"Hmph, at this hour, what more is there to say? Where is that superior lightness skill you pride yourself on!" Ji Jingtian had long discerned Ye Xiu's maneuvers; he knew that without unleashing his signature stealth-concealing qinggong, victory was impossible.

"If that is the case, then I ask you to draw your remaining swords." Ye Xiu rose, raising Hengchen, and gently traced an arc in the sky. A gust of wind murmured, and his figure vanished into the breeze.

Ji Jingtian understood the danger of this move. He immediately flipped backward several paces, then raised his arm, chanting "Unsheathe" in a low voice. Instantly, two more longswords shot out from the scabbard, joining the previous four swords circling in the air. He then heard him shout, "Six Swords Condensing Spirit," while shaking his sword stances, and his entire body was swiftly enveloped by the six rapidly darting outer swords.

Ye Xiu remained concealed within the arena, searching for an opening to strike. Regrettably, the speed of the six encircling swords was in no way inferior to the flowing brilliance of Jian Hongchen's sword light; he found himself unable to know where to begin.

"Hahahaha, how about that? Attack me if you dare!" Ji Jingtian continuously danced his palms within the sword formation. Although he could not locate Ye Xiu's traces, he certainly would not allow Ye Xiu to strike him easily.

"Ah!" Ye Xiu clearly observed the trajectory of the six encircling swords, suddenly leaping forward and thrusting with his sword, aiming for Ji Jingtian's abdomen. Unexpectedly, just as Hengchen was about to touch Ji Jingtian, the soaring six swords seemed to have eyes, instantly changing direction to block the attack from Hengchen.

"Clang..." A burst of sparks suddenly flashed across the arena. In an instant, Ji Jingtian laughed wildly and roared, "Finally found you!" The six swords then used the exact point where they had blocked Hengchen's attack as the center, taking the length of one sword as the radius, and began wildly slaughtering everything within that circle.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang..." Seeing the situation deteriorate, Ye Xiu retracted Hengchen and wildly brandished it in front of him, blocking numerous attacks. However, the speed of the six swords was no less than that of Hengchen in his hand, and due to a moment of carelessness, he had not prepared his defenses. Where the sword light flashed, drops of blood pattered down.

"Young Master Ye!" Shen Ying could no longer watch and stood up, tightly pulling Qinglin beside her.

At this moment, let alone Wan Jian Qinglin, even the usually calm Cang Long frowned.

Ye Xiu was rapidly entangled by the six swords, moving from the sky to the ground, and then around the perimeter of the stage. He finally managed to catch a breath. Although he hadn't sustained a fatal injury, his entire body was crisscrossed with bloody gashes from the six swords.

"Hoo... ha..." He reappeared, half-crouching on the ground, looking utterly embarrassed. He hadn't expected Ji Jingtian's six swords to actually discern his whereabouts.

"Young Hero Ye, how does my six-sword technique taste!" Ji Jingtian continued to control the six swords with his hands, looking down at Ye Xiu arrogantly. At this moment, the six swords had formed a single line, like a coiled venomous snake, staring down at Ye Xiu from the air. "Still holding back your strength? Your fight with Jian Hongchen couldn't have relied solely on that one strike, could it?"

Ye Xiu calmed his breath and lazily stood up. Everyone around held their breath for him, yet he remained as flamboyant as before: "Guard Ji's six swords are indeed impressive. I wonder what the seventh sword will be like."

Ji Jingtian knew Ye Xiu was provoking him, and he saw no need to hide his strength. He began moving his body frantically, constantly shifting his hand forms. With a flick of his fingertips, he roared "Unsheathe!" The massive scabbard beside him exploded, and the seventh sword, flashing with fiery red light, immediately merged with the other six, floating in the air.

"Is this the Serpent Formation?" Ye Xiu looked up, slightly astonished. He hadn't expected anyone to control swords with such exquisite precision. He let out a breath, placing Hengchen before him, and smiled, "Since the seven swords are out, let's try my Ghost Step Ten Thousand Slashes."

"..." Ji Jingtian didn't know what Ye Xiu's technique was about, only that Ye Xiu had once again vanished from his sight. What surprised him was that Ye Xiu's target wasn't him, but the seven swords directly in the sky.

"Clang!" With a sound, Ye Xiu's figure appeared amidst the seven swords, engaging them in a rapid exchange of strikes. Ye Xiu’s form darted like a shuttle, spiraling with the seven swords in the sky. Occasionally, he found an opportunity to sever a sword blade, only to be violently swept away by the powerful tail. He turned and leaped away again, disappearing, but the seven swords, like spirit snakes emerging from a cave, could already sense Ye Xiu's presence. The entire sword array charged directly toward where Ye Xiu had departed.

"How can such a simple attack stand against the unity of the seven swords?" Ji Jingtian danced his body repeatedly on the stage, like a puppeteer directing the movements of the seven swords.

Ye Xiu was confident in his speed, but wielding Hengchen, he couldn't find that sense of a single, fatal strike. Hengchen was different from the Demon Blade, yet it seemed superior to it. Now, the serpentine sword formation rushed toward him. Ye Xiu's heart tightened, and he swung his sword horizontally with all his might, striking the snake's head with the blade acting as a cleaver. However, this attack was far from enough to repel the seven swords. The leader of the seven swords was struck and sent flying, while the other six swords separately pierced toward Ye Xiu from several different directions. Ye Xiu flipped back repeatedly to evade, batting them away with his sword. Unbeknownst to him, after scattering, the seven swords reconnected in a line behind his back, and another snake-bite-like attack arrived unexpectedly.

"Pfft..." Ye Xiu didn't even have time to react and was pierced through his heart by the seven swords from behind.

"Young Master Ye." Wan Jian Shen Ying hastily crawled onto the railing, tears almost streaming from her eyes. "Brother, stop this match quickly! If this continues, Young Master Ye will lose his life."

"Nonsense. In a martial contest, life and death must be cast aside." Wan Jian Xuan Hu was thoroughly engrossed. Ji Jingtian was indeed no ordinary person; the power of these seven swords probably rivaled his own Myriad Sword Art. "If he is outmatched and dies on the stage, he has no one to blame."

"Correct. Once a competition begins, it cannot stop until a winner is decided," Wan Jian Cang Long said steadily, sighing at Shen Ying. "I believe Young Hero Ye will not give up easily."

"Exactly, little sister, no need to worry." Qinglin gently pulled Shen Ying back to her seat. At that moment, gasps rose from the crowd below.

"Hah..." The Ye Xiu whose body had just been viciously pierced by the seven swords fell rapidly back onto the stage. But in the sky, hundreds, even thousands, of Ye Xiu figures appeared simultaneously. They all raised Hengchen high, grinning mischievously.

"What... what is this?" Ji Jingtian was so frightened by the sky full of dense figures that he retreated several paces, then controlled the seven swords to descend from the sky and wrap around him again. This was a tactic: if he couldn't figure out the opponent's move, he could only defend.

"This move can actually materialize, letting everyone see it?" Soul-Sucking Child, Jian Hongchen, had not left the stage; he watched everything coldly from a dark corner. This was the move Ye Xiu used to defeat him that day, only today it was displayed openly before the masses.

"Swish, swish, swish." Ye Xiu's figures descended like meteors hitting the ground. Every descent resulted in a fierce collision with Ji Jingtian's seven swords. The sea of people and the rain of swords shuttled back and forth, constantly battering the barrier formed by the seven swords, making Ji Jingtian begin to struggle. He waved his arms while rolling and retreating, his figure becoming entirely obscured.

"Hahahaha, hahahaha." Ye Xiu laughed triumphantly. Although his body was already in severe pain, such minor injuries were commonplace for him. Hundreds of thousands of his figures struck and restricted the movements of the seven swords, having already broken through the Serpent Formation. He immediately found a flaw and executed Myriad Slashes Unite. Instantly, all the figures and the Hengchen sword converged into the one figure closest to Ji Jingtian—a single, piercing strike aimed directly at him.

"Ah..." Ji Jingtian stopped moving for the first time. Bright red blood flowed from his chest, dripping along the blade of Hengchen that was lodged in his body, all the way to the ground. The seven swords, which had been flying like a long serpent, scattered with a crash.

"I said, seven swords are ultimately too few." Ye Xiu was covered in scars himself. Although he had spontaneously used his clones to draw the attacks of the seven swords, the damage inflicted on those bodies was reflected back onto the true Ye Xiu.

"Hmph, Young Hero Ye certainly has skill, but..." Ji Jingtian kept his head down, appearing utterly drained of energy, yet his finger surprisingly lifted slightly at this moment. "Whoosh... crash..." The seven swords trembled and rang out, and several of them actually lifted into the air, bearing down on Ye Xiu from all directions—front, back, left, and right.

"Seven Swords Traverse All!" Ji Jingtian roared the phrase, disregarding the wound on his chest, forcefully pushing the Hengchen sword out of his body. He then slid rapidly toward the edge of the stage, manipulating the seven swords to move without pattern between heaven and earth. These seven swords were completely different from their previous forms; each blade radiated a fiery, brilliant light, staring directly at Ye Xiu.

"Gather!" Ji Jingtian clenched his fist, driving the tips of the seven swords toward Ye Xiu. At this moment, all the red light on the blades gathered into a single point, slowly forming a circle, and finally expanding into an area.

Ye Xiu quickly retreated backward in alarm, and the seven swords, as if possessing eyes, constantly shifted to track his movements.

"Young Master Ye, I admit your technique is indeed formidable," Ji Jingtian said, pointing one hand at the sky while clutching the sword wound on his chest with the other. "But today ends here. Don't blame me for being ruthless."

Ye Xiu steadied his stance, holding the horizontal sword, Hengchen, before his chest. He knew Ji Jingtian was not joking. However, at this moment, a feeling akin to a wind sweeping away clouds suddenly arose; the sky immediately filled with dark sorrow, and the brilliance emanating from the seven swords changed from the previous red to the autumn red of a sunset.