Phoenix Destiny

“Which arena is she at today?”

“Peak’s Martial Arts Hall! The one at Nan Da street.”

“Let’s go, let’s go. Their seats will be full if we’re late.”

The bunch scrambled out hurriedly to rush to the martial arts hall.

In a tearoom, a guy stood by the window and looked at them rush into the martial arts hall.

Somebody came behind him and sneered at the bunch of people, “Such idiots, have they not ever seen an arena before? It’s just a competition. We would never waste our time there.”

The guy at the window remained silent as he still had his eyes on the bunch.

“Senior Brother Wei!” the girl behind him pouted, “Are you listening?”

Still no response!

“Wei Chunqiu!” the girl stomped in anger.

“Now, now, who sent our younger sister into a fit, huh?” the door was pushed opened, and someone walked in, full of smiles.

“Senior Brother Yu!” seeing the person who came in, the girl was all smiles again, “You finally came! I hate Senior Brother Wei; he ignores me!”

The guy who walked in was a graceful teenager. There was always a smile on his face and he was rather lovable.

“It’s not like you only just met Senior Brother Wei,” he answered. “Stop bothering him, haha, just come and tell me.”

The girl pointed to the building opposite of the tearoom, “When are we going over?”

“What’s the hurry?” Senior Brother Yu laughed. “The main character always makes their appearance last, right?”

…

“Miss Lu won the second round!”

The spectators gave applause and cheered loudly for her.

Lu Mingshu took the handkerchief that the maid had handed her. She wiped the sweat on her head and sat down at a corner to rest.

Competing at an arena was something that required a huge amount of energy, especially fighting consecutively. On top of that, as her reputation spread, her opponents were getting strong and stronger.

The first few days, she competed with the some of the better martial artists of Zhongzhou. After she got some more wins, the disciples from the visiting clans came to compete with her too.

However, Lady Luck was on her side. She still hadn’t met up with any of the apex martial artists.

Or maybe it was because they were conserving their energy for the Qilin Festival, which was the real deal.

Others could wait, but not Lu Mingshu. She didn’t have any power or fame, and she needed to get anything that she could.

The arenas of Tianyun City all had similar rules – three wins and you’ll become the host. She had already won two rounds, so there was only one more to go and she could finish this.

And then not turn up tomorrow, because the day after tomorrow was the start of the Qilin Festival.

“How should I address this gentleman?” the announcer asked.

“My surname is Yu,” the guy smiled.

A new challenger had stepped up.

Lu Mingshu opened her eyes to take a look. She wiped the sweat from her palm and went up on stage slowly.

“I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time, Miss Lu,” Gentleman Yu bowed.

“I dare not accept such praise. Please guide me.”

“Shall we start?”

Lu Mingshu answered by pulling out her sword.

Seeing that, Gentleman Yu turned serious and pulled out his sword too.

The austere aura had the spectators tense as well, and they all kept quiet as they look on in anticipation.

In a split second, both of them attacked at the same time.

Both rays of sword-light flew across the stage. In the blink of an eye, the sword-lights had filled the entire stage.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The sound of swords clashing could be heard constantly, but the two fighters were too fast for humans to see. The only thing the audience could see were sword-lights.

Lu Mingshu’s heart fell as the competition went on.

Just before the competition started, she felt like Lady Luck was on her side since she had never met a true expert, but now there was one right in front of her.

This guy shouldn’t be just any random martial artist. There’s a high chance he’s from the Seventh Truth Platform, and perhaps he’s even a genuine successor disciple.

But that could be a good thing for her too; it proved that she was now so famous that even a Seventh Truth Platform disciple would come just for her.

And this was a perfect chance for her; defeating the disciples of the martial arts halls showed that she was better than some regular martial artists, but defeating a Seventh Truth Platform disciple would mean much more.

Lu Mingshu shook the thought out of her head and upped her game.

The harder one party fought, the more beneficial it would be for the other party. Fighting in arena had a shortcoming, which was that there wasn’t enough time to rest. In order to become the new host, one had to fight three rounds continuously. Lu Mingshu had already completed two rounds, so she was physically and mentally drained, while the other party just waited leisurely for Lu Mingshu to exhaust herself. The fiercer she fought, the more advantage the other party gained.

This Gentleman Yu was calm and composed. He focused on defending more than attacking, and he even pretended to mess up a few times in order to trick Lu Mingshu into stepping up her attack.

Probably because of the sweat on her palms, Lu Mingshu missed an attack.

Great chance! Gentleman Yu’s eyes blinked upon seeing that. In no time, he gathered all his strength and attacked.

Lu Mingshu squinted her eyes and immediately went up.

Boom!

The mystic light exploded.

Smoke and dust covered the area. One party stood on top of a flag pole while another one stood on the ground.

Gentleman Yu smiled at her, “Miss Lu, you’re not the only one who has broken through to the ream of Physical Manifestation of Sword Intent.”

Lu Mingshu eyed him coldly, “Since you have as well, where are you from then?”

“Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning.”

“I believe that it will become worth mentioning soon.”

Sword-light appeared again, and both of them went against each other.

“What are they talking about?”

“I don’t know, but it’s entertaining.”

“Yeah! Miss Lu is so powerful. Which clan is Gentleman Yu from, that he can actually compete with her?”

“His skills make it seem like he’s from the Seventh Truth Platform.”

…

“What? Yu Kuang went down to compete?” Kou Wei was startled at this information.

The disciple that he sent over to scout nodded, “Yeah, it’s him.”

“What does the Seventh Truth Platform want?” Yue Lingyin pondered. “Perhaps they find Lu Mingshu too arrogant and want to teach her a lesson?”

Kou Wei shook his head, “It’s just a martial arts hall arena, the Seventh Truth Platform isn’t that narrow-minded.”

Lu Mingshu picked a martial arts arena of Zhongzhou to compete in, why would the Seventh Truth Platform be worried? It’s not like she went to battle at their arena. And even if she won at every arena in Zhongzhou, it’s not like their name would be affected.

“Maybe Yu Kuang went out of curiosity?” somebody added. “Miss Lu is famous now. If I wasn’t with you guys, I would probably go down to have a battle with her to check things out.”

“Maybe….” Kou Wei nodded. He couldn’t think of any reason other than that.

“Who will win?” Qi Sheng asked.

The group remained silent.

“Lu Mingshu has proven that she’s capable. Her eighteen-win streak wasn’t just lucky. If she participates in the Qilin Festival, she will be a real opponent to me.”

Kou Wei, the best Harmonization Realm disciple in the Heavenly Sea Pavilion, and one of the first few in China to see her as a real opponent had proven Lu Mingshu’s ability.

“Yu Kuang’s not bad either,” Yue Lingyin added. “His foundation may not be as strong as Wei Chunqiu, but he’s the best swordsman amongst all Seventh Truth Platform disciples.”

“I lost to Yu Kuang before….” someone said solemnly.

“Interesting,” Kou Wei smiled. “Lu Mingshu has exceptionally good skills, and Yu Kuang is the best swordsman in his sect. I wonder who’s more of a genius?”