The battle grew increasingly intense. The sounds of metal clashing spread throughout the central region of Tianxing Stele Forest. Hundreds and thousands of relief steles had fallen, gouging trails through the ground and leaving behind shattered walls and broken monuments.
The battlefield had moved from the sky into Tianxing Stele Forest.
All lifeforms fell silent, reverence rising within them.
In an era dominated by thermal weapons, such ferocious close-quarters combat had not appeared in a long time. This was a battle between the strongest.
Boom!
The two figures in the air separated once again.
Almost simultaneously, they bent forward and drew in their legs. The engines on their feet and backs erupted, and like they were standing within slingshots in the sky, they shot forward and collided again.
Jing Ge remained composed, ignoring the claw marks across his body. Hovering on one leg, he bent his right leg. As he drew it back like a bow, the engine beneath his foot burst into acceleration, and his leg slammed into Shi Ming like a launched slingshot.
It all happened in one fluid motion.
Bang!
A devastating whip kick detonated a sonic boom in the air. Shi Ming was kicked away by Jing Ge like an iron ball, shooting down toward Tianxing Stele Forest. He smashed through ten relief steles and dragged a trail hundreds of meters long across the ground.
Jing Ge twisted his body, head pointed downward. He bent his legs and kicked off, the engines under his feet erupting at once. He vanished from where he stood and shot toward where Shi Ming had landed with the precision of a rocket.
Clang—rip!
Two sounds of tearing metal rang out. The commotion of battle beneath Tianxing Stele Forest weakened, as though time itself had stopped.
The smoke and dust dispersed.