As he was now, Bai Yunfei was a man whose ‘strategies’ against others were now far more likely to work than ever. In the past, he was always the one to be strategized against. Now Bai Yunfei was capable of taking into account his enemy’s strength and his opportunities to make a reliable strategy. This was no fluke anymore.

Gu Jimie wasn’t the very first Saint Bai Yunfei fought against. There was still Gu Lianhun who managed to die due to his hand. Compared to him, Gu Jimie was someone that could probably be said to be ‘within normal parameters’.

Bai Yunfei’s strategy against Gu Lianhun had multiple variables within it. One time, he had to ensure that his opponent would attack him with a soul attack so the Soul Sentinel Scarf could bounce it back.

His plan against Gu Jimie was a simple one with the element of surprise to start things off. Every move after that was done only after his mind finished simulating everything. Only the highest-probability thought would be considered before it was made final so Bai Yunfei could attain the upper hand.

And Bai Yunfei wasn’t disappointed with the results. Everything he did led Gu Jimie down the path of least resistance and allowed for him to deal a surprising amount of damage. It wasn’t enough to kill Gu Jimie, but that was fine.

Then came the Interdimensional Phantasm. Trapping Gu Jimie within it was the very last condition Bai Yunfei needed to fulfill for him to consider his plan perfect.

The Interdimensional Phantasm was what Bai Yunfei would rely on most in order to battle Gu Jimie!

Carelessly getting injured and then being trapped in the Interdimensional Phantasm...things were going the exact same route for Gu Jimie as his teacher had gone!

Step by step, Gu Jimie was basically retracing the same steps his teacher took to his death.

......

It was only when the Interdimensional Phantasm was fully formed that Bai Yunfei allowed himself a single sigh of relief. Instead of continuing his assault on Gu Jimie, Bai Yunfei withdrew.

The toll on his body for attacking so fiercely and so quickly was quite the large one. Continuing to attack like that would’ve caused his body a greater amount of damage than he’d like, so he backed off.

In the beginning when the two clashed with their fists, Bai Yunfei used the +10 and +12 additional effect of the Critical Glove and still ended up with his entire arm numb. He couldn’t feel his arm even now—trying to move it felt like the bones in it would break even more.

The punch he took inflicted more than just physical damage. Gu Jimie’s fist contained a corrosive energy that managed to infiltrate Bai Yunfei’s body. The only reason he managed to ignore it up until this point was because he was far too pumped up on adrenaline to carry out his plan. Going into Berserk Mode also allowed Bai Yunfei some time to ignore the energy and for him to use the Cataclysmic Seal, the Soul Anchor Technique, and then bring out the Interdimensional Phantasm.

Multiple events were compressed into a short amount of time. But the cost for such a feat was a heavy one, and now Bai Yunfei’s body was practically devoid of soulforce.

He had been far too preoccupied with his offense to worry about his defense. His attacks contained all he had in them, so when Gu Jimie hit him, his body wasn’t as prepared for it than they’d normally be...

In truth, Gu Jimie wasn’t even at his peak strength. He lost an avatar in the fight against the Fate School and was injured even more when he had to flee. One month wasn’t nearly enough time for him to make a complete recovery.

Those wounds were ultimately made worse when Bai Yunfei ambushed him. That first punch wasn’t completely negligible, and the wounds he got from the Soul Extinguishing Needle and the Cataclysmic Seal were definitely...

A chain of sequences like that would be enough to kill a Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor several times over. For a Saint like Gu Jimie, however, death was not so easy. He could survive, but his body and soul wouldn’t be in very good shape. He definitely wouldn’t be fighting optimally any time soon!

This situation was identical to the one Gu Lianhun was in. The only difference was that Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint advanced when Bai Yunfei retreated. In this case, Bai Yunfei was all by himself against a Saint!

......

Bai Yunfei wasn’t feeling very hot himself. His body was screaming at him as whatever little soulforce he had left went to his left arm. Though it pained him to lift his left arm, Bai Yunfei had to grit his teeth and force it to form several hand seals!

Quickly, those hand seals were made and a burst of soulforce suddenly exploded from his body. Like a dying candle suddenly roaring to life, Bai Yunfei was back to full capacity with soulforce!

Soul Ignition!!

There wasn’t any time to recover his soulforce the slow and normal way. Now was the time to use Soul Ignition so he could get back to fighting!

“Roar!!!”

Bai Yunfei let out a primal scream as he flew at Gu Jimie. He snapped his right hand to summon two soul armaments to him. One was the Fire-tipped Spear and the other was the Cataclysmic Seal!

They took off at Gu Jimie while Bai Yunfei prepared for the next attack. He formed several handseals before allowing for a tremendous amount of elemental fire to gather around his arms!

......

Gu Jimie’s situation wasn’t as good as Bai Yunfei. His left arm was bent completely at an odd angle and his chest was soaked with blood. His hair was dishevelled and his body trembled from head to toe. Not at all did he look like a Saint.

His own soulforce was desperately trying to heal the wounds he received just now, but he felt like his essence originseed was running dry on energy. Only pain echoed from the depths of his soul as he tried his best to heal, but the wounds he received were just far too much to ignore...

Even now, Gu Jimie was having a hard time believing anything that happened just now was real. How did Bai Yunfei manage to pull of a series of attacks strong enough to even threaten him?

Gu Jimie was barely starting to recover from his wounds when he felt Bai Yunfei suddenly flare back to life. Bewildered, he raised his head to see a giant ‘mountain’ and a flashing spear come flying at him!

“Damn!!”

Gu Jimie howled in anger to himself at the annoyance. Ignoring his wounds, he mustered enough soulforce to send himself to the side to safety.

As injured as Gu Jimie was, hitting him with the Cataclysmic Seal and the Fire-tipped Spear would be a hard feat to accomplish without the Soul Anchor Technique. However, the attacks still had their uses in forcing him in certain directions. And from there...

“Roar!!!”

It happened when Gu Jimie flew several hundred meters to his right after managing to dodge the two attacks. The sound of two dragons roaring to life caught up to his ears before he could even catch his breath, prompting him to look at two gigantic dragons already about to crash into him!

The Chaotic Dual Dragon Burst!!

“Ahh!!!”

Gu Jimie was beside himself. Screaming himself hoarse when he realized he didn’t have the time to dodge, he prepared to protect himself with soulforce once again. Black light formed together behind him to form a demonic figure who then bent forward to embrace him with its two newly-formed arms.

“Boom!!”

The two dragons crashed into the demonic figure and exploded, drowning the area with waves of fire...

He couldn’t see Gu Jimie, but Bai Yunfei was confident that the man was still alive, if not injured. Kicking off against the sky, Bai Yunfei flew into the sea of flames for the next strike!

“Chirp!!”

A beam of light shot forth from Bai Yunfei’s side to reveal a battle-ready Xiao Qi. Wings spread out wide, the bird flew alongside Bai Yunfei to enter the fray.

A late-stage class eight soulbeast wasn’t much help in a fight against a Saint, but Xiao Qi was different. He was Bai Yunfei’s partner. If the two joined hands, then they’d be able to pull off feats far beyond what they could do as individuals. That was why Bai Yunfei allowed him to fight.

The two plunged into the flames. For a while, nothing happened before the flames began to crackle with lightning.

“You snot-nosed brats! You dare plan to kill me!? Die! You’ll pay for this! Ahhh!!!”

Gu Jimie’s voice boomed out from the flames. Black light erupted everywhere, spilling across the sky as the same demonic figure from before exploded out from the flames. It was a lot smaller than before, but the energy behind its manifestation originated from a Law so it was strong enough to repel the flames around it.

A strange crescent-shaped soul armament floated beside Gu Jimie. It was colored entirely black and was somehow managing to fend off the Fire-tipped Spear and the Soul Extinguishing Needle.

He was managing to protect himself from the two soul armaments. Every so often, Gu Jimie would try and fire off an attack at Bai Yunfei, but they’d always be stopped by the Cataclysmic Seal.

Anyone that was watching the fight would’ve agreed that Bai Yunfei was the one with the upper hand; Gu Jimie was being pressured!!