"Wei Lin, focus on protecting Lin i" I said privately through spiritual sense, activating my Titan's Crest rune. I felt the familiar surge of physical enhancent flow through my body, my muscles growing denser and more powerful. "I’ll handle this."
"What are you planning?" Lin i asked nervously, her hands already weaving the beginning patterns of a defensive water technique.
"Sothing they won't expect," I replied as I ran forward, channeling red sun energy into my Blink Step rune.
Wu Kangming's eyes narrowed as he noticed the change in my aura, but he couldn't identify the source. Runes were essentially unknown in this world, giving a significant advantage in terms of unpredictability.
ng Haoran was standing approximately three feet behind Wu Kangming, well within the thirty-ter range of my Blink Step ability. The rune would allow to appear directly beside him faster than even Wu Kangming should be able to react.
"This might get ugly," I whispered, then activated the rune.
The world blurred around as I disappeared in a flash of red light, reality bending as I traversed the distance in an instant. I rematerialized directly beside ng Haoran, my palm already thrusting forward with a Phantom Strike enhanced by the Titan's Crest rune.
The look of shock and terror on ng Haoran's face would have been funny under different circumstances. He'd been watching Wu Kangming's position, expecting any attack to co from the front. Finding suddenly beside him, palm racing toward his chest with enough force to cave in his ribcage, left him completely defenseless. Updates are released by novel⚑fire
My strike was perfectly aid and tid. In a fraction of a second, it would connect and eliminate their team's weakest mber, thus eliminating their whole team.
But Wu Kangming was even faster than I'd anticipated.
His sword moved in an arc that defied physics, the blade sohow appearing between my palm and ng Haoran's chest. The collision sent shockwaves through both our bodies, red sun energy and spiritual energy crackling where our attacks t.
"Impossible," I breathed, staggering back from the impact.
Wu Kangming had been facing away from , watching my team's position, yet sohow, he'd not only detected my high-speed movent but managed to intercept my attack with perfect precision.
"Spatial awareness," Wu Kangming said calmly, as if reading my thoughts. "When you've faced enough surprise attacks, you learn to sense distortions in space itself."
The old grandpa had clearly trained him well. Most cultivators wouldn't develop that level of environntal awareness until the Stellar Realm, if ever.
But I wasn't about to give up that easily.
I channeled qi into my Vine Whip rune, feeling the familiar surge of wood-elent energy flow through my right hand. Thick, bark-covered vines erupted from the ground around Wu Kangming's feet, their movents serpentine and predatory as they sought to entangle him.
Wu Kangming's blade moved in a fluid arc, severing the first wave of vines with surgical precision. But I wasn't trying to bind him with those, they were just a distraction.
The real attack ca from above.
A massive vine, thick as my torso, dropped from the bone-white trees overhead like a striking python. It wrapped around Wu Kangming's sword with crushing force, the woody coils tightening as I poured more qi into the technique.
"Clever," Wu Kangming said, his voice carrying that sa emotionless tone even as he struggled against the binding. "But not enough."
He was right, of course. The vine was already beginning to smoke where it touched his blade, so kind of cutting aura working to sever my technique from within. But I'd bought myself the seconds I needed.
My other hand had been busy during our exchange, the Explosive Seed rune on my right index finger pulsed as I flicked the small projectile through the air.
The seed arced over Wu Kangming's head in a perfect parabola, aid directly at ng Haoran's chest.
ng's eyes went wide with terror as he spotted the incoming impossibly fast projectile, but his cultivation level was too low to react in ti. A direct hit from one of my explosive seeds would definitely eliminate him, and with him, their entire team.
"Big Brother!" Luo Yichen called out in panic.
But Wu Kangming was still tangled in my vine, his movents restricted despite his attempts to cut free. For a heartbeat, it looked like my gambit had worked.
Then Luo Yichen moved.
His Mirrorwater Blade flashed through the air faster than my eyes could follow, the reflection-based technique allowing him to intercept the seed at an impossible angle. But instead of destroying it, sothing strange happened.
The explosive seed made contact with his blade and simply... disappeared.
For a mont, I thought he'd sohow destroyed it completely. Then I saw the surface of his sword beginning to glow with the sa qi signature as my explosive technique.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding ," I muttered.
The Mirrorwater Blade lived up to its na, the surface rippling like disturbed water before expelling my own explosive seed back at with twice the velocity I'd originally thrown it.
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I activated Blink Step without thinking, red sun energy coursing through the rune on my left thigh as I disappeared in a flash of crimson light. The world blurred around as I traversed thirty ters in an instant, rematerializing just as my own explosive seed detonated where I'd been standing.
The blast carved a crater in the rocky ground, sending up a shower of debris and superheated air that made my ears ring even from this distance.
"That was uncomfortably close," I said, brushing dust off my robes.
"Master," Azure's voice whispered urgently in my mind, "incoming attack from your six o'clock!"
I spun around just in ti to see Wu Kangming's blade descending toward my neck in a perfect vertical slash. He'd freed himself from my vine and covered the distance between us faster than should have been possible, his sword trailing strears of silver qi that seed to cut through space itself.
There was no ti to dodge.
The Aegis Mark rune in my inner world flared to life, red energy erupting around in a hexagonal barrier pattern. The defensive formation absorbed most of the impact, Wu Kangming's blade skittering across the surface with a sound like grinding tal.
But not all of it.
A thin line of pain opened across my throat, warm blood trickling down my neck where the edge of his attack had found its mark despite my protection.
"Damn," I breathed, pressing my fingers to the wound. It was shallow, barely more than a scratch, but the fact that any part of his attack had penetrated the Aegis Mark was concerning.
Wu Kangming stepped back, studying with those pale, calculating eyes. "Interesting defensive technique," he said conversationally, as if he hadn't just tried to decapitate . "So kind of barrier formation?"
I didn't answer. There was no point in giving him more information about my capabilities than he'd already observed.
I frowned as I studied Wu Kangming's perfectly composed stance. He was already settling back into a ready position, his sword held at the precise angle for optimal defense and counter-attack. Every movent was economical, efficient, displaying the kind of muscle mory that ca from years of dedicated practice.
The truth was, I couldn't underestimate Wu Kangming. Not after watching him casually eliminate that massive stone golem with a single strike. And that had been his base state, before he'd unlocked whatever mysterious seal was suppressing his true power.
But here was the thing, I wasn't trying to defeat Wu Kangming right now. I wasn't that delusional.
A proper battle against Wu Kangming would require everything I had: both suns, every rune, probably even so luck. That kind of all-out fight would take ti we didn't have, and by the end of it, the final remaining slots would be taken while we were busy trying to kill each other.
Both our teams would be eliminated while we were proving who had the bigger ‘sword techniques’.
No, all I needed to do was distract Wu Kangming for a few crucial seconds. Get past his guard, eliminate ng Haoran, and secure our advancent.
Simple, direct, effective.
I activated the Hawk's Eye rune, feeling the familiar sensation of enhanced perception flow through my consciousness. Wu Kangming's micro-expressions beca crystal clear: the slight tension in his jaw, the way his pupils tracked my movents, the barely perceptible shift in his stance that indicated he was preparing for another sword technique.
More importantly, I could see the pattern of his breathing, the rhythm of his qi circulation, even the tiny tells that preceded his attacks. The rune let read his intentions like an open book, predicting his next move before he'd fully committed to it.
"Let's see how you handle this," I muttered, activating Blink Step once again.
Red sun energy flared through the rune inscribed on my thigh, and I disappeared in a flash of crimson light. I rematerialized directly in front of Wu Kangming, close enough to see my reflection in his pale eyes, my palm already thrusting forward with a Phantom Strike enhanced by both the Titan's Crest and Shockwave runes.
The combination was devastating.
The Titan's Crest flooded my body with enhanced physical essence, making my muscles dense and powerful as steel cables. The Shockwave rune added concentrated force manipulation to the attack, turning my palm strike into sothing that could punch through mountain stone.
Wu Kangming's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the threat, his sword moving in a desperate counter-strike aid at intercepting my attack. But the Hawk's Eye rune let read his movent before he'd even started it.
I twisted aside, letting his blade slide past my shoulder by re inches, and stepped inside his guard. At this range, his sword was useless, too long to bring to bear effectively in close quarters.
My enhanced palm strike connected with Wu Kangming's chest, and the combined force of two activated runes sent him flying backward like he'd been hit by a catapult. His body carved a straight line through the air before slamming into one of the bone-white trees with enough force to crack the trunk. Bark and splinters exploded outward as he hit, and I heard him grunt in pain as he slumped against the damaged tree.
I didn't waste a mont savoring the successful strike. The instant Wu Kangming was out of the picture, I activated Blink Step again, reappearing directly in front of ng Haoran with my palm already charged for another Phantom Strike.
But Luo Yichen was ready for .
The younger cultivator's Mirrorwater Blade intercepted my attack path, its reflective surface gleaming with stored energy. I could see my own reflection in the weapon: multiple copies of myself, each one slightly different, creating a disorienting kaleidoscope effect.
"Sorry," Luo Yichen said grimly, "but I'm not letting you hurt ng Haoran."
For a split second, it looked like I was going to strike directly into the blade and have my own attack reflected back at with enhanced force. That would be a disaster, getting hit by my own Phantom Strike enhanced by the Mirrorwater Blade's amplification effect would probably eliminate .
But I had other options.
Just as my palm was about to connect with the reflective surface, I activated Blink Step for the third ti in rapid succession. The red sun energy reserves in my inner world dipped noticeably as I pushed the rune beyond its normal usage limits, but the technique responded perfectly.
I disappeared in another flash of crimson light, completely bypassing Luo Yichen's defensive position and reappearing directly behind ng Haoran. The seventh-stage cultivator's back was exposed, vulnerable, just a hand's breadth away from my enhanced palm strike.
"No!" Luo Yichen scread, trying to spin around fast enough to intercept again.
But he was too late.
My palm was already racing toward ng Haoran's spine, powered by the Titan's Crest and guided by perfect targeting. In less than a heartbeat, the strike would connect and eliminate their entire team.
It was right at that mont when sothing slamd into from the side with the force of a runaway boulder.
The impact sent tumbling through the air, my enhanced reflexes barely allowing to control the fall. Fortunately, the Aegis Mark activated again, its hexagonal barrier patterns absorbing most of the kinetic energy before it could pulverize my ribs.
I managed to land in what so might call a "hero pose"; one knee down, one hand braced against the ground, head raised to assess the threat. It looked dramatic and composed, though honestly, I was just trying not to face-plant into the rocky terrain.
When I looked up, my eyes widened at what I saw.
Wu Kangming stood protectively in front of ng Haoran, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth where my earlier strike had obviously caused internal damage. His white outer disciple robes were torn and dirty from his collision with the tree, and his usually perfect hair was disheveled.
But what concerned wasn't his physical condition. It was the aura radiating from his body.
Pseudo Elental Realm.
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