more people from the crowd were now paying attention to their platform.

''Junior sister Ai? She really held a grudge against junior sister Mei... Eh? That guy reached the late stages of the Nascent Soul in less than a year?'' Liu Mei's third senior sister, Wei Yaling, seemed to have also noticed Shun Long's and Dong Ai's fight from the audience seats, but her attention was suddenly drawn on Shun Long who wasn't hiding his cultivation at the middle of rank 7.

Wei Yaling still remembered how Shun Long had only been at the early rank 3 of the Nascent Soul less than a year ago, making her reaction almost identical to Dong Ai's.

''Hrm?'' At the same time, somewhere in the audience seats, a young man with long blonde hair who was meditating suddenly opened his eyes, and stared at Dong Ai's platform with a questioning look in his eyes, before his cold gaze was focused on Shun Long.

Many of the disciples around him seemed to have been looking at this blonde-haired young man, but the moment that he opened his eyes, everyone turned their gazes away.

After all, this person was even more famous than Shun Long and Dong Ai within the outer court.

This was Dong Ai's elder brother, the son of the clan leader of the Dong clan and one of the strongest outer court disciples ranked in the Martial Roll of Honor, the leader of the 3rd strongest faction within the outer court of the Holy sect, Dong Cheng.

Almost as if he could sense an extremely cold gaze boring into his back, Shun Long turned around and stared at a specific location in the audience seats, as his eyes met with that pair of cold, violet eyes that were staring back at him.

Shun Long was surprised while with just a glance, he could tell that this person was extremely strong.

''He is probably already a Dao King.''

Looking at the blond-haired young man's facial features that looked extremely similar to Dong Ai's, Shun Long understood that this person most likely came from the same clan as Dong Ai, and they probably had a close relationship with each other.

However, Shun Long didn't pay any more attention to him, as he turned around and looked at Dong Ai in front of him.

Dong Ai had that same smirk on her face as she asked Shun Long with a playful smirk on her face

''What's wrong? Are you scared? If you are you can simply kneel down and apologize. I may even forgive you!''

Liu Mei's cold black eyes seemed to have lost any hint of warmth as she stared at Dong Ai's figure, but Shun Long calmly shook his head as he handed his sect identifying token to the outer court Elder in front of the platform, before he turned his gaze towards Dong Ai and said

''Scared? You are not qualified to make me scared.''

Dong Ai's eyes narrowed while the outer court Elder by the side of the platform simply waved his hand and said calmly

''Begin!''

As soon as the Elder's voice trailed off, Shun Long saw Dong Ai waving her left hand, as a thin but long silver sword appeared in her hands.

This sword in her hands looked very similar to the sword that Bai Longtian had, but Shun Long noticed that Dong Ai's sword was even thinner in comparison, while the tip of the sword was shining with a faint golden light.

A gust of wind enveloped Dong Ai's entire body in the next second before she suddenly shot towards Shun Long at full speed, the silver sword in her hands aiming to pierce through his chest.

''So fast!''

The crowd in the audience seats was truly surprised. Even among other early rank 9 Nascent Soul cultivators, Dong Ai's speed was extremely fast.

Some even wondered whether Shun Long would be able to react in time and dodge.

Shun Long's golden eyes lit up, as he took a single step to the side, easily dodging Dong Ai's sword slash, while his right fist was clenched tightly.

Dong Ai seemed to have expected that Shun Long would dodge her initial attack but her lips simply curved upwards. She could feel that her silver sword had barely grazed Shun Long's yellow robes, but as her body was still in a forward motion, Dong Ai's hand that was holding her silver sword suddenly moved in a weird manner, as Dong Ai suddenly slashed her sword sideways.

This time, her sword slash wasn't aiming to pierce through Shun Long's chest, but his waist!

With the distance between them being so close, Dong Ai was confident that Shun Long wouldn't have enough time to dodge.

Dong Ai was certain that Shun Long would lose! After all, her first sword attack had only been a bait to close the distance. This was her true killing move!

And yet, at the same time, Shun Long's golden eyes suddenly emitted a bright blue light, as Shun Long mumbled to himself

''Time Prison!''

The blue light from Shun Long's eyes suddenly enveloped Dong Ai's body, as the flow of time around her was forcibly halted!

The disciples in the audience seats, the white-robed Elder in front of the platform responsible for the battle, and even the 3 white-robed inner court Elders in the sky, all watched with disbelieving eyes, as Dong Ai's body was frozen in mid-air with that same smirk on her face.

Taking a step forward, Shun Long raised his clenched right fist in front of his chest, right above Dong Ai's back, before his voice reverberated throughout the silent arena

''I told you that you are not qualified to act arrogant in front of me. Fuck off!''

Space itself trembled as Shun Long brought his hand downwards like a hammer, before his fist collided with Dong Ai's body that was still under the effects of the 'Time Prison'.

BOOOOOM

Under the disbelieving eyes of the disciples in the audience seats, Dong Ai's body slammed on the platform a moment later, causing the entire platform to violently tremble.

-

Author's note: 4/5