Every pair of eyes on the scene snapped into sharp focus.
This battle was likely worthy of being the highest-level clash humanity could muster at present... Provided Han Qingyu had truly recovered somewhat and could take the blow, it was bound to become a legendary duel.
Though this era was hailed as one brilliant with constellations and glittering with rising stars, when one looked across all those newly born stars, the most dazzling names were still...
"Han Qingyu."
"Wolf."
"Pegmont."
The crowd counted only this far.
"No, Wu Xu must be added."
Just as Hua Bixuan's voice fell—*boom!* From the reverse slope on the canyon's left wall, roughly halfway up the mountain, an enormous, explosive burst of snow and ice erupted outward.
A pitch-black spear punched through the frost.
Stream Vanguard, Wu Xu, intercepting from the flank!
"I'll fight you." Pegmont was not an enemy, so Wu Xu naturally wouldn't go for a life-or-death struggle, but the bastard had actually seized an opportunity like this to challenge Qingzi. Wu Xu was furious.
"Fine by me!" Seeing Wu Xu move to block him, every trace of doubt and hesitation in Pegmont's heart dissolved instantly.
*Wu Xu, at least, I can still beat.* Mid-thought, an invisible blast of air boomed around Pegmont with a violent hum. His sprinting speed abruptly surged, and the snow along his path churned upward, gathering into a massive dragon that swelled ceaselessly as it charged forward with him.
"...So strong!"
"Yeah! Both of them are incredible! Stronger than I imagined!"
"Damn it!" "FUCK!" "Holy hell!"
The bitter marveling of the old-timers served as ample proof of how brightly this era's young geniuses shone.
On the Antarctic Peninsula, across an expanse of ice, a lone canyon stood flanked by two towering cliffs. Source energy surged and clashed through the ground and air, blinding the eye with drifting snow.
High above, Wu Xu leveled his spear, yet only the weapon itself was visible; past the front half of Binggu, both the shaft and the man were swallowed by the colossal blizzard Wu Xu brought tearing along with him.
Down below, Pegmont's sprinting figure had almost vanished as well. To the naked eye, there was only that silver dragon woven of snow and frost—crystalline white, continually expanding, spiraling forward with ferocity, twitching again and again as if barely able to contain its fury, on the verge of rearing its head.
The momentum and surging source energy from both sides climbed in fierce, head-on opposition.
"..." In merely a few seconds, the combat power the two displayed had already surpassed what everyone had seen moments before.
And neither had even put their life on the line yet... By now, the old-timers were thoroughly dumbfounded.
In truth, to the entourage Pegmont had brought and the crowd watching from afar, the prevailing consensus had always been that Pegmont was actually stronger than Wu Xu, even if Wu Xu had once made it onto the Dome Leaderboard first.
That was because Pegmont's point of comparison had always been Han Qingyu.
Wu Xu, on the other hand, had perpetually been labeled as merely the top expert by Han Qingyu's side.
Conversely, in the eyes of Stream Vanguard, Pegmont was largely unworthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Wu Xu.
To them, there was only one reason Xu'er didn't shine bright enough and hadn't earned the world's full understanding and conviction: he had spent all his time beside Han Qingyu.
Even so... "That bastard has gotten so strong!" Rusty Sister stood upon the icy wall from which Wu Xu had charged, watching with no small amount of worry. "So much stronger than before... Xu'er is in trouble."
Standing in the thick of the fray, Wu Xu felt it too—and far more intensely.
It was a bizarre sensation of being systematically overwhelmed. No matter how much Wu Xu pushed his source energy intensity, his opponent matched it in an instant, pressing down on him with steady dominance—just a tiny bit heavier, neither more nor less.
*He's an ally after all... Should I trigger Near-Death Surge?* Wu Xu hesitated for only an instant.
*Fsshhh—rumble, rumble, rumble...*
The blizzard in the sky hammered down alongside the black spear.
*Roar!*
The howling wind sounded like a beast's roar as the silver dragon on the ground reared its head.
Finally—*boom!*
The two collided.
*Clang...* The clash of weapons could only be heard, not seen.
Immediately after, the scattering, violent source energy began fracturing the icefield under its crushing weight, sending tremors through the canyon... Ice and snow cascaded from the heavens, burying everyone's ankles in an instant.
***
"Who won?"
"How could a duel like this produce a winner so fast? It's just a spar, anyway."
"Then..."
"Looks like Pegmont had the slight upper hand."
That judgment was based on the picture that emerged after the clash: Pegmont had already bypassed Wu Xu's interception. Erupting once more midair, he raised his blade and slashed down toward Han Qingyu in the canyon.
*Wu Xu, at least, I really can beat.* Midair, Pegmont felt a brief surge of pride.
*And next...*
He cast his gaze downward.
At that moment, Han Qingyu had already sheathed one blade behind his back, while the other blade, newly retrieved, remained clutched in his right hand just as he had picked it up, interrupted by the sudden fight.
His whole body was caught mid-turn, as if he hadn't prepared to receive an enemy at all.
*Stop!* In that split second, Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, Plague Chicken, Yang Qingbai... every single one of them screamed in their hearts. Qingzi was truly crippled; they all knew it. Yet this brainless idiot Pegmont seemed to have completely forgotten, striking out at him with the exact same terrifying intensity he had used against Wu Xu.
The bastard's transition and speed were simply too blindingly fast; they couldn't even get a shout out in time.
Han Qingyu had no time to think either; his mind was entirely blank.
So when their gazes met, his eyes and expression looked utterly calm, even numb.
*So calm?* A thought flashed through Pegmont's mind. *Could it be that I still can't beat him? FUCK... He hasn't decided to hack me to death, has he?!*
*Clang!*
In less than a second, the collision was over.
Everyone across the field stared at one another in disbelief.
Because unlike the previous clash, this strike was crystal clear to all of them. Pegmont had descended like thunder and gale... while Han Qingyu had merely stood where he was, finished turning around, and hoisted the blade in his right hand horizontally to parry.
Just a single parry, nothing more.
Yet Pegmont's thunderous, tempestuous slash was halted dead in its tracks.
Even the canyon beneath them barely trembled.
"This..." Wu Xu couldn't comprehend it at all. Qingzi had clearly not recovered; that much was obvious from his movements. Yet he had blocked it—parried it with effortless ease...
*Am I really that weak?* A crushing wave of defeat left Wu Xu feeling thoroughly sick inside.
Rusty Sister couldn't comprehend it either.
Pegmont himself was the most baffled of all! *A strike that fierce, and he just... caught it like that? Did he recover, or did he get even stronger?!*
"You..." Han Qingyu was likely the most bewildered of anyone present.
*What is going on here? Did you pull your punch? Are you afraid of me or something?* Han Qingyu hesitated inward. Remembering how obnoxious this pink-haired punk was, he decided against asking. After locking eyes for two seconds, he uttered a single word:
"Scram!"
With that, he sheathed his blade. Walking right past the dazed Pegmont, Han Qingyu headed out toward the icefield.
In that moment, the entire icefield was paralyzed in stunned silence. The old-timers didn't know whether they should ask questions, and Stream Vanguard didn't know whether they should celebrate... Either way, the troops Pegmont had brought parted to make way.
Behind the scenes, the high-ranking Azure figures who had actively pushed for this to happen were on the verge of tears.
"Damn it, Pegmont must have lost his nerve at the very end."
"Yes, the shadow is still there."
"He won't fall into self-doubt from this and become even weaker than an amnesiac Major Qing, will he?"
"That depends on how he views Wu Xu's strength. Based on his usual logic, we should still be fine on that front. But as for Han Qingyu, I'm afraid he might truly never overcome him for the rest of his life..."
"Doesn't that mean he's practically ruined?" The concept of being "ruined" didn't mean ruined in the ordinary sense, of course, but that Pegmont's upper ceiling had been permanently compressed.
Humanity had originally pinned their hopes on him one day inflating to the point where he believed he could hack Miwang to death.
Yet now, where his ceiling lay depended entirely on Han Qingyu.
"Ruined? Probably. Unless one day, he comes to believe Han Qingyu is stronger than the Great Spike Miwang."
That was far too remote—even more remote than the original hope had been. Utterly dejected, Azure's Chief of Council turned his gaze toward that distant figure who was visibly still bewildered.
***
When Stream Vanguard returned from the canyon to their station, they invited God Lü and Hua Bixuan over to catch up.
At that moment, the two of them were inside the airship's cabin, circling Han Qingyu with keen interest, inspecting him from every angle.
Wen Jifei and the others were all present as well... except for He Tangtang.
He Tangtang had just been called outside. Following the directions of the guard on duty, he walked alone to the corner of an icy crag.
"After our training ended, we went out to catch fish and roasted them in the cabin. We made a lot... and then I thought, you ran like that on the icefield just now, so you must be hungry too."
Out of her combat state, Nisha's long black hair fell loose over her shoulders. In her hands, she held a large fish wrapped in tin foil, nearly a meter long.
"Mm!" A soft nasal hum, cute as could be, like saying "here." Raising the fish with both hands, Nisha smiled radiantly, motioning for He Tangtang to take it.
*Good heavens! Why is she being so forward?!*
*Why has no one ever been this eager and attentive to me before?!*
*And why did it have to be...*
*What a sin!* To take the fish or not to take the fish? He Tangtang agonized in silent, agonizing torment.
Chapter 780