Spiritual energy still roiled between them, green and silver light flashing in sharp bursts. Neither Huo Chen nor Liu Feng gave ground.

  Then Huo Chen caught movement from the corner of his eye. Guo Lin had already moved, closing the distance with silent efficiency.

  The man leapt into the air and his palms came forward in rapid succession, each strike releasing compressed spiritual energy that shot toward Huo Chen like invisible hammers.

  Huo Chen pushed off hard against the earth beneath his feet and slid backward with speed, breaking the clash with Liu Feng.

  The palm strikes followed him, tracking his movement through the air. Liu Feng didn't give him space to breathe. His sword came up and he unleashed two techniques in quick succession.

  "Wind Severing Blade!

  Gale Edge Strike!"

  Twin beams of sword Qi tore forward, cutting through the air alongside Guo Lin's palm attacks. Both techniques converged on Huo Chen from different angles.

  "Stone Mantle Barrier."

  Earth Qi erupted around him and solidified into overlapping plates of compressed stone. The layers formed in a circular pattern, each one reinforcing the next as they stacked outward from his body. The barrier completed just as the attacks hit.

  BOOM. BOOM.

  The palm strikes slammed into the stone with brutal force. Cracks spiderwebbed across the outer layer. The sword techniques followed immediately after, cutting deep into the barrier's surface. The defense shuddered under the combined assault but the innermost layers held firm.

  Huo Chen's feet touched the ground. In the same instant, earth Qi surged beneath his right boot and a flat platform of compressed stone erupted upward with explosive force, propelling him forward like he'd been launched from a catapult.

  He covered the distance to Liu Feng in a single breath. His claw-covered fist drove forward with full force. Liu Feng's sword came up to meet it.

  BANG.

  The collision wasn't even close to equal. The impact sent Liu Feng flying backward, his feet leaving the ground as he crashed through the air. He hit the ground hard and rolled, coughing blood as he tried to push himself up.

  "Liu Feng!"

  Guo Lin's voice cut through the battlefield, sharp with alarm. His cold expression had cracked and hatred burned in his eyes as he stared at Huo Chen.

  Before anyone could move, the woman appeared beside Liu Feng with her sword raised high above her head. Her face was a mask of fury and desperation. She brought the blade down toward his neck with all her strength.

  Liu Feng's eyes widened.

  He threw himself upward with a burst of Qi, lifting his body just enough that her strike passed beneath him and cut through empty air. As he landed, his sword swept out in a vicious horizontal slash aimed at splitting her in half.

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  The woman brought her own blade up to block but the force behind his attack was overwhelming. The impact sent her sliding backward across the rocky ground, her feet leaving trails in the dirt.

  Liu Feng's face twisted with rage. Someone he'd been toying with, someone he could kill whenever he wanted, had dared to raise a weapon against him. The humiliation burned hotter than any wound.

  "Bitch!" he snarled. "I'll kill you!"

  He launched himself forward, his sword blazing with spiritual energy and murder clear in his eyes.

  The woman's grip tightened on her weapon but fear flashed across her face.

  An earthen wall erupted from the ground between them with a thunderous crack.

  BANG.

  The massive barrier rose in an instant, blocking Liu Feng's path completely. He skidded to a halt just before crashing into it.

  Both Liu Feng and the woman turned to look at Huo Chen, who stood at a distance watching them.

  Huo Chen's gaze met the woman's eyes and held for a moment. Then he spoke, his voice carrying across the clearing clearly.

  "Kill him."

  The woman's expression shifted and she nodded once. Her grip tightened on her sword and the fear in her eyes burned away, replaced by pure resolve.

  Guo Lin's palms came forward again. Compressed spiritual energy shot toward Huo Chen in rapid succession, each strike powerful enough to shatter bone.

  Huo Chen didn't stand still. Another platform of earth surged beneath his boot and launched him forward with explosive speed.

  He cut through the incoming palm strikes with slashes from his claws, tearing through the spiritual energy like it was paper.

  Guo Lin was skilled. As he released each attack, he stepped backward in the same motion, covering distance with a single fluid movement that kept space between them.

  Huo Chen's foot hit the ground and immediately another earth platform erupted beneath it, propelling him forward again. Then another burst from under his other foot while he was still airborne. Bam. Bam.

  Each one added to his velocity and the explosive acceleration pushed him forward like a stone shot from a sling.

  The distance vanished and Huo Chen reached Guo Lin before the older man could react to the sudden increase in speed. His claw-covered hand came up in a single clean motion and ripped through Guo Lin's neck, tearing the head free from the body in one brutal strike.

  Guo Lin's expression froze in shock as his head separated from his shoulders, and his body remained standing for a heartbeat before collapsing to the ground.

  Blood fountained from the severed neck and painted the earth red.

  "Guo Lin!"

  Liu Feng's scream tore through the clearing, anguish and disbelief mixing in his voice as he saw his companion fall.

  Huo Chen let the severed head drop from his hand and it hit the ground with a dull thud.

  In the same fluid motion, he changed direction and his body angled toward Liu Feng before the young man could even think about escaping.

  Two sharp earthen spikes erupted from the ground in Liu Feng's path, rising with deadly speed to impale him before Huo Chen even closed the distance.

  The spikes shot upward like spears seeking flesh. Liu Feng's grief transformed into bitter fury in an instant and his sword flashed twice in rapid succession.

  The blade cut through both spikes and shattered them into fragments that scattered across the ground, but the brief delay had cost him precious seconds.

  The woman had already closed the distance from the other side and her sword came down toward his shoulder in a vicious arc.

  Liu Feng caught the movement from the corner of his eye and spun sharply on his heel, bringing his free hand up in a palm strike that intercepted her blade mid-swing.

  The collision sent her stumbling backward, but she kept her footing and her sword stayed in her grip.

  Huo Chen moved like a shadow and reached Liu Feng's side before the young man could fully turn to face him. His body passed through Liu Feng's guard in a blur of motion, moving from the side to the front where the woman stood.

  As he passed, his claw-covered hand came up and raked across Liu Feng's face with devastating force.

  RIIP.

  The claws tore through skin and muscle, opening three deep gashes from cheek to jaw—mirroring the marks Liu Feng had left on the woman earlier.

  Liu Feng's scream was immediate and raw, mixing pain with humiliation as blood poured down the ruined side of his face. He looked at Huo Chen and the woman through the blood running into his eyes.

  His expression was pure murder. "You're dead!" he roared, his voice shaking with rage and hatred and grief. "You're both dead! I'll kill you both!"

  His spiritual energy flared wildly around him, uncontrolled and vicious.