Infinity, The Arcade Age

Boom! A thunderous explosion erupted inside the ship's cabin, the deafening sound shaking the entire vessel.

A rapidly spinning fire wheel shot forward, colliding head-on with multiple incoming Sonic Blades.

Flames surged violently as the fire wheel shattered three of the Sonic Blades, but in the end, it was completely neutralized and dissipated.

The remaining three Sonic Blades pierced through the flames, slashing toward Zhao Yun, whose expression instantly changed.

He hadn't expected to lose in a direct clash of ultimate techniques. Panicking, he planted his spear on the ground and flipped into a handstand, narrowly avoiding the deadly attack as the blades sliced past him.

The moment his feet touched the ground again, he swung his spear in a wide arc, activating Three Kingdoms Split as he lunged forward, aiming a crushing strike at Qin Ming's head!

Hearing the sharp whistle of the descending spear, Qin Ming's neck muscles tensed. But this time, instead of dodging, he crossed his arms and braced himself for impact.

A resounding clang echoed as the long spear smashed into his armored bracers.

Forced down onto one knee by the sheer force, Qin Ming's expression twisted in a fierce snarl. Flames ignited along his arms, traveling from the bracers onto the spear shaft and spreading toward Zhao Yun.

Feeling his hands suddenly ignite, Zhao Yun instinctively recoiled, hurriedly backing away.

After quickly glancing at his arms and realizing the flames weren't actually harming him, he exhaled in relief.

But he had let his guard down too soon.

By the time he noticed, Qin Ming had already exploded forward with blinding speed.

Seeing him charge in, Zhao Yun reflexively raised his spear to block—but this time, his spear failed to withstand the impact!

With a loud crack, Qin Ming's flaming fist slammed into the spear shaft, snapping it in half!

Before Zhao Yun could even react, Qin Ming's iron fist continued forward, slamming into his chest with unstoppable force!

The impact sent Zhao Yun hurtling backward.

Crash! He smashed into a stack of wooden crates, shattering them into splinters as he landed in the wreckage.

Dreamlike Flames of Shiranui! Defense Reduction Activated!

By channeling his bloodline power, Qin Ming had burned the Dragon Gallant Spear into a weakened state, making it brittle enough to break with a single punch. Seeing Zhao Yun sprawled out, he immediately lunged forward, intending to finish him off.

But just as he reached Zhao Yun—a flash of cold light streaked toward him.

In the next instant, a chilling sword strike appeared before his eyes.

Reacting on instinct, he raised an arm to block.

A crisp crack rang out.

Qin Ming's eyes widened as he watched his golden bracer get pierced straight through.

A chilling frost spread from the point of impact—his entire arm froze solid in an instant!

"Huh?!"

Buzz!

Before he could even process what had happened, another icy sword strike slashed toward him!

This time, Qin Ming didn't dare to block. He hastily retreated, barely dodging the attack.

He took several hurried steps backward, narrowly evading six or seven rapid slashes, cold sweat forming on his forehead.

With a final Sonic Blade, he forced Zhao Yun back and finally widened the gap between them. His gaze locked onto the sword in Zhao Yun's hand, and his eye twitched violently.

His opponent, who had just lost his spear, had somehow drawn a completely different weapon out of nowhere!

The long sword gleamed with an icy blue hue, its blade emanating a chilling frost. It was razor-sharp, almost unnaturally so.

With a single slash, it had sliced through Qin Ming's golden bracer, completely bypassing its 50 points of extra defense—and it even inflicted a freezing effect on impact.

Just one strike had left Qin Ming's arm bleeding profusely!

The power of this sword was downright terrifying.

Even more chilling were the two bold characters engraved along the sword's spine:

"Qinggang."

The Qinggang Sword!

Also known as the "Ice Sword," it was one of the Four Legendary Weapons of The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms!

Among the adventurers of the Nightmare Realm, the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms world was notorious.

It wasn't just because of the extreme difficulty—where even the regular soldiers were deadly, and the bosses were absolute nightmares.

The biggest reason was its high loot drop rate. Many rare silver-tier items, which were nearly impossible to find in other worlds, were abundant here.

Artifacts like the Immortal's Brush, the Zhang Ling Sword, and the Three Books of Heaven, Earth, and Man—each with incredibly powerful effects.

Because of this, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms world was considered one of the highest-risk, highest-reward realms in the entire Nightmare Space.

More importantly, beyond the many high-level artifacts, the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms world contained four legendary weapons, each more famous than the rarest treasures.

These were the Four Divine Swords!

The Ice Sword Qinggang—held by Zhao Yun! Defeating him had a small chance of dropping it.The Fire Sword Yitian—wielded by Ma Chao! Killing him also had a low chance of obtaining it.The Thunder Sword Ganjiang and the Explosive Sword Taia—each infused with their own unique elemental properties.

All four swords were legendary-tier weapons, each with devastatingly powerful effects.

Moreover, there was a rumor circulating among adventurers that The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms world contained a fifth hidden sword— the Poison Sword Moye. Supposedly, it was the strongest of them all.

But whether that was true or not, no one could say. After all, hidden artifact information was not something easily obtained by the average person.

Qin Ming's expression darkened. He hadn't expected Zhao Yun to pull out the Qinggang Sword in desperation.

Right now, he had both good news and bad news.

The good news was that he had a chance to obtain the Qinggang Sword. If he defeated Zhao Yun in a one-on-one battle, there was a chance the legendary weapon would drop.

For weapons of this caliber, there were specific drop conditions. It wasn't as simple as just killing the wielder.

In order for the weapon to drop, the owner had to be actively using it—just like how Hanzo Hattori had drawn his S-rank artifact, the Killing Stone, in a past encounter.

If Zhao Yun hadn't drawn the Qinggang Sword, or if he had given it away beforehand, killing him a thousand times wouldn't make it drop.

But now that he had drawn the sword and was actively using it in a duel, if Qin Ming took him down solo, there was a decent chance of obtaining this overpowered weapon.

...

The bad news?

Qin Ming glanced down at his golden bracer, now bearing a deep gash from just one slash of the Qinggang Sword. His eye twitched uncontrollably.

Facing a weapon this terrifying… yeah, I'd love to get my hands on it.

But the real question is—can I even survive a one-on-one fight with Zhao Yun?!

This kind of absurdly sharp weapon completely counters my entire fighting style!

His face darkened as he looked up at Zhao Yun, who had already raised his sword, preparing to charge. With no choice, Qin Ming clenched his fists and took a fighting stance, preparing for the inevitable clash.

Just as Zhao Yun kicked off the ground, sword poised to strike, the cabin door suddenly burst open.

A second later, a flood of soldiers poured in—and leading them was none other than Sun Ji, the boss of this arc!

Flanked by over a dozen elite female guards, it was obvious she had been drawn here by the earlier explosions.

As soon as she entered the room and saw the two men locked in a standoff, she froze.

Then, upon recognizing the man facing Qin Ming, her face drastically changed.

In an instant, she raised her twin iron crutches into a defensive stance.

"Zhao Zilong?!"

The moment his name was spoken, the surrounding soldiers stiffened in shock.

Then, realizing what this meant, they immediately raised their weapons.

Inside the cabin, Zhao Yun turned slightly, his sharp eyes scanning the growing crowd at the door. His brows furrowed.

His original plan had been to infiltrate the main ship in secret, locate the young lord Liu A'dou, and escape immediately.

He had never intended to engage in a direct confrontation.

After all, Sun Ji was still technically his mistress. Though their ranks were different, her status as a royal princess was too important to ignore.

If he fought her seriously, he might accidentally injure her—but if he held back, he might fail to accomplish his mission.

More importantly, win or lose, the fact that he had fought her at all would put him at a disadvantage in terms of reputation.

If he could avoid a fight, he preferred to do so. It would be best if they never encountered each other in the first place.

Of course, if he had no other choice, he wasn't afraid to take her on.

That had been the plan before.

Back when it was just him versus Sun Ji, even if she had a small army of soldiers, Zhao Yun was confident he could win and take the young lord with him.

But now… there was another master on the ship.

And that master… was not an easy opponent.

Fighting one of them wasn't an issue.

But if it turned into a two-versus-one…

His expression shifted, and his body instinctively moved toward the nearest window, preparing to escape if necessary.

But before he could make a decision, Qin Ming—who had been standing opposite him with his fists raised—suddenly lowered his arms.

Seeing Sun Ji charging forward aggressively, Qin Ming waved a hand and called out,

"Young Lady! General Zhao is one of our own! There was just a bit of a misunderstanding earlier. Let's clear it up before we start a fight—no need for all this tension!"