Kenjaku stood firmly on the ravaged ground, his gaze fixed on the gravely wounded Qingxiao, whose breathing was ragged. A cold smirk of assured victory curled his lips.
In his eyes, Qingxiao was already spent. After repeatedly taking Cursed Technique bombardments head-on and overtaxing his body to land several Black Flashes, his flesh was battered and his cursed energy exhausted. He had long since lost the strength to fight, and victory in this drawn-out battle was already firmly in Kenjaku's grasp.
He slowly paced forward and delivered his victory speech:
"This is truly delightful, Qingxiao.
I'm afraid I'll never forget you for as long as I live."
As his last words fell, the metal on the ground rose into the air again. Kenjaku raised his hand and formed a lethal attack, intending to exploit Qingxiao's weakened, gravely wounded state to deliver the final blow that would end the battle.
Qingxiao, who had been hunched over and barely breathing, suddenly sprang into action, his presence surging higher and higher.
The hideous wound that pierced through his waist and abdomen still gaped, its flesh turned outward, yet the bleeding had completely stopped, and it no longer impeded his movements.
All this time, Qingxiao had been immersed in the state of heightened clarity that followed landing several Black Flashes.
The extreme pressure of hovering between life and death, the agony of his body nearing collapse, and Kenjaku's countless uses of the technique had given him an unprecedented understanding of cursed energy positive-negative conversion.
In other words, Qingxiao had completely broken through the final barrier and perfectly mastered his own unique Reverse Cursed Technique, founded on Heavenly Motion!
Kenjaku's pupils abruptly contracted. Realizing something was wrong, he hastily launched his attack, turned sideways to dissipate the force, and steadily used it to retreat, putting