The world turned green.

At first, I thought it was just the afterimage from the blinding blue calligraphy I'd just carved into the air, but no. It was real. The landscape had changed.

Everything pulsed with life.

I stood still for a heartbeat, then another.

Leaves unfurled from nothing, sprouting in the air. Vines curled and slithered across the ground, rooting into stone. Moss spread over the broken terrain, softening jagged rocks, and in seconds it covered everything like a fresh coat of breath. Even the air changed. Thick, humid, buzzing with life. The scent of new growth hit me: wet soil, crushed petals, sap, pollen.

It was my domain.

I hadn’t even been sure it would work. I’d used the blue sun energy and just one character - Domain, rather than the full phrase. It had felt reckless, like trying to build a fortress from a single brick.

But somehow, it worked.

The Forest of Endless Growth had answered my call. Not a partial projection, not a fleeting illusion. The full thing. A domain of rising vines and infinite fertility. Roots surged upward like they were starved for sky. Trees burst fully grown from soil that hadn't existed moments before. And all of it, every leaf, every blade of grass, was mine.

I exhaled slowly.

A few paces ahead, Yuan Zhen’s avatar struggled violently, pinned beneath a lattice of thick roots and spiraling tree branches. The replica of his body, the one shaped from spiritual will, was entombed like a fossil in living wood. It didn’t just wrap around him; it grew through him. Flowers bloomed along his arms. Bark had swallowed the edges of his face.

I stepped forward, each footfall sinking into plush moss. The trees bent away for me, their branches arching into soft canopies. They recognized me. Of course they did. This world was mine.

Another tremor ran through the ground, and the avatar groaned, a long, metallic moan like stone giving way under pressure. Cracks split across the construct’s surface. Spiritual lines glowed, then dimmed.

For a moment, I just watched.

I hadn’t realized how much I was expecting

him to escape. This whole time, Yuan Zhen had felt… inevitable. Every move he made was measured, calculated. His combat wasn’t just fighting; it was accounting. Like every Xuan Yi exchange, every motion, was a line item in a ledger he always ended up profiting from.

But not this time.

A thunderclap cracked through the stillness. I flinched, then saw it was coming from inside the avatar. One of the central support branches, grown straight through the ribcage, shuddered. With a final groan, the construct collapsed. Leaves flurried out as if a storm had passed through.

The avatar was gone. Shattered.

Only Yuan Zhen remained now, bound in his vessel’s body. Even that form was no longer free. He was entangled, bound midair in an elaborate net of wood and vine. Thorned brambles looped over his limbs in precise angles, as if mimicking the very equations he'd used in battle. The irony didn’t escape me.

I had been genuinely impressed when he began writing mathematical formulas as techniques; that was something I'd never encountered before in the cultivation world.

The precision had been remarkable. Instead of the flowery, philosophical language that characterized most cultivation techniques, Yuan Zhen had been working with pure mathematical concepts. Energy conservation equations, probability matrices, statistical models; it was like watching someone apply advanced Earth-level mathematics to spiritual energy manipulation.

In a way, it made perfect sense.

Cultivation was ultimately about understanding and manipulating energy, and what was mathematics but the universe's most fundamental language for describing how energy behaved? I'd just never expected to see someone in this world make that connection so explicitly, especially at the Qi Condensation realm.

And the way he'd analyzed and countered my plant-based attacks, the systematic approach to energy conservation and redistribution; it all spoke to a mind that understood cultivation as a science rather than just an art.

If I'd been fighting him with conventional techniques, relying purely on Xuan Yi and this realm's standard techniques, I honestly wasn't sure I would have won.

But that was the thing about having access to higher-tier energies.

Sometimes raw power could overcome even the most elegant strategy.

"Master," Azure said quietly, "he's stopped struggling."

I looked more carefully at Yuan Zhen's position. Azure was right; Lu Wenjun's body had gone still, no longer fighting against the vines that held him suspended about three feet off the ground. His eyes were closed, and I could sense that he was no longer actively channeling Xuan Yi.

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This was the moment I'd been dreading. After what had happened with Guo Xinyi, I knew that desperate cultivators were capable of horrific things. If Yuan Zhen decided to follow her example and burn his vessel's life force for one final attack...

I approached cautiously, my domain responding to my wariness by growing additional barriers between me and the captured figure. Thick-trunked trees sprouted in my path, their branches interweaving to form natural shields, while flowering vines created multiple layers of protection.

If he tried anything suicidal, I wanted to be ready.

"Yuan Zhen," I called out when I was about ten meters away. "It's over."

For a long moment, there was no response. Then Lu Wenjun's eyes opened, and I found myself looking into the calm, analytical gaze that I'd observed throughout our battle.

"You're worried I'll attempt something like your previous opponent did," Yuan Zhen said, his voice carrying that same thoughtful tone I'd heard before. "Burn my vessel's life force for a final desperate attack."

I nodded. "The thought had occurred to me."

"I won't." His answer was immediate and firm. "First, because harming Lu Wenjun would accomplish nothing, you've clearly won this engagement. Second, because such behavior would violate the principles of my Dao. Equilibrium requires accepting outcomes as much as pursuing them."

There was something in his tone that made me believe him. This wasn't the desperate fury I'd sensed from Guo Xinyi in her final moments, or the unstable delusion I'd encountered from Tang Shuo. Yuan Zhen spoke with the calm certainty of someone who genuinely lived by his principles.

"Then surrender," I said simply. "Acknowledge defeat, and we can end this properly."

Yuan Zhen was quiet for another moment, and I could practically see him running calculations in his head. Then, to my surprise, he smiled.

"I surrender," he said clearly. "You've outmaneuvered me completely. Well fought."

The moment the words left his lips; I felt a shift in the spiritual atmosphere around us. Lu Wenjun's body went limp in the vines' grip, but I could see a translucent form beginning to separate from it, Yuan Zhen's spiritual manifestation, preparing to return to his own body in the tournament arena.

I gestured, and my domain responded instantly.

The vines lowered Lu Wenjun's unconscious form gently to the ground, while flowers bloomed around him to cushion his landing.

Yuan Zhen's spiritual form solidified completely as it separated from Lu Wenjun, appearing as a translucent version of his actual appearance rather than wearing his vessel's face. He looked exactly as I remembered from the tournament arena: average height, unremarkable features, wearing simple robes.

We stared at each other for what felt like an entire breath cycle before Yuan Zhen finally spoke.

“That was an impressive technique,” he said, nodding toward the forest that now sprawled around us, roots still writhing like they hadn't decided whether to settle or strike. “I’ve never seen domain manifestation at that scale from someone still in the Pseudo-Elemental Realm. That blue energy of yours… it changed the whole board.”

I gave a casual shrug. “Everyone needs a few surprises.”

“True,” he said, but his tone had shifted, more thoughtful now. “I told myself not to underestimate you. I really did. But you… you have this way of looking like you're barely holding on. And then, before anyone realizes what’s changed, you're already in a position to win.

“It lowers people’s guards. Makes them play safe, when they should be panicking.” He looked me over again, like I was a question he still hadn’t fully solved. “It’s not just your techniques. It’s how you present yourself.”

I scratched my head and gave him a half-smile at his in-depth analysis of my actions. “Yeah, well... I wasn’t exactly trying to be mysterious. I just don’t like being the loudest guy in the room. Usually means you’re the first one to get killed.”

He raised an eyebrow.

I gestured vaguely to myself. “Look at me. I’ve got all the spiritual pressure of a particularly assertive mushroom. Everyone’s too busy watching Wei Lin with his ten stalls or Wu Kangming slicing mountains in half. Meanwhile, I’m in the corner planting seeds.”

I paused, then added, “Sometimes literally.”

That actually got a real laugh out of him. He nodded slowly, as if some internal math was finally resolving.

“Well,” he said, “the better cultivator won today.”

The words hung in the air for a second. I didn’t take them lightly.

"You fought well too," I told him, meaning it. "Those mathematical techniques were brilliant. I've never seen anything like that approach to energy manipulation."

"The Dao of Equilibrium encourages systematic thinking," Yuan Zhen replied with a slight smile. "Though I suppose it also encourages recognizing when you've been systematically outmaneuvered."

We stood there for a moment, two competitors who'd just finished beating the hell out of each other, sharing what felt like genuine mutual respect. It was refreshing after some of the other battles I'd experienced in this tournament.

"I suppose this is where I wish you luck in the final round and make a graceful exit," Yuan Zhen said, his spiritual form beginning to glow as he prepared to fully separate from the realm.

"You don't have to be graceful about it," I told him. "You put up a hell of a fight. If I hadn't had access to my blue energy, I'm honestly not sure how that would have ended."

He smiled at that; just a small curve of the lips, but it reached his eyes.

“I hope you take the championship,” he said. “And… I hope we get to fight again someday. Without constraints. Without vessels. Just us.”

“Yeah,” I said, voice low. “I’d like that.”

With a final nod, his spiritual manifestation began rising into the air, growing fainter as it ascended. I watched until it disappeared entirely, presumably returning to his physical body back in the tournament arena.

My domain began to fade around us as I let the technique dissipate. The massive trees didn't simply vanish; they aged rapidly, their leaves browning and falling as they compressed back into the earth.

Within moments, the eastern plains looked almost normal again, though traces of my technique remained scattered around us. A few particularly hardy flowers still bloomed in small clusters, and the grass seemed unusually green and vibrant.

I knelt beside Lu Wenjun, checking his pulse. Steady and strong, with no signs of the spiritual damage that had marked Liu Wenqing after Guo Xinyi's possession. Yuan Zhen had been as careful withdrawing from his vessel as he'd claimed.

"Du Yanze?" I called out internally, feeling my vessel's consciousness stirring. "Are you there?"

"I'm here," came the tired reply. "That was... intense. I could feel everything: the domain, the spiritual pressure, the techniques. It was like watching gods fight while standing in the middle of the battlefield."

I could hear the awe in his voice, mixed with exhaustion and something else. Relief, maybe.

"So, we really did it?" Du Yanze asked quietly. "We really won..."

I looked around at the peaceful plains, at Lu Wenjun's breathing form, at the scattered remnants of what had been one of the most complex battles I'd ever fought. Yuan Zhen was gone, his spiritual manifestation returned to his body in defeat. The tournament would continue, but this particular challenge was over.

"Yeah, we really did," I said, allowing myself a small smile as the last traces of my domain faded into the evening air.