Honkai Star Rail: I am Godzilla, domineering and rampant.

It was one thing for Feixiao not to come, but this match involved the disciple and granddaughter of the other two generals, and they still didn't show up?

-----------------------------------------

Despite having a thousand doubts in her heart, she was quickly influenced by the fiery atmosphere at the scene.

On the arena stage, with Owlbert's impassioned voice announcing the start, the two gripped their weapons tightly at the same time and charged toward each other!

"Clang!"

The flying sword and the heavy iron collided, sending dazzling sparks scattering in all directions.

Their figures darted about like ghosts, and at first glance, the spacious arena seemed almost a burden to them.

"Wow! Are they both really that amazing?!" March 7th widened her eyes, her cheering toy stopping in her hands as her pupils followed the two figures darting back and forth across the stage.

Thanks to the keen eyesight of an archer, she could still clearly track the two figures moving rapidly about the arena!

"They're actually this strong." Firefly marveled as she watched the two go back and forth.

As a Stellaron Hunter who carried out tasks all across the universe, she had encountered far more enemies than most present. She understood well how fierce the clash between Yanqing and Yunli was.

As expected of the Xianzhou, its foundations ran deep!

Compared to their shock, Stelle stood with arms crossed, rubbing her chin with her right hand, looking puzzled.

"Something's off. Very off. Yunli, sure… but since when was Yanqing this strong?"

Back when Yanqing was still on Jarilo-VI, Stelle had already continued traveling on the Astral Express with everyone. So her impression of Yanqing's strength remained as it had been back then.

She wasn't too clear on Yunli's ability, but Yanqing's… she knew all too well!

Did this kid eat some kind of miraculous elixir? He's actually this fierce now.

...

"Heh-ha!" Trailing sparks, Yunli brought her heavy sword down hard! The solid planks of the arena floor trembled under the blow.

Fortunately, when the stage was built, someone had the foresight to prepare.

'These participant's are going to be swinging their weapons without abandon, if we're not careful, they might smash the arena to pieces. If the quality isn't top-notch, it'd ruin my reputation!'

Incidentally, considering the growth in both of their strengths and that this would be a match where they'd go all out, the Artisanship Commission had even invited skilled craftsmen from the Vidyadhara to help with construction.

"Is dodging all you can do?!" Yunli taunted.

Hearing this, Yanqing steadied his footing and chuckled. "Yours is a great sword, mine's a flying sword, we're walking two different paths. You can't expect me to just take you head-on like that, can you?"

Although Yunli's plain-looking heavy sword seemed unimpressive, a great sword without an edge could crush countless weapons by sheer weight alone. Yanqing was confident he could block her strikes, but his sword could not.

After all, each of his swords had been bought with his salary, and he had more than once had to ask the General for aid at the end of the month. He wasn't about to let one get ruined in this match.

Yunli didn't care, she swung her sword down again.

The strength of the granddaughter of General Huaiyan was displayed in full.

Yanqing met her head-on. The two exchanged blows, countering move after move. As they often sparred, they were familiar with each other's rhythms, though occasionally the other would throw in an unexpected move.

One used the light sword style, the other the great sword techniques.

The two of them refused to give ground, and the match's intensity made the audience feel their ticket was worth it for this battle alone!

"Heh-!!"

Seeing she couldn't break through, Yunli struck from a tricky angle, raising her heavy sword high.

The broad blade caught the sunlight, its gleam fierce, as she tried to overpower him with brute force!

Seeing this, Yanqing's eyes lit up. He guided his flying sword upward to meet Yunli's swing!

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

...

The metallic ringing came in rapid succession, all within the blink of an eye. By the time Yunli realized what was happening, Yanqing's sword was already poised, its tip aimed precisely at the point where her hand met the hilt!

Yunli reacted quickly, but at such close quarters, her reaction was useless.

At the final strike, her wrist, sore from the impacts, inevitably loosened, and the sword slipped from her grasp.

Bang!

The heavy blade embedded itself in the arena floor.

For most, losing their weapon would mean defeat, but Yunli was different. With her monstrous strength, she was confident she could still win bare-handed!

And just then, after a brief moment of surprise, she noticed that Yanqing was also without a sword.

Her eyes lit up instantly.

'Time to show you that a true swordsman can win even without a sword!'

She threw a punch! Yanqing brought his hands together to block.

Feeling the force behind her punch, Yanqing's expression changed slightly. Although he had exchanged blows with Yunli bare-handed plenty of times, facing such raw strength always left him a bit helpless.

Same age, yet what on earth had she eaten to grow like this?!

But…

"It's not just you who have trained your fists and feet!"

With a short shout, Yanqing made no attempt to block her next punch, he was already close enough!

Now, it was his turn!

Before Yunli could realize what was happening, her fist had already made "close contact" with Yanqing's face.

The powerful impact distorted his features slightly, but Yanqing ignored it, forming his hand into a blade and swinging it down fiercely!

"..."

"..."

When Yanqing's hand stopped at Yunli's throat, the outcome of the match was already decided.

"Wow! What an amazing match this was! The two genius swordsmen were evenly matched in swordplay, and their hand-to-hand combat was even more thrilling! In the very end, our very own genius swordsman, that is, Cloud Knight Lieutenant Yanqing, won this victory through sheer grit! Let us congratulate him!"

As Owlbert's voice of congratulations fell, the scene instantly erupted with thunderous cheers and applause!

At this moment, the audience was in an uproar.

"Hiss , that looked painful just watching!" March 7th shivered, showing her respect for Yanqing's feat of taking a punch to the face.

If it were her, no way she could do it. If Yunli, with that strength of hers, hit herself in the face with that heavy blade, she wouldn't dare leave the house for half a month!

"Yanqing's fighting style…"

Very strange, extremely strange.

Stelle couldn't help but find it more and more peculiar, feeling that Yanqing's fighting style was very similar to someone she knew.

Especially the method of trading injury for injury at the end, Cloud Knight Lieutenants shouldn't have such a fighting style, right?

...

It wasn't just them, even Yunli was deeply shocked by Yanqing's final move.

"You guy, how did you pull that off! I thought you were going to be sent flying just now!"

Yunli's eyes went wide, staring in disbelief at Yanqing, who had mostly recovered already, at least on the surface, no injuries could be seen.

"Practice makes perfect. Your fighting style is too easy to read," Yanqing said with a light chuckle.

"Even so, that's still ridiculous! How did you train your body? How are you stronger than me, who grew up in the Jade Mirror?"

Yunli still didn't understand. Anyone with eyes could guess her fighting style, a great sword was meant to overpower opponents, and without it, her physical strength wouldn't disappear. Besides, she had sparred with Yanqing many times.

But this match in particular left her baffled. Why was this guy's body so unbelievably resilient?

Being close up, she saw it clearly. In that fight, after she struck Yanqing, he seemed about to be sent flying, yet he planted his feet firmly on the ground, took her punch directly to the face, and then counterattacked.

Although the Xianzhou did have training methods that focused on physical aspects, this didn't seem the same at all!

"Heh, I'll explain it to you later when I have time, I am still a participant now."

The two were still under the arena stage. As a contender, Yanqing had to face more than just Yunli's challenge.

The Luminary Wardance would send out invitations, those who received them would directly join the challenge and fight Yanqing.

In other words, Yanqing still had many challenges ahead.

However, after seeing his feat of taking a punch to the face, every subsequent challenger decided firmly not to engage in close combat with Yanqing.

As for those who did rely on close combat… well, lucky them.

...

In the Scalegorge Waterscape.

Witnessing how Yanqing defeated Yunli, Godzilla blinked and instinctively swished his tail.

His instincts told him that Yanqing's ability to take a punch to the face was somehow related to him.

...

Some place away from the Shackling Prison, where Jing Yuan and Huaiyan were located.

"General Jing Yuan, someone is requesting an audience outside."

"Oh? At this time, who would it be?"

Hearing this, Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow and shook his head slightly at Huaiyan, this wasn't in his plan.

However, plans rarely keep up with changes, and so the visitor was summoned in without delay.

Not long after, an old scholar was brought in.

Jing Yuan vaguely remembered this elder: "Sir, what brings you here?"

"I am Boers, paying my respects to the Divine Foresight General and General Huaiyan," Boers began.

"Oh? Professor Boers, I've read your articles before, they were excellent. Having such a distinguished guest visit the Xianzhou truly brings honor to us," Huaiyan said with a chuckle.

"Professor Boers, how is it that someone of your stature has time to visit the Luofu? Are you perhaps here on vacation, to watch the Luminary Wardance?"

Hearing their words, Boers shook his head with a hint of embarrassment.

"Generals, I have come to the Xianzhou this time to apologize."

At these words, Jing Yuan and Huaiyan exchanged glances.

They didn't understand.

"To be frank, I was recently expelled from the Intelligentsia Guild, and now I am a free man, traveling with my students in search of a place to settle."

"The expulsion Professor Boers refers to, could it be because of that recent incident?"

"Indeed, precisely so. I took a wrong step, and it is only right that I pay the price," Boers nodded, openly admitting it.

They all understood what the expulsion was about.

Recently, there had been a purge that left the IPC's Technology Department and the Intelligentsia Guild reeling after the aftermath of the Three Aeon's Incident.

Those involved in serious cases were dealt with directly, while those only connected and not privy to the deeper issues were expelled and cast out from the IPC or the Intelligentsia Guild.

Clearly, Boers fell into the latter category.

"In the first half of my life, I achieved some small successes, that is the key reason I was able to keep my life and protect my students this time."

Boers had no intention of hiding anything, there was no point.

"This time, I have come shamelessly to ask the Xianzhou to give my students a chance to live."

"Professor Boers, you overstate it. With your knowledge, you would be treated with respect anywhere in the universe, why would you need the Xianzhou's protection?"

"...My time is running short. After I die, can they rely on their learning alone to survive in the harsh world beyond the districts?" Boers sighed.

He knew his students well, they could do academic research, but in other areas… best not to mention it.

"Professor Boers, since you know what you've done, you should also understand what that means to the Xianzhou."

After a moment of silence, Jing Yuan spoke.

Luofu was large, and they didn't mind if this group of scholars settled there. But whether they could survive would be their own affair.

If necessary, working on the docks moving goods was also a way to live, Xianzhou had no obligation to spoon-feed them.

"That's why I prepared a gift."

At these words, the two of them looked at Boers curiously.

"Not long ago, the Borisin ordered a batch of short-term strength-enhancing drugs from us… They had ordered them before as well."

"So what do you mean, Professor?" Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes and asked.

"I added something to that batch. After it takes effect, even if it doesn't make them completely weak and limp, it will at least make them unable to easily resist the Luofu Cloud Knights."

"..."

"..."

A dirty trick, but a useful one… In fact, more tricks like this would be nice.

"I won't trouble you two generals. Among my students, two disciples know where that material came from. The others were just pulled in by me to pad their résumés, useless loafers who know nothing of it. You don't need to take in those two, but if you could arrange some work for the rest so they can feed themselves, that would be enough."

What else could they do in this situation? The old professor's decisiveness surprised them.

No wonder he'd made a name for himself in the universe, his ruthlessness alone was enough.

After a short pause, Jing Yuan said, "Once the Cloud Knights finish their inspection, if there's nothing wrong, arranging some work won't be a problem."

"Hehe, thank you, General." Hearing the answer, Boers smiled happily.

Most of his students were neither strong nor skilled, their knowledge insufficient, and now they were expelled from the IPC and the Intelligentsia Guild, carrying a notorious reputation. Few normal factions would take them in.

With no other choice, he could only turn to the Xianzhou, which had the backing of Godzilla.

He didn't care about himself, he was old, but his students were still young.

Of course, it was also because most of them didn't know exactly what had happened and had merely been implicated. Otherwise, he wouldn't have even thought of this.

One thing was certain: These students alone would have a hard time surviving, this world was far from safe.

...

The Shackling Prison.

A group of people quickly arrived at the lowest level.

Along the way, the prison's tight defenses shocked them.

"As expected, this is where Lord Hoolay is being held!" Such strict security had to be for imprisoning Hoolay!

To be treated with such caution by the Xianzhou proved just how powerful the Borisin had been under Lord Hoolay's rule.

Soon, once Lord Hoolay returned to the Hunt, the Borisin would surely rise again!

The era of the Borisin hunting the stars would come once more!

"Everyone, take the medicine. After we rescue Lord Hoolay, move straight away!"

...

Watching them swallow the special pills, a faint smile appeared on Jing Yuan's face.

"Notify the Cloud Knights, the doors can be closed."

"Yes!"

...

Central Starskiff Haven.

A Borisin man searching for opportunities and dangers suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

His instincts instantly put him on alert as he nervously looked around.

The busy street seemed unchanged, but at some point, the people playing with children, drinking tea, and fortune-telling at stalls… apart from the Borisin mingling among them, all the others had stopped moving and were staring directly at the stunned Borisin.

Among those who first noticed something was wrong were also Borisin.

Nearly thirty people, the snack stall owner, the tea shop boss, the bun shop seller, had all sorts of identities.

Before he could react,

"Hu!"

A chorus of clothes rustling filled the air. Looking again, the once-honest, kind, simple-looking civilians… were gone.

In their place, gleaming Cloud Knight armor, sharp formation blades, and eyes full of intent.

"Not good! An ambu-" He never got to finish the last word before a blade cut him down instantly.

...

The same scene played out in Stargazer Navalia and Cloudford…

In all crowded areas, people suddenly donned Cloud Knight armor and struck down the Borisin they had surrounded.

At first, the Borisin still had the strength to resist. But as time passed, soon they all felt their limbs weaken, until they couldn't even run before the Cloud Knights took their heads.

In Central Starskiff Haven, Yukong held a bow, exuding majesty.

"Central Starskiff Haven is under control. What about the others?"

"Stargazer Navalia is fine. At Cloudford, some Borisin tried to seize starships to escape, but after minor unrest they were suppressed."

Listening to the report in her ear, Yukong tilted her head slightly.

She lifted her gaze to the Skysplitter in the sky.

"Nothing happened."

...

The Shackling Prison.

No one inside knew what was happening outside.