Shang Camp.
Lin Yuan spent the entire night recuperating.
When he stepped out of the military tent again the next day, the wound on his left shoulder had yet to fully heal, but his aura was already far steadier than it had been the night before.
The Blackstone Dao Body's regenerative ability showed itself once again.
If a treasure like the Lock-Meridian Nail, specifically designed to pierce immortal bodies, struck an ordinary Heavenly Immortal, they would need to enter seclusion for quite some time.
Lin Yuan was seriously injured.
Yet more than half of his meridians had already recovered.
The greatest change, however, was not in his body.
It was in his fighting style.
[Supreme Clarity Battle Intent] came from Wang Mo.
It was not some fixed divine ability.
It was more like an innate talent for combat carved into instinct.
When to seize the attack.
When to retreat.
How to use one portion of mana to produce the effect of two.
How to find the most suitable counterattack the instant an opponent made a move.
Lin Yuan had previously relied mainly on Innate Spiritual Perception.
He saw danger.
Then he dodged.
After gaining the Battle Intent, he could truly do something for the first time—
See danger and immediately figure out how to cut back at it.
"Interesting."
Lin Yuan stood in the open space outside the camp.
The Qingxuan Sword suddenly left its sheath.
Whoosh!
A flash of sword light.
He had not used any more mana.
Yet its speed and power were clearly a notch greater than before.
Wen Zhong happened to be passing by.
When he saw that strike, he stopped in his tracks.
"Your sword..."
"It's different from yesterday."
Lin Yuan casually said, "I took a nail last night and suddenly understood a few things."
Wen Zhong: "..."
Getting injured could improve comprehension?
Was this how wildly young people cultivated these days?
Before he could ask more.
Warning drums suddenly sounded outside the camp.
West Qi had sent troops again.
Wang Mo and the others rushed over at once.
After what had happened last night, the four of them stood noticeably closer together.
Li Xingba even took the initiative to stand beside Lin Yuan.
"Junior Brother."
"Wherever you go today, I'm going."
Lin Yuan's mouth twitched.
"That doesn't need to be so extreme."
"Just don't run off by yourself."
The group arrived before the battle lines.
This battle differed from the previous two days.
West Qi did not continue with its obvious provocations.
Several Qi Practitioners attacked head-on instead.
Wang Mo and the other three met them in battle as well.
Lin Yuan had intended to remain on the outskirts and observe.
But his Innate Spiritual Perception quickly caught a trace of something unusual.
Since the battle began, a Daoist on the opposing side had kept his gaze fixed on Yang Sen.
He also held a silver ring in his hand.
The ring's aura was not particularly astonishing.
But whenever Yang Sen cast a spell, its surface would faintly light up.
As if it were responding on its own.
"A counter?"
Lin Yuan's thoughts raced.
Just as Yang Sen prepared to charge directly at his opponent.
The Daoist finally smiled.
"Yang Sen."
"You're exactly the one I've been waiting for."
The silver ring flew from his hand.
Buzz!
A strange force instantly enveloped Yang Sen.
The treasure Yang Sen had just activated began to shake violently.
Even the circulation of mana within him slowed by half a beat.
"What is this?"
Yang Sen's expression changed drastically.
His opponent had clearly investigated his methods in advance.
This silver ring might not have been some top-tier spiritual treasure.
But it happened to disrupt a core cultivation art he practiced.
Half a beat slower on the battlefield.
Could mean death.
A rainbow-like torrent of mana was already blasting toward him head-on.
Yang Sen wanted to retreat.
But the silver ring locked down the surrounding spiritual energy completely.
The sense of danger in Lin Yuan's Innate Spiritual Perception suddenly surged.
"Senior Brother Yang!"
"Don't go backward!"
Yang Sen froze.
Retreating was his most natural choice at that moment.
But over the past few days, Lin Yuan had proven his judgment again and again.
He barely hesitated.
He forcibly stopped himself.
Lin Yuan shouted again.
"To the right!"
Yang Sen immediately shifted sideways.
And the instant he moved away.
A transparent spike suddenly appeared in the empty space behind where he had been.
Had he retreated just now.
He would have run straight into it himself.
"Damn!"
Even Gao Yougan broke out in a cold sweat at the sight.
"More dirty tricks!"
The torrent of mana from the front continued to bear down.
Disrupted by the silver ring, Yang Sen found it difficult to block it completely for the moment.
But Wang Mo suddenly took a fierce step forward.
"Get lost!"
A stream of immortal light blasted forward.
He blocked the attack for Yang Sen.
Boom!
Wang Mo's body shook.
Yet he did not retreat even half a step.
Seeing this, Lin Yuan suddenly felt like laughing.
In the original history.
These four had been killed one by one.
But now they had begun taking the initiative to shield one another from harm.
As long as they did not throw their lives away.
Many death traps were not so easily formed in the first place.
"Break the silver ring first!"
Lin Yuan reminded them.
After gaining the Supreme Clarity Battle Intent.
He viewed problems from a different angle than before.
His first instinct in the past would have been to help Yang Sen retreat.
Now, however—
He would directly knock away the thing preventing Yang Sen from fighting normally.
Lin Yuan pushed off with his feet.
The Thick Earth Sword flew out first.
His opponent did not take a Heavenly Immortal's attack too seriously at all.
He casually prepared to block it.
But the Thick Earth Sword was only the first layer.
The Qingxuan Sword followed immediately after.
Heavy in front, swift behind.
The two swords moved to entirely different rhythms.
The instant the Daoist blocked the Thick Earth Sword, the Qingxuan Sword had already cut in from the other side.
The Supreme Clarity Battle Intent made Lin Yuan's grasp of timing terrifyingly precise.
Clang!
The Qingxuan Sword struck the silver ring dead-on.
Though it failed to shatter the spiritual treasure.
It successfully severed its connection with Yang Sen.
Yang Sen's mana abruptly recovered.
The anger he had been holding in all this time finally erupted.
"Die, you bastard!"
Immortal light blasted forth.
The opposing Daoist's expression changed drastically.
After hastily blocking, he was blasted back dozens of zhang.
Wang Mo and the others pressed forward at the same time.
The situation completely reversed.
West Qi's side soon realized things had gone bad.
They took the initiative to retreat.
This time, none of the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island gave chase.
Gao Yougan had barely taken a step.
When Wang Mo grabbed him by the back of the collar.
"What?"
"I'm just taking two steps forward!"
"Not even two steps!"
Gao Yougan: "..."
Lin Yuan almost laughed out loud.
Senior Brother Wang was somewhat traumatized now.
The system prompt arrived at that moment as well.
[Target: Yang Sen.] [The key node of the originally fated death trial has changed.] [The original death trajectory has been completely severed.] [Fate Reversal successful!] [Inheriting the target's strongest ability...]
Lin Yuan's heart stirred.
The next moment.
Two entirely different forces suddenly appeared in his legs and throughout the meridians of his body.
Wind.
Thunder.
The originally intangible, formless wind became exceptionally familiar to his senses.
Strands of lightning naturally curled around his ankles.
[Congratulations, Host, for obtaining—Wind-Thunder Escape talent!]
Lin Yuan's eyes lit up.
It had come at exactly the right time.
Movement speed had always been one of his greatest weaknesses.
In the past, he could rely on sealing off the arena during duels.
But on a real battlefield, if someone wanted to run, all he could do was eat their dust from behind.
With Wind-Thunder Escape—
The instant the thought crossed Lin Yuan's mind.
His figure vanished.
Crack!
More than ten zhang away, lightning flashed.
Lin Yuan appeared directly somewhere else.
It happened so suddenly.
Even Wen Zhong beside him froze for a moment.
"When did you learn Wind-Thunder Escape?"
Lin Yuan himself was startled by the speed.
It was far faster than riding a sword before.
And this was only his first time using it.
"I don't know."
Lin Yuan spoke with a perfectly straight face.
"I watched Senior Brother Yang fight just now."
"And suddenly gained enlightenment."
Yang Sen: "?"
I didn't even use Wind-Thunder Escape just now!
But before he could ask.
Wind and lightning lit up around Lin Yuan once more.
Whoosh!
This time, he shot out a hundred zhang.
Only a fading streak of lightning remained where he had stood.
Wen Zhong fell silent.
Wang Mo fell silent.
Gao Yougan looked at Yang Sen.
Li Xingba then looked at Lin Yuan.
In the end, Yang Sen was the first to be unable to hold it in.
"No."
"Did you really gain enlightenment from me?"
Lightning flashed again in the distance as Lin Yuan returned.
Lin Yuan landed steadily.
After thinking for a moment.
He smiled quite naturally.
"Senior Brother gave me the inspiration."
Yang Sen looked even more bewildered.
Since when did he have that function?
But Lin Yuan had already turned back toward the battlefield.
With Wind-Thunder Escape in hand.
Some dead ends that had once required him to wait passively—
Could now be dismantled proactively.
Before you continue