The flow of blood quickened clearly, perception sharpened, and body temperature rose slightly due to the heightened state of focus. This was the first time Tiran had used breathing techniques outside Morninglight Ruins, as well as the first time she had demonstrated full Chi-powered martial prowess.
Xingjian also noticed the change in Tiran, his fist style altered as he swiftly charged towards her like lightning.
[Leopard Style · Charge Momentum]
It seemed as though that one fist movement propelled his body, Xingjian's movements were as agile as a leopard, generating afterimages as he dashed forward, hard to believe that this was something a person who usually stayed indoors at the Star Tower could achieve.
However, in Tiran's fully focused breath state, she could keep up with such speed. Her right sword arm executed three consecutive slashes, the sharp sword qi first blocking the paths Xingjian could possibly attack from the left and right, the final slash directly aimed at the charging leopard-style punch coming at her.
But Tiran underestimated Xingjian. Despite having a reinforced body from the fully focused breathing and strengthened Chi, it was not an instantaneous temporal slash, and there was inevitably a time lag between the three slashes.
Under normal circumstances, even a top swordsman would not be able to rush in, determine three slashes, evade, and complete the movements in such a short time frame, at least not Tiran herself without utilizing temporal rules.
But Xingjian accomplished it.
With a seamless dodging movement, almost an impossible evasion, Xingjian narrowly avoided the attacks. In Tiran's eyes, she seemed to have traversed through the three sword lights to arrive in front of her.
The final punch hit her chest and abdomen, immobilizing Tiran, with Xingjian following up with a beautifully executed high side kick.
"Cough!"
The only relief was that the high-speed maneuver of the punch style resulted in a corresponding decrease in power. Even though the punch did indeed hit Tiran's body, the ice-frost Chi protected Tiran from being knocked down with just one punch. Instead, her body was briefly sent flying before regaining balance, retreating more than ten meters.
The application of breathing techniques allowed Tiran to alleviate the injuries to her torso in a short time, continuing the battle without hindrance, but the punch to her body was undeniably painful.
"How did you do that…"
Tiran was a bit puzzled, but Xingjian had no intention of giving her a breathing space. Closing in once again, he unleashed a flurry of punches, forcing Tiran to dodge left and right.
At such a close range, fighting with a sword was no longer reliable. Tiran could not swing her sword in time before Xingjian landed several punches. So, she let go of her long sword and resorted to exchanging punches with Xingjian.
In this way, the gap between the two in close combat became apparent. Tiran had some skills in hand-to-hand combat, but they were limited to military martial arts. Although she had avenues to explore more advanced techniques, she never took the time to learn.
They exchanged blows back and forth, with Tiran relying more on reflexes and intuition, whereas Xingjian's every move had a mysterious allure. In a fistfight scenario, Tiran was essentially on the receiving end of the onslaught.
"Darn it, if only I had spent more time learning some martial arts during the previous loops at Morninglight."
After narrowly avoiding a punch, Tiran was struck on the side shoulder by Xingjian's elbow. Unable to bear the pain any longer, she unleashed a large amount of ice-frost Chi, creating a resistance similar to an ice barrier to push Xingjian away, swiftly retreating to create distance between them.
"Prince Tiran doesn't seem to be putting much effort into the fight," Xingjian remarked, extending his right hand forward with his left hand behind his back, exuding the air of a martial arts master.
Tiran raised an eyebrow, feeling somewhat annoyed but unable to find a valid counterargument. Despite only a few exchanges just now, Tiran could clearly sense that he could keep up with Xingjian's movements, even gaining the upper hand in speed and power with concentrated breathing. Yet, there was a feeling of being led by the nose in the fight.
"Are you using divination to predict my moves?" Tiran asked, as if finding a loophole.
"Well, predicting can be considered a form of divination to some extent. Observing causal relationships relies on laws. At least it's impossible for you to maintain 'Burning One's Boat', isn't it while maintaining the 'Burned One's Boat,' right?" Xingjian explained, even finding the time to clarify, implying her initial lack of determination in the battle against Tiran.
"However, you could also say it's a form of prediction, to a certain degree. Have you heard of 'Heart Eye' that Princess Tiran uses? It belongs to the ancient martial arts of the East," Xingjian continued.
"Is such a thing really existent?" Tiran was dumbfounded. The ability to predict an opponent's next move through meticulous observation, something even Tiran had heard of before, mentioned in various novels from her previous life, was essentially an advanced form of cold reading. Even after arriving in this world, she had tried it herself. However, before reaching Holy Rank, the gap between enhancing sensory acuity and being able to predict the next move in combat was vast. And after reaching Holy Rank... Who would still practice such trivial skills that just stretch out time?
But now, it seemed there was indeed.
"Although I am used to using the Star God's Eye to observe causal lines, sometimes relying on the naked eye to predict is quite interesting, isn't it?" Xingjian remarked.
"I was thinking about quickly resolving the situation here to help out... Turns out I was being overly optimistic," Tiran lamented, now having to rely on Xiang Ling to create a miracle and take down Angel to provide assistance.
Looking at the current situation there, it seemed to have reached a deadlock as well. Glancing at the battle between Saint Spirit and the Princess from the corner of her eyes, Tiran couldn't help but sigh.
Compared to the hand-to-hand combat between Tiran and Xingjian, resembling a martial arts film, the battle between Xiang Ling and the Holy Spirit had transcended to another dimension.
The long spear of Xiang Ling, imbued with her unique spiritual power, had taken on a sinister crimson hue, and the gusts of wind it stirred up were even mixed with a hint of bloodiness, the tearing effect no less inferior to the Holy Light of the Saint Spirit.
The attacks of the Saint Spirit were equally fierce. When Angel sacrificed herself to seal the Sword Demon, there were three other Angels, with only their consciousness still asleep, yet the Saint Spirit had momentarily awakened the fighting consciousness of the other two, directly splitting into three bodies to battle Xiang Ling.
The three golden humanoids cooperated seamlessly, functioning as one. One wielded a sword and shield to face Xiang Ling head-on, another held a staff to provide divine protection, while a third, wielding a heavenly bow, threatened occasionally with chilling arrows, exhibiting unparalleled coordination.
After blocking the vanguard's shield, Xiang Ling landed and drew the long spear back before swiping it forward in an arc, unleashing a dark crimson crescent that covered the three Saint Spirit clones behind her, instilling a strong killing intent that left no room for escape.
However, the Saint Spirit calmly retracted their clones, merging the three into one, raising a holy sword in the right hand, illuminating a small sun at the tip of the sword.
"Sacred Solar Flare!"
The small sun, gathered from pure divine energy, was guided by the Holy Spirit to plummet, directly breaking through the dividing line to disperse the power aimed at covering the Three Holy Spirits.
"Hmph."
Several rounds of attacks by Xiang Ling had already been resolved due to the transformation of the trinity, able to dodge focused attacks at the expense of injury to one, with the support of the staff spirit able to recover quickly. In the face of wide area attacks, it reverted to the previous state, but his own consumption became more severe.
Since that's the case, might as well go all out.
Xiang Ling's fighting style was largely honed on later battlefields, greatly influenced by the kill-or-be-killed nature of war formations, mostly relying on bold and aggressive tactics. Faced with the exquisite power control of the Holy Spirits and divine magic, he was not up to par, but changing his fighting style at this point was obviously impractical, so he could only be fierce to the end.
【Trap Formation】
Xiang Ling silently recited in his heart.
"Is it... that my movements and reactions have slowed down?"
The Holy Spirit sensed something amiss, so even if they operated the trinity transformation, they would still reveal a flaw, so they immediately wanted to escape the danger zone they sensed, but Xiang Ling intercepted with a raised hand.
"Shall we exchange transformations once more?"
Xiang Ling lifted his long spear and jumped, the spear enchanted with a terrifying pressure, directly aiming at the Holy Spirit in mid-air being forcibly slowed down due to the effects of the trap formation.
"Wu's Armory!"
Unable to dodge in time, the Holy Spirit simply stopped dodging, summoning countless light gates around them, raining down a variety of divine weapons from Angel's Arsenal that seemed almost endless.
"Tsk! Get out of my way!"
Refusing to be weak, Xiang Ling's spear, ablaze with spiritual fire, continuously spun in the air, smashing down large swathes of weapons from Angel's Arsenal, but also giving the Holy Spirit time to escape.
"Dammit!"
Completing a set also left Xiang Ling briefly fatigued, although he quickly adjusted, his feet still staggered after landing on the ground.
The trap formation, which consumed a large amount of spiritual power, was blocked by a pile of weapons, causing a sense of frustration to rise within Xiang Ling.
"You can't win, Miss Xiang Ling."
The Holy Spirit was neither arrogant nor impatient, after all, with his experience and age, he could see Xiang Ling as nothing more than a child. "Whether now or later when your strange abilities disappear."
Indeed, maintaining the effect of 【Burning Bridges】 required consuming a large amount of Xiang Ling's power. Engaging in high-intensity combat with the Holy Spirit while maintaining it would only escalate the consumption further. If it couldn't end swiftly, Xiang Ling himself would be the one in trouble.
And when 【Burning Bridges】 became unsustainable, Xingjian and the Holy Spirit's strength against Tiran and Xiang Ling was almost overwhelming, Xiang Ling might be able to hold her own in battle, but carrying Tiran would undoubtedly lead to defeat.
"In fact, I harbor no enmity towards you and His Highness Tiran. Surrendering to that person now is also because my soul is bound... But from my perspective, his plans don't seem to have too much conflict with your interests."
"..."
Seeing Xiang Ling quiet down, the Holy Spirit continued:
"Yuan's terms to His Highness Xingjian are to cooperate with his plans and not cause trouble, and in return, the Western Empire of Chu can have a true deity to replace Xingjian as the protector of the empire for generations. And for you, having a deity as the guardian of the country should not be too difficult to accept, right?"
"..."
"Since there is no fundamental conflict of interest, I hope we can still maintain peace."
"Get lost."
"…?"
"What you're saying has nothing to do with me, New God? Ridiculous. You want me to believe in some guy with immense power who has no connection to my kingdom of Chu and who kills my people to achieve his godhood?"
"Furthermore, Silver War Maiden is the one I am betrothed to, her affairs are my affairs."
