She'd allowed him to expend his strength for long enough. Now she began to create openings. Small ones, precise ones. A gap in her defense that closed almost immediately.
But was there for just a heartbeat. Just enough time for him to see it, to recognize it, to commit to an attack through that gap with absolute certainty that this time, finally, he would connect.
Each time, she was no longer there. The crowd began to murmur. Some of the nobles were beginning to understand what was actually happening.
That this wasn't chance or luck, but deliberate manipulation. Jin Mulan was controlling every aspect of this duel, playing the prince like an instrument.
Teaching him through his own body that he was outmatched. Luo He's applause grew louder, more enthusiastic. "Amazing! Absolutely amazing!" he called out, jumping excitedly.
As though he couldn't contain his pride. "Look how she moves! Look at that technique!" The prince roared in dire frustration and launched a desperate overhead strike.
The kind of move that left everything exposed. His entire body committed to one final, overwhelming assault. Jin Mulan pivoted.
It was a perfect, economical movement. Her spear flowed upward like water, catching the prince's sword. His momentum carried him forward, she used the connection between their weapons to redirect him.
His own force became his undoing. He stumbled, overextended, his balance shattered. The tip of her spear came to rest against his throat.
The arena fell silent. Not the stunned silence of shock, but the deeper silence of witnessing something undeniable.
Prince Zhong, a high-level Grandmaster, a prince of the Wu Kingdom, a warrior who had built his whole reputation on martial prowess, had been completely dominated.
Worse, he'd never even landed a single touch. Luo He erupted into applause so enthusiastic it was almost manic.
"I told you! I told everyone she's the strongest!" he shouted, practically bouncing with excitement. "My wife is absolutely amazing!"
He turned to the nearby nobles, spreading his arms wide. "Did you see that? Did you see how she moved? I knew she would win! I was certain of it! My wife is incredible!"
Some of the nobles actually smiled at his earnest enthusiasm. Others exchanged glances that suggested they were reassessing their understanding of General Jin Mulan.
A few looked troubled, as though they'd just realized something significant had shifted in the political landscape.
Prince Zhong lowered his weapon, his face flushed with humiliation. He offered no excuses, no explanations. There was nothing to say.
He had been defeated completely and utterly, plus everyone had witnessed it.
He retreated to the Wu Kingdom's section of the stands without even acknowledging the applause.
Which was sparse and uncomfortable.
The Second Battle
The crowd had barely settled when the second challenger stepped forward. He was taller than the prince, broader through the chest, and there was something fundamentally different about the way he carried himself.
This wasn't a man relying on confidence or reputation. This was a warrior who understood the weight of genuine power.
The Wu Emperor's personal bodyguard Hao Jing .
Blue lightning crackled around his body like living electricity, arcing between his fingers, dancing across his shoulders.
The pressure of his cultivation was palpable. Even distant spectators felt it, a weight in the air that made breathing slightly more difficult.
Several Grandmasters in the crowd actually stepped backward involuntarily, their instincts screaming a warning their pride wouldn't allow them to voice.
The commentators' tone shifted very fast. "Ladies and gentlemen," one of them called out, his voice carrying a note of genuine excitement mixed with unbound apprehension.
"We present to you the Wu emperor's personal guardian a First-Level Transcendent cultivator! The one and only Lord Jing Hao..."
The crowd's reaction was immediate. Whispers of excitement. Nobles leaning forward. This was no longer a simple duel. This was something far more spectacular.
A Grandmaster versus a genuine Transcendent. A battle that crossed the threshold into something approaching divine.
The bodyguard was dressed in practical armor. No ornament, no decoration. Everything was designed for function, mobility, protection, efficiency.
His sword was simpler than the prince's had been, forged from materials that hummed faintly with barely contained power.
He approached the arena's center with measured steps. Then he paused, looking toward Jin Mulan with an expression that might have been genuine heartfelt respect.
It was a warrior's acknowledgment. One master recognizing another. Jin Mulan bowed slightly, the gesture formal and correct. Luo He's entire demeanor changed.
"W-wife..." He called out, and for the first time, there was genuine anxiety in his voice. Not the theatrical concern of before, but something that sounded almost like fear.
"You don't have to do this. If it gets dangerous, surrender immediately!"
Several nobles exchanged looks. "Now he was showing concern?"
"Faced with a Transcendent, the fool husband was displaying worry?" What none of them understood was that Luo He's performance had shifted.
He was still acting, still playing a role, but it was a different one now. The anxious, worried husband who was terrified for his wife's safety. The perfect counterpoint to what was about to happen.
The bodyguard raised his sword. Jin Mulan raised her spear. For a moment, the arena held its breath. Then the battle began.
The bodyguard attacked with the kind of speed that made the previous duel look like practice. Blue lightning exploded outward from his body.
And he crossed the distance between them in what seemed like a single heartbeat. His sword came down with devastating force.
For the first time in the arena, Jin Mulan was forced to actually block rather than evade. The impact sent a shockwave across the courtyard.
The crowd gasped. The commentators began speaking rapidly, their voices excited and urgent. This was what they'd come to see.
A genuine display of transcendent power. Lightning split the stone beneath the bodyguard's feet, leaving cracks that spider-webbed outward from the point of impact.
He pressed his obvious advantage. The emperor's bodyguard was faster than Prince Zhong, stronger than Prince Zhong, more skilled than Prince Zhong.
He attacked with the kind of precision and power that only came from years of training at the highest level. Each strike carried the weight of divine cultivation, and Jin Mulan was forced to give ground, her spear moving defensively, parrying rather than countering.
For the first time, she appeared to struggle. "Wife!" Luo He called out, anxiety creeping higher into his voice. "Be careful!" He said. And it was obvious he was truly feeling afraid.
The crowd was riveted. The nobles who'd been confident of her victory moments before were now leaning forward with uncertainty in their eyes. This was a different caliber of opponent.
This was a Transcendent, a warrior who'd crossed the threshold into something approaching divinity. The lightning was relentless, each arc of blue energy forcing Jin Mulan back another step.
The bodyguard's technique was flawless, his speed almost impossible to track, his power growing with each moment. But then, in the midst of a particularly violent flurry of attacks, Jin Mulan did something unexpected.
She closed her eyes. The stone arena fell silent. Confused murmurs rippled through the crowd. "Why would she close her eyes? How could she possibly fight without sight?"
Even Luo He's expression shifted, though to anyone watching closely, it looked like surprise but within it was confirmation. He'd been waiting for this moment.
Without sight, Jin Mulan's perception transformed. She stopped trying to track the bodyguard's movements through visual means. Instead, she extended her inner sense.
That third perception that every martial artist cultivated, the ability to sense another's intention through the subtle shifts in their energy. The lightning, instead of blinding her, became a beacon.
She could feel each arc of it, sense its trajectory, predict where the bodyguard would move by feeling the way his divine energy flowed through his body.
It was a technique Luo He's master, Master Yan from the Flame Kingdom had taught her during weeks of intense and utterly brutal training. How to fight speed with intuition.
How to match power not with greater power, but with perfect prediction and impeccable technique. The bodyguard's attacks suddenly seemed slower, more predictable.
Jin Mulan's spear began to move with renewed confidence, meeting his strikes not defensively but with a kind of graceful certainty. Then she went further.
Her spear moved once, a spinning motion that seemed to defy physics. As it completed its rotation, thirty distinct images of her spear suddenly bloomed throughout the arena.
Each one appearing exactly real, each one positioned as though ready to strike.
The crowd fell silent in shock. The man didn't hesitate. Drawing on his divine power, he unleashed a wave of chained lightning.
Allowing it to arc and jump from one spear image to the next, destroying them with methodical efficiency. The stone beneath his feet cracked further with each release of power.
But there were thirty images, and he could only destroy them so fast. The real spear, was hidden among the illusions created through a technique from the ancient civilization Luo He had taught.
It pierced through the lightning. It found its mark with surgical precision, sliding through the gap in his armor at the shoulder, biting deep. The bodyguard's lightning vanished.
The strike struck cleanly at his shoulder. It was obvious it was used to draw blood without causing actual harm. This showed Jin Mulan had respected the man enough to consider this a friendly spar and nothing serious.