Shi Yanran, from a young age, learned the unique hidden weapon of internal technique passed down from her ancestor. She was born from a family with the wealth of knowledge. Ten years ago, she married Gongsun Qian who was old enough to be her dad, one for status in Jianghu, two for prosperity, three… she naturally was keen on the powerful unique techniques in Thousand Ray House untaught to the public.
In the ten years, not only did Shi Yanran practice her hidden weapon technique passed down to a superb mastery, she perfectly internalized the internal technique of the Thousand Ray House with her previously learned internal technique. Her current cultivation, while not comparable with the leader of the commanding factions, when compared to the second and third tier factions, was by far stronger.
Without a doubt, she was among the top tier elites.
And Feng Bujue under [Body-Spirit Congregation Technique] status, just in terms of speed, absolutely was at the top tier elite level. Of course, he didn't depend on cultivation force or airborne technique, but on the stats the game gave him. While he could match Shi Yanran in visual reaction and execution, they were still day and night in terms of skills and experiences.
Facing the attack soaring towards him, if he was an actual elite, he could have easily dodged the nail while simultaneously preparing for a counterstrike and even take command of the situation. But Feng Bujue could only dodge without being able to do anything else. He needed to test her more before deciding the next strategy.
This was the magical part about the cultivation setting… an opponent like K3 - Red Iron, while powerful, was all obvious—it was the combination of strength, speed, energy, special trait, ability, and other factors.
But in the world of oriental martial arts, the standard to judge an elite was vague and uncertain. The "top-tier", "quasi top-tier", "natural born", and "otherworldly" are generalized. The ranking on the weapon's list are also relative; no one could be certain that the person ranked in the front is better than the person in the back.
A cunning move could make a person with inferior cultivation win against a much powerful foe. Deep cultivation force could make a seemingly feeble elder split rocks with bare hands. Li Xunhuan's flying knife (1), Lu Xiaofeng's finger (2), and Liu Chuxiang's airborne technique (3), no one bothered with the questions "Who has more strength?" or "Who is faster?"
The reserved and romantic attributes unique to the oriental is the attractive aspect of the martial arts world.
Feng Bujue didn't duel with an NPC with "martial arts" before, so he could not predict what Shi Yanran would do, or could do. Therefore, he must be cautious and seek to strike after.
His idea was not wrong. Shi Yanran's move was one move with two changes—whether the opponent blocked or dodged, there would be changes to follow. If Feng Bujue advanced forward, it would be more dangerous.
But when the white shadow flashed with the nail between her fingers, the subsequent move already arrived. While she was just a woman and used a tiny weapon, her external technique was mixed with fierceness and toughness; the move sounded like a thunderous roar.
Three powerful nails shot out and aimed at Feng Bujue at a straight line down from his throat. It pointed at the three major human temples on his chest, Tiantu, Zigong, and Tanzhong. (4)
Shi Yanran's after-move was surprising, and with her hand posture, it was impossible to guess where she aimed at. If it was something that she trained for many years, after they dodged the first nail, based on their experience and calculation, they would guess that Shi Yanran's after-move was either aimed below their waist or limbs. If they really thought that… they would have fallen for her trap. If they moved even an inch, it would be impossible to avoid the three subsequent nails.
But Feng Bujue didn't think so much.
If elites' duel was compared to playing chess, right now, Shi Yanran's half was placed with Chinese Chess pieces, but Feng Bujue's chess was placed with Jungle pieces (5).
You use the cannon, I'll let the animal bite you. You use the rook, I'll still make the animal bite you, you use the horse, you're giving food to me…
If the problem is how many moves you can make, that doesn't have the concept of chess at all.
Because of this, Feng Bujue once again did something that was hard for the enemy hard to determine. His expression looked focused, but he didn't make any preemptive move at all. It was not until the nails completely left Shi Yanran's hand did he finally start to react to dodge again. Although it looked extremely dangerous, he didn't get wounded at all.
Shi Yanran started to grow more shocked at Feng Bujue's ability. It was the first time she met someone that could react to her move like this. Out of all the martial artists she met, all would move preemptive against the after the move. Just that some people were more skillful. Even if they were caught in the trap, they could still save themselves. But Feng Bujue's move was closer to someone who doesn't know martial arts at all, but he also possessed the speed to dodge the ability at the very last moment.
When the heart grows suspicious, the movement would no longer be fluid. Shi Yanran's attack didn't stop, but her decisiveness already vanished. She was thinking: If this kid could manage to duel with me for twenty moves, the victor will be hard to say… his companions all look like irrelevant characters, but what if they are the same as this kid…
Of course, thinking was one thing, and she still had to fight. Shi Yanran threw out the nails and approached closer in front of Feng Bujue. With the opponent still yet to gain footing, she used her cultivation force and pushed her palm out.
The move "Soft Wind Bleeding Ray" was no different than ordinary palm techniques on the appearance, but there was secrecy hidden inside the move. A thick amount of cultivation force was gathered in the palm. As long as the opponent used their cultivation force to meet the fist, Shi Yanran's hidden force could infiltrate the opponent's body and aim for the core. Now it would be impossible for the opponent to escape and back away. If the person meeting the palm had poor cultivation force, their palm would be sucked in, and their core would be boiling like hot water. The less serious consequence would be completely losing the cultivation force, while the severe result was immediate death.
Shi Yanran used the move because she couldn't see any sign of cultivation force on Feng Bujue, so she wanted to test him. If all the moves made by the kid were because he got lucky, he would without a doubt die by the palm move; but if this kid used a special technique to hide his cultivation force, this palm could determine his cultivation level.
But the story progressed like this… in that instant, a golden shadow appeared and Shi Yanran's palm smashed onto a door-sized invisible barrier. The defense was without a doubt [The Death Poker]'s special effect - shield.
When Shi Yanran was closing in on him, Feng Bujue already sensed the seriousness of the situation, he muttered in his mind… I could dodge or block the ranged attack, but the elite's close range skills are no joke. Before, the old hag Ye Hai took a skill with his pure hand and I lost 30% of my Survival Value, but now this chick is attacking me, how do I dare to take it with my body?
Feng Bujue instantly summoned his spiritual weapon and used the special effect without any hesitation.
The attacks and defenses between Shi Yanran and himself were as fast as lightning which took at most ten seconds of time. By this time, his teammates were here to help.
The first to be here was neither Little Tan known for his speed nor Like Rain with the swiftest move. Instead, it was Young Master Ji Bu. He saw that there was a scenario battle and immediately became energized. At least he was the highest level in the team and a "pro player", so how could he let Feng Bujue keep ridiculing him? He must display his skill and let them see his power.
Ji Bu used the strongest ability of his title "High-profile Strike"—Lighting Rush.
[Name: Lightning Rush]
[Special Ability Category: Active]
[Consumption: 300 Stamina Value.]
[Effect: Become a lightning and strike a target at high speed to deliver a powerful slash. After the end of the ability, will appear two meters behind the target with the back facing the target (Cooldown five minutes, must be equipped with cold weapons. Could be activated two to twenty meters within the target's range, but cannot pass through visible terrains)]
[Remarks: If you encounter a foe that's much weaker than you, and you want to use a stylish and concise way to wipe them out, this is the move you need.]
It was worth mentioning that Ji Bu's weapon was a giant foldable fan sixty-five centimeters in length. The fan was made of metal skeletons and extremely sharp along the edge when expanded. There won't be a lot of people capable of using this weapon in this scenario.
This weapon combined with Ji Bu's title ability was complimenting. Typically speaking, with his weapon, he could not match their speed. But with the rush effect of the ability, anything he could swing, he could be able to approach the target at high speed.
Shi Yanran was just puzzled by Feng Bujue's peculiar defense move before the corner of her eyes caught a glare of light as a human light shadow soared at her. Her expression completely changed as she chose to jump up to dodge.
Who knew that her instinctive reaction was the best move against the rush-type ability. Lightning Rush's weakness was the target just needed to jump two seconds before, and the attack had a high chance of missing.
Of course, Ji Bu rushed to where Shi Yanran was standing, and when the ability's effect disappeared, he didn't hit anything as he stopped himself. At the same time, he heard a gust of wind behind his back and two nails arrived.
Shi Yanran's rhythm was completely messed by the players. She didn't know how to fight the battle, and with the mentality of doing what she could, while she flew up, she twisted her body and threw two nails at Ji Bu's temple on his back. It didn't hurt to try, and there was no downside to missing.
She didn't think… Bang! Bang! They would actually hit…
Because Ji Bu was between Feng Bujue and Shi Yanran when he dashed over, the former couldn't block for him even if he wanted to.
But fortunately, Ji Bu as a "pro player' had decent defense equipment. The two bangs were not the sound of nails piercing into his spine, but the sound of hitting his armor…
The two nails dropped on the ground and Ji Bu tumbled back a few steps and almost fell down. Although the hidden weapon could not pierce the armor, he didn't wear the Echo Armor that created an echo barrier to defend, therefore, the force of the impact was still transmitted to his body and caused 16% in Survival Value damage.
When Shi Yanran stepped onto the ground, she grew more confused. In her eyes, the players were all young adepts in appearance with the standard robe; it didn't look like they wore any armors. But the sound that the nails just made as well as how the nails deflected, it seemed like it struck something hard…
"The highest level of Golden Bell Shield… Iron Force Guarding Body?" Shi Yanran muttered, "How could this be possible… with how feeble this guy looks, how powerful could his external technique be? Even if he really did train Golden Bell Shield, with the impact of my two mails, at least he needs to calm his force with both feet on the ground, but he didn't even do that. The nails can't pierce into his body?"
When Shi Yanran thought about this, she already had the idea of retreating. If the five people in front of her all came from the same gate, regardless of what kind of odd techniques they used, her most effective hidden weapon was probably useless. If it was a close-range battle, how could she win one against five?
The problem was… with how the situation evolved, even if she claimed defeat, the enemy might not let her go. She was the only one to blame for underestimating the enemy and being too certain with her words. Now that she couldn't kill them… and she would probably die if she fought, if she escaped, he killing Wang Ao would be exposed, and she would eventually die. To simply put, her name would be tarnished in the end.
The more Shi Yanran thought about it, the more despair she felt. With a depressed expression, an abnormal emotion popped up. She gently bit her red lips and had the idea of fighting with her life.
At the same moment, a figure just happened to strike here at the right moment—it was no one other than Wang Tanzhi wielding the assassin's short sword.
Little Tan didn't think too much and decided to first rush to the enemy first before attacking in the distance. He didn't think that Shi Yanran completely lost her cool. Without caring for anything, she used all her cultivation force and punched at the closest enemy.
The fist smashed toward sLittle Tan. Before making contact, light explosive sound formed in the air. The fist might not be wiser than the other moves used by Shi Yanran, but in terms of power, it was enough to send a player back into the login space.
Little Tan was quite unlucky this time, but he still had force.
In the crucial moment, his eyes were filled with suffocating calmness, [Devil Bat's Ghostly Shadow] activated, and Little Tan's figure split in two as two shadows soared by Shi Yanran's two sides.
Shi Yanran's full-blown attack whiffed, and the power of the fist caused dust to fly and rocks to shake in front of her. But she stood there, dumbfounded. She slowly turned her head to watch Little Tan who appeared a few meters behind her back as she exclaimed in her mind, "What is it this time… is it the lost "Heavenly Web Dive?"
Just as she was stunned, Like Rain's "Dominating Deity" arrived in silence and slashed towards Shi Yanran's neck.
"Slow!" The roar was like a thunder blown from the dark alley.
At the same time, the blade of Like Rain was hit by a small rock. Although the hit didn't make her lose Survival Value, it did make her arm numb and slowed her move down.
When Shi Yanran reacted, she immediately jumped back. Her eyes were lighted up with the flames of hope. Although she didn't know who helped her in the dark, but the situation at hand now had new variables.