Chapter 68: Battle and bums
The broken ground had not settled before Lin Xiaotian moved, he crossed the distance in a single burst and swung his polearm toward the nearest attacker.
The man hurriedly raised his shield, but the heavy blade smashed through it and struck his chest, throwing him through two trees before he hit the ground.
The remaining five immediately separated, two attacked from the sides while another raised his weapon and released several compressed blades of mana.
Lin Xiaotian twisted the polearm around his body, breaking the first attack before lowering his shoulder and charging straight through the second.
One of the attackers tried to retreat, but Lin Xiaotian caught him by the armor and threw him toward his own teammate. Both crashed into the ground as lightning spread from the polearm and ran through their bodies.
The noble heir stepped back in disbelief. "What are you doing? Surround him!"
The two remaining members rushed forward together, one carrying a sword while the other raised a staff. The mage released several burning chains, but Lin Xiaotian planted his polearm into the ground and caught them around his arm.
He pulled hard and the mage was dragged from his position before Lin Xiaotian struck him across the face with the back of his fist.
Blood sprayed from the man’s mouth as he spun through the air and collapsed beside the others.
The swordsman reached Lin Xiaotian from behind and drove his blade toward his neck.
Lin Xiaotian tilted his head aside, allowing the weapon to pass over his shoulder, then seized the man’s wrist, a sharp crack sounded as he twisted it backwards before driving his elbow into the attacker’s chest.
The man dropped immediately, in less than a minute, all six members of the team were lying across the shattered path.
Su Lan stared at the scene with her mouth slightly open, even Xingluo had not expected Lin Xiaotian to overwhelm them so quickly without using any of the large spells he had shown during the competition.
Qiao Xueyi showed no surprise. "I warned you."
Lin Xiaotian rested the polearm against his shoulder and walked toward the noble heir, who was struggling to push himself away with one broken arm.
The man’s earlier confidence had completely disappeared.
"Wait." He coughed and raised his other hand. "Do you know which family I belong to?"
Lin Xiaotian continued approaching. "If you kill me, my family will never let you go, you will not meet a good end!"
No response came, the noble heir looked toward the others for help, but none of his teammates could stand. His breathing became faster as Lin Xiaotian stopped in front of him.
"Killing other challengers is forbidden," he said hurriedly. "The military warned everyone outside. You cannot kill me here."
Lin Xiaotian placed the bottom of his polearm against the ground. "You attacked us first."
"That does not mean you can kill us!"
The man’s voice weakened when Lin Xiaotian crouched before him. "We can compensate you, equipment, credits, anything you want."
Lin Xiaotian grabbed him by the hair and lifted his head. "Please—"
His hand closed around the man’s skull as a dull crack sounded before the noble heir’s body went limp.
The forest fell silent, Xingluo’s expression shifted, while Su Lan instinctively stepped closer to Ruan Mei. Lin Xiaotian released the body without any change in his face and began turning toward the remaining attackers.
Before he could take another step, a faint jingling sound passed between the trees and Lin Xiaotian’s expression changed.
He immediately pushed away from the ground and leapt backwards, the space where the six attackers lay suddenly collapsed.
There was no explosion or wave of mana, a large section of the forest simply vanished, leaving behind a deep, empty gap. The surrounding trees, broken ground, and most of the fallen team disappeared with it, while several severed pieces landed near the edge.
Everyone moved into a defensive position.
A soft laugh came from above. "What a violent man."
The same faint jingling sounded again as a young woman descended between the trees. She held a slender silver wand in one hand, while a crescent-shaped earring swung beside her face.
Her clothes were light and fitted closely around her body, with thin silver markings running across the sleeves. She appeared relaxed, almost amused, despite the destruction beneath her.
The woman landed lightly on the edge of the empty space and looked toward Lin Xiaotian with a sweet smile.
A translucent panel appeared above her.
[Name: Yue Qianyin]
[Level: 150]
[Class: Crescent Star Guardian]
The smile remained on her face, but no one lowered their weapon. Even Lin Xiaotian tightened his grip around the polearm as lightning gathered across its blade.
Yue Qianyin raised her wand and gave it a small turn, causing another clear jingle to spread through the forest. "Do not look so nervous."
Her eyes narrowed slightly as they moved across the group. "I only wanted to see whether you were as difficult to kill as you looked."
The jingling sound rang again and before anyone could follow her movement, Yue Qianyin appeared directly in front of Lin Xiaotian, she raised one hand and lightly held his chin between her fingers.
"Do you not want to show me how much of a man you are?"
Lin Xiaotian’s expression remained cold, he pulled his face away from her hand and stepped back without answering.
The smile on Yue Qianyin’s face disappeared. "You dare ignore me?"
Her wand moved slightly and a thin ethereal blade burst from its tip and crossed the distance almost instantly. Lin Xiaotian sensed the danger and tried to move, but the attack had already appeared before his neck.
A wave of invisible soul force struck his side and Lin Xiaotian was thrown several steps away as the blade passed through the space where he had been standing.
The trees behind him disappeared in a smooth line, leaving no broken wood or scattered fragments behind.
He landed heavily and turned toward Xingluo’s group in confusion. He had felt something push him, but there had been no visible spell or person near him.
Wuxia lowered his hand beside Xingluo.
Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons, sweat formed across Su Lan’s forehead, while even Qiao Xueyi’s calm expression had changed.
The attack had carried almost no warning, there had been no violent mana gathering or obvious movement, yet everything along its path had simply vanished.
"She is manipulating space," Wuxia said.
Xingluo’s eyes remained fixed on Yue Qianyin, space-type Awakened were extremely rare, and none were publicly known within their city.
More importantly, the panel above the woman had identified her as a guardian, she had not entered the realm with the other challengers instead she belonged to this place.
Yue Qianyin slowly turned toward Lin Xiaotian again, her smile returning as though the failed attack had only made her more interested.
Wuxia gave a forced chuckle. "You may need to sacrifice this new friend of yours."
Yes, as you say, wise one, Xingluo replied through their connection.
Wuxia laughed quietly, but his expression soon became serious, Yue Qianyin’s speed and spatial attacks made her far more dangerous than the six challengers Lin Xiaotian had defeated.
His gaze moved over her as another thought appeared. "Well, it seems I have found another member for my Soul Army."
Xingluo glanced toward him. You were suggesting we sacrifice Lin Xiaotian a moment ago.
"Plans change."
Yue Qianyin tilted her head as the crescent earring beside her face released another soft jingle. Several distortions appeared around her wand, bending the light between the surrounding trees.
Lin Xiaotian stood again and raised his polearm, lightning surged across the weapon, but he no longer rushed forward carelessly.
Qiao Xueyi moved beside him as frost spread beneath her feet. Xingluo drew her sword, while Ruan Mei pulled Su Lan farther back.
Yue Qianyin looked across them with clear amusement. "Are all of you going to entertain me now?"
The air beside Xingluo darkened as a large armored hand emerged first, followed by Varkhiel’s massive body. Red light moved faintly through the runes across his armor as he stepped between the group and Yue Qianyin.
His greatsword struck the ground beside him, the smile on Yue Qianyin’s face slowly widened.
Yue Qianyin studied the armored figure before her, then smiled. "Oh? Another new toy."
The crescent earring beside her face jingled, and she disappeared from where she stood. She reappeared directly before Varkhiel and thrust one hand toward his chest, but her fingers passed through his armor without meeting any resistance.
Confusion flashed across her face.
Varkhiel’s body had scattered at the point of contact, turning faint and insubstantial around her arm but before she could pull away, his right fist condensed and struck her across the face, the impact threw her backwards.
Yue Qianyin twisted in the air and landed several metres away, one hand touching the side of her face. Instead of becoming angry, she stared at Varkhiel with growing curiosity.
Her wand moved again and the space surrounding Varkhiel collapsed, erasing the ground and trees around him.
However, his body scattered into dark soul mist before the attack closed and reformed beyond the missing area without suffering any damage.
Wuxia narrowed his eyes before raising his hand, two enormous soul forms emerged beside Varkhiel as the Twin Demon Flood Dragons coiled through the air.
Their bodies shifted between condensed scales and flowing soul mist while they surrounded Yue Qianyin from both sides.
Her spatial attacks were dangerous against physical bodies, but the Soul Soldiers were neither living creatures nor ordinary summons. They could scatter before the affected space closed and condense again once the attack passed.
To damage them, she would have to rely on raw mana force or strike during the brief moment they solidified to attack.