Fallen Spirit Masters, Evil Spirit Masters, Offense and Defense Shift!

A rainy night.

Above the dense forest, three cyan wind blades tore open the curtain of rain, forming a triangle as they shot toward the black-robed Fallen Spirit Master.

Where the wind blades passed, the lines of rain were sliced cleanly apart, refracting brief silver gleams beneath the moonlight.

Feng Yun had already developed killing intent toward this man.

He had also guessed the other party's identity: a Fallen Spirit Master, or rather, an existence that would one day be called an Evil Spirit Master.

A breed far more dangerous than ordinary Spirit Masters.

The black-robed Fallen Spirit Master split his mouth in a grin, revealing a mouthful of teeth stained black with blood.

"That's it?"

The purple spirit ring behind him flashed.

Dozens of dark-purple vines shot out from his sleeves, weaving before him into an airtight net of tendrils.

The wind blades struck the vine net with crisp clangs like metal colliding.

Under the enhancement of Sharp Wind Condensation, the wind blades did cut through several vines on the surface, sending dark-purple sap splashing everywhere.

But by the time they reached the third layer, their force was spent, and they dissipated. The thickness of the vine net far exceeded expectations.

And the severed vines regrew within three seconds, restored as if nothing had happened.

Feng Yun's pupils constricted slightly.

"Kekekeke, little brat, don't tell me you thought that bit of skill could hurt me?"

The black-robed Evil Spirit Master cackled strangely and suddenly swung his right hand.

Purple vines surged from his sleeves, slithering along the ground like a swarm of snakes as they encircled Feng Yun.

The barbs on the surface of the vines glinted with a ghastly green chill beneath the moonlight. That was congealed blood.

Feng Yun tapped the tip of his foot hard against a tree trunk and shot backward.

But the vines were faster than he had expected.

They circled around from the side to behind him, then abruptly wrapped around his left ankle.

"Got you!"

The black-robed Evil Spirit Master let out a shrill, bizarre cry.

The vines yanked hard, and Feng Yun's body lost balance in midair.

He forcibly twisted his waist, and the Green Phoenix Sword slashed back!

The edge of the sword cut into the vine with an ear-piercing scrape.

One vine snapped.

But from the broken end, two new ones split out instantly, winding around his calf at even greater speed.

"Hiss!"

Agonizing pain shot through his ankle and calf at the same time.

The barbs on the surface of the vines had pierced through his trouser leg and stabbed deep into his flesh.

Feng Yun gritted his teeth and let out a muffled groan.

When he sensed that these vines were absorbing his blood, he made a split-second decision, and sent a wind blade slicing back along his calf!

What was sliced away was the layer of flesh on his own calf where the vines had attached.

Blood sprayed!

The vines lost their point of attachment, and he seized the chance to break free.

"Yun'er!"

Yun Yun's voice exploded in his mind.

"It's a flesh wound. Not deep."

Feng Yun answered briefly in his heart, his tone steady to an abnormal degree.

The instant he landed, the light of his second spirit skill, Sharp Wind Condensation, erupted over him.

Cyan sharp light enveloped his entire body.

The wind element around him condensed almost into substance, blasting away all the remaining barbs.

"Oh?"

The black-robed Evil Spirit Master tilted his head slightly, a trace of surprise flashing through his eyes.

"You're pretty ruthless with yourself."

"That only makes me look forward to your flavor even more. Heh-heh-heh..."

The vine coiled around his arm suddenly swelled.

All the barbs on its surface stood upright, then shot out at once with a shrill whistle through the air.

Nearly a hundred blood spikes covered Feng Yun's entire range of evasion.

"!"

Feng Yun's pupils constricted.

There was nowhere to retreat.

He chose to use the combat skill Steel Essence Armor and take it head-on.

Almost the instant the Steel Essence Armor formed from wind-attribute spirit power, the blood spikes smashed down like a torrential storm.

Bang bang bang bang bang—!

Steel Essence Armor blocked most of the blood spikes from piercing straight through, but it could not fully offset the impact.

Feng Yun was sent flying backward and slammed heavily into an ancient tree so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it.

"Pfft!"

Blood and qi churned in his chest. Sweetness rose in his throat, and a thread of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Before he could catch his breath, the black-robed Evil Spirit Master had already closed in.

The main vine lifted high, its body surging with a nauseating dark-purple blood aura.

That blood aura gave off a rotten, fishy stench. Wherever it passed, even the raindrops were dyed dark purple.

The vine lashed down viciously.

Feng Yun rolled sideways and dodged.

The vine struck the spot where he had just been, smashing a trench half a foot deep into the ground.

The soil and fallen leaves along the trench's edges were quickly corroded black, wisps of white smoke rising from them.

Feng Yun's heart tightened.

"Corrosive!"

If he was hit by that, his flesh would be torn open for sure!

"Heh-heh-heh! Why dodge? Be good and let me catch you!"

The black-robed Evil Spirit Master's attacks came like a raging storm.

Four spirit rings flashed in alternation.

Vines lashed, stabbed, and coiled from every angle.

Together with that eerie corrosive blood aura, they forced Feng Yun back step by step.

Several more wounds had already appeared on Feng Yun's body.

His left arm had been grazed, flesh curling back, with white tendons faintly visible beneath.

His back had struck tree trunks three times, and his spine ached dully.

The most dangerous moment had been when a vine nearly wrapped around his neck; another three inches and it would have strangled him.

But he did not panic.

In three years in Soul Hunting Forest, he had fought spirit beasts hundreds of times, and every single battle had been a life-or-death struggle.

He had been hunted by a Mandala Snake, had his scalp raked by a diving Wind Falcon, and had once been trapped in a cave by a Cave Spider's web for an entire night.

Those experiences had taught him one thing—the worse the disadvantage, the calmer he had to be.

Calmly observe.

Calmly look for an opening.

"Yun'er, watch his vines."

Yun Yun's reminder came extremely fast but clear and orderly. "Every one of his vines is connected to his main body and can't extend too far away."

"The vines' regeneration should consume spirit power, and the newly regenerated vines are thinner and more brittle than the originals."

"Also, every time he releases blood spikes, the main vine has a brief recoil period."

"Understood."

Feng Yun answered in his heart, and his body had already begun adjusting the rhythm of the battle.

He no longer tried to cut off all the vines in one go.

Instead, he used the speed of Wind Soaring Step to weave and dodge between the vines.

The active effect of Flowing Wind Empowerment was pushed to its limit.

Friction and air resistance were controlled with precision, and his body's speed in changing direction surpassed the vines' tracking speed.

Every time a vine was about to coil around him, he managed to dodge by the barest margin.

At the same time, his counterattacks began to take shape.

The wind blades no longer sought quantity or size.

Small wind blades, one foot long, were fired one at a time.

This minimized the consumption of soul power as much as possible.

At tricky angles, they all aimed at the same spot.

That was the base of the vines, the place closest to the main body.

Again and again, the wind blades finally cut through the base of that main vine.

The entire vine lost its luster and flopped limply to the ground.

For the first time, a subtle change appeared in the black-robed Evil Spirit Master's expression.

"You've been cutting the same spot this whole time?!"

Feng Yun narrowed his eyes slightly and grinned. "Your vines' regeneration speed is weakening."

"..."

The smile on the black-robed Evil Spirit Master's face finally vanished.

"You think analyzing that is useful?"

His voice grew shrill and grating. "You're nothing but a little brat with less than twenty-odd ranks of soul power. Killing you would be effortless!"

"You can't kill me."

Feng Yun cut him off.

He raised the Green Phoenix Sword.

With the boost of Sharp Wind Condensation, the azure light on the blade condensed as if it were solid, and the raindrops around the edge were automatically sliced apart.

"Just now, you were the one attacking me."

"Now it's time for offense and defense to switch places!"