Chapter 213: Danger Danger Danger

Chapter 212

Meanwhile, at the Li Clan’s camp... Yuexin’s eyes were locked onto the stage. Her hands were tightly clutching the cloth of her clothes, her fingers gripping it so hard that her knuckles had begun to pale. Her eyes never left Liyu.

Once again, his body had fallen onto one knee. Blood covered him. Cuts and wounds littered his body from head to toe, with blood continuously seeping from the numerous injuries until it dyed his clothes and skin a deep, frightening red. The sight made Yuexin’s heart ache.

She wasn’t the only one nervous for Liyu. The Anomaly Brothers were equally tense. Their eyes shook as they stared at the scene only a few meters away from them. They weren’t the ones being sliced apart over and over again, and they weren’t the ones enduring the endless attacks.

But somehow... they could still feel it. Or rather, they could imagine the pain Liyu was experiencing. And they knew... that pain must be massive. Absolutely massive.

Yuexin’s fingers tightened around her clothes. Should I go there and stop the match? The thought flashed through her mind. But almost immediately, she shook her head. This was a death match. The rules were absolute.

The referee wouldn’t allow her to simply rush onto the stage. Even if she wanted to interfere, she wouldn’t be able to get close. All she could do... was pray. Pray that Liyu would be safe. Pray that he would somehow survive. There was nothing else she could do. Absolutely nothing.

Li Feng watched as Liyu healed once more. The wounds on his body closed, his bleeding stopped, and once again... Liyu stood, his figure planted firmly on the stage. Li Feng’s mind was filled with countless thoughts.

They swirled and whined through his head, twisting together until they created a painful pressure deep within his chest. A strange ache rose from the very pit of his thoughts. He felt useless. Completely useless.

He was supposed to be the one carrying the Li Clan through this. After all... he was the true worthy heir of the Li Clan. He was supposed to be the one who won this tournament. That was what he had always believed. He was the genius, the heir, the one who was supposed to stand at the very top.

But what had he actually accomplished? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He had only managed to take out two people from the opposing teams. And after that... he had been completely humbled. Completely crushed. Completely humiliated.

By the ace of the opposing team, Shi Tian. The gap between them had been so enormous that Li Feng could barely accept it. He had lost. There was no excuse for it. He had simply lost.

And yet... Liyu... that same weakling whom he had once looked down upon... that same person he had once considered the disgrace and trash of the clan... had taken out five strong warriors on his own. Five. And as much as it appeared that Liyu was being completely suppressed by Shi Tian right now... the fact remained that Liyu was still standing. Not only was he still standing... he had pushed Shi Tian to such a degree that the latter had been forced to use his Combat Art.

That alone was enough to show just how enormous the difference between Li Feng and Liyu had become. When Li Feng had faced Shi Tian... he hadn’t even been able to force him to unsheathe his blade. He hadn’t even been able to make Shi Tian take him seriously. And now... Shi Tian had been forced to use his Combat Art against Liyu.

Following that train of thought, Li Feng felt totally and utterly useless. So much so that, for a brief moment... he felt like disappearing. It was humiliating. Painfully humiliating. He had once looked at Liyu and seen only disgrace, trash, a weakling, and someone who wasn’t worthy of being called a member of the Li Clan. But now... the situation seemed to have completely changed.

And no one had needed to tell him that. Li Feng could see it himself. Liyu was still holding his own against Shi Tian. That meant only one thing: Li Feng would no longer be a match for Liyu. Not anymore. Perhaps... he was the failure. Not Liyu.

Li Feng lowered his head. Shame filled his heart. His fists tightened. For a while, he remained like that. Silent. Then... after some time, he slowly raised his head again. His eyes locked onto Liyu. Liyu was standing firmly on the stage. His body was battered, his clothes were stained with blood, and his wounds had barely finished healing.

Yet his hand was still firmly wrapped around his sword. He was still standing. Still fighting. Still refusing to fall.

Li Feng stared at him for a long moment. And then... I still wish that he wins this. The thought came naturally. Li Feng didn’t understand it. He didn’t know why he was feeling that way. But yes. He wanted Liyu to win. Even if Liyu’s victory would make him feel even more like a failure. Even if it meant acknowledging that the person he had once looked down upon was now stronger than him.

He still wanted him to win. Why? He didn’t understand. Maybe it was because the match had become a death match, and Liyu losing meant only one thing... he was going to die. As much as Li Feng disliked Liyu... and that dislike had always stemmed from the envy he held toward him... he didn’t want to see him die.

He couldn’t explain it. Perhaps hatred and envy weren’t enough to erase everything else. Perhaps seeing someone he had known for so long standing on the edge of death had finally made him realize that he didn’t actually want Liyu gone. He wanted him to survive. And if he wanted Liyu to survive... then Liyu had to win.

A joyless chuckle escaped from Li Feng’s mouth. He clasped his hands together. Then he did something he himself had never believed he would ever do. He prayed. "Heaven..." His voice was barely audible. "Let him win this."

Back on the stage... Liyu was trapped within the endless white space once more. His senses had been completely cut off by the Vacant Wind skill Shi Tian had used. The skill was truly something else. It was strange. Terrifying. And incredibly troublesome. But this time... things were going to be different.

Liyu had already come up with a way to sever the veil that had been placed over his senses. He didn’t need to rely solely on his ordinary perception anymore. He had another option. A completely different sense.

"Ding." The familiar mechanical voice sounded inside his mind. Hybrid Form has been activated. The change was immediate. Liyu’s hair suddenly thickened and lengthened. His green eyes changed. The pupils narrowed, transforming from normal human pupils into sharp, vertical slits. His fingernails lengthened, hardened, and shifted into razor-sharp claws.

His teeth followed, elongating into vicious fangs. And then... his aura changed. The transformation wasn’t merely physical. The atmosphere around Liyu suddenly became different. His aura became bestial, wild, dangerous, and filled with an unmistakable sense of primal threat. A terrifying pressure erupted from his body.

The surge in Liyu’s power was immediate and huge. The moment the Hybrid Form activated, his strength rose dramatically. His senses sharpened, his instincts became more acute, and his entire existence seemed to shift toward something more primal. But... that wasn’t the reason Liyu had triggered his Hybrid Form. Power wasn’t what he needed right now.

He needed something else. A sense. A sense capable of perceiving something that his normal senses couldn’t pick up.

Liyu didn’t care about the endless white surrounding him. He didn’t care about his sight. He didn’t care about his hearing. He didn’t care about his physical sensation. Instead... he focused everything on the one part of his senses that his Hybrid Form had granted him. Bloodlust. Bloodlust was a fundamental part of his physique as a whole.

It was something deeply connected to his existence, something primal, and something that couldn’t simply be erased by manipulating his ordinary senses. And in the Hybrid Form... Liyu could sense it. Clearly. Perfectly. Like a sixth sense that had suddenly awakened. The endless white around him might have hidden everything else. But it couldn’t hide bloodlust.

In Liyu’s perception, it appeared as something tangible... a fog. A thick, crimson fog. Bloodlust.

Liyu’s eyes narrowed. He immediately focused on that sensation. He pushed his awareness deeper into it. If Shi Tian could hide himself from his sight... if he could hide himself from his hearing... if he could distort his physical perception... then Liyu would simply use something that Shi Tian couldn’t conceal.

His killing intent. His bloodlust. His presence. Liyu focused completely on the bloodlust sense granted to him by his Hybrid Form. And immediately... the endless white world began to change.

The endless white space that Liyu was trapped in suddenly underwent a noticeable change. It was subtle at first... so subtle that an ordinary person might not have even noticed it. But Liyu did. Within that endless expanse of white... a red dot appeared. It was off to the side. And it was moving toward him at a blinding pace.

Liyu’s bestial green eyes narrowed. Found you. Since Liyu was unable to properly swing the Void Piercer due to how severely his senses had been affected, he decided to use something else to deliver his attack. He didn’t hesitate. Liyu planted his fist firmly against the ground.

His fingers curled tightly. Primal Qi surged through his body. Green lightning crackled around his arm. Then... he threw his fist forward. At the same time, he unleashed one of the techniques he had copied. Well... the only technique he had managed to copy using his Origin Eyes. Behemoth Punch.

BOOM! Liyu’s fist collided directly with the red dot. And the moment it did... the endless white space shattered. CRACK! Cracks spread across the entire world. The white expanse fractured like glass. Then... BOOOOM! The entire space exploded apart.

Shi Tian was sent flying backward. His figure shot through the air for several meters before finally stabilizing himself. Yet... his expression remained calm and composed. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of panic in his eyes. He was completely unharmed. The reason was simple: the Wind Veil that surrounded his body at all times had taken the brunt of Liyu’s attack.

The almost imperceptible barrier had absorbed the terrifying force of Behemoth Punch. And the fact that the attack had managed to leave several scratches across the Wind Veil was enough to prove just how insanely powerful that punch had been.

Shi Tian looked at the scratches. His expression didn’t change. His emotionless gaze remained exactly the same. Then, with nothing more than a thought... the damaged Wind Veil was restored. Its condition returned to its peak in an instant. No hand movement. No incantation. No visible technique. Just a thought.

That alone was mind-blowing. To be able to repair and control such a powerful defensive technique with nothing more than his thoughts was something almost unimaginable.

But... if there was someone capable of doing something like that... it would be Shi Tian. After all, he had completely mastered the Wind Sovereign Art. No. Mastery wasn’t enough to describe it. He had perfected it, refined it, sharpened it, and improved it.

He had done so over and over again throughout the years until the distinction between himself and the Combat Art had almost disappeared. The Wind Sovereign Art was him. And... he was the Wind Sovereign Art. Every form, every movement, every transition, every technique, and every variation... he understood them all as naturally as he understood his own body.

That was why he could control Wind Veil with nothing more than a thought.

Meanwhile... Liyu finally regained the sensation of his body. His senses slowly returned, the strange distortion disappeared, and his perception stabilized. He could feel his feet against the ground again, his body, his breathing, and the energy circulating through his veins.

And then... his eyes locked onto Shi Tian. His bestial green slit eyes glowed with a dangerous light. Green lightning crackled wildly around his body.

Shi Tian looked at him for a while. Then... he spoke. "You managed to break Vacant Wind." His voice remained calm. "That is impressive." He paused. "I haven’t seen someone, in what feels like forever, shatter my second-strongest defensive skill like that."

His gaze remained emotionless. "You might not be like the rest." Then he added casually... "But in the end, you’re still a weakling. A little better than the others, perhaps. But still a weakling." There was absolutely no arrogance in his voice. That was what made it worse.

He wasn’t taunting Liyu. He wasn’t trying to provoke him. He was simply stating what he believed to be a fact, like someone reading an uninteresting article.

Liyu didn’t even listen to the rest of Shi Tian’s emotionless comments. His mind had already gone completely haywire because of the first statement Shi Tian had uttered. Has that bastard just said that was his defensive skill? Defensive skill?! What the hell?! Liyu’s eyes twitched.

That clearly couldn’t just be a defensive technique. There was no way. That technique... Vacant Wind... was one of the most terrifying abilities Liyu had ever experienced. It was practically an offensive-type skill disguised as a defensive technique.

To be able to suppress an opponent’s senses to such a degree... it was basically a sure-death situation. If someone couldn’t see their opponent... couldn’t hear them... couldn’t feel them... couldn’t sense their presence... then how were they supposed to defend themselves?

How were they supposed to fight back? How were they supposed to survive?

The reason Liyu had been able to survive the three uses of Vacant Wind was because of several factors. The first... his defense was top-notch. The Celestial Battle Skin had an incredible defensive capability. Even after being subjected to repeated attacks, it had continued protecting him.

His green lightning had also been able to guard him well, reinforcing his body and securing most of his vital points in case of an attack. And although the lightning defenses were shredded apart whenever Shi Tian attacked... they still limited the damage. They prevented many of the attacks from immediately reaching his most vital areas.

The second reason... his healing ability was abnormal. Liyu’s regeneration was simply too fast. With the help of his Primal Qi, he could heal his wounds almost instantly. Even injuries that should have been fatal could be repaired at an astonishing speed. Those two factors were already enough to explain why he had survived.

But... there was a third reason. And that was the main reason he had truly been able to survive all of that. As much as Liyu hated to admit it... it was because Shi Tian hadn’t been serious about killing him back then.

Liyu’s expression became darker. It wasn’t that Shi Tian didn’t want to kill him. No. Liyu was certain that bastard wanted to end his life. More than certain. His bloodlust sense had confirmed it. There was no doubt whatsoever.

Shi Tian wanted him dead. But... he simply hadn’t been serious about ending him yet. Instead, it felt as though Shi Tian was savoring the process. Playing with him. Testing him. Enjoying the feeling of slowly cornering his prey.

As if he would only kill Liyu whenever he finally decided that the time was right. That realization made Liyu’s eyes twitch. His hatred for this guy increased yet again. And that was saying something. Because Liyu already hated Shi Tian more than he had hated almost anyone before.

He hated him so much that he wanted to kill him. Not merely defeat him. Not merely humiliate him. Kill him.

Liyu slowly exhaled. A long, steady breath escaped his lips. He looked at Shi Tian. A smile slowly appeared on his face. But... the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

"I am really going to kill you." His voice was calm. Yet the killing intent hidden beneath those words was unmistakable. Shi Tian’s gaze didn’t change. Instead... a small smile appeared on his face. He calmly beckoned Liyu forward with one hand.

"I’ll give you a chance." His voice remained composed. "Attack me with the best shot you have in hand." He tilted his head slightly. "Let’s see what you’ve got..." His smile widened faintly. "...before I bring this small charade to an end."

Liyu’s gaze twitched. His expression became cold. Then... BOOM! He charged forward. A powerful Lightning Sword instantly formed in his right hand. The Void Piercer remained firmly gripped in his left. And behind him... numerous blades formed from green lightning appeared.

One. Ten. A hundred. More and more. They rapidly multiplied until countless green lightning blades blanketed the sky. The entire battlefield seemed to become filled with weapons. Liyu rushed forward at terrifying speed.

He was going to bring down his own wrath upon Shi Tian. He was going to use everything he had.

And yet... before he could even get close, his senses suddenly tingled. Liyu’s expression changed. The closer he got to Shi Tian... the stronger the sensation became. His instincts screamed.

Danger. Danger. Danger.

Every step forward made the warning more intense. Liyu frowned. His grip on the Void Piercer tightened. Something was wrong. He was the one attacking. He was the one charging toward his opponent.

He was the one who had prepared countless lightning weapons. And yet... why did he feel as though he was the one in danger? Why did every instinct in his body tell him that he was walking straight into a death trap?

Liyu’s frown deepened. What the hell is going on? I’m the one attacking... so why do I feel like I’m the one in danger here?