Blood drifted in the wind.

Ruo Yu's wound was not deep, located on her left hand.

Xu Huai Shang's wound was also not deep, on her left rib.

In that brief moment of close combat, the former's two sets of sword moves concealed two distinct torrents of sword energy, while the latter used her dual blades to execute a heaven-rending circular slash, reminiscent of a long-handled weapon technique.

The former moved with intent, the latter transformed intent into form; both had reached the pinnacle of weapon usage and martial arts comprehension, making it difficult to determine a superior.

However, the differences in techniques and weapon shapes still subtly influenced the outcome of this exchange.

There is no foolproof defense, no attack that guarantees victory, and certainly no two people with exactly the same strength in this world.

In literature, there is no definitive first; in martial arts, there is no second.

As long as the combatants are human, victory and defeat can always be distinguished in the minutiae.

If one had to say who had the advantage in that exchange just now, it would probably be… Xu Huai Shang.

Although she was injured in the torso, the pain was insignificant, and the depth of the wound was not enough to affect her muscle response.

Ruo Yu's injury, however, was more troublesome. The stinging pain from her left wrist would directly affect her weapon wielding, and… the wound would widen as she continuously executed ultra-fast sword techniques.

"Looks like your luck isn't so good," Xu Huai Shang said, looking at Ruo Yu's hand during their post-exchange standoff.

"No, this isn't a matter of luck," Ruo Yu replied calmly. "It's that my swordsmanship isn't refined enough."

"In any case… I won't show mercy because of this," Xu Huai Shang added.

"I know," Ruo Yu responded. "That's for the best…"

Silence descended again, a sense of impending storm subtly rising between the two…

…

At the same time, outside the two heroines' blade and sword killing formation, various factions were also closely monitoring the changes in the battle, ready to act at any moment.

"This… should we help?" Tie Hai Tang's marksmanship specialization was pretty good; she should be able to intervene at this point, but she first asked Xue Qiang Wei for her opinion.

"Are you confident you can hit the target while they're entangled?" Xue Qiang Wei didn't give a direct answer, but instead asked a question in return.

"Heh…" Tie Hai Tang gave a bitter smile. "How is that possible? When they're attacking each other so quickly, I can't even see their afterimages…" She gestured with her eyes towards Ruo Yu. "I mean… like now, when the opponent is in a stationary state, can we consider intervening?"

"Actually, there's no difference," Xue Qiang Wei replied in a deep voice. "If you don't believe me… try taking a shot at her now."

Her words had a slightly mysterious tone, but Tie Hai Tang was the type to act faster than she thought, so she decided to try it out first.

Bang—

A gunshot rang out, and a rifle bullet suddenly left the chamber, rushing towards Ruo Yu, who was standing in the distance.

In that second, Ruo Yu's gaze remained fixed on Xu Huai Shang, and her figure seemed to be completely still.

However, the bullet did not hit her, but rather grazed past her.

"Eh?" Seeing this scene, Tie Hai Tang was stunned for a moment. "Did I miss? That's impossible…"

Indeed, it was impossible. At this distance, she would not miss a stationary target.

"It wasn't that you missed; she dodged it…" Xue Qiang Wei replied. "It's just… as you said, she's so fast that we can't even see her afterimages, so visually it creates the illusion that 'she didn't move at all.'"

"Hey… that's a bit of an exaggeration," Tie Hai Tang replied in a skeptical tone.

"In fact… this is normal," Xue Qiang Wei replied. "The opponent's speed is obvious… the speed of the bullet is slow compared to the rhythm of their fight just now. Unless you can accurately intervene in their entanglement and attack without accidentally injuring our own people… otherwise, similar shots will all be in vain."

"Hehe… that's not necessarily true…" At this time, Feng Xin Zi suddenly chuckled dryly and replied. "After the gunshot just now…" As she said this, her gaze had already shifted away from the battle and looked elsewhere. "That little brother Wang Tan Zhi… suddenly disappeared."

"What?" Xue Qiang Wei and Tie Hai Tang were both shocked to hear this.

The two hurriedly turned their heads to look, and were shocked to find that of the two Hell Frontline members who had been standing on the same side as Yuan Qi and other NPCs… only Shi Shang Hua Jian was left.

"When did he…" Xue Qiang Wei wanted to ask another question.

"I didn't see it…" Feng Xin Zi replied before she could finish asking. "I glanced at the opposite side before the gunshot, and he was still there; when the gunshot rang, I looked at Si Yu, just like you; and after the gunshot… when I looked over again, that kid's figure had already disappeared."

As the team's healing specialization player, Feng Xin Zi had always been playing the role of support and assistance, so she often paid attention to blind spots that her teammates didn't notice. Right now, she had timely discovered something that might bring a huge threat…

"Tch… careless," Tie Hai Tang muttered unhappily. "To think we let the opponent's assassin disappear from our sight…"

"Now that things have come to this, we have to come up with corresponding countermeasures," Xue Qiang Wei said, slightly furrowing her delicate brows and thinking rapidly. After a moment, she spoke again. "Since we can't effectively support the captain's battle for the time being, we might as well do something else…" She paused for half a second, then continued. "I have two ideas… first, we simply leave this place and go after Feng Bu Jue; second, we can turn the disappearance of Wang Tan Zhi to our advantage… take advantage of this opportunity to quickly bypass the battle circle and try to kill Hua Jian before those NPCs react."

"Hmm…" After hesitating slightly, Feng Xin Zi replied, "I think the second plan is better… the three of us can cause a battle on the side. Whether we succeed or not, we can at least distract Si Yu to some extent."

"Heh…" Tie Hai Tang smiled. "Why do I feel… that the three of us going after Feng Bu Jue would be more likely to distract her…" People like her, who are action-oriented… their intuition is really unusually accurate.

"Hmm… actually, I also think chasing is better," Xue Qiang Wei thought for a while. "Even if those NPCs' strength is average, that Alliance Master Yuan is undoubtedly a Boss-level existence, and Feng Bu Jue specifically instructed him to help before he left. If we kill over there now… it will certainly put pressure on Si Yu, and there is also a chance to kill Hua Jian, but most likely we will have to pay a certain price. In that case… our captain will also be distracted."

"Then let's use the first plan," Feng Xin Zi had no objections after listening to this analysis. "The sooner we leave, the better… don't forget that the opponent still has a Wang Tan Zhi somewhere."

After agreeing on this, the three turned around warily… and quickly headed towards the depths of the manor.

And Hua Jian, who witnessed this scene, actually revealed an almost imperceptible smile, and whispered to himself, "Hmm… as expected, they fell for the trap…"

…

Boom—

After about two minutes of standoff, the roar of fighting spirit erupting once again attracted everyone's attention.

They saw… that Ruo Yu and Xu Huai Shang in the blade and sword killing formation had each raised their momentum by several notches.

At this point, the battle entered an even more suffocating stage…

"Yue Yin (Moon Concealment)."

The moment the technique's name was spoken, Xu Huai Shang's whole body bloomed with blue ice radiance, her figure turned into water, and silently sank into the ground.

Half a second later, a blue light energy spread out from behind Ruo Yu like a wave, bringing out Xu Huai Shang's figure.

Obviously… this [Yue Yin] was a flash step technique. In the "techniques of swordsmen from another world", in addition to various offensive techniques launched by cold weapons, it also naturally included many other high-end martial skills, and this… was one of them.

In terms of skill effects, this move was even better than Qi Sha's [Shadow Step]. That skill of Qi Sha's fixedly appeared behind the enemy after teleporting, but [Yue Yin] could adjust the distance according to the user's wishes, appearing at any point around the enemy. In addition, the appearance stage of [Yue Yin] also came with a wavy blue light effect to obstruct the enemy's vision.

Of course, the shortcomings of [Yue Yin] were also obvious. In terms of the skill's activation speed, [Shadow Step] was undoubtedly faster, because the former's "turning into water and sinking into the ground" pre-effect wasted a little bit of time; and this effect looked very obvious, as long as the opponent had seen it once, they would be on guard. The next time they saw you emitting blue light all over your body, they would know what you were going to do.

However, this kind of assumption about "prediction" was of little significance in this battle…

Regardless of whether she had seen this move or not, Ruo Yu was able to respond to it.

"Hi Dao Liu (Scarlet Blade Style). Forbidden Technique. Yu Gun Lie Sha Zhen (Rain Rolling Rending Killing Formation)!"

"Feng Guo Liu Hen (Wind Passes, Leaving a Trace)."

The killing intent and fighting skills of the two people who were close at hand suddenly collided.

The blade light trembled, like a soul-reaping fierce dance.

The sword energy traveled swiftly, like a dirge that breaks the wind.

In the clash of blades and swords, and in the eruption of fighting spirit, the two were still moving with the momentum, looking for opportunities to change their moves and gaps to break through.

Their movements were both light and swift, wandering like fairies treading on water, flying like wild geese dancing gracefully, but their attacks were like wind and thunder igniting fire, shaking the heart.

The martial artists present had never seen such a duel, and they were all dumbfounded and amazed. Some even felt that their decades of martial arts practice had become a joke, and they were moved to quit the martial world…

"Ying Feng (Shadow Stitch)!" As soon as she said it, Xu Huai Shang threw [Luo Hua (Fallen Flower)] into the air after another round of continuous slashes and counters, and then performed an unexpected trick.

They saw the quick blade fly into the air and suddenly enter a very small spatial rift. Half a second later, the same rift appeared high in the side rear of Ruo Yu, and [Luo Hua] flew over from that unavoidable angle on its own.

"Jian Mo Liu (Sword Devil Style)…" Ruo Yu remained calm, raised the original Water God Sword with her left hand, used the Jian Mo Liu swordsmanship to face the oncoming quick blade; at the same time, her right hand moved again, "Ao Xiao Kuang Feng (Proud Howl of the Wild Wind)!"

With these two moves to meet the attack, Xu Huai Shang, who was left with only a single blade, should have been forced back a few steps, but unexpectedly…

At this moment, Xu Huai Shang actually threw the blade in her right hand into the air as well, and waved both hands forward quickly, her jade fingers slightly open: "Jie Lie Zhang (Discipline Fierce Palm), Zhang Qi Duan (Miasma Severance)!"

Ruo Yu certainly did not expect that Xu Huai Shang, who was accustomed to using dual blades… would actually abandon her blades and use her palms at this moment.

Not only did she abandon her blades and use her palms, but… she actually learned from Ruo Yu and used two different skills with her left and right hands respectively.

"Good!" In this seemingly impossible situation, Ruo Yu couldn't help but praise the other party. Beneath her cold exterior… a trace of fanatic, warlike nature had been aroused.

Chi Ying—

After a strange sound, relying on the power of [Zhang Qi Duan], Xu Huai Shang's soft and boneless slender jade hand… firmly grasped the Xuan Yuan Sword.

And her other hand… had already struck towards Ruo Yu's chest.

At this moment, Ruo Yu's left-hand wound finally burst open under the constant accumulation of pressure. The electric-like stinging pain made her unable to twist her sword posture in time to defend in front of her.

So… the palm force of [Jie Lie Zhang] hit her chest solidly.

In an instant, Ruo Yu only felt dizzy and her chest's qi and blood completely stagnated.

Without the ability to gather qi, she naturally could not exert any force… Xu Huai Shang's next move came naturally…

"Ren Wang… Bao Zhen Sha (Benevolent King… Burst Array Kill)!" Xu Huai Shang believed that this should be the last move she used.

The people watching the battle nearby, as well as those watching the live broadcast, also believed that this should be the move that determined the outcome.

But Ruo Yu… didn't think so.

"I wanted to save it for the finals…" When Ruo Yu was grabbed into the air by Xu Huai Shang, she muttered, slightly gathering a breath of qi, "...but using it on you is worth it."

Xu Huai Shang didn't know what the other party was going to "use", but when she heard the words, she felt a strong sense of unease in her heart…

The duration of [Soul Advent] was limited, and there wasn't much left. Xu Huai Shang kept changing her moves and attacking aggressively to avoid the battle being dragged out past five minutes. But now that Ruo Yu had said such a sentence, the situation was not optimistic… Ruo Yu was not the type like Feng Bu Jue who especially liked to bluff, so since she had said this, then she must really have a trump card that she hadn't used.

However, even with the unease in her heart, Xu Huai Shang's moves had already been launched halfway… in less than two seconds, Ruo Yu would be pressed to the ground and bear the full damage of this move. The [Jie Lie Zhang] just now had already knocked off more than half of Ruo Yu's survival value, and she couldn't possibly withstand the damage of [Ren Wang Bao Zhen Sha] without dying.

In any case… Xu Huai Shang had no reason to stop the skill.

However, in those two seconds.

Gege— Gugelge—

A strange sound, like bones rubbing against each other and growing, came from Ruo Yu's skull.

At the same time, a white, plaster-like substance seeped out from the skin on Ruo Yu's face, quickly covering most of her head… and solidified into a fierce-looking mask with wing-shaped patterns.

Bang—

Just as this change occurred, Xu Huai Shang's attack took effect.

The golden, glittering phantom of the Benevolent King suddenly appeared, blasting a huge pit in the ground…

Under the reaction force of the skill, Xu Huai Shang leaned back, did a somersault, and left the center of the burst array. [Luo Hua] and [Fei Xu (Flying Floss)] also flew back into her hands at this time.

It seemed… she should have won.

But, her eyes… were still staring at the dissipating smoke and dust in front of her with a burning gaze.