The ice wings of the snow phoenix were flapping, carrying Xia Zhenxue high into the sky, leaving a trail of snowflakes behind to prevent the opponent from following.
TWINK!
A sharp spark of green light appeared from below, cutting through the trail of snowflakes.
The cold atmosphere was replaced by the warmth of spring as the green sword qi shot upward.
Xia Zhenxue sensed the attack coming from below and moved swiftly to avoid it.
SHING!!!!!!
However, she couldn't fully evade—one of her ice wings was half cut, and the rest began to melt.
It would take time to recover, which meant she could no longer outrun her opponent's speed with ice wings.
Xia Zhenxue turned swiftly, sweeping her ice claws at the coming emerald sword.
CLANG!!!
Once again, she experienced the overwhelming power behind Lan Yueli's sword, she let herself be hurled by the impact.
She could not understand how Lan Yueli had suddenly become so powerful—both her body and qi were twice as strong after a mysterious blue aura enveloped her.
'Is that the secret technique from the higher realm?!' Xia Zhenxur thought.
CLANG!
Lan Yueli did not let Xia Zhenxue off easily; she continued her pursuit, her sword precisely slashing at her opponent, pushing the Icy Claw Fairy into a corner.
"Second, your proud techniques are trash!" Lan Yueli roared as her sword hilt jabbed Xia Zhenxue's rib.
Xia Zhenxue's eyes widened in pain, and she coughed up blood as she was hurled backward from the opponent's strike. She did not have time to rest, as Lan Yueli was already following close behind.
She defended against Lan Yueli's sword with difficulty, keeping her distance and not letting the emerald sword get near her again.
In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged more than 10 moves.
Obviously, Xia Zhenxue was at a disadvantage, she sensed that her opponent was merely toying with her, with no intent to end her, just trying to humiliate her!
Finally, her ice wings were recovering, and she could once again utilize the wings to full capability, but she knew that if she did that, it would only stall the time for her defeat. Lan Yueli's sword qi was too fast—her wings could not escape it.
She had to confront her directly!
Xia Zhenxue remembered that this place was a simulated world—there were no consequences for whatever she decided to do here.
Considering for a moment, she decided to deploy her trump card.
Her divine beast bloodline within her very essence was intensely stimulated. A layer of ice began to appear on her skin, and her aura once again had changed, becoming colder, extremely cold to the point that the atmosphere was frozen.
The elegant snow phoenix image appeared above her and cried out; the image of the divine beast was clearer and emitting more divine aura than when it first appeared.
Her ice wings flapped elegantly, and then a cloudy white flame appeared and covered them. Even though it appeared as a flame, it did not radiate heat but emitted an extremely chilling cold aura, as if everything it touched would turn to ice.
This is the frost flames of the legendary divine bird—Divine Snow Flame!
Lan Yueli, seeing the white flame appear, momentarily stopped her pursuit. Feeling a great threat from it, intuitively, she knew she should not get close to that thing.
Xia Zhenxue felt the pain of frostbite from every inch of her body. Even though she had a true divine beast bloodline, her body was still that of a human.
She could not wield this divine flame as she pleased, especially while she wasn't strong enough, since it was a threat not only to her enemy but also to herself.
In the real world, she only had a limited amount of time to utilize this flame before her body could not handle its power; however, this was a simulated world—she could push that limit further without needing to worry about affecting her life or cultivation base!
The Divine Snow Flame appeared above Xia Zhenxue's palm, forming a white flaming claw as she rushed toward Lan Yueli at bursting speed!
Lan Yueli calmly performed her technique; a thousand massive roots emerged from her surroundings, winding toward Xia Zhenxue to bind her movements.
The roots were cut under the flaming claws and burned into ash by the frost flame, which couldn't hinder Xia Zhenxue's movement. Yet, they were enough to disturb her senses.
When Xia Zhenxue reached Lan Yueli, her claws cut through her opponent's body, tearing it into pieces, but she did not celebrate her victory because she sensed that what she had cut was just a decoy!
Lan Yueli's body pieces turn into countless blossoms and disappear. Xia Zhenxue immediately notices her opponent at another spot, and a thousand qi swords that fly toward her like a raging rain.
Xia Zhenxue summoned most of her strength, and the Divine Snow Flame expanded, becoming large enough to cover the entire mountain.
A clear, soaring cry echoed through the heavens, like a divine flute resonating with the soul.
The white flame transformed into an enormous snow phoenix, flapping its divine wings as it soared toward and clashed against the rain of qi swords.
TWINGGGGGG!
The sky split into two colors—blinding white from the Divine Snow Flame, and vibrant green from the spring-season Qi Swords—clashing like opposing seasons in the heavens.
…
Soon, the sky returned to normal.
Above the half-destroyed snow mountain, Xia Zhenxue and Lan Yueli both had heavy wounds, but it was clear that Xia Zhenxue was more severely injured, having also exhausted herself from overusing her divine bloodline power.
Xia Zhenxue had a pale expression, unable to understand why she couldn't win against this woman who clearly did not have an advantage like her Divine Beast Bloodline or anything else!
Gritting her teeth, Xia Zhenxue began gathering a large amount of spiritual qi from both the surrounding and within herself, preparing to unleash her strongest technique!
Lan Yueli, on the other side of the sky, sensing what her opponent attempted to do, smirked.
"Lastly, you rely too much on your Divine Bloodline," Lan Yueli said coldly. At the same time, the green light pillar appeared in the eight directions surrounding the entire mountain.
"Eight Directions Season-Shifting Formation!" LanYueli roared!
The mountain trembled, and then the coldness of the ice qi, expelled and streaming out of the snow mountain at a considerable rate, was replaced by the warmth of nature and the life of wood qi, changing the snow mountain into a green mountain full of vitality.
Xia Zhenxue panicked as her gathered qi became unstable and crumbled from the sudden shift of spiritual qi in the surroundings. Her strength also decreased largely because the ice qi in the surroundings had disappeared.
The Divine Snow Flame flickered and began to devour her body, turning it into an ice sculpture.
Lan Yueli appeared before Xia Zhenxue, who could barely move, and placed an emerald sword on her shoulder, which could sever Xia Zhenxue's neck at any moment.
"You know what to do," Lan Yueli said.
Xia Zhenxue's Dao Heart trembled, almost breaking. She had been defeated before, but never once had she experienced such a humiliating defeat, especially against someone with a lower cultivation realm than her.
She closed her eyes, her eyelids trembling, swallowed her pride, and uttered:
"I surrender…"
The surroundings shifted again, returning to the snow mountain peak where they had stood before the battle began.
Xia Zhenxue's body returned to its peak state, her qi was fully restored, all injuries disappeared as if they had never happened, and she was no longer frozen by her own power.
"The first round has ended. The second round will start in 30 minutes. You can use this time to think about a strategy for the next round," Lan Xiaorong said.
Xia Zhenxue's mouth trembled as she said,
"There is no need for the next round."
"Oh… you already learned? Tell me what you realized," Lan Xiaorong said.
"All of Lan Yueli said… is true…" Xia Zhenxue said in a trembling voice, she felt like her thousand years of cultivation had been wasted.
Her cultivation base was strong, but only when she compared herself to the cultivators in this Seven Heaven; she could not compare to those like Director and Yueli.
Most of her techniques were inherited from the Great Northern Empire, which was indeed powerful.
However, in terms of profundity, Lan Yueli's techniques were clearly superior—more refined, seamlessly connecting numerous techniques and moves into one style.
What Lan Yueli said about herself and the divine bloodline…
It was undeniably accurate, she indeed relied too much on her Divine Beast Bloodline.
In the earlier battle, it became clear that more than half of her true strength came from her divine bloodline. When it could not provide her with its power, she was helpless.
Her slothful eyes became serious, and then she asked Lan Xiaorong a question that she had never thought she would speak to anyone other than her clan.
"Director, what should I do?" Xia Zhenxue said.