The central jade tournament platform floats amid mist, banners, and packed terraces. The semifinal is about to begin under imperial supervision.

The announcement lands in the stands and on the platform, turning excitement into scandal.

Liang Zhen enters the platform with ceremonial calm, turning the test into a public declaration of interest.

Yue recognizes the true motive behind the official language, while Cheng Yi responds to Liang Zhen with hungry interest.

The duel begins under official rules, but Liang's realm pressure makes the imbalance immediately clear.

Yue opens with the ugly, practical tactics that once protected her from Cheng Yi's sympathy wounds, but Liang shuts them down before they matter.

Liang reads Yue's Shen footwork and seals each escape before she can use it.

Yue keeps choosing ugly survival, but Cheng Yi's dissatisfaction and Liang's pressure grow together.

Liang proves he can deflect Cheng Yi itself, not just Yue's body, using his guarded meridians as a shield.

Liang's courtesy becomes more dangerous because he keeps Yue alive while removing every harmless choice.

Yue calculates that Liang has left her only one way to survive the exchange: the kind of beautiful strike Cheng Yi loves.

Cheng Yi pushes for beauty, while Yue tries to hold onto control.

Yue resists one more time and pays for the refusal in ordinary pain instead of sympathy wounds.

Liang makes the consequence plain: Yue can either produce Cheng Yi's true value or be removed from the tournament.

Yue chooses to open herself to Cheng Yi just enough, bargaining for one line instead of surrendering completely.

Cheng Yi's true marriage form begins to manifest around Yue's sword arm, beautiful and frightening.

Yue, Cheng Yi, and survival instinct align into a single clean approach.

The most beautiful strike of Yue's life cuts through Liang's guard-meridians without touching bone.

The arena falls silent as everyone recognizes the perfection of the strike before the cost appears.

The sympathy price hits Yue: three matching meridian wounds open across her own body.

Liang Zhen shifts from tester to suitor, kneeling before Yue while she bleeds on the platform.

Liang explains the imperial marriage seal in plain terms as the political witnesses realize what is being offered.

Yue sees the offer's cost from every direction: her father wants the imperial advantage, Bei Rong cannot help, and Cheng Yi is afraid.

Yue's blood-slick hand reaches toward Liang's golden seal, leaving her choice unresolved.