The shock wave from the explosion scattered the remaining gray energy, sent clumps of earth and broken branches flying into the air, and concealed the battlefield behind a thick curtain of dust for several moments.
Mo Tong took a step back, breathing heavily. Cracks now covered almost his entire chest beneath the Starry Scales, and the spot where Divine Judgment had struck continued to throb painfully. Through the dust, he could see neither Hui Mi nor Zhou Shenyang.
"Finally…" he muttered in relief.
However, his satisfied smirk did not last long.
Golden light flared above his head.
Mo Tong snapped his head up. Ten swords woven from pure light hovered above him, their tips pointing downward.
At the same moment, Qin Ye emerged from the curtain of dust. She did not waste time on warnings. The sixth black Spirit Ring beneath her feet erupted in a dazzling black light.
"Sixth Spirit Skill: Three Wings!"
The six angelic wings behind her trembled and disintegrated into a stream of golden sparks. But the light did not disappear. Instead, it rapidly condensed and took on a new shape. Three wings unfurled. Each was larger and more perfect than any of the previous six: flawless contours, not a single imperfection, translucent surfaces with delicate golden iridescence, as though they had been woven from the purest light itself.
A wave of radiance spread out from Qin Ye. It engulfed the clearing within a ten-meter radius. The golden light did more than illuminate the ground and trees; it transformed the area into a territory ruled by Qin Ye alone.
The Domain of Light!
The atmosphere changed instantly. Mo Tong felt a pressure that could not be explained by ordinary spirit power. The pure light seemed to pin him to the ground, while his Battle Soul recoiled within him.
What is this? Where is this pressure coming from?
He tried to retreat, but the ten Seraphim Swords had already plunged downward.
Mo Tong raised his arms, and the third milky-gray Spirit Ring beneath his feet flashed. His damaged scales regenerated, and the starlight between the plates shone brighter. The first sword struck his shoulder.
CLANG!
The light blade collided with his scales and sent a shower of sparks flying. Mo Tong managed to twist his body and soften the impact, but the sword did not disappear. It rebounded, traced an arc through the air, and attacked again. The second and third swords struck next, followed by the others.
Dodging was impossible. Within the Domain of Light, Qin Ye could activate any of her skills without preparation, and her attacks never missed. No matter where Mo Tong stepped, a blade was already waiting for him there. All he could do was endure the strikes with his Starry Scales, which absorbed part of each impact but cracked further with every hit.
One blade sliced through the scales on his forearm. Another pierced a crack in his chest left by Divine Judgment. A third grazed his side, leaving a bright line of burns.
"Who the hell are you?!" Mo Tong forced out through clenched teeth. He could not understand how she was suppressing him.
The next strike was his only answer. He jerked his arm, attempting to catch the sword, but the blade slipped past his palm and stabbed into his shoulder. An unpleasant cracking sound rang out, and new fractures spread across his scales.
Meanwhile, Qin Ye continued advancing. The three wings behind her spread wider and wider, while golden light streamed along her arms and shoulders. The swords never fell behind her, not even by a step. Wherever she directed her hand, they struck without fail.
"Xiao Yu!" Jin Luo's voice cut through the roar of battle. "Prepare your strongest attack!"
Xiao Yu had just returned to the clearing. A minute earlier, he had carried Hao Min away from the battlefield. Even after Sheng Min treated him, Hao Min had not regained consciousness, although his breathing had finally steadied. Sheng Min had stayed with Hao Min to make sure nothing happened to him.
"Got it!"
He stopped and turned toward the enemy. The fifth yellow Spirit Ring beneath his feet flashed.
"Fifth Spirit Skill: Maximum Speed!"
The wind around him changed. The air currents no longer resisted his movement. Instead, they flowed around his body and gathered at his feet, compressing like an invisible spring. But Xiao Yu did not stop there.
The sixth yellow Spirit Ring flashed immediately afterward.
"Sixth Spirit Skill: Child of the Wind!"
For a moment, the wind across the clearing fell silent. Then it responded obediently. Not with a gust or an ordinary movement of air, but with complete submission to Xiao Yu's will.
From the very beginning, Xiao Yu's affinity with the wind had been ninety-nine units, and that alone had seemed unthinkable. Yet an immense gulf separated ninety-nine from one hundred, and now he had crossed it. The wind was no longer merely a force he controlled. It had acknowledged him as its beloved child.
The air swirled around him, lifting dry leaves and dust. A dense vortex spun around his feet as all his accumulated power began converging on a single point. Xiao Yu clenched his fist. The air around his knuckles distorted, and the grass beneath his feet flattened against the ground. Now both skills worked together: Maximum Speed granted his strike the greatest possible speed and concentration of force, while Child of the Wind allowed him to control the element on an entirely different level. His spirit power was no longer wasted on controlling the wind itself, but his body paid the price instead. Five minutes. He could maintain this state for only five minutes.
Meanwhile, the blades gave Mo Tong no respite. Every strike left a burn, his scales rang and crumbled, and he was forced to retreat step by step because there was nowhere left to go.
Jin Luo shot him a brief glance.
"Good. Don't strike until I give the signal."
Xiao Yu nodded.
Jin Luo's turquoise eyes blazed with an inhuman light. Once again, a web of thin threads spread out before him: golden threads of fortune crossed black threads of danger throughout the battlefield. He could see how Qin Ye was denying Mo Tong any room to maneuver, how the swords were driving him backward, and he could see the point where all the threads converged: an empty patch of ground a few steps behind the enemy. The blades would force him precisely there. Jin Luo merely had to act first.
"Now it's my turn."
The third black Spirit Ring beneath Jin Luo's feet flared, and ripples ran across it like water. Dark radiance enveloped his body, and the air around him crackled with tension.
"Spear of the King of Myriad Lightning!"
He raised both hands. Black bolts of lightning flared between his palms, intertwined into a dense pattern resembling a living web, and converged toward the center. From this pattern emerged a completely black spear woven from lightning.
Jin Luo had obtained this skill near the beginning of the battle through Rock-Paper-Scissors. After winning a round against Hui Mi, he had copied Hui Mi's ability, but at only eighty percent of its original power. The spear was slightly less dense, the lightning within it darted about more chaotically, and the construct itself seemed less solid. Nevertheless, it was still a skill from a ten-thousand-year black Spirit Ring, and even eighty percent of its power was enough to inflict a serious wound on Mo Tong.
Without hesitation, Jin Luo hurled it.
The air cracked. Black lightning tore through space, leaving a dark trail behind it. Bolts of electricity burst from the spear even as it flew, striking the ground and turning the grass to ash.
But the spear was not flying toward Mo Tong.
Did he miss? Mo Tong thought.
He lunged away, but a blade struck his shoulder and knocked him back. A second stabbed into his chest, and a third struck his side. Each blow pushed him closer to that patch of ground, and with every step, the black spear drew nearer.
Qin Ye did not look back at Jin Luo even once. She controlled the swords herself, driving Mo Tong precisely toward the designated spot, as though they already knew where he was supposed to end up.
Jin Luo raised his hand.
"Xiao Yu," he said calmly, almost casually. "Now!"
The spear had not yet reached its target.
Xiao Yu vanished from where he stood. There was no gust of wind, no familiar whistle. The moment he pushed off the ground, all the accumulated energy was released at once. The earth beneath his feet cracked, and his body became a blurred silhouette hurtling forward at monstrous speed. The wind flowed around him, eliminating resistance and directing every impulse exactly where it needed to go.
Mo Tong took one final step backward, straight into the spot where they had been driving him. The spear was right in front of him. He barely had time to turn and raise his forearms, attempting to gather his spirit power into a shield over his chest.
BAM!
The spear slammed into his defense. For an instant, the Starry Scales absorbed the full impact, but then black lightning pierced through the cracks. Bolts surged through Mo Tong's body, his muscles seized in spasms, and a strangled groan escaped his mouth. The scales at the point of impact blackened as though they had been burned from within. His fingers trembled and refused to obey him as the lightning poisoned his body ever more deeply.
"Damn it…"
He still had time to understand one crucial thing. For the first time throughout the entire battle, Mo Tong had felt his life was in danger. The problem was not simply that one of his opponents was stronger than him. They gave him no time to deal with any single threat: first Zhou Shenyang's fists, then Hui Mi's Divine Judgment, and now Qin Ye's swords combined with the Domain of Light, which suppressed his power. Above it all stood Jin Luo. He acted inconspicuously, as though pulling strings, forcing the battle to unfold according to his plan.
The distance to Mo Tong vanished almost instantly. He managed only to turn his head. A fist surrounded by compressed wind struck him squarely in his damaged chest.
BAA-A-AM!
The shock wave tore through the air. The black lightning from the spear and the force of the wind collided at a single point, amplifying each other. The Starry Scales could withstand no more. Cracks raced across them, intersecting over his chest and shoulders before the entire protective shell shattered into silvery-gray fragments.
The blow reached his body. Mo Tong arched backward, blood spraying from his mouth, and was hurled away. His feet lifted off the ground. He flew several meters before crashing into a fallen tree trunk, splitting it in half.
Dust rose over the clearing once again. Xiao Yu landed on one foot and staggered back several steps. The wind still swirled around him, but his breathing had grown heavy, and his muscles began to tremble from the strain. His sixth skill was still active, and he could not afford to lose concentration. Qin Ye lowered herself closer to the ground. The three wings behind her continued to shine, while the ten Seraphim Swords hovered in the air, ready to strike again.
Zhou Shenyang, who had been thrown aside by the explosion, struggled to his feet, still surrounded by the golden light of Dawn. Hui Mi emerged from behind the debris, pressing a hand against his injured shoulder. Both looked toward the fallen tree trunk.
A hoarse laugh came from within the cloud of dust. At first, it was quiet, but then it grew clearer and clearer.
"Heh… Hahaha…"
The debris slowly shifted. Something stirred beneath it, and Mo Tong straightened up.
His clothes were torn, a deep wound darkened his chest, and blood streamed down his arms. The Starry Scales had disappeared, leaving his body without its former protection. Yet his eyes still glowed with a milky-gray light. He wiped the blood from his lips and raised his head.