Before the Golden Fragment touched her left knee, Qian Renxue asked Qian Daoliu to step back three paces.
The old man frowned. "I couldn't touch your Soul Power even if I stayed where I was."
"Last time, I knew you were right behind me. I kept thinking that if I couldn't hold on, you'd catch me. Today, I want to find out how long I can last on my own."
Bai Jin placed six Void Anchors around the outer edge of the temple, half a yard farther out than last time. Both Qian Renxue and Qian Daoliu could see that he meant to catch any rift after it emerged from her body. He would not send even a thread of anchor force into her leg bone beforehand.
"Yesterday, I managed a short stretch along the outside of my ankle," Qian Renxue said. "If the Golden Fragment hits my knee first, I won't get even half a step farther than yesterday."
She sat cross-legged and pressed her Angel Soul Power to the outer edge of her left leg, keeping the Silverwing Soul Bone inside. The instant the Golden Fragment touched her skin, six-winged patterns lit up her entire leg. Light bored into the inside of her knee, and the familiar stabbing pain followed at once.
During the first trial imprint, she had forced her Angel Soul Power around the silver core, only for the golden pattern to circle back and crash into it again. This time, Qian Renxue did not keep pushing inward. She loosened the first channel used by Silverwing Skystep by half an inch. The old bone's power still flowed outward, while the golden light slipped in along the edge she had freed.
The movements she had practiced began to pay off. Her left foot did not actually take