Han Yan was far away. Even with Nightmare being one of the fastest entities in the Fourth sanctuary, it still took about two days to reach where she was.
Bian had a class in Blackhawk Academy and his body was baptised by the Black Crystal again.
He was slowly getting used to its wretched powers. Especially because he levelled up his self geno core, the Solum Mirror.
By the time he reached Han Yan, every single item in the Super Cauldron had been refined into pills and stored in bottles.
Likewise, he was able to bring the Solum Mirror up to Super Rank. Unfortunately, the soul counter was nil once again, meaning he couldn't help her level up her geno cores just yet.
He saw so many other sights and weird scenes. Gu Qincheng and Elysian Moon, a weird creature in a freezing furnace and a weird spirit performing rituals whom he guessed was Ancient Devil.
All so far away from him, it would take weeks of travelling to all of them, so Bian couldn't be bothered.
[Geno Points Acquired: 100 Ordinary Geno Points; 100 Primitive Geno Points; 25 Mutant Geno Points; 10 Sacred Geno Points; 8 Super Geno Points.]
Levelling up his self geno cores made him stronger, but did not directly increase his physical fitness.
If he maxed out his geno points though, especially the super geno points, there was a large probability he would be pushed out immediately.
However Bian didn't want to leave until Han Yan was as strong as possible.
"You're finally here."
A bolt of lightning struck the ground, yet not a single flower was damaged.
"Very strong empty powers." Han Yan complimented Nightmare.
"Yeah, it's just a berserk super beast soul." Bian shrugged and jumped off.
He paused and took a good look at her, the woman he was in love with. Then Bian let out a deep breath and gave her most of the geno cores he had gotten except some such as the Sky Path Sword.
"I feel like I'm using end level gear as a newbie. It still feels so surreal, that you've gotten this strong when we evolved at the same time."
Han Yan spoke with deep emotions in her voice. Bian could tell that she was pained.
Pained that Man Tian died. Pained that she couldn't keep up with him, his speed had left her behind, it left everyone behind.
"Yeah, anytime I remember you surviving for so long while pregnant, I can't imagine how much it must have been for you."
He paused for a moment, to look into her eyes and tell her with all seriousness. "I got to where I am because my self cores were tailored for unparalleled levelling speed."
"Even though... well I guess that's fine too. You'll do your part and I'll do mine. Together, we will succeed."
"Yeah, but you're wrong about one thing."
Bian brought out the different bottles he had. They all looked the same on the outside, but each had its own label.
"You're not just overgeared, you're also going to be max level."
Bian opened one of the bottles, a brilliant rainbow light sprung up out of it. There were crystal pills in different colours, each giving off a wonderful vitality.
"Life essences and so many!"
"All ready for consumption too. Take one of these first, I'll watch over you."
Han Yan barely had up to fifty ordinary geno points and a dozen primitive ones.
Bian watched her intently and focused the Dongxuan Sense on her. Han Yan picked out a green life essence pill and swallowed it.
Bian could feel her metabolism spiking and changing rapidly, her energy flow ran wild.
Yet Han Yan was Han Yan, in about a dozen minutes, she digested the first life essence pill and took the second.
Then the third and the fourth.
Now her body was brimming with energy, Bian knew she couldn't take any more without using up that energy first.
"How is your move, the Immortal Chasing Phantom?"
"It was very good, but now it's more or less complete with the Queen Piece you set. I can feel and relate to space like never before, I was finally able to cover up the final flaw of the move."
"Oh, and what flaw is that?" Bian mused.
"The energy consumption, now I can move as fast as the target while draining their energy for it. That means double the consumption for them, while I remain at full strength."
Bian was still weak from practicing the Story of Genes and even if he wasn't, the restrictions in the sanctuary wouldn't allow him to spar with her.
Luckily, he had Nightmare by his side.
He mounted the dark destrier while Han Yan took a fighting pose.
'Her super geno points should be around forty right now. That's quite high, but still, she shouldn't be able to dodge Nightmare.'
Bian didn't have the horse hold back, if he was going to spar, he was going all out.
Bang!
The man and horse turned to a bolt of lightning that appeared before Han Yan in an instant.
Bian's open palm went for her chest.
"Amazing!"
He couldn't help but blurt out.
"Nightmare is among the fastest beings in the third sanctuary and yet you can keep up."
Bian's palm had gotten so close to Han Yan and then stalled, be that as it may, neither of them had stopped moving though.
Rather, that small gap between them seemed to remain constant because Han Yan was flying as fast as Nightmare.
One was a bolt of ethereal lightning while the other was simply a shadow that remained so close, yet was out of reach.
And now with the Queen Piece, Han Yan could link the energy cost of this move to the attacker.
Nightmare was literally using double the energy and yet no matter how fast he moved, he could not catch up to her.
"I meant to activate it before you got too close, but Empty powers are very hard to track."
Bian nodded in understanding and commanded Nightmare to slow down. Instantly, Han Yan slowed down too, the gap between them never wavering.
"Then what will you do about this."
Bian brought out four eight-sided throwing knives and threw them at Han Yan.
She dodged the first one and had to activate Immortal Chasing Phantom on the second. Unfortunately, the skill only worked on one target and her trajectory was determined by the target.
She was hit by the two other knives, leaving marks on her armor.
"It's not over yet!"
Nightmare and Bian appeared right behind her yet in an instant, she switched target from the throwing knife to Nightmare.
Bian had attacked in such a way that if she linked to him, her back would be struck by the former throwing knife.
Han Yan also knew what he was planning, she altered her move at the last moment, maintaining the gap between them and yet resolving to avoid the throwing knife.
'She used her own energy to turn, but that meagre amount is just a drop compared to the amount Nightmare is using to catch up to her.'
Bian had Nightmare lead her into a narrow cave. Inside the cave at the extreme end, Han Yan's back hit the wall and she had no place or space to maneuver away from the horse.
Swoosh!
They passed through her, but obviously if this was a real battle, it wouldn't have ended so well.
"Very good, very good skill. It just has three primary issues. Firstly, since it only works on one target, you'd be severely open to long range attacks or group battles. Secondly, a clever opponent could lead you into a trap just like I did and thirdly, you can't win by avoiding a fight, you also need some way to attack even while the Immortal Chasing Phantom is active.
Han Yan considered his points seriously for a moment before responding. "It seems I still need to work on it more. Let's keep sparring."
The quick session was enough to stabilise her vitals, she was ready to take more life essence.
Whenever she took four pills, she and Bian would train some more. They did this three more times and on her fourteenth life essence pill, her super geno points were maxed out.
"Let's head back now, I can be more at ease knowing you've completely filled the most important tally."
She nodded and the two of them made their way to the nearest shelter. With Nightmare's speed of chasing her, they were quite some distance from the closest teleporter.
Han Yan was using a super geno core which looked like a flying mat. Bian had to get Nightmare to slow down, to match its speed.
'I can't help but admire her even more. She truly is a genius.'
Others might have called Bian a genius but he was not. He was more like a false genius, one who could beat the real deal, but wasn't one himself.
He could remember a lot with Mental Point Targeting which was why he was often mistaken for a genius.
He didn't get this title so easily though, he had to spend a lot of hard work gaining knowledge and understanding. Still compared to someone like Han Yan who formed her own movement art and comprehended sword intent by herself, he was a little lacking.
'Well I'm not exactly normal myself.' He smilled.