Dual Cultivation

After she prepared herself, Li Xiao Mo approached Su Yang with a sword in her hands.

\"Profound Blossom Art: Petal Fury!\"

A gentle aura surrounded Li Xiao Mo before shooting out of her sword with sharpness.

\"Wha—! That’s one of our sword techniques! How shameless of her!\" Sun Jingjing exclaimed when she saw Li Xiao Mo shamelessly use one of their techniques. It was a sword art that any disciple could learn once they become an Inner Court disciple. Of course, it was only a Mortal-grade technique.

\"Hoh?\"

Although he did not know of this technique, Su Yang casually dodged the sword strike. Despite being a disciple of the Profound Blossom Sect for quite some time, Su Yang has actually never learned any of their techniques, not that he even bothered in the first place.

\"Profound Blossom Art: Falling Petals!\"

Over a dozen consecutive strikes flew towards Su Yang in a quick session.

\"Not bad,\" said Su Yang as he gracefully dodged them.

\"Although I am no longer a disciple of the Profound Blossom Sect, I have continued to practice the Profound Blossom Art even after I have left!\" Li Xiao Mo said.

For the next few minutes, Li Xiao Mo would continue to display her Profound Blossom Art, and Su Yang would easily evade them.

\"What is senior apprentice-brother doing? Why is he only dodging her attacks?\" Sun Jingjing couldn’t understand his intentions.

\"If he really wants to fight her, it would’ve already ended long ago.\" Fang Zhelan said.

Meanwhile, the spectators were already yawning from boredom. It was as though they were watching a friendly spar between a couple, and that irritated some people there.

\"If you do not plan on fighting seriously, get off the stage!\"

\"That’s right! I did not come all the way here just to watch them dance around! Get them off the stage!\"

The spectators began voicing their complaints.

However, neither Li Xiao Mo or Su Yang heard their discontent voices, as they were too focused on each other.

\"Let’s see if you can dodge this!\" Li Xiao Mo suddenly stopped moving and clapped her hands three times in a rhythmic manner.

\"...\"

When the three claps resounded in Su Yang’s ears, his vision blurred for a moment before becoming clear again. However, when he could see again, he was no longer in the arena and surrounded by spectators. Instead, he was in the middle of a desert with nothing in sight — but not for long, as beasts started appearing from the horizon a few moments later, looking like it was a hoard of beasts.

\"An illusion, huh?\" Su Yang quickly realized the situation.

Meanwhile, in the spectators’ eyes, both Su Yang and Li Xiao Mo had suddenly stopped all of their movements and stood there with a dazed face.

\"Eh? Why did they stop moving again?\"

\"It must be the Yellow River Sect’s illusion technique, Yellow Illusion. Rumor has it that once you are caught inside their illusion, it’s near impossible to escape it by yourself. However, the person who cast the illusion cannot move while they are using the technique, so it’ll be a standstill until one of them falls.\"

\"Either Li Xiao Mo exhausts her Profound Qi first or Su Yang loses his mind to the illusion, huh.\" Sun Jingjing mumbled.

\"How long do you think it’ll take Su Yang to break the illusion?\" Sun Jingjing asked Feng Zhelan. \"I think it’ll take a few minutes at most.\"

\"Less than a minute,\" said Fang Zhelan without any hesitation.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, the Yellow River Sect has already begun celebrating their first victory.

\"It’s over for him! Once someone is caught by our technique, they will never escape! Especially not by somebody still at the Profound Spirit Realm!\"

\"Senior apprentice-sister Li can control the technique for six hours straight! I doubt his mental strength will be able to handle it for that long!\"

\"Forget about him, even we cannot beat her when it comes to illusion techniques.\"

\"It’s a pity that she’d wasted many years at the Profound Blossom Sect. With her talent, if she was with us from the beginning, she would definitely be one of our strongest disciples!\"

\"He should be surrounded by beasts now. I’ll give him ten minutes before his mind collapses.\" The Yellow River Sect’s Master suddenly spoke with a profound look on his face.

Indeed, Su Yang was surrounded by countless beasts right now. However, he was not even the slightest worried.

\"As impressive as it may seem, this illusion lacks many things that make illusions powerful. In the eyes of an expert, this illusion is no different than a child’s play.\"

Su Yang slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he reopened his eyes, the desert and the hoard of beasts were completely gone, and he was once again inside the arena.

\"Cough!\" Li Xiao Mo coughed up a mouthful of blood the moment Su Yang broke through her illusion.

\"Impossible!\"

The Yellow River Sect’s Master and its disciples stared at Su Yang with wide eyes and their jaws on the ground.

\"20 seconds... it only took him 20 seconds to escape the Yellow River Sect’s famous illusion technique?!\"

The spectators were also shocked by this unexpected outcome.

\"Although the scenery may seem threatening with all the beasts around, it’s actually void of such a feeling. I suggest you take it easy and focus on just a few beasts instead of a hoard of them, as it will take up more energy and focus to control so many beasts at once.\" Su Yang explained to Li Xiao Mo her faults, even lecturing her.

Hearing his words, Li Xiao Mo smiled bitterly and spoke, \"As I thought, it’s impossible for me to win against you. Even though I have used up all of the Euphoric Oil you’d given me, I am still nowhere near your level.\"

\"Oh, right. I did give you some of them.\" Su Yang recalled that he wanted her to help him with something, but after what happened with the Sect, there was no longer any need for any of that.

\"If you want more of the oil, you can always buy them at our Profound Blossom Sect. We will be selling them to the public after the tournament,\" he suddenly said.

\"Really?\" Li Xiao Mo’s eyes immediately brightened.

Su Yang nodded.

\"Don’t forget your words! I will find you when I have the time in the future.\"

\"Of course. I am always a man of my words.\"

Li Xiao Mo nodded, and after a moment of silence, she said, \"You win this one, Su Yang. I surr—\"

\"I forfeit this match.\"

Before Li Xiao Mo could surrender, Su Yang raised his hand and surrendered the match, dumbfounding everybody there.

\"W-Why?\" Li Xiao Mo asked him in a low voice.

\"I did not plan on participating in any of the matches today, so I have lost the moment I stepped onto the stage.\" Su Yang responded with a calm smile. \"Don’t worry, this won’t affect the outcome, anyway.\"

Li Xiao Mo stared at him with a dazed look, and she silently watched him exit the stage. Although she won the match, she was definitely not happy about it.