The point of starlight on her finger rapidly expanded, and the air around her started to ripple uneasily as if great pressure was squeezing it.
On the opposite side, the talisman started slowing down upon sensing a hint of the terrifying aura. The sight of this made Xie Lingyang’s smug smile freeze. My talisman seems to be afraid of something…
“Gather!” shouted Chu Liuyue.
Countless dots of starlight then quickly gathered to form a glowing silver finger. Shortly after, it started to approach the Nine Soul-Catching Talisman at a slow but steady speed.
With a grit of his teeth, Xie Lingyang injected another round of force into the talisman.
Boom!
The power of both sides finally collided in a brilliant light display. A crack line suddenly appeared on the talisman, where a blue stream of light flew out from it and tightly coiled itself around the silver finger like a rope.
A second stream of light then shot out and was quickly followed by another.
…
Nine!
A total of nine rope-like lights shot out from the talisman and entangled themselves around the finger. Not only that, but they started to tighten their grip on the finger as well.
Seeing that the silver finger had been completely bound, Xie Lingyang let out a sigh of relief. As long as—
Snap!
One of the rope-like lights suddenly snapped, making Xie Lingyang become tense once more. He saw the finger move with ease as it broke free of that rope-like light effortlessly.
Then, the same thing happened again.
Snap!
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The rope-like lights started snapping one after another.
Before Xie Lingyang could react, he coughed out a mouthful of blood. His face had turned ashen as well.
In order to summon the Nine Soul-Catching Talisman, he had used all his internal force. Now that the talisman was being destroyed, he naturally suffered from the backlash of it. It felt as if he had countless sharp arrows coursing through his body and damaging his internal organs in the process.
More and more cracks formed on the talisman in the meantime.
In the blink of an eye, only one of the nine rope-like lights remained. However, it was on the verge of snapping as well.
On the other hand, Chu Liuyue was calm and unharmed. It was obvious who was the stronger of the two. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that she had gained the upper hand in this duel.
“…Oh my gosh… Not only did Chu Liuyue execute an earth-grade warrior skill, but she seems to be even stronger than Xie Lingyang. I think she’s going to win this match!”
“I didn’t expect her to have such a trump card. It’s no wonder that she insisted that she go up instead.”
“If Chong Xu Cabinet wins this match, it’ll be a real tie between them and Jiu Xing Alliance!”
“Xie Lingyang isn’t actually weak. It’s just that there are always more capable people out there. He’s unlucky to have Chu Liuyue as his opponent. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’d never believe that a stage-six warrior would actually lose to a stage-four warrior!”
…
Looking livid, Zhang Hua clenched his fists tightly. He thought they’d win this match for sure, but Chu Liuyue ended up being stronger than he thought.
Jiu Xing Alliance’s members had also quietened down, not daring to make a squeak lest they provoked their clan leader and get themselves in unnecessary trouble.
There were countless gazes on Xie Lingyang. When the latter inadvertently raised his eyes, he happened to see Zhang Hua staring at himself coldly.
This reminded him of what the other had told him before the start of the match: ‘You must win the last two matches, you hear me?!’
If I really end up losing to Chu Liuyue… Xie Lingyang flinched at the thought. Then, as if he had made a great decision, he swallowed the blood in his mouth and bit his index finger hard.
A drop of blood oozed out from the wound, and with a flick, he sent it flying to the talisman.
As the droplet of blood seeped into the talisman, the blue talisman turned red immediately, and the cracks on it repaired themselves in the blink of an eye. In fact, the entire talisman had become more solid.
A bloodthirsty aura started to permeate the air as a terrifying pressure came from deep within the talisman. On top of that, several more rope-like lights grew from the last stream of light—which had also turned blood red—and coiled around the finger once more.
Tightly intertwined, the silver finger and the red talisman started to kill each other off.
Boom!
Xie Lingyang’s aura started intensifying quickly.
Chu Liuyue narrowed her eyes at the sight. Something is off about him! That droplet of blood earlier…
Although there were methods that allowed people to increase their cultivation level temporarily, the method Xie Lingyang used was way too strange. He exuded a cold and eerie aura that made people shudder.
As the wind howled, cries and moans could seemingly be heard coming from the Nine Soul-Catching Talisman.
It didn’t take long before Xie Lingyang’s cultivation base reached the level of an intermediate stage-six warrior. This was considered a huge increase in strength for a warrior at such a high cultivation level.
It was already tough for Chu Liuyue to be fighting against someone of a higher rank. Now that Xie Lingyang had used special means to raise his cultivation level, things became even more disadvantageous for her.
Chu Liuyue’s heart thumped when she saw the hint of a bloodthirsty look in Xie Lingyang’s eyes that were filled with murderous intent.
“Soul-devouring skill!” Xie Lingyang shouted.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Nine Soul-Catching Talisman started spinning amidst the howling wind. As it spun, the red rope-like lights started tightening their grip on the silver finger as well.
Crack!
A crack instantly formed on the finger, which caused Chu Liuyue to jolt. When blood filled her oral cavity, she swallowed it back down again.
By now, half of the finger had been swallowed into the Nine Soul-Catching Talisman and was about to disappear completely.
An arrogant smirk formed on Xie Lingyang’s face. “You’ve lost!”
As Chu Liuyue gritted her teeth, a hint of madness surfaced on her face. “The match hasn’t ended!”
Xie Lingyang snorted. “You’re going to be so stubborn to the end, huh? It’s not too late for you to concede defeat right now. Otherwise, it’ll be useless even if you beg me on your knees later!”
Chu Liuyue said nothing. When she felt a ripple in her dantian, she raised her hand…
Boom!
Boundless aura poured out from her, which left Xie Lingyang shocked. The tiny point of starlight—which was as weak as a candle’s flame in the wind—on her finger suddenly intensified and split into two, with the other one lightly landing atop her middle finger.
“Jingshen Palm!”
