CHAPTER 50: HELP ME

Xueling’s sword moved as she closed the distance between herself and the sect master.

Her blade was just a few inches away from his face, but he casually stepped aside, letting her momentum carry her past him.

"Do you think you can bridge the gap between us that easily?" he asked in amusement.

She spun around immediately, her qi spreading into her sword as she launched a series of rapid strikes, each targeting a vital point.

Even so, the sect master parried each blow effortlessly, his own blade barely moving as he deflected her attacks.

The clash of steel rang out across the clearing as their weapons met again and again.

Xueling pressed forward relentlessly, her movements becoming more and more refined with each exchange. She could feel something stirring within her - that elusive sensation she’d experienced before.

"How disappointing. I expected more fire from the royal bloodline," the sect master said, catching her blade with his cross-guard and forcing her back.

Xueling remained silent, her eyes never leaving him as she searched for an opening. She feinted left, then struck right, but he read her movements perfectly, countering with a casual backhand that sent her skidding across the ground.

She rolled to her feet and immediately attacked again, this time from above. The sect master tilted his head slightly, letting her blade whistle past his ear before grabbing her wrist and throwing her aside like a rag doll.

"Your technique has improved," he admitted, watching her struggle back to her feet. "But technique means nothing when the gap in power is this vast."

Xueling wiped blood from the corner of her mouth but said nothing. She could feel her battle instinct flickering, showing her brief glimpses of something more, but it kept slipping away just when she needed it most.

The sect master’s next attack was a simple straightforward thrust. As she moved to avoid it, she wondered what she was still missing. Why couldn’t she see it clearly?

"Are you worried?" the sect master asked, but she didn’t respond, bringing her sword up to block his follow-up strike. The impact sent her flying backward, her boots leaving trenches in the dirt as she tried to maintain her balance.

As she got back up, he continued, "You can pretend all you want, but I can smell it. You’re nervous."

His next attack was a sweeping horizontal slash that forced her to leap back. "Nervous he doesn’t stand a chance," the sect master said as he pressed his advantage, pushing her further back with each strike.

She remained silent, her jaw clenched as she parried and dodged.

"Well, I can’t blame you for being worried. A Qi Gathering peak against a Core Formation master - even with strange methods, he doesn’t stand a chance."

Xueling’s face hardened, her grip tightening on her sword handle, but she didn’t respond. She pushed herself up from where his last attack had knocked her down and launched herself at him again.

This time, she saw it. A red line extending from his sword toward her left side. She maneuvered around the line, appearing within striking range. Her sword blazed with concentrated qi as she thrust toward his heart.

But at the last moment, just as she was about to deliver her attack, the sect master’s foot slammed into her stomach, sending her flying into a massive tree trunk. The impact cracked the bark, and she crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.

"Impressive," he said. He thought to himself that this kid was actually improving as they fought. He had expected her to be a genius, but not this kind of monster.

He glanced to the side where he saw Yu Tian being pushed back by his companion. "And that kid too," he mused.

As he was thinking this, he felt an attack coming and sidestepped smoothly before turning around and grabbing the throat of his attacker. Xueling struggled to gather her energy, but the sect master didn’t let her, pressing her throat so hard that the qi on her sword began flickering before disappearing completely.

Her eyes widened as she finally saw it fully for the first time. Now, at death’s door, she could see it clearly. From the sect master wasn’t just a single red line - he was pretty much covered in red. She saw thousands of lines extending from him, all representing different lines of attack he could take toward her.

So she never stood a chance in the first place, she thought.

The sect master raised her up and slammed her onto the ground, creating a small crater from the impact. She coughed up blood, her body refusing to respond to her commands.

She lay in the newly created crater, her consciousness flickering on and off.

She noticed the sect master turning around. "What’s taking you so long? It’s just a Qi Gathering boy," he called out as he began moving toward the other battlefield.

"No..." she tried to speak, but no voice came out. She tried raising her hand, but she couldn’t move it at all. She wondered if this was really the end. Her consciousness was beginning to flicker off again.

Maybe she should just rest a little...

...

Yu Tian observed the woman before him expressionlessly.

She was faster, no, much faster than the Foundation Establishment warriors he’d fought before.

As she moved, Yu Tian analyzed the trajectory of her attack - dodging left would put him in range of her follow-up kick, dodging right would leave him open to her sword’s return swing. He stepped back instead, letting the blade pass inches from his chest.

She pressed forward immediately with a thrust toward his throat.

Yu Tian tilted his head slightly, the sword grazing his cheek as he calculated his next move.

Counter-attacking now would expose him to her free hand, causing her to grab it in her iron grip. Not to mention that he had no chance of successfully dealing any damage.

The woman spun into a low sweep, forcing Yu Tian to jump. As he landed, she was already moving, her sword arcing upward toward his ribs. He couldn’t dodge this one completely. Yu Tian shifted his body, taking the strike on his shoulder rather than his vital organs.

Pain flared, but he was still mobile.

His mind raced through possibilities. With his third-level mind, his spiritual sense extended about five hundred meters. He could use it to observe Xueling’s fight, but that would be risky. If his spiritual sense clashed with this woman or the sect master, they might overestimate his abilities and escalate their attacks.

Besides, he was already using all his mental power just to keep up with this battle.

Yu Tian exhaled slowly, refocusing on his opponent.

"Worried about your little girlfriend?" the woman asked, pressing her advantage with rapid strikes that forced him to give ground. "My bad, it’s ex now, right?"

Yu Tian just smiled in response, letting her next kick connect with his abdomen. The impact sent him flying backward, but he used the momentum to his advantage, flipping in mid-air and grabbing onto a tree branch. He swung himself up just as her sword sliced through where he’d been hanging.

"Fight like a man, dammit!" she cursed, pursuing him as he leaped from branch to branch.

Yu Tian remained silent, his mind constantly calculating optimal paths of movement. Each dodge was precise, each evasion calculated to conserve the maximum amount of energy while avoiding fatal damage.

As he landed on another branch, he noticed the sect master walking over from the other battlefield.

Xueling must be in critical condition, he thought.

[99%]

Before this fight began, he had seen that their chances of surviving were extremely low.

He had calculated all possible variables until he finally stumbled upon a path. That path was Xueling - but not the way she was now. His ability had confirmed it was probably her constitution that he had discovered before, but it wasn’t activated properly yet.

That’s why he had decided to tell her his true feelings first. This way, she would fight seriously and awaken her potential through battle.

But it seemed he had miscalculated.

Yu Tian exhaled deeply. "Emotions are really hard to understand," he thought.

Even a slight change could render all his calculations pointless.

The woman’s next attack came straight toward his heart. This time, he didn’t try to dodge.

Instead, he closed his eyes and waited until the very last second.

"~Help me," he transmitted through voice communication.