80: Chapter 80 Xiao Qingwu Admits Defeat

The previously balanced battle situation instantly tipped, the six hundred Xueli Ice Luan instantly falling into a disadvantage as the all-encompassing frozen formation was torn apart layer by layer by the holy light and the extreme cold power rapidly receded, completely and firmly placing the initiative of the battlefield in Bai Ruoxue's hands.

A flash of sharp light dimmed in the depths of Xiao Qingwu's eyes, and she instantly saw through the battle situation.

Bai Ruoxue's foundation was far too profound; the quality of the Angel Legion was unsolvable, its endurance was extremely strong, and its holy attributes were maxed out. Continuing to fight head-on would only waste all the combat power of the Ice Luan in vain, and might even cause heavy damage to her core subordinate race, resulting in losses that outweighed the gains.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Qingwu decisively reined in her divine kingdom, raised her hand, and spoke in a clear, crisp, and resonant voice: "I concede."

This clean and neat concession, without any dragging of feet, fully displayed the perspicacity and decisiveness of a top pride of heaven.

The referee immediately pronounced judgment. Bai Ruoxue won and gained three points, firmly sitting at the top of the leaderboard, and her undefeated golden body remained solid.

The two of them exited successively, and the arena entered a brief stage of rest and review.

The organizing committee immediately publicized the remaining schedule for the morning and the arrangement for the ultimate decisive battle in the afternoon.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, the last two key battles of the semi-final round-robin tournament would begin: the first match, Lin Ye VS Xiao Qingwu; the second match, Zhou Mingzhi VS Bai Ruoxue.

As for the ultimate peak showdown that would decide the ownership of first place in this Quanzhou League, it would be uniformly postponed to start in the afternoon, leaving the two proud prodigies with ample time to rest, adjust, and prepare for battle.

Soon, the rest time ended, and eleven o'clock in the morning arrived punctually.

Under the gaze of all, Lin Ye and Xiao Qingwu stepped onto the stage one after another, standing opposite each other in a standoff, starting their fated duel.

Yet just as the audience held their breath and concentrated, quietly awaiting the ultimate collision of ice and fiendish aura, before the referee could even announce the start of the match, Xiao Qingwu on the opposite side directly raised her hand, her cool and pleasant voice resounding through the entire venue: "I concede."

As soon as these words fell, the entire audience was in an uproar. Everyone wore bewildered expressions, never expecting that this eagerly anticipated duel would end in such a hasty manner.

On the arena stage, Lin Ye's brows instantly furrowed tightly, and the calm smile on his face completely faded. He looked helplessly at the cool and peerlessly beautiful campus belle prodigy before him, his tone carrying a bit of seriousness and banter: "Campus Belle Xiao, I know I'm handsome, just a tiny bit worse than the reader lords, but there's no need to intentionally yield to me. I don't need your concessions, nor do I need you to deliberately show gratitude and try to please me. The battles that need to be fought, I can win myself."

He had always won by strength, and he disliked such concessions without a fight the most, let alone being willing to take even the slightest advantage of the other party.

Facing Lin Ye's seriousness, Xiao Qingwu didn't have a shred of a smile. With an open and earnest expression, she slowly stated the true reason for her concession.

"I don't know whether you're handsome or not!"

"But my concession is neither a yielding nor out of gratitude."

"My destined Dao path specializes in the Ice Dao. The Xueli Ice Luan combines offense, defense, and crowd control. It seems unsolvable, but our awakening time has been too short. From beginning to end, I have only cultivated this single kind of subordinate race, with no other auxiliary battle, attrition, or raid subordinate races. My lineup is single-faceted, without any room for error."

"And you are different."

Xiao Qingwu looked steadily at Lin Ye, her logic clear and every word true: "Your subordinate race system is complete. Your fiendish aura is domineering and unsolvable, your plague excels at continuous erosion, the Soul-Devouring Owl counters souls, and the Shahun Hound charges at the front. With close and distant matching, both offense and defense are covered, and your numbers far exceed mine."

"If we were to truly go all out in battle, even if my six hundred Ice Luan possess top-tier combat power, they would be slowly worn down and ground to death layer by layer by your multi-system subordinate races. I have almost zero possibility of turning the tables."

"Rather than fighting a bound-to-lose battle and pointlessly wasting my final core combat power, it is better to actively concede and let you preserve all your strength intact."

Speaking up to this point, a trace of firmness flashed through the depths of her eyes, and she said softly: "Within Quanzhou, only you have the chance to defeat Bai Ruoxue head-on. My abstention is not showing weakness; it is to have you go all out, to win this ultimate decisive battle for me and for all the proud prodigies suppressed by the divine bloodline, and to break Bai Ruoxue's undefeated myth."

As these words landed, open and perspicacious, her overarching perspective was fully displayed.

Hearing this, Lin Ye was slightly startled. His tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and understanding instantly dawned in his heart.

The arena staff quickly took their places, followed immediately by the final round-robin duel of this round—Zhou Mingzhi facing off against Bai Ruoxue.

Zhou Mingzhi took a deep breath, calmly stepped onto the stage, and faced this sole SSS-rank proud prodigy of Quanzhou.

He had long anticipated this in his heart, but he still wanted to experience for himself just what kind of might the Divine Dao—which had suppressed his entire track—truly possessed.

Bai Ruoxue remained cool and ethereal. Without any superfluous movements, she gently opened her divine kingdom, and hundreds of Six-Winged Angels hovered in mid-air. Holy light poured down across the sky, blanketing the entire arena.

A holy aura that was pure, immaculate, and capable of purifying all dark evils instantly enveloped the entire venue.

Merely a wisp of holy light brushing past their bodies caused the undead subordinate races within Zhou Mingzhi's divine kingdom to instantly become restless. Their soul fires flickered violently, generating an instinctive sense of fear and dissolution. The surface of countless undead skeletons rapidly turned grayish-white with frost, and the chilling undead black mist was forcibly evaporated, purified, and disintegrated by the holy light.

Without needing to start the battle, the outcome was already decided.

Zhou Mingzhi understood completely in his heart; this was a natural suppression at the dimensional level.

Unless the original quality and hierarchical height of his undead subordinate races could match the holy origin of the Six-Winged Angel, no matter how great their numbers or how unsolvable their endurance, stepping onto the stage would simply be throwing away their lives in vain, lacking even the qualification for close-quarters combat.

There was no need to struggle for even a fraction of a second; Zhou Mingzhi cleanly and decisively raised his hand: "I concede."

An eagerly anticipated top-tier duel once again concluded with a rapid concession.

At this moment, the audience could finally no longer hold it in, and their pent-up dissatisfaction instantly erupted.

The audience members bought tickets to watch the matches, camped out for live broadcasts across the entire network, and stayed up late to watch the ultimate semi-finals, only to watch peak battles and prodigies match wits—not to watch successive concessions and going through the motions from start to finish!

Out of three consecutive duels, two were abstentions and one was an instant concession, with almost no head-on combat throughout. Jeers arose all over the arena, bullet screens flooded with complaints, and public opinion at the site became completely restless.

The event organizing committee wore ugly expressions. With no other choice, they could only urgently consult and once again temporarily change the competition format and add matches.

To give back to the audience, make up for the match's highlights, and finalize the final rankings, the official authorities immediately announced on the spot: the addition of a third and fourth-place playoff! Xiao Qingwu would face off against Zhou Mingzhi to determine the third and fourth places of this league!

As soon as the announcement came out, the restless atmosphere of the entire audience slightly calmed down. Everyone's gaze focused on the arena once more, quietly awaiting this supplementary match.

Regarding Bai Ruoxue, Zhou Mingzhi was thoroughly convinced from the bottom of his heart. That was a pure attribute Dao suppression—holy countered dead/undead, an absolute crushing at the track level that could not be reversed by human effort or trump cards.

But regarding Xiao Qingwu, he still harbored a trace of unwillingness and wishful thinking in his heart.

Although ice crowd control countered the undead, it was not the unsolvable natural crushing of the holy attribute. Even though his win rate was low, it didn't mean he had no chance at all.

Even if there was only a sliver of possibility, he wanted to try it with his own hands, unwilling to simply tie his hands and concede, finishing the tournament in such a cowardly manner.