Han Jiulao, an elder of the Nether Lotus Sect, roared again, as if confirming the voice that had sounded. Underwater, his roar was a deep rumble, churning the water chaotically around him, pushing the bloodstained water aside.

Liu Xing narrowed his eyes, reflecting on his carelessness. He had assumed he was too late, that either the shark or the whale had killed Han Jiulao. If he had decided to check then, he was sure he could have found Han Jiulao mid-transformation and killed him swiftly. But he had simply assumed Han Jiulao was dead. He had grown overconfident, and it was as if the world was reminding him even though he could be considered an elite, fast and strong, there were still so many people who were just as strong and even stronger than him.

"Elder Han, please confirm," the nearby fire orb said. Han Jiulao roared again, looked around, and snapped his gaze toward Liu Xing's general direction. Instead of answering the voice, he crouched like a sprinter on land preparing to dash. Han Jiulao then moved. To a normal cultivator at the Core Splitting realm, Han Jiulao would seem as if he had simply disappeared. A more alert cultivator might deduce that Han Jiulao had activated some kind of illusion technique, but Liu Xing knew better. With eyes sharpened by qi, he could follow a blur moving toward him so fast it looked almost illusory, whipping out a punch cloaked in black flame like the claws of a beast.

Still invisible, Liu Xing activated his Lightning Cloak and then crouched. The attack intended to shatter his head passed above him. But fighting underwater was new for him, so he wasn't ready when the current pulled him aside from the sheer force of the blow.

Unbalanced, Han Jiulao moved behind him, his claw trying to gouge into Liu Xing's back. Liu Xing summoned his shield and kicked it, launching himself upward like a torpedo. A moment later, he resurfaced from the raging sea. When he looked down, Han Jiulao whipped a punch upward, and a giant geyser of water shot toward him. He summoned his shield and kicked it, dodging aside. The water geyser rose like a tower beside him, growing taller and taller, before it stopped, then came crashing down.

Below, he saw Han Jiulao leap from the sea and shoot toward his position with comparable speed. Soon, Han Jiulao arrived in front of Liu Xing, clawed hands thrusting toward him. He could dodge, but instead, Liu Xing decided to swung his stone blade downward, trying to split the fiery claws and arms in two. When the stone blade and the fire claws met, they were at an impasse for a moment, but then his stone blade successfully sank into the claw.

Han Jiulao roared but instantly pulled his hand back, opened his mouth, and breathed out a torrent of black fire. Liu Xing used his shield to maneuver aside, dismissed and resummoned it, kicked it again, and repeated the maneuver until he was right behind Han Jiulao. For a moment, he intended to charge his stone blade with his qi, making it shine with purple light, but he suddenly had a new idea. Instead of sending raw qi, he activated his Lightning Palm and willed the gun to absorb it. Usually, he would form a lightning blade on his left hand, but currently, his left hand held his gun. Instead, he channeled the energy into his stone blade, as if trying to create a lightning blade there.

Instantly, his stone blade filled with his Lightning Palm Technique. The sensation was weird but awesome. It was as if he held the stone blade and the lightning blade simultaneously, as if his two usual blades had merged into one. Smiling with pride at his accomplishment, Liu Xing swung his stone blade.

"Eat this!"

The stone blade moved horizontally. He saw Han Jiulao turn his head and leap aside so fast the air exploded; soon he was out of the blade's reach. But Liu Xing didn't stop the swing. Instead, he released the qi inside his stone blade, and a crescent attack, colored blue and purple, leaped from the blade, chasing Han Jiulao with such speed it almost seemed to teleport.

That attack was faster than his usual crescent attack, faster than his bullets, and hit his enemy squarely in the back. When the crescent attack landed, an explosion of lightning bloomed, creating a huge ball of lightning that crackled around Han Jiulao. He roared with agonizing pain, making the air tremble, yet, Liu Xing saw that while the attack had landed, and while Han Jiulao's back was charred, it hadn't actually killed him.

"Elder! The Formation Array needs to be activated soon!" an urging voice sounded from the little ball of fire floating near his enemy.

"Silent!" Han Jiulao roared. His voice was guttural, like that of a beast.

Dismissing the thought about his recent attack, Liu Xing summoned and kicked his shield, accelerating toward Han Jiulao. In the air, he activated the Lightning Palm Technique once again, this time letting it be absorbed by the gun, and fired six lightning bullets at the elder.

All the bullets hit the still paralyzed Han Jiulao, and each prolonged his paralyzed state. Liu Xing needed to make sure Han Jiulao died by his gun, but shooting Exploding Fist bullets wasn't the correct way. Han Jiulao, wreathed in black fire, was strong and fast; it was probably some enhancing technique like his own Lightning Cloak. In the enemy's current state, Exploding Fist bullets seemed insufficient to finish him. So, he needed to wait for the perfect timing. This fire technique could probably be overloaded, and luckily, he had the perfect combination of Lightning Palm bullets and crescent purple qi.

Executing his plan, Liu Xing once again fired a Lightning Palm bullet, followed by sending qi into his stone blade and unleashing a crescent of purple qi toward him. The two projectiles followed each other. The bullet served as the opening, the crescent of purple qi as the main attack. The bullet hit, exploding into ropes of electricity that bound Han Jiulao tighter. Then the crescent of purple qi came and smashed right into Han Jiulao's belly, attempting to split him in two.

Han Jiulao let out a panicked, agonizing roar as the purple crescent dug into his belly like a stubborn mule wanting to destroy a wall. Then, a moment later, it bit deep into his enemy's belly. The black fire parted around it, as if afraid of being killed. Liu Xing loaded his gun with an Exploding Fist bullet, ready to finish him with one shot, but the black fire suddenly exploded outward, devouring everything like a balloon blown up too quickly, and then the fire as well Han Jiulao suddenly vanished, as if he had teleported out.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Liu Xing looked around. The voice that came from the little black fire urging the elder to activate the Teleportation Array. Had he suddenly been teleported far away? From the beginning of their fight, it seemed like Han Jiulao had been trying to teleport out. That was why he hadn't felt desperation when ganged up on by the shark and the whale.

Liu Xing tried to enhance all his senses, thinking perhaps Han Jiulao was concealed by an illusion. When his ears actually caught the sound of heavy breathing, he rotated his body and launched himself toward the source of the sound. Instantly, he swung his stone blade toward empty air, but soon, the space rippled, and the form of Han Jiulao revealed itself—half-naked, almost all his skin charred, and his hair melted.

With black fire burning only on his arms and legs, he tried to move aside, but Liu Xing was faster. He summoned his shield to adjust his position and swung his stone blade downward. Han Jiulao suddenly stopped, trying to evade, but his left wrist was in the path of the stone blade, and it was severed easily. His left hand flew into the air, and Han Jiulao let out a cry, blood gushing from the stump.

"Bastard! That invisibility of yours is so annoying. I need to use all my senses just to track you, but let's see if you're as formidable when I can see your move!"

Han Jiulao's right claw suddenly glowed with golden light. Then, a beam of yellow light descended from the sky and landed on his palm. In an instant, as if an illusion materialized, a black jade slip appeared in it, and Han Juliao crushed it.

Suddenly, black smoke poured from Liu Xing's belly. He looked down. From Han Jiulao's perspective, it was as if thin air were producing thick black smoke. Liu Xing's eyes instantly widened. For a moment, his mind tried to decipher how this could happen, but instantly, his mind grasped the answer.

"The mark," he muttered. After killing Hou Qiang and Wei Shuren, he had been marked, and it seemed that jade slip was the device to activate it.

"There you are!" Han Jiulao shouted. The stump of his severed left wrist wreathed in black flame, and a claw emerged as his new arm. Then, to Liu Xing's astonishment, Han Jiulao suddenly vanished once more. The first time, when the explosion of black fire occurred as his crescent qi dug into Han Jiulao's belly, Liu Xing had thought Han Jiulao was using some kind of illusion trick to escape. But when he suddenly emerged from a speck of black fire right above Liu Xing and reached out toward him with his claw, Liu Xing finally understood the truth.

Han Jiulao truly could teleport!

Seeing the attack, Liu Xing summoned his shield to dodge aside, causing the claw to hit only air beside him. He aimed his gun toward the descending enemy and fired an Exploding Fist bullet. The bullet whistled through the air for a moment before it hit its target and exploded, the shockwave pushing both Liu Xing and Han Jiulao away. Using his shield as a foothold, Liu Xing glanced at the side of the gun, hoping for six glowing stripes, but there was nothing. Han Jiulao was still alive.

Han Jiulao growled like a madman, eyes popping, and once again appeared behind him. This time, instead of trying to claw him, he raised both hands and shot two black fireballs toward him. "Die, you bastard!"

Liu Xing shot the fireballs with two Exploding Fist bullets. When they collided mid-air, they exploded into black fireworks. Han Jiulao teleported beside him and swung his hand as fast as a whip toward him.

Liu Xing, Lightning Cloak enhancing his whole body and perception, successfully tracked the movement, summoned his shield, and jumped higher into the air, letting the attack pass below him. With narrowed eyes, he swung his stone blade downward. He knew this attack would miss; Han Jiulao would teleport out of the way. But where? Where? He needed to predict where Han Jiulao would appear and strike there.

As expected, Han Jiulao suddenly vanished. But from this close, Liu Xing realized he didn't vanish smoothly. It was as if his body burned away in a fraction of a second, leaving little specks of dust. Alert, Liu Xing's eyes darted left, right, up, and down.

As he looked for his enemy, he let go of the gun, making him fully visible again. He encased it in his qi, a thread of qi connecting him to the weapon. Then, he activated his Lightning Palm, willed the gun to absorb it, and activated a lightning blade on his left hand. The smoke coming from his belly gushed out like a waterfall. With this smoke, his position was compromised, a fact that truly annoyed him. His invisibility was countered yet again. At this point, he better use both of his hands rather than to maintain his invisibility.

With his eyes, ears, skin, and all his senses fully alert, he tried to predict where his enemy would come. He sensed a disturbance in the air behind him. A speck of fire, tiny as an ant, materialized. His body was ready, and he swung his stone blade there, expecting his enemy to appear, but then, another speck of fire appeared right above him, and that's where Han Jiulao materialized.

Han Jiulao cocked his fist and launched it at the crown of Liu Xing's head. Gritting his teeth, realizing he was too late to dodge, Liu Xing sent his qi to reinforce the spot and braced for the impact. When the attack landed, his brain rattled, and he fell downward like a meteor.

"What a tough head! What is your head made of, rock?"

"Diamond," Liu Xing recovered, summoned his shield, kicked it, and launched himself toward his enemy.

From there, the battle raged fully. With his Lightning Cloak and Han Jiulao's teleportation, their speeds were comparable. Liu Xing used his stone blade, lightning blade, and even his floating gun to attack Han Jiulao. Han Jiulao would vanish and make counter attacks, which usually involved feints in the form of the little specks of fire he used to materialize. Their battle didn't create thunderous sounds or rapid explosions; they rarely clashed directly. Instead, they flickered across the sky like lightning chasing a rapidly appearing and vanishing black fire, like elements chasing each other. Most of their attacks missed because the other could predict or move away in time.

Liu Xing believed he was winning. After all, while they were both fast, Liu Xing was also strong. His attacks could kill Han Jiulao, but Han Jiulao's attacks were relatively light. The punch Han Jiulao had landed on him, if delivered by someone with tremendous power, would have smashed his head to bits. But while his head rattled, he didn't sustain serious injury. It seemed that since Han Jiulao focused on speed, he lacked physical power. Liu Xing knew Han Jiulao could unleash stronger attacks, but he concluded that such attacks needed to be charged, and he couldn't afford the time to do that.

As they chased each other across the sky, Liu Xing also finally understood what Han Jiulao was trying to do, thanks to the incessant voices from the orb of black fire that followed him, which kept shouting, "The Teleportation Formation needs to be used right now!" or "It cannot hold longer!"

Han Jiulao wanted to escape using the Teleportation Formation, but activating it apparently needed time, and since Liu Xing was still present, he couldn't complete the process. That was why Han Jiulao grew more and more frantic, his attacks grew wilder, and he became increasingly impatient.

He thought victory was within his grasp, but then, the opposite actually occurred.

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