One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Completely black, its material unknown, the penholder was about a foot long and of moderate thickness, densely engraved with countless intricate and profound silver runes that seemed to contain the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, shimmering faintly in the darkness. The pen tip was full and was currently dipped in a thick, ink-like liquid that shimmered with an eerie, purplish hue under the moonlight.

"Divine Paint · Mo Yu".

With a slight flick of her wrist, she lifted the black pen named "Mo Yu," its tip pointing towards Nie Lingfeng.

As she poured her true energy into the brush, the silver runes on the brush suddenly lit up! The drop of dark purple ink at the tip of the brush seemed to come alive, trembling slightly, and then—

"Tick-tock".

A drop of ink quietly dripped from the tip of the pen.

Instead of falling to the ground due to gravity, it defied common sense and hovered in mid-air, about three inches from the tip of the pen, trembling slightly and emitting an ominous glow.

Then, a second drop, a third drop... In the blink of an eye, dozens of drops of equally dark purple ink, as if linked by invisible threads, floated in the air in front of her, arranged in a seemingly chaotic yet mysterious array, like a still, deathly purple rain curtain.

Nie Lingfeng's pupils suddenly contracted!

His senses clearly told him that each of these seemingly tiny ink drops contained a vast and eerie "Qi" compressed and condensed within it! It was a kind of Qi that was different from the ordinary Qi of the Five Elements, more obscure, more sinister, and seemed to be able to erode the soul and the origin of matter!

"go."

The woman in black parted her red lips slightly and uttered a cold word.

The suspended purple ink droplet moved!

They didn't shoot straight like arrows, but rather like real raindrops whipped up by a gale, their trajectories unpredictable and elusive! Some traced eerie arcs, some spiraled forward, and some even paused briefly in mid-air before suddenly accelerating! Dozens of drops of ink rained down on Nie Lingfeng from all directions, leaving no blind spots! They moved with lightning speed, the sound of them tearing through the air barely audible, yet carrying a chilling rhythm of death!

Heavenly Frost Fist, Fourth Form: Frost Condenses, Revealing Clumsiness!

Nie Lingfeng let out a low shout, his fists suddenly slashing to the sides. A chilling, white aura, far more intense and refined than the previous "frost-covered" aura, erupted from his body! The air crackled and froze, the ground instantly covered in a thick layer of frost, and even the falling leaves, fine dust, and light seemed to be slowed and frozen by this extreme cold! A low-temperature domain, approximately two zhang in diameter, suddenly formed!

The purple ink rain that shot towards them slowed down visibly the moment it entered this icy domain! A layer of fine white ice crystals quickly condensed on the surface of the ink droplets, the eerie purple light dimmed, and the originally strange flight trajectory became clear and sluggish!

Nie Lingfeng moved like the wind, weaving and dodging through the "slowing" ink rain. He narrowly avoided most of the ink drops, while a few were directly dispersed by the icy wind from his punches, turning into a cloud of purple icy mist. But three or four drops of ink rain, at an extremely tricky angle, grazed his sleeves and trouser legs.

"laugh--!"

A slight corrosive sound rang out. The black training clothes fabric that had been rubbed by the ink drop instantly showed signs of scorching and tearing, with the edges rapidly carbonizing and cracking as if corroded by strong acid! One drop even grazed his arm skin, and although it failed to break through his tough skin strengthened by the Qilin blood, it left a burning red mark and a slight numbing sensation!

"Corrosive...and poisonous?" Nie Lingfeng's eyes narrowed. He shook his arm to dispel the discomfort and looked at the woman in black with more caution. "The Wang family's 'Divine Path'? Using the pen as a weapon and ink as a blade...that's quite ingenious and insidious."

The woman in black's face, hidden beneath her veil, seemed even paler, clearly indicating that the attack had taken a toll. But Nie Lingfeng's effortless deflection of her deadly strike only served to alarm her more. She snorted coldly, falling silent, and with another flick of her wrist, the "Mo Yu" brush traced even more intricate and profound trajectories in the air.

This time, the scattered purple ink that had not yet completely dissipated seemed to be summoned, and quickly converged, compressed, twisted, and deformed in front of her pen tip!

In the blink of an eye, a fierce tiger made entirely of dark purple ink took shape! This ink tiger was the size of a real tiger, with clearly visible fangs and claws. Its eyes were composed of two points of dark purple light. Although silent, it exuded a ferocious aura that seemed to prey on its prey. Its body was surrounded by swirling ink energy, as if it would even devour the light around it!

"Divine Painting: Tiger Roars in the Ink Forest!"

The woman suddenly pointed the tip of her pen at Nie Lingfeng!

The black tiger silently roared to the sky (though there was no sound, there was a fierce and awe-inspiring mental impact), and with a powerful stomp of its four hooves (there was no mark on the ground, but a shockwave of air exploded), it transformed into an incredibly swift purple lightning bolt and pounced towards Nie Lingfeng! The tiger's claws swung, creating a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air, and its mouth opened wide, its deep throat seemingly leading to a space that corroded everything!

This is no longer a simple manipulation of objects or the manifestation of Qi, but a sophisticated technique that contains a portion of "divine" and "intention"! Compared to the ink rain just now, its power and threat level have increased many times over!

Nie Lingfeng's eyes suddenly sharpened like knives. Facing this ferocious Mo Hu, he held nothing back. His right fist slowly retracted to his waist, and the chilling aura around him frantically gathered, compressed, and condensed towards his fist! The air around his fist vibrated with a buzzing sound due to the extreme low temperature, and even fine, visible spatial distortion ripples appeared!

Heavenly Frost Fist, Sixth Form: Frost and Snow Fluttering!

Punch out!

There was no earth-shattering noise, only a crisp "crack" sound, like a glacier breaking apart!

Before Nie Lingfeng's fist, endless, chilling white air burst forth! But this chilling air did not condense into fist energy or ice pillars; instead, the instant it left his body, it exploded into countless crystal-clear hexagonal ice snowflakes that danced in the air! Each snowflake had edges as sharp as knives, spinning and whistling, carrying a chill capable of freezing the soul and a sharpness sharp enough to cut through metal!

This is not a martial art; it is a man-made blizzard of death that covers an area of ​​several meters in radius!

The swirling snowflakes collided violently with the roaring, dark purple tiger that pounced on them!

"Hiss hiss hiss hiss—!!!"

A deafening roar, as dense as rain pattering on banana leaves or as sharp as a thousand blades slicing through the air, erupted instantly! The purplish-black ink and the chilling white light intertwined, annihilated, and clashed wildly! Under the relentless cutting and freezing of the swirling snow, the Ink Tiger let out a silent wail, its body constantly being thinned, torn apart, and frozen! It charged forward fiercely, its claws ripping apart countless snowflakes, its jaws swallowing vast swathes of icy energy, but even more, seemingly endless, sharp snowflakes surged forth relentlessly!

After only two or three seconds of stalemate, the enormous dark purple tiger finally gave in, letting out a desperate, resentful wail that could only be perceived on a spiritual level. Its entire body exploded, turning back into scattered purple ink mist, which was then completely frozen and purified by the following biting cold wave, turning into nothingness.

"puff--!"

The woman in black was struck as if by a severe blow; her body trembled violently, and she staggered backward, barely managing to regain her balance by using her pen for support. Beneath her veil, a trickle of bright red blood quickly seeped out, staining a small patch of her pale chin crimson. The forced activation of "Tiger's Roar in the Ink Forest," violently broken, had backfired, damaging her internal organs and causing her breathing to instantly weaken and become disordered.

"Shall we continue?" Nie Lingfeng slowly withdrew his fist, the chilling aura surrounding him quickly receding. He calmly looked at the black-clad woman with blood at the corner of her mouth. "Your 'Divine Path' is indeed strange and difficult to defend against, but your foundation seems still shallow. Forcibly activating a higher level of 'Transformation' is putting too much strain on you. If you continue, the damage will extend beyond your internal organs."

The woman in black gripped the "Mo Yu" pen tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force. Behind her veil, her cold eyes were fixed on Nie Lingfeng, churning with resentment, bitterness, shock, and a hint of helplessness and...humiliation—a feeling she herself hadn't even realized—regarding the absolute disparity in strength.

Just as she clenched her teeth, seemingly about to fight to the death—

"Who's there?! What are you doing in the middle of the night?! Stop it right now!"

A loud, clear roar, filled with obvious anger, came from the edge of the forest like a thunderclap, breaking the deathly silence and standoff in the woods! It was Xu Si's voice!

Immediately afterwards, several bright beams of flashlight pierced the darkness like swords, sweeping haphazardly through the woods. The sound of footsteps, chaotic yet rapid, approached from afar, clearly indicating that there was more than one person.

The woman in black's eyes shifted violently, and finally, all her emotions coalesced into a suppressed, cold snort. She gave Nie Lingfeng a deep, unfathomable look, her gaze ultimately sealed by a resolute, icy chill.

"withdraw!"

At a command, the remaining five assassins in black were granted a reprieve. They quickly helped up their comrades who were still able to move (those who were frozen or had broken bones), and without even having time to pick up their fallen weapons, they disappeared into the dark forest behind them like the receding tide. Their movements were still swift, showing their extremely high level of training.

The woman in black glanced one last time at the direction of the approaching flashlight beam, then without further hesitation, her figure blurred, like a wisp of weightless black smoke, silently merging into the deepest shadows of the trees and disappearing from sight.

A few seconds later, Xu San and Xu Si, along with three or four employees of Na Du Tong, arrived breathlessly at the clearing in the woods. As their flashlights swept over the remaining traces of the fight, the lingering frost, and the charred, corroded ink stains, their expressions turned extremely grave.

"Xiao Feng! Bao Bao! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Xu Si rushed over and anxiously looked Nie Lingfeng and Feng Bao Bao up and down.

"I'm fine, Fourth Brother." Nie Lingfeng shook his head, indicating that he was alright. "Those few ignorant thieves have already been dealt with."

Xu San crouched down, dipped his finger in the still-wet purple ink on the ground, smelled it, and then carefully examined the frost and scorch marks. His brows furrowed. "Is it the Wang family? This ink... it's the Wang family's unique 'Bone-Corroding Ink' from their 'Divine Paint.' Who came? Did that old bastard Wang Ai personally intervene?"

"It's not Wang Ai," Nie Lingfeng said. "It's a young woman, masked, wielding a black pen covered in runes, claiming she's there to avenge her brother. She's probably Wang Bing's sister or a very close relative."

"Wang Yanran!" Xu Si blurted out, his face turning even uglier. "One of Wang Ai's most valued granddaughters, her talent is said to surpass even Wang Bing's. She has deeply inherited the true essence of 'Divine Paint,' and rarely goes out. I didn't expect her to come in person this time... Xiao Feng, you must be extra careful these next two days! This woman is notoriously protective and vengeful, and her methods are far more ruthless than that good-for-nothing Wang Bing! Wang Ai sending her here is probably not just about getting revenge!"

"I know." Nie Lingfeng nodded, his gaze fixed on the darkness where the woman in black had disappeared, his eyes deep.

Wang Yanran...

The name, along with her cold, resentful yet beautiful eyes, and that eerie "Mo Yu" pen, were imprinted in his memory.

"Let's go," Xu San stood up, dusted off his hands, and said seriously, "Let's go back first. We can't stay here any longer. Tomorrow is the final, and we absolutely cannot afford any mistakes. Once we get back, I will immediately send more people to guard your residence."

The group quickly left the forest clearing where a brief but dangerous encounter had just taken place, and headed back towards the lawn on the back mountain where the bonfire party had not yet completely ended.

When they returned to the lawn, the party was nearing its end. The bonfire was still burning, but most people were already staggering. Zhang Chulan was completely drunk, supported by Lu Linglong and Zhi Jinhua on either side, his head slumped, muttering incoherent babbling. One could vaguely hear words like "virgin...proud...I can still drink..."

Nie Lingfeng shook his head helplessly as he looked at his disheveled and comical appearance.

Tomorrow is the final...

Hopefully, this unreliable guy won't cause any trouble in the ring.

The cool moonlight quietly enveloped Longhu Mountain, which was gradually returning to tranquility. The embers of the campfire flickered uncertainly in the night wind, like some smoldering, unextinguished flames lurking in the shadows.