Yuanji stood in the shattered courtyard, the spinning glaive still vibrating in his hands. His forearm dripped dark blood, running down in slick rivulets, but he barely noticed the sting. His golden eyes burned as they fixed on the lizard, the beast now wobbling slightly under the relentless strikes.
"You…" he rasped, voice hoarse yet sharp with disbelief. His fingers tightened on the weapon, knuckles white despite the blood. "It… it wasn't just your soul defense… was it?"
Pressing a hand to his chest, he breathed raggedly, body trembling—but his mind remained sharp, calculating. The realization struck like lightning through bone: the paralysis. That invisible grip. The impossibility of moving against it.
"You were the one who locked me down," he muttered, low but deadly clear. "I underestimated you. Thought your soul art was all you had. Thought… I could survive if I outmaneuvered your attacks."
The lizard's golden eyes narrowed, wings twitching in irritation, as if sensing the sudden shift in the man before it. It had always observed him, measured him—but for the first time, Yuanji realized the beast hadn't reacted fast enough. His strikes had forced it back. It had faltered, even if briefly.
A thin, grim smile tugged at the corner of his blood-streaked lips. "You didn't notice… not fast enough. Not this time." His voice strengthened, surging with controlled fury.
He planted his feet, letting the pain anchor him. The glaive hovered just above the ground, spinning like a silver halo. His divine sense pulsed through the weapon, extending from his fingertips as his eyes glowed brighter.
"Enough hiding behind tricks," he hissed. "It's time you see the full strength of Luo Yuanji!"
With a sudden motion, he slammed the glaive into the ground, sending a shockwave spiraling outward. Stone cracked. Lightning leapt along the fissures. Golden sparks arced into the air. The lizard snarled, wings flaring defensively, tail lashing—but Yuanji's gaze didn't waver.
He began weaving his qi into precise, controlled patterns, calling on a technique he had honed in secret. Energy gathered in his palm, forming multiple shimmering strands that spun around him like whips of pure force. Each hummed with power, waiting for command, ready to strike.
"Come… face me," he growled, voice sharp as flint. "I've been too hasty. But now, the hunter becomes the hunted."
The lizard hesitated—a fraction of a second too long. That was all Yuanji needed. His bloodied hand rose, and with a fierce cry, he sent the first attack surging forward—fast, precise, lethal, guided entirely by his divine sense.
The courtyard erupted once more in flashes of light and the hiss of electricity as Yuanji pressed the advantage.
The lizard's wings snapped open, gusts of charged wind spiraling outward. Crescent-shaped wind-blades sliced toward Yuanji, whistling like steel knives across the courtyard.
Yuanji's eyes narrowed. Every strand of divine sense connected with the glaive, spinning it faster. With a precise flick of his wrist, the whirling weapon intercepted the wind-blades.
SHING! CRACK! FWAP!
Sparks erupted where steel met air, shockwaves rattling the shattered stone. The wind-blades didn't stop—they split, weaving around his defense, seeking gaps in his stance.
Yuanji's palms extended, weaving qi strands around him. The glowing tendrils twisted and coiled like living whips, intercepting the stray edges and redirecting them safely into the broken courtyard. A thin line of blood trickled down his arm from a grazing strike—but he ignored it, focused entirely on the rhythm of attack and defense.
The lizard's tail whipped, a strike of condensed lightning slicing through the air with deadly precision. Yuanji's glaive lunged, guided by divine sense, colliding with the tail-tip just as it aimed for his head. Sparks flew. Thunder ripped through the courtyard as the lizard recoiled slightly—but only for a heartbeat.
Lightning arced along its spine as it twisted mid-air, tail snapping again. Scales ignited, shooting forward like molten daggers. Yuanji's whips of energy spun outward, forming a barrier. Each scale struck the strands, electrocuted and shattered into harmless fragments—but a few grazed his robes, leaving dark streaks where lightning kissed skin.
The lizard landed, claws tearing into stone, sending shards skittering outward. It lunged forward with a direct attack, fangs bared, lightning coiling between teeth like serpents. Yuanji's eyes flared as his glaive met the strike in a sweeping arc.
CLANG!
The glaive intercepted the fangs just inches from his face, sparks blinding in brilliance. The lizard twisted mid-strike, spinning its body in a lightning-laced dance, forcing Yuanji to adjust every move in real time.
A burst of qi erupted from his palms, whipping the strands forward. They lashed like electrified whips, striking the lizard's side, tail, and wings simultaneously. The beast roared, staggering under the multidirectional assault.
But it recovered instantly. Wings flaring, tail slicing, claws slamming the ground—it pressed the attack relentlessly. Wind-blades and lightning strikes converged, forming a storm of death. Yuanji spun, struck, countered—each motion precise, each strike calculated by divine sense.
A long, serpentine swing of the tail came from behind—Yuanji sensed it before it arrived. One whip shot outward, lashing around the tail, redirecting the strike just enough to avoid a fatal blow. Another shot forward, striking the lizard's chest, staggering it briefly.
Yuanji pressed the advantage. Every strike of the glaive, every lash of the qi whip, drove the lizard backward. Yet the beast's golden eyes burned with undiminished fury—it calculated, adapted, and struck again.
A tail-spear, a wind-blade, and a lightning-charged lunge came in perfect unison—a deadly triad. Yuanji's palms shot strands of energy outward, forming a lattice that guided his spinning glaive. Each attack met resistance, sparks, and shattering impacts—but slowly, inexorably, he began to dictate the rhythm of battle.