One of the five stones lit up from within with a blue glow while the other four remained a dull and lifeless silver.

The silver dust started swirling in the palm of her hand, moving faster and faster. As it picked up speed, the five stones lifted into the air and joined the silver whirlwind, though the large stones moved slower than the dust.

The small silver cyclone shot out of the palm of her hand and into her stomach before she could react, passing through her clothes and skin like they weren't even there.

It settled inside her dantian, spinning in the center of her crackling dragon lightning qi. As it did so, she felt a small increase in her speed and power.

What!? That's it!? Jie thought.

Almost immediately, Elder Kanev blinked and shook his head as though shaking off cobwebs.

No... no.... no... Jie thought, horrified as her heart leaped into her throat.

"Elder! They're escaping!" Chen Huo yelled out as their battle reached the bridge to the portal room.

His words snapped Elder Kanev out of his daze immediately and he turned his attention to Jie's friends as they fought and ran over the bridge.

Elder Kanev raised his hand as his aura flared with spiritual energy. Long, thick tendrils of blood rose out of the blood lake and slithered up toward Jie's friends.

Driven by a mixture of blind panic and primal instinct Jie charged at Elder Kanev, hoping to distract him.

She unleashed a full-power finger of light directly at his face as she ran.

He didn't even bother to evade and her lightning bolt struck the side of his face. It burnt a few of the hairs of his beard as it crackled over his skin but otherwise failed to do much of anything. Elder Kanev didn't even spare her a glance as he maintained his focus on the tendrils that extended toward her friends.

But, as Jie's strike connected with Elder Kanev, she felt a massive surge in her speed and power. So much so that the abrupt increase nearly made her overbalance mid-stride and fall on the floor.

Instead, she boosted toward Elder Kanev with a lightning step platform and cycled a dragonfist around her other hand. Strangely, a breeze had started to swirl around her as she lunged at Elder Kanev.

The snarling ball of blue energy Jie had grown accustomed to swelled around her fist like never before and she struck Elder Kanev on the exact spot her finger of light had.

Dragon lightning qi detonated with more force than any strike she'd previously used and once again her speed and power surged. The swirling breeze around her intensified, tugging at her robes and hair as Elder Kanev grunted from the impact and the tendrils of blood faltered.

He swung his war hammer at her with his left hand, distractedly trying to bat her away. The enormous hunk of metal would've caved in her chest even with that halfhearted attack if it weren't for the enormous boost to her speed from the strange silver whirlwind in her dantian.

With a thought, Jie caused the qi armor over her fist to react to Elder Kanev, using the explosive force to push herself away at an angle and twist her body out of the path of his hammer.

As Jie spun away, she unleashed a finger of light attack at Elder Kanev's back. The lightning bolt was thicker than usual and roared with enormous power as it leaped across the distance between them in a blinding flash that surprised her with its incredible speed.

The tendrils of blood darted toward Jie's friends, but just before they reached them, Jie's finger of light struck Elder Kanev between his shoulder blades.

"Argh!" he cried as dragon lightning qi arced over his entire body and he stumbled forward. The tendrils of blood broke apart, showering Jie's friends and the Chen family in blood as Elder Kanev's control slipped.

Once again, the instant the attack landed, the wind spinning around Jie accelerated and her speed and power surged. The spinning silver whirlwind inside her dantian now spun like a hurricane as her dragon lightning qi arced around it.

Jie formed a lightning step platform and boosted off it straight back at Elder Kanev as she formed a dragonfist around each of her hands. Both of which radiated power as she rocketed toward him.

He spun around to face her just in time for her to strike him with one fist on his chest and the other on his face. Lightning crackled over his skin.

He snarled at her as he slid backward from the force of her blows and swung his enormous hammer at her.

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Jie grabbed a fistful of his hair and used it to yank herself over his head as his hammer passed through the space she'd been. She continued with the motion and formed a dragonfist over her foot which she drove into the back of his skull as she made her qi armor react at the same time.

The explosive discharge of dragon lightning qi sent Jie hurtling forward even faster as yet more speed and power swelled within her. The wind spinning around her accelerated yet again, whipping at her hair and clothes like a tornado.

Elder Kanev staggered from the strike as he growled like some savage beast.

"Fine! You want to die first then die, you insufferable bitch!" He snarled as he cycled two martial skills at the same time.

Frost qi blossomed over his skin, crystalizing upon his body as he swelled with power and size. He grew three feet taller as his muscles bulged, the veins beneath his skin pulsing furiously beneath the hard layer of ice covering him.

An instant later, frost qi expanded out from him in every direction, flowing out of his body in eddies of frost qi like a magical blizzard. A layer of ice spread over the floor all about him as howling, biting cold frost qi circulated around him, forming a large dome-like shape with Elder Kanev at its center.

As the frost qi washed over Jie, it seeped into her muscles and bones. She'd finally started to warm up but now the heat was drained out of her. The cold and pain were bearable, but the strange skill sapped Jie's speed as frost spread over her skin, hair, and clothes.

Jie landed with an awkward roll, her movements feeling increasingly sluggish by the moment.

Elder Kanev lunged at her and Jie sprang to her feet. With a thought, she made her qi armor react to the ground under her feet. But her speed continued to drop.

Her muscles felt like lead weights and the frozen wind seemed to resist her every movement. He bore down on her, utterly unaffected by the frigid aura of frost qi pulsing from his body as he raised his hammer, ready to strike it down upon her.

Jie boosted off a lightning step platform to carry herself out of his path. But Elder Kanev formed a pillar of rock beneath his feet, using it to pivot and surge toward her as he swung his enormous hammer at her chest. The strike blurred in the air toward her, far too fast for her to evade while his aura slowed her so heavily.

With no other option left to her, Jie poured qi into the protection amulet she'd bought in the Onyx Pavilion.

The amulet glowed with golden energy that streamed out of it in flowing ribbons of power and encased Jie in a protective energy barrier. As it formed around her, Elder Kanev's hammer struck her in the chest.

The metal hammer head struck the barrier with a soft, rippling thud and a crackle of energy as the Spiritualist rank barrier absorbed the blow with seemingly no damage.

Jie didn't even feel the strike. But though the blow didn't harm her, it didn't stop the force of it from sending her flying backward. She slammed back first into the bottom step of the step pyramid so hard that the impact hammered her into the stone itself as it cracked all around her.

Yet, she felt nothing as the barrier of golden energy swirled around her.

A ripple of fear ran through Jie's body as a small part of her mind pointed out how close to death she'd come. It provided a disturbing mental image of her body splattered over the stone step like an overripe tomato thrown at a wall.

Jie suppressed a shudder. She did her best to push the image out of her mind. No matter what, she couldn't fail her friends. She had to keep Elder Kanev busy just a little longer.

Elder Kanev raised his hammer again as he glared at her with hate-filled eyes. A trickle of blood ran down from the corner of his upper lip.

"Elder! They're almost to the portal!" yelled Chen Huo.

Elder Kanev's gaze immediately snapped toward Jie's friends, and he turned away from her.

Jie growled. "I'm not done with you!" she yelled as she tried to extricate herself from the stone around her.

Elder Kanev ignored her.

As she struggled to free herself, Jie felt the power and speed boost gifted to her by the silver whirlwind fade away. Its spinning rotation in her dantian slowed too and the strange wind that'd swirled around her died down as it did so.

Jie pulled herself free of the stone step and charged toward Elder Kanev, though her body was numb and clumsy, and every step felt painfully slow.

Elder Kanev raised his hand toward the entrance to the portal room and pulled his hand through the air as though shoving aside an invisible door as his aura flared with spiritual energy.

The midsection of the enormous statue ripped free with the rumble of breaking stone. It hovered suspended in the air as Elder Kanev grunted from the effort.

The chunk of stone he'd ripped away exposed the portal room beyond where the Chen family battled fiercely with Jie's friends.

In front of the portal, Xue and Pan Tian fought with all they had to fend off three of the Chen family to give Ithilix a chance to make for the portal itself.

Turquoise and black starlight qi gathered into a dense ball at the front of Chen Yi's bow then unleashed into a thick beam of starlight qi at Xue.

Xue's chest swelled and he exhaled a crackling storm of dragon lightning qi that met the beam of starlight qi in the air. Xue's dragon lightning breath overwhelmed the beam of starlight qi, pushing through it and slamming into Chen Yi's chest.

Chen Yi screamed as dragon lightning qi arced over his body, burning his skin and clothes. Before Xue's attack could kill him, Chen Lisha threw out her hands toward Xue.

Shimmering blue serpents wound around Chen Lisha's arms and then shot toward Xue, expanding in the air as they did so. They struck Xue and wrapped around him, cutting off his attack as they squeezed. He snarled and struggled as the snakes shifted and coiled ever tighter around him.

Chen Ai formed balls of dense, dark, light-bending qi in the air and sent them shooting toward Pan Tian and Xue while Xue was caught by the snakes.

Pan Tian extended her arms out and gave a defiant roar as silver-white qi expanded out from her in a protective dome that covered both herself and Xue.

Chen Ai's attacks bombarded Pan Tian's barrier like a meteor swarm. The orbs of darkness exploded against the resplendent moonlight qi with deafening booms that drove Pan Tian down to one knee as Xue bit into the serpents constricting him and tore his way free.

Behind Chen Ai, Chen Lisha's serpent flowed over the floor as though she were surfing upon a wave, bringing her to Chen Yi's side. A healing pill appeared in her hand which she shoved into his mouth.

"What are you doing!? Leave him, you idiot! We can't let them reach the portal!" Chen Ai snarled as cracks formed in Pan Tian's barrier.

But her words didn't seem to reach Chen Lisha who appeared to be in a world of her own.