Showing Off Gets You Struck by Lightning

Time Law!

Her eyes flickered, and she couldn't help but take another look at Li Yilin.

He stood there quietly, thankfully having wiped the silly grin off his face.

Just like this, he had comprehended the Time Law?

Yuanji, or more accurately, Xinaya, looked at Li Yilin, her eyes full of suspicion.

What exactly was he relying on?

"Excuse me, may we begin?" She hadn't moved at all, and Li Yilin, maintaining his composure, felt awkward making the first move.

But for two people who weren't familiar with each other to just stand there was truly quite awkward.

"How did you comprehend your Time Law?" Xinaya couldn't help but ask.

"Time Law?" Li Yilin blinked, looking at her with an innocent expression. "I don't know. I never actually tried to comprehend it; it just happened for no reason."

What a "no reason" indeed.

Xinaya was so angry she laughed. With a "boom," she charged at Li Yilin at dozens of times the speed of sound, releasing her Light Domain and causing the surrounding light to distort.

"Swish!"

Xinaya swung her sword, and several blade beams appeared out of thin air from all directions, pointing straight at Li Yilin.

Li Yilin's expression didn't change. A flash of Purple Lightning flickered, and by the time he reappeared, he had shifted his position, his combat blade sweeping backward simultaneously.

"Clang!"

A crisp metallic clashing sound rang out; it turned out Xinaya had used the concealment of her domain to sneak right up to his side.

"So angry? It seems you are quite obsessed with the fact that you haven't comprehended the Time Law yourself." Li Yilin blinked, his face smiling, but his words were as venomous as poison, piercing straight to the heart.

"Just using a domain won't be enough to touch me." Li Yilin continued to swing his blade, blocking Xinaya's repeated attacks.

Xinaya didn't speak, she simply kept on the offensive.

"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang, clang, clang!"

The sound of weapons colliding was crisp and melodic, and their attacks grew faster and more cunning.

"Are you toying with me?" Xinaya tilted her head, cold light flashing in her red eyes.

She realized it now: Li Yilin was only defending, with no intention of attacking at all.

This kind of battle seemed exhilarating, but it was too exhilarating—it felt like a teacher instructing a disciple.

It was as if he knew that no matter how the disciple attacked, they couldn't hurt the teacher, and instead, he was hoping the disciple would use more substantial attacks to verify their progress.

When had she ever been subjected to such treatment?

"No, I am merely defending." Li Yilin shook his head and said earnestly, "Defense is also a form of attack; it's just a different perspective!

"Just like your light; it looks like an offense, but in reality, it is also a defense." He said, and Xinaya's attacking motion faltered slightly.

Defense is a form of attack, and offense can also be defense?

That made some sense.

But—

Who didn't know these simple truths?

With that high-and-mighty tone of instruction, who was he trying to fool!

Xinaya gritted her teeth in secret. "I don't believe I can't pierce your tortoise shell."

The long sword in her hand was as slippery as a water snake. From a distance, the blade light was completely shrouded by sword shadows, as if she held the upper hand.

But Xinaya knew this was just an illusion.

Though her sword was fast, not a single strike could land on Li Yilin.

And Li Yilin's blade, while seemingly swung fewer times, could precisely block every sword thrust aimed at him, leaving her attacks hitting nothing but air.

His combat awareness was truly too precise.

It was as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

Even though her attacks, under the influence of her domain, didn't even stir the air, the subtle changes in the light allowed him to capture that anomaly instantly and react in a split second.

"Too slow, too slow!" Li Yilin mocked, his wrist turning. The combat blade in his hand acted like a pointer, occasionally tapping the wrist where Xinaya held her sword.

"If I were you just now, I wouldn't have considered hacking here, but rather retreating.

"A single attack, and you revealed thirteen openings. If I had been ruthless, you would have been decapitated already.

"The system's evaluation of you is that your comprehension of the Light Law is extremely deep, but I don't see what's so profound about it; your application of the law is even cruder than mine.

"I haven't used the Time Law, and I haven't even used the full extent of the Lightning Law. You know, half a month ago, I was just being instructed by a senior, and he felt my application of the laws was truly terrible." Li Yilin said.

"You are even worse than me. I am a rookie, and you are a total scrub, hehehe—" Li Yilin laughed just like an evil villain. Even with Xinaya's all-black attire, she didn't look as sinister and eerie as he did right now, making one's teeth itch with hatred.

Terrible?

You call this terrible?

Xinaya gritted her teeth, fury flooding her heart. She wasn't thinking about anything else now; she only wanted to cleave the man before her in two.

Swish! Swish! Swish-swish!

Faster!

Even faster!

Just a hair's breadth away!

Why was it still just a tiny bit off? How could she become faster?

Xinaya's eyes widened, filled with a burning, brilliant light.

Her figure became increasingly ethereal and blurred, as if she might vanish at any moment, yet her attacks grew faster and more crisp and decisive. The Light Domain was integrated into every strike, and each blow brought forth surging waves that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

Distorted light pulled at the void, and countless variations collided within it, producing subtle changes.

What was that?

Why was that single ray of light faster?

Xinaya keenly sensed this shift, her gaze sharpening as her thoughts instantly expanded.

What caused a ray of light to exceed the speed of light?

Why did it get faster?

No, it wasn't that the speed of the light had increased; something was influencing that particular ray.

What could it be?

The Time Law?

Xinaya desperately tried to investigate. She vaguely felt as if she were touching what she desired most, but a thin veil stood between them—seemingly soft, yet it left her unable to find her target.

"It is about change." As if sensing Xinaya's confusion, Li Yilin spoke up.

He suddenly recalled the description of the Time Law in the secret technique Thunder Dragon Step, which consisted of only a single sentence.

The difference between time and space is that time is change.

As he thought about it, he spoke the words aloud unconsciously.

"The difference between time and space is that time is change."

It is change!

Change!

Change?

Xinaya's eyes narrowed. She swung her sword again, and a beam of sword light, accompanied by several black rays, appeared to block one of Li Yilin's attacks. At the same time, she flew backward, blending into the Light Domain and vanishing from sight.

Xinaya closed her eyes, wrapping her consciousness around that trace of change and following it in her thoughts.

In her consciousness, she clearly saw the rays of light rotating within the domain. These rays looked identical, yet no, there were differences.

Among the few rays she wasn't restraining, they seemed to be moving according to a certain pattern.

These patterns—her mind trembled.

She suddenly gained a glimmer of realization.

If time is experienced through change.

Could it be understood like this?

If one wants to travel from one point to another, and normally it takes one second to do so, then now, if a stretched spring connects these two points, and the speed at which the spring contracts is faster than the normal speed, is that equivalent to time acceleration?

No, what if the normal speed is the speed of the spring contracting?

Is it still acceleration?

How is acceleration calculated?

As long as there is speed, there will be the passage of time in between.

Why is there a passage?

Can it not be paused?

As Xinaya pondered, a strange fluctuation of laws began to rise from her body. It seemed obscure, but to those familiar with such things, it was incredibly obvious.

Li Yilin's eyes sharpened. He swung his blade, and the blade light swept past. Xinaya instinctively raised her sword to parry.

The fierce sword shadow had something different about it.

This is?

Xinaya's eyes lit up, but before she could feel excited, she felt a chill at her neck.

The scene before her flipped, quickly turning into darkness.

Yuanji match 3207, defeated!