Jack passed by Sarah, surprised at how much he had learned from just watching the fight. He knew that there were issues with Sarah’s fighting style, but he honestly didn’t have much of a solution— unless the system provided it, he knew no way of achieving weapon mastery in a matter of days or weeks, and he could hardly explain it so eloquently. Plus, he had no intention to demotivate the only trustworthy ally he had, and anything he said could be taken from the angle of a complaint.

Furthermore, he was in earshot of his enhanced constitution, finding their discussion quite enlightening— especially the part about Qi’s weakness once released outside the body.

A few seconds later he was facing Adept Lanhai, taking a deep breath as he unsheathed his sword in one smooth motion, ten meters separating the two. He had not missed his attempt to tell Sarah, and by extension himself, more about the system— it was the second time he had heard the word ‘darkness’, the first being right before he killed Oathbreaker Melkrys. Just what enemy had these two powerful existences so intimidated, Jack found it almost hard to imagine. If Adept Lanhai was in their old world, he could likely take out an entire platoon of trained, and armed soldiers by himself— it was not a matter of who had more firepower, but simple perception. Jack had not perceived the man when he was next to him, and he hardly fell into the category of a normal human anymore.

“You may begin,” Adept Lanhai coolly stated, still wholly unconcerned at the prospect of facing him.

Jack stood his ground, not budging from his position. Neither did he try something as wasteful as [Qi Projection], for the Adept had the ability to dispel Qi with the literal flick of his finger. It was both interesting, and vexing at the same time— to have your entire ability skillset nullified so easily, it seemed that Qi was not as powerful as he initially thought. Or maybe it was the type? That dark energy that had flickered between his fingers when he dispelled Sarah’s Qi…. he had claimed it to be a feat of skill, which meant that it was likely performed by some advanced form of Qi control as opposed to a talent, which he still had frustratingly limited information about.

“Oh?” Adept Lanhai glared at Jack, his eyes flashing with a slightly dangerous glint. “You wish for me to come to you, instead? Are you sure you’re prepared?” his tone was no longer playful, but laced with heaviness indicating that he was not joking around.

“We are under your protection, right?” Jack asked in confirmation.

“Indeed. I will not let harm befall you under my protection, but I will not be punished for minor wounds either. Prepare yourself or back down,” Adept Lanhai stated blandly, but from his interactions with Sarah, Jack was starting to have a favorable opinion of the man without trusting him in the slightest. The only thing Jack trusted so far was the system’s word, and Sarah when it came to having his back.

Jack continuing to remain standing on the spot was confirmation enough. His heart beat in anticipation, knowing this was a valuable opportunity to confront someone far more powerful than him in a battle he had no way of winning.

Adept Lanhai said no more, finally holding his dagger in combat stance for the first time. He tracked his every moment, every twitch, every breath, no matter how small— for the slightest chance of him doing some cultivator trick like the one he had performed in front of Sarah. But there was none required.

Adept Lanhai charged, his speed so fast that Jack barely managed to calculate where the first strike would come from. But Jack had been through plenty of life and death situations in the past few hours for merely speed to blanche his determination. He repositioned his sword, just in time for the clang of metal against metal to ring out, his exquisite blade grating against Adept Lanhai’s undoubtedly superior one.

But before Jack could push away his blade, Adept Lanhai withdrew it and struck from a different angle, the attack a tempo faster. Jack’s instincts went haywire and it felt as if danger was coming from all sides, the attack too fast for his body to keep up with and his mind to process in time. Out of sheer luck, or perhaps a primal instinct of self-preservation, he managed to parry the second iteration of the blows, feeling the blur of motion make contact with his sword, the weight behind the blade pressing down on him. But there was no respite for him, as the tempo went up by another level and this time Jack felt the wind pressure alone slice at his neck, leaving behind a small, almost invisible papercut on his throat; Adept Lanhai’s regal blade rested against his nape.

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“Two moves?” Adept Lanhai muttered with just a tinge of surprise. “Perhaps I underestimated you.” he offered, his tone sounding genuine. But his words rang hollow to a panting Jack, his eyes dilated in shock. The outcome of the duel came as no surprise to him, but the sensation of the dagger inching towards his neck, the helplessness he felt in that moment was…. terrifying. A man like Jack didn’t fear going down fighting, but what kept his kind up at night was going down without even getting the chance to fight back. He realized that he was gripping his sword so hard his knuckles had gone white, an emotion that was closest described by the word ‘defiance’ ignited in his heart.

Adept Lanhai pushed the ground against his feet, the light motion sending his seemingly weightless body ten meters back.

“Now it is your turn, Jack Fletcher. Show me what you can do, earthling,” The tone was one of challenge, his attitude towards Jack seemed to have slightly changed, though perhaps that was just his imagination.

Jack took a deep breath to recompose himself the best he could, before charging at him. His first move was a feint, with the intention to make Adept Lanhai budge, if even the slightest. The old man’s visage seemed particularly despicable to him when he remained rooted on the spot, as if he could see through him even as the blade crossed half the distance between them. Changing his track of thought before he could regret it, Jack decided to commit to the feint and invest momentum into it, turning the fake into a reality.

Adept Lanhai sidestepped it with ease, and Jack had to rely on his enhanced stance to not go stumbling forward into the thrust. He pulled back and changed strategy, opting for a series of slashes, interspersed with a well-timed thrust in random intervals, to keep the Adept guessing. Jack did not rely on feints any longer, for investing momentum into a light attack meant as bait was jerky and often meant over-extending himself— to Lanhai, a failed feint was probably easy to spot from miles away.

Lanhai dodged when he could, and when he could not evade his thrusts all it took was two well–timed fingers to change its trajectory so that it would just pass by him by the thinnest of margins. Jack knew he could disarm him in those moments, but ultimately this was just training.

Slash, slash, thrust, feint, thrust…. Jack’s movements were almost mechanical at this point, relentlessly striking at the enemy while making adjustments to discover the most optimal attack style.

Finally, Jack saw an opening— the man’s attention looking in Sarah’s direction with an odd expression on his face. He did not know if the man’s reaction was genuine, or if it was a test to see if he had the decisiveness to follow instructions, but Adept Lanhai had told them to attack like they meant it, for no blow of theirs would harm him.

Jack stabbed forward without hesitation, ready to pull back the moment he detected any ambush. A few seconds later, Jack found himself blinking in disbelief…. Because his sword actually pierced Adept Lanhai’s chest, skewering through his heart with brutal precision. His first instinct was to cast [Minor Heal] on him, not pulling out the sword to stem the bleeding, but that thought was denied a second later. Where was the blood?

His expression turned into a grimace when Adept Lanhai grinned back at him, his body falling onto the ground and reverting back to an inky black silhouette that seemed to absorb all light around its surroundings. The silhouette burst into thousands of small shadows, slithering across the ground like snakes back in Sarah’s direction.

Jack turned around to see Sarah’s red face, her hand held over her mouth as she stifled her laughter. Seated across her, sitting cross legged on the ground was Adept Lanhai, grinning back at him in the splitting image of his shadow marionette as he raised a cup of a hot, steaming liquid in his direction, in a mock toast of sorts.

He was starting to hate the old bastard’s guts.