This was definitely the best time to defeat the group due to the big openings present in their formation. The spent Ziqing realized this too but she was powerless and could only watch this opportunity drift by before her eyes.
The seven naturally realized the flaws in the formation. They ignored their wounds and returned to their position to stabilize the arrays.
“Buzz.” The formation became bright once more and full of momentum. The openings disappeared from sight.
“How unfortunate.” The spectating experts and ancestors lamented, fully aware of the fight’s intricacies.
“This can go either way now.” One ancestor shook his head after seeing the formation up and running once more.
The actual fight betrayed their expectation of an easy victory for Ziqing. She had lost the best chance to take down these seven disciples now.
The experienced ancestors noted that she had lost her biggest advantage and opportunity. It looked quite grim now.
Ziqing started strong but used up her strength too quickly, lacking the tenacity and toughness shown in her opponents. This must have been obtained through arduous training.
“Stay calm.” Li Jiankun commanded as they surrounded Ziqing.
“Rumble!” The treasury of the formation opened. Numerous walls emerged around Ziqing along with shields appearing around the seven.
The seven chose a steady method and used powerful defensive measures to trap Ziqing. They didn’t want to recklessly attack in a direct manner, rather choosing to make her run out of vitality and energy.
Prior to this, her vitality was ample until she decided to use her true blood to activate the imperial sword. Though she managed to beat the group in that exchange, she was completely spent now. The move stemmed from rage and pride accelerated her defeat.
“You think I’m that easily beaten?!” Ziqing could see their aim and roared.
She had gotten some strength back after the break and swung her sword horizontally.
“Clank!” Sword waves looking like a tornado shot out in order to break the supreme formation.
However, Jiahui’s group moved in a perfect manner – defending when the enemy is attacking and going on the offensive when the enemy is backing off instead of forcing the issue.
Several rounds like that left Ziqing’s sword energy weakened, the same with her true energy. She attempted several times to break through by using her strongest sword moves and offensive techniques.
Alas, this couldn’t defeat Li Qiye’s formation and only made her waste energy at a faster rate.
The situation increasingly deteriorated as time went on. She was at a disadvantage, unable to change the momentum of the battle.
After depleting her resources, she lost the ability to go on the offense. Now, she had to use her sword for survival.
Nevertheless, the other seven weren’t in a rush to take her down. They slowly and steadily pressed onward to push Ziqing to her death while maintaining the formation arrays.
“There’s no changing this.” Many older experts shook their head knowing that Ziqing had lost.
This result stunned everyone since they were so bullish on her at the start. They were also impressed by this miraculous showing from the seven. To kill an opponent two realms above? What an achievement.
The referee, Pinnacle Sword Saint, opened his mouth several times wanting to stop the fight but eventually swallowed his words.
He clearly stood on the side of Ziqing since his kingdom had a good relationship with Central Sacred Ground. He wanted to be a referee in order to side with Ziqing.
Who would have thought that the fight would develop like this? He had no reason to stop the fight since the other seven weren’t breaking the rules.
Moreover, he couldn’t be so blatant either. He was still a big shot in the system and couldn’t throw his reputation into the trash for a junior’s sake.
The young male and female disciples who followed Ziqing here were indignant at this scene. Some heckled at the seven in order to distract them and give Ziqing a chance.
“How shameless, seven against one? Are all Mountguard disciples like this?” One youth shouted.
“They have no honor, resorting to anything and everything to win, that’s the only reason why they’re still in the fight.” Another from Central Sacred Ground laughed.
The mockeries were futile because the group wasn’t moved at all. They maintained a slow yet effective strategy in surrounding Ziqing.
Ziqing’s true energy continued to deplete while trying to stay alive. She was feeble and out of breath, finding it hard to defend against the barrage of attack. She got hit several times, battered and bloodied.
“Boom!” Finally, a shield smashed her down to the ground and made her vomit blood.
“Clank!” A sword thrust from Jiahui showed no mercy.
However, Ziqing was fast with evading so the thrust missed its target, only piercing through her shoulder and pinning her down to the ground.
“Stop!” Pinnacle Sword Saint finally told them to stop at this crucial moment.
The group wanted to kill Ziqing but stopped after hearing this.
“Okay, the fight ends here. You have won.” He came over and declared.
“Hmm…” Some spectators supported this decision while others showed disdain.
Everyone could see the blatant bias from the referee towards Zhou Ziqing and her sect.
Alas, no one wanted to offend the two behemoths so they only scoffed and didn’t say anything else.
“Isn’t this a fight to the death?” Lu Ruoxi was unwilling to stop.
“It’s different here.” The referee’s expression soured: “Reincarnation Mountain City is a holy place of the progenitor. Staining this place with blood is sacrilegious so this ends here with your victory.”
“We don’t accept!” Jiahui said: “Rules are rules, and it stated that this won’t end till death. She wants to kill us so it’s fine that we kill her now!”
“Such impudence!” The sword saint’s eyes shot out sharp glint: “My decision is in accordance with the rules, killing the innocent is not allowed!”
“Too much bias.” One ancestor from a relatively large sect shook his head but didn’t stand up for the seven.
No one really cared that a third-rate sect was being treated unfairly. Reasons and justice weren’t upheld right now because doing so would be provoking the sword saint and the two powers behind Ziqing. It simply wasn’t worth it.