Some of the attacks from Song Sia's friends pierced through my Dancing Jade Armor. Although they lost all momentum, they still left deep cuts on my flesh.
I had to jump back and create some distance between us, or else I was going to be chopped up. Song Sia did not give chase; she just stared at me with a cautious look, still holding the short sword she had used to stab me in the stomach. My blood dripped from her blade as she glared at me with a frosty expression.
"I know I'm handsome, but I am from a small clan and you're from the Song Clan. Our love can never flourish," I said, smiling arrogantly.
Song Sia's friends glared at me with hatred in their eyes. It was hard to tell whether they hated me for my words or because I had killed their friends.
On the other hand, Song Sia seemed unaffected by my words, which was disappointing and scary. I needed a distraction, or she would cut me down soon enough. I could tell she was preparing something, but I had no idea what.
The best plan was to eliminate them all before Song Sia's plan came to fruition.
I tightened my hands into fists, extending only my index and pinky fingers on both hands. Then I clasped my hands and muttered a soft chant under my breath.
For a moment, I expected Song Sia to charge at me. It would have worked in my favor if she had, as I could have used it against her. But she was either too cautious or knew what I was about to do next.
The shadow below my feet bubbled up and then extended into a curtain of darkness, covering the room and blocking any light from coming in.
Dark Coffin, a peak Level 2 array. Some considered it nearly Level 3, but it had steep limitations: it could only be used in enclosed spaces and had weak durability, easily broken from the outside even by a mortal.
There was another drawback: I was still someone who had just become a Qi Gathering Cultivator. My Qi reserves were small, and this move almost drained them completely.
Dark spikes shot out, and I sensed two girls getting skewered, their groans of pain confirming it. Despite that, I directed most of the spikes towards Song Sia. With the dark mist, her senses should be muddled, and the Dark Coffin completely blocked any light.
No matter how good a cultivator's eyesight was, light was crucial for the human eye to see.
But somehow, for whatever reason, Song Sia leaned to the side, dodged, backed off, and tilted her head away from all of the attacks. It was like trying to hit a leaf with a flyswatter; the wind seemed to push her away from each attack.
Amid that, she even protected two of her friends who were close to her, using her short swords to deflect any attacks.
My breathing grew heavier as my remaining Qi plummeted. Combined with my injuries, I was significantly weakened.
Damn, there was a burning sensation in my lungs. I felt cold, but at the same time, I felt as if surrounded by a warm wet blanket... Yep, I was bleeding out.
Taking a deep breath, I concentrated and used whatever meager Qi I had left to move through my body, forcefully clotting veins, acting as organ linings, and pushing the skin together to stop the bleeding.
This required intense concentration, but once I got used to the feeling, it was like riding a bike. I didn't have to think too hard about keeping the Qi in place.
Despite my injuries and low Qi reserves, I was almost there. I just needed to take care of the two girls left, as they would be troublesome now that I couldn't use Qi carelessly to distract them.
I was confident I'd win if it was one-on-one against Song Sia.
One last push. I needed to increase my power in the Dancing Jade Armor Technique, which would cost a lot of Qi. I was still only at one-star Qi Gathering.
As I was psyching myself up for my next move, trying not to think about the gruesome death that awaited if I failed, there was a sudden surge in Song Sia's Qi. Her Qi exploded outward, forming a web and grabbing the corners of my barrier. With a mighty tug, the whole room shook. Cracks spread through the darkness, and rays of light began pouring in.
Another tug and the barrier came crashing down, returning the room to its original state. Since I no longer had the Qi to maintain the dark mist, it dissipated too.
The darkness receded, and my situation became more dangerous as light flooded in.
Song Sia's gaze was as cold as ice, sending chills through my veins. I felt numb just looking at her, as she resembled Song Song a bit too much.
"It's kind of creepy how much you resemble your cousin," I said, trying to provoke her. We were at a stalemate, and I needed her to get emotional and perhaps waste some time talking. "Having Song Song as a friend always makes me feel confident, no matter the battle. But as an enemy, she would be a nightmare."
"Friend? You think too highly of yourself. Song Song thinks of you as nothing more than a pawn, someone she would drop immediately if it ever required effort on her part to keep you around," Song Sia refuted, her fiery glare making it clear she wanted to kill me. "Liu Feng, if you think you have even an inkling of what kind of person you're dealing with when it comes to my cousin... Trust me, she is worse than you could imagine. Like every worst habit an evil human could have, clumped together into one person."
"You know, you could stop this. Deep down, you're a good person. Song Song is not the source of evil you think she is. She's just a symptom of a harsh reality," I said.
It was a lie with enough hints of truth to make her think. The reality was that whether Song Sia changed her mind or not, she was not leaving this mansion alive. She clearly cared for the girls I had killed, and letting an enemy like her go was not an option. Song Sia seemed just one step away from becoming as dangerous as Song Song.
Song Sia grit her teeth and looked like she was about to say something when one of her friends nudged her. That immediately brought Song Sia back to her senses. She took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. The fiery gaze filled with pure hatred for me was replaced by a cold, logical stare.
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"You're just a pawn who doesn't realize he's about to become their king's next meal," Song Sia stated, shifting her feet. She moved Qi to her legs, a sign she was about to use a movement technique.
That was the only warning I got because, faster than I could blink, she was in front of me, within arm's length. It was like a movie that suddenly skipped a frame. Even though I saw it with my own eyes, it felt weird and unnatural, as if my brain was confused by reality.
A movement technique that somehow tricks the mind?
Despite its complexity, the human mind was relatively easy to trick. There was even an experiment where someone could think a fake plastic hand was their own and feel everything that touched it. Even though the person consciously knew it wasn't their hand, they still felt like it was.
The movement technique she used must follow the same principle. Many techniques were out there, with various effects that showed different aspects of the mindset the technique's creator must have had.
Anyway, now wasn't the time to think about these things!
Song Sia looked like she was about to strike me in the stomach with a palm attack, dropping one of her swords. The space around her palm twisted and turned.
But since I already knew the attack was coming, whatever it was...
I jumped back to avoid the attack and felt a stinging sensation on my left arm. I turned to look at it, and it just slipped off and plopped on the ground.
What? I lost an arm?
Drops of my blood floated in front of me, and as I narrowed my eyes, I saw that it was just a thin string. There was no Qi imbued in the string, yet it had somehow cut through my body like a hot knife through butter.
Thankfully, I was not the only one distracted. Song Sia took that split second to glance at her fallen companions and winced.
"I should have gone all out from the beginning," she muttered, her eyes growing moist. "But I was a fool, thinking of saving this move just in case I had to fight Song Song."
As soon as she said that, wires snapping filled the air around us. I couldn't see or sense these invisible wires, relying only on my hearing to detect the whip-like sound they made as they broke the sound barrier.
Her fingers twitched, revealing why she had dropped her short sword. Even though she feinted with a palm attack, she needed her hands to control these wires. They were likely an artifact, perfect for assassinations since they left no trace of the murder.
Predicting her next move was straightforward; I would do the same in her place. Those strings gave her many options.
As the sound of the strings grew louder, my heartbeat quickened with anxiety over what I was about to do. I couldn't tell where the attacks were coming from, and someone like Song Sia wouldn't leave any chance for me to dodge.
With that in mind, I used my Qi to form a thin barrier. The safer option would have been to use Dancing Jade Armor directly, but I no longer had the Qi to waste.
Instead, I did something I had never done before. I gave a mental note to my Qi: as soon as something touched it, it would activate Dancing Jade Armor in those areas.
It was like I hardwired my brain to slap away anything that touched me next. While more complex than that analogy, it was essentially that simple.
My heart quieted as I anticipated the attack. Now that I was waiting, the fast attack felt slow, like I was waiting for hours. Perhaps I had failed, and my technique hadn't activated.
When I sensed a thin wire passing through my Qi, thin lines of Dancing Jade Armor formed around my body.
Clang!
The wires stopped in place, and even Song Sia's eyes widened. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek, and she looked ready to cry. I might think she was scared if I didn't know any better.
"Just fucking die already, Song Song!" she cursed, charging at me with her sword in hand.
Did she just call me Song Song? Was her tiredness and frustration getting the better of her? Song Song was still behind the barrier, and these wires could not get through something I had put so much effort into perfecting.
I looked at my only remaining hand and extended my fingers. Thin, translucent wires with a greenish tint formed. They took so little Qi to make that I barely felt it, even with my current reserves.
"Thanks for the lesson. These wires are quite useful," I smirked at Song Sia as she charged at me.
The girl clearly had her own internal demons she was battling. Well, I would play to those fears as much as I could.
As she came closer, attempting to stab me in the chest with her sword, I tried to use my new strings as a defense, wrapping them around the weapon. Song Sia was too fast for me to dodge right now.
When the thin greenish strings wrapped around her weapon, she channeled her bountiful Qi, and her sword was surrounded by a pink aura.
Her strange technique cut through the strings, barely slowing down the attack. Panicking, I raised my hand and grabbed the sword blade.
Feeling the razor-sharp blade running along my palm was very uncomfortable as the cold metal touched the bones in my hand. But even that didn't stop the sword from stabbing into my chest.
Thankfully, the sword didn't pierce deeply. Song Sia's Qi had strong cutting properties, but it had lost its momentum.
She left her side wide open, and I could have attacked with my fist if my arm was still intact. It wasn't a mistake on her part, but a crazy idea came to mind.
With a single thought, a greenish aura blazed along the stump of my arm. A new arm formed, made of pure translucent green Qi, and I punched toward Song Sia's chin.
Her eyes widened when she noticed this, but she let go of her sword despite the surprise and leaned away from the attack. She twisted and maneuvered herself midair, delivering a kick to the hilt of her sword.
I barely had enough time to push the sword away from my heart as it pierced the upper part of my chest. An uncomfortable feeling seeped through me as the cold metal slipped past my ribs and came out the other side.
Due to the power behind the kick, I flew back and smashed against the wall, leaving a giant spiderweb-like crack on the stone.
This fucking Song Clan and their bullshit fighting instincts! Song Sia hadn't seen that coming, yet she dodged and still managed to deliver her own attack!
I took a step forward, my back leaving the wall. I almost instinctively removed the sword from my chest for a second, but I stopped myself from such a foolish action.
The sword was better left there. Even though it felt strange to have something cold inside me, I could still feel it... it was such a weird sensation.
Was this what it felt like to be stabbed? Before, I was usually full of adrenaline or panicking and never noticed. Or was it just a cultivator thing, where my senses were hyperaware, and I could sense things inside my body clearly?
My jade-armored arm dissipated into nothing, and I was left with a stump where I had to forcefully shut down the bleeding using my Qi.
There was no way I was going to win now. The best I could do was to hold on as long as possible and hope for Song Song to break through as fast as possible.
If I couldn't hold on, I would use my lifespan to strengthen the barrier around Song Song. I had never practiced using lifespan, but I knew the theory behind how it worked. After my death, Song Song would crush them all.
Damn, I had grown pretty decisive about these things. I was kind of surprised at myself.
Just as we were about to start fighting again, a cold sensation descended into the room, and the walls froze in an instant. I winced as the sword in my chest transferred the cold directly through me. A cold metal literally touching the bones in my chest was an awful sensation, sending a chill through my whole body.
I could see my own misty breath as the only window in the ballroom shattered, followed by a loud booming sound. The glass froze mid-air, and the extreme cold made it so brittle that the air resistance itself caused it to shatter.
In came a young girl with dark hair streaked with white. She was a jade-like beauty with no imperfections, making her seem almost ethereal and otherworldly. Even though her blue uniform covered her body, not revealing much, she clearly had a good figure.
This was Ye An, and she seemed to have grown more beautiful since the last time I had seen her. But despite her profound beauty, what caught my attention was her nine-star Qi Gathering cultivation. She also had more white strands in her hair than before.
She turned toward Song Sia and coldly stated, "You can continue your mission. But I'm going to have to ask you not to take the life of this suicidal fool."
Well, wasn't this convenient? Miraculously saved at the last moment when all sides had gravely injured each other? Almost like she had been waiting for this to happen...