Chapter 52 Azure Dragon Flash

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Azure Dragon Flash

"ROAR!"

A low howl emanated from beneath the Wolf Head Mask.

Seeing this, Ya Lie’s eyes lit up with excitement. "A Fixed Form?"

SWISH!

He gripped his Katana with both hands, adopting a slight stance. "I have one too!"

In an instant, his feet crossed at a bizarre, high-speed frequency, gliding forward to appear right in front of Feng Yin!

It was a strike combining a sudden sliding dash with a high-speed Thrust.

Ancient Yin Secret Sword: Flashing Radiance!

The chilling Blade gleamed, drawing a streak of cold starlight even in the lightless night.

Feng Yin stared intently at Ya Lie’s Katana tip, which was as fast as a shooting star.

His heart hammered like a rapid drumbeat, the blood coursing through his veins at high speed, granting him enhanced physical capabilities.

In the next second, he steeled his resolve and simultaneously raised his sword for a fierce forward Thrust.

The Canfeng Sword was 1.2 meters long, whereas his opponent’s Katana was no more than a meter. Moreover, his Armor was special.

"What’s there to be afraid of?" he thought. "Bring it on!"

The twin blades clashed head-on, deciding life and death in a split second.

The result matched Feng Yin’s calculations: his sword tip reached Ya Lie’s chest first.

"Lunatic!" Ya Lie thought.

In the ensuing fraction of a second, Ya Lie interrupted his Fixed Form, twisting sideways at high speed to evade Feng Yin’s mutually assured destructive Thrust.

Consequently, his own Thrust skewed upward. The Katana tip, originally aimed at Feng Yin’s chest, scraped across his shoulder armor, sending up a shower of sparks!

The massive impact sent a tremor through Feng Yin’s left shoulder.

[Durability: 17/19 → 15/19]

His Durability had dropped by two points!

Yet, Feng Yin felt no pain or injury. It was just as he expected. A ruthless smile crept onto his face beneath the Wolf Head Helmet.

"I have a cheat, do you?!" he thought triumphantly.

Relying on this sudden mutually destructive momentum, Feng Yin successfully seized the centerline.

Whether in armed weapon combat or unarmed brawling, the centerline was of paramount importance.

The deciding moment was now!

Amidst his roaring heartbeat, Feng Yin retracted his sword and stepped in. Closing the distance to Ya Lie rapidly, he pushed off the ground, twisted his waist, and synchronized his arms and hands for an upward diagonal slash!

Azure Dragon Secret Sword - Cyan Dragon Shocking Horn!

Who said a Counterattack Skill couldn’t be used for offense?

At such close range, a point-blank upward slash would be difficult even for an Instant Level expert to defend against.

In this critical moment, Ya Lie’s eyes shifted from astonishment to madness. Beneath his ghostly mask, his lips curled into a sickly, manic smile.

"Ruthless enough, I like it!" Ya Lie thought.

He was equally relentless. In this desperate situation, instead of trying to save himself, he swung his Katana back for a Counterattack, hacking straight at Feng Yin’s shoulder and chest!

"Then bring it on!" Feng Yin thought.

Both blades struck their targets simultaneously.

SLASH!

The Canfeng Sword cleaved through the black Warrior Armor, providing Feng Yin with the precise tactile feedback of slicing through flesh!

CLANG—!

The Katana slashed against the shoulder of Feng Yin’s Armor, only to be deflected entirely by the rigid plating!

Ya Lie’s eyes trembled as he was sent flying upward. The Armor stretching from his left abdomen to his right chest split open, spraying a stream of blood.

In the next instant, the airborne Ya Lie flipped and landed, planting himself firmly on the edge of the Roof with his Katana in hand, seemingly unaffected. He had already flexed his muscles to staunch the bleeding from his fresh wound.

A hoarse voice drifted from beneath his mask. "How annoying. You took advantage of your equipment..."

Feng Yin remained silent, his heart still pounding like a drum. He once again assumed the mid-level ’Character Ren (人)’ stance.

Relying on his Armor’s advantage for a mutual-destruction tactic would likely only work once. Ya Lie would never fall for it again. What followed would be a truly bitter struggle!

However, the ensuing scene completely subverted his expectations.

Ya Lie suddenly spun around, leaping directly off the Roof!

Feng Yin immediately used a Stealing Step to pursue him. Reaching the edge, he peered down, only to see Ya Lie sprinting away with agile Speed. In the blink of an eye, he rounded an alleyway exit and vanished from Feng Yin’s sight.

"He actually ran away?!" Feng Yin thought. "Should I pursue or not?"

He pondered for a moment.

That slash just now had indeed cut into Ya Lie’s flesh, but it probably wasn’t deep enough.

With this in mind, Feng Yin glanced at his Armor’s Durability.

[Durability: 15/19 → 12/19]

During their final exchange, the opponent’s altered Thrust and heavy slash had knocked off a total of five Durability points from his Armor. If they continued fighting, his Armor wouldn’t last many more hits.

Even if he gave chase, he might not be able to overcome that wondrous See Through ability. Given the current circumstances, this was probably a relatively favorable outcome...

Having figured this out, Feng Yin let out a long breath, adjusting his breathing rhythm and deactivating his Dragon Transformation State.

Afterward, he didn’t linger. He continued rushing toward Death Madness Tower.

Strong winds blew, sweeping the dark clouds away.

Moonlight shone upon Sin City once more.

Only the dozens of corpses inside the Tongzi Building remained, silently narrating the tragic slaughter that had transpired tonight.

***

Feng Yin sprinted and bounded across rooftops until he reached the vicinity of Death Madness Tower.

He then dropped into a secluded alley, dismissing his Manifestation Armor and returning to his normal state. His black formal uniform had been compressed by the Armor, leaving it wrinkled and extremely messy.

Feng Yin gave his clothes a quick tidy while silently assessing his physical condition.

He wasn’t overly fatigued, nor was he injured!

His eyes flickered as a vague theory formed in his mind.

Tonight marked the first time he had taken hits capable of reducing his Armor’s Durability while in his Manifestation Armor state. Yet, he had only felt the impact and concussive force from those two strikes. He hadn’t sustained any actual damage—not even an internal concussion or a sprain.

Could he assume that as long as the Armor’s Durability wasn’t depleted, he wouldn’t take any damage? Was the Armor’s Durability essentially an extra health bar?

Judging by tonight’s results, Feng Yin felt his guess wasn’t too far off.

The only thing he couldn’t test was what would happen if the Armor’s Durability was completely zeroed out. Naturally, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and find out.

Knowing this much intel for now was sufficient.

After fixing his appearance slightly, Feng Yin stepped briskly out of the alley and ran toward Death Madness Tower.

As soon as he entered the plaza in front of the tower, he was quickly intercepted by other guards.

"Halt! State your identity!"

Several guards raised their rifles, subtly aiming at him. Seeing the Zero Point Group formal uniform he wore, their tone softened somewhat.

Feng Yin pulled out an electronic keycard and handed it over, speaking rapidly. "I am a designated escort for the Xuan Guang Group representative. Did you see my colleagues come this way just now?"

A guard took the electronic card and swiped it through a device, verifying Feng Yin’s temporary status. He nodded. "Yes. A few minutes ago, a woman came back supporting a man with a severed arm. They should be receiving treatment in the medical bay right now."

Taking his card back, Feng Yin felt a wave of relief. "Please tell me which floor they’re on, thank you."

The guard pondered for a moment. "I’m not sure which floor, but usually, injuries like that are routed to the emergency room on the seventh floor."

Feng Yin’s mind stirred. He was about to ask if the guards had seen Ya Lie but instantly squashed the thought.

The more he spoke, the more likely he was to make a mistake. Asking too many questions could make observant people suspicious of his motives. He might even be inadvertently tracked down and profiled as a suspect for the Black Armor Swordsman.

Bidding the guards farewell, he sprinted into Death Madness Tower. After a brief search, he located Xie Yanran and Hong Yuan in a ward where the latter was already receiving hemostatic treatment and having his arm reattached.

Meanwhile, just as Feng Yin reunited with the duo, Ya Lie was standing bare-chested in front of a mirror in a luxurious high-rise suite.

He stared at his reflection, eyeing the gruesome gash splitting open from his abdomen to his chest, and applied an expensive hemostatic gel over it.

Though his face was deathly pale and his expression betrayed excruciating pain, a somewhat sickly, manic smile surfaced on his lips.

He murmured, "To think the Black Armor Swordsman who came to rescue Hong Yuan and Ghost-faced Fox is actually a greenhorn. Who could it be...

"How difficult to guess."

***