Chapter Fifty-Four: Pausing at the Threshold of the Realm

“……!” Gongsun Ce was left speechless. Not because he didn’t want to speak, but because he had no strength left.

His heart pounded more wildly than after intense exercise, and every exhale felt like a knife slicing through his nasal passages. When battling Xu Junyi in the dragon’s belly, the torment he felt was inflicted by his opponent’s body. But now, the agony was self-inflicted, inescapable and intimate.

“Focus.”

Like accelerating parts of his body as usual, he temporarily increased the speed and strength in his arm. Qin Qianbai’s thrust quickened by half a notch—an unexpected shift, influenced by a third party’s supernatural power that neither side had foreseen.

Adapting faster than Mingke, Qin Qianbai used this edge to break the opponent’s move. The long sword was just an inch from piercing the throat but was once again about to be severed by the dagger...

“Certain hit.”

Whether the sensation from the invisible power was synchronous or delayed, Gongsun Ce couldn’t discern. All he could do was trust his intuition, relying on the girl’s accelerated strength as an anchor to adjust the weapon’s position.

The result was a slight tear at Mingke’s collar, but the price was a direct stab to the main body of the white armor.

The risk far outweighed the reward—too hasty. Undoubtedly a mistake, but there was no time for regrets now. He conjured a white spear and hurled it beside the girl. The long sword shattered, weapons changed hands, and the close-quarters fight shifted to mid-range combat.

Gongsun Ce felt a slight dizziness.

He needed to concentrate all his energy to barely achieve results without harming the assisted unit. The precision required was so high it nearly dried up his mind.

Overall acceleration, partial enhancement, adjusting attack trajectory... his support brought considerable effect but also imposed great strain on the body.

Originally, this technique wasn’t meant for humans. It was developed as an alternative use of supernatural power to assist larger combat units.

Usually, Gongsun Ce only used standard acceleration and occasional partial enhancement during decisive moments because his body lacked sufficient strength. As a non-expert supernatural user, his physique was merely robust among peers, and such complex power-assisted combat was barely possible through years of practice.

Yet...

The girl fighting that man ahead bore all this with her own body.

What enormous burden must that be? What pain did she endure, fighting under such weight? Having once tried, Gongsun Ce could imagine the feeling. Therefore, he could not utter a word of despair. Thoughts of exhaustion or giving up were forbidden. Instead, he had to push for more strength and devise a way to defeat that man.

Mingke’s blade was problematic. A sword capable of severing everything—including interference with abilities—was too extraordinary to be mere martial skill. It was likely the power of his impermanence enforcer status.

Mingke’s blade had to be dealt with; otherwise, there was no hope.

For that...

“!”

He strained to maintain his fragile consciousness under suppression and threw a slightly heavy javelin forward.

·

The weapon shattered. Guided by invisible power, an arm reached back and caught the javelin.

At the moment of grasp, something felt off—by Gongsun Ce’s standards, it was slightly heavier.

No time to consider further, a new slash came. Frantically parrying the flowing barrage, the javelin broke.

She believed she understood the opponent’s intent. No—she was certain of it. Just as he fully supported her, trusting she could bear the burden, she also trusted him, believing his plan would lead her to victory.

“—!”

This time, she caught a pair of swords of equal length. Attacking while defending against Mingke’s deadly strike.

Blade and sword clashed midair, killing intent and fighting spirit weaving an impenetrable net.

An indestructible weapon and a fragile one, pure technique and countless variations. Born of the same clan, these two fought fiercely high above foreign lands in completely opposite ways.

Both wielded ruthless lethal moves; a single slip meant utter ruin.

“Ha ha!”

The man laughed joyfully.

Was he infected by the swordsman’s madness or had he developed the same feeling?

The expressionless girl echoed.

“Ha.”

Unbelievably, despite the desperate situation, her heart brightened.

Because she was not fighting alone... and because she gradually understood this man’s feelings.

Joy, anticipation, excitement.

Fighting with all she had learned in life, not for any grand cause, but for herself alone.

She was happy.

Their battle had entered a realm beyond even experts’ comprehension.

Swift slashes, hidden strikes, solid blows, mountain-piercing, earth-sinking, snake-like dodges, phantom steps, shadow seals... secret clan techniques twisted and unleashed in strange forms.

Using the body to wield weapon techniques, weapons to execute concealed moves, stripping away superficial forms to leave only the essence of victory, even creating deeper, more profound techniques on the spot.

They refined themselves in battle, grew stronger through combat, and turned millennia of accumulation into their own, like two greedy pythons devouring their prey.

Never before had she so clearly felt her own growing strength.

Never before had she so deeply understood the man’s long-held thoughts.

What more could she learn? What lay ahead? What might defeat her? Joy, satisfaction, anticipation, curiosity. As free as a god, as willful as a demon, the realm where Qin Ming stood was within reach.

Soon, very soon, she would arrive at his domain.

In thought, she reached like a climber toward the summit. In reality, she discarded the broken weapons, grasped a dagger, and met another slash from Mingke.

“Sun and Moon.”

The man in blue wielded both blades, long and short, glowing faintly like stars on the horizon.

She had to devise a counter to this move.

A brand-new technique.

Her mind raced within a millisecond; if she just stepped forward, stood in just that spot, she could conceive a pinnacle skill surpassing Sun and Moon—!

“—Crescent Moon.”

Yet she used only Mingke’s old move.

She paused at that boundary.

Not because her body reached its limit, but because she chose to stop, to turn away, to leave Mingke’s realm behind.

That was not the path she should take.

What she wanted was not the end of martial arts.

She could not be as free as Mingke. There were important people behind her supporting the fight.

She did not fight for pleasure. She took up arms to defeat someone, to protect those dear to her—!

“Thousand Needles!”

The almost shattering white armor transformed into a thousand needles, striking toward the blue-clad man a mere inch away.

Mingke sighed silently.

He understood her choice and felt regretful. Having missed this chance, when would he next touch that realm? Years? Decades? Or never again in this lifetime?

He simultaneously sliced through the needle rain and the dagger.

“No regrets, Qin Qianbai?”

“None at all. Becoming like you would be the real defeat.”

That was fine.

Having let go of the only chance, only defeat remained.

Mingke raised his twin blades—

But the blades did not move.

Qin Qianbai lowered her arms and fell sideways, imitating a certain supernatural user’s tone.

“Bind.”

·

If a blade could sever even invisible power, it meant it could see the power itself.

Thus, trying to bind with supernatural power directly was pointless.

If so, hide the ropes where they can’t be seen.

Inside the white weapon itself.

The precise moment to activate was left to Qin Qianbai. When an attack failed and the weapon broke, it would trigger a mechanism in the armor, releasing a blinding rain of needles. Meanwhile, hidden power within the weapon would attach to the needles.

If Mingke cut through the needle rain, that power would reach his blade.

Matter, energy, even impermanence interference—Mingke’s blade could cut through all. If it truly had a weakness, it was in the very purpose of the blade.

A slash.

To sever everything, the prerequisite was to initiate a slash.

If the twin blades themselves were bound, even for a second, preventing Mingke from swinging, then his impermanence power would be broken.

“My Healing Game.”

Thus, Mingke’s blade was shattered.

What could one do in less than a second?

Enough for Gongsun Ce to gather his long-prepared strength.

Enough for the supernatural user to activate the javelin named after his ability.

“How dare you wager millions of lives as chips in your fight...”

The javelin spun in the youth’s hand, weaving a destructive spiral of illusion and reality.

He converted the support power on Qin Qianbai into a pulling force for retreat. The girl’s body swung to the rear side, carried by the whirlwind generated by the javelin, drifting beside him.

“What do you take human lives for!”

Freed from all hesitation, the youth roared, hurling the tornado-wrapped spiral at the powerless Mingke.

“You reckless adult! I will correct you!!!”

And so, as Mingke struggled to break free—

The instant spiral struck head-on!