Save One, Grow Stronger

The 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 recovery ability showed itself once more.

If a treasure like the Lock-Meridian Nail, designed specifically to pierce immortal bodies, struck an ordinary Heavenly Immortal, they would have to enter seclusion for quite some time.

Lin Yuan's injuries were not light.

Yet more than half of his meridians had already recovered.

But the thing that had changed the most was not his body.

It was his way of fighting.

[Supreme Clarity Battle Intent] came from Wang Mo.

It was not some fixed divine ability.

It was more like a talent for battle etched into instinct.

When to seize the offensive.

When to retreat.

How to make one portion of mana achieve the effect of two.

How to find the most suitable counterattack the instant an opponent made a move.

Previously, Lin Yuan had mainly relied on Innate Spiritual Perception.

See danger.

Then dodge.

After obtaining the Battle Intent, he could truly do this for the first time—

See danger, and at the same time casually figure out how to slash back.

"Interesting."

Lin Yuan stood in the open space outside the camp.

The Qingxuan Sword suddenly left its sheath.

Whoosh!

Sword light flashed.

He had not used any more mana.

Yet its speed and power were visibly greater than before.

Wen Zhong happened to be passing by.

Seeing that strike, he halted.

"Your sword..."

"Isn't quite the same as yesterday."

Lin Yuan replied casually, "I took a nail last night and suddenly figured something out."

Wen Zhong: "..."

Getting injured could even improve one's comprehension?

Did young people cultivate in such wild ways these days?

Before he could ask further.

Warning drums suddenly sounded beyond the camp.

West Qi had sent out its troops once more.

Wang Mo and the others arrived immediately.

After what had happened the previous 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 go."

Lin Yuan's mouth twitched.

"There's no need to take it that far."

"Just don't run off by yourself."

The group arrived before the formation.

This battle differed from the previous two days.

West Qi did not continue using obvious taunts.

Several qi refiners attacked head-on instead.

Wang Mo and the other three met them in battle.

Lin Yuan had intended to remain at the perimeter and observe.

But Innate Spiritual Perception swiftly caught a trace of something unusual.

Since the battle began, one Daoist on the other 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.

Yet whenever Yang Sen cast a spell, the ring's surface would faintly light up.

As if it were actively responding.

"A counter?"

Lin Yuan's thoughts raced.

Just as Yang Sen prepared to charge straight at his opponent.

That Daoist finally smiled.

"Yang Sen."

"I've been waiting for you."

The silver ring flew from his hand.

Buzz!

A strange force instantly enveloped Yang Sen.

The magical treasure Yang Sen had just summoned began to tremble violently.

Even the circulation of mana within him slowed by half a beat.

"What is this?"

Yang Sen's expression changed sharply.

His opponent had clearly studied his methods in advance.

This silver ring might not have been some supreme spiritual treasure.

But it happened to be able to disrupt a core cultivation art he practiced.

Half a beat slower on a battlefield.

Could mean death.

A rainbow torrent of mana was already blasting toward him from the front.

Yang Sen wanted to retreat.

But the silver ring locked down the surrounding spiritual energy tight as iron.

The sense of danger in Lin Yuan's Innate Spiritual Perception abruptly surged.

"Senior Brother Yang!"

"Don't go back!"

Yang Sen froze.

Retreating was the most natural choice at that moment.

But over the past few days, Lin Yuan had proven his judgment again and again.

He barely hesitated.

And forcibly stopped himself.

Lin Yuan shouted again.

"To the right!"

Yang Sen immediately shifted sideways.

And in the instant he moved away.

A transparent spike suddenly emerged behind him, where there had seemed to be nothing at all.

Had he retreated just now.

He would have rammed straight into it himself.

"Damn it!"

Even Gao Yougan broke out in a cold sweat at the sight.

"More underhanded tricks!"

The frontal rainbow torrent of mana continued bearing down on them.

With the silver ring disrupting him, Yang Sen found it difficult to block it completely for the moment.

But Wang Mo suddenly stepped 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 after another.

But now, they had begun taking the initiative to block blades for one another.

As long as they did not throw their lives away.

Many death traps were never so easily formed in the first place.

"Break the silver ring first!"

Lin Yuan reminded them.

After gaining the Supreme Clarity Battle Intent.

The angle from which he viewed problems had already changed from before.

In the past, his first reaction would have been to help Yang Sen withdraw.

Now, however, it was—

Directly knock out the thing preventing Yang Sen from fighting normally.

Lin Yuan exerted force beneath his feet.

The Thick Earth Sword flew out first.

His opponent did not take an attack from a Heavenly Immortal too seriously at all.

He casually prepared to block it.

But the Thick Earth Sword was merely the first layer.

The Qingxuan Sword followed close behind.

Heavy in front, swift behind.

The rhythm of the two swords was completely different.

The instant that 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 frighteningly precise.

Clang!

The Qingxuan Sword struck the silver ring squarely.

Though it failed to shatter the spiritual treasure.

It successfully severed its connection with Yang Sen.

The mana within Yang Sen abruptly returned to normal.

The anger he had been holding in for so long exploded completely.

"Die, Daoist!"

Immortal light blasted forth.

The Daoist opposite him turned pale.

After hastily blocking, he was shaken back dozens of zhang.

Wang Mo and the others pressed forward at the same time.

The situation completely reversed.

West Qi soon saw that things had gone badly.

They took the initiative to retreat.

This time, none of the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island pursued.

Gao Yougan had barely taken a step forward.

When Wang Mo grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"What are you doing?"

"I was only taking two steps forward!"

"Not even two steps!"

Gao Yougan: "..."

Lin Yuan nearly laughed out loud.

Senior Brother Wang was a little traumatized now.

The system prompt arrived at that moment.

[Target: Yang Sen.]

[The key node of the original destined death tribulation has changed.]

[The original death trajectory has been completely severed.]

[Defied fate successfully!]

[Inheriting the target's strongest ability...]

Lin Yuan's heart stirred.

The next moment.

Two utterly different powers suddenly appeared in his legs and throughout the meridians of his body.

Wind.

Thunder.

The originally formless, intangible wind became extraordinarily familiar in his perception.

Strands of lightning naturally coiled 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.

Escape speed had always been one of his greatest weaknesses.

Back when he fought on the arena, he could still rely on sealing off the field.

But on a real battlefield, if someone wanted to flee, all he could do was eat dust behind them.

With Wind-Thunder Escape—

As soon as the thought crossed Lin Yuan's mind.

His figure vanished instantly.

Crack!

More than ten zhang away, lightning flashed.

Lin Yuan appeared somewhere else directly.

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 controlling a sword before.

And this was only his first time using it.

"I don't know."

Lin Yuan kept a straight face.

"I watched Senior Brother Yang fight just now."

"And suddenly had an epiphany."

Yang Sen: "?"

I didn't use Wind-Thunder Escape just now either!

But before he could ask.

Wind and lightning flared around Lin Yuan again.

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 looked at Lin Yuan again.

In the end, Yang Sen was the first to lose his composure.

"No."

"Did you really comprehend it from me?"

Lightning flashed in the distance as Lin Yuan returned.

He landed steadily.

After thinking for a moment.

He smiled with perfect naturalness.

"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 his gaze back to the battlefield.

With Wind-Thunder Escape in hand.

Some dead ends that had once required him to wait passively—

Could now be dismantled proactively.