"All the introductions have been made, now it's time for some serious action," Longya said as he hung two throwing knives on the index fingers of his left and right hands, spinning them back and forth.
Watching from afar, Xingyue Riyang had a blank expression on his face, but inside, he was almost bursting with laughter.
——(If it were me, I wouldn't do it like this if the throwing knives were coated with deadly poison.)
——(If the venom splattered all over me, then the throwing knife world and the poison world would have a good laugh.)
With these thoughts, the throwing knives still needed to be dodged.
In case Longya did the unexpected and actually coated the throwing knives with the potent poison of the arrow poison frog, even a small cut would mean Xingyue Riyang would be on his way to the afterlife in just a dozen seconds.
Xingyue Riyang crouched slightly, heels raised, eyes scanning all directions, preparing in advance to understand the surrounding environment for the upcoming evasions.
Dodging the throwing knives was just a process, not the outcome or goal.
Against a pure throwing knife user, all he needed to do was break through the throwing knives and force the opponent into close combat.
But Xingyue Riyang wasn't sure about Longya's true capabilities.
Especially with Longya's sturdy physique, Xingyue Riyang didn't dare to get too close easily.
Playing a couple of rounds with the throwing knives, pretending not to engage in close combat, enticing the opponent to come near, and then using two or three moves to defeat the enemy sounded like a feasible plan.
Xingyue Riyang had ample confidence in his dodging ability, reflexes, and stamina.
Moreover, he was just biding his time for the arrival of Manranyama Souren, Chongzong, and their people. He could leave the final blow to them and make a quick getaway.
Not engaging actively, dealing with whatever comes up, and countering each move was Xingyue Riyang's current strategy.
While Xingyue Riyang was contemplating, Longya suddenly raised his right hand and threw a throwing knife.
The throwing knife flew straight towards Xingyue Riyang's chest.
At the same time, Longya's feet moved as well. He took two big steps forward towards the left, coming to Xingyue Riyang's side and immediately threw the throwing knife from his left hand towards Xingyue Riyang.
But it wasn't over yet. After throwing the knife, Longya didn't stop his steps. He continued moving forward, circling around to the back of Xingyue Riyang.
When dodging the first throwing knife, as his left side faced the road and the right side an open grassland, Xingyue Riyang instinctively dodged to the right to gain more space for the next move.
Unexpectedly, Longya had already anticipated his move and placed a throwing knife on his left side.
This left Xingyue Riyang, who had lifted one foot off the ground, leaning to the left, having to forcefully shift his weight by bending his body to lower his center of gravity. This made it extremely difficult for the foot that had not left the ground yet to twist the ankle and change the direction of the jump from the left to the back left.
Even this step was anticipated by Longya.
As Xingyue Riyang landed, Longya was already waiting for him behind.
Clearly, Longya wasn't just a throwing knife user.
At least, he wasn't a purely dedicated throwing knife user.
Taking advantage of the perfect opening on Xingyue Riyang's back, Longya raised his leg and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick, directly targeting Xingyue Riyang's lumbar vertebra.
However, at that moment, Xingyue Riyang did something unexpected to Longya.
He turned around smoothly, although only halfway, he freed his left hand, lightly pressing down on the top of Longya's foot, then leveraging the push, he used his hand as a pivot point, leaped into the air, executed a side somersault, flying over Longya's head.
Longya was momentarily stunned but quickly reacted. As he retrieved his roundhouse kick, he twisted his body using the supporting foot, swiftly turning around to face Xingyue Riyang just as he landed.
Or at least, that's what he thought.
The pain took a moment to register.
Xingyue Riyang didn't merely land from the side somersault. At the highest point of the somersault, he raised his left foot high and landed a heavy kick on Longya's shoulder as he descended.
The unexpected heavy blow exceeded the knee's ability to bear weight, and Longya fell to his knees with a groan.
——(The victory was decided…!)
Xingyue Riyang had the upper hand, he raised his arm and clenched his fist, about to strike Longya's head when he caught a glimpse of a smile forming on Longya's lips, instinctively realizing that something wasn't right. He immediately veered aside.
And then, two throwing knives, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, pierced the spot where Xingyue Riyang had been standing, piercing the ground tiles and embedding themselves.
Not fully understanding what had just occurred, Xingyue Riyang took several steps back, putting some distance between him and Longya.
"Oh, I thought that last move would end it all," Longya brushed the dust off his knee and slowly stood up.
Apparently, his kneeling down earlier had all been a performance.
This man was shrouded in deception from head to toe.
Yui had lethal tricks up his sleeve, and he played for keeps.
Full of truth and falsehood, illusions and realities, making it impossible to guard against.
The two faced each other again, this time with a distance of four to five meters between them.
Longya: "Is it just intuition? Or have you seen through my moves?"
Continuing, Longya said, "Among all the people I've encountered, you're the first to dodge that move."
As he listened to Longya's words, Xingyue Riyang searched for any clues left behind by the two throwing knives from earlier.
——(What did he do to make those two throwing knives fly back in the opposite direction?)
——(Is it the principle of a boomerang?)
——(No… That structure couldn't achieve a returning trajectory; there must have been some other external force…)
After careful observation, Xingyue Riyang noticed that there seemed to be some very transparent substance wrapped around Longya's fingers.
However, before he could scrutinize it further, Longya pulled out two more throwing knives from his pocket, aiming one at each side of Xingyue Riyang and hurling them towards him.
If he didn't dodge, his left hand and right shoulder would be hit.
Dodging required considering Longya's next move; he couldn't afford to make the same mistake.
Longya must have learned from the previous encounter, adjusting his strategy, not repeating the same moves.
——(Grabbing one of the throwing knives to use as a shield?)
Xingyue Riyang instantly dismissed the idea. The margin for error was too low, it was practically putting his life on the line.
Engaging in an airborne evasion wasn't the best option either, once his feet left the ground, Longya's agility was no joke; the moment he landed, he would become a target for an attack.
All this conflicting thoughts took less than a split second in Xingyue Riyang's mind.
After a comprehensive deliberation, Xingyue Riyang ultimately managed to sidestep by a hair's breadth to evade the two throwing knives.
However, in the next second, he immediately crouched low and dodged sideways in an exaggerated manner.
The reason for his action was that the two throwing knives, which had been flying almost in a straight line, suddenly changed their trajectory extremely unnaturally, converging towards the left and right as soon as Xingyue Riyang's stance altered.
In other words, these two throwing knives behaved like homing missiles, adjusting their course as soon as Xingyue Riyang's posture changed.
As if some external force was propelling them.
"Amazing, you managed to dodge under such extreme conditions," Longya praised loudly, running once again.
This time, he headed towards the side and back of Xingyue Riyang.
As Xingyue Riyang hit the ground, he smoothly rolled forward, then rose quickly.
While standing up, he immediately surveyed left and right, locked on to Longya's movements. Xingyue Riyang turned around to face him head-on.
The gazes of both sides met in an instant.
In Longya's dark gray pupils, there was a glint of delight, a hunter toying with its prey.
Xingyue Riyang's deep brown eyes seemed void of light, as though he was either lost in thought or completely empty-minded.
"How long can you hold out?" Longya shouted loudly, raising his hand and hurling another throwing knife towards Xingyue Riyang, not giving him any breathing room.
This time, Xingyue Riyang didn't choose to dodge sideways but instead charged straight at Longya.
The throwing knife flying towards him didn't pose a threat to Xingyue Riyang; he sidestepped to avoid it.
In no time, he was already in front of Longya.
Longya couldn't understand why Xingyue Riyang, who had maintained a safe distance and was cautious about close combat earlier, would suddenly close the gap between them.
But he was no stranger to close combat.
It was more like that was what he wanted.
Every move from the beginning of the fight until now was all part of the plan to lure Xingyue Riyang into close combat.
——(Checkmate!)
Longya thought.
Just as he was about to make a move, Xingyue Riyang dashed away from him again.
With rapid acceleration, sudden stops, and swift changes in speed.
Xingyue Riyang's footsteps were like a rabbit's, unpredictably fast and slow, elusive as a ghost, making Longya unable to anticipate his next move.
For a moment, Longya's own rhythm was disrupted, and he barely managed to keep up with Xingyue Riyang's speed, trying his best to keep himself facing Xingyue Riyang directly and avoiding exposing his unprotected back.
Should he use that move now? Longya hesitated.
Facing an opponent like Xingyue Riyang, he also worried that repeating similar tricks too many times would lead to them being exposed.
Longya's repertoire had always been kept secret.
Those who knew his secrets were no longer alive.
——(Be patient, wait for the right moment.)
Calm and composed, Longya decided not to chase after Xingyue Riyang and instead took two steps back, once again creating a distance between them.
He had the stamina and experience to wear down this young adversary slowly.
But at that moment, the situation took a turn.
The van parked on the side of the road, as the body of the vehicle shook, the engine suddenly started with a "vroom vroom vroom".
Xingye Riyang and Longya, both turned their heads towards the van at the same time.
Because Bai Yaxin was still inside that van.
