Chapter 109: Why Shouldn’t My Sword Strike a Beauty?

“I’m sorry, but I’m determined to win first place in this Sect Minor Competition as well. There’s no way I’m backing down.”

Ye Rong rejected her calmly. Yu Shuangxue really had the nerve to make such a request—thinking a single Fifth-Rank Magical Treasure could make him give up.

“She actually knew the specific rewards for the minor competition in advance, and even knew that the winner had the freedom to choose. She’s better informed than me, a Third-Generation Disciple. I’m really falling behind others when it comes to gathering information. Not having my own people in the Sect specially investigating these matters is a disadvantage.”

He thought about this matter and decided to pay more attention to gathering intelligence in the future.

“Yijian, why reject so quickly? If you want to unite the various Factions of Qingcheng and take them under your control, Dongliu Cangshui’s small group of people is far from enough. There’s no chance of success. But with the help or even the joining of my Morning Musume, your organization’s popularity would instantly rise to first place, attracting a large number of Qingcheng Disciples to join.”

Why does everyone think I want to create a Faction? Ye Rong realized Yu Shuangxue had misunderstood, thinking that his closeness with Dongliu Cangshui meant they were collaborating to form a Faction. Who knew he actually had no such plans for now?

But Yu Shuangxue’s words weren’t false. She was an idol in the eyes of female Qingcheng Players. The beauty team she formed, called Morning Musume, consisted of about twenty stunning beauties, almost encompassing the majority of Qingcheng’s top beauties.

Female Players, in any game, were popular and adored, let alone such a group.

If Morning Musume really merged into any Faction, it would indeed bring a large number of followers and cause a stir for a while.

“No need for more words. If you want the reward, defeat me with your strength.”

“You… fine!”

Yu Shuangxue was momentarily speechless. She never expected to be treated so rudely. If it weren’t for hearing that one of the rewards in this minor competition was greatly related to a Dao Spell she cultivated, she would never have used her own team as a bargaining chip to sway Yijian Kurong.

Yu Shuangxue slapped her needle pouch, and eighteen Celestial Maiden Needles flew out one by one, ready to form the Flying Needles formation again.

The complete set of Celestial Maiden Needles should have one hundred and eight needles in total, capable of forming the Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers grand formation, with immense power. Forget Ye Rong, even a level seventy or eighty monster thrown into the formation would be torn into bloody pieces and turned to dust once the formation activated.

Yu Shuangxue had a great opportunity and went through great efforts to obtain eighteen Celestial Maiden Needles, allowing her to form two small formations—

Nine Celestial Maiden Needles could form a needle formation, and with eighteen needles, two formations could be stacked one after another until one hundred and eight needles formed twelve formations, combining into the complete Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers grand formation.

“My White Charm needle pouch is only Fourth Rank and can hold at most thirty-six Flying Needles. To fit the entire Celestial Maiden Needles set in at once, I’d probably need a Seventh Rank or even Eighth Rank needle pouch.”

Yu Shuangxue admitted Ye Rong was strong, but she was seventy percent confident of victory. In the previous rounds, she had relied on the Celestial Maiden Needles to advance all the way, depending on the advantages of the formation. She still hadn’t used her powerful Dao Spell and wasn’t afraid of her opponent at all.

But if she used it now, facing Long Wushuang in the finals would be tough. Long Wushuang gave off the impression of having endless Magic Treasures and powerful Dao Spells. Against such a multi-treasure Player, no one knew what Magic Treasure he might pull out next.

“Trying to set up a formation to kill me?”

Ye Rong pointed a finger, and a strand of Chongxu Sword Qi shot out, accurately hitting one Celestial Maiden Needle and knocking it far away.

The power of the Celestial Maiden Needles lay in their numbers and the advantages of the formation when combined; individually, they were only Third Rank Flying Needles.

Since watching Yu Shuangxue’s battle with Mo Feng and seeing how Mo Feng was helplessly worn down to death by the eighteen Celestial Maiden Needles forming the formation, Ye Rong had naturally pondered for a long time how he would handle such a scenario if he were in that position.

After thinking it over and over, Ye Rong couldn’t find any Magic Treasure or Dao Spell on him that could break this formation. In his dilemma, he thought of another solution: since he couldn’t break it by force, why not simply not give Yu Shuangxue the chance to form the Flying Needles formation at all?

By using Chongxu Sword Qi to knock away one Celestial Maiden Needle, preventing the Flying Needles formation from succeeding, he shot out the black and white Sword Light from his hands.

“Controlling eighteen Celestial Maiden Needles simultaneously is almost an impossible requirement for a Player. One could only entrust the Flying Needles to the System for control, which definitely had loopholes and weaknesses. To truly control the trajectory of each Flying Needle individually, one’s nerve reaction speed would have to be incredibly fast.”

Clink, clink, clink, clink!

Ye Rong’s black and white Sword Light always appeared at the most critical moment in the most uncomfortable position for Yu Shuangxue, continuously knocking away the Celestial Maiden Needles one by one, stubbornly preventing her from gathering the eighteen needles into a formation.

He had considered using Flying Needles as a weapon himself. Theoretically, the more numerous a set of weapons, the stronger the power a high-skill Player could unleash. Imagine, in theory, one hundred and eight Celestial Maiden Needles flying from different angles along the optimal attack routes, with each needle capable of making various adjustments mid-flight—what a scene that would be.

Even without forming a grand formation, it could freely crush any Player within twenty levels above oneself.

But in reality, achieving that level of perfect control was completely impossible. It required superhuman eyesight, nerve reaction speed, and calculation ability. At most, Ye Rong could control seven or eight Flying Needles simultaneously. Among hundreds of Flying Needles, that wouldn’t give him any significant advantage.

“Shooting Star Fall, Star Chain Bind!”

Yu Shuangxue’s shock at this moment also reached its peak. Since she obtained the Celestial Maiden Needles in multiples of nine, no one had ever pushed her to this point, where she couldn’t even form the most basic formation.

The black and white Sword Light, though not extremely powerful, always managed to appear at the most precise moment to strike the Celestial Maiden Needles. Moreover, the Sword Light was as fast as lightning. Sometimes, before she could react, several strikes had already hit the Celestial Maiden Needles, nearly scattering the entire set of Flying Needles.

Forced into a corner, Yu Shuangxue had no choice but to use her final trump card, which she had originally prepared to deal with Long Wushuang.

On her palace attire adorned with tiny stars, one star after another lit up, slowly emerging as a specific, miniature nebula gathered above. The sky above seemed pierced, with starlight leaking down and resonating with this nebula, as if some terrifying scene was about to unfold.

“Can’t delay any longer!”

Ye Rong also sensed the terror of this Dao Spell. He absolutely had to strike Yu Shuangxue down before it fully formed.

Black Phoenix and Self-Restraint, the two swords, merged their Sword Light, and the sharp radiance surged violently. They fiercely knocked away all the Celestial Maiden Needles in front and shot straight toward Yu Shuangxue’s waist.