FWOOSH!
The collision was not a metallic clang. It was the sound of an explosion.
Yoriichi executed two blindingly fast, consecutive horizontal slashes in a massive, fiery arc.
The first slash met Kuo's Mountain Cleaver directly at the weapon's center of mass. The sheer, concentrated thermal pressure and kinetic force of the Sun-Steel Katana did not just deflect the heavy broadsword; it completely overwhelmed the Earth-attribute Dou Qi.
The pale yellow light shattered like fragile glass, and the heavy steel blade was violently violently knocked aside, throwing Kuo's arms wide open and exposing his chest.
The second slash followed less than a millisecond later, carrying the uninterrupted momentum of Yoriichi's rotation.
The flaming katana swept across Kuo's exposed torso.
The pale-yellow Dou Qi cloak—the ultimate, defining defense of a Dou Shi that supposedly made them immune to the attacks of Dou Zhes—didn't even slow the blade down. The intense, concentrated solar fire sliced through the liquid energy like a hot knife through butter.
Yoriichi didn't use the razor edge; he possessed far too much control for a lethal mistake. He used the flat, blazing spine of the katana.
The impact sounded like a thunderclap.
The fiery arc struck Kuo squarely across the chest, the sheer kinetic force passing cleanly through his body, while the searing heat instantly incinerated the upper half of his clothes.
Kuo's eyes rolled back into his head. The air was violently forced from his lungs in a choked gasp. The sharp, burning pain across his chest and back completely short-circuited his nervous system.
The earth-shattering rumble of the Trembling Earth skill abruptly ceased as Kuo's connection to his Dou Qi was violently severed.
His legs gave out, and collapsed heavily onto his knees, his broadsword clattering uselessly against the stone.
Having perfectly executed the dual-slash, Yoriichi used the residual momentum to transition into a graceful, backward aerial flip. He soared backward through the air, landing softly on the stone floor a dozen paces away from the kneeling senior.
With a smooth, practiced motion, Yoriichi flipped his wrist.
Click.
The flaming katana was slid perfectly back into its lacquered sheath. The crimson-gold fire was instantly extinguished, leaving the arena bathed in the normal, fading light of the afternoon sun.
Yoriichi stood perfectly straight, his dark robes unruffled. A sudden, cool evening breeze swept through the silent arena, gently rustling his long, gradient black-and-crimson hair, making it look as though the flames of his attack were still dancing along his shoulders, quietly appreciating his flawless victory.
He let out a soft, controlled sigh, regulating his internal temperature, and calmly lifted his crimson gaze to look directly at Instructor Lin, who was standing at the edge of the ring.
For few agonizingly long seconds, the entire auxiliary arena was trapped in a state of absolute, paralyzed silence.
No one breathed. No one moved.
Instructor Lin was frozen.
His hand was still half-raised, his Da Dou Shi aura flickering erratically around him. He had been fully prepared to intervene and save the freshman's life. Instead, he had just witnessed a three-star Dou Zhe completely dismantle an initial Dou Shi's ultimate combination attack and knock him unconscious in exactly two strikes.
It defied every single foundational law of cultivation the academy taught. The gap between gaseous and liquid Dou Qi was supposed to be an insurmountable chasm.
It took Instructor Lin several long, agonizing seconds to reboot his professional mind. He slowly lowered his hand, his aura retracting. He looked at the smoking, unconscious form of Kuo, and then at the completely unharmed, perfectly stoic freshman.
Instructor Lin swallowed hard, his throat suddenly incredibly dry.
"The... the spar is over," Instructor Lin declared, his voice magically amplified, though it carried a slight, undeniable tremor. "Winner... Xiao Ning."
The instructor's voice acted like a physical trigger.
The absolute, suffocating silence that had gripped the dozens of spectators instantly shattered. The audience broke from their collective trance.
"Heavens..." a third-year Dou Shi whispered, his eyes wide as dinner plates, staring at Yoriichi as if looking at a mythical beast. "Did... did he just cut through Dou Qi cloak? With a single swing?"
"That wasn't just a swing, that was a fire-attribute Dou Skill! But I've never seen flames that pure!" another student yelled, clutching his head in disbelief.
"He's a freshman! He's just a freshman!" a girl in the front row shrieked, her voice pitching into hysteria. "He defeated a whole realm higher! That's impossible! That only happens in ancient legends!"
The murmurs rapidly escalated into a deafening, chaotic uproar. Students were shouting, pointing, and violently shaking their friends by the shoulders. The sheer impossibility of witnessing a Dou Zhe effortlessly crush a Dou Shi sent shockwaves through the gathered crowd.
The legend of the stoic, red-haired anomaly was no longer a quiet dormitory rumor; it had just been violently cemented in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses.
At the back of the screaming crowd, Gu Xun'er stood perfectly still.
Her golden eyes were locked onto Yoriichi's relaxed, unassuming figure. She had sensed the massive spike in pure, burning energy, and she had seen the flawless, terrifying precision of his dual-slash.
'He didn't even use a fraction of his true reserves,' Xun'er analyzed, her heart beating slightly faster. 'That form... it was so devastatingly beautiful, yet so utterly lethal. He just casually shattered the ironclad rules of cultivation without even breaking a sweat. Just how deep does his power truly go?'
In the center of the ring, Yoriichi completely ignored the deafening uproar. He didn't raise his hands in victory, nor did he offer a smug grin to the defeated senior.