The tipede lunged again.

  Feiyin moved—not with brute force, but with precision. His body twisted, his feet sliding over the uone floor as he barely avoided the bded appehat struck where he had stood moments before. His breathing remaieady, his heartbeat calm, but his mind worked furiously.

  His body was resilient. His muscles, tendons, bones, marrow, and blood had been tempered to perfeaking him far more durable than any ordinary cultivator. He didn't tire easily, and his injuries, while accumuting, weren’t life-threatening. But the tipede wasn’t tiriher.

  And he wasn’t winning.

  The beast’s massive, segmented body coiled and shifted through the cavern with terrifying agility. Even when he dodged, it always followed, relentless and unyielding. It had too many limbs, too many bdes, too much reach. He couldn't overpower it. He couldn't outst it.

  So I o outthink it.

  Feiyin exhaled sharply, his mind shifting from instinctual bat to careful strategy. He had been attag from the outside, relying on brute force, but this thing’s exoskeleton was too thick. His strikes, while crag its carapace, weren’t dealing any sting damage.

  He needed another way.

  His thoughts flickered to his training with his mother—soft overing hard, striking not the surface, but what y within.

  He steeled his resolve.

  This was his ce.

  As the tipede lunged again, Feiyin didn't retreat.

  He moved in.

  The creature’s massive head loomed over him, mandibles snapping. Feiyin slid low, feeling the rush of air as the jaws cmped shut just above his head. Then, before it could recoil, he struck.

  His palm met its hardened underbelly, but this time, he didn’t focus oernal force.

  Instead, he sent his irength inward.

  A ripple passed through his body—a shift from brute strength to something softer, deeper. He focused his i, guiding his irength not into a hard impact, but a wave of energy that sank into the beast.

  The tipede shrieked.

  Its massive body spasmed as the force traveled inside, bypassing its tough exterior to reach its softer internal ans. It recoiled violently, smming its bded limbs against the cavern floor in agitation.

  Feiyin’s eyes fshed.

  It worked.

  But only barely.

  The tipede was still moving, still attag. The damage wasn’t enough to cripple it. He had disrupted it—nothing more.

  Still, this was his best ce.

  He moved again, weaviween its thrashing legs. His movements were smoother now, refined. He no loried to csh with its brute force head-on. Instead, he let its movements flow past him, striking only when he saening.

  Another palm strike. Another pulse of soft irength.

  The tipede screeched, its body twisting as internal damage built up. Its movements became more erratic.

  Good.

  But it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

  Feiyin's mind raced.

  His strikes were w, but they weren’t decisive. He was injuring it, but ning it down. The beast was massive—te for his current attacks to reach deep enough in a single blow. He needed something more.

  His thoughts fshed back to the way he had oruggled to synize his five elements in training, the way he had learo harmonize his ans like a melody.

  Harmony.

  His eyes sharpened.

  If a single pulse of soft irength wasn’t enough…

  What if he yered them?

  Instead of striking ond letting the force dissipate, what if he stacked the internal damage, wave after wave, building upon itself like a casg effect?

  He barely had time to think further before the tipede lunged again.

  Feiyin didn’t hesitate.

  He met the strike, his palm pressing into its carapace more. But this time, instead of letting the energy dissipate, he trolled it—held it back—allowed it to build.

  Then, before the first wave of soft irength could fully fade, he struck again.

  And again.

  And again.

  A sequence of carefully timed internal strikes, each yering atop the st.

  The tipede let out a pierg shriek, its body vulsing wildly.

  Feiyin stumbled back, chest rising and falling, sweat trailing down his temple. His arms ached from the precise trol required, but he could see the difference.

  The tipede wasn't just thrashing in anger now.

  It was reeling.

  But it wasn’t dead yet.

  Feiyin ched his fists.

  He had a way forward now.

  He just o finish it.

  Feiyin steadied his breath, feeling the ache in his arms, the sharp sting of small cuts littering his skin. His irength had been effective, but something told him that there was still room for improvement. The tipede was staggering, but it wasn’t dow, its body thrashing in pai refusing to fall.

  The damage is w, but it’s not enough.

  The yering of soft irength owerful, yet it still relied oed effort to accumute. Each strike built on the previous one, but they weren’t feeding into each other as much as they could.

  Feiyin narrowed his eyes.

  I’m just stag my strikes, but what if I synize them instead?

  An image flickered in his mind—the erfectly timed pluck of a zither string could resohrough aire instrument, amplifying its sound. If his irength could resonate ihe tipede’s body instead of merely pressing against it, the effect wouldn’t just be additive—it would be multiplicative.

  I o strike at the right moment, whe pulse hasn’t faded yet, but is still reverberating.

  His osciltion sense flickered to life.

  He focused—not just on striking, but on timing.

  He observed the echoes of his previous strikes, watg the lingering tremors within the tipede’s form. He could see where the force had settled, where the energy still hummed. If he could strike in harmony with those waves, amplifying them instead of disrupting them, the force would spread like a cresdo.

  The tipede let out another screech, its body rearing back, preparing to sh out again.

  Feiyin moved.

  His first strike nded—soft irength pressing inward, sinking into the tipede’s body.

  He waited, watg the pulse spread.

  Then, just as the resonance began to wane, he struck again.

  And again.

  His movements greer, more precise. The tipede’s body vulsed wildly, as if its insides were being shaken apart.

  It’s w!

  The yered force wasn't just accumuting anymore. It was pounding, the reverberations building upon themselves, turning his precise strikes into a force far greater than the sum of its parts.

  Feiyin's heart pounded, his senses sharpening as he refihe teique, each strike weaving seamlessly into the st, f an invisible wave that tore into the tipede from the inside.

  The beast screeched in agony, its movements growing more erratic.

  He had almost won.

  Feiyin shifted, preparing the final blow.

  His palm shot forward, irength surging through his limbs. He struck the tipede’s already weakened underbelly, perfectly synizing with the osciltions still rippling through its body.

  The effect was instantaneous.

  A violent tremor exploded from within the tipede as the force cascaded through it, rattling its insides with such force that its carapace bulged from the pressure.

  Then—

  CRACK!

  A sharp, siing snap echoed through the cavern.

  The tipede froze.

  For a brief, agonizing moment, it remained motionless, its massive body twitg sporadically.

  Then—slowly—it began to colpse, its legs spasming before falling limp.

  Feiyin exhaled sharply, his arms trembling.

  It’s over…

  A sudden movement.

  His instincts screamed—

  But it was too te.

  In its final moment, the tipede shed out in a desperate, st strike.

  Feiyin barely had time to react as one of its bded appendages sshed across his torso.

  A searing pain tore through him.

  His body jerked backward, staggering as blood spilled from the deep gash carved across his chest. He barely mao keep himself upright before he stumbled, hitting the rough cavern floor.

  The tipede finally fell still.

  But Feiyin…

  Feiyin y there, breath ragged, body pulsing with pain.

  He had won.

  A—he had lowered his guard too soon.

  The realization struck him harder than the wound itself.

  I got careless…

  His fingers ched into fists, his nails digging into his palms. He should have expected a final struggle. He should have been prepared. His father had warned him—

  "Never assume an enemy is dead until you’ve severed the head yourself."

  He swallowed, the metallic taste of blood thi his tongue.

  This lesson… had been a costly one.

  But he would never make the same mistake again.

  As he y there, staring up at the cavern ceiling, his body ag, his wound still bleeding—

  He smirked.

  Because despite everything—

  Despite the exhaustion, the pain, the injury—

  He had do.

  He had figured it out.

  And that alone made it worth it.

  With that final thought, his sciousness wavered—

  And he slipped into darkness.