Peng Yijiang's fist was already closing in on Xi Yan. The green phosphorescent flames still could not stop his insect armor. He sacrificed its outer layer in exchange for landing another punch on her-a bargain no matter how he looked at it. He did not believe she could withstand two of his heavy blows.
Yet Xi Yan's spinning body suddenly stopped, and she met him with a punch of her own. Peng Yijiang's eyes had already been wounded by poisoned needles. Unable to see what lay before him, he could only attack by listening to the wind to judge her position. Not only was Xi Yan's right hand gloved, but three steel needles, each a full half-foot long, were tucked between her fingers. Her technique was exceedingly strange: despite the speed of her strike, the needles made no sound as they cut through the air.
Unaware of the trap, Peng Yijiang drove his fist straight onto the needles. By the time he realized it, withdrawing his punch was too late. The needles pierced his insect armor and plunged into his fist, embedding themselves deep in the bones of his fingers. Peng Yijiang screamed in agony. At the same moment, two streaks of differently colored light struck his insect armor. The white streak was the white snake from earlier, while the golden streak was the golden snake that had yet to move. Both little snakes burrowed into the armor, rapidly closing in on his flesh.
Peng Yijiang bit the tip of his tongue, and the insect armor covering him suddenly swelled. Bang! The armor shattered, becoming a sky-filling rain of insects that swept toward Xi Yan. If not for the need to escape the two venomous snakes, he would never have abandoned the insect armor he had painstakingly gathered.
Xi Yan