Chapter 141: Sword Qi Slays

Chapter 141: Sword Qi Slays

Within the combat training room, Zhou Yishang and the Swordsmen were filled with astonishment.

In Ji Xinghuo's hands, the effective range of the compound bow was only 220 meters. Beyond this distance, accuracy would decrease significantly, making it challenging to pose a threat to the target.

With a distance of over 300 meters between them, would this arrow even be of use?

Before this thought could settle, everyone saw Ji Xinghuo's hands move like lightning as he fired four arrows in a second, so fast that afterimages were created.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The four arrows traveled along almost the same trajectory, angling upwards and piercing through layers of branches and leaves without any interference or deceleration, rapidly descending towards Ling Yufeng's location.

As the arrows flew over 300 meters and approached the target, their trajectories finally showed some variation.

Ling Yufeng was in the midst of stealthily moving when the arrows came shooting towards her, and she was completely unprepared mentally. However, her reaction was swift. As the first arrow arrived, she sidestepped twice to dodge it. Immediately after, the second arrow shot towards the spot she had just vacated, aiming straight for her neck.

She sidestepped again, but the third arrow found its mark.

And so, she sidestepped once more!

With three consecutive sidesteps, it was as if they had rehearsed it beforehand. No matter which direction Ling Yufeng moved or where she landed, there was always an arrow that found its mark.

Moreover, the arrows seemed to intercept her path, blocking her from taking cover behind the trees.

On her fourth sidestep, Ling Yufeng's star power and stamina were rapidly depleting, and her body felt numb. Before she could even grasp the situation, another arrow struck her.

Pfft!

The arrow pierced through her left shoulder, instantly rendering her entire arm useless.

Ling Yufeng decisively threw away the recurve bow in her hand, her figure blurred, and she finally dove into the shadows, taking cover behind a large tree.

Her sharp eyes revealed a hint of bewilderment.

Up until now, she hadn't caught a glimpse of Ji Xinghuo's location and could only roughly estimate his position based on the trajectory of the arrows.

The watching Swordsmen were perplexed but deeply shaken.

They couldn't comprehend how the compound bow in Ji Xinghuo's hands could inflict damage on a target over 300 meters away. Why was it that Ling Yufeng, as a Shadow Dancer, with her incredibly fast reactions, unable to dodge the arrows? And how was Ji Xinghuo able to easily pinpoint Ling Yufeng's location?

A series of question marks filled the Swordsmen's heads.

Then, they noticed that after Ji Xinghuo shot the four arrows, he didn't even bother to observe the outcome, as if he had already predicted that Ling Yufeng would be injured.

His figure faded, his body absorbed sound, and he sprinted through the forest.

By the time Ling Yufeng had tended to her shoulder wound, Ji Xinghuo had already circled to another direction and was now positioned to her west.

However, Ling Yufeng remained unaware and assumed that Ji Xinghuo was still to the south. She continued to leap from shadow to shadow, quietly advancing towards the southern edge of the forest.

The distance between the two rapidly closed in.

While Ling Yufeng was still searching for Ji Xinghuo's trace, he had already sneaked up behind her, climbed silently to the top of a tall tree, and gained the high ground.

"It's over!"

With the positions of both parties clearly displayed on the screen, the Swordsmen couldn't help but shake their heads as they witnessed this scene.

Ji Xinghuo gazed at Ling Yufeng, who was 200 meters ahead of him, and drew the bowstring.

The arrow sliced through the air, emitting a shrill whistle.

It was as if Ling Yufeng had eyes at the back of her head. Almost at the same instant that Ji Xinghuo released the arrow, her body vanished, disappearing into the shadows and darting several dozen meters away.

When she leaped out from the shadows, an arrow flew straight towards her.

It turned out that Ji Xinghuo's compound bow had not been aimed at her original position at all but had predicted the landing point of her shadow-step.

Thud!

Ling Yufeng deflected the arrow with her sword, her body swayed, and four afterimages appeared around her.

She attempted to confuse Ji Xinghuo's target, and her real body sidestepped, dodging towards a tree not far away. As a master of firearms, finding cover was a basic skill, and she had chosen this particular tree with careful consideration—neither the closest nor the thickest, but one that could perfectly shield her.

However, in the next moment—

Pfft!

Ling Yufeng suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, an arrow piercing through her ankle. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"This is impossible!"

It wasn't just Ling Yufeng who looked as if they had seen a ghost; the watching Swordsmen wore similar expressions.

Because Ling Yufeng had been hit while in the middle of a sidestep!

Ji Xinghuo's arrow was completely unaffected by the afterimages, and he had not only found Ling Yufeng's true body but also struck her ankle as she was in the middle of her sidestep.

Many Swordsmen were familiar with the sidestep technique and were well aware of its incredible speed, akin to a lightning-fast burst of movement.

Sometimes, the sidestep was so swift that even the eyes struggled to keep up.

It was almost impossible to hit an opponent who was in the middle of a sidestep, making both close-quarters combat and long-range attacks extremely challenging.

Ling Yufeng's marksmanship was unparalleled, and she had never hit an enemy who was using the sidestep technique.

Yet, Ji Xinghuo had achieved this with a bow and arrow!

And he had done so with a compound bow of average performance.

Thus, Ling Yufeng's first reaction was disbelief, but the searing pain in her foot told her that she had indeed been hit.

"Could it be luck?"

Everyone speculated along these lines.

However, Zhou Yishang and Min Chongwu did not share this thought. They exchanged a glance, and in each other's eyes, they saw shock. A year and a half ago, Ji Xinghuo had relied on his unimaginable archery skills to kill the superpower Ji Zongbang with a mere training bow. Now, his archery had become even more formidable!

Ji Xinghuo jumped down from the treetop and approached Ling Yufeng.

He did not make another move. A Shadow Dancer with a pierced ankle and shoulder had lost her most crucial asset—speed—and without any long-range weapons, her strength was diminished to less than a fifth of her original power.

The outcome of this round was clear.

Ling Yufeng watched Ji Xinghuo draw closer and knew that a comeback was impossible. She nodded and said, "I lost this round."

She exited the Spirit Realm.

Ji Xinghuo also exited and saw Ling Yufeng sitting up in the projection cabin next to him, her expression indifferent as she said, "Again."

It was a best-of-three match.

She would have to win the next two rounds consecutively to emerge victorious.

Upon entering, Ji Xinghuo found himself in a different position from the previous round, standing in an open area with no cover, to the east of the previous forest.

He immediately located Ling Yufeng using his magnetic field sensing ability.

She had already found him.

Ji Xinghuo thought for a moment, then discarded his compound bow and quiver. Holding the Devil's Sound Longsword in his left hand, he began walking towards Ling Yufeng.

"What's he trying to do?"

The watching Swordsmen were perplexed, not understanding why Ji Xinghuo would give up his biggest advantage and even discard his bow and arrows.

Soon, Ling Yufeng reached the edge of the forest.

When she saw Ji Xinghuo, her expression faltered for a moment, and then her eyes flashed with annoyance.

She guessed Ji Xinghuo's intention. In this round, he didn't plan to compete with her in archery; he wanted to defeat her in close-quarters combat.

"Underestimating your opponent never ends well."

Muttering to herself, Ling Yufeng drew her recurve bow and fired an arrow at Ji Xinghuo.

The recurve bow in her hand was a Superpower Level 1, and compared to the compound bow, it had similar power, but the arrow speed was slightly slower. However, it had a higher rate of fire. She didn't conceal her position, aiming directly at Ji Xinghuo, and fired arrow after arrow.

With her Thousand Spirit Dexterity at Level 3, Ling Yufeng could fire three arrows per second with the recurve bow.

Each arrow locked onto Ji Xinghuo's evasive direction.

He was like a sitting duck.

Swoosh!

Even before Ling Yufeng fired her first arrow, Ji Xinghuo had started sprinting towards her. The arrow flew straight at his eyes, and he slightly tilted his head, letting it graze past his ear.

Then, he sidestepped to the left, neatly avoiding the second arrow aimed at his right chest.

Arrow after arrow flew at him like a barrage.

Amidst his high-speed sprint, Ji Xinghuo made small adjustments, shifting left and right, sometimes ducking, sometimes sidestepping, occasionally using his longsword to deftly deflect an arrow, or suddenly accelerating or decelerating, moving forward with intermittent flashes, his absolute speed not particularly fast, yet always managing to dodge every arrow.

Each arrow Ling Yufeng fired missed by a hair's breadth.

No matter how she calculated the lead, predicted Ji Xinghuo's direction and position, or adjusted her angle, the result was always the same—wrong!

One relentlessly shot, while the other effortlessly dodged.

Ling Yufeng's quiver quickly emptied, and Ji Xinghuo had closed the distance to just over 40 meters. She could now make out the faint smile on his face.

He was focused, calm, yet seemingly taking a leisurely stroll.

She felt immense pressure. Although she was most proficient with firearms, she considered herself no less skilled with a bow and arrow. Yet, she couldn't land a hit in this situation.

At this moment, a thought occurred to her—even if she had used firearms, she might not have been able to hit Ji Xinghuo.

If that were truly the case, then the gap between their strengths...

Ling Yufeng dared not imagine.

She forcibly pushed aside her thoughts and fired her last arrow, which, unsurprisingly, also missed. She then discarded her recurve bow and drew two swords, one long and one short, to face Ji Xinghuo.

The distance of over 30 meters instantly closed.

Ling Yufeng's figure disappeared, and in the next moment, she leaped out from the shadow behind Ji Xinghuo, her short sword imbued with a Shadow Blade, aiming straight for his back.

Clang!

Ji Xinghuo turned, parrying the short sword with his Devil's Sound sword.

The two weapons made brief contact, and Ling Yufeng immediately retreated, dissipating the immense force transmitted by her sword.

At the same time, her body, in a manner that defied the laws of physics, instantly shifted from retreating to advancing. Taking Ji Xinghuo by surprise, she transformed into a shadow, merging with her right-hand longsword and lunging directly at his heart.

Boom!

A peal of thunder reverberated, and electricity arced.

Midway through her lunge, Ling Yufeng was struck by the oncoming lightning, her body vibrating at a high frequency and transforming into overlapping afterimages that withstood the lightning attack.

Shadow Flash!

This was an ability coveted by many Shadow Blades, Rangers, and agile mutants—the ability to deflect physical attacks and energy damage, leaving the body unharmed if the timing was right.

Ling Yufeng endured the lightning, and her sword pierced Ji Xinghuo's heart.

However, her sword met no resistance.

She had only struck an afterimage.

Flash Step!

Ji Xinghuo's Flash Step hadn't taken him far, just half a meter or so to the side, remaining within Ling Yufeng's field of vision. His Devil's Sound Longsword slashed down.

Ling Yufeng immediately used Flash Step to create distance.

Whoosh!

Ji Xinghuo's sword erupted with a large patch of semi-transparent white air, the ultrasonic sword energy predicting Ling Yufeng's Flash Step landing point, leaving her with no chance to evade.

Unarmored, Ling Yufeng's body was like a canvas for a thousand cuts, as countless wounds opened up, spraying blood. But these were just surface wounds; the true terror of the ultrasonic sword energy was its ability to inflict internal damage, causing her organs to hemorrhage.

Enduring her injuries, Ling Yufeng attempted to retreat into the shadows, only to see Ji Xinghuo point his empty left hand at her.

A transparent spear shot forth.

Sound Spear!

The transparent spear traveled at the speed of sound and immediately pierced through Ling Yufeng's body, causing her to stagnate and lose her mobility.

Another slash of white sword energy fell upon her neck, and Ling Yufeng's world went dark.

She bolted upright in the projection cabin, her head throbbing as if pricked by needles—a side effect of dying in the Spirit Realm.

"Ugh..."

Ling Yufeng climbed out of the projection cabin, gritting her teeth against the headache. She saw Ji Xinghuo exiting the Spirit Realm as well, looking relaxed and calm, indicating that he had found the two rounds of combat to be quite effortless.

"I lost," Ling Yufeng said, taking a deep breath. "As expected of an otherworldly being on the Tower, my strength is inferior to yours!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end