CHAPTER 22: ROUND ONE

Yu Tian watched from his hidden position, noticing her reaction.

He thought to himself that although he had expected something like this, wasn’t this elder way too strong?

Even though the elder wasn’t focusing on him and had all his pressure directed at Xueling, he could still feel the overwhelming force pressing down on them.

Even so, although Xueling had low chances of beating the elder - just twenty percent - the two of them together had a fifty percent chance.

Although it wasn’t great, he felt they could pull it off.

"~Dodge right," Xueling heard Yu Tian’s voice echo in her mind.

Hearing him, she relaxed.

That’s right, she wasn’t alone. Although she wasn’t the kind of genius that could fight far above her realm, she had something even more impressive - Yu Tian.

"I see, so you had been hiding your realm all this time. No wonder the others couldn’t finish you off," the Grand Elder said, pointing his hand toward Xueling.

Xueling jumped to the right just like Yu Tian had instructed.

Instantly, the ground erupted where she had been standing just moments before.

"Ho... you dodged that," the Grand Elder said in surprise.

Xueling didn’t take her eyes off the elder. She put her dagger back in her spatial bag and retrieved her sword.

She held it in a proper sword stance, waiting for Yu Tian’s next orders.

"~Defend to the right with your sword and jump high," he instructed.

She sensed the incoming attack and swung to the right, destroying the earth attack charging at her. She then leaped into the sky at the same time to avoid another one coming from below.

"Hmph," the elder scoffed, waving his hand. This caused the earth to follow her up into the air.

She was about to fly away to dodge when Yu Tian spoke again. "~Don’t dodge. It’s too long and has lost the initial momentum. Just protect yourself from the earth qi and take the blow head-on," he said.

She was surprised by this instruction but still decided to listen.

"~Take the chance to propel yourself toward his location," Yu Tian added.

She wondered if it wasn’t dangerous to fight in close combat with someone like the Grand Elder who was much stronger than her.

She still decided to believe in Yu Tian though.

She pretended to have a shocked expression when she saw the attack and let it look like it struck her in her moment of panic.

At the same time, she made sure to circulate her qi in a way that ensured the earth qi coating the attack wouldn’t reach her. She also positioned herself so that the impact would throw her toward the elder.

At the moment of contact, the elder scoffed, thinking to himself that the girl seemed to have just broken through recently and hadn’t completely stabilized her foundation yet. This was almost too easy.

As she was thrown in his direction, he raised his hand, controlling the earth again. Two large blocks of earth appeared on opposite sides in front of him. He watched her approach, planning to slam her between these two blocks before she could even regain control.

"Now," the elder thought.

"~Now," Yu Tian’s voice commanded.

Instantly, the elder’s earth blocks moved to sandwich the incoming Xueling.

...

The elder wore a menacing smile as his earth blocks were about to collide with Xueling.

But right before they could crush her, she instantly regained control of her body, doing a flip and landing on top of the colliding blocks. From there, she jumped toward the elder, who was shocked at this turn of events and didn’t have much time to prepare.

"Shit! I’ve been tricked!" he thought, using his power to erect a large earth block above him for defense.

Xueling descended toward him, her sword filled with energy. She cut through the elder’s defense as if it were tofu, going directly for the elder’s neck.

The elder had a panicked expression when he saw her move toward his neck, and her expression grew more and more confident. When she was just a few feet away, the man’s panicked expression changed into a twisted grin.

"Did you really think you could overcome the gap in power with just this little trick?" he asked.

Her expression turned to one of panic. "What?" she exclaimed.

But the elder merely raised his hand, which was filled with energy, ready to meet her attack.

"~Do it now, just like we planned," Yu Tian’s voice entered her head, and a slight smile appeared on her face.

She remembered the plan she had discussed with Yu Tian. Since Core Formation elders probably also had ways to predict attacks, she had been told to feint an attack to the neck. This way, the elder would use all his power to protect himself there and forget about defending other areas.

At this moment, her sword that was going directly toward the elder’s hand suddenly changed course. Together with the sword, Xueling stepped to the side and sliced toward the elder’s ribs.

When the elder noticed this attack, he quickly reacted, throwing a kick toward her. It landed squarely on her abdomen and threw her back a few meters.

He was about to charge toward her in anger when he felt a sharp pain.

He looked to his side, noticing a cut just below his chest next to his spleen. Although it wasn’t that deep since he had reacted in time, it was still extremely painful and restricted his movement greatly.

He looked angrily at Xueling, who was recovering from the brutal attack. She held her sword ready, looking directly at him. She thought to herself that although she hadn’t dealt much damage, this was a huge success. With this handicap, she should be able to at least somewhat balance out their difference in power.

On the other hand, the elder looked at his wound with a furious expression. To think that he would be humiliated like this by a junior!

"I was thinking of at least giving you a chance to fight for your life since I respected your talent and felt it was a pity to let you die so quickly. But now, I’m going to go all out," he said, his body beginning to glow with energy.

The earth around them then began to vibrate intensely.

Yu Tian looked at the elder from his concealed position, struggling to stay balanced on the vibrating ground while maintaining his concealment. A bead of sweat ran down his face.

"This is going to be difficult," he thought.