An opening

After Qin Jian finished speaking, a trace of guilt appeared on his face.

Xu Wei was rather innocent and asked, "Then what about Senior Brother Luo?"

Luo Guan was on his last breath. If they wanted to flee, there was no way they could take him along.

"Alas, I have only my inadequate skills to blame. If I survive this, I will return to the mountain and devote myself to cultivating my sword art. Once my cultivation reaches great heights, I will avenge Senior Brother Luo!" Hearing this, Li Yu knew Qin Jian was already leaning toward splitting up and fleeing.

After all, the strength of someone at the qi refinement twelfth layer was far beyond what he could handle.

They had made no attempt to conceal their conversation, and Ying Feiyun heard every word clearly. He snorted coldly and tightened his right hand around the Bronze Sword.

"None of you will escape today!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an exceedingly faint yet piercing thunderclap rang in their ears.

At that moment, within Li Yu's Taiyi Starshine vision, the cluster of spiritual activity representing Ying Feiyun charged straight toward him in the space of a breath.

Sizzle!

Golden light flashed before Li Yu's eyes, and Ying Feiyun appeared, his figure flickering with lightning. With a forceful turn of his wrist, the Golden Light Sword left its sheath and slashed across Li Yu's chest like a streak of blazing white lightning.

Thud!

The strike Luo Guan had failed to withstand was arrested before Li Yu's chest. Thanks to Taiyi Starshine's advance prediction and the instantly cast Su Yi Essence Shield, the Golden Light Sword's edge slowed, clearly revealing the trajectory of its slash.

But Ying Feiyun's cultivation realm was indeed high. The instant his sword was blocked, he fiercely drove his true essence, and the Golden Light Sword erupted with streaks of lightning, forcibly cutting through the invisible shield before Li Yu's chest.

Taking advantage of that brief opening, however, Li Yu had already used Wandering Yi Void Step to shift away from where he stood.

Boom!

Having broken through the shield and lost its target, the Golden Light Sword struck the reef, shearing off a corner of the dark island. The residual force hit the sea and stirred up another surge of waves.

Seeing Li Yu disappear, Ying Feiyun glanced sideways at Qin Jian. As Qin Jian's expression changed in alarm, Ying Feiyun flicked his wrist, sending crisscrossing streaks of golden light to seal off every direction in which Qin Jian could dodge.

This strike was stronger than those in their earlier exchanges.

Qin Jian stepped diagonally aside, avoiding the two strongest streaks of golden light at the forefront, then thrust out the Foolishness-Cleaving Sword. His wrist twisted, and streaks of luminous white sword light fluttered like feathers, landing precisely on the golden light slashing toward him, deflecting and dissipating each streak. Meanwhile, he retreated repeatedly. The residual sword qi plowed deep furrows through the reef beneath his feet, but not a single streak struck him.

"Your swordsmanship surpasses mine, but your cultivation realm is too low!" Given Ying Feiyun's temperament, he could not help praising Qin Jian whenever he saw his swordsmanship.

This was a true prodigy of the sword.

He could keenly perceive the weaknesses in every one of Ying Feiyun's strikes and fight him to a standstill despite his inferior cultivation realm. That was precisely why Ying Feiyun had wanted to use Qin Jian to hone his own swordsmanship and eliminate its openings.

Who could have known that dragging things out would lead to Ying Ruomu's death?

At that thought, Ying Feiyun's gaze turned cold, and he stopped holding back.

With a sizzle, his figure once again became a streak of lightning, sweeping past Qin Jian in an instant.

Qin Jian's sword sensed it, but his body could not keep up with the change. He could only barely position the Foolishness-Cleaving Sword to protect his vitals. Even so, Ying Feiyun's strike sent him flying, blood spraying from his body.

"Senior Brother!"

Xu Wei rose on her flying sword, intending to catch Qin Jian as he fell.

But she had only just leaped off the reef when a hand pressed down on her shoulder.

Xu Wei stopped short. She was about to turn and glare at Li Yu behind her when she saw a streak of lightning-wreathed golden light sweep past her, detonating a sonic boom in midair.

Had she flown out just then, Ying Feiyun would have pierced her heart with his sword.

"Hm? How did you see through that?" After his sword struck empty air, Ying Feiyun stopped in surprise and turned to ask Li Yu.

Li Yu released Xu Wei so she could catch Qin Jian, but his entire attention remained focused on Ying Feiyun. He spoke of what he had worked out. "In the Golden Light Sword Thunder Art, the thunder isn't a lightning technique, but Sword Escape. Its speed rivals a sword qi thunderclap, which must be why it's called thunder."

Ying Feiyun nodded, and the killing intent in his gaze grew even stronger as he looked at Li Yu.

Sizzle!

Ying Feiyun had already used his golden-light Sword Escape again, charging right up to Li Yu.

So fast!

Feeling the Su Yi Essence Shield shatter before his chest and his true essence drain rapidly, Li Yu was inwardly shocked. This time, he had been fully prepared. Taiyi Starshine had predicted the Golden Light Sword's trajectory in advance, yet he still had not managed to evade it with Wandering Yi Void Step.

Fortunately, the Su Yi Essence Shield had blocked it for the blink of an eye, giving him room for error.

Li Yu used Wandering Yi Void Step to move beside Qin Jian and Xu Wei. The gap between his raw strength and Ying Feiyun's was rather large; fighting him alone was truly difficult.

The good news was that, within his Taiyi Starshine vision, Ying Feiyun's spiritual activity had begun to decline from its previous blazing, noonday peak.

That meant the incomparably swift Sword Escape technique consumed an enormous amount of true essence as well.

But Li Yu's repeated spellcasting had also depleted a considerable amount of true essence. In full view of the other three, he took out an Essence Recovery Pill and swallowed it.

"Cough, cough... Fellow Daoist, give me one." Forcing himself to endure his injuries, Qin Jian stood beside Li Yu with Xu Wei and asked for a pill.

After taking the pill, Qin Jian's complexion improved slightly. Ying Feiyun also seemed to be circulating his energy to recover his true essence and did not attack at that moment.

Qin Jian knew that, with him injured, their strongest fighter was now Li Yu, who was at the "qi refinement tenth layer." Thus, he immediately transmitted what he had discovered in this life-and-death struggle. "Fellow Daoist, his Sword Escape is unbelievably fast, but it has an opening..."

"It can only charge in a straight line and can't turn, right?" Li Yu had noticed it too and replied through voice transmission.

"Exactly. And after one charge, he can't make a second within a short time. It might be a limitation of his true essence, or perhaps his body can't withstand it. We can try exploiting that." Qin Jian, interrupted halfway through his explanation, paused briefly, then looked at Li Yu with a hint of admiration and nodded.

"I do have an idea. How do you intend to exploit that opening, Fellow Daoist?" Li Yu glanced at the sword wound across Qin Jian's chest, which was still dripping blood, then hesitated for a moment before stating his own plan.

Qin Jian coughed violently twice more, wiped away the blood spilling from his mouth and nose, and turned to glance at Xu Wei beside him.

"The sword in Junior Sister Xu's hand

is formidable. What is your idea, Fellow Daoist?"