Wu Jian had not simply been letting himself get pushed around by Shen Yunhai during their bout. He had analyzed the man’s fighting style as thoroughly as he possibly could during this battle, and he had realized that his enemy only had five techniques.

Bane’s Embrace: The ability to poison his enemies and drain their strength with a mere touch.

Serpentine Veil: An illusion technique that cloaked Shen Yunhai in a mirage shroud that rendered him invisible.

Ephemeral Step: A technique that let Shen Yunhai traverse realms with a mere thought. This was similar to Wu Jian’s teleportation, but there was a slight delay, so it wasn’t instantaneous movement like his was.

Crimson Coil: A technique that created tendrils of malevolent chi that ensared his foes and assaulted them with visions of fear and hopelessness. Wu Jian had already experienced this once.

Abyssal Vortex: Shen Yunhai summoned a maelstrom of dark energy that consumed everything within its path. This was easily his most malevolent and evil technique. Wu Jian had not been hit by it, but Huǒ Yulie, hidden away and still unconscious, almost had.

Wu Jian had been very mindful of her location since the battle started and done his best to avoid letting any attacks come near her. That one, however, was such a wide scale attack that Wu Jian had been forced to use his chi, creating a black hole to suck it all in as opposed to dodging it. Huǒ Yulie would have been consumed had he not.

Shen Yunhai fortunately wasn’t the type to use area attacks like that often. Wu Jian believed that was because it consumed a lot of chi, but it might also be due to his fighting style. Shen Yunhai was a symphony of ruthlessness and shadows, of deception, weaving through the battlefield like a phantom. He struck his targets from behind a veil of invisibility, never confronting them directly unless presented with no other option. That made fighting him incredibly tricky.

“Dammit! He disappeared again!” Huǒ Shuchang shouted.

“Calm down! Youmei!”

“Yes, Master!”

Wu Jian turned toward his left just as several black tendrils erupted from his shadow. The area before him appeared normal, like nothing was there, but Wu Jian narrowed his eyes and manipulated the space around him with the bare minimum of chi needed. A shadow wavered, distortions appeared, and Shen Yunhai emerged from the veil of illusions. He clicked his tongue.

“I’ve got you now!”

[Flame Shot]

Huǒ Shuchang condensed his chi into a small sphere, which ignited with the powerful flames of a phoenix. He fired the projectile at Shen Yunhai, who sliced the technique in half, but that wasn’t the end of the man’s troubles as Huǒ Pànguó also prepared his own technique.

[Phoenix Feather Rain]

Flaming phoenix feathers coalesced in the air above and gently descended toward the ground. There were so many that one was bound to strike Shen Yunhai--if their opponent was normal.

[Ephemeral Steps]

[Serpentine Veil]

The man vanished, as did his presence within this world. Wu Jian clicked his tongue when hee couldn’t sense their enemy even with his understanding into the Dao of Space. All he could do was rely on his companion.

“Youmei found him!”

More black tendrils shot from Wu Jian’s shadow. They tried to attack an area just behind Huǒ Pànguó, but while they could not reach their foe, Wu Jian could make him appear by disrupting space there. Huǒ Shuchang saw Shen Yunhai appear before Huǒ Pànguó. He turned to the older man and swept out his hand.

[Phoenix Wave]

Flames erupted from his arm in a wave that quickly threatened to overtake Shen Yunhai. It swept over the area without regard for friend or foe. Yet Shen Yunhai had already vanished, disappearing into the ether.

“Dammit! Can’t you hold him still?!” snappeed Huǒ Pànguó.

“Don’t you think I would have done that if I could?!” Wu Jian snapped back.

They both knew he had basically no chi left. Wu Jian was running on empty. What’s more, he had poison running through him that should have left him paralyzed. The only thing that kept him going was sheer grit and over abuse of alchemy pills. His own cultivation was already going to suffer for this. What more did that asshole want from him?

“He’s behind you, Master!”

Wu Jian had already assumed that was going to be Shen Yunhai’s gameplan, since the reason those two could attack him was because Wu Jian kept disrupting his ability. He rolled across the ground and, because of that, he was allowed to keep his head. The loud swishing of air being sliced echoed above him.

“I’m really beginning to hate you. I almost don’t care about my job anymore. I just want to kill you. How are you even able to move?”

“Well, it’s not easy, I can tell you that much,” Wu Jian said with a pained smirk.

Shen Yunhai narrowed his eyes briefly, then smiled. “I see. You’ve created miniature threads of space and you’re using those to move yourself. That’s incredible. What talent.”

“I don’t need your condescension!”

[Empyrion Dance]

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Wu Jian could not attack himself, for he had no strength left, but Huǒ Shuchang and Huǒ Pànguó had plenty left in the tank, and they both used the Empyrion Dance to create strands of chi that they attacked with. Shen Yunhai was forced to leap backward to avoid the attacks, dancing across the ground like a shadow.

“I’m not being condescending. I truly admire you,” Shen Yunhai’s voice echoed everywhere. “I’m almost tempted to ask if you’d like to join my guild.”

“I’d sooner bite off my own tongue.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought you’d say. Well, nothing to it except to keep fighting.”

He talks way too much. He’s trying to distract us.

Shen Yunhai was good at using psychological manipulation and mind games to distract them. He had already done so several times during the battle, talking by projecting his voice, then striking one of them from their blindspots. If it weren't for Youmei’s ability to sense where he was, they would have all died several moves ago.

We just… need to hold on a little bit longer…

“Hmmm. I’m sure I could finish you all off eventually, but you know, I think I want to finish things faster.”

What’s he planning?

Wu Jian narrowed his eyes as the chi within the area swelled with darkness. The cold yin chi of death filled the room and caused him to shiver. He wasn’t the only one either, as both Huǒ Pànguó and Huǒ Shuchang froze like they had become blocks of ice. The sensation of death looming over them instilled an instinctive fear within their minds.

“He’s going to use Abyssal Vortex!”

Wu Jian tried to warn the other two, but that was the moment Shen Yunhai appeared between the three of them. He summoned a vortex of shadow and malice. The maelstrom of dark energy gathered around him, preventing them from attacking, lest they be injured in the process. Wu Jian and the other two tried to retreat. However, the chi had already reached a zenith and flew in a circular explosion that blasted them all back.

Darkness washed over Wu Jian as he was assaulted by his worst fears.

“Failure…”

“… You’re a failure.”

“You’ve betrayed us.”

“You betrayed the Wu Clan.”

“How could you let us die like that?!”

Wu Jian gritted his teeth as tears stung his eyes. As he faltered mentally and emotionally, the paralytic running through his system finally took hold of him. His body relaxed and he could no longer move anything except his eyes. He couldn’t even grit his teeth anymore. His jaw felt like it had gone numb.

Shen Yunhai appeared above him, grin filled with malice. “You just wait right there while I kill your companions.”

“Master…”

His shadow writhed as though Youmei was about to leap out of it. He wished he could tell her not to, but he wasn’t even able to open or close his mouth, let alone speak. From his peripheral vision, he caught a glimpse of Shen Yunhai standing over Huǒ Shuchang, who had curled into a ball and was crying. Wu Jian struggled to move a muscle, to warn Huǒ Shuchang, but he could do nothing.

“That is quite enough.”

[Phoenix Flame Pillar]

A massive pillar of fire erupted from the ground where Shen Yunhai stood. The man disappeared within the flames, though not for long, as hee quickly cut through them with his blade, which he had imbued with darkness. He then spun on the balls of his feet and raised his dagger to block an incoming strike from his assailant, Huǒ Yulie, who glared at him as flames burned behind her back, along her sword, and within her eyes.

“Tch. I see you woke up. I had been hoping to finish them off before that,” Shen Yunhai clicked his tongue.

The fiery-haired woman just glared. “Thou shalt render recompense for thy deeds. I shall ensure that not even thy ashes endure.”

“Oh, will you now? Careful there, little phoenix girl. You might be strong, but you’re not that strong.”

“We shall see.”

[Phoenix Domain]

The world around them all shifted. Flames erupted from the ground, and while the floor did not melt, it turned a blistering orange hue. Steam rose all around them and obscured the view. The walls and ceiling similarly turned a molten gold as the heat from Huǒ Yulie’s domain warped them.

“Tch! Do you think a domain will hold me?!”

“That was never my purpose!”

[Phoenix Fury]

The domain soon began swirling. All that chi within the atmosphere gathered around Huǒ Yulie, who had become a vortex of fire. Tendrils escaped this swirling vortex and forced Shen Yunhai to retreat, though he was unable to use Ephemeral Steps. He tried, but the flames latched onto him and broke his concentration. During that time, all the fire from the domain was sucked into Huǒ Yulie, who now glowed with an otherworldly vibrancy. She looked less like a human and more like a goddess who had descended upon the world of men. Her golden eyes had become even more beautiful, more piercing than before.

“Foul assassin. This is your end!”

“Dammit!”

Shen Yunhai tried to move as Huǒ Yulie swung her sword, but the ground beneath him had turned to magma, then hardened. He had no time to dodge as the blade, wreathed in flames so hot they burned white, sliced through his neck, removing his head from his neck. It struck the ground after rolling off his shoulders, tumbling along until it came to a stop. The body continued twitching as though still alive. However, it, too, eventually ceased to move and slumped backward, its feet still stuck in the ground.

“MASTER!”

Youmei chose that moment to leap out of his shadow. Wu Jian grimaced as the giant cat dragged her tongue across his face. He wanted to tell her how badly her breath smelled. Dammit. Now would have been the perfect time for his body to start working.

Huǒ Yulie dropped to a knee at that moment and began coughing up blood. She pressed a hand to her chest as blood splattered against the floor and began hissing. Wu Jian wanted to do something, but he couldn’t even move, and he no longer had enough chi to create spatial threads and force his body to move like a puppet. He was completely helpless.

Huǒ Yulie eventually staggered to her feet and stumbled over to him, dropping to her knees with a harsh thud that would have made him wince, had his facial muscles not lacked the capacity to. Youmei looked at her with big eyes.

“Will Master be okay?”

“He shall be in good health. Tarry but a moment. I shall purge the venom.”

She placed his head on her lap and, quite suddenly, they became engulfed in flames. Up to that point, he had always seen flames as something to be feared. Yet all he felt now was warmth. Wu jian could feel the flames traveling through his meridians and into his dantian, burning away the poison. He was eventually able to move again.

“Are you sure… you should be up?” he asked.

“Thou shouldst not make such inquiries whilst thou art in such a wretched condition,” Huǒ Yulie answered. “If I had not awoken and taken action when I did, thou and my brethren would be in the cold embrace of death.” He wouldn’t have been dead, but the fate that awaited him had Shen Yunhai succeeded likely would have been worse. “Prithee, what occurred whilst I was insensate?”

Right. She probably has no idea what happened.

With a tired sigh, Wu Jian relaxed with his head against Huǒ Yulie’s thighs and slowly told her about everything they had been through since their escape from the phoenix dragon.