Crack~
The sound of the ground splitting rang out.
Dense cracks like a spiderweb appeared beneath Qian's feet, and the muscles in his legs abruptly tightened, then released.
Then his whole body shot out like a cannonball.
And at that moment, the Water Dragon had just reached him.
Bang~
A muffled boom sounded.
The huge Water Dragon slammed into the ground, smashing apart a wide stretch of earth.
A mass of dead branches, rotten leaves, soil, and shattered stones flew out like bullets, spraying densely in every direction.
Qian reacted swiftly. Before that secondary damage could reach him, he had already sheathed his blade, formed hand seals, and cast a ninjutsu—Earth Release: Hardening Technique!
The next instant, a faint fluorescent glow appeared over his body, making his skin look even tighter, almost like jade.
The dirt and broken stones struck him but failed to cause any damage.
Horikawa Kosuke seemed to have expected this result. He immediately shouted to another Mist Village jonin not far away, "Yuhiro!"
Hearing his shout, Kawada Yuhiro, who had just retreated, formed seals at high speed and cast a ninjutsu.
Blinding lightning flashed, and a Lightning Cone the size of an infant's arm appeared, then shot toward Qian at extreme speed.
Qian noticed his movements at the first possible moment.
When he saw that the ninjutsu he had cast was Lightning Release, he immediately became fully alert.
As everyone knew, the thing that countered Earth Release the most was Lightning Release, which could break through Earth Release's hardness.
If it had been an ordinary Lightning Release ninjutsu, Qian was confident his perfected Earth Release: Hardening Technique could withstand it.
However, judging from the form of the ninjutsu he had cast, it clearly belonged to the powerful offensive type.
Because of that, Qian had no choice