The woman's figure vanished.
For an instant, it was as if she had never existed—her scent, her qi, even the faintest sound of her heartbeat seemed to dissolve in nothingness. The space where she had stood was utterly still, devoid of any signs of life or aura.
Tang Jiyan frowned. His gaze swept across the scorched battlefield, his divine sense spreading like an invisible tide. Nothing. No trace.
"She's gone…?" he murmured under this breath. His voice was calm, but his heart grew tense.
A faint shift in the air.
Without thinking, Tang Jiyan shifted his weight ten inches to the side. A gust of cold passed by him, brushing the edge of his sleeve. He turned sharply—nothing. Only empty cold air greeted his eyes.
That stillness was unnerving, like being watched by some kind of ghost or something.
Internally, Tang Jiyan sighed. 'Troublesome technique…'
Before the thought could settle, pain erupted through his abdomen.
A wet, flesh slicing sound could be heard.
He looked down. A thin blade of frost protruded from his stomach, blood running down the steel like a crimson thread. The shock lasted only a heartbeat before calm returned to his eyes.
His body flickered—as he slowly took out the sword, tearing from his flesh with a wet sound. Tang Jiyan's breath hissed between his teeth, but his expression barely changed.
He turned again, scanning the surroundings. This time, his divine sense caught something—a ripple, faint but real. He moved instantly, dodging to the left, and from the corner of his eyes saw a translucent outline shimmer like mist.
"So that's where you are…"
It was her. Barely visible, her figure flickered in and out, almost like a ghost formed from frost and shadow. She hadn't realized that she'd been seen.
Tang Jiyan's expression hardened. 'So it's not perfect. There's a limit—either time or control.'
He stepped forward, hands forming a rapid sequence of seals. Qi surged, condensing around his body.
The woman's eyes narrowed; she too began to move her fingers, frost rising from the Qi around her palm. She had realized that she had been spotted, so she gave up on the technique and focused solely on making seals. She was completely visible now.
Then—lightning descended.
The sky of the pocket world had always been clear, untouched by clouds. Yet now a streak of azure thunder split the heavens, roaring as it fell. The crackling bolt slammed toward Tang Jiyan, illuminating the land with blinding light.
Outside, the cultivators who were lower than the Nirvana stage gasped, shielding their eyes.
"He's finished!" someone shouted.
"Even a Nirvana cultivator can't take that directly!"
Mortals could only see a streak of lightning land, but it was too fast for them to actually follow.
But inside the pocket world, Tang Jiyan's hand shot up.
Clap!
An almost clapping like sound could be heard. He had caught the lightning.
Gasps filled the outside world as the electric blaze coiled around his arm like a living serpent. Sparks danced across his fingers, lighting the ground beneath him—but his flesh remained unharmed.
Slowly, deliberately, he clenched his fist. The lightning twisted, condensed, and elongated—until it took the shape of a long spear, its body flickering with blue radiance and thunderous majesty.
On the other side, the woman's yin aura condensed. Ice crystals gathered around her palm, spinning until they merged into the form of a sword. Thirty seven inches of pure, translucent ice, glowing with pale blue light.
Without hesitation, they both moved.
The air shrieked as their figures blurred.
In the span of a heartbeat, lightning and frost collided.
BOOM!
A roar seemed to echo through the pocket world, but no explosion—only silence. A strange pressure spread outward, crawling under the skin of those who watched.
Even outside the pocket world, mortals and low-level cultivators shuddered. Though separated by countless barriers, they felt the chill, the static prickling their scalps.
Inside, Tang Jiyan and the woman held their ground, weapons locked together. Thunder hissed and ice cracked, neither giving an inch.
Then—with a thunderclap—they separated.
Both retreated a hundred steps at once, their movement so sudden that space itself quivered. Thin black lines spread through the air, small spatial rifts forming and vanishing within seconds.
And then—they charged again.
Their figures vanished into blurs, covering hundreds of kilometers in less than ten breaths. Each time they paused, it was for the briefest instant—just long enough for a strike.
Their weapons clashed again and again, each collision releasing shockwaves that shredded the land below.
Mountains cracked. Rivers evaporated.
Some shockwaves destroyed only a few dozen kilometers, others swept across hundreds, leaving behind desolate wastelands.
Outside, the mortals could no longer see even any shadow of their figure. Their eyes widened, staring at the screens that showed only streaks of light and thunder.
"They're too fast!"
"I can't even see their shadows!"
Even cultivators below the ninth layer of Nirvana could only catch flickering silhouettes when the two would pause to strike.
In the elder's chamber, silence reigned. Each sect's elder leaned forward, eyes sharp, reflecting both awe and calculation.
One elder murmured, "So this is the difference between other Nirvana cultivators and those who are trying to comprehend a Dao mid-fight… terrifying. Even I wouldn't dare to have cultivated my Dao during a fight back in my days."
Above the arena, seated on a floor woven from pure energy, the sect leaders and the world lord watched in quiet interest. The envoy beside the world lord smiled faintly.
"It's been years since we've seen such talents," he whispered.
The world lord's gaze didn't waver. "Few cultivators in the Nirvana Realm ever fight like this. They're both beyond the ordinary."
Inside the pocket world, far from the raging duel, two figures stood still, Shen Yuan and Ma Bingxue.
They hovered several feet above the ground, robes fluttering softly in the shockwaves that reached even this distance.
Shen Yuan's eyes gleamed faintly, a trace of rare excitement flickering within.
Ma Bingxue tilted her head, noticing his expression. Her eyes narrowed slightly. She couldn't understand what he saw that thrilled him so deeply. To her, it was just another fight between two Nirvana realm cultivators. She looked away and turned her focus back to the battlefield.
High above the charred earth, Tang Jiyan stopped entirely. He then extended three fingers toward the woman.
From each fingertip, a single drop of qi slowly drifted out—glowing faintly like droplets of liquid crystal.
The drops trembled once before transforming, stretching and sharpening until they became three long needles of water, each seven inches in length.
Then they shot forward, faster than arrows.
The woman reacted instantly. Her yin aura exploded outward, frost condensing in the air around her. The needles froze solid mere inches from her chest.
She allowed herself a small, cold smile.
But she hadn't noticed the faint spark dancing within the frozen water.
Crack.
The next instant, the needles exploded.
Lightning burst forth, wild and uncontrollable. The woman barely managed to twist her body, avoiding the full blast, but part of it struck her shoulder. Pain ripped through her nerves as she coughed blood violently.
Her calm shattered, fury flaring in her eyes. "You dare…!"
Raising her hand, she gathered her qi once more. Yin qi condensed, swirling around her like a blizzard. Within moments, dozens of ice leaves started to form around her body.
Each leaf was the size of a dagger's blade, sharp and curved at the end. They floated around her in perfect synchronization, emitting a chilling hymn.
Tang Jiyan's brows rose. "That technique…"
The leaves began to spin.
Slowly at first, then faster.
Within ten seconds, they became blurs of blue light, spinning so rapidly that they cut the very air around her.
A heartbeat later, the spinning leaves shot toward Tang Jiyan.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
He raised his hand again, forming seals midair. Qi surged, condensing into another set of water needles.
The two attacks collided.
BOOM!
The air cracked as sonic booms tore through the battlefield. Frost spread in every direction, but wherever it reached, tiny sparks of lightning countered it, creating a storm of alternating blue and white.
Space itself began to fracture, rifts opening and closing rapidly. Some froze from the cold aura, turning into brittle shards of distorted space before dissipating.
Neither Tang Jiyan nor the woman moved now. They stood opposite each other, several feet above the ground, perfectly still. Yet the clash between their attacks was faster than lightning, far faster than their previous attacks.
The water needles froze again, though it took them longer to freeze than before, solidifying into glittering shards. But just as the frost sealed them, the ice cracked—revealing what lay within.
Lightning needles.
They burst forth from the frozen shell, each carrying the wrath of thunder.
The resulting sound was hideous—like the shriek of a feral beast tearing through metal. It resonated through the entire pocket world, a mix of sharpness and roar that made the weaker cultivators outside cover their ears in pain.
Shockwaves rippled outward, less destructive than before but infinitely colder and more vicious.
The lightning needles and spinning ice leaves continued their deadly dance, colliding, separating, and colliding again. Each clash obliterated more of the landscape. Mountains melted into molten rock before refreezing into glassy plains.
And then, suddenly, Tang Jiyan changed his tactic.
The lightning needles, instead of continuing to strike, shot upward into the sky.
They exploded.
From their explosion poured a flood of pure lightning, a radiant puddle of liquid thunder that descended like a river of light. It moved with killing intent, dashing downward toward the spinning leaves.
The moment it touched them, the icy leaves seemed to screem—a sharp resonance filled the world as the lightning consumed them, melting their existence entirely.
The next moment, the lightning puddle twisted midair and lunged toward the woman herself.
Her eyes widened. She spun and fled, Yin qi trailing behind her like mist. The puddle of lightning followed, surging after her like a sentient beast. It moved three times faster than the previous lightning needles, relentless and alive.
The chase was blinding.
For two full minutes, flashes of light darted across the horizon—lightning pursuing frost, thunder roaring through the sky.
The woman's breathing grew harsh. Desperation filled her gaze. 'It won't stop… it's tracking my Qi directly!
Then, suddenly, an idea flickered through her mind.
Without hesitation, she veered sharply, heading toward a nearby mountain range. At its peak, a simple cave yawned open, dark and deep. She rushed inside, frost trailing behind her.
The lightning puddle roared after her, its glow filling the cave mouth.
At the last moment, the woman slammed her palm against the wall, blasting open a hole on the cave's side. She shot through it, disappearing into the open sky once again.
Tang Jiyan's eyes widened slightly. "Clever—"
But he had no time to adjust. The puddle of lightning, having lost its target, surged forward uncontrollably.
BOOOM!
It struck the mountain.
Light swallowed the whole mountain range for an instant. When it cleared, the mountain range was gone—only a smoking crater of about 8000 kilometres wide remained, molten rock dripping from its edges like the veins of a dying beast.
The pocket world trembled.
Outside, countless mortals gasped in unison. They couldn't believe that Nirvana realm cultivators were no less of monsters. To them now, the term 'cultivator' itself seemed to refer to monsters.
Even some of the elders' eyes widened at the sheer destructive scale.
Inside, Tang Jiyan exhaled slowly, blood still dripping faintly from his earlier wound. Though the wound wasn't a big problem as Nirvana realm cultivators heal within a day from something like a stab wound. His expression was composed, but in his eyes flickered a trace of respect.
"That woman… not so simple," he murmured.
From somewhere far beyond the smoke and shattered peaks, faint Yin qi began to gather once again.