Liyu barely survived that final attack. Just before Shi Tian’s attack reached him, he had first used his Qi to create a barrier. At the same time, he hardened his body to the best of his ability.
Those two actions were never meant to completely stop the attack. They were only meant to buy him time.
And they succeeded… but only for a microsecond. That tiny window was all Liyu needed.
At the very last microsecond, he activated Blink and escaped the attack.
Whoosh!
His figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared several meters away in another completely decimated stretch of land. Liyu immediately grabbed his chest.
A bloody gash had appeared across it. The terrifying thing was that Shi Tian’s attack hadn’t even struck him head-on.
The attack had only grazed past him, yet the sheer pressure and force surrounding it alone had been enough to tear open such a bloody wound.
It showed just how terrifyingly powerful Shi Tian had become. The fact that Liyu had been able to hold on against such a monster for so long could only be used to describe just how freakish Liyu was as well.
But that was in the past. Back then, Liyu still had the assistance of Dead Eye Rayden and King Rayden.
Now, however, both of them were out of the equation. He was completely alone.
And Liyu knew very well that there was no way he could deal with Shi Tian by himself. He was in deep trouble.
So, he tried one last time to call his clones. That guy was his last hope.
Ding! Skill Call has been used.
Calling…
Liyu’s lips pursed. He was already expecting the call to be rejected once more.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, what he received was a pleasant shock.
Ding! Call accepted.
In the dark space, a figure suddenly appeared on one of the two dark seats beside Liyu. The man stretched lazily, as though he had just woken up from a long and comfortable slumber.
Liyu’s eyes twitched. He looked at the lazy bastard with an almost overwhelming urge to strangle him.
This guy had caused him an unusually large amount of pain in the ass. But Liyu didn’t have the energy for that right now.
After everything he had gone through during the battle, his mind had been stretched to its absolute limit. His nerves were frayed, his body was exhausted, and his thoughts were barely holding together.
He needed a break.
“Took you long enough,” Liyu said.
The man dressed in a grey robe glanced at him. One of his eyes remained completely closed, while the other was only half-lidded, as if he were still struggling to wake up.
It genuinely made Liyu wonder whether this guy had been cursed with an endless need for sleep. Liyu shook his head.
There were countless things he wanted to say to this reflection of his, but there was no time for any of that.
So instead, he asked the most important question.
“Can you handle things for a while?”
“I need a break.”
Lazy Rayden glanced at him from the corner of his half-lidded eye. His gaze seemed to say…
Why?
Liyu nearly strangled him right there. This bastard had taken long enough to arrive at his rescue, and now he was looking at him with those sleepy eyes as if he couldn’t understand why Liyu was asking him to fight.
“Can you handle it or not?” Liyu asked again, his voice carrying a hint of irritation.
Lazy Rayden turned his gaze toward Shi Tian, who was approaching them. He frowned slightly.
After all, he had already gotten the general overview of what had happened. The fusion had begun a long time ago, and ever since the fusion was completed, their minds had been connected.
That meant Lazy Rayden was already privy to everything that had happened before his arrival. He had felt it.
He had seen it. He had experienced everything through Liyu’s memories and the shared consciousness of the fusion.
He had felt the pain. He had felt the exhaustion.
He had witnessed the endless attacks, the blood, the suffering, and the desperate struggle of the original Liyu and the other clone.
Lazy Rayden frowned slightly. It wasn’t because he was afraid of Shi Tian.
No.
It was simply because he realized that the guy walking toward them would be a difficult enemy to deal with. And that…
Was troublesome.
Lazy Rayden hated trouble. He wanted to complain to Liyu, but before he could say anything, he suddenly felt a hand pat his shoulder.
“You got this.”
With those words, Liyu rested his head against the seat and closed his eyes. And then…
He fell asleep.
Lazy Rayden’s half-lidded eye twitched. He had just been left all alone to handle everything.
And strangely enough, he felt an urge to not lose. Otherwise, he would have simply surrendered and said he had lost.
But after feeling all the struggles of the original and the other guy… After seeing them bleed.
After seeing them suffer through endless attacks. After feeling the unimaginable pain they had endured.
And yet, despite all of that…
They had never given up.
Lazy Rayden somehow felt that if he allowed all of their effort, pain, and struggle to go to waste after everything they had endured…
It would make him feel slightly guilty.
A tired sigh escaped his lips.
“Troublesome…”
Lazy Rayden decided to handle the task. The quicker he ended it, the faster he could return to the sweet embrace of sleep.
And with that thought…
He took control of the Fusion State.
—
Back in the physical world, Shi Tian, who had been advancing toward Liyu, suddenly paused. Not because he wanted to.
Something was wrong. He could sense it.
Liyu’s aura was changing once more. Shi Tian’s eyes narrowed.
The cultivation level that had previously dropped all the way down to the First Stage of Qi Gathering suddenly began to climb.
Second Stage of Qi Gathering!
Shi Tian frowned. He had expected the green lightning to reappear.
Or perhaps those strange metallic weapons that fired terrifying Qi blasts. But neither appeared.
Instead…
Something else happened.
Liyu’s long hair began to shorten. Far shorter.
It eventually became almost short enough to be called short hair, though it remained slightly longer than that.
At the same time, a grey robe that looked strangely light and almost weightless appeared over Liyu’s body, settling atop his Celestial Combat Suit.
Then…
Liyu’s closed eyes finally snapped open. Or rather…
One of his eyes opened halfway, remaining half-lidded. The other stayed completely closed.
And the aura surrounding Liyu changed. Completely.
The feral presence of a beast that had surrounded him throughout the battle vanished. In its place was…
Perfect stillness.
Absolute tranquility.
It was almost as if the person standing before Shi Tian was no longer the same Liyu he had been fighting from the very beginning.
Shi Tian frowned deeply. He could sense something strange.
Despite being heavily suppressed, the power radiating from Liyu was actually even higher than before. In fact…
It was almost at the same level Liyu had possessed when he was at the Third Stage of Qi Gathering.
It made absolutely no sense. How the hell had he managed to make a comeback?
Shi Tian had been almost completely certain that Liyu was finished. He had watched his cultivation fall from the Third Stage all the way to the First Stage.
He had pierced his chest. He had been certain that the battle was over.
Shi Tian had been almost certain that Liyu was done. Almost one hundred percent certain.
And now…
This?
How the hell was this supposed to make sense?
Shi Tian frowned deeply as he stared at Liyu. The man was looking directly at him, but his gaze had changed.
Everything about him had changed. His aura. His presence.
Even the feeling he gave off. Everything was different.
It made Shi Tian wonder what exactly Liyu had done this time. To think that after everything he had already endured, he still had another card like this one…
Shi Tian didn’t waste any more time thinking about it. He attacked first.
Boom!
His figure appeared right before Liyu, and he immediately struck toward his face. Wind Qi surged violently.
Anything caught within its path was ripped apart by the terrifying force. With Shi Tian’s extraordinary speed, he appeared directly in front of Liyu and launched the attack point-blank.
There was no way to escape that. At least…
That was what everyone would have thought.
Yet reality was completely different. Liyu simply stepped to the side.
At the same time, he shifted his head with the slightest twist. The attack passed right beside him.
Completely dodged.
Shi Tian’s gaze changed. He attacked again. And again.
And again.
He pushed his attacks harder and faster against Liyu, but every single one of them was dodged.
The first one could have been a feint. The second…
Maybe Liyu had gotten lucky. But multiple times?
That was impossible.
Shi Tian’s gaze suddenly changed as he realized something was not right. He attacked even faster.
Faster.
And faster.
Every attack carried terrifying, shredding force, enough to tear apart anything caught in its path.
Yet every single one was evaded by Liyu at the very last moment.
It was almost as if…
He could completely read and predict Shi Tian’s movements.
But even that shouldn’t have been enough. Shi Tian’s attacking speed was simply too absurd.
For Liyu to predict the attacks while simultaneously possessing the perfect spatial awareness and bodily awareness necessary to understand and judge the flow of every incoming strike…
And then have the speed required to execute the appropriate movements within that point-blank fraction of a second…
It was something that stunned even Shi Tian.
How?
What the hell?
It was almost as if…
This Liyu was different from the previous one.
Shi Tian attacked once more. This time, both of his hands moved simultaneously.
BOOM!
Wind Qi surged violently, twisting and roaring like a black hole searching for prey. The terrifying force spread in every direction.
Yet Liyu…
With a smooth, fluid step, simply evaded them all.
His gaze remained half-lidded. He looked almost bored.
As if everything happening before him was nothing more than meaningless trouble.
Then…
He moved.
His palm struck Shi Tian’s side with incredibly precise force.
BANG!
Shi Tian’s side bent inward from the impact. Before he could react, Liyu struck several more points across his body.
Each strike was precise. Not powerful for the sake of being powerful…
But accurate.
Every single attack landed at a specific point. The flow of Qi through Shi Tian’s body was temporarily disrupted.
For that brief moment…
Shi Tian’s body became vulnerable. And Liyu immediately took advantage of it.
Qi surged upward from his feet and gathered into his palm. His hand shot forward.
BOOM!
A palm strike slammed heavily into Shi Tian’s chest. The condensed Qi erupted upon impact.
Shi Tian’s body was sent flying backward. He managed to regain control of himself in midair before landing heavily on one knee.
Cough!
Blood spilled from his mouth. He slowly raised his head.
His face was filled with complete disbelief.
“What the hell is happening…?”
Shi Tian stared at Liyu. Why?
Why had his fighting style completely changed?
The Liyu he had been fighting before was aggressive, violent, unpredictable, and relied heavily on overwhelming power, skills and weapons.
But this Liyu…
This Liyu was completely different.
Every movement was smooth. Every step was precise.
Every dodge happened at the perfect moment. Every attack landed exactly where it needed to.
And that half-lidded gaze…
It was as if he didn’t even consider the battle to be particularly troublesome.
Shi Tian’s expression became increasingly grim. Meanwhile, Liyu simply looked at him.
His eyes remained half closed. The lazy expression on his face made it seem as though everything happening around him was nothing more than an annoying interruption to his sleep.
He raised one hand. His finger pointed directly at Shi Tian.
“You…”
His sleepy voice echoed across the ruined battlefield.
“Just give up.”
Liyu paused for a moment. His half-lidded eye barely moved.
“I’m getting tired of all this already.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Shi Tian froze. His thoughts…
Went completely blank.
For several seconds, he simply stared at Liyu in disbelief. It was as if a bomb had detonated directly inside his mind.
After everything that had happened…
After all the blood. After all the pain.
After forcing Liyu to the very brink of death…
This guy had just looked at him with those sleepy eyes…
And told him to give up.
Shi Tian’s face twitched. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.