I must admit, facing Xuanming as an enemy, I approached with the mindset of a challenger. Although I didn't consider myself weak, I never expected Xuanming to use such cunning tactics against me right from the start. This can't be said to be a wise thought, and it is actually not a judgment I arrived at after thorough deliberation, but rather a kind of unconscious preconception.

Xuanming ruthlessly exploited this naive flaw of mine, shattering my body and spirit into pieces with the first strike. If I were not an Innate Manifestation, I might have been defeated in the first round. The confidence brought by the Manifestation Undying Body might also be a key reason for my carelessness. Without such a high fault tolerance, perhaps I might have been able to see through Xuanming's diversionary tactics.

Fortunately, it seems that Xuanming is not particularly adept when it comes to how to harm an enemy of my type. It's unclear whether this ancient Impermanence had prior battle experience with Manifestation and Enlightenment practitioners; even if so, it might have been memories so ancient that even the Impermanence would find them unfamiliar. Or perhaps, until this moment, Xuanming only just confirmed the nature of my Manifestation, hence he could not directly harm my True Spirit Layer with the first strike.

I didn't suffer any real damage, but from this moment on, I certainly won't be able to enjoy this convenience any longer.

"Sure enough... a sneak attack of this level can't achieve a decent result." Xuanming's expression didn't change.

He reached out his hand, making a downward pressing gesture. The boundless Fire Sea covering the sky began to stir violently, emitting an unbearably dazzling light. Originally, it only illuminated the city to the point where day and night were indistinguishable, but now it's as if flash grenades exploded on every piece of land. Only Spiritual Perception could observe a normal scene, as the Fire Sea surged towards the ground with an overwhelming momentum.

What a magnificent sight, as if this city was built under the deep sea, separated from the ocean by an immensely massive glass dome. This scene is like the simultaneous shattering of that glass dome, as the sea water of orange flames rushed in to engulf everything.

Although I also have a Fire Sea covering the entire city, the Fire Sea in Xuanming's sky had been built up over more than twenty days, while mine had only been active for a short time in comparison in preparation. I tried to counterattack with the Fire Sea on the ground, but it was easily crushed, along with my own body being engulfed by the colossal orange flames of unimaginable scale.

The mana scale of this strike is at least ten times greater than mine, but it's apparent that such a vast scale of mana isn't something Xuanming can control at will. Though grand, in density it's insufficient to harm me now.

I understand very well, Xuanming's goal isn't to inflict harm, but to transform this battlefield completely into his own arena. Now, every direction is filled with Xuanming's highly concentrated mana fluctuations. He can easily utilize this special environment to stealthily gather high-intensity Flame Magic Power from other directions and launch a surprise attack on me.

"Are you surprised? That I would also use such tactics."

I couldn't see where Xuanming's figure was, only hearing his voice coming from different directions simultaneously.

It's like he can read my psychological activities... no, it's not "like," he truly can understand.

The mana we use is the manifestation of our own soul and thoughts. As both of us wield Flame Magic Power as Impermanence, when our powers clash, perhaps we're more capable than other Impermanence of interpreting the emotions and thoughts contained within each other's mana, especially during battle.

To completely eliminate the other, to not allow their continued existence in this world—perhaps there's no will more utterly naked than this. We've had verbal probes in the past and brief conflicts, yet none so truly face-to-face as this moment.

"I hate lies and acting, despise all things showy, but it's different on the battlefield. All's fair in war; pursuing victory is the virtue. Anyone who hesitates even for a moment is guilty of insincere ugliness," said Xuanming.

"Indeed, I'm surprised... but I'm also delighted," I replied.

"Delighted?" Xuanming asked.

I felt I could vaguely grasp Xuanming's true thoughts and continued, "Someone like you, if presented with an honest and honorable option alongside a dark and cunning one, would undoubtedly choose the former without hesitation. One path displays strength and victory to yourself and the world, while the other only offers victory, the better choice is obvious.

"And since you're resorting to sneak tactics, it can only mean you believe that without going to this extent, you can't be certain of securing victory against me—right?"

"—Exactly," Xuanming admitted.

Before he finished speaking, his next deadly move swiftly traversed the Fire Sea, attacking me from the rear flank.

It looked like a spear formed of flame, only as thick as a fist and two meters long, yet its density was so high it seemed as if a towering mountain had been condensed into this small size, hurtling forward at over ten thousand times the speed of sound.

This attack was entirely different from the first one. The charging time was much longer, and so its power was bound to be greater as well. Instinctively, it was clear that Xuanming had easily locked onto my True Spirit, intending to cause genuine, significant harm. Hastily taking it head-on, even if it were Fa Zheng holding a Human Dao Divine Weapon with substantial defensive power, his soul and spirit would be annihilated instantly.

Such a formidable attack is hard to execute in battles between Impermanence, as the enemy wouldn't stand by and watch you accumulate power. Yet Xuanming, taking advantage of the Fire Sea's home field, managed to skillfully hide, even concealing the mana fluctuations during the charge with the Fire Sea's cover.

The approach of this attack was as stealthy as a deer hanging on horns, in terms of concealment and suddenness, far surpassing the first strike covered by diversion tactics. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for me to react, let alone dodge it.

But the actual situation was quite different—I not only discovered it in time but also narrowly twisted my body to avoid this flame spear's sudden attack.

At the same time, following the direction from which the deadly attack came, I found Xuanming's current position—he was less than a hundred meters away from me, and I only realized it now.

Without hesitation, I fired a Flame Light Cannon towards him, and he almost reflexively did the same. The orange-red flame and the yellow-orange flame collided, creating an explosion that cleared a vacuum area within the surrounding Fire Sea.

In his counterattack, Xuanming revealed a hint of surprise. In the clash of flame magic power, I vaguely sensed his true thoughts—it's not that he truly believed his home field ambush tactics could achieve a one-shot victory against me; he should have to some extent prepared himself mentally for me to overcome his advantage. However, he certainly didn't anticipate I could do so this quickly.

His judgment was very accurate; on my own abilities alone, I indeed couldn't accomplish that. But just like he created a home field advantage with a pre-prepared sky of flames, I also prepared advantages in other areas in advance, which was Little Bowl's blessings.

In the Doomsday Chaos Space-Time of the Post-mortem World, I can greatly enhance my evasion and hit rate through the power of blessings. But rather than enhancement, it's more like restoration. The chaotic Doomsday Space-Time severely affects the powers of fate and causality, whereas Little Bowl's blessings help me deeply understand the residual order in the Doomsday Space-Time, making even Huang Quan, who has been immersed in the Doomsday Space-Time for years, incomparable to me.

And in the normal Space-Time of the Living World, where such negative influences don't exist, my enhancements in evasion and hit rate are not as significant. Even so, my high adaptability and understanding of the spatial environment still allow me to profoundly grasp any subtle shifts in my environment.

Xuanming's initial ambush indeed caught an unconscious gap of mine, but now I no longer have such preconceived notions. The success of the ambush tactic was limited to the first time; hitting me as easily again wouldn't be so simple.

"I see... Is this that child's power?" Xuanming immediately saw through my weakness, "Well, that's also a consequence. Since I intended to take her life as a living sacrifice, naturally, I must endure her backlash.

"However, if you think that the tactics I prepared for you consist of just that one, then you're gravely mistaken.

"This time, you won't escape your doom."

As he spoke, he readily abandoned the stealth ambush tactics, turning the battle into an open confrontation. A massive amount of yellow-orange flames erupted violently from the space around him, compressing and condensing into dozens of Flame Dragons that charged toward me.

Each Flame Dragon possessed the power to damage my True Spirit, and I could even sense the strong binding nature of the mana within them from a distance. I had a clear premonition that if hit by any one of these Flame Dragons, I would lose much of my evasion capability and subsequently have to endure all remaining attacks. Being hit by even just a third of these attacks alone would ensure my death here.

I moved through space by ignoring distance, breaking out before these Flame Dragons could encircle me, while simultaneously rushing toward Xuanming. However, the surrounding Flame Dragons seemed to possess life, abruptly making turns and demonstrating the same spatial movement capabilities, closing in to encircle and slay me. Xuanming himself was constantly flickering, continuously changing his position.

If someone were able to observe this battle, they might see the scene of me and these Flame Dragons continuously changing positions; however, from my subjective perspective, the surrounding scene was constantly shifting. Only these Flame Dragons did not disappear with the refresh of the scene, instead stubbornly shortening the relative distance between them and me. It was as though I and these Flame Dragons were on different layers from the shifting scenes.

This too seemed to be a long-prepared deadly move by Xuanming. Initially, he might have planned to accumulate power for a longer period, at which point there wouldn't be just dozens of Flame Dragons but at least a hundred or more. Now, having prematurely foiled his stealth ambush tactics forced him to use this move ahead of time.

Even so, I still felt immense pressure. Seeing all the Flame Dragons about to completely encircle me, trying to hit Xuanming in advance became a distant task, so I could only change tactics and reveal the few cards I had left.