The only way to evade this move was to retreat faster.
The instant the word "fire" left his mouth, Kou Liyue halted his saber and shot backward, gripping the long blade as he gathered power for a ferocious strike after the fire technique.
Sixth Growth was indeed faster than Fifth Growth. The speed at which the flames had engulfed Xu Er earlier was nowhere near enough to seriously wound Kou Liyue now.
But... no flames erupted.
Only a dry, solitary "fire" fell to the ground. Kou Liyue's reaction, like a bird startled by a bowstring, looked abrupt and ridiculous. The boy's sword had never stopped, advancing straight toward his throat as though it had foreseen his retreat.
And the instant Kou Liyue realized he had been fooled, a streak of bronze light shot toward his face. He tilted his head to evade it. The next moment, his scalp tightened at the back of his head, the sensation of constriction reaching his brain before the pain.
Blazing heat erupted.
He doesn't need to speak to release the flames at all!!
This time, Kou Liyue's heart and lungs truly clenched, his entire body taut with alarm. He mustered all his True Qi and stepped forward, his long saber slashing out with a fiery wind.
He could only strike with his back to the fire!
Before him waited the boy's sword, its momentum gathered to the utmost.
Pei Ye watched him without expression and drove his sword solidly against the saber. The next instant, it bounced away in a drifting flourish. He twisted his wrist and struck the saber again. At the moment of contact, ringing notes like pearls and jade strung together, draining all the force from the man's blade.
Amid that ringing, Kou Liyue raised his saber again, but at some