Chapter Ninety: A Desperate Strike

The two were locked in a standoff, neither willing to strike first.

In the end, it was the hunchbacked Evil God Warrior who lost patience first. He gathered power into his fist and threw a distant punch at Yin Shiqi.

"Dark Sun Fist!"

In an instant, the power of his small universe merged with the force of his punch, transforming into a black sun that howled toward his opponent.

He wanted to probe from afar and see what was really going on.

With no time to dodge, Yin Shiqi—who had long since concentrated the power of his small universe into his hand—chopped a hand blade toward the black sun.

"Holy Sword: Slash!"

His opponent's speed was far greater than his own, but as long as it wasn't a direct fist or kick, he could still barely manage to cope.

Because using a technical move required a certain amount of time to gather power. Even if that time was very short, it still existed.

And while the destructive power of technical moves far exceeded that of direct physical strikes, they were not as swift.

Even so, the black sun was already very close to him.

The scorching wave of heat it brought made every breath Yin Shiqi took feel as though his throat was being seared raw.

Shhh!

Yin Shiqi's hyper-compressed small universe power aligned into a single line, transforming into a silver sword aura that surged forward to meet it.

In a single instant, it cleaved the approaching black sun cleanly in two.

Boom!

The black sun, split in half, exploded violently on either side of his body.

Fortunately, the Crater Sacred Armor protected him. As long as he wasn't struck directly, damage of this magnitude was something he could endure.

Not far away, the hunchbacked warrior's pupils contracted slightly at the sight.

"So that's the move you used to kill those two, is it?" he asked, his expression grave.

That kind of attack was far too sharp!

Even his "Dark Sun Fist" had been split in two. If such an attack landed on a human body, it would surely dismember the victim on the spot.

"That... who knows? Why don't you come up and try it yourself?" Yin Shiqi replied with a smile, even as he began gathering small universe power into his hands once again.

Right now, the only thing he could rely on was his sword aura.

But his opponent was far faster than he was. Rushing to gather power at the last moment would never work—he had to be fully prepared in advance.

"No need to try! Since I've seen it, you can die with peace of mind!" The hunchbacked Evil God Warrior let out a great shout and charged forward immediately.

Since he couldn't gain an advantage in techniques, he simply wouldn't use them.

His speed was faster than his opponent's, and his strength was greater. He only needed to watch out for that lethal sword aura, and the battle could be decided in a single instant.

It was in that very moment that, sensing the enemy charging at him, Yin Shiqi decisively chopped a hand blade directly in front of himself.

His opponent's speed was roughly four times his own. He had to release the sword aura early; otherwise, by the time the enemy closed in, it would already be too late to act.

Shhh!

The sound of air splitting rang out as the silver sword aura slashed toward the figure ahead.

"Too slow, boy!" the hunchbacked Evil God Warrior laughed with smug satisfaction.

Already anticipating this, he abruptly changed direction, dodging the sword aura and appearing at Yin Shiqi's right side.

At this moment, Yin Shiqi was still holding the position of his hand-blade swing, having not yet fully recovered.

That was the enormous gap in speed between the two.

"Die!"

The hunchbacked Evil God Warrior grinned savagely, clenched his fist, and drove it toward Yin Shiqi's head.

And in that same instant, another familiar sound of air splitting rang out.

Shhh!

"Impossible?" He widened his eyes in shock.

A line of silver light rose from the top of Yin Shiqi's head, then "fell" straight toward him.

It was sword aura!

He desperately tried to pull back his fist and dodge the terrifying streak of light, but he had thrown that punch with absolute confidence and all his strength, holding nothing back. Trying to retract it now was no easy feat.

Even though his speed was far greater than Yin Shiqi's, suddenly changing his move while completely unprepared—there was no way he could make it in time.

Puh!

The silver sword aura slashed down from above Yin Shiqi's head, catching the hunchbacked warrior completely off guard and striking him dead on. But Yin Shiqi was also hit by that fist a moment earlier, sent flying directly.

Fortunately, his helmet protected him, so the punch didn't kill him on the spot.

"How could this..."

The hunchbacked Evil God Warrior stood motionless in place, still maintaining his punching stance, though a red line now ran across his body—from the center of his brow down to his lower body.

He had deliberately aimed to strike at the moment when Yin Shiqi, having just used a technique, would be unable to change his move. Yet who could have known that Yin Shiqi would release a fatal blow without any warning at all?

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Covertly drawing on the Sweet Dew to heal his wounds, Yin Shiqi slowly crawled up from the ground and spat out a mouthful of bloodied saliva. "Who told you that a technique has to be released with your hands? You fool!"

Ordinary punches and kicks were one thing—those truly couldn't do without hands and feet.

But aside from certain specific techniques, many moves didn't require hands or feet at all.

Because the essence of all techniques was actually controlling the power of the small universe to undergo special transformations.

And the true foundation for controlling such transformations of small universe power was one's personal will, not the movements of hands and feet.

If hand and foot movements could control small universe power transformations, then everyone would simply train their Sixth Sense by waving their limbs around and be done with it.

In the end, it all came down to personal habit.

Before mastering the Sixth Sense, an ordinary person's will could not affect the objective world.

So people were accustomed to changing and influencing everything around them through their direct physical actions.

But after mastering the Sixth Sense, that situation changed.

A warrior could fully control his small universe power and use his personal will to influence the objective world.

For example—telekinetic power.

It was just that this lifelong habit was extremely difficult to break, so when people used various techniques, they would inevitably and unconsciously incorporate their own bodily movements.

Like Yin Shiqi's hand-blade swing.

In truth, he didn't need to swing his hand blade at all—he could control his small universe power to manifest as sword aura even without it.

The swing was merely a habitual motion.

And it was precisely this habitual way of thinking that he exploited to create a one-shot kill opportunity for himself.

Because he was certain that after seeing his lethal sword aura, the enemy would be on guard and would not easily approach.

And with his own speed, striking the enemy with his sword aura while the enemy remained cautious was nearly impossible.

So from the very beginning, he had prepared two sword auras.

One was stored in his hand; the other was hidden within his body.

When the enemy saw him release the first sword aura and realized he couldn't change his move, he would surely believe that this was the safest and most opportune moment to attack, letting his guard down completely.

What he didn't know was that at that very moment, Yin Shiqi had already set a trap with the second sword aura, simply waiting for him to deliver himself into it.

Hearing Yin Shiqi's contemptuous mockery, the hunchbacked Evil God Warrior seemed to understand something. He had just opened his mouth to speak again when his entire body suddenly split in two, collapsing to the ground in a bloody mess.