“Sis!”

“Princess!”

At that moment, two pleasant voices shattered the strange silence that had blanketed the scene. Pixie and Mylene hurried over with relieved expressions on their faces. They had thought Yae-hime must have encountered some terrible danger.

But as the two drew close, they realized something was wrong. Yae-hime’s complexion was unusually pale. On closer inspection, they could see her hand trembling slightly, and the aura she released was uneven and disordered. It was clear her condition was far from good.

Just as Mylene and Pixie were about to speak, Yae-hime opened her mouth first. “Mylene, help me keep my phone and the terminal.”

Even before her words had faded, she handed over an object about the size of a power bank. It was none other than the game’s terminal. Anticipating sudden incidents that might occur inside the game, she always carried it with her.

Besides that, she also passed over a Huawhey phone.

“Sis…” Mylene accepted them with visible worry.

Seeing this, Yae-hime slowly shook her head. “Don’t worry, I just need a little rest.” Though she said that, her complexion grew increasingly worse.

“If it really doesn’t work out, I can take your place,” Pixie offered.

“No, I can handle it.” Yae-hime waved her hand lightly, but a faint trickle of crimson suddenly slipped from the corner of her lips. That hardly looked like she was fine at all!

Mylene and Pixie were instantly overwhelmed with worry.

Let’s go back a little in time.

“Ow… that hurts!” Yae-hime had been blasted away by that surge of spatial power, crashing heavily into the water. She nearly blacked out completely. Fortunately, her physique was incredibly resilient, and she managed to endure it.

Her clothes, however, had not been so fortunate. The brand-new sportswear she wore was almost torn to shreds by the impact. And that was even with Yae-hime guarding it with all her strength.

Yet compared to her appearance, the real damage lay within. That single instant when the space collapsed had dealt her grave injuries. Had it been an ordinary grandmaster, they would have died outright.

“Cough!” She spat out a mouthful of blood, her face turning deathly pale. “This situation is bad.” A quick internal examination revealed her body was in complete disarray.

At that moment, the Green Emperor’s Longevity Art had already begun circulating, swiftly repairing her body.

“I should head ashore first.” Remembering that she still had to duel Lucky later, Yae-hime turned her gaze toward Baiding Island. “Thankfully, I brought my bag along, otherwise this would be a real problem.”

Scooping up the Adidas shoulder bag floating nearby, she glanced at her tattered outfit and let out a helpless smile. When the space had collapsed, Yae-hime had borne the brunt of the impact directly, so the bag had come through mostly unscathed. The items inside were likely intact as well.

Enduring the searing pain, she swam ashore and quickly slipped into the forest. After scanning her surroundings and confirming no one was nearby, she opened the bag. And immediately froze.

She clearly remembered packing a spare set of sportswear, so why had it turned into a set of ancient garments?! Not only that, but even shoes and hair ornaments were included!

“Little Blue, I’m going to spank you!” After a brief thought, she immediately knew who the culprit was. Aside from that mischievous little one, no one else would dare meddle with her belongings.

“Oh well, better than having nothing to wear.” Glancing at her shredded clothing, Yae-hime sighed softly.

The outfit was a custom piece prepared by Nangong Lin. She had originally planned to wear it on a formal occasion, yet here she was, forced to put it on now.

“This Little Blue is far too cheeky.” After changing, Yae-hime muttered irritably.

Fortunately, this time it had turned out to be an ancient dress. If it had been a bunny-girl outfit, she would have gone back and spanked that culprit until their backside swelled. In a sense, a bunny-girl costume would have been even more humiliating than the rags she had just been wearing.

Inside the shoulder bag, there was also a phone and the terminal, both sealed tightly inside vacuum bags. Upon opening them, she saw that the phone was fine, able to power on. As for the terminal, there was not a scratch on it. In fact, damaging it would have been a far greater challenge.

She checked the time. Less than eight minutes remained until seven o’clock.

“There’s no time for me to slowly recover.” From here to the plaza, there was still quite a distance. If she wanted to make it on time, she could only push herself and hurry over. “If I show up late for the duel, I’ll definitely be mocked with sarcastic words.”

Although Yae-hime cared little for other people’s opinions, she still found it necessary to arrive on time. After all, she was a punctual person.

In the end, Yae-hime reached the plaza with only seconds left on the countdown. Hesitating for a moment, she chose to seize the initiative by making a grand entrance. That would buy her a little more time to recover.

It also satisfied her urge to show off. If one lived without a little flair, wasn’t that no different from being a salted fish? Thus, the spectacle they had just witnessed was born.

The effect was astonishing, granting her precious recovery time. Had Mylene and Pixie not called out to her earlier, the results would have been even better.

“This is my duel with her. Irrelevant people, stand aside!” Lucky suddenly barked out. Seeing Yae-hime appear in such a flamboyant way left him deeply displeased. He felt his martial heart had been sullied by her petty tricks.

Mylene rolled her eyes at him, while Pixie pretended not to hear.

“You two wait over there for a bit. I’ll be right back,” Yae-hime said softly.

“Princess, take care.”

“Sis, good luck!”

Although both were worried, they respected her wishes.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to,” Lucky suddenly spoke again. His booming voice spread across the plaza. Everyone present heard it clearly.

“What am I up to?” Since her opponent wanted a war of words, Yae-hime was more than happy to oblige. It would help her gain even more time to recover. If they clashed immediately, her injuries would become impossible to conceal.

“You deliberately waited until the last moment to pull that little stunt, all to shake my martial heart. You wanted me to fight timidly, second-guessing myself. Too bad, your scheme has already been seen through!” Lucky pointed directly at Yae-hime, his face full of self-assured confidence.

She was momentarily dumbfounded. Her flashy entrance had only been to show off a little and, more importantly, to buy time. By walking from midair to the center of the plaza, she had gained a precious dozen seconds. Now, her injuries had recovered by nearly two-fifths.

Not far away, in what could loosely be called the spectator’s area…

“That so-called void walk just now, she must have used some kind of tool,” one grandmaster from Korea remarked uncertainly.

“I once saw a video of the Princess fighting. I was especially impressed when she used her flying sword. I’ve heard Cathay has arts for controlling swords and objects. She most likely used one of those mystical techniques to put on a show.” Grandmaster Ota spoke with a serious expression.

The crowd, upon hearing this, found his words to be quite reasonable.

‘I used to need external tools just to walk in the air. But things are different now.’ Yae-hime’s lips curved slightly as she thought to herself.

Through this accident, her understanding of spatial power had advanced to a higher level. What she displayed as Void Walk was but a surface glimpse of that insight.

“Hmph. No matter how clever your tricks, you will die beneath my hands. Come!” Lucky clenched both fists, one in front and one behind his chest, then stomped his left foot down. The powerful aura of an intermediate grandmaster erupted instantly.

“Then come.” Yae-hime stood ramrod straight like a spear, casually extending her right hand as she replied in an indifferent tone.

A battle between grandmasters officially began!