Yao Changying's body was exuding sword intent that was strong enough to alarm Lin Mu.
His attention quickly switched over to her and saw that she was in the midst of swinging her sword!
Qian Wen was surprised by her speed, and reacted accordingly. Using his own sword he slashed out, trying to keep her away from him. Yao Changying was no simple opponent and seeing the level of Sword Intent, Lin Mu could tell that she was well versed in it.
'Shit!' Lin Mu reacted quickly and directly using the Severing Heart Sutra on her.
He knew that if he let Yao Changying continued her attack, it would be too much for Qian Wen. In fact, Lin Mu reckoned, even he would have to put in quite a bit of effort in order to be able to defend this attack. And while Qian Wen had improved as well, it was not at the point of being able to do the same.
~SHUA~
Lin Mu's sutra worked on the woman quickly, her Sword Intent suddenly disappearing. Her eyes also turned dull for a moment.
Seeing this, Qian Wen didn't even need to wait for Lin Mu's signal. He had seen Lin Mu do it several times and knew that this was his work too.
'Time to do it!' Qian Wen rushed towards Yao Changying, a bracelet hidden under his sleeve.
He pretended that he was attacking Yao Changying, but in reality he was activating the tool that Crown princess Shang Yingtai had given them.
~HUMM~
As soon as the bracelet was activated, it let out a faint vibration that could only be felt by Qian Wen for now. But once he reached the woman, the feeling was transmitted to her as well.
'She's resisting!' Lin Mu could sense the effect of the Severing Heart Sutra wavering. 'I've never felt such strong resistance from others so far…' he found it very unusual.
There hadn't been many that had been able to actively resist them. This was different from when Lin Mu used the Nine Divine Heart Sutra's on stronger cultivators.
In that case, the sutra would work, but its duration would be short. But right now, it was not exactly the same.
The sutra was actively being resisted by Yao Changying!
Thankfully, Qian Wen was also fast. He knew everything was on the line now and mustered all of his strength.
Finally, his hand touched the outstretched arm of Yao Changying that was still in the middle of swinging.
~kacha~
The bracelet given by Crown Princess shattered on contact, releasing whatever power was stored in it. Qian Wen didn't exactly know what was going to happen, but knew that his work was done here.
'Since the bracelet broke, it should have done its work.' Qian Wen thought.
~SHING~
At the same time though, Yao Changying seemingly woke up from her stupor.
It hadn't even been four seconds, but it was long enough for Qian Wen to be right in front of her. Seeing this, a cold expression appeared on her face and she continued her swing.
"UGH!" Qian Wen quickly brought his sword forward to block, but was barely able to do that.
The sword intent still burst forward, leaving a gash on his chest and shoulder.
'I need to leave now!' Qian Wen could feel the Sword Intent invading his body at that moment.
If he let that happen, there was a high chance it could directly damage his meridians!
~CRACK~
With that in mind, Qian Wen didn't hesitate to break the identity token. It was done in such a way, that others would think it had broken from the attack of Yao Changying and not Qian Wen doing it intentionally. This was decided by Lin Mu beforehand, as he didn't want Yao Changying to get suspicious.
After all, multiple individuals surrendering the moment they touched her with a bracelet would seem highly strange.
Once or twice might be fine, but multiple incidents would be enough to not only make Yao Changying suspicious but even the Temple suspicious.
~SHUA~
While Qian Wen was in the midsts of flying back from the impact, his body turned into a flash of light and was teleported out of the Spatial plane.
"Qian Wen has lost! Yao Changying has won the battle!" The announcement was heard almost immediately.
"WOOOO~!"
"YAO CHANGYING IS THE BEST!"
"SHE'S THE STRONGEST FEMALE IMMORTAL!"
Hearing the cheers from the audience, primarily the men, it was clear that Yao Changying had managed to establish quite a bit fan base.
"There was no chance for Qian Wen to go against her."
"Indeed. It's an accomplishment to get this far alone though."
"Exactly. It's surprising that Qian Wen even managed to get that close to her."
Still, there were people in the audience that could see the other perspective too. They had expected Qian Wen to lose due to the mere disparity of their cultivation bases. And now that he had, they could simply think that their judgment was correct.
No one was the wiser, and knew about what had actually happened.
~thud~
Qian Wen collapsed on the platform, a large bleeding gash on his shoulder.
"Take him to the Healing Pavilion!" The elder overseeing the battle quickly ordered.
The healers were already prepared and quickly took Qian Wen away.
Lin Mu observed Qian Wen's condition and quickly contacted him using the communication jade slip.
"Qian Wen? Are you fine?" Lin Mu asked with concern.
"I'll be okay, Brother Mu Lin." Qian Wen replied. "I managed to escape before too much of the Sword Intent could affect me. The remnants should be fading away soon. The temple will take care of the injury." He added.
"That's good." Lin Mu was relieved as he knew just how bad wounds caused by Sword Intent could get.
After all, he had given others quite a lot of them.
"You should focus on Ming Dandan. She needs you more than me now." Qian Wen replied.
"Yes… you just rest for now." Lin Mu replied, switching to his immortal sense.
