Xiao Yao was looking at Fu Xing Han and said while panting with difficulty: "You've lost."
Fu Xing Han, who had been absent-minded for a second, was shocked when he heard her words. Then he looked at his hands, which were rough from training with the sword, and said while nodding: "I've lost."
When Xiao Yao heard his admission of defeat, she moved the sword away from his neck, and both her hair and eyes returned to their original color.
After that, she slowly returned to her group.
Fu Xing Han watched her leave with a lost gaze while thinking: "I've always believed I was the best since childhood. I never met anyone my age or even slightly older who matched me. They even began calling me the Pride of the Fu Clan."
After Fu Xing Han thought this, he coughed up some blood, then tried to stand with difficulty while thinking: "I believed I was invincible under the heavens, but everything disappeared when I met her. Not only was she younger than me, but she was close to my strength."
After standing with difficulty, he began returning to his clan members with difficulty while thinking: "I ignored it until she reached my strength, and then I began training hard for the first time in my life until my hands became rough from holding the sword, but it seems that wasn't enough."
After this thought, he stopped for a moment, then finally the look of loss was replaced with some understanding: "It seems I was a frog at the bottom of a well. I was never the greatest talent, but I deceived myself into believing that. At best, I might be above average. This is the truth, and I must accept it."
When Fu Xing Han realized the truth, he felt for the first time that a heavy burden had been lifted from him, and he thought happily: "Everyone has their own path. I was wrong when I compared my path with others. From today on, I will focus only on my path."
Finally, Fu Xing Han reached his clan members, who began making excuses about his loss so as not to embarrass his pride.
When Fu Xing Han heard their words, he smiled slightly and said calmly: "No need to make excuses. I was defeated fairly and justly."
After Fu Xing Han said this, he sat in the lotus position and began healing.
When the Fu Clan members looked at Fu Xing Han, their gazes carried astonishment.
One of them could only say: "It seems something happened after this defeat to Senior Brother Fu."
The rest of the clan members nodded in agreement.
On the other side, when Ling Tian saw Xiao Yao return, he noticed a line of blood leaking from her mouth, so he realized she wasn't as fine as she seemed.
When Xiao Yao reached them, she didn't pay them any mind. She sat in the lotus position and she too began healing.
When Kong Hao Ran saw their condition, he shook his head and said lightly: "Is this what you call restraint?"
After saying this, he turned to Li Shang and said calmly: "It seems our turn has come. Are you ready?"
Li Shang nodded and said while drawing his sword: "Of course. I'll be happy to exchange blows with you, but I must warn you—I won't hold back."
Kong Hao Ran said while taking out his gauntlets: "Since you'll give everything you have, I'll give everything I have as well."
Unlike Fu Xing Han and Xiao Yao, who had been boasting, both Li Shang and Kong Hao Ran showed respect to each other.
And unlike Fu Xing Han and Xiao Yao as well, their starting signal wasn't the same. Instead of the grass rustling, their starting signal was the end of the sunset.
When the last ray of sunlight approached disappearing, Li Shang gripped his sword more tightly, and Kong Hao Ran clenched his fist with force.
Finally, when the last ray of sun disappeared, each rushed toward the other.
They approached each other in the blink of an eye, and when they were a few meters from each other, Kong Hao Ran changed the position of his feet. As for Li Shang, he enveloped his sword with dense wind.
When both Li Shang's sword and Kong Hao Ran's fist collided, they produced a very loud sound. After that, Li Shang retreated a few steps. As for Kong Hao Ran, he didn't retreat even a single step.
Li Shang was slightly shocked when he retreated a few steps, but he quickly recovered himself.
As for Kong Hao Ran, he was more shocked because he was the only one who knew how solid his defense was.
The two clashed again, and like the first time, Li Shang retreated several steps, but this time Kong Hao Ran didn't let him go.
While Li Shang was stumbling in his steps, Kong Hao Ran seized the opportunity and rushed at him before he regained his balance.
Li Shang was shocked and tried to defend. Although he deflected the fist coming at him, he couldn't deflect the second punch that was already coming at him.
Li Shang was punched in the stomach, which made him nearly faint.
His feeling of pain hadn't ended when he saw another fist coming at him. Fortunately, he pulled himself together and deflected it with difficulty, but because of this, he became completely defensive.
When Ling Tian saw this, he said to Li Yi: "It seems your older brother will lose, Senior Brother Li."
Everyone standing near Ling Tian nodded.
But Li Yi smiled and said lightly: "He might lose, but certainly not in this humiliating way."
A light flashed in Ling Tian's eyes and he said in shock: "Do you mean Li Shang still has a trump card?"
Li Yi nodded and said: "Since I have it, my father must have passed it to him as well."
When Ling Tian heard Li's words, he began watching the battle expectantly.
Since Li Shang received the first blow, he had been in an inescapable defensive position. After several strikes, his hand holding the sword betrayed him because from the severity of the pain, it no longer responded fast enough to deflect the punches.
When the crowd saw the fist heading toward Li Shang's face, everyone believed this was the end of the battle.
But when Kong Hao Ran's fist was one inch away from Li Shang's face, he suddenly disappeared from in front of Kong Hao Ran.
Kong Hao Ran was shocked, but he quickly took a defensive stance fearing the coming attack.
But this attack never came, so he began searching for Li Shang and finally found him.
He was panting to catch his breath, and his hand holding the sword was trembling.
Li Shang said with difficulty: "You're lucky. If my hand were fine, you would have been severely injured, but I warn you—it won't be easy from now on."
After saying this, wind began swirling around his legs, and he launched toward Kong Hao Ran.
When Li Yi saw the wind around Li Shang's legs, he muttered with slight disappointment: "Just as I expected. Impossible for my father to give me a technique and not give it to Li Shang."
When Ling Tian heard Li Yi's mutterings, his suspicions about a problem between Li Yi and his family were confirmed, but this wasn't the time to think about it, so he returned to watching the battle.
Li Shang was now seemingly controlling the battle, but he knew that if he didn't end this fight quickly, he would run out of Qi.
Li Shang gritted his teeth and did something unbelievable. Previously, he had been superior in speed, but because Kong Hao Ran was deflecting the sword with one fist and using the other fist to attack, Li Shang could only inflict a few scratches on Kong Hao Ran's body.
But now he completely abandoned defense from that fist. After Kong Hao Ran deflected his sword and struck with his other fist, he was shocked when he realized Li Shang didn't care about it and received it while gritting his teeth, swinging his sword quickly.
Although Kong Hao Ran tried to escape, he was one step too slow because the sword had already wounded his shoulder.
Li Shang didn't give Kong Hao Ran a chance to retreat because he followed him quickly and used the same tactic.
The battle turned into a brutal endurance match, and the crowd wanted to know who would last longer.
Li Shang's face became covered with bruises, while Kong Hao Ran's body was full of scratches.
Although Kong Hao Ran's condition seemed worse, Li Shang alone realized he was the one in trouble because his Qi would run out soon.
Li Shang retreated while panting with difficulty as blood ran from his mouth, giving Kong Hao Ran some time to gather himself.
They looked at each other seriously, and Li Shang said with difficulty: "If you can withstand this attack, I'll consider you the winner of this battle."
Kong Hao Ran nodded and began gathering the strongest defense he could muster.
On the other side, Li Shang began swinging his sword while moving slowly at first, but his movements had patterns and weren't random as before.
Slowly, he began increasing his speed, which made his movements look like a fierce tiger.
Finally, when he approached Kong Hao Ran, his random swings began uniting to surround Kong Hao Ran, and thanks to his movement technique, he became much faster.
When Li Shang approached, Kong Hao Ran felt he had entered inside a hurricane and was surrounded from everywhere.
But he gritted his teeth and stood firm while constantly changing the position of his feet.
Li Shang swung his sword, and his swing produced a sound like a tiger roaring.
Kong Hao Ran threw his fist, which was now radiating golden color.
When they collided, all the crowd heard was a breaking sound, then they saw both Li Shang and Kong Hao Ran staring at each other.
After a second, Li Shang spat a mouthful of blood, then knelt on one knee.
The crowd was shocked when they saw Li Shang on one knee and thought he had lost.
But Kong Hao Ran's words shocked them when he said: "Thank you for pulling back your strike. If you hadn't done that, you would have cut off my arm. It's your victory."