Able to Bend and Stretch

Zhuang Shili slowly took a step back and swallowed hard. A shocking upheaval was imminent, yet he still revealed nothing on his face.

"This should be the first time you and I have met, shouldn't it? Yet we are both disguised, unable to see each other's true faces.

Thinking it over, I have always admired someone as capable as you, and preferred making friends with people of ability.

If not for a twist of fate, I think we could have become good friends."

Duàn Yì merely smiled without speaking, quietly watching Zhuang Shili perform there, and sighed inwardly.

Still, he could not deny it. One wrong step had led to wrong steps all the way down.

It could be said that Duàn Yì and Zhuang Shili should never have had any connection. Even if they were not friends, they would not have become enemies.

Yet everything was fate, not the slightest bit within one's control. That was why they had fallen to the point of fighting to the death today.

The root of it all was that Zhuang Shili had brought his good-for-nothing younger brother, Zhuang Shiyi, to Hebei. That was how they had provoked Duàn Yì over a woman, and how the rebellious, domineering side of Duàn Yì's nature had gradually emerged, ultimately leading to this irreparable situation.

Zhuang Shili did not continue retreating, because he had a premonition that if he took another step back, Duàn Yì would unleash a heaven-shattering strike, one he was not confident he could withstand.

That premonition had no basis, for no matter how one looked at it, Duàn Yì showed no tendency or inclination to attack.

But Zhuang Shili trusted the warning in his heart. Experts of this level were still as maidens, swift as rabbits; before they struck, no one knew