A bald, brawny man suddenly pushed open the door and burst into the lavishly decorated private room, his expression tense with urgency.
"Boss Yitao, something's happened with Lie Feng," the bald man blurted out.
"What is it?" Qi Yitao raised a thick eyebrow.
"Lie Feng, for reasons no one can figure out, has suddenly challenged Bai Qingxue to a duel. The whole thing's blown up — everyone in the Star Moon Kingdom is talking about it," the bald man said in a rush.
"Lie Feng is dueling Bai Qingxue?" Qi Yitao was momentarily taken aback, then burst into laughter. "Good, very good! Lie Feng did well this time. I was just racking my brain for a solid opportunity to consolidate control over the Snake of the Body, and Bai Qingxue went and walked right into the trap. Have Lie Feng's people send me the live broadcast feed — I want to savor every last second of that look of despair on Bai Qingxue's face."
He didn't have a clear picture of Bai Qingxue's true strength, but he knew exactly how powerful Lie Feng Duankhun was. In the public eye, Lie Feng Duankhun had already impressed everyone by defeating the 354th-ranked expert on the Fengyun rankings — a feat most considered to be his limit.
The truth was that Lie Feng Duankhun had been holding back all along.
After all, he was a core member of their Blackwater team in the Dark Arena. There was no way he'd reveal his true strength in front of ordinary players — that was a trump card saved for the decisive blow against rival teams.
He had no idea how much power Bai Qingxue had been hiding, but if she thought she could take on Lie Feng Duankhun, she was a hundred years too early.
Inside the Demonic Arena in White River City, every player in the main hall had their eyes glued to the massive floating screen.
"It's finally starting." Shi Feng sat at a corner of the bar, glancing at the countdown timer on the screen, a flicker of anticipation stirring inside him.
In his previous life, Bai Qingxue's power in the early days of Divine Realm had been nothing short of staggering. After she vanished from the game, countless top players had lamented the loss, convinced she had the potential to break through to the sixth-tier God-level. You only had to look at Ziyan Liuyun — the legendary high priest she had personally trained — to get a sense of just how formidable Bai Qingxue really was.
On the screen was a dense jungle, a terrain that favored classes like Assassins and Rangers. For a Berserker, though, it was an entirely different story.
Berserkers were the embodiment of raw power — defeating everything through sheer, overwhelming force. That was what being a Berserker meant.
The duel between the two would not be drawn out like clashes between other classes. It would be fast and brutal: either Bai Qingxue quickly crushed Lie Feng Duankhun, or Lie Feng Duankhun quickly crushed Bai Qingxue. There was no third possibility. That was why everyone stared at the screen without blinking, terrified of missing a single decisive moment.
"Let me see for myself what you're really capable of as the president of the Snake of the Body. Don't disappoint me!" Lie Feng Duankhun let out a low shout and drew the massive war saber strapped to his back. Settling into his stance, his eyes blazed with a chilling, terrifying light as he advanced toward Bai Qingxue — step by deliberate step — rather than charging straight in with a Charge skill like everyone had predicted.
But with every step Lie Feng Duankhun took, the air around him grew heavier.
Even the players watching in the main hall could feel that oppressive force pressing down on them.
Bai Qingxue, meanwhile, drew her silver greatsword and held the gleaming blade high, pointing it directly at the approaching Lie Feng Duankhun. She held herself with the calm composure of someone who had already won — like a valkyrie on the battlefield.
When the distance between them shrank to less than twelve yards, something happened that stunned the entire crowd.
Bai Qingxue's body erupted in a radiant silver-white glow, and three pairs of silver-white metallic wings materialized behind her. Her entire outfit transformed in an instant. What had been gleaming silver armor became a flowing pure-white feathered raiment, as though an angel had descended. In the blink of an eye, she had gone from heavy-plate class to cloth-wearer. Yet adorning that stunning white garment were golden divine runes, and even Bai Qingxue's flawless, porcelain face was etched with glowing runes, lending her an aura of the sacred.
The silver greatsword in her hands split into two slender, elegant blades, and faint golden arcs of lightning crackled along their edges.
Before anyone could process what was happening, Bai Qingxue lunged toward Lie Feng Duankhun.