This was no illusion!
Just moments ago, a beam of black light had stabbed down from the sky, passing within a hair's breadth of the white figure. Had Chen Xuan not been watching with his full attention, he would hardly have noticed what happened in that split second—at the last possible moment, she deflected the lethal strike with her blade, at the cost of half her arm turning to ash. The black light continued downward without slowing and struck the earth, punching a bottomless "shaft" into the ground like a hot knife slicing into butter.
Soon, lava lit up the bottom of the shaft. Then crimson flames erupted from its opening, forming a jet several kilometers long. Under the force of the eruption, pressure from within heaved up the surrounding ground, forming a small hill at a speed visible to the naked eye.
On Earth, a hill that spewed fire like this would already qualify as an active volcano.
Chen Xuan gazed at the distant sky, briefly stained red, and swallowed.
Such an unassuming strike could pierce the crust and create a miniature volcano. That was far too absurd!
Of course—that was not even the most outrageous part. That graceful figure had deflected the black light with nothing but one hand and a sword. Just how powerful did that make her?
But with an arm gone, she should already have been at a disadvantage. She could not hold out much longer.
When Chen Xuan found the figure again, however, he was astonished to discover that her arm had grown back. The two sides were still trading blows, with no sign that the battle would end.
It seemed the only thing paying the price for their battle was the earth beneath their feet.
Still, Chen Xuan gradually began to make sense