Qian Renxue stepped in beside Bai Jin, Silverwing Skystep unfolding beneath the golden lines.
Five days had passed since the half-breath test. The pale gold markings below her knee had not completely faded, while her ankle remained silver. Qian Daoliu had told them to spar on the Training Grounds outside the temple, which the Worship Hall had cleared in advance. Bai Jin set his sunglasses aside, and his Soul Power pressed across the stone platform without restraint.
"Don't use the routine you use to humor Yan," Qian Renxue said.
"I don't humor him when we fight, either. Ask that wall."
"The wall can't talk back."
Bai Jin laughed, and his First Soul Ring lit up. Qian Renxue had already moved to his left, but in the next instant, Limitless stretched the gap between them impossibly far. Before the silver markings beneath her foot could close, the pale gold around her left knee grew hot from the pull of that distance.
She abandoned her next shift. Six wings spread behind her, her Third Soul Ring and Fifth Soul Ring turning one after the other as swordlight bore down from the side in a continuous barrage. Bai Jin stopped the first strike three steps away and drew the second high into the sky with Azure. The third finally grazed his shoulder, but severed only a drifting strand of hair.
"You're standing too far away," he said.
"You're the one who made the path longer."
"Even an angel has to find her own gate."
Qian Renxue advanced with her sword, her right foot crossing a stone slab torn apart by the pull. Bai Jin's Azure did not seize her sword again. Instead, it struck behind her foot, and the stone surface caved inward an inch. Robbed of her footing, she instinctively activated Silverwing