Volume 1, Chapter 42: Swift and Decisive, a Quick Resolution

One person wielded a thunderous spear, summoning divine lightning from the nine heavens to manifest as a world-ending dragon, roaring as it charged toward Ye Qingxian.

Another unleashed a black pagoda, its structure wreathed in roiling demonic energy, exuding a terrifying aura capable of suppressing souls as it smashed down toward her head.

A third individual vanished from sight, merging with the void to execute a supreme assassination technique; a poisoned dagger appeared silently at the back of Ye Qingxian’s heart.

The combined strike of these three was enough to slay any Immortal King of the same rank instantly.

Below the arena, Ji Ruxue’s heart was in her throat.

Yet, faced with this cataclysmic onslaught, Ye Qingxian finally moved.

She did not look at the thunder dragon, did not heed the pagoda, and did not even turn to defend against the lethal sneak attack.

She simply, slowly, raised the sword in her hand.

Then, following the "teachings" of Uncle Fu and her own understanding of "clean and efficient," she gave it a light, forward swing.

There was no sword light, no sword energy, and not even the slightest ripple of energy.

The motion was like that of a young girl new to swordsmanship, practicing the most basic of strikes. It was unadorned, simple to the extreme.

And yet, with that single simple swing, the entire world went silent.

The roaring, world-ending thunder dragon shattered into pieces in mid-air, dissolving into pure lightning particles until nothing remained.

The soul-suppressing demonic pagoda let out a mournful wail, its surface spider-webbed with cracks, before it was sent flying backward.

The poisoned dagger, at the very instant it was about to touch the hem of her clothes, began to crumble from its tip, turning into fine dust.

The three geniuses who had attacked were struck as if by lightning. Their bodies shuddered violently, and they simultaneously spat out mouthfuls of blood, their eyes filled with incomprehensible horror.

Their attacks had not been defeated. They had been "decomposed."

It was as if the "Dao" and "Principles" that constituted their divine abilities had been directly denied and erased from their very roots by that single strike from Ye Qingxian.

This was no longer a confrontation on the level of power.

This was… dimensional suppression!

The violent battle on the arena ground came to a bizarre, frozen halt at that moment.

Every gaze was fixed upon the woman in white, who looked as pure as snow. They finally realized that a monster, one they could not fathom, had appeared on this stage.

After finishing her strike, Ye Qingxian slowly sheathed her sword.

She looked around at the stunned geniuses, who dared not approach any further, a flicker of confusion in her clear, cold eyes.

Was that… it?

She hadn’t even used any effort yet.

She recalled the words of Uncle Fu: "Clean and efficient, finish the battle quickly."

And so, looking at the opponents filling the arena, she spoke quite earnestly:

"Are you all coming together, or are you coming one by one?"

Her voice was soft, yet it reached the ears of everyone present with perfect clarity.

Inside and outside the arena, there was a deathly silence.

A silence like a rising tide engulfed the seventy-third arena and spread rapidly to the surroundings.

Every eye was locked onto Ye Qingxian. Her question—"Are you all coming together, or are you coming one by one?"—felt like an invisible heavy hammer, slamming into the hearts of every genius present.

Arrogance?

No, this was not arrogance.

It was a casual statement born from an absolute, bone-deep confidence in her own power.

It was like a dragon looking down at ants; it would not consider the number of ants, because it knew that whether it was one or a swarm, the outcome would never change.

On the arena, the nearly one thousand remaining geniuses felt their hands and feet turn cold.

They were all the top-tier existences of their respective worlds, proud and arrogant—when had they ever suffered such "insult"?

And yet, not one of them dared to step forward to refute her.

Because that bizarre scene just now had completely shattered their pride. The three geniuses who had joined forces were considered among the best of them, yet their full-power strike hadn’t even stirred a ripple before it was silently annihilated.

They hadn't even seen how she moved.

That casual swing contained no laws, no divine power, yet it felt as if the "Heavenly Dao" itself were enforcing rules, logically erasing their very "existence."

How does one fight this? With what can one fight?

*Gulp.*

A burly dragon-kin genius, covered in golden scales, swallowed hard. He could feel his noble dragon bloodline emitting a mournful, fearful cry under the gaze of that woman in white. It was the instinctive trembling of a lower lifeform in the presence of a higher one.

Finally, someone could no longer bear the suffocating pressure.

"I... I concede!"

A demonic cultivator shouted, his face deathly pale, as he crushed his life-preserving jade talisman, turning into a beam of light and vanishing from the arena.

His surrender was like a signal.

"I concede too!"

"I’m done, I’m done! What’s the point of fighting this!"

"This is not even the same magnitude of existence! Did the organizers make a mistake!"

"Surrender! I surrender!"

In an instant, beams of light flickered across the arena one after another.

In just a few breaths, the massive arena, which had been packed with people, was left with only Ye Qingxian.

She stood with her sword in hand, her white clothes fluttering, a faint sense of bewilderment still on her face.

Was it… over?

She hadn't even finished warming up.

Regarding Uncle Fu’s instruction to be "clean and efficient, finish the battle quickly," it seemed she had… over-performed?

Outside the arena, Ji Ruxue’s mouth was agape, and she was completely speechless.

She had envisioned countless ways Ye Qingxian might win—perhaps after a bitter struggle, a narrow victory; or perhaps by displaying powerful sword arts to outmatch the crowd.

But she never expected it to be like this.

A victory without drawing blood.

A single sentence to drive away a thousand geniuses!

This shock was far more intense and hit the soul far more directly than any cataclysmic battle.

High above, in the divine islands suspended in the sky, the Immortal Kings and Demon Lords had all risen from their seats. Strands of divine will, filled with shock and confusion, intertwined frantically in the void.

"Did you see it clearly? What method did she use?"

"No! I can't see through it at all! Her body seems to be shrouded in a mist; my divine sense cannot probe her at all!"

"That was not a divine ability, nor was it a law! It was a 'Principle'! A 'Principle' more profound and more primordial than the Great Dao we know!"

"She denied the existence of the attacks, so the attacks vanished. Is this… the prototype of 'Commanding the Dao with Words'? No, that's not right—it’s even more overbearing than that!"

"What is the origin of this woman? And what kind of existence is the 'Gu Family' behind her?"

The host of the Void God Realm, the white-haired elder from the Immortal Dynasty, had beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

He stared blankly at the empty seventy-third arena, then looked at the list in his hand.

"Gu Family... Ye Qingxian..."

He chewed on the names repeatedly, feeling as if they weighed millions of tons, pressing down so hard he could barely breathe.

He immediately used his divine sense to report everything that had happened to the Emperor residing in the Central Divine Palace of the Dynasty.

A moment later, a majestic, ancient will, carrying a hint of tremor, descended into his mind.

"Spare no cost to find out the origin of this girl!"

"No! Do not investigate! I was confused!"

"Immediately! At once! Personally deliver the final reward of this genius tournament, the 'Chaos Dao Embryo,' to this young lady! Keep your posture low! Be respectful! Tell her... tell her she is the ultimate winner of this Myriad Worlds Genius Tournament!"