The crowd nodded in agreement. The Leaf Spirit Sect was not the strongest of the ancient sects, but it was unquestionably one of the most unfathomable, and for ages past it had held firm to its place among the Ten Minor Sects and Clans. Its strength and foundations were no trifling matter; it was only that the Leaf Spirit Sect kept a low profile, so that it seemed far less forceful and eye-catching than the Snow Sword Sect.

"To think she can really hide herself away with nothing but intent alone, without leaving the slightest flaw—this Duanmu Yu is formidable!" Ying Ziyu exclaimed, his eyes shining.

The others felt much the same. Wei Zhao had explained the Leaf Spirit Sect's mental methods and moves to them before, but at the time everyone had been lost in a fog. After all, the Leaf Spirit Sect was simply too different from the other sects; every move and every stance placed the utmost emphasis on intent, and intent was a thing that, unless one could experience it firsthand, no amount of explanation from Wei Zhao could ever make truly comprehensible.

But now, seeing it with their own eyes, the crowd at last gained an intuitive grasp of this so-called intent of the Leaf Spirit Sect, and at the same time they silently counted themselves lucky. Thank goodness they had not run into a Leaf Spirit Sect disciple in the first round; otherwise, even with the counter-moves Wei Zhao had taught them, they likely would not have been able to bring them off in time.

In truth, this was hardly surprising. Every member of the Leaf Spirit Sect was deep and unfathomable, and because the sect's requirements for innate aptitude were exceedingly peculiar, its disciples had always been few in number. This time, the disciples taking part in the secular world's trials numbered only four in all, and of those only one was at the early Foundation Establishment stage. The odds of the crowd drawing one were not great.

"Indeed. Her Leaf Spirit movement technique was formidable enough to begin with, and paired with this move, Leaf Fall Announces Autumn, it is utterly seamless. With the naked eye alone one cannot even make out her position, let alone counterattack," Qiu Lingshan said with a frown.

"Just as well her opponent is Wei Zhao, our leader. If it were one of us, we could only sit and wait for the end," Wu Chengtian said in relief.

"Ha, you lot are overthinking it, aren't you? Duanmu Yu is a peak-level Foundation Establishment expert—what has she to do with the likes of us? The best we could run into is an early-stage Foundation Establishment expert, and even if they were a Leaf Spirit Sect disciple too, there is no way they could have cultivated Leaf Fall Announces Autumn to such consummate perfection," Yu Bing could not help laughing.

"That is true enough." The others exchanged smiles.

As they spoke, Duanmu Yu, hidden from sight by Leaf Fall Announces Autumn, was finally preparing to strike. This was no invisibility technique, after all; once her opponent had fully adapted to the intent, he would naturally be able to discover her traces with ease. She had to settle the fight before then, or all of this would have been for nothing.

Yet before she could truly make her move, Wei Zhao suddenly, without the slightest warning, chopped a knife-hand toward his front-diagonal and said lightly, "Let us stop here."

The onlookers outside the arena were baffled, and only after a moment did understanding dawn on them, drawing exclamations of wonder from one and all. Duanmu Yu had never left her spot from first to last. She had indeed used Leaf Fall Announces Autumn to merge herself into her surroundings, but she had made no superfluous movement at all—she had simply stood quietly in place, waiting for the optimal moment to strike.

It must be said that this was an exceedingly clever choice: stillness was better than motion. Not only did it keep her flaws to an absolute minimum, it also worked with the intent of Leaf Fall Announces Autumn to leave her opponent all the more at a loss, for once they discovered her traces had vanished, any normal person's first reaction would never be to think she was still standing where she had been; instinctively, they would rule that possibility out.

Unfortunately for her, her opponent was Wei Zhao. Even if the intent of Leaf Fall Announces Autumn could deceive everyone present, it could never deceive Wei Zhao's spiritual sense, which far transcended their level.

Duanmu Yu froze on the spot, a trace of bitter laughter rising unbidden to her face, and said helplessly, "Well worthy of the one who could defeat Ling Tianyou. I concede."

This outcome greatly exceeded everyone's expectations. They had all assumed that even if Wei Zhao could win, he would at least have to fight a hard, drawn-out battle as he had against Ling Tianyou two days before—who would have thought it would end so quickly? The two had hardly even exchanged a real blow before the duel was over.

Wei Zhao nodded, then turned to look at Xue Jianming and said, "And now, have you anything to say?"

"Anything to say? Is there something wrong with your head? All you did was beat Duanmu Yu—you did not lock onto the vital point of her moves, and yet you still have the nerve to gloat before me?" Xue Jianming sneered.

"Is that so?" Wei Zhao countered with a smile that was not quite a smile. Even now, one of his hands still held the form of a knife-hand, pointing neither too high nor too low, straight at the soft flank of Duanmu Yu's waist.

"You are wrong. Strange as it is to me how he knew, what he is pointing at is indeed the vital point of my moves," Duanmu Yu said suddenly. Had Wei Zhao not been pointing at the vital point of her moves, she would not have conceded so cleanly on the spot; she would at least have maneuvered a while longer.

Hearing this, Wei Zhao was somewhat surprised. A move's vital point was not exactly a core secret, but for every sect it was still a closely guarded matter—otherwise, were it to become known to all, it would be all too easy for outsiders to exploit.

Of course, then again, a move's vital point was always the foremost object of everyone's protection. Even knowing where it was, one would normally still find it very hard to land a blow there—just as one might know full well which parts of a person's body are the fatal weak points, yet could not simply strike wherever one wished; the prerequisite was having the strength to do so.

"What did you say!" Xue Jianming's expression froze at once. He had never imagined Duanmu Yu would admit it in public, and he hurriedly said, "Duanmu Yu, you did not take some bribe from him and put on this act before all of us on purpose, did you?"

The crowd exchanged glances. Though such suspicion was somewhat unfair, Duanmu Yu had indeed admitted it a little too readily, so it was no wonder people resorted to conspiracy theories.

"A move's vital point is no unknown secret. Any senior figure of the Ancient Alliance with a bit of seniority, I think, would have little trouble knowing it. Besides, when has the Leaf Spirit Sect ever conducted itself so despicably?" Duanmu Yu said calmly.