Chapter 89: Combat

"Do it yourself." Leng Tianfeng immediately understood the meaning behind Yaoguang's words.

In the next moment, he laughed outright. "So you're Su Yaoguang, right? Let’s just call you Su Yaoguang then..." He watched Yaoguang draw his sword, visibly amused by the display. "Very well, you've successfully caught my attention. Now—"

A sword light tore through the air with a whoosh! Like a silk ribbon shredding the void, it carried a bone-chilling coldness that appeared before Leng Tianfeng in an instant.

A second later, Leng Tianfeng moved with lightning speed. His right hand, encased in a glove made of a specialized material, gripped Yaoguang’s incoming strike with absolute precision.

As Leng Tianfeng caught the blade, he demonstrated exquisite mastery of the application of jin. It was as if the two were not engaged in a life-or-death struggle but were instead filming a movie, where one partner carefully coordinated with the other to present the best visual effect.

The chime of the sword echoed through the void. A trace of coldness appeared in Leng Tianfeng’s eyes. "Even without the combat assistance module, my countless years of fighting experience ensure that, with swordsmanship of this level, you couldn't harm a single hair on my head in a hundred years—"

Qi and blood erupted. The moment Leng Tianfeng gripped the blade, the potential triggered by Star Ignition caused the jin within the sword to surge. The high-frequency vibration of the blade allowed it to break free from Leng Tianfeng’s grasp instantly, and Yaoguang lunged forward with a direct thrust.

"Did you activate your adrenaline?" Leng Tianfeng’s expression did not change much in response to Yaoguang's move. He simply tilted his head with a casual grace, as if he were performing a dance rather than fighting for his life.

He allowed the tip of the Divine Shadow Sword to carry its jin past his ear into empty space, and at the same time, his right hand struck out in pursuit. He pinched his fingers into a sword, moving at a moderate pace that nonetheless contained countless profundities.

A single point seemed to manifest at his fingertip. This point transformed into a black hole that automatically drew Yaoguang's essence, qi, and psyche toward it. The collapse was so intense that not only was Yaoguang's mind interfered with, but even the circulation of his qi and blood began to lean toward that pointing finger.

It was as if he were intentionally mobilizing his own essence, qi, and psyche to meet Leng Tianfeng’s finger, cooperating with his opponent to have his entire being crushed in a single blow.

"This is..." Yaoguang’s pupils contracted...

A

Life Force Field!

This was the use of one's own Life Force Field to interfere with the essence, qi, and psyche of another living creature! Unlike psychic will, which merely interfered with the psychic mind, this technique completely warped a person's perception of reality at the fundamental level of essence, energy, and psyche. Even the current Yaoguang could not achieve such a feat.

"His realm..." Yaoguang’s mental state climbed to an unprecedented peak.

His own Life Force Field suddenly erupted from his body, instantly withstanding the disruption that the finger caused to his essence, qi, and psyche. At the same time, he neither dodged nor retreated. The Divine Shadow Sword, which had missed its mark, turned sharply. The blade swept across in a horizontal cut, its icy sharpness nearly grazing Leng Tianfeng’s skull.

"You can actually activate a field protection module at this energy level?" Leng Tianfeng was somewhat surprised.

However, he quickly realized something. "The protection field is a matter of life and death; it is indeed the module most easily activated under crisis."

As he spoke, his movements reached an extreme speed. He tilted his head to the side, and the Divine Shadow Sword’s edge swept past, clinging tightly to his scalp. The jin contained within the blade caught dozens of his hairs, sending them flying into the air.

The finger he had pointed also precisely struck Yaoguang. Although the supernatural interference over his essence, qi, and psyche was broken by the Life Force Field, Yaoguang clearly felt an electric-like jin penetrate every corner of his body the moment the strike connected.

His qi, blood, jin, and even his thoughts seemed to be interfered with by the force of that finger, resulting in a momentary pause, and making him stumble back three steps.

But... the strength of Leng Tianfeng’s current body was not particularly high. Because Yaoguang had activated his Life Force Field to protect his internal organs, the piercing force of the finger failed to shatter his vitals. Furthermore, the so-called interference with his qi, blood, and jin was restored in an instant by the circulating Life Force Field.

Feeling the dozens of hairs that had been severed by the Divine Shadow Sword, a cold glint gradually surfaced in Leng Tianfeng’s eyes. He had just claimed that even with another hundred years of cultivation, Yaoguang’s swordsmanship would never harm a single hair on his head. Yet, only a single moment had passed. He had been slapped in the face. Humiliation and rage welled up inside him.

"Given the energy level of your body, that Life Force Field won't last long. I could use delay tactics to exhaust your essence and qi, leaving you to suffer the consequences of your own actions, but... I don't intend to do that!" Leng Tianfeng’s body gradually began to exhibit daemonic characteristics.

"I intend to crush your skull, extract your soul, and put it in a box to be refined into one of my 3,600 virtual pets. I will make it so that every day, the first thing you do when you see me is run to my feet and wag your tail—"

The sword struck like lightning! Understanding perfectly that a daemon would become even more powerful upon manifesting its true form, Yaoguang struck again without hesitation.

Using Star Ignition, his qi and blood rose to an unparalleled level. Combined with his perfection of blood renewal, Yaoguang felt as though a massive, powerful engine had been installed inside his body. As it ran, it provided him with seemingly infinite strength.

This power, channeled through his perfect control of jin, was entirely condensed into the Divine Shadow Sword. As the sword thrust forward, the tip stirred a visible white wave, and a muffled sound of rolling thunder exploded in the void.

Yet, faced with such a decisive strike, Leng Tianfeng didn't even look at it. His eyes remained fixed on Yaoguang’s body as he lunged forward fiercely. "No matter how powerful an attack is, what use is it if it doesn't hit anyone?"

The moment their forms collided, Leng Tianfeng’s body twisted slightly, allowing him to evade the thunderous thrust at the critical moment. It was perilous, yet it seemed as though everything went according to his calculations.

"Tell me, what use are you?!" he barked the question, his hands spreading wide as they clapped toward Yaoguang’s head. Clearly, he intended to use the strength of both hands in a pincer attack to crush Yaoguang's skull into a pulp.

However, before his clapping hands could strike Yaoguang’s temples, a burst of jin exploded from the blade of the Divine Shadow Sword. It was as if a miniature shell had been detonated on the tip of the sword.

Even though Leng Tianfeng had evaded the strike, the violent jin, mixed with the scattered sharpness of the blade, impacted Leng Tianfeng’s head at point-blank range.

Thanks to exquisite mastery of core jin, Yaoguang had allowed the jin to leave his body for a second before exploding in mid-air!

Clearly, he had already anticipated that his initial thrust would fail to wound Leng Tianfeng. Therefore, his true killing move was this hidden, unreleased core jin contained within the sword.

This sudden turn of events caused Leng Tianfeng’s expression to change drastically. Despite his vast combat experience, he still could not react in time to an attack that he thought he had dodged, only for it to erupt again within inches of him.

The exploding jin tore frantically at his head, instantly shredding his ear to pieces. The remaining force ripped multiple scars across his face, and crimson blood immediately flooded half of his features!

This was no mere slap in the face! Half of his face had been torn to shreds!

"You deserve to die!" No matter how poised or polite Leng Tianfeng had appeared upon his arrival, he could not help but fly into a rage. He unhesitatingly cast aside his mask of civility and gentlemanly conduct.

Roaring, his hands, which were originally aimed at Yaoguang’s head, suddenly swept downward. Shifting from fists to palms, they slammed heavily into Yaoguang’s chest. Instantly, an explosive power spread from the point of impact, breaking Yaoguang's Life Force Field with overwhelming force.

The moment the Life Force Field was shattered, Yaoguang felt an unprecedented sense of weakness in his heart. It was like being stripped of all clothing and pretenses, left completely exposed in public. That feeling of being utterly uncovered and unprotected sent a bone-chilling shiver through his entire body.

In particular, after these two palms crushed his Life Force Field, they locked down the circulation of all his essence, qi, and psyche, just as the previous finger strike had done.

To be accurate, the technique contained within these two palms was more thorough and extreme than the finger strike. It was as if his neural signal transmission had been interrupted, severing the connection between his brain and body. He lost control of his physical form and fell into a state of paralysis, left at the mercy of his opponent.

This was the Eight-Gate Golden Lock!

"I will tear you to pieces! I'll make you die in the most agonizing way possible!" Leng Tianfeng growled. After his two palms completely sealed all qi, blood, jin, and even neural signals, he hooked his fingers into claws and tightly gripped Yaoguang’s shoulders.

Having seized his shoulders, he intended to use an incomparably bloody and ruthless method to literally rip Yaoguang’s arms from his body. It seemed this was the only way to reclaim the dignity lost from having half his face drenched in blood.

In this life-or-death moment, Yaoguang also threw caution to the wind. He activated both Psychic Descent and Heavenly Fiend Disintegration!

In the next instant, his consciousness seemed to break free directly from the shackles of his physical body. Interfering with jin and qi? Blocking neural signals? He didn't care any longer. He operated this body from the perspective of a third-party observer, similar to an out-of-body experience. He controlled this vessel, which had risked everything and had become more powerful than ever before.

The pain vanished, and the physical restraints disappeared. Right now, he possessed absolute control over his body. He could even make his own head turn 360 degrees, if he wanted to. Of course, such a turn would inevitably snap the spinal nerves, and once the Psychic Descent state ended, death would be certain.

He would not do that, but it did not stop him from using his body as a weapon. Just when Leng Tianfeng was about to rip his arms off, Yaoguang delivered a headbutt, slamming fiercely into his opponent's head.

A dull thud that sounded painful echoed between their skulls. The violent impact caused Leng Tianfeng, who had held an absolute advantage just a second earlier and was about to dismember Yaoguang, to reel with dizziness.

He could not react for a moment. How could Yaoguang, who was clearly locked by the Eight-Gate Golden Lock secret technique, suddenly become so full of life again?

But while he fell into a daze, Yaoguang, in his state of Psychic Descent and Heavenly Fiend Disintegration, did not. He suddenly swung the Divine Shadow Sword held firmly in his hand horizontally to the side, and his jin erupted.

As the sound of flesh being cut through could be heard

,

Leng Tianfeng's head was sliced off as easily as cutting through a melon.