"Your battle skill gives you the ability to conceal yourself in darkness and land surprise attacks, it's very advantageous in this gloomy night. You probably thought in this environment, you could kill anyone in one blow without them noticing anything and steal their points. Unfortunately, the same way you become stronger with the absence of light, I myself am in my element during the night." The mysterious cultivator gazed at Ye Mo, the eyes on his body staring straight at him, giving a very oppressive feeling.
Thousand-Eyed Spider mid-tier Yellow class battle skill.
This technique allowed the cultivator to grow eyes on his skin, as long as there was enough surface on his body, he could produce one, enabling him to have a complete vision of his surroundings at all time, possessing virtually no blind spot.
However, the eyes produced by the Thousand-Eyed Spider battle skill were ordinary eyes with a human aspect and couldn't see in the darkness, far from the current appearance the bowman displayed.
Piercing Night Cat Vision, mid-tier Yellow Class battle skill!
This battle skill could turn the eyes of the cultivator into those of a cat, giving him a view as clear as day even in the deepest of darkness.
When Piercing Night Cat Vision was used along Thousand-Eyed Spider battle skill, the effect of the first would provide all the eyes that grew on the participant's body the ability to see in the night, giving them their current yellow-orange appearance with a thin slit in the center.
With these two battle skills combined, the night and the day made no difference for the participant facing Ye Mo and no matter how somber and starless the sky was, he could see his surroundings with stunning clarity.
As soon as Ye Mo left the shadows to attack him, this student immediately noticed him and reacted accordingly.
"If it was anyone else, your ambush would have probably succeeded, unfortunately, you went against me. If I was walking alone in clear sight, it's not only because I had nothing to fear, but mostly to draw other participants in attacking me." The bowman said lightly, smiling at Ye Mo like a hunter explaining why his trap worked on his prey.
Using both the Thousand-Eyed Spider battle skill and the Piercing Night Cat Vision battle skill was a very clever combination, these skills complemented each other well and showed how thoughtful this cultivator was in choosing his techniques.
Even then, this situation was not unexpected for Ye Mo. He never thought of himself as someone special or remarkable, if he can think of something, others can as well, if he can do something, they can do it too; if he kills people then they can also attempt to kill him. Being too self-centered and belittling others is a straight path towards defeat, and in his situation, it meant death.
"People fight against each other, and people fight against the heavens. In this gamble, our basic stake is our lives! If I am killed, then I just lost the bet." Ye Mo thought understanding this principle deeply.
At the second phase, Shadow Walk was the most efficient during night, only in the final phase could he turn in a shadow without a need for darkness. In these circumstances, Ye Mo also considered some students having an advantage in the night, the same way he anticipated a few participants to have a surge in their battle strength during the day.
Encountering another student having an upper hand in this environment was within his calculations.
Everyone had various battle skills with their own specifics and a few being stronger or weaker depending on the situation or the environment. Foreseeing them is the first step to protect oneself.
Now, the battle strength of this participant still had to be determined.
Ye Mo charged at the cultivator, surrounded by wind currents, his speed increasing sharply.
When he was close to his opponent, the latter leaped backwards, using a movement battle skill.
Sky Ascension high-tier Yellow class battle skill.
In an instant, he was over 8 meters high in the air, spinning on himself, his legs raised towards the sky and his head pointing at the ground as he distanced himself from Ye Mo.
While in the air, the student pulled the string of his bow, generating three light blue arrows of Qi on its limb which he fired at Ye Mo while still spinning showing great proficiency.
Ye Mo swiftly stopped in his track seeing his opponent distancing him with ease and braced himself to endure the Qi arrows.
They moved so fast, tearing the air on their way, that he had no way to dodge them and he could feel the pressure they emitted even before they reached him.
A golden hue quickly covered Ye Mo's body, the Buddha Golden Bell being invoked, before the arrows crashed on him violently, their remaining energy smashing the soil and overturning the grasses.
A massive surge of grey smoke billowed around Ye Mo's position.
After several breathes of time, the smoke slowly subsided, revealing a great golden bell enclosing a youth inside.
However, for the first time, the bell had numerous cracks filling its protective barrier, displaying the enormous power between each arrow before dissipating under Ye Mo's will.
In the meantime, the bowman already dropped down, far from his original position.
"A tough nut to crack..." The student commented from afar, seeing his opponent unscathed.
Ye Mo was similarly surprised, from the movement battle skill to the Qi arrows and the ease with which he fired them, he realized he was facing an expert.
"What's your name, with your strength, I am surprised to be unable to recall your identity?" He asked, slightly curious as he approached step by step.
The bowman seemed in his early twenties so manifestly, he should be a senior student.
"If you have never heard of me then you probably haven't been a student for long. You can call me Bing Jia, I am a member of the Sky Martial Institute."
"I was their best student a few years ago, but when Zhang Xuanhan brokethrough the 9th layer, he challenged me for this position. This guy is doted on much by the dean, having free access to every battle skills and cultivation techniques while enjoying all the ressources the institute can offer, obviously, he's not easy to deal with. Defeating him could also offend his grandpa and many instructors, I didn't wish to go through the trouble so I feigned my loss and layed low since then, my name gradually disappearing from everyone's mouth." Bing Jia recounted nonchalantly, reminiscing as he made his way towards Ye Mo.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"What about you? You're not bad, if you give me your points, I won't kill you." Bing Jia suddenly said with a clear gaze focusing on the youth drawing closer.
"I am Ye Mo, not much else to say about me." Without any warning, Ye Mo rushed towards Bing Jia as soon as he gave his name, using Wind Flow battle skill.
Bing Jia fired three arrows consecutively which made their way towards Ye Mo in a straight line.
The latter didn't use any battle skill this time, raising his peak-tier spiritual weapon, he directly blocked the arrows with his pair of wrist guard.
The first, the second, then the third.
Each arrow he blocked rattled his bones and the force behind them sent him back several meters, ultimately losing all the advance he gained while they talked.
"These ain't strikes you can just ward off, but it's possible for me to defeat him!" Ye Mo thought, fighting and analyzing at the same time.
If it was any other person with the wrist guards trying to block these arrows, their legs would break under the pressure or they would directly shoot off, accompanying the arrow across the forest until they crash against a tree or a boulder.
If Ye Mo could do it, it was all thanks to the Nine Revolutions Fiend Body. His body refining cultivation gave him a physical strength and resilience far beyond any other student and he could probably fight a lot of them with just his body alone, the fact the Qi arrows could still push him back this much when he blocked was actually evidence of the force they carried.
As for the wrist guards, there was nothing to worry about, the arrows couldn't damage them at all.
"A body cultivator!" Bing Jia exclaimed in surprise.
When Ye Mo tried to block the arrows with just his wrist guards, he was both beffudled and on the verge of laughter, expecting to see him end up in pieces, but witnessing him block not one but all three of them while only being pushed back a bit, he immediately understood.
His gaze turned serious as he raised his bow once again.
Ye Mo instead charged once again.
As a body refining cultivator, his dominance was established in close range confrontations, facing a bowman, it was obvious he should bring this fight to close combat.
However, Bing Jia himself knew his advantage layed in long range battles and didn't let Ye Mo approach at all, firing arrow after arrow.
Ye Mo blocked them all, sliding across the earth as he was sent backwards each time, yet he didn't give up and kept moving towards his opponent relentlessly.
During their fight, Bing Jia also conserved the Thousand-Eyed Spider and Piercing Night Cat Vision battle skills active, wary of Ye Mo's shadow form.
These battle skills were his insurance to prevent Ye Mo from ambushing him like previously.
Ye Mo knew one of his greatest weakness layed in his movement battle skill.
Wind Flow was only low-tier and couldn't support him anymore, even with his increase in mobility due to his body refining cultivation, he could only match a mid-tier battle skill in speed at best, it was far from enough against all these students and their high-tier battle skills.
He couldn't avoid the arrows nor close the gap with his opponent's Sky Ascension battle skill, so instead, he chose another strategy.
Qi consumption.
He even stopped using Wind Flow in his charges and reduced his Qi consumption to zero, blocking the arrows with his wrist guards and pushing forward with the raw strength of his legs.
Bing Jia instead, continually used Qi arrows since they started fighting which brought huge consumption to his reserves, he also used his movement battle skill and most of all, the Thousand-Eyed Spider and Piercing Night Cat Vision battle skills were active at all time, quickly dwindling his reserves of Qi.
It must be understood that even before Ye Mo met him, Bing Jia was already using these two battle skills for some time to have a clear sight of his surroundings and prevent ambushes on himself.
Nonetheless, Ye Mo didn't use Shadow Walk again, Bing Jia's arrows were too fast and the instant he would turn in shadow form, a volley would crash on his last position and wreck the earth. If the surface where Ye Mo's shadow hid was pulverized, he would be forced to return to his human form, losing his Qi for nothing.
Even if he could hid and reach Bing Jia, the moment he would leave the darkness to attack, the student of the Sky Martial Institute would easily notice him and leap away with his movement battle skill.
Moreover, Shadow Walk's main trait was concealment, in terms of speed, it was just slightly higher than Wind Flow, the latter being one of the best in the low-tier rank.
There was no reason to use Shadow Walk for the time being so Ye Mo left it as a form of threat to force Bing Jia in using his battle skills in prevention.
Seeing Ye Mo blocking his arrows and coming about unharmed, Bing Jia began giving them a curved trajectory to strike his opponent at different angles at the same time.
Ye Mo struggled much more, but held on.
Previously, he would use his spiritual weapon in a cross guard to block the arrows properly, now he used each wrist guard independantly, blocking multiple arrows at the same time, the pressure increased considerably this way and he could feel some tear from muscles here and there in his body.
Without any choice, Ye Mo began using Endless Vitality to heal himself from time to time, but his Qi reserves which were barely used in this fight, could easily endure the expenditure.
Bing Jia however, had his wisps of Qi continuously dissipate at a fast rate and the amount of Qi he possessed shortened every second, passing below 30%.
As the fight progressed, the bowman gradually grew restless.