Chapter 1212: Qian Kun Shares a Color, Heaven and Earth a Sword

“Apologies for the wait, Snow Fairy.”

It wasn’t until after all eighteen people had been devoured by the bronze dragons and serpents that Ye Qing finally looked at Xue Wushuang. “So, what fashion would you like this duel to be?”

“What do you mean?”

Xue Wushuang was wearing a somewhat complicated expression right now. As a natural born sword wielder whose sword heart was bright and clear since she was a child, she naturally knew who was good and who was evil at first glance. However, this young man felt like an abyss shrouded in fog to her senses, impossible to identify or measure. As a result, she could not tell if his nature was good or bad.

Assuming he was good, he was eccentric, unpredictable, and ruthless to an extreme. But assuming he was bad, everyone he killed was a cruel, vicious villain who more than deserved to die. Because of this, she simply could not arrive at a conclusion.

“Do you want this to be a friendly duel, or a fight to the death?”

Watching her expression and feeling her complex feelings, Ye Qing could tell exactly what Xue Wushuang was thinking. He didn’t pay it any heed though.

The human heart was the most complex thing in this world after all. How could it possibly be simply categorized as good or evil?

“A friendly duel!”

As if sensing that Ye Qing was spying on her emotions, Xue Wushuang immediately collected herself and sharpened her focus. She quickly regained her earlier coolness.

She was here to hone her way of the sword and complete her mission if possible. She never once thought to kill Ye Qing. Naturally, she wouldn’t want to fight him to the death.

“Very well. A friendly duel it is.”

Ye Qing smiled. He could confirm that she was overflowing with fighting spirit, but there wasn’t a hint of killing intent in her. “Let us begin.”

“Here?” Xue Wushuang frowned.

“The mountains are beautiful, the wintersweets are blooming like fire. Where else should we fight if not here?” Ye Qing asked smilingly.

“It is precisely because this place is so picturesque that it would be a shame to destroy it,” Xue Wushuang answered.

“On the contrary, I would argue that our battle deserves a picturesque background and a million wintersweets as witnesses. I do not think that it is a shame at all.”

Ye Qing snapped a wintersweet branch and added, “Besides, we can just compensate them for their loss.”

“You make sense, Brother Ye!”

Xue Wushuang wasn’t one to ponder excessively over something, so she clasped her fists and declared, “Let’s begin, Brother Ye!”

As soon as she finished, Xue Wushuang pressed her fingers together and thrust them forward like she was performing a sword thrust.

Like a brush, her finger drew a sky of chilly wind and falling snow. Despite this, neither wind nor snow elicited a single sound. Hence, the sword technique was named “Soundless”.

Although there was no sound, her sword intent filled the sky. Both the wind and the snow were her sword. When she thrust her fingers forward, the wind grew stronger, the snow grew colder, and the sword intent grew colder.

Xue Wushuang knew that Ye Qing was very powerful. That was why she hadn’t held back one bit.

Ye Qing’s response toward this rapid, powerful sword strike was to wave his wintersweet branch gently.

To most people, it was a poetic, handsome gesture. It felt like melting snow before one’s porch; looking up and seeing dawn. But to Xue Wushuang, it was something else. She saw yin and yang resonating with each other and wiping out her sword intent of wind and snow. She saw an unspeakable profoundness that restored clarity to heaven and earth.

After the failed attack, Xue Wushuang retreated thirty meters at once. Ye Qing was a Great Grandmaster, so she was certain that he would close the distance and fight her at melee range. Naturally, she did not want to fight him at his most advantageous.

Of course, she wasn’t just retreating. She was also channeling her sword intent.

For every three meters she retreated, her sword intent would grow a tad stronger. Snow began falling from the sky once more.

Ye Qing did not pursue Xue Wushuang as she imagined he would, however. He simply stood where he was and continued to smile at her.

A hint of puzzlement flashed through Xue Wushuang’s mind, but she did not stop to ponder. She grabbed the sword hanging at her waist and unsheathed it.

Wind and snow began rising from the ground and falling from the sky. They followed both the swinging sword and the running woman. When wind and snow blended, heaven and earth turned white, and qian and kun shared a color.

Right here and now, neither Xue Wushuang, her sword, or the world could be seen. All that was left was white.

Therefore, the sword technique was named, “Pure White”.

The sword technique wasn’t the only one who bore the name. Xue Wushuang’s sword was named, “Pure White” as well. A Disaster-class Strange Artifact, it was forged using thousand-year-old snow crystals and pure white in color like the wind and snow. Hence the name.

The sword was named Pure White, and so was the technique. The combination of the two was like golden breeze and jade dew, a perfect couple that surpassed countless others.

That was why qian and kun shared a color; why heaven and earth were like a single sword.

Still, Ye Qing’s expression did not change, yin and yang rotating slowly inside his eyes. His Yin Yang Spell Eyes allowed him to see the network of energies spread throughout the world and the circulation of Xue Wushuang’s sword intent as clear as day.

The next moment, Ye Qing stabbed at a certain point in the air with his wintersweet branch. As if a weak point was struck, a smatter of color suddenly invaded the pure white canvas that enveloped everything; a flaw suddenly appeared in the flawless world of white.

If qian and kun were no longer one color, then the sword intent was no longer pure as well.

The next moment, Ye Qing bent his wrist downward.

Buzz...

There was a buzz, and the wintersweet branch abruptly curved like a bridge. It looked like it was bearing an entire mountain.

Still, the thin branch did not break.

Ye Qing bent his wrist another inch, and the wintersweet branch curved a little more. The next moment, what was a unified world of white was split in half.

The wintersweet branch did not just split heaven and earth, it also split qian and kun, the clear and the murky.

The pure white world immediately turned dirty and chaotic. The sword intent disappeared, and Xue Wushuang was revealed.

The wintersweet branch was touching the tip of Pure White, the sword.

Astonishment flowed into Xue Wushuang’s eyes. “Pure White” was the ultimate technique in the “Falling Snow Sword Canon”. It channeled one’s sword force and sword intent to paint the world white. In a sense, it was a sword of the world. She did not think that Ye Qing would be able to break it, much less break it using a puny wintersweet branch.

Xue Wushuang retreated a second time. It was said that a swordsman would rather break than bend, but that was referring to one’s sword heart and sword intent. It did not mean charging the enemy like a bull or taking their strongest attack head on like an idiot.

However, Ye Qing did not move. The young man had defeated her ultimate technique in one move, so he absolutely possessed the strength to press his advantage. However, he didn’t.

If once was coincidence, then twice was intention.

Xue Wushuang stood still and lowered her sword temporarily. She asked coldly, “What is the meaning of this, Brother Ye? Why are you only defending and not attacking?”

“I slighted you earlier, Snow Fairy. Therefore, I decided that I should allow you three moves as a show of apology.”

Ye Qing smiled. “Besides, I do not think you would get another chance once I begin my retaliation.”

At first, Xue Wushuang listened to the first half of Ye Qing’s answer and thought that he was a man of etiquette. Then, she finished listening to his response and felt angry. “Are you looking down on me, Brother Ye?”

“I am not. I am simply stating the truth.”

Ye Qing stared at the angry-looking woman and replied evenly, “I prefer to speak in a straightforward manner. I apologize if I offended you with my words, Snow Fairy!”

“The arrogance!” Xue Wushuang said darkly. Truly, she had never met such an arrogant man in her life.

It wasn’t just Xue Wushuang who thought this. Everyone watching the fight, be it those sitting inside the Snow Garden or standing around Wintersweet Mountain thought that Ye Qing was in over his head. It was arrogant enough that he thought he could allow the famous Snow Sword Fairy, a named warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking, three moves, he dared to imply that she would

lose

as soon as he began his retaliation? Did he think that the Snow Sword Fairy was actually made of snow?

The arrogance! The audacity! The sheer unmitigated gall[1]!

1. I picked this up while randomly scrolling to Youtube shorts. It was awesome! ☜