Leng Leng had thus become a thorough misfit among the Ancient Snow Sword Sect—a peak late-Foundation cultivator who still had not a single weapon to her name and could fight only with her bare hands and feet.

Even so, Lie Yingzu did not dare let down his guard in the slightest. Quite the contrary, he was tense, dreading that Wei Zhao might have taught Leng Leng some technique aimed specifically at countering the Cangwu Sect of North Island. After all, so many cautionary examples lay before him that he could hardly keep from worrying.

Little did he know that Wei Zhao had taught counter-techniques only to Qiu Lingshan and the others; as for Leng Leng, she had never been schooled in any of it. The reason was simple—she had no need of it.

Wei Zhao had expended such effort studying the counter-techniques of the various sects purely because Qiu Lingshan and the rest had only recently reached the Foundation stage and were far too weak. Without such methods, they would have found it very difficult to earn the right to take part in the trials. Leng Leng was different; with her aptitude and strength, winning three matches was no great hardship.

What Leng Leng needed most at this stage was the tempering of real combat. If even she resorted to such shortcuts, she might win more easily, but that would be putting the cart before the horse. Wei Zhao would never let her do anything so foolish.

In the blink of an eye, Leng Leng swept a kick straight at him. Lie Yingzu instinctively recoiled, but a heartbeat later it struck him—his opponent was a disciple of the Snow Sword Sect! If he kept dodging and weaving like this, was he not simply letting her build up her snow momentum?

It was true that Qiu Lingshan had set a precedent, but Lie Yingzu had no confidence he could replicate her strategy. Without special practice, such a tactic was not merely hard to pull off; one careless move and it would bury him. Besides, Leng Leng and Qiu Lingshan's lot were plainly one and the same band—they would surely be on their guard.

The moment the realization hit him, Lie Yingzu hastily began seizing the initiative and counterattacking. Under no circumstances could he let Leng Leng build up her snow momentum; otherwise his chances would turn bleak indeed.

"Alas..." Xin Yi'an gave a helpless sigh at the spectacle. His conduct at the start and at the end could not have been more inconsistent. Lie Yingzu might be a peak late-Foundation expert, far above Qiu Lingshan and the others in strength, but when it came to fighting instinct and potential, he could not even match the likes of Qiu Lingshan—let alone the peerlessly gifted Leng Leng.

Lie Yingzu's aggressive flurry came as no surprise to Leng Leng. This time it was her turn to fall back, but she retreated with foresight, yielding in order to advance. Three strikes in a row from Lie Yingzu failed to touch a single hair on her; then, flustered, he let slip a momentary opening. Leng Leng seized it at once and lashed out with a whip-like kick.

Bang! Lie Yingzu hastily swung his staff across to block. He just barely managed to blunt the force of the kick, but its edge still grazed his chest. Slight as it was, it was enough for Leng Leng—need one forget that she possessed the Crushed Ice constitution?

The snow momentum's restricting effect was already plain to see, capable of cutting a foe's movement and speed by more than thirty percent. Yet set against a natural gift like the Crushed Ice constitution, it was the pot calling the kettle black.

Even though Leng Leng was still far from drawing out the true power of her Crushed Ice constitution, a mere brush from that kick left Lie Yingzu feeling a chill through his whole body. Caught off guard, his speed dropped sharply on the spot.

"It's over." Xin Yi'an shook his head, speechless. He knew perfectly well that Leng Leng had the Crushed Ice constitution; how could this fellow Lie Yingzu still let himself be touched so easily? At the critical moment, he had even cast aside his protective true qi. How could he possibly win like that?

Against an opponent like Leng Leng, whatever tactic one adopted, keeping one's protective true qi up at all times was the most basic of common sense. Only so could one avoid direct blows to the body as much as possible and reduce the restrictive effects of the Crushed Ice constitution to a minimum. Otherwise there was simply no fighting her.

Sure enough, once Leng Leng landed her blow, there followed a merciless string of attacks. Lie Yingzu's speed was crippled, and even had he wanted to flee, he could not escape. He could only grit his teeth and circle with her; but in such a state, how could he withstand a Leng Leng who grew smoother with every exchange? The tide turned in an instant.

Everyone watched with jaws agape. This duel ought to have favored Lie Yingzu; at the very least it should have been a contest of equals. Yet in the blink of an eye it had come to this, and at this rate it was only a matter of time before Leng Leng took the match.

"Heh, the Cangwu Sect of North Island truly does abound in talent. I am full of admiration." Xue Jianming mocked at the sight. He had no wish to see Leng Leng steal the spotlight, but he was equally averse to Xin Yi'an and the Cangwu Sect of North Island, so an opportunity to get in a few jibes was no bad thing.

Xin Yi'an gave a cold snort and did not take the bait. It was not that he did not wish to retort; it was that Lie Yingzu's wretched showing left him no face to do so. With mediocre disciples like these filling its ranks, the future of the Cangwu Sect of North Island was truly cause for concern.

The other disciples of the Cangwu Sect of North Island were likewise covered in shame, and as a result, Lie Yingzu's performance in the arena only grew worse.

He had been under crushing pressure to begin with, and it was the tension that had made him perform so poorly. Now, with everyone pointing and whispering, he grew ever more nervous. Someone who could normally bring out only seven parts of his true strength suddenly had not even five.

The match became utterly one-sided. Lie Yingzu had at first been able to hang on grimly for a while, but now he had no power to strike back at all, and the decisive moment was clearly at hand.

"I cannot lose! I absolutely cannot lose!" Driven to the point where retreat was no longer possible, Lie Yingzu began to turn hysterical. He abandoned all defense against Leng Leng's flurry and, in a posture of trading injury for injury, forced himself into a frenzy of counterattack.

When pressure reaches its breaking point, some people collapse entirely—turn hysterical even—while others are reborn like the phoenix from its ashes. Lie Yingzu, plainly, was not one of the latter.

Had Lie Yingzu adopted this hard-edged stance of trading injury for injury from the very start, it would have been a wise strategy. After all, he held the advantage in sheer strength; such a course would inevitably cost him greatly, and might even leave him gravely wounded, but for this match alone his odds would actually have been better than Leng Leng's. It was a pity he had never possessed such resolve.