Chapter 210: Endless Assault

Chapter 209

The moment those two words escaped from his mouth... Shi Tian’s presence vanished entirely. There was no warning, no sound, no fluctuation of aura, nothing. And following that disappearance... a large gash suddenly appeared right across Liyu’s neck. SHIIING! The Celestial Battle Skin had been sliced right through.

The sight immediately alarmed both Liyu and King Rayden, their expressions changing almost at the same time as they went on full alert. They looked around... left, right, above, behind... but there was nothing; it was as if Shi Tian had completely vanished from existence, leaving no trace of him anywhere. Liyu’s expression became serious, prompting him to immediately buy a second seat. Ding!

The moment the seat appeared, Liyu sat down right beside King Rayden. He hadn’t wanted to buy it when he first heard that it cost a staggering 10,000 Essence Points, considering the price excessive and originally intending to make do with King Rayden alone. But seeing the sudden change in the situation... Liyu had no choice but to become serious, recognizing this was no longer a battle where he could afford to hold anything back.

He and King Rayden were now both seated within the strange dark space, taking control of the fusion state simultaneously. The moment that happened, Liyu immediately activated his Origin Eyes. The instant the Origin Eyes opened... pain flashed through his eyes, his brows tightening slightly as he tried to adjust to the sensation.

The Origin Eyes can’t be used too much... He had already kept them active throughout the long battle he had fought against Haoran, and now... he was using them again, having already pushed his eyes for quite some time. When the Origin Eyes first appeared, a slight ache spread through his eyes, but fortunately, the pain soon vanished and the Origin Eyes fully activated.

A ring of white light surrounded Liyu’s pupils as his gaze swept across the battlefield once, twice, and then... he saw it. His expression changed. There! Shi Tian’s body was flashing through the wind itself, moving through it until his entire existence seemed to have merged with it, making him completely invisible to ordinary perception.

No wonder there had been no trace of him; he wasn’t merely moving quickly, but using the wind itself as his medium. Good thing the Origin Eyes can see all that. Liyu’s expression became solemn, realizing this was a truly terrifying enemy as his eyes followed Shi Tian’s movements.

What kind of Combat Art is that...to make yourself vanish into the wind and strike from there with even greater attack power than before...? Liyu’s heart sank slightly. I might have underestimated this devil. The thought only lasted for an instant before his gaze sharpened; no, he couldn’t underestimate Shi Tian either, and if Shi Tian was hiding such terrifying abilities, then he needed to take him even more seriously.

I can’t let him remain hidden. Liyu immediately made his move and used Spatial Severance. SHRRRK! Space itself was torn apart as a terrifying spatial tear appeared across the battlefield, ripping through the space where Shi Tian was hiding. Shi Tian’s expression changed upon being caught, as the sudden spatial attack forced him out of the wind and caused his figure to appear once more.

But Liyu was already there, immediately pressing the attack. BOOM! CLANG! SHING! One strike followed another without giving Shi Tian even a moment to recover. With every hit he made, he used the second skill of the Void Piercer... Void Anchor.

The moment Void Anchor was activated, the power behind his attacks doubled, then tripled, then increased even further, making every consecutive attack heavier than the previous one. The pressure continued rising higher and higher until Shi Tian began to feel overwhelmed once more, the attacks coming from every direction and forcing him to constantly defend and retreat.

This bastard... Shi Tian’s eyes narrowed. He exhaled, then immediately used the first form of his Wind Sovereign Art: "Wind Step." WHOOSH! His body vanished, escaping the attack Liyu had been preparing to use to trap him in a pincer.

Shi Tian appeared several meters away, his expression no longer as calm as before. You are way too abnormal, the thought flashing through his mind as he genuinely hadn’t expected himself to be pushed this far. He had already used his second form and revealed his Combat Art, and yet... Liyu was still fighting, still pursuing him, and still forcing him to use more.

Shi Tian’s gaze became cold; if one form isn’t enough... then I will use another. He tightened his grip around his sword. "Third Form..." The wind around him suddenly surged. "Thousand Winds Transverse." The moment those words were spoken... Shi Tian’s body seemed to become ten, then hundreds, then thousands, and then... WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM!

Liyu’s expression changed as the battlefield was suddenly filled with Shi Tian... or at least, that was what it looked like. His body appeared everywhere: above, below, to the left, to the right, behind, in front, every direction and every angle, leaving Liyu bombarded from all sides. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It was as though countless Shi Tians had appeared at the same time, attacking Liyu with what seemed like an endless number of enemies.

But there wasn’t an endless number of Shi Tians; only one Shi Tian existed. It was simply that Shi Tian was moving at a terrifying speed, a speed so ridiculous that even King Rayden was slightly spooked by it despite possessing an abnormal level of speed himself. Yet even he couldn’t help but be shocked at how fast he was.

With Thousand Winds Transverse, Shi Tian trapped Liyu within a massive pincer where there was almost nowhere for him to escape, leaving Liyu with nothing to do but try to block and counter with the aid of King Rayden. "Focus," King Rayden’s calm voice sounded within Liyu’s mind.

Liyu’s eyes sharpened as green lightning erupted. CRACKLE! The lightning moved around his body, intercepting the incoming attacks and slowing down some of them to make them easier for Liyu to perceive and defend against. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! But... that wasn’t good enough, not nearly enough, as the attacks were simply too fast.

Even after the lightning slowed down many of them, there were still too many, and what made it worse... the next attack appeared almost immediately after the previous one. There was barely any gap, barely any time to breathe, and barely any time to recover, with the next attack always being stronger than the first, the one after that even stronger, forming a terrifying cycle where each strike built upon the previous one with greater destructive force.

Liyu continued blocking, but eventually... SHIIING! A wound appeared, then another, then another, until several wounds soon appeared across Liyu’s combat suit while blood began to seep through the damaged areas. It wasn’t that the defense of the Celestial Battle Skin was weak; far from it, as its defensive power was astronomical, with even attacks capable of terrifying ordinary cultivators barely able to leave a mark on it.

But when a deadly slicing attack struck the exact same place over and over again... once, ten times, fifty times, a hundred times... even the most terrifying defense would eventually weaken. The repeated attacks constantly battered the same area, weakening the defense again and again until eventually... SHIIING! It was cut through.

Liyu’s eyes narrowed as another wound appeared, but that wasn’t all. It wasn’t merely the fact that his defense was gradually being worn down; the attacks were still getting stronger, the speed was still increasing, and Shi Tian was still moving through the battlefield like an invisible storm as the pressure continued mounting. Liyu knew this was far from the end, because there was something else even more terrifying coming.

Soon... the attacks stopped. The endless barrage of wind finally came to an abrupt halt as Shi Tian’s figure appeared a few meters away from the now-bloodied Liyu, standing there calmly with his sword still firmly held in his hand, as though the terrifying assault he had just unleashed had been nothing more than a casual exercise.

On the other side... Liyu was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling as he took a slow, heavy breath to steady himself. His body was covered in wounds, with the Celestial Battle Skin that had previously covered him almost perfectly now damaged in several places and torn apart, blood trickling down his body. Yet... he was still standing, gripping the Void Piercer firmly in his hand even after enduring such a terrifying assault.

Shi Tian raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at him, a trace of surprise surfacing in his otherwise calm expression. "Oh..." His gaze swept over Liyu. "I see." His voice remained completely emotionless. "That is not enough." He paused. "I would give you more, then."

The moment those words fell... Shi Tian raised his sword. "Third Form..." The wind around him suddenly stirred. "Thousand Winds Transverse." Liyu’s eyes twitched, while beside him, King Rayden’s eyes widened in pure shock. Again?! The attack began once more, and this time... it was even crazier than before.

WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! Wind erupted from every direction, raining down from the left, the right, above, below, in front, behind, everywhere, leaving no safe direction. The attacks seemed to be hitting Liyu instantly and constantly, one after another, without giving him even the slightest opportunity to breathe.

It was almost as though countless Shi Tians were attacking him simultaneously, though that was clearly not the case. There were not countless Shi Tians, only one whose speed had reached an absurd level. But whether it was one Shi Tian or a thousand... the result was the same.

Liyu and King Rayden both worked in tandem to survive against the endless assault raining down from all sides, their movements becoming synchronized, their minds working together, and their abilities complementing one another. Liyu used his Origin Eyes to perceive the incoming attacks while King Rayden controlled the green lightning with supreme precision, desperately trying together to block, evade, and counter whatever they could.

Sincerely... if this had been another person in Liyu’s position, they wouldn’t have been able to hold on for long at all and would have already been sliced right through by the attacks. One had to know that every single attack Shi Tian used was fueled by his wind qi, over which he had total and complete control; when he was still messing around with it earlier, he had only been using around forty percent of its sharpness, yet even then those attacks had been capable of slicing Liyu apart like tofu.

Now, Shi Tian was no longer holding anything back, fighting for real and using his Combat Art seriously, making the fact that Liyu was still holding on at all a complete miracle. WHOOSH! Another wind blade swept toward him, which Liyu’s Origin Eyes immediately caught, allowing him to shift his body so the attack narrowly passed by.

Another came from behind, prompting King Rayden’s green lightning to instantly move: CRACKLE! The lightning collided with the incoming wind blade and slowed it enough for Liyu to evade. Another attack descended from above, but BOOM! Green lightning exploded upward to deflect it.

Yet another attack was already coming, then another, and another, with no end in sight. Liyu’s superior perception, combined with the Origin Eyes, allowed him to see attacks that ordinary senses could never detect, while King Rayden’s supreme control over the green lightning allowed them to reinforce every part of Liyu’s body while simultaneously intercepting incoming strikes.

Their immense speed gave them the ability to avoid most of the attacks... most, but not all, as they still got wounded more and more. SHIIING! Another cut appeared. SHIIING! Another. The Celestial Battle Skin was ripped apart more and more under the endless assault, its astronomical defense meeting its limits under repeated attacks of this level.

The worst news wasn’t even the injuries; it was the fact that they were unable to properly see Shi Tian, unable to counterattack him, lock onto him, or even accurately determine where he would appear next. That bastard... was simply too fast. Damn it! Liyu gritted his teeth as the wind attacks continued raining down from every possible direction, the green lightning crackling, the Origin Eyes perceiving, and the two of them defending until somehow... they survived again.

Then... it ended. The endless barrage suddenly disappeared and Shi Tian’s figure appeared once more only a few meters away, his gaze calm and expressionless, without even a hint of exhaustion on his face. Meanwhile... Liyu was gasping heavily with deep, rapid breaths, his green-white-ringed eyes showing both fatigue and a trace of shock from surviving that terrifying assault.

Shi Tian looked at him, his gaze remaining unchanged: still cold, calm, and emotionless, yet carrying a faint trace of admiration deep within his eyes as he slightly acknowledged Liyu surviving two of his endless assaults. Shi Tian raised his sword slightly. "Okay." He looked directly at Liyu. "Once more, then."

Liyu’s and King Rayden’s eyes twitched at the same time as their gazes met inside the dark space, looking at each other in disbelief for several moments before Liyu finally broke the silence: Wait... is he a freak? King Rayden looked back at him: You are asking me? Their gazes clearly displayed their shock at how he could just keep using that powerful Combat Art repeatedly as if he had no limit whatsoever, which was completely absurd.

But Liyu reacted quickly, knowing there was no time to sit around being shocked. The green lightning around his body suddenly intensified. CRACKLE! It surged through every part of his body... his muscles, his limbs, his bones... reinforcing him completely before even more green lightning gathered around him, condensed, coalesced, and began taking shape into weapons: swords, daggers, scythes, shields, and armor.

Countless green lightning constructs filled the air until the battlefield was blanketed by weapons made entirely from green lightning, each crackling with destructive power. Liyu was ready; this time, he wasn’t merely going to defend, but counterattack and use these countless constructs to crush that bastard called Shi Tian.

Shi Tian looked at the weapons made from green lightning that blanketed the air and calmly shook his head. "Meaningless struggle." His voice was completely indifferent as he held his sword in his hand. Liyu attacked first. BOOM! All the lightning weapons rushed forward... swords, daggers, scythes... shooting toward Shi Tian simultaneously from every direction to trap him in a pincer attack and give him a taste of his own medicine.

But before the constructs could even reach him... Shi Tian vanished. WHOOSH! "Drifting Gale." His figure disappeared into the wind, causing the attacks to pass through empty space before he appeared directly behind Liyu.

Liyu’s gaze changed instantly as he reacted, gathering green lightning around his arm to swing a strike toward Shi Tian, but it was too late. Shi Tian’s voice sounded calmly behind him: "Third Form..." Liyu’s body shivered involuntarily as his Origin Eyes widened, sensing something terrifying coming again.

The surrounding wind suddenly surged, Shi Tian’s figure became a blur, and then... WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! The attacks came from all sides again, surrounding Liyu with what seemed like an endless number of Shi Tians as the Third Form... Thousand Winds Transverse... began once more.

But this time, Liyu wasn’t defenseless; the numerous lightning constructs he created immediately moved to intercept the incoming attacks. CLANG! BOOM! CRACKLE! For a while... they actually managed to hold on as the constructs blocked, countered, deflected, and destroyed some of the wind attacks, causing hope to bloom inside Liyu’s chest for the first time since the second assault began.

Perhaps this could work; perhaps he could finally counterattack and find the opening he needed. That hope began burning hotter and hotter until... CRACK! One of the lightning weapons shattered. Liyu’s eyes narrowed. CRACK! Then another. BOOM! Then another.

The attacks from Shi Tian suddenly sped up faster and faster, increasing the pressure as the wind blades became more vicious and the lightning constructs protecting Liyu shattered one after another until they were completely gone. Liyu’s expression changed as his body was once again forced into the pincer attack, the damage slamming into him even worse than before.

SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! Blood splattered, more wounds appeared, and the Celestial Battle Skin continued to weaken under the relentless assault. "Damnation..." Liyu cursed inwardly, having thought Haoran would be the greatest freak he would ever come across, only for Shi Tian to become even worse.

After all, being suppressed like this by a single Combat Art despite all his preparations sucked... it really sucked. He had prepared so much, obtained so many abilities, merged with King Rayden, and activated his Origin Eyes, Celestial Battle Skin, Void Piercer, and green lightning, yet he was still being suppressed by a single Combat Art.

But there was no time to complain, become frustrated, or think about how unfair the situation was; the only thing he could do... and was doing his absolute best to do... was survive against the endless storm of wind and Shi Tian. For now... that was all that mattered.