What is the experience of suddenly finding yourself in the same hot spring pool as a sworn enemy?
Tang Sui felt like she wanted to kill a god.
After a period of absence, Qian Renxue's aura was even more potent than before, and the heroism in her eyes had intensified.
"Tang Sui?! Why is it you again!"
Shaken from her daze, Qian Renxue was still clutching a golden-white Angelic Sacred Sword.
Her brows furrowed as she scrutinized Tang Sui, muttering, "This trial, am I supposed to judge you?"
Tang Sui: "......"
Her gaze fell upon the Angelic Sacred Sword held by Qian Renxue, her eyes narrowed as she instantly recognized its uniqueness.
It wasn't a condensed soul skill of Qian Renxue, but a genuine divine weapon.
"It seems you're also undergoing the seventh trial of the Angel God's examination."
Tang Sui said thoughtfully.
"The Angel God really doesn't give up. Are they that afraid?"
Hearing this, Qian Renxue paused for a moment, then quickly realized that Tang Sui before her was not an illusion from the seventh trial, but a real person.
Her voice turned cold, "You too? Are you also undergoing a divine position assessment?"
Tang Sui scoffed, "No, I'm not inheriting any divine position. But even without a divine position for me to inherit, the Angel God behind you seems to consider me a significant threat."
Qian Renxue tightened her grip on the hilt of the Angelic Sacred Sword, a chill creeping into her faint purple phoenix eyes. In the next second, her figure blurred into an afterimage, and she slashed at Tang Sui.
Tang Sui stood unmoving, forming a hand seal and making a gesture, directly confronting the golden sword light.
"Word Spirit. Guard."
"Ding—!"
A crisp sound echoed as the light blue barrier collided with the golden-tinged blade.
Tang Sui... had also grown stronger...
After just one exchange, Qian Renxue felt the change in Tang Sui's strength.
Compared to last time, she seemed more at ease.
"I'm truly sorry, but you've missed the best opportunity to eliminate me." Tang Sui smiled at Qian Renxue with an icy demeanor. The next moment, the barrier blocking the sword shattered with a "crack," and dark red demonic energy mingled with specks of brilliant gold coalesced into two slender long sabers, held in her cool palms.
"Hoo!"
The instant she grasped the sabers, the wind shifted, her gentle and harmless aura completely transforming. The sharpness of blood and blades pierced the void, lunging straight for Qian Renxue's heart.
"Ding ding!"
The golden-white Angelic Sacred Sword parried Tang Sui's lunging twin sabers.
"Ding ding ding!"
Golden-white and dark red afterimages flickered and shifted in the air, moving at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye. In the span of a single breath, they had exchanged hundreds of blows.
A continuous stream of energy surged into her soul, filling her body and even her spirit, giving Tang Sui a sense of complete control.
Even though she was still being suppressed, she possessed the power to make a desperate counterattack.
The two clashed like the tips of needles, neither using flashy soul skills, opting for the most primitive form of sword combat. Yet, every clash of blades and sabers would erupt in a sharp hum in the void, revealing the immense energy they injected into their weapons, igniting the air.
This back-and-forth, exhilarating combat heightened their fighting spirit, making them even more excited as they fought.
Even with injuries accumulating on Qian Renxue, she herself didn't notice that the corners of her lips were lifting at the prospect of meeting an equal, and her entire being radiated a jubilant aura.
And from an angle she couldn't see, Tang Sui's clear blue eyes were undergoing an unknown transformation.
The dark red mist flowing at the bottom of her pupils was slowly shifting towards a lifeless, deep black, giving Qian Renxue a strange sensation.
It felt like a beating heart, its activity and the number of pulsations increasing with external factors, each time more powerful than the last.
But this only fueled her further into the fight.
After being repelled for what felt like the hundredth time, Qian Renxue wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. The faint blue hues in her phoenix eyes began to recede, and her original pale purple deepened.
"Again!"
Qian Renxue roared, her figure once again becoming an afterimage as she charged forward.
Tang Sui's pupils contracted, and she crossed her sabers in front of her to block, but was still pushed back several meters by the immense force.
She pursed her lips, charging forward with her sabers, retaliating without mercy.
After several more sharp exchanges, Qian Renxue, covered in wounds, her hand trembling slightly as she held the Angelic Sacred Sword, her phoenix eyes flashing with unwillingness, her voice hoarse, said, "I can feel that your soul power is not as strong as mine... but why are you still able to hold on until now without falling?"
That's because I have my body as an 'external interface' to continuously channel energy.
Tang Sui replied mentally, reaching up and wiping away the blood from a wound on her cheek, inflicted by the Angelic Sacred Sword, with her fingertip. She also wiped away the blood from her lips, and with a fake smile, said, "Guess."
Qian Renxue took a deep breath. "The Angel God's judgment was not wrong. You are indeed the greatest obstacle in my path forward."
Tang Sui: "......"
She looked at Qian Renxue, who, three sentences in, was still talking about the Angel God, a veritable brainwashed believer of the Sea God like version of herself. After a moment of silence, she thought of something, and a hint of deep meaning appeared in her gaze. "Did the Angel God personally tell you that I am the greatest obstacle in your path forward?"
Qian Renxue flatly denied, "Not exactly. But seeing as I've encountered the real you in illusions twice now, the Angel God's intention is clear: they want me to kill you!"
Tang Sui narrowed her eyes. "So, you'll kill anyone the Angel God tells you to kill?"
Qian Renxue's expression remained unchanged. "Of course not. The Angelic Sacred Sword only kills those who deserve to die. The sword in my hand now is only to kill you to pass the Angel God's trial."
"Oh?" Tang Sui drew out her words. "What if, one day, the Angel God commands you to personally judge your own kin, could you still do it?"
Mentioning "kin," Qian Renxue's mind conjured another noble and cold face.
She tightened her grip on the sword hilt, avoiding the question and replying, "My sword only kills those who deserve to die."
She only had her grandfather as family.
Even though she shared an inseparable blood relation with that person, she only recognized her grandfather.
Moreover, her grandfather was a devoted worshipper of the Angel God, so it was impossible... No, she was being led astray by Tang Sui!
Qian Renxue's expression turned cold, and pointing her sword at Tang Sui, she said, "You don't need to babble about these irrelevant things. Our battle is not over!"
"But I don't really want to fight you anymore." Tang Sui chuckled. "Because I find the previous question more engaging."
It was because she suddenly remembered one of the trials in Qian Renxue's Angel God Nine Trials, a trial that, to outsiders, was both sorrowful and cruel.
Just as Qian Renxue was about to attack directly, a sharp hum suddenly exploded in the air.
"Get out."
Three voices, laced with chilling killing intent, exploded in their ears along with the humming.
— Author's Notes —
Little Black: Stealing my territory again? Do you think I'm dead?