Chapter 221: Call.... Rejected

Chapter 220

While Li Feng remained sunken deep in his thoughts, struggling to comprehend just how quickly everything had changed and how pathetically weak he now seemed in comparison to Li Yu when the situation had been completely opposite just a month or so ago, Li Yuexin’s thoughts were entirely different. She was happy, shocked, worried, and filled with several other emotions that flashed through her beautiful blue eyes.

It was obvious that there were countless emotions stirring within her at this moment, each one fighting for dominance, but among them, two stood out above all the rest: shock and worry. She was genuinely shocked by just how powerful Li Yu had become.

It was completely insane, abnormal, almost nonsensical. Li Yu had only started cultivating a little over a month ago, and yet, in that ridiculously short period, he had already left her in the dust. Not only had he caught up to her, but he had already reached a level where she wasn’t even certain whether she could defeat him if she entered her Blood Frenzy State.

That realization alone was enough to make Li Yuexin’s heart tremble. When did Brother Yu become this strong? She couldn’t understand it. She had watched him grow, she had watched him improve, but even then, she still couldn’t comprehend how someone who had only started cultivating a little over a month ago could become this powerful.

It was simply too ridiculous, too nonsensically fast.

Yet despite the shock and disbelief filling her heart, happiness was also present... a great deal of it. She was happy that Li Yu had been able to climb to such a level of power.

She was happy that the weakling who had once been unable to cultivate had now become someone capable of standing proudly on a stage against an existence like Shi Tian. And at the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder how did he even manage to become this powerful while still being at the first stage of Qi Gathering?

The thought alone made her feel somewhat helpless. If he was already this powerful at the first stage of Qi Gathering, then what would happen when he reached the higher stages? What would happen when his cultivation continued to rise?

How terrifying would he become then? Li Yuexin had no idea, and honestly, she couldn’t care less. It would only be good news. The stronger Li Yu became, the better.

The more powerful he was, the safer he would be, and the stronger he became, the more capable he would be of protecting himself. That was what Li Yuexin wanted the most.

She didn’t care about anything else. She didn’t care about how ridiculous his growth was. She didn’t care about how many secrets he possessed. She only wanted him to be strong enough to survive... strong enough that no one could easily take his life.

And that was exactly why her third strongest emotion at this moment was present: worry. She was deeply worried about this entire death match.

Li Yu was supremely powerful; there was no doubt about that anymore. But his opponent in this final battle wasn’t someone who could be taken down easily. No, Shi Tian was a freak as well... a monster, the Devil, the one person who had forced Li Yu into a situation where she had been afraid for his life several times already.

Li Yuexin’s fingers tightened around the cloth in her hands, her beautiful blue eyes remaining locked onto the ruined stage.

"Be safe, Brother Yu..."

She whispered those words for what felt like the hundredth time during the single match that day. Perhaps she had already said it more than a hundred times, yet she couldn’t stop.

As long as the battle continued, she couldn’t stop worrying.

Meanwhile, back on the ruined stage, the two warriors finally broke apart from each other and landed several meters away. Neither immediately attacked, and for a brief moment, the battlefield fell into a strange silence.

Shi Tian stood with his grey robes torn in several places, blood staining his clothing. Several wounds marked his body from different angles, some shallow while others were much more obvious.

It was clear from his current state that this battle hadn’t been easy for even him, as the seemingly untouchable Shi Tian had finally been pushed into a state where his body was visibly showing the effects of the battle.

And on the other side, Li Yu was also catching his breath. His chest rose and fell steadily as he inhaled and exhaled, his breathing heavier than before.

However, compared to Shi Tian, his condition was at least three times better. His body still carried wounds, but his recovery abilities were absurd, and his current state was far from being as battered as his opponent.

Shi Tian narrowed his eyes slightly, his mind already working at terrifying speed. From how things stand, I am going to lose if I continue to face him head-on.

The thought wasn’t pleasant. In fact, it was something Shi Tian had almost never needed to consider, but he couldn’t deny reality. I hate to admit it, but he is stronger.

Shi Tian analyzed the situation calmly, his gaze dropping toward the sword in his hand. The weapon was still intact, but several portions of its edge had been slightly chipped.

His eyes lingered on those chips for a moment. It was an astonishing sight. This was a Sky-grade weapon... a weapon that ordinary cultivators could only dream of possessing... and yet, after clashing with Li Yu repeatedly, even this weapon had suffered damage.

Those tiny chips were enough to tell just how fierce the battle had become, serving as proof of the intensity of the collision between the two warriors.

Shi Tian slowly raised the sword, his eyes settling upon his own reflection on its cold metallic surface. The reflection looked almost as emotionless as he did.

For a moment, Shi Tian remained silent. Should I end this now? The thought crossed his mind. He could.

He had already displayed enough strength to prove that he was capable of pushing Li Yu to the brink. He had already used several forms of his Wind Sovereign Art, and if he truly stopped holding back, perhaps he could simply end everything.

But after a brief pause, Shi Tian slowly shook his head. No, not yet. His gaze sharpened. I haven’t fully analyzed his battle style yet.

That was the problem. Li Yu’s battle style was chaotic, extremely chaotic, yet at the same time, it was incredibly unique. His attacks didn’t follow a conventional pattern.

He could fight at close range with his fists, control swords and lightning blades from mid-range, unleash terrifying long-range attacks with those strange metallic weapons, and somehow, he could control all of them simultaneously without allowing one aspect of his fighting style to interfere with another.

It was an absurd battle style, a chaotic battle style, but there was also an underlying logic to it... a rhythm, a pattern, something Shi Tian could analyze.

And Shi Tian wanted to understand all of it. For someone with such a chaotic yet unique battle style, he needed to fully analyze and optimize his understanding of Li Yu’s fighting method before making his final move.

Only then would he end this. Only then would he crush his opponent completely. I will analyze everything first, then... I will end this.

"I hate this feeling..." Shi Tian thought as he looked down at his trembling hand. His fingers were shaking slightly... not from fear, not from exhaustion, but from thrill, from excitement.

His hand trembled because he was enjoying himself, and he hated it. He hated this feeling of enjoyment and thrill. Those were feelings only the weak enjoyed.

At least, that was what Shi Tian had always believed. And yet, before he could dwell on it any longer, Shi Tian moved.

"Thousand Winds Transverse."

His figure blurred. Wind qi surged violently around his body as he clashed head-on with Li Yu, who was rushing toward him at full speed. BOOM! The collision shook the very air.

The two warriors were once again locked in brutal combat, their figures repeatedly colliding and separating as terrifying waves of power erupted around them.

Every clash sounded like thunder, every movement carried enough force to make the battlefield tremble, and every exchange made anyone witnessing them feel two completely opposite emotions at the same time: thrill and terror.

It was impossible not to be captivated by such a battle, yet it was equally impossible not to fear the sheer power displayed by the two warriors.

As the battle continued, Shi Tian’s gaze slowly darkened. He hated this feeling. But what feeling was that? The feeling of enjoyment.

That was something only the weak felt. In fact, feelings and emotions were things only the weak indulged in. That was what Shi Tian had always believed.

He had stayed away from emotions for as long as he could remember. He didn’t need them. He didn’t want them. Emotions clouded judgment, they created hesitation, they made people weak.

And yet, ever since this battle with Li Yu had started, he had been feeling something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time: he was thrilled; he was enjoying himself.

At first, the feeling had been so subtle that he barely noticed it... a slight excitement, a small spark of anticipation whenever Li Yu launched another attack, a faint sense of satisfaction whenever he managed to counter one of Li Yu’s techniques.

But now, it was no longer subtle. He really was enjoying this. He was feeling happiness.

The realization made Shi Tian’s gaze darken further. Happiness... He hated the word. He hated the feeling even more.

He immediately forced it down, burying it deep within himself as if trying to crush it beneath the weight of his own will. The slight curl that had appeared at the corner of his lips vanished.

His expression returned to its usual emotionless state: cold, blank, detached. The Shi Tian everyone knew returned once more, a cold killing machine, nothing more.

He decided to use his second attacking skill.

"Sky Severing."

The moment the words escaped his mouth, the wind qi around him changed. The attack was far more powerful than Wind Severance, its slicing capability on an entirely different level.

When Shi Tian unleashed it, the terrifying wind blade tore through the battlefield with enough sharpness to make space itself seem to tremble.

The attack managed to hurt Li Yu. Blood appeared, and wounds opened, but most of the attack’s power was conquered by Spatial Severance, the void-like blade in Li Yu’s possession, which cut through and disrupted the terrifying slicing force before it could completely tear him apart.

Shi Tian continued to battle, but his style had changed. It became more deadly, more brutal, more efficient.

The little thrill he had started to feel was gradually shed from his mind. The excitement disappeared, the enjoyment vanished, the happiness was buried, and what remained was the Shi Tian he had always been: a cold killing machine.

Every skill, every movement, every attack, everything he did was meant for one purpose... to kill fast, brutal, and efficient.

There was no unnecessary movement, no wasted attack, no hesitation. Every single action was calculated to end Li Yu’s life as quickly as possible.

And if the current Li Yu were the same person he had been fighting at the beginning of the battle, Shi Tian would have been able to kill him in the blink of an eye in this state.

But the current Li Yu was different, far more different than the one Shi Tian had been battling at the beginning.

There were now three Li Yus: Li Yu himself, King Rayden, and Dead Eye Rayden.

With the assistance of those two reflections, along with Li Yu’s body reaching a staggering height due to the numerous boosts and powers he had activated, he was able to once again push Shi Tian onto the back foot.

The battle continued forward. Shi Tian suffered more and more wounds. Qi blasts rained down upon him from different directions, ensuring that none of the Wind Veils he raised could last for long.

One Wind Veil shattered, then came the Void Piercer, and lightning blades followed. The attacks constantly kept Shi Tian trapped in a pincer.

There was almost no room for him to breathe. No matter where he moved, another attack was already waiting for him, and whenever an opening appeared, Li Yu’s fist came crashing down.

"Behemoth Punch!"

BOOM! The massive force slammed into Shi Tian. Pain surged through his body as he staggered backward, and before he could fully recover, the other two launched their own attacks.

King Rayden and Dead Eye Rayden left their own marks on Shi Tian. More wounds appeared, more blood flowed, and his condition continued deteriorating.

Yet Shi Tian still refused to panic. His mind was still working, still analyzing, still searching for an answer.

No matter how I analyze his battle style... It can only be possible if three people were working together. His gaze sharpened. One person can’t have such control.

At least... I don’t believe it is possible at the Mortal Stage.

BANG! BANG! WHOOSH! WHOOM! BOOM! The two warriors disengaged once more.

Shi Tian landed several meters away, his condition having reached a rather dire state. His grey robes had been dyed red with blood, and blood flowed from several wounds across his body.

He was undoubtedly in pain. Yet there was no change in his expression. It remained completely emotionless, cold, and detached.

But this time, the coldness wasn’t directed at Li Yu; it was directed inward at himself for wasting so much time.

Meaningless. Dragging this battle out for so long was meaningless.

His analysis was complete, and the result was simple: Li Yu’s battle style made no sense. There was no pattern he could completely copy, no method he could properly optimize, no single explanation that could make everything fit.

So Shi Tian stopped trying to copy and optimize it as he had originally planned. No more. He would end this immediately.

Shi Tian tightened his grip around his sword, then slowly, he held it with both hands. His body began to rise.

The wind qi around him surged violently. Shi Tian was lifted into the air, higher and higher, until he was several meters above the stage.

The wind qi surrounding his figure became increasingly violent, swirling around him like countless invisible blades. The atmosphere changed, the pressure suddenly became heavier, the wind began howling, and the enormous amount of wind qi gathering around Shi Tian was enough to make the battlefield itself seem to tremble.

At the Shi camp, the trio who had just started seeing a light at the end of the tunnel suddenly froze. The light disappeared. Their small hope was extinguished in an instant.

Their eyes widened as they stared at the figure hovering above the stage.

"Wait... isn’t that one of Shi Tian’s sure-kill moves?" Shi Yuan’s voice trembled.

"You mean the one that no one below the Core Stage can survive?" Shi Lan’s expression had turned pale.

"Why the hell is he using that?" Shi Meng’s voice shook as well.

"I thought he rarely ever used it because of how much fatigue it brings to his body..." Her breathing became hurried. "So why the hell is he using it now?"

None of them had an answer. They could only stare, and then their eyes widened in horror as the realization finally struck them... one terrible truth: Li Yu was about to meet his end.

And the moment Li Yu met his end, they would be next. They were doomed either way. It was as if they were already standing at an execution ground, waiting helplessly for the executioner to raise his blade and cut off their heads.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Their only hope had been Li Yu, and now even that hope was about to be crushed.

Their terrified gazes blurred. Fear consumed their faces, their bodies trembled uncontrollably, and eventually, their legs could no longer support them.

They collapsed. Fear, terror, despair... those emotions filled their eyes as they watched the horrifying figure standing above the battlefield.

Meanwhile, on the stage, Li Yu’s gaze slowly changed. A terrible feeling had appeared in his heart.

He didn’t know what Shi Tian was preparing, he didn’t know what the technique was, but whatever it was, it was definitely nothing good.

The amount of wind qi Shi Tian was gathering was simply staggering. The overwhelming surge of wind qi surrounding him was enough to make even a strong cultivator stagger and collapse to their knees.

Li Yu’s instincts screamed at him: danger, extreme danger. His eyes narrowed. This is bad.

He couldn’t afford to take chances. He had already used almost everything he could think of. He had survived several near-death situations.

He had pushed Shi Tian to his limits. But whatever Shi Tian was preparing now, Li Yu had a feeling that it was on an entirely different level.

He needed more power, more options, another card. Immediately, a thought flashed through his mind: Call Lazy Rayden.

He decided to call upon his last clone.

"Call Lazy Rayden."

"Calling..."

A few moments passed. Li Yu waited. Then...

"Call rejected."

Li Yu’s eyes twitched.m