In the middle of his fight against Yin Feng, Liu Xing spotted a silhouette at the edge of the battlefield. He thought it was a spirit. It was dark and almost transparent, like a ghost that appeared only in his peripheral vision and vanished when he looked at it directly. The figure crouched near a boulder that had been strangely untouched by the fight. At first, Liu Xing thought it was another enemy, but since it didn't attack, he dismissed it as a spirit bound to the large rock. As time passed, the silhouette became fainter, as if trying to hide, until it finally disappeared from view. He knew it had been there for a while, but now it was gone. Perhaps the ghost had finally found its peace.

  Not that Liu Xing cared or gave the ghost much thought. That spirit was at the bottom of his priorities.His true priority was Yin Feng, and Liu Xing admitted the fight was hard.

  Liu Xing moved like lightning, zigzagging across the battlefield using his shield. He slashed Harmony of Two Seas toward Yin Feng while controlling several Lightning Missiles to strike from above. He swung the sword as hard as he could, knowing for a fact that Yin Feng could handle it. The only question was how.

  Yin Feng snarled as he moved his spear to deflect the sword. The Lightning Missiles hit him and exploded—a price he paid to parry the sword. The cost was not that steep, as the attack's effectiveness was reduced since his enemy also had a lightning affinity.

  After deflecting the sword, Yin Feng pulled his spear back and thrust. Liu Xing kicked his shield to move aside, swung again, and Yin Feng rotated his body to swipe at the sword. Liu Xing pulled his sword back, aimed his gun, and shot Yin Feng point-blank. Yin Feng tilted his head to avoid the first attack, then dodged aside as lightning missiles streaked toward his back. He sent qi into his spear and shot a bolt of lightning toward Liu Xing.

  Liu Xing dodged upward and rained Exploding Fist bullets down on Yin Feng. Yin Feng shouted and rotated his spear, deflecting the bullets. Some exploded on impact while others were thrown aside, destroying the ground. He then sent his qi into the spear and lit the world with a blinding white light capable of temporarily searing Liu Xing's vision. As the world filled with white light, the man opened his mouth and shot a lightning attack from it.

  Liu Xing saw the attack with one of his Eyes of Lightning, dodged aside, and materialized several lightning clones around the man. Each of them had a human shape, though they lacked detail. Once materialized, he ordered them to move toward Yin Feng. When the white light receded, Yin Feng—also blinded by his own light—was smothered by the clones, which hugged him and then detonated.

  That attack, of course, would not kill Yin Feng. His lightning affinity, Liu Xing found out, was monstrously high, and he had a strong physique to boot. So, Liu Xing aimed his gun and fired six rounds upon six rounds of Exploding Fist bullets. In just a moment, hundreds of bullets began raining down on the man.

  Yin Feng turned and moved around. As he ran, one of Liu Xing’s Eyes of Lightning caught a lightning ball materializing high in the air, positioned directly above Liu Xing. A bolt struck down, trying to smite him. While Liu Xing saw it, he was not fast enough to dodge—the lightning had a homing ability and had also calculated where he would move. So, Liu Xing flooded his body with his own qi—not his potent qi—and withstood the strike. He gritted his teeth as the lightning swallowed him. Some of his muscles froze for a moment, and Yin Feng used that opening. He kicked the ground and lunged toward Liu Xing, spear raised to pierce his heart. Liu Xing moved to the side at the nick of time, his hair smoking, and launched a counterattack.

  The fight between Liu Xing and Yin Feng was a high-speed battle; both of them exchanged hundreds of attacks in a single minute. The voice of an old man, emitted from the ring, could sometimes be heard taunting Yin Feng and commenting on his decisions, but he also gave advice regarding lightning qi, which Yin Feng swiftly applied.

  And Liu Xing did too.

  In this hard and fast fight, where he had no decisive way to win, Liu Xing was improving his lightning techniques at a record pace.

  "Not like that, you fool! How many times do I need to tell you to cycle your qi more swiftly! Your intent is wavering! Focus on a single, swift intent. Not your emotion!"

  "Your lightning qi is, believe it or not, also influenced by the surrounding qi and lightning. Yes, my stupid disciple, that also means your opponent's lightning! Be aware of his qi. His is unusually potent!"

  "Is my disciple a goldfish? I have told you a hundred times. A qi cycling pattern is not to be memorized exactly, but felt and understood. There are times when you want to cut the time of some cycling patterns in half, in a tenth, and so on. But there are also some where you can linger. It's generally about motion. The more complex the motion of your technique, the more you need to linger. And yes, pea brain, lightning that is created in the sky and descends to the earth is also moving, even in a straight line! So be mindful of that too!"

  And so on and so forth. Some of it was valuable, some was hard to discern, and some of it was just pure insult. Still, Liu Xing heard and understood some of it, and the moment he tried to apply the words, his techniques improved.

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  As Liu Xing continued his attacks and Yin Feng deflected them, and Yin Feng attacked and Liu Xing deflected them, Liu Xing began to realize who he was fighting.

  Yin Feng fit a popular trope of the xianxia stories he had read. He was, probably, the protagonist of this world. After all, he had a grandpa in his ring, and that grandpa was guiding and lending help to his disciple. It would explain how this man was capable of defeating cultivators from the Verdant Mountains Sect, as well as why the lightning that had been raining down on the island had stopped. All of it was thanks to the grandpa, and it seemed Liu Xing was not enough of a threat for the grandpa to come out. If he did, Liu Xing would likely die.

  While applying web novel logic to the real world was plainly wrong, there was wisdom in it. So, as Liu Xing continued his relentless attacks, with Exploding Fist bullets raining down on Yin Feng while he maneuvered high in the sky and Yin Feng shot lightning at him, he realized that for now, he could not aim to kill Yin Feng.

  The moment he started losing and dying, the grandpa would likely emerge and smite him with a conjured lightning strike.

  However, Liu Xing could not just give up on killing him. After all, there was a small chance that the grandpa simply could not come out. He had likely just exerted himself to save Yin Feng from the Verdant Mountains Sect.

  Luckily, in this situation, Liu Xing had a small advantage. Somehow, he could hear the grandpa's voice, which meant he would know the moment the old man became serious.

  Liu Xing swung Harmony of Two Seas to the side, chasing Yin Feng with a jet of water that carved a long, deep gash in the earth. As he listened to the cursing grandpa and the snarling Yin Feng, Liu Xing continued to think of how to kill him, when he saw something surprising.

  Yin Feng stumbled on a small rock.

  He lost his balance for less than a fraction of a second, a timeframe shorter than a blink, and Liu Xing almost thought he was hallucinating. But it was not a hallucination. Yin Feng had clearly stumbled, and this made Liu Xing's heart beat rapidly in his chest.

  Yin Feng… was tired! The fatigue of fighting disciples from the Verdant Mountains Sect was finally catching up to him!

  Seizing the moment, Liu Xing summoned his shield, aimed his body downward, and kicked off it, launching himself toward Yin Feng. Yin Feng turned his head, stopped his run, and took a stance as he cycled the qi in his body. The lightning arcs that shrouded him intensified.

  For a moment, Liu Xing wondered if he had just fallen for a feint. However, he decided to continue his attack with a little surprise. The moment Yin Feng readied himself, Liu Xing summoned his turtle right in front of him. Yin Feng instantly lashed out. He thrust his spear and launched the turtle statue high into the sky. Liu Xing descended and kicked the ground hard, flying low over the ground. By the time the turtle was sent flying, Liu Xing was already right below him. When Yin Feng looked down, Liu Xing had already swung Harmony of Two Seas—a water saw circulating around it—and aimed to cut off both of his feet below the knee.

  "Yin Feng!" the grandpa shouted in panic. At that moment, the arcs of lightning surrounding him instantly focused on both of his feet. When his sword met Yin Feng’s left leg, the sound was sharp, as if he had tried to cut metal. Liu Xing knew the grandpa was responsible for it.

  Seeing his attack fail but Yin Feng's defense elsewhere gone, Liu Xing rotated his body, slammed his left hand—still holding his gun—to the ground, and launched an upward kick right to his chin. The moment it hit, a satisfying crunch echoed, and Yin Feng's feet lifted into the air.

  "Fuck! This is why you're stupid! 'I have enough qi,' you said. 'This fight will be short,' you said. 'My enemy is a weakling,' my ass! Despite the fact that you knew he was a fucking saint candidate, you still insisted on attacking. Fucking ridiculous!"

  Liu Xing rotated his body again and once more swung Harmony of Two Seas at Yin Feng’s neck, intending to behead him, when he heard alarming words from the grandpa.

  "Switch over!"

  At that moment, Liu Xing instantly knew the grandpa intended to come out. Instead of continuing his attack, Liu Xing kicked Yin Feng in the chest. It was enough to propel both of them in opposite directions. Suddenly, Yin Feng's body was shrouded by a bigger, more refined, and ridiculous amount of lightning qi. It was also dangerous and began scorching everything it touched. Liu Xing was luckily out of range of that ridiculous body-strengthening technique.

  Not stopping, his heart beating against his ribs like a panicked man's, he rotated his body and slammed his feet to the ground. His kick made the earth erupt, and he began to shoot the ground around him with Exploding Fist bullets, trying to create a smokescreen. In that short amount of time, surrounded by a cloud of dust and a rain of dirt, he activated his invisibility, hastily retreated, and willed the effect to spread as fast as possible.

  The moment he arrived at the boulder where the ghost had observed his fight, Liu Xing was fully invisible. He could see Yin Feng. However, his gaze was different. The way he stood, the way he held his spear, and everything about him had changed. It was clear that the grandpa was in control. He swept his gaze around, his eyes showing surprise, doubt, and alertness. He must have been thinking about Liu Xing's decision to cancel his attack and hastily retreat, and was now standing by on the defensive. Taking control of Yin Feng must have had a price, and Liu Xing had no doubt that the grandpa could not be reckless while inside Yin Feng's body. At the very least, Yin Feng must have suffered some damage from the grandpa taking over.

  At that moment, Liu Xing could have waited. The grandpa could not control Yin Feng's body forever, and when Yin Feng took it back, he would be in a weakened state. That would be a perfect time to attack.

  But Liu Xing didn't know how long he would need to wait, and the more time that passed, the greater the chance of things going south.

  So, Liu Xing thought for a moment and made his decision.

  He needed to retreat. Coincidentally, Yu Yongrui and Tide Walker were currently fighting. Without the dark chains, Yu Yongrui was at a disadvantage, though the fact that Tide Walker needed to protect Yu Heng somewhat evened out the odds.

  Liu Xing nodded, took steps back, and continued to walk away. His eyes were fixed on Yin Feng, alert, but also thinking that they would meet again later. He was certain of it.

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