Junior Sister must ascend this time!

After waking the four men with his fists, Gu Changfeng channeled his shame into motivation, gripping the Dawnbreaker sword tightly, its tip pointing directly at the other side.

"Eliminate that guy who's obsessed with playing the flute first!"

Upon hearing this, the four junior brothers and sisters drew their swords and charged forward. After taking their positions, the five-person formation was reassembled.

Pei Shubai raised an eyebrow. "You want to eliminate my junior brother? We'll see if you can."

After speaking, the five quickly adjusted their positions. Yun Qing, holding the Wusheng Sword, retreated towards the center of the formation; Cen Ning, holding a whip, guarded the left flank; Si Mingche, holding a talisman, protected the right flank; Jiang Mian, holding the Xianguang Sword, stood at the rear; and Pei Shubai stood alone at the front, holding the Jingfeng Sword horizontally in front of him. Silver light slowly shone from the sword, extending to the four corners and connecting with the spiritual power of the four.

"I...I'm not seeing things, am I? The Chengtian Sect is using a sword formation?"

"My God, how many more surprises do they have in store for me!"

"But... two of those five people aren't sword cultivators, so how can they form a sword formation? Are they just bluffing?"

"How ignorant! Who says only sword cultivators can use sword formations? There was a precedent for this a hundred years ago, but it was lost later. I didn't expect that these few people could actually recreate it. You can imagine how well they coordinate."

"You think you're so great! Then tell me, which of these two sword formations is more powerful?"

"That must be the Xuanming Sect! No one among their peers can break Senior Brother Gu's five-person sword formation, how could they lose to someone who only learned it halfway through?"

Gu Changfeng's expression also changed. "The Five Directions Guardian Formation? How could you...?"

Pei Shubai mimicked Yun Qing's manner, his eyes filled with disdain, "Just learned it."

Gu Changfeng: ...What the hell did you just learn? How many things have you Chengtian Sect just learned?

However, he was only surprised, not too panicked. He was still very confident in his sect's sword formation, and it was not impossible for him to fight against a Nascent Soul cultivator.

"Then let's see whose formation is tougher..."

"Sword formation activated!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the two formations unfolded simultaneously.

The sword formation of the five members of the Xuanming Sect was set up first. Spiritual energy surged from the tips of their swords at the same time, intersecting on the ground to form a complete pentagram pattern. Sword energy surged from the five vertices of the pentagram.

The Dawnbreaker Sword rose from below, gathering the sword energy of the entire sword formation at its tip. Gu Changfeng, wielding the sword with both hands, slashed fiercely down towards the heart of the Chengtian Sect's formation…

The Five Directions Guardian Formation of Chengtian Sect unfolded one step behind. Pei Shubai's silver-white sword energy spread out towards the center of the formation first, and the three sword lights of white, purple and green intertwined and merged into a thicker pillar of light, while the talismans and long whip behind filled the gaps.

The beam of light resembled a three-colored dragon clad in runic armor and wrapped in whip-like chains, coiling towards the core of the Xuanming Sect's sword formation...

The two attacks met and collided in mid-air.

The giant red sword carried the full sword energy of the five members of the Xuanming Sect, but the three-colored dragon raised its head to meet the sword, its mouth wide open, and took the initiative to bite the blade.

"boom!!!"

The aftershocks of the collision of spiritual energy spread in all directions, stirring up a gust of wind that caused the audience below to raise their hands to shield their eyes.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Yun Qing, who was standing at the center of the formation, leaped into the air with a light touch of her toes, infused the power of lightning into the Wusheng Sword, and swung it out, "Senior Brother Gu..."

She stood in mid-air, purple lightning crackling and exploding on the sword, spreading from the tip to the entire blade, coating the original purple light of the Wusheng Sword with a layer of frenzied lightning patterns.

"You'd better watch out for this sword strike!"

Gu Changfeng was stunned. So Pei Shubai's sword strike was just a feint; the real attack was actually from Junior Sister Yun Qing...

He shouted almost simultaneously, "Change formation! Defend!"

In a haste, the five turned their swords around, shifting their spiritual energy from offense to defense.

But... it was too late...

The red greatsword was already wedged in the dragon's mouth, and the power of lightning spread out from its mouth, climbing up the spine of the greatsword.

Wherever the lightning passed, the cracks on the greatsword spread rapidly, extending from the tip all the way to the hilt...

The red greatsword shattered completely.

Although the three-colored dragon's head was partially shattered, its body remained intact, and its momentum continued undiminished, carrying with it the shattered spiritual light as it continued to crush the five members of the Xuanming Sect.

Gu Changfeng gritted his teeth and held the Dawnbreaker Sword horizontally in front of him. The other four followed suit, trying to block the oncoming dragon.

However, the residual lightning power traveled along the sword and onto the people, causing them to scream and groan from the shock.

"Yun... Junior Sister Yun Qing, how come you can also generate electric shocks?!"

"Ouch! It hurts...it hurts so much...it feels like I've just survived a lightning tribulation..."

Stunned by the electric shock, Gu Changfeng, sporting an afro, looked at Yun Qing and asked, "You have a lightning spiritual root?"

After Yun Qing kindly kicked Gu Changfeng's junior brothers and sisters off the competition platform, she wiped the Wusheng Sword on her hand and said, "Yes."

"So, when are you going to undergo the Nascent Soul Tribulation? I'll help you withstand it, for a fee of 88,888 spirit stones."

Gu Changfeng blurted out instinctively, "Wasn't it over eight thousand last time?"

He slapped his own mouth. Was this the time to discuss this?!

"The most complete and comprehensive sword formation in the entire cultivation world is in our Xuanming Sect. How could you possibly have created such a powerful sword formation without any sword formation diagrams?"

Yun Qing crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Just because no one has done it before doesn't mean our Chengtian Sect can't."

"Junior Sister is right!" Pei Shubai walked up to Gu Changfeng, glanced at him, and then his lips curled up into a wide smile.

Gu Changfeng: "Are you mocking me?"

"No." Pei Shubai raised her foot and kicked him down without any mercy. "You lost."

Gu Changfeng: ...You heartless man!

He sat up abruptly, pointed at Pei Shubai's retreating figure, his voice filled with the bitter resentment of abandonment, "Pei Shubai, I will definitely beat you next time!"

Pei Shubai walked off the competition platform without looking back, shouting, "Get out!"

After a gong sounded, the referee's voice rang out:

"Cheng Tian Sect wins this match! They advance to the finals!"

In the stands.

Pu Hengzhi happily went to find the Xuanming Sect leader again. Who told him to always argue with him? This time he had to go and annoy him. It would be such a waste to let this opportunity go to waste.

"Sect Leader Xuan, why aren't you smiling? Are you unhappy?"

"Oh, I forgot, your sect lost to our Chengtian Sect."

He deliberately elongated the last syllable of "lose," just in case the Xuanming Sect leader couldn't hear it.

"My kid is really something! We agreed to just come over and have a casual match, how did he end up in the finals? And he even messed up Changfeng Power Plant like that, he's so inconsiderate!"

He wanted to let that old fox Pu Hengzhi know that he, the dignified head of the Xuanming Sect, possessed extraordinary demeanor and remained calm in the face of victory or defeat.

He took a deep breath and forced a smile. "Winning and losing are normal. No sect can win all the time. Our Xuanming Sect can afford to lose. We can always win next time."

"However, why haven't I heard that your Chengtian Sect has started researching sword formations before?"