On the vast, dark land, a young man and a young woman faced each other from thirty meters apart. The raging wind howled past like ghosts and wolves, kicking up clouds of black dust.
"Your name is Jiang Yuan, right?"
"Since we're classmates, I'll give you a chance. You can still surrender now."
Lin Qingyan spoke calmly. The three thousand strands of her long hair danced freely behind her, and her slender frame radiated an impressive aura.
"I'll pass."
Jiang Yuan clenched his fist and smiled calmly. His pale golden eyes were like flames kindling in the cold night.
"Because..."
"I honestly can't imagine myself losing."
"That's because you've never seen true strength."
Lin Qingyan said coolly, "I admit you have some ability, but in front of me..."
"You're not enough."
The instant she finished speaking, she pushed off the ground and appeared before Jiang Yuan, her right fist wrapped in a white cloud of energy.
Jiang Yuan raised his hand to meet it, but in the next moment, Lin Qingyan's body dispersed like a cloud and reappeared behind him.
Three-star martial technique, Phantom Cloud Step!
Her fist, wrapped in white energy, scraped against the air, weaving strands of black lightning as it crashed down toward the back of Jiang Yuan's head!
Five-star martial technique, Black Thunder Flash!
"Boom!"
A muffled blast rang out. A violent shock wave burst from beneath them, spreading a hundred meters in an instant.
The dust settled.
Lin Qingyan looked at Jiang Yuan, who had blocked her punch with his arm, and her clear eyes flickered.
What impressive combat instincts—and what a tough body.
"Two advanced martial techniques, just like that. No wonder you're rich."
Jiang Yuan looked up with a smile, though he was also a little surprised. He hadn't expected her to have mastered her techniques to such a degree.
But...
A rainbow flashed deep within his pale golden eyes.
Jiang Yuan reached out toward Lin Qingyan.
She pulled back her fist, used the momentum, and twisted her slender waist. With a nimble shift of her body, she dodged his grasp and brought a powerful downward kick toward his head!
But in the next instant, her attack struck empty air.
Jiang Yuan's body dispersed like a cloud.
"So that's how you use it."
Jiang Yuan appeared at Lin Qingyan's side. Black lightning coiled around his right fist, which was wrapped in crimson ripples, as he punched toward her chest.
"What?!"
Lin Qingyan was deeply shaken.
He'd learned her martial technique after seeing it just once?!
What kind of monstrous ability to learn was that?!
At the critical moment, a fantastical ice-blue light flashed in Lin Qingyan's eyes, and a thin, six-sided snowflake-shaped ice mirror appeared before her.
Innate skill—Hexagonal Ice God Mirror!
Jiang Yuan's punch slammed into the hexagonal ice mirror. Terrifying pressure burst outward, exploding like a thunderclap between heaven and earth!
"Bang!"
A two-meter-high wall of air formed from the shock wave, sweeping away every loose stone within dozens of meters!
"Crack."
A fissure appeared in the ice mirror, but it didn't break.
To Jiang Yuan's astonishment,
the force of his punch was reflected back at him in full!
The terrifying power sent him flying uncontrollably. He shot into a hill like a cannonball, smashing a huge hole into it!
"Thunder Strike."
The Divine Speaker skill activated.
A thick bolt of purple lightning struck the cave and exploded!
Looking at the rubble,
Lin Qingyan said proudly, "You should be proud. You made me use my innate skill."
Her clear eyes gazed proudly at the pile of broken stones in the distance.
"With your talent and aptitude, you might barely qualify as one of Great Xia Kingdom's top young prodigies. But you're still nowhere near my level."
"If you're willing to submit to me now, I can give you the chance to follow me and reach the summit of the stars."
"Boom!"
The pile of rubble exploded.
"Do you think you've won?"
Jiang Yuan emerged from the rain of stones, part of his shirt torn away. Crimson, ripple-shaped energy flames enveloped his body, and every stone that fell on him was pulverized.
He stamped his foot down.
The ground caved in.
Jiang Yuan shot toward Lin Qingyan in a streak of red light, moving as fast as a phantom.
"It's useless. Slow."
Lin Qingyan spoke coldly.
Jiang Yuan was instantly mired as if in a swamp, his speed reduced by ninety percent.
"You're fast, and you hit hard, but you're a close-range fighter. If you can't hit anyone, it means nothing."
"Light Rain."
In an instant, countless dazzling arrows of light rained from the sky, streaking toward Jiang Yuan.
"Now that's interesting." Jiang Yuan smiled. His blood energy erupted, and the surging flames formed layers of rippling barriers that blocked every arrow of light.
He took another deep breath, then stamped his right foot hard against the ground!
"Bang!"
The earth shook and caved in, cracks spreading in every direction.
His figure vanished in an instant.
"God Speed."
Lin Qingyan caught sight of Jiang Yuan teleporting behind her out of the corner of her eye, and her expression changed.
That move again—teleportation that ignored the slow effect. Was it his innate skill, or a technique?
Seeing Jiang Yuan's punch coming, she knew he was too fast for her to use a skill in time.
Lin Qingyan could only raise her hand and use her second innate skill.
"Freeze."
Pale, frigid air burst forth, instantly forming a huge wall of ice in front of her.
It lasted only a second.
Then Jiang Yuan shattered it with a single punch!
The powerful shock wave sent Lin Qingyan stumbling back thirty meters before she came to a stop. The baseball cap on her head was blown away, revealing her stunning, delicate face, pale as snow—but now as cold as frost.
"You've really made me angry."
On the other side of a valley in the first-level Abyss,
several first-tier Class-Transferred Warriors from small guilds stared at the distance in terror. A sharp, cone-shaped iceberg had suddenly appeared in the valley, only to suddenly shatter and collapse.
"What happened?"
A middle-aged warrior walked over and asked.
"I told you to lure over some beasts. Why did it take you so long?"
"Captain, I think we should head back as soon as possible today," said a young man carrying a Great Shield, his face full of fear.
"What happened?"
The young man swallowed. "We looked all over, but there aren't any beasts around here at all. And ever since a little while ago, there've been some terrifying sounds coming from over there."
"Yeah," another female Class-Transferred Warrior said. "There have been loud noises and tremors, and lightning strikes every so often. Then just now, an iceberg suddenly appeared..."
"An iceberg? Where?" The captain looked up.
"It collapsed."
"It c-collapsed? Were you poisoned by a beast's miasma and hallucinating?" The captain sounded unconvinced.
The two hurriedly said, "We're telling the truth."
"Boom—!!"
A loud crash came from that direction, startling them all.
Then a fierce gale swept over from the same direction, and the ground shook again.
The young man with the Great Shield spread his hands. "See, Captain? We were right. There's something really wrong with this place."
The woman said, "It feels like two third-tier beasts are fighting..."
"Third-tier beasts... Could there really be creatures like that in a first-level Abyss?"
Cold sweat beaded on the captain's forehead. He couldn't believe it.
But then—
"Crack!"
Several bolts of lightning suddenly struck over there, startling them.
The captain hurriedly said, "Let's go, let's go! Move!"
The group fled in a panic, not daring to look back.
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