With March 7th's current skills, mere Aurumaton were naturally no match for her, and she dealt with them in no time.

Although her sword techniques were still quite raw, some of her tricks indeed exceeded Yanqing's expectations, making him marvel: "These are truly some strange and peculiar skills, but to be able to incorporate them into sword moves so naturally, this is enough to be called Miss March 7th's own unique specialty."

"I had thought that Miss March 7th wandering around at Yunli's instigation was a waste of time, but it seems it wasn't entirely a waste."

Yunli gave a soft huff: "How is it that some masters are still so stubborn?"

"Thank you for your guidance, two little masters. So, did I successfully pass the test? Did I?"

Yunli nodded: "Without a doubt, you passed."

March 7th glanced at Stelle on the side: "Yay! Stelle, shouldn't you praise me..."

"If you pass the next test, I'll praise you."

March 7th pouted in dissatisfaction: "Praise the next one next time, praise this one this time. No credit allowed."

"March 7th is amazing! You've mastered a unique specialty!"

"Hehe! I won't be modest this time; I really have improved quite a bit!"

Yanqing: "The General also told me before that when learning the sword, I shouldn't be picky about my teachers. Not just Cloud Knights instructors, but also various wandering performers, foreign friends... To be honest, I was once shown sword swallowing by Miss Guinaifen, and that is indeed a skill you can't learn in sword practice."

— — The Legend of Hei.

"Does sword swallowing help with learning the sword?"

Xiao Hei perked up his ears. He imagined the scene of Yanqing swallowing a flying sword into his stomach and hurriedly shook his head — too terrifying.

Luye sipped her tea, her face still wearing that calm and indifferent expression.

"It does," she said.

"Eh? Really?" Xiao Hei leaned in closer, "Is learning sword swallowing part of achieving 'unity of man and sword'? And overcoming the body's fear of the sword along the way?"

"How could it be?" Luye put down her teacup and turned to look at Xiao Hei, "If one day you get beaten into a cripple on the battlefield and end up destitute on the streets, you can still perform sword swallowing on the street to support yourself... Come to think of it, it's quite practical."

"What kind of help is that? Besides, this isn't 'helping with learning the sword' at all, it's 'helping after failing to learn the sword'!"

"Is there a difference?" Luye tilted her head, "It's help either way."

— —

Yunli asked: "March 7th, what do you think your chances of winning are?"

"Three or four out of ten?"

"You've already beaten him three times, why does it seem like your confidence has gone backwards?"

March 7th held up a finger and waved it triumphantly in front of her: "Hmph, you don't understand. Heroes in plays always hide their true strength before a battle begins."

Stelle nodded: "That makes sense. After all, those who usually say 'I will win' end up losing."

"Sigh, that's experience talking."

...

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"You're telling me that March 7th was actually able to use a sword to knock down an Artisanship Commission Automaton? Tsk tsk tsk, a mere Xianzhou Automaton, how can it compare to the IPC's mechs!" Scott ordered, "Go and deploy the best mechs nearby! Then thicken and reinforce them. I don't believe that little piece of scrap metal can really go up against our cutting-edge technology!"

"But, the armor is already very thick."

"Not enough, keep adding more!! Losing face for me is equivalent to losing face for the IPC and the Amber Lord. Can you afford to lose that?"

The IPC employee muttered quietly: "Isn't that already lost three times..."

"You shut up!!!"

— — Dragon Raja.

"I'm afraid Scott only just realized that March 7th has been toying with him for three times, not because of a lack of strength, but simply because her friends just wanted to mess with him." Caesar smiled.

Looking at the Tokyo Tower in the distance, its spire pierced into the clouds like a sharp divine sword. Amidst the rolling dark clouds, it was like the Kusanagi Sword in mythology, which split open the thick body of the Yamata no Orochi after slaying it — if little March 7th used such a divine sword, she could probably easily slice through the IPC's mechs, right?

...No, wait, even a national treasure like the Kusanagi Sword is probably just cheap wholesale goods on the roadside in the Zhuming Xianzhou, and General Huaiyan probably wouldn't even look at it.

"Can you take that guy out with Murasame?" Caesar pointed at the Automaton that had fallen and shattered into a pile of parts on the Celestial Screen.

"No," Johann Chu said indifferently, "Usually, to deal with things like this, I would apply for special weapons from the Equipment Department, like a rocket launcher or something. No normal person would risk using a blade to take care of these things."

"That's true... Speaking of which, when did I get the illusion that March 7th was also a normal person?" Caesar rubbed his head, "These guys walking on the Path are not normal people. Only they could pull off the operation of hacking a mech to pieces with a sword."

Sometimes Caesar suspected that these people were not even carbon-based life forms. What kind of carbon-based life form could withstand attacks from Dominicus and Phantylia head-on?

— —

...

"Is it hard for her?"

When Stelle saw March 7th hold out for over ten minutes against Yanqing's attacks without being defeated, she felt greatly shocked.

"Not bad, Miss March 7th, to have held out until now. It seems your swordsmanship has improved quite a bit." Yanqing slowly put away his flying sword and applauded.

"Oh oh oh oh oh!" March 7th excitedly raised her hands in celebration.

"The test is over, the real trial is just beginning."

March 7th gave a light huff: "Although what you said makes sense, this isn't the time to brush me off. Hurry up and praise me."

"Congratulations to March 7th for joining the 'Defeated Yanqing Club'."

March 7th said embarrassedly: "Actually, I didn't defeat Master Yan Qing..."

"I remember Yanqing said at the time, 'There are many ways to defeat a group of villains, but if you want to become a "heroic martial artist," there is no shortcut other than improving yourself.'," Yunli said, "March 7th, do you feel you are closer to your ideal 'heroic martial artist' now?"

March 7th nodded solemnly: "Of course! The 'heroic martial artist' in my heart would do exactly that!"

On the day of the scheduled duel with Scott, March 7th arrived at the Aurum Alley docks early. After waiting for a while, Scott and his henchmen finally arrived slowly.

The mechs behind him were clearly different from the previous few times; not only were there more heat-based weapons mounted on them, but their size had also increased significantly.

"Look, isn't that our heroine March 7th?"

"Hmph, this young lady didn't hide or run. You issued the challenge, so I naturally came to accept it." March 7th glanced at the weapons fully loaded on the mechs behind him, then looked around at the crowd watching the spectacle, and said with some concern: "...There's something I've been wanting to ask for a long time. Why did you have to choose Aurum Alley? There are quite a lot of tourists here; it wouldn't be good if someone got accidentally injured."

"Why Aurum Alley? Do you even need to ask me??!"

"I specifically chose Aurum Alley because I need to let those folks who mocked me come and watch. They will be surprised, 'Ah—?! Why is that Scott back again? What is he going to do this time?'," Scott gritted his teeth, "They will see that the Scott who was publicly humiliated back then has returned to Aurum Alley to wash away his shame!"

He had learned enough pig calls and dog barks; it was like an ever-accumulating prize pool. As long as he won once, he could take it all back!

"I must let the folks hear clearly: the one who will be making animal noises here today won't be me, but you—!"