259: Chapter 259 Slight Opening Doesn't Count as Opening

The flesh of the deep, bone-deep wound on her left arm squirmed, and blood flowed backward. In the blink of an eye, it was restored to its original state, without a single trace left behind.

The churning blood and Qi within her body also instantly calmed down.

Her entire body had returned to a perfectly intact state.

In Leng Ningshuang's mind, Su Mo's words suddenly appeared, along with the image of herself burning her essence blood, Divine Soul, and Lifespan in the Secret Realm to verify them.

An indescribable feeling welled up in her heart.

Was this feeling regret over losing the top-grade origin fruit, or confusion at possessing this bizarre body?

Leng Ningshuang had no time to think carefully; Liu Yiyi's fierce offensive didn't even give her a moment to catch her breath.

Recalling Liu Yiyi's undisguised mockery and schadenfreude from earlier, the coldness deepened in the depths of Leng Ningshuang's cool gaze.

She wanted to win!

This thought instantly filled her entire mind.

However, with many Elders and Disciples watching from the stands, she couldn't make it too obvious.

She couldn't temporarily boost her strength by burning essence blood, Lifespan, or Divine Soul.

With a thought, she instantly decided on a strategy.

Since she couldn't expose the special nature of this body, she could only engage in a battle of attrition to find an opportunity for victory.

Having made up her mind, Leng Ningshuang no longer tried to match the power of Liu Yiyi's Moves head-on.

Instead, she pushed her movement techniques to the limit. As her jade ruler swung, she focused mostly on parrying and redirecting force, only occasionally counterattacking with ice-element immortal arts.

She appeared to be in a state of passive defense, struggling to hold on.

Liu Yiyi's offensive was like a violent storm, constantly leaving wounds of varying depths on Leng Ningshuang's body, even grazing her vital points several times in hair-raising close calls.

Every time, Leng Ningshuang seemed to be in extreme peril, and her aura fluctuated violently as if she might collapse at any moment.

Seeing that Leng Ningshuang wouldn't go down, the pride in Liu Yiyi's heart was gradually replaced by a hint of irritation and anxiety.

Why? Why hasn't she fallen yet?!

She could no longer remember how many wounds she had inflicted on her opponent or how much immortal essence she had consumed.

Yet, the Leng Ningshuang before her was like a piece of incredibly tough saltwater taffy; though she seemed to be teetering on the edge, she always managed to avoid fatal injuries at the critical moment.

Moreover, after every injury, the speed of her recovery seemed somewhat unnaturally fast.

With the isolation of the Formation, the Cultivators in the stands might not see it, but as her opponent, she could clearly feel it.

Especially the opponent's immortal essence—it clearly felt like it should have been exhausted after several clashes, so why could she always gather it again for defense and those lackluster counterattacks?

Damn it! What method is she using?!

Unable to secure a victory for so long, the gazes from the surroundings began to take on different meanings, making Liu Yiyi feel pressured and causing her mindset to gradually lose its balance.

It can't go on like this!

A flash of ruthlessness and determination crossed Liu Yiyi's eyes.

She decided to stop holding back and use her most powerful but also most taxing Move to completely end this match.

“Leng Ningshuang! To force me into using this Move, you have reason to be proud!”

Liu Yiyi shouted shrilly.

She suddenly withdrew her sword and retreated. Her platinum-colored immortal essence gathered frantically at an unprecedented speed, even forming a blurred, sky-piercing sword phantom filled with sharp intent behind her.

At the same time, a heart-palpitating, destructive aura locked onto Leng Ningshuang.

Leng Ningshuang's heart skipped a beat.

She could feel that the power of this Move far exceeded anything before.

If not for this body, taking this hit head-on would surely leave her on the brink of death even if she didn't die, with absolutely no strength left to fight.

“Ultimate Path — Golden Radiance Slash!”

Liu Yiyi gripped her sword with both hands and exerted all her strength, swinging down a terrifying sword astral—condensed from more than half of her immortal essence and Gengjin Dao Rhyme—violently toward Leng Ningshuang.

This single strike drained nearly eighty percent of the immortal essence in Liu Yiyi's body.

Even though she had refined a top-grade origin fruit and her immortal essence quality and recovery speed far exceeded those of the same rank, she felt a strong sense of weakness wash over her at this moment.

After swinging the sword, she stared fixedly at the direction where the sword astral struck, expecting to see the anticipated scene.

Facing this unavoidable killing blow, a sharp light burst from Leng Ningshuang's eyes.

She poured all the surging immortal essence in her body into the jade ruler.

The cold air on the ruler's body was more biting than ever before, as if even the surrounding light was about to be frozen!

“Ice Soul — Eternal!”

She gave a low shout and swept the jade ruler across; half of the Martial Stage was instantly enveloped in frost.

Boom—!

A deafening explosion rang out as the two extreme energies, ice-blue and platinum, slammed into each other, instantly forming a destructive energy storm that completely swallowed the entire arena.

The violent energy turbulence tore at the air, obscuring everyone's vision; even attempting to probe with Divine Sense caused a stinging sensation and blurred perception.

Liu Yiyi used her remaining twenty percent of immortal essence to resist the energy storm, staring intently at the opposite side.

She believed that under her full-strength Move, Leng Ningshuang, who was already at the end of her tether, would surely be heavily injured.

Suddenly, the cruel grin on Liu Yiyi's face froze.

She saw a blurred white figure actually tanking the energy turbulence and rushing toward her at a terrifying speed.

This person was none other than Leng Ningshuang!

She had no immortal essence protection around her, and the energy storm left horrific injuries on her body.

But in the next moment, they would completely recover.

“You... how is this possible?!”

Liu Yiyi's eyes were full of disbelief.

“What kind of thing are you?!”

However, the only response she received was a point of cold light condensed to the extreme.

“Mystic Ice Piercer!”

At the moment that deep blue cold light condensed to its limit, Leng Ningshuang's finger pointed toward Liu Yiyi's chest like lightning.

This Move was not a high-power technique of Yunmiao Palace, but a hidden killing Move she had created by combining her own extreme control over power.

It compressed extreme cold into a single point, specifically designed to pierce through protective immortal essence.

Puchi!

Liu Yiyi only felt an indescribable, extreme cold instantly invade her body, frantically destroying her Meridians, freezing her immortal essence, and even making her immortal fetus feel a bone-chilling cold and sharp pain.

“Argh—!”

She let out a shrill scream as her protective immortal light shattered like bubbles. She was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, slamming heavily onto the edge of the arena.

She struggled to get up, but only felt her entire body's immortal essence stagnate. With a bone-deep chill and her vision going dark, she completely lost consciousness and fainted.

Only then did the violent energy storm on the arena slowly dissipate.

Everyone saw the arena in a mess, its center covered in cracks and traces of frost.

Leng Ningshuang was kneeling on one knee, supporting herself with her hand, panting heavily.

Her white clothes were torn in many places, stained with dust and blood. Her face was abnormally pale, and she looked completely like someone who was heavily injured.

Meanwhile, Liu Yiyi lay unconscious on the ground, her face blue and purple, with a thin layer of white frost even condensing on her skin. Her aura was extremely weak, clearly having suffered severe internal injuries.

The winner was decided!

After a brief, dead silence, the entire Martial Ascension Platform instantly erupted into an uproar.

“Senior Sister Liu... actually lost? She refined a top-grade origin fruit!”

“Senior Sister Leng actually won?! How did she do it?”

...Countless gazes focused on that white figure on the arena who seemed to be teetering but ultimately remained standing, filled with shock, doubt, and indescribably complex emotions.

High above, the woman in palace attire breathed a long sigh of relief.

She hadn't expected Leng Ningshuang to be able to rely on herself to defeat a Cultivator who had refined a top-grade origin fruit.

The Presiding Elder flew down to the arena. After carefully checking Liu Yiyi's condition, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, and he then loudly announced:

“In this battle, Leng Ningshuang wins!”