The Last Path, for Those Still Alive

Yan stomped down with his right foot again, and a whole section of stone along the edge of the arena flipped upwards. Imperial Fighting Team's barely preserved short circuit was cut in two by the heat wave. When Ye Lingling retreated, she had to grab the edge of the Shi Mo to prevent her foot from slipping over the boundary.

Li Man put away the Green Jade Bamboo that was almost cracked from the heat, leaving only three array nodes in her palm that could respond stably. She had deliberately abandoned some of the other nodes, and temporarily isolated others, as she could not forcibly reclaim them just because there was a short distance ahead.

Yu Tianheng looked at Yan's new foothold but didn't charge directly. He had already used his left fist and legs to clear a path for several rounds, but his right arm still felt a sharp pain. If he couldn't find a reliable angle to end his opponent's offensive, pressing down on the Thunder Dragon Body again would only worsen his injury.

"Shi Mo, move half a step closer to me. Osler, don't leave Ye Lingling's protective circle."

Osler leaned against the inside of the tortoise shell, the cloth straps on his shoulders already showing through the blood. He didn't try to be brave, only keeping the Ghost Leopard's senses at the edge, occasionally reporting the actual footsteps outside the red mist.

The Demon Charm in the process of merging, noticed that Imperial Fighting Team had shrunk into a small piece, Moon Blade was held low, pointing towards the narrow path they had left behind.

With a swift movement of the Demon Charm, a sharp shadow appeared close to the ground within the red mist. Li Man saw that the bamboo path had been blocked by the blade, but the vibrations transmitted from the bamboo roots beneath her feet were still present. She did not follow the shadow to dismantle the formation, but waited until the sound of the Shi Mo shell truly colliding with metal was heard before moving one of the nodes inward.

The Demon Charm saw her movements clearly and immediately sheathed her blade and changed direction. That previous attempt to force her way out had already crossed the line for the Imperial Fighting Team: they would rather guard the border than rush out together to save a mere phantom.

The Demon Charm did not create any more illusions. The merging red mist slowly pressed inward, leaving less and less real ground for Imperial Fighting Team; Yan, on the other hand, raised the scorching rock edge from the opposite direction, preparing to make the Shi Mo's tortoise shell lose its stable landing point.

"If we shrink any further, someone will step out of bounds," the Shi Mo warned.

Li Man tapped the stop command once, then suddenly said, "Leave the outermost command for Ye Lingling. Dong Jian, don't come to pick me up."

Dong Jian saw her raise her hand and actively sever the two already heated array eyes, and immediately understood. Li Man had pushed all available external routes to the healing positions, leaving a small section of open ground without bamboo roots in front of Yu Tianheng.

Yan saw it at first glance. He believed it was the gap that Imperial Fighting Team had been forced to abandon, and immediately stepped forward to seal it. Dong Jian could feel the real, heavy stomp, but did not chase after him. The fire and earth around Yan would not lose their attributes just because he knew how to Circular Rotation; chasing after him would at most result in him being injured again by carrying him on his back.

Yu Tianheng moved from the side of the open space.

He didn't charge directly at Yan. The lightning on his legs was only used to step over a cracked stone slab, and his left fist pressed down on a Spirit Hall member who was about to fill in behind Yan. The man saw Yu Tianheng and immediately turned to protect him; Yan had to change the direction of the rising rock ridge to avoid blocking his teammates as well.

While waiting for a moment, the Shi Mo pushed forward against the tortoise shell. The fire and earth were pressing down on the lower edge of the tortoise shell, and the weight was extremely heavy. The Shi Mo was pushed back a step, but this left Li Man with a place to rearrange the formation.

"You can go to the left!" Li Man typed out the short command.

Dong Jian saw a body impacting the Shi Mo in the direction she pointed. It was a shoulder charge launched by a melee fighter from the Spirit Hall. Dong Jian confirmed that the point of contact was the body's momentum before stepping forward, using his Black Stance to absorb part of the force, and then using his existing momentum to move to the right to avoid it.

He didn't throw the other person away. Both of them moved a bit to the side. Dong Jian's old back injury was aggravated, and his lips immediately lost their color. Fortunately, the half-step change prevented the other person from crawling into Ye Lingling's side from the outside of the tortoise shell.

The Demon Charm immediately realized that Dong Jian had indeed caught up this time, and the Moon Blade pressed down on his injured right shoulder from above. Dong Jian could only lift his foot and stop abruptly, abandoning his attempt to Momentum Shift. The blade sliced across the outside of his collar, leaving a new shallow cut on his shoulder.

"He can't take the second hit." The voice from the fusion entity was muffled and low. Moon Blade turned to the center, and the other two team members, seeing the gesture, immediately took advantage of Dong Jian's pause to pressure Shi Mo and Li Man.

Ye Lingling stopped the bleeding from Dong Jian's shoulder from behind the tortoise shell. She had hoped to recover some more from the soreness and numbness in her lower back, but found that her Soul Power was also failing. "I can only focus on maintaining mobility for now," she said. "Don't expect me to heal your back to its starting state."

Dong Jian nodded. "That's enough."

The Spirit Hall's third direct attack followed immediately. Yan first used the Rock Edge to force the Shi Mo to lift its armor, while Demon Charm slashed towards Yu Tianheng's left side amidst the red mist, simultaneously pressing Mental Interference towards Li Man's vicinity. Several attack points landed simultaneously on the outer edge, perfectly blocking the counterattack angle that Imperial Fighting Team had just found.

The remaining bamboo nodes in Li Man's palm suddenly all went dark.

She was neither unconscious nor Charm. The mental stimulation caused her to momentarily lose her sense of direction to the "left," and the familiar location was shifted by half a turn. She immediately closed her eyes, pressed one of the array's focal points onto the real stone bricks at her feet, and only after confirming it with the touch of her soles did she return to the other, extremely short bamboo path.

This time, she didn't send the route to the captain.

She left the bamboo path to Dugu Yan.

Dugu Yan had been waiting for several rounds. Her Jade Sac Poison Storage had a limited capacity, and she couldn't release all her stored poison just to win or lose. So she used a controlled stream of poison mist to cut off the horizontal passage between Yan and the outer supporters.

Yan saw the poisonous area and chose to detour. He had enough power to use fire and earth to block some of the poison, but there was no need to risk forcing his way through when the fog was about to clear. It was this normal and cautious choice that caused a team member on the outer perimeter to arrive half a step later than him.

Osler remained within the protective circle. Seeing the man turn around, he suddenly used a short-range Ghost Leopard charge to block his path. His shoulder injury was so painful that he could barely lift his arm and could only hold on for a moment before being knocked back by the opponent. But that moment allowed Shi Mo to step over and occupy the only flat stone surface next to the team member.

"Stop chasing!" Ye Lingling shouted.

Osler immediately retreated. To avoid the Shi Mo Tortoise Shell and Dugu Yan's Poison Belt, the Spirit Hall member's heel stepped outside the boundary.

The referee raises his flag. "Spirit Hall Academy, one player is out of bounds!"

A gasp rang out from the stands. The Spirit Hall was only missing one member; Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan still posed a full threat. Demon Charm didn't lose her composure; instead, she proactively gathered her red mist, preparing to use her remaining Soul Power to press forward again.

The red mist began to thin, and the merged figures gradually separated. Imperial Fighting Team finally saw Hu Liena and Xie Yue standing together again, and he also saw the sweat on Xie Yue's forehead, Yan's stiffness after continuously activating fire and earth, and the undisguised fatigue on Hu Liena's face.

Yu Tianheng knew this was also an opportunity for the opponent. After the red mist receded, the Mental Interference might not disappear immediately, and Hu Liena would be able to engage in battle independently again; if they waited any longer, Imperial Fighting Team might not have the strength to hold them off.

"Dong Jian, you stay and protect Ye Lingling."

"Team leader!"

"Don't come. I need you to guard my way back."

Dong Jian stopped. He turned around and stood to the side and behind the Shi Mo, so that his already sore and numb back would not bear the weight on the front.

Dragging his aching right arm, Yu Tianheng pressed towards Yan along the short path Li Man had just cleared. Seeing that he wanted a one-on-one fight, Yan immediately raised his Fire and Earth Protective Layer to block him. Yu Tianheng's left fist struck the outer edge of the protective layer, and he was also knocked back by the recoil. Neither of them gained an advantage.

The second time, Yu Tianheng did not try the same angle. Shi Mo forced Yan to protect another teammate from the side. Dugu Yan's poison zone blocked his most effortless repositioning route, so Yan could only shift the fire and earth center of gravity back to the left.

As soon as the kick landed, Yu Tianheng twisted his legs with Thunderclap speed, rushing from Yan's side towards the teammate who had just covered for him. That person was quite strong and quickly set up a defense, but he had already exhausted too much of his Soul Power from the previous continuous rotations, and his position was only two steps away from the boundary.

Xie Yue saw through Yu Tianheng's goal and immediately rushed to stop him. Dong Jian did not rush over, nor did he use the Dark Gold Spine Armor for support. He only stopped another person who was trying to cut in from behind to Ye Lingling, so that Shi Mo could deliver the last tortoise shell to the captain's attack line.

Using the angle created by the tortoise shell, Yu Tianheng delivered a final Short Tremor, forcing his target to retreat two steps. The man stepped outside the boundary, and the referee raised the flag again.

The Spirit Hall still has members capable of fighting. Hu Liena signaled to Xie Yue to regroup, but the fusion had already taken too much damage, and the front line had a gap that couldn't be filled immediately due to two team members going out of bounds. Yan turned around to try to block the road again, but his legs were sore and numb from the heavy stomping just now, and the fire and earth were a beat slower to ignite.

Yu Tianheng didn't follow up with a third punch. He raised his left hand to signal the team to hold their ground.

The remaining members of the Spirit Hall were still alive, but they had to continue to rely on their three core members to withstand all the pressure. Hu Liena and Xie Yue reassessed the injuries on both sides, and after a brief exchange, they finally signaled to the referee to stop the match. The two did not bow their heads, nor did they say that Imperial Fighting Team had easily overwhelmed them; they simply wanted to continue fighting so that their companion, who was already close to his limit, would suffer an even more dangerous price.

The referee confirmed the condition of both sides and declared the Imperial Fighting Team the winner.

Yu Tianheng's hand remained raised, only slowly lowering itself after two breaths. Dong Jian saw him standing on the edge of the stone bricks and wanted to help him up, but his back ached and he bent over for a moment.

Li Man first helped Dong Jian, then had Shi Mo help the team leader. Ye Lingling walked out of the protective circle, her face almost deathly pale.

When the roar from the stands reached the arena, none of the seven members of the Imperial Fighting Team jumped up.

Dugu Yan moved to Yu Tianheng's side and supported his elbow. "Let's go to the infirmary first."

Yu Tianheng glanced at the lingering red mist on the field and nodded reluctantly.

The championship trophy has not yet been delivered.

He first needs to find a hand that can lift up and catch it.