Chapter 1 The Crossroads

Looking at the Well of Samsara...

The Realm of Rebirth was silent.

Battle intent was like the wind, stirring clothes.

Yan Guiren merely adopted a stance, his long hair and fur cloak rising with the momentum, a picture of heroic spirit.

Feng Bujue, on the other hand, pulled out a pipe wrench and a small knife, standing in place with two pitifully short weapons in hand; he did not strike any pose, but merely bent his legs slightly, relaxed his body, and waited...

The reason for choosing to "strike after the opponent" was that Feng Bujue did not know Yan Guiren's strength; in the purely energy-based environment of the Well of Samsara, Brother Jue's Data Perception was severely affected, so he could only confirm the opponent's strength during the exchange.

The confrontation did not last long...

After a brief silence, it was a moment of life-or-death struggle.

Yan Guiren gave a deep shout, stepped forward, and thrust his long halberd forward, instantly launching the [Yan Shuttle].

This first move was extremely dangerous.

Because at this moment, Feng Bujue did not have the data support provided by Data Perception, and his Near-Zero Time Difference Calculation had not yet collected any data; he had not yet established any concept of Yan Guiren's speed, strength, or technique.

Clang—

A scraping sound, sparks flashed.

At the critical moment, Feng Bujue leaned back and used the pipe wrench to block the long halberd, slightly changing the trajectory of the halberd's edge.

The blade grazed between his cheek and shoulder, slightly breaking his skin.

"Faster than me?" This thought flashed through Brother Jue's mind in the first instant, "And... much faster?"

This was a situation Feng Bujue had never encountered before; although among the players, there were still some who could suppress Feng Bujue in terms of speed, in the main universe, Brother Jue had not encountered a character who could compete with him in speed for a long time. Even among those martial arts NPCs, only a certain short-haired Divine Fist Quan Zong could reach a level of contending with him, and those Time Officials and Jurors who had appeared between S1 and S2 were still a level below.

Moreover, the current Feng Bujue had already obtained the power of the Kongtong Seal and the Tiangang Disha Box; he should be faster and stronger than before...

"As expected of a character from the Pili world..." Feng Bujue quickly calmed down, setting a baseline for the opponent's speed and strength in his mind, and his Near-Zero Time Difference Calculation also began to operate, "In a one-on-one fight... even if my hard power is in the lead, the outcome is difficult to predict, let alone now that I seem to be at a disadvantage..."

All of his thoughts flashed between sparks and flint.

Before he could readjust his posture, Yan Guiren's follow-up move had already arrived...

In less than a second, the long halberd that had grazed Brother Jue's shoulder was turned by Yan Guiren's wrist and pressed down with a bang.

The mighty power of a lion arrived.

Feng Bujue was pressed face-up onto the ground by the force of the halberd, and the ground shattered and exploded.

"Strength..." The shock pain from his body did not stop Feng Bujue's thinking; on the contrary, it made him more awake, "...is also above me..."

Chih—

At this time, Yan Guiren had already gathered his strength and pressed down on the halberd, seemingly wanting to crush Brother Jue's body directly.

"But there's one question..." While Feng Bujue was thinking, he had already slid to one side, cleverly slipping out of the opponent's pressure point.

Seeing this, Yan Guiren's reaction was almost without any delay; the tip of the halberd tapped the ground and swept out horizontally, closely following the direction Feng Bujue rolled, waving out a majestic qi force.

"You're actually using an ordinary iron halberd to fight me?" Brother Jue said as he flipped over and spun up, avoiding this wave of ground-hugging attacks.

"Drink!"

What responded to Feng Bujue was only a low shout and the second killing move—[Yan Return Spin].

Instantly, Yan Guiren danced his halberd into a circle, chasing after him.

"It seems that he doesn't intend to talk to me before the fight is over..." Feng Bujue muttered in his heart, and then dismissed the intention of disturbing and probing his opponent with words in battle, "There's no way... I can only fight head-on."

At that moment, a bloody smell permeated the air, and at the same time, Feng Bujue's figure turned into a blurry red shadow, disappearing from Yan Guiren's sight...

[Name: Spiritual Consciousness Gathering Body Technique - Extreme]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Permanently Mastered]

[Skill Category: Spiritual Art]

[Effect: After activation, the player can increase their own strength and speed in proportion, the greater the increase, the greater the loss borne.]

[Consumption: ???]

[Learning Conditions: Master Spiritual Consciousness Gathering Body Technique - Modified]

[Remarks: Originally a basic Taoist technique recorded in the Subduing Demons Chapter of the Seven Chapters of Ghost Valley, later improved by the 250th generation successor of the Ghost Valley Sect, its power is even greater, but the burden on oneself is also more severe; later it was re-modified by a certain Feng candidate, its effect became more extreme, remember to use it with caution.]

"The feeling of the soul's container being compressed and burned... the real feeling of the heart being like an overloaded water pump about to explode..." After activating the skill, Feng Bujue finally temporarily pulled himself out of the opponent's continuous offensive, "If my body density hadn't been greatly strengthened, this kind of move would probably only remain in the theoretical stage... no... even now, I have to make a quick decision..."

Thinking of this, his figure had flashed to the opening behind Yan Guiren.

Under the effect of [Spiritual Consciousness Gathering Body Technique - Extreme], Feng Bujue's speed temporarily reached a realm that even he felt a little difficult to control and react to, therefore, he had absolute confidence that this strike was unavoidable.

Clang—

In an instant, the sound of metal clashing announced the result of the attack.

Yes, Yan Guiren could not avoid this move, so he did not dodge... but blocked it.

It must be admitted that Feng Bujue's speed was indeed so fast that it was unmatched, Yan Guiren could not even turn around, let alone dodge; but... his combat intuition was truly unbelievably strong, at the last moment, Yan Guiren took advantage of the situation and flung the iron halberd that was performing [Yan Return Spin], the hard iron halberd in his hand was as flexible as a whip, and with an arc of five points of dissolution and five points of blocking, barely resisted Feng Bujue's attack.

"Is that enough?" Feng Bujue, after retracting his move, did not attack again, but immediately canceled the skill and asked.

"Enough." Yan Guiren also retracted his halberd, turned around, and restrained his fighting intent.

Both of them understood in their hearts... the other still had more than one trick up their sleeve.

Yan Guiren did not use his Divine-level weapon, nor did he seriously use his full strength; Feng Bujue's attack from behind only used one hand, and the weapon in his other hand had not moved.

However, they also felt from each other's actions that this battle only had fighting intent and no killing intent, so there was no need to fight to the death.

"Then..." After a pause of two seconds, Feng Bujue said again, "You should know my intention, right?"

"I know." Yan Guiren replied, "I also know that you don't have much time, so I'll make a long story short..."