CHAPTER 23: ROUND TWO

The elder’s body erupted with earth qi, causing massive stone spikes to burst from the ground in all directions.

Xueling barely managed to dodge the first wave, but more kept coming - faster than before.

"~Jump back three steps, then immediately forward," Yu Tian’s voice guided her.

She followed his instructions perfectly, leaping backward just as a spike erupted where she’d been standing, then charging forward through a brief gap in the assault.

But the elder was ready for this.

"Too predictable!" the elder roared, slamming his palm toward the ground.

A wall of earth shot up between them, but instead of stopping, it began rotating like a massive drill.

"~Duck and roll left, but don’t get up. Stay low and circle around," Yu Tian instructed urgently.

She dropped to the ground, rolling as the spinning earth wall passed overhead.

The elder’s confident expression faltered slightly, he hadn’t expected her to react so quickly.

"Well, no matter," he thought.

Even as Xueling circled around the wall, he was already preparing his next move. Earth qi gathered around his wounded side, forming a protective armor while his other hand controlled three floating boulders.

"Let’s see you dodge this," he sneered, launching all three boulders simultaneously from different angles.

Xueling’s heart raced. Even with Yu Tian’s guidance, this was too much. But then she heard his calm voice: "~Don’t dodge. Gather energy on your feet and slice through the middle one, using the chance to break out. The other two will collide behind you."

Her heet began glowing as energy gathered around them. She then used all the gathered qi to propel herself forward before the boulders could land.

Her sword blazed with qi as she struck the center boulder, shattering it and going through the falling debris. Just as Yu Tian predicted, the other two boulders crashed into each other behind her.

The elder’s eyes narrowed. This girl’s battle instincts were impossibly sharp. Too sharp for someone who’d just broken through. Being able to think and act rationally in such an intense battle was quite hard.

Even someone as experienced as him was bound to make mistakes at some point. But somehow, she managed to always perform the best possible move each time. All textbook perfect moves. How was she able to do that so consistently? Was she really just an extraordinary genius... or was someone else helping her?

"Clever," he admitted, "but let’s see how you handle this."

He spread his arms wide, and the entire battlefield began to shift.

The ground tilted and warped, creating an uneven terrain that favored his earth manipulation while making Xueling’s footing unstable.

"~He’s trying to limit your mobility," Yu Tian observed. "~The safest path is the ridge to your left, but he expects that. Take the unstable ground to your right instead."

Xueling grimaced but followed the guidance, stumbling slightly on the shifting earth.

The elder smiled, thinking she’d finally made a mistake in her "perfect" judgement. It seemed he was overestimating her. He sent a massive earth fist crashing toward her seemingly vulnerable position.

But Xueling had already moved, using the unstable ground’s momentum to launch herself in his direction. She stepped on the incoming fist slightly, pushing off of it to boost speed.

Her sword found its mark again, this time slicing across the elder’s thigh.

The elder grunted in pain and frustration. Two wounds now. Although they were both minor, they stacked. This wasn’t how the fight was supposed to go.

"Enough games!" he bellowed.

His qi erupted outward, creating a shockwave that sent Xueling flying backward.

Before she could recover, massive earthen hands burst from the ground, grabbing her arms and legs.

"~Don’t struggle against the hands," Yu Tian said calmly. "~Channel all your qi into your sword and wait for my signal."

The elder approached slowly, savoring his apparent victory. "I don’t know how you’ve been predicting my attacks, but it ends here."

He raised his hand, gathering a spear of compressed earth qi.

"~Now! Pour everything into an upward strike!"

Xueling’s sword blazed with her entire qi reserve, she tugged her arm, freeing herself from the earth binding in her right hand and making an upward strike with all her strength.

The remaining earthen hands couldn’t withstand the concentrated qi radiating from her sword and shattered.

The elder’s spear that was descending towards her met her upward slash.

Her upward strike managed to crack the spear, splitting it into two.

Half of the spear grazed her shoulder, having used all her energy and unable to defend, she was sent spinning through the air.

She hit the ground hard, gasping in pain.

The elder stood over her, looking barely winded while she could barely lift her sword.

"Any last words?" he asked, preparing the finishing blow.

...

She wondered if she was really going to die here.

After everything they’d been through, meeting Yu Tian, finally breaking through to Core Formation, was this really how it was going to end?

"~We can only use THAT now," Yu Tian’s voice reached her.

She wondered if it really had to come to that.

"~Is there really no other way?" she asked.

Yu Tian didn’t respond.

She thought to herself that she was weak. Yu Tian was trying his best to help her, giving her perfect guidance at every turn, but she just didn’t have enough power to take advantage of it. The gap between early and late Core Formation was simply too vast.

"Now that I think about it, you’re quite pretty. Just like your mother back then," the elder said, his tone shifting to something more sinister. "If you beg me, I might consider taking you as my concubine instead of killing you."

Her expression twisted with disgust and rage.

"Ho, did I strike a nerve?" The elder’s grin widened at her reaction.

"Keep..." she said, barely audible.

"What? I can’t hear you. Is that a yes?" he asked, bringing his ear close to her face mockingly.

"Keep my mother out of your dirty mouth!" she snarled, jerking her head forward and sinking her teeth deep into his ear.

The elder jerked upward in shock and pain, but she held on like a wild animal, her teeth locked deep into his flesh. He kicked her in the ribs, sending her flying backward, but she still didn’t let go.

Her head snapped back with the impact, tearing his ear completely off.

He screamed, clutching the bloody side of his head. Blood poured between his fingers as he stared at her in disbelief and fury.

She spat out the severed ear. "What a foul taste," she muttered.

She steadied herself, struggling to her feet. How could she have forgotten? She still couldn’t fall here, not when these people still existed. She had to make it, not just for herself, but for her mother too.

Her eyes began to glow with renewed determination as energy gathered in her sword.

"~Welcome back," Yu Tian said teasingly.

She smiled despite the pain, but she knew this wouldn’t last long. She was on her last legs.

Even so, she had to give it her all. If they used THAT, although there was a high chance of success, she didn’t feel like risking it. She needed to win so they didn’t have to resort to that.

"You brat!" the elder roared, his composure completely shattered. Blood continued streaming down his neck as he raised both hands, gathering massive amounts of earth qi. "I was going to give you a chance to serve me if you asked nicely, but now I’ll make you suffer a million times more for this humiliation!"

The ground beneath them began to crack and split as his power reached a new level.

Boulders the size of houses began rising from the earth, hovering around them.

"~He’s lost control of his emotions," Yu Tian observed.

"~That’s both good and bad. Good because he’ll make mistakes. Bad because he no longer cares about energy conservation and can make moves like this."

Xueling gripped her sword tighter, feeling the familiar weight in her hands. Her qi reserves were completely depleted, her body was battered and bleeding, but her spirit burned brighter than ever.

"~Are you ready for the final round?" Yu Tian asked.

"Always," she replied, her voice steady despite the huge boulders descending towards her.