Huang Li’s breathing was heavy as he struggled to maintain his combat readiness. His body’s natural recovery quickly stemmed the blood spurting out of his shoulder, but he didn’t have much confidence in being able to stop the slash that would likely follow it.

Kayle’s hands were relaxed at his sides, yet someone they looked more like iron spikes and meat cleavers than human appendages. As much as he prodded and tested with his image, Li couldn’t even stir a strand of hair on his opponent’s head. That image of his ominously sliced away everything, leaving only the inviolable man.

Huang Li’s grip on his wodao tightened. He forcefully released a deep breath as Kayle took another step closer. At the very least, that strike from Kayle had completely disabused Huang Li of the idea of getting any cheap advantages by relying on the strange mechanism of Cloud-Slaying Slash. Kayle had sniffed out the trick and severed the connection between them before Li could strike, casually wounding him in the process.

Still, the wound helped settled Huang Li’s frayed nerves. No matter what else, he had made it to this round; this was enough to prove the power of Zone 7. He didn’t feel confident in winning against this opponent, but something in his heart shifted now that he accomplished that goal; his spirit could relax and simply meet the threat in front of him.

Huang Li felt confident that the millions of practice slashes and stabs he had done with this sword weren’t meaningless. Even here, at this high stage, the accumulation was significant. So when Kayle took his next step forward, Huang Li moved forward to meet him.

The wind gathered around Li’s feet and accelerated his advance. Around the arena, the chaotic flows of air rushed around like a messy confluence of rivers. Meanwhile, that horrifically sharp smile on Kayle’s face curved upward as he adjusted his speed to meet Li.

As Li and Kayle closed the distance between them, the other half of the stage was filled with repeated explosions. Huang Shou was throwing up carefully arranged formations in order to slow down Paolo’s advance, but the man threw knife-punch after knife-punch forward and shattered all of the hasty preparations without breaking a sweat. Still, Li couldn’t spare much attention to helping his adoptive grandfather. I hope you understand the risk you are taking, grandfather. Good luck.

I sense we will need it, on this day.

Huang Li slashed his weapon diagonally upward and Kayle calmly leaned back to avoid the strike. Hoping for his foe’s balance to be off, Huang Li twisted his sword midair as soon as it was clear the slash would miss and stabbed downward toward the other man’s thigh. If he could damage Kayle’s mobility-

But of course, Kayle spun away with his usual poise. His hand flicked out, almost delicately as he twisted around. Li grimaced and brought his sword upward to block. The invisible blade of air smashed into Li’s defense and forced him a few steps backward. Kayle lowered himself and rushed forward.

You even use wind blades against me…? Such… Huang Li wanted to accuse his opponent of arrogance as he swirled his flood dragon image even more violently around himself, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. That brief clash demonstrated that Kayle had more than enough reason to believe himself capable of challenging Li to a battle of wind.

The cloud blade had pushed him back. In terms of the potency of their Skills, it was clear that Kayle had a decisive advantage.

Kayle’s long-fingered hands flicked out several more times as he threw invisible cuts toward Li. For his part, Li gave up on any pretense of offense and settled his stance as best he could in order to just survive. His blade flowed reliably through the precise sword forms taught to him by the Huang Family, but his expression stiffened as he felt the small adjustments that Kayle kept making to his attacks.

More than the power, what filled Huang Li with apprehension was the delicacy and deftness with which Kayle struck. Li was forced to pull more and more deeply from the surrounding wind in order to keep up; he couldn’t give the wind even time to build itself up further, considering Kayle’s implacable strikes.

Congratulations! Your Skill Great Sky’s Embrace (R) has grown to Level 202!

If not with Skills… then with image...

Li was forced continually to retreat backward, his grip on his wo dao trembling as he practically shoved away Kayle’s strikes. As his image spread to the surrounding area, Huang Li felt his limbs trembling less and less from blocking his foe’s wind blades. Li was even able to unleash a few, counterattacks and achieved a reassuring rhythm in his movements. But the problem was Kayle was growing stronger just as quickly, if not a little bit more so.

“You’ve studied me.” Huang Li said as the realization hit him, feeling strangely honored and indignant in his heart.

The only answer that Kayle provided was an impossibly sharp palm attack aimed at Huang Li’s heart. Pursing his lips, Li prepared for the next stage of the fight.

“Dragon’s Dance-”

“Domain: Blade Halo.”

Just as Huang Li shot quickly backward with the sudden increase in mobility due to his Skill, Kayle crossed his arms and manifested a swirling circle of blades around them. Gritting his teeth, Li pushing his roaring dragon through his Skill with more violence than he ever had in the past. His body became slightly insubstantial. As long as he remained within the halo, he would need to be near perfect to survive-

But rather than pounce, Kayle paused. His brow furrowed and there was a strange second of stillness from him.

Huang Li passed through the edge of the halo and landed onto the ground. He adjusted his stance and lowered his wo dao, slightly bewildered. But then he saw that all the hanging blades of Kayle’s Skill shimmer and then transform into hands.

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Li was dumbfounded. This was a legitimate Skill. And somehow, Kayle had adjusted its shape on the fly. “Are you kidding me?”

Can this really be done with just an image…? Huang Li wondered.

“I’m a man of my word,” Kayle responded. Then he rushed forward, that Domain of palms spinning and swirling outward to surround Huang Li.

But with the few seconds of a break, Li had regained his balance and connected with the air swirling around the whole of the arena. That forceful usage of his image boosted his physical performance to a point that he had never experienced in the past. His wo dao drifted downward and then he exploded forward to meet the palms directly.

His blade could only be seen when it caught the light as it flickered and flashed to deflect the oncoming attacks. But even now, Li still trailed behind Kayle’s physical abilities by the smallest amount. His steps were light and uneven as he forcefully pushed his muscles and joints to their limits to avoid the brutally sharp attacks from Kayle. And for the first time since the battle began, Kayle’s smile slowly faded.

While the explosions from the other fight continued to blast their way across the wide arena, Kayle spoke with a cold certainty. “Bring out the other sword. This is no judgment on you, but you are not my match otherwise. Show me your sharpest sword or you will be beaten into the ground.”

But Huang Li didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he continued to frantically swing his sword up, down, left, right, and around to defend against the veritable swarm of palms that struck at him. His Stamina and mental energy were gradually being exhausted, but Li somehow knew he couldn’t survive by conserving his strength. Besides, he had the oddest sense that as long as he continued fighting for just a little while longer, he would be able to find the answer he sought.

Wo dao and palms repeatedly clashed. The lines around Kayle’s eyes gradually hardened.

Yet this couldn’t last forever. Even with the extra boost from his Dragon’s Dance, Huang Li’s momentum was gradually exhausted and he was barely able to hold his ground. He could match the Domain well enough, but Kayle’s actual attacks were brutally sharp. His hands were so filled with the concentrated image of sharpness that Li could hear the wind whistling as those fingers cut through the air. Li had to urge his body to keep up with the onslaught, but an answer to his prayers continued to allude him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Dragon’s Dance (A) has grown to Level 259!

Not that he didn’t understand Kayle’s frustration; the other man wanted a challenge. Huang Li’s training was ultimately a job to him, but he wouldn’t have risen to his current station as head of the guard if he didn’t find some joy and passion in the act of combat. Even now, as the wind whipped through Li’s hair and he was trembling with the strain of resisting Kayle’s attacks, he felt something… reassuring about the conflict.

This fight was a problem that could be solved with preparation and planning. Which is why Huang Li didn’t now try and create the sword he had used to such great results in the prior match. That was… far too blunt an instrument to be relied upon here.

One of Kayle’s attacks slipped past Huang Li’s guard and landed on his left bicep. Rather than any true concussive force, the strike actually drilled a small hole directly through Li’s bone and muscle to blast out the other side. Blood dribbled down his limb as he forced his hands to remain tight around his sword and block the next attack.

Congratulations! Your Skill Greater Swordsmanship (Un) has grown to Level 219!

When Li had finally managed to unleash his Sky-Slaying Sword in the prior match, it had both left him completely drained and with lingering mental interference. He had opened himself up to the ambient images in the air and gathered them together in an enormous mass. That mass became the fuel to create the imposing effect that the Ghosthound himself was forced to move in order to block.

But it was dangerous. And it was not the sort of strike that Huang Li felt proud of.

“Fine then,” Kayle said lightly. His movements seemed to blur at the edges as he brought down a series of curving palm strikes toward Li’s body. The increase in his speed was slight, but the two of them had been already moving at Huang Li’s limit. The first attack he deflected, but the second left a deep gash across his forearm and the third forced him to retreat a half step.

Kayle twisted and brought his elbow smashing into Li’s arm. The domain of hands smashed downward at Li’s head and back.

Preparation… and planning… Huang Li’s eyes flashed. While the attacks closed in on him from every direction, his mind seemed to spin furiously. The motion was desperate, but with his heightened senses, Huang Li could feel his body come alive. Time seemed to slow down. His eyes flicked side to side to cover all the threats.

Congratulations! You have created the Skill The Stretch Between a Dragon’s Breaths (L)! Warning! This action will consume your life energy. Please see your Village Spirit in order to avoid sickness and death.

Congratulations! Your Skill The Stretch Between a Dragon’s Breaths (L) has grown to Level 2!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Stretch Between a Dragon’s Breaths (L) has grown to Level 3!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Stretch Between a Dragon’s Breaths (L) has grown to Level 4!

The truth was, ambient images weren’t the only way to absorb strength and empower himself. Huang Li remembered the way his adoptive aunt smiled at him and poured him steaming tea. He remembered the instructors at the academy standing with ramrod straight spines and pointing out the flaws in his sword grip. He remembered the sound of wind rushing through the reeds along the river and the way his Glorious Leaders had joked it sounded like the laughter of dragons playing in the shallows.

It was reality, but it was also an image.

Kayle’s attacks steadily inched closer. A terrible headache made Huang Li grit his teeth. But from those fragmented memories, he could see the shape of the image he had been building for the past five years, all for this moment.

It would have been an impossible task on his own to build such a powerful image in such a short period of time. Five years was nothing on the grand scale of human history. But he wasn’t on his own. The weight of Chinese culture gave him shape, detail, and poignancy. THAT was the power of being an average man.

Congratulations! Your Skill The Stretch Between a Dragon’s Breaths (L) has grown to Level 5!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Stretch Between a Dragon’s Breaths (L) has grown to Level 6!

Finally, Huang Li couldn’t maintain his new Skill any longer. But he whipped his sword around, slightly altering the trajectory of Kayle’s attack and the sweeping away the Domain that struck at his back. Li felt his pinky break from a glancing strike of the elbow, but his gaze remained focused.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple to bridge that gap between Kayle and himself even with a blooming image. Kayle’s emotionless eyes detected the change in Li’s style and he seemed to cut through the intervening space to strike before any further variations could appear. His hands ripped forward like a falcon spiking downward at the unsuspecting back of a rabbit.

“Dragon’s Roar!” Huang Li hissed. The explosion of wind barely slowed Kayle down at all, but it did get Li’s momentum heading backward. So when Kayle’s attack landed, he was smashed backward rather than simply being crushed.