Blood drifted in the wind.

Ruo Yu's wound wasn't deep, located on her left hand.

Xu Huai Shang's wound wasn't deep either, located on her left rib.

In that brief exchange just now, the former's two sets of sword moves concealed two entirely different currents of sword energy, while the latter used a spinning slash reminiscent of a long-handled weapon with her twin blades.

The former's form followed her will, while the latter borrowed intent to shape her form. Both had reached the pinnacle of weapon usage and martial arts understanding, making it difficult to determine who was superior.

However, the differences in their techniques and weapon shapes still had a subtle impact on the outcome of this exchange.

There is no flawless defensive stance in this world, nor is there an invincible attack pattern, and certainly no two people with exactly the same strength.

In literary arts, there is no definitive number one, but in martial arts, there is.

As long as the combatants are human, there will inevitably be a winner decided by the smallest details.

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

Although she was injured in the torso, this pain was nothing, and the depth of the wound wouldn't affect her muscle response.

But Ruo Yu's injury... was more troublesome. The stinging pain from her left wrist would directly impact her weapon handling, and... the wound would be further opened as she continuously executed her ultra-high-speed sword techniques.

"Looks like your luck isn't good." During the standoff after the exchange, Xu Huai Shang looked at Ruo Yu's hand and said just that.

"No, it's not 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 once more, and an atmosphere of impending storm faintly rose between the two...

...

At the same time, outside the two heroines' deadly formation of blades, various parties were also closely watching the changes in the battle, ready to act at any moment.

"This... should we help?" Tie Haitang's marksmanship specialization was quite good, and she should be able to get involved at this moment, but she still asked for Xue Qiangwei's opinion first.

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

"Heh..." Tie Haitang gave a wry 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 other party is stationary, can we consider intervening?"

"Actually, there's no difference," Xue Qiangwei replied in a deep voice. "If you don't believe me... try shooting her now."

Her words had a slightly mysterious tone, but Tie Haitang 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 motionless.

However, the bullet didn't hit her but brushed past her.

"Eh?" Seeing this, Tie Haitang was stunned. "I missed? That's impossible..."

It was indeed impossible. At this distance, she wouldn't miss a stationary target.

"It's not that you missed, it's that she avoided it..." Xue Qiangwei replied. "It's just... as you said, she's so fast that we can't even see her afterimages, thus creating the illusion that 'she didn't move at all' in our vision."

"Hey... that's too exaggerated," Tie Haitang replied in a dubious tone.

"In fact... this is normal," Xue Qiangwei replied. "The other party's speed is obvious... compared to their fighting rhythm just now, the bullet's speed is actually slower. Unless you can accurately intervene during their entanglement, making an attack while ensuring you don't accidentally injure your own people... otherwise, similar shots are all in vain."

"Hehe... that's not necessarily true..." At this moment, Feng Xinzi suddenly chuckled twice and interjected. "After the shot was fired just now..." As she spoke, her gaze had shifted away from the battle and towards another place. "That little brother Wang Tanzhi... suddenly disappeared."

"What?" Xue Qiangwei and Tie Haitang were both shocked upon hearing this.

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

"When did he..." Xue Qiangwei wanted to ask another question.

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

As the team's medical specialization player, Feng Xinzi had always played 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 could bring a huge threat...

"Tch... careless." Tie Haitang muttered unhappily. "To think we let the other party's assassin disappear from our sight..."

"Now that things have come to this, we have to come up with corresponding countermeasures." As Xue Qiangwei spoke, she furrowed her brow slightly and her thoughts raced. After a moment, she spoke again, "Since we can't provide effective support to the captain's battle for the time being, we might as well do something else..." She paused for half a second and continued, "I have two ideas... first, we simply leave this place and pursue Feng Bujue; second, we can take advantage of Wang Tanzhi's disappearance... and quickly bypass the battle circle while those NPCs haven't reacted, and try to kill Huajian before they do."

"Hmm..." After hesitating slightly, Feng Xinzi replied, "I think the second plan is better... the three of us can start a battle on the side, and whether it succeeds or not, it can at least distract Si Yu to some extent."

"Heh..." Tie Haitang smiled. "I feel like... the three of us pursuing Feng Bujue would distract her even more..." People like her who were action-oriented... their intuition was truly exceptionally accurate.

"Well... actually, I also think pursuing is better." Xue Qiangwei thought for a moment. "Even if those NPCs' strength is average, that Alliance Master Yuan is undoubtedly a Boss-level existence, and Feng Bujue specifically told him to help before he left. If we rush over now... it will certainly put pressure on Si Yu and there will also be a chance to kill Huajian, but there's a high probability that we'll have to pay a certain price. If that's the case... our captain will be distracted as well."

"Then let's use the first plan," Feng Xinzi said, having no objections after hearing this analysis. "The longer we stay in place, the more disadvantageous it will be... don't forget that the other party still has a Wang Tanzhi somewhere out there."

After agreeing on this, the three turned around warily... and quickly headed deeper into the manor.

And Huajian, who witnessed this scene, actually revealed a faint, almost imperceptible smile, and muttered to himself, "Hmm... as expected, they fell for it..."

...

Boom—

After about two minutes of confrontation, a blast of battle energy once again attracted everyone's attention.

In the deadly formation of blades, Ruo Yu and Xu Huai Shang had each raised their momentum by several notches.

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

"Yueyin (Moon Concealment)."

The moment the technique name was spoken, Xu Huai Shang's body bloomed with blue glacial light, and her figure transformed into water, silently sinking into the ground.

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

Clearly... this Yueyin was a movement technique that allowed for instantaneous positioning. Among the "sword-fighting techniques of the otherworld sword masters," in addition to various attack-type techniques activated by cold weapons, there were naturally also many other high-end martial arts techniques, and this... was one of them.

In terms of skill effects, this move was even more superior than Qi Sha's Shadow Step. Qi Sha's skill fixed the user's appearance behind the enemy after teleporting, but Yueyin could adjust the distance according to the user's wishes, appearing at any point around the enemy. In addition, the manifestation phase of Yueyin also came with a wave-like blue light effect to obstruct the enemy's vision.

Of course, Yueyin's shortcomings were also obvious. In terms of skill activation speed, Shadow Step was undoubtedly faster, because the former's pre-set effect of "transforming into water and sinking into the ground" wasted a little time; and this effect looked very obvious, as long as the opponent had seen it once, they would be on guard, and 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 had time to respond to it.

"Scarlet Blade Style Forbidden Hand. Rain Rolling Rend Kill Formation!"

"Wind Passing. Leaving a Trace."

The killing intent and battle techniques of the two people, who were in close proximity, collided suddenly.

The light of the blades trembled, like a soul-reaping fierce dance.

The sword energy rushed, like a tragic song of wind breaking.

Amidst the clash of blades and the eruption of battle energy, the two were still moving with the momentum, seeking opportunities to change their moves and breakthrough gaps.

Their movements were light and swift, walking like fairies treading on water, like wild geese gracefully dancing, but their strikes were like thunder and lightning igniting fire, shaking people's hearts.

The martial arts heroes present had never seen such a duel before, and they were all dumbfounded and amazed. Some even felt that their decades of martial arts training had become a joke, and they had the thought of withdrawing from the martial world...

"Shadow Stitch!" Just as he was about to speak, and just as quickly, after another round of continuous slashes and exchanges, Xu Huai Shang tossed up Luohua and unleashed another surprising move.

He saw the fast blade fly into the air and suddenly enter a very small spatial rift. Half a second later, the same rift appeared high behind Ruo Yu's side, and Luohua flew over from that unavoidable angle on its own.

"Sword. Demon Stream..." Ruo Yu was as calm as ever, raising the original water god sword with her left hand, using the Demon Stream Sword Style to face the attacking fast blade; at the same time, her right hand moved again, "Aoxiao Kuangfeng (Proud Howl of the Wild Wind)!"

With these two moves to meet the attack, Xu Huai Shang, who only had a single blade in her hand, should have been forced back a bit, 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 spread out: "Jielie Palm, Barrier Qi Severance!"

Ruo Yu certainly didn't expect that Xu Huai Shang, who was used to using twin 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 followed Ruo Yu's example and used two different skills with her left and right hands respectively.

"Good!" In this extreme situation, Ruo Yu couldn't help but applaud the other party. Beneath her cold exterior... a trace of her fanatical, warlike nature had been ignited.

Chi Ying—

After a strange cry, relying on the power of the Barrier Qi Severance, Xu Huai Shang's soft and boneless slender hand... actually firmly grasped the Xuan Yuan Sword.

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

At this moment, the wound on Ruo Yu's left hand finally burst open under the accumulated pressure, and the electric-like pain made it impossible for her to turn her sword momentum in time to defend in front of her.

Thus... the power of the Jielie Palm hit her chest solidly.

In an instant, Ruo Yu only felt dizzy and her chest's Qi and blood were completely stagnant.

Without being able to gather her breath, she naturally couldn't exert any strength... Xu Huai Shang's next move came in order...

"Renwang Baozhen Sha (Benevolent King Explosion Formation Kill)!" Xu Huai Shang believed that this should be the last move she used.

The people watching the battle next to them, as well as the people 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..." As Ruo Yu was grabbed into the air by Xu Huai Shang, she muttered after taking a slight breath, "...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 this, she felt a strong sense of unease in her heart...

The time for Soul Advent was limited, and there wasn't much left. Xu Huai Shang kept changing her moves to seize the initiative, also to avoid the battle being dragged on after five minutes. But now that Ruo Yu had said such a thing, the situation was not optimistic... Ruo Yu was not the type like Feng Bujue who especially liked to bluff, since she had said this, then there must be a trump card she had not used.

However, even with the unease in her heart, Xu Huai Shang's move had already been launched halfway... in less than two seconds, Ruo Yu would be pressed to the ground and suffer all the damage from this move. The Barrier Qi Severance just now had already taken away more than half of Ruo Yu's survival value, she could not withstand the damage from the Renwang Baozhen Sha and not die.

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

However, in those two seconds.

Gege— Gululu—

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

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

Bang—

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

The golden light of the Benevolent King phantom flashed, and blasted a huge pit in the ground...

Under the skill's reaction force, Xu Huai Shang leaned back, somersaulted, and left the center of the explosion, and Luohua and Feixu flew back into her hands at this time.

It looked like... she should have won.

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