Chapter 91 - 75: Lure and Kill
SHRAANK!
The razor-sharp spear tip grazed the fabric of her clothing at her ribs, kicking up a trail of tiny sparks and the sound of tearing cloth!
Dangerously close!
The woman clumsily steadied herself, the feigned kindness on her face vanishing completely. All that remained was the shocked fury and grimness of someone who had been played for a fool.
She snarled:
"Lin Yi! Are you insane?! How dare you attack a teacher from Nanjiang University?! Don’t you want to get into Nanjiang University anymore?! Drop your weapon! Can’t we talk this out peacefully?!"
Her voice was sharp with frantic rage.
However,
the only answer she received
was an even more ferocious and relentless flurry of spear strikes from Lin Yi!
The whistling spear cut through the air like a dragon or a python, each strike aimed at a vital point!
"Heh!"
Lin Yi let out a scornful laugh. His assault didn’t slow in the slightest as his ice-cold voice tore her hypocritical mask to shreds:
"Idiot! Of all the people to impersonate, you chose a recruitment teacher from Nanjiang University? Even if Nanjiang University can’t squeeze into the top ten academies, the teachers in charge of special admissions evaluations are at least masters of the Fourth Grade Realm! Why would they send a piece of trash like you—a mere Second Grade—to embarrass them?!"
A frigid killing intent permeated the sparse woods, so thick it was almost tangible.
Lin Yi’s sneer was like an icicle, completely shattering the red-haired woman’s false pretense.
The shock and anger on her face were instantly replaced by viciousness, leaving no trace of the fake Nanjiang University teacher.
"You sharp-tongued little bastard! You’re asking for death!"
The woman roared, and instead of retreating, her figure shot forward!
She stomped down hard, the ground sinking slightly, and her entire body seemed to lose its weight, transforming into an erratic red blur.
This woman had clearly achieved Perfection in the Refinement of her lower limb bones and had cultivated a remarkable Body Technique.
Her speed exploded, far surpassing Lin Yi’s predictions, allowing her to narrowly avoid the sweeping spear shaft that followed.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
A cold gleam flashed!
At some point, the woman’s right hand had grasped a long, slender Soft Sword. The blade, like a viper flicking its tongue, let out a bone-chilling whistle as it instantly struck out three times—three cold stars aimed for Lin Yi’s throat, heart, and spear-wielding wrist!
The angles were vicious and cunning, so fast they left only afterimages!
At the same time,
her left hand brushed against her waist, and three black glints shot out silently in a triangular formation, sealing off Lin Yi’s escape to the left and right.
They were poisoned daggers, hidden weapons!
Lin Yi’s pupils constricted slightly.
This woman’s speed was indeed the fastest of any opponent he had faced so far!
She was quite a bit faster than Ge Jinjiang, whom he had encountered in the Thunder Arena.
His Wave Intent granted him immense destructive power and Penetration Power. Every thrust of his spear carried a hum that vibrated the air, and its force was enough to shatter stone.
But his opponent was as slippery as an eel.
Her Body Technique was agile and strange.
She always managed to rely on her superior speed to dodge just as his spear’s momentum was building but before it could be fully unleashed.
Or, she would use that viciously cunning Soft Sword to tap a weak point on the spear’s shaft, deflecting his power.
And those unpredictable daggers forced him to divide his attention to guard against them, frustrating his attacks again and again.
WHOOSH!
Lin Yi executed a "Continuous Drizzle" with his spear, the afterimages forming a waterfall that covered several meters in front of the woman with terrifying shockwaves.
But the woman was like a red butterfly in the wind. With a light tap of her toes, her body drifted backward at an unbelievable angle, narrowly avoiding the deadliest part of the spear’s edge. Her Soft Sword tapped the side of the spear tip with a "DING," using the force to once again pull away.
’Now’s the time!’
The thought flashed through Lin Yi’s mind.
This grueling battle, this ghost-like enemy, was like a mirror, instantly reflecting the greatest weakness in his current spear technique—
Speed!
A lack of absolute speed and adaptive speed!
’Her speed... it’s so fast! My power and the destructive force of my Wave Intent are strong, but they’re useless if I can’t land a hit.’
Lin Yi analyzed rapidly in his mind.
’If I could comprehend Overlapping Waves Intent, I could use the Tenth Layer of Power Storage or even more. The instantaneous burst of power would be devastating, and no matter how fast her Body Technique is, brute force would crush all her skill! But Overlapping Waves Intent needs time to stack Qi and Blood... What if, at the moment Overlapping Waves Intent erupts, I could pair it with a spear intent that’s reached the pinnacle of speed... so fast she wouldn’t even have time to react and dodge!’
’Yes! Fast Gun Intent!’
Lin Yi’s thoughts suddenly became clear.
’An eruption of Qi and Blood, storing power with Overlapping Waves, then unleashing it instantly with Fast Gun Intent! So fast it surpasses visual tracking, so fast it surpasses nerve reactions! This is the perfect path for me! The perfect combination of power and speed!’
In his subsequent attacks, he tried to incorporate this new understanding of speed.
He tried to make the trajectory of his spear thrusts more concise and direct, abandoning unnecessary flair and pursuing the simplest, most lethal path and an instantaneous burst of acceleration.
The whistling of his spear seemed to have grown a fraction sharper.
But it was still a far cry from the kind of speed that defied reaction.
However,
while the woman before him was fast enough and her Body Technique strange enough to point him in the right direction, that was all she was good for.
She was too weak!
Her attacks, whether it was the thrusts of her Soft Sword or the ambushes with her daggers,
posed a limited threat against Lin Yi’s torso bone defense—which had undergone multiple Refinements and far surpassed his peers—and the force-dispersing vibrations of his Wave Intent.
Furthermore, her power was far inferior to Lin Yi’s. If she was even grazed by the edge of his spear’s momentum, the vibrations of the Wave Intent penetrating her body would cause her Qi and Blood to roil and her arm to go numb.
An opponent of this level could cause him some trouble and help him see the path forward, but she was not enough to provide the kind of extreme pressure—the kind found on the brink of life and death—that could squeeze out all his potential.
What Lin Yi needed was a stronger opponent, a more lethal crisis, to force out that Realm of "speed."
’The game is over!’
The cold light in Lin Yi’s eyes intensified.