Outside the Ashina Castle gate, towering flames accompanied by the stench of burning corpses drifted far away.
Sparks and snowflakes splattered, intertwining in the air, turning into water vapor and dissipating.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Qin Jie didn't hold back. After sending Shura flying with one blow, he suddenly fired, several bullets flying towards Shura. The decayed emissary's bullets had an attribute-reducing effect; if he could hit Shura even once, the subsequent battle would be simpler.
But Qin Jie was ultimately disappointed. Shura swung his sword, splitting the three incoming bullets with a single strike. At the same time, he used the Shinobi Prosthetic attached to his left arm, sending a barrage of shurikens flying directly at Qin Jie.
Indeed.
Just as Qin Jie had thought, Shura was merely mentally obsessive, having fallen into the Dao of slaughter. His intelligence was likely normal. As expected, he had maintained his Shinobi Prosthetic all this time and even knew how to replenish Materials.
Logically, these shurikens wouldn't harm Qin Jie, but to pursue, Qin Jiedirectly used his shield to block them, then closed in. While dashing, he activated Shadow of Concealment, sending his Sword Shadowcharging forward while his true body remained hidden, creating a pincer attack with one real and one fake against Shura.
The Sword Shadow charged forward, piercing directly into Shura's chest with a single sword. However, Shura took the hit to trade blows. He directly restrained the Sword Shadow, then similarly stabbed his sword into the Sword Shadow's chest.
This was a combat technique unique to users of Dragon Heritage Power. Unfortunately, he hadn't found Qin Jie's true body.
But he immediately sensed something was wrong. The next moment, Qin Jie's figure appeared. This strike carried the bonus of a stealth attack and the decapitation figurine, aiming directly for Shura's neck.
This single slice cleanly severed Shura's head, but the next moment, what emerged from Shura's neck was not blood, but a large amount of Flames of Hatred. Qin Jie endured the flames, reaching out to grab the Immortal Severance behind Shura.
"Demonization Mark 1 layer stacked. Current layers: 2"
"Demonization Mark 1 layer stacked. Current layers: 3"
"Demonization Mark 1 layer stacked. Current layers: 4"
In just an instant, Qin Jie stacked several Demonization Marks, but he successfully grabbed the Immortal Severance. Before he could pull it out, the headless Shura, as if having eyes in its back, suddenly attacked with an elbow strike.
Before falling into Shura, the Wolf had also studied the Senpou Temple's boxing techniques and was equally skilled in hand-to-hand combat. This elbow strike was precise and fierce; even with his shield protection, Qin Jie was sent flying by the blow.
Not only that, the Wolf suddenly extended his Shinobi Prosthetic. The next moment, a long spear emerged from the Shinobi Prosthetic with extreme speed. Qin Jie couldn't dodge it.
This directly consumed 68% of Qin Jie's shield value. He was secretly alarmed. It seemed that taking the Immortal Severance required a more gradual approach. Shura's Shinobi Prosthetic abilities were too terrifying. It would be best to find a way to disarm his Shinobi Prostheticnext.
The flames on Shura's neck extinguished, and his head regrew. The Wolf suddenly crouched slightly. The next moment, his body shot out like an arrow, his Shinobi blade aiming directly for Qin Jie's ankle.
However, Qin Jie's shield would not allow the Wolf to act so freely. At the same time, Qin Jie's mind stirred, and a crazy idea suddenly surfaced in his head.
His shield always appeared ten centimeters from his body, neither moving away nor closer. What would happen if he removed the shield and then activated it just as kusabimaru was about to stab him?
His shield's formation time was instant. Therefore, if Qin Jie reacted fast enough, he would have time to activate the shield.
And this, of course, would require his Eye of Insight passive.
Equipment Effect 2: Insight (Passive): When suffering a fatal blow, dynamic vision increases by 31%, and neural reflex speed increases by 21% for 2 seconds. This effect has a cooldown of one hour.
His Eye of Insight was enhanced to +5, so when Qin Jie faced a fatal blow, this effect could play a huge role.
Doing something like this in battle was akin to courting death, especially against a powerful enemy like Shura. But Qin Jie, on the contrary, did exactly that.
He directly deactivated his shield, and Shura, carrying Shura's Fire, lunged forward in an instant.
The world's movement slowed down in Qin Jie's eyes, indicating that the Insight passive had activated. Qin Jie watched kusabimaru's blade stab towards him. Just as it was about to hit, Qin Jie directly activated his shield.
The next moment, kusabimaru was suddenly pinned in place, and Shura, who was charging with the blade, abruptly stopped due to this sudden change. His entire body was thrown high into the air by inertia.
It worked!
It seems it really had an effect.
The suddenly formed shield jammed the incoming kusabimaru. Although it didn't directly destroy kusabimaru, it prevented Shura from pulling it out.
This move was quite wasteful of shield value; just this one action caused Qin Jie's shield value to drop by about 20%, but the reward was also substantial.
Qin Jie naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. devouring abyss was drawn, and the next moment, Shura's Shinobi Prosthetic was thrown high into the air, severed by Qin Jie's sword on the spot and caught by Qin Jie.
The Shinobi Prosthetic was quite heavy. Qin Jie felt its weight, approximately twenty kilograms, as soon as he held it. It seemed Shura had hidden many items within the Shinobi Prosthetic.
In fact, Qin Jie had always been curious why the Wolf, who had signed the Dragon Heritage Power contract, couldn't restore his severed left hand.
And now, as Qin Jie watched Shura's left arm regrow with sparks, he realized something.
It wasn't that he couldn't, but that he didn't want to.
After all, the Shinobi Prosthetic's effectiveness was far greater than his original arm's.
With his Shinobi Prosthetic taken, the Flames of Hatred on Shura's body intensified again. But at this moment, both his Shinobi Prostheticand kusabimaru had been disarmed by Qin Jie. Even if his hand-to-hand combat skills were impressive, he was no match for Qin Jie now.
After all, drawing the Immortal Severance required a period of charging, and Qin Jie would certainly not give him that opportunity.
Qin Jie once again used his old trick, Shadow of Concealment. The next moment, he ordered his Clone to rush forward and engage Shura directly.
After a few rounds of combat, Qin Jie deliberately exposed a slight flaw in his Sword Shadow. Shura, as expected, fell for it, closing in and restraining the Sword Shadow.
But the Sword Shadow also counter-restrained him.
Qin Jie then took the opportunity to reveal himself. In his hand was not devouring abyss, but a strangely shaped small knife. He then suddenly opened fire, emptying the magazine directly at the Wolf. Not only that, he refilled the magazine at the cost of one layer of Decay, then emptied the bullets at the Wolf again.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The decayed emissary's bullets struck the Wolf's body, nine shots in a row, meaning an 18-point attribute reduction. Plus Hol Horse's knife reduced it by 9 points.
Even if Shura couldn't be killed, he still had to endure these negative BUFFs. A continuous 27-point attribute reduction meant even Shura had to concede.
Seizing this opportunity, Qin Jie reached out again, directly snatching the Immortal Severance from behind Shura.