"Grandpa Liu Jianfeng is about to make a move on Jingming." In the livestream stands, Mrs. Xu became nervous. "Can Jingming block his sneak attack?"
"A sneak attack requires an element of surprise," Xu Hong said seriously. "Liu Jianfeng walks silently and is extremely fast. Once he makes a move… Jingming might not be able to react in time if he discovers it too late, and he will be killed with a single strike. This is what makes assassins a force to be reckoned with."
"Won't that make him the first person to be eliminated?" Mrs. Xu was worried.
"But as long as he can discover him, there's nothing to worry about," Xu Hong said.
"Uncle, will Jingming discover him?" Li Miaomiao asked.
"I don't know. It's hard to say when both sides are Divine experts," Xu Hong said as he stared at the screen.
Countless viewers in the livestream were watching the battle that was about to begin.
...
Xu Jingming held the spear in his right hand and looked around, listening attentively. He carefully but rapidly walked down the alley.
He was wearing light body armor and had a shield on his back; this inevitably produced some faint sounds while walking. If it were people wearing soft leather armor and had practiced Shadow Leopard Evolution or Fantasy Cat Evolution, the sound they produced while walking was virtually negligible.
He didn't know that at this moment, a thin elder—Liu Jianfeng—was hiding in the alley in front of him. Liu Jianfeng crouched there silently and only used the corner of his eye to keep tabs on Xu Jingming. His breathing was so weak that it was almost non-existent, and the world seemed to have fallen silent.
Xu Jingming didn't notice him and continued walking.
When the two were about 30 feet away from each other, Liu Jianfeng narrowed his eyes.
Boom!
In an instant, his entire body was like a bolt of lightning as he swooped down from above the alley.
Xu Jingming looked up and saw a sword flash in front of him.
The moment he looked up, the spear in his right hand was instinctively swung upward. The spear produced blurry afterimages at an equally terrifying speed!
Clang.
The sword beam spun and struck Xu Jingming's spear. Leveraging on the recoil, the thin monkey-like figure stepped on the alley wall and leaped to the rooftop of the alley, disappearing.
He fled after failing to deliver a successful strike.
Holy sh*t! Xu Jingming's forehead was covered in cold sweat. There was no sign at all. I only felt the airwaves when he attacked. I almost failed to block his strike and nearly died.
Be it the sparring partners in the martial arts arena or the preliminaries, they were virtual opponents. This was Xu Jingming's first time fighting real experts in the virtual world.
As for the martial arts competition in reality, it was also an open one-on-one battle in the arena! This was the first time Xu Jingming had experienced being assassinated by an expert.
Walking on the edge of life and death made Xu Jingming's scalp tingle. Thankfully, I often practice Shadowless Thrust and am able to exert strength quickly enough. I survived that calamity.
Far away.
The thin old man, Liu Jianfeng, also had a smile in his eyes. Quite an impressive kid. He actually managed to react to my sneak attack from 30 feet away.
...
This was the first clash between experts in the Divine battle, and it caused China's official livestream to boil over.
"Beautiful!" Huang Yong exclaimed in surprise.
"Nice assassination attempt and nice blocking!" Qin Yiwen's eyes lit up.
Liu Xin waved her hand with a tap. In the livestream's combat space, high up in the air, the battle from before was replayed in slow motion.
"Look! When Grandpa Liu Jianfeng was hiding, he was like a piece of dead wood. There was no movement, and Xu Jingming didn't detect him. When he was close, Grandpa Liu Jianfeng made a move." Huang Yong pointed at the projection.
In the slow-motion footage, Liu Jianfeng lunged forward like a sword being thrust out.
"Xu Jingming only sensed it when he attacked." Huang Yong pointed at the projection again. "The moment he looked up, the sword in Liu Jianfeng's hand was only about ten feet away from him. It was too close. At the speed of this strike, it would've stabbed Xu Jingming in about 0.06 seconds."
"Although the limits of human reaction time have decreased after cultivating the evolutionary methods," Huang Yong said, "physical movements still require time. Upon closer examination, Xu Jingming exerted strength with one hand holding the spear and thrust out his spear, so fast that the spear's afterimages turned blurry. This was an instantaneous burst of force—it was as fast as lightning! Even so, he didn't have the time to block this strike. He aimed his spear straight for Grandpa Liu Jianfeng's body."
"Right," Qin Yiwen said. "If Grandpa Liu Jianfeng were to continue his swoop, the spear would've penetrated his body first! Grandpa Liu changed moves extremely quickly as he swung his sword down. Just this spin of his sword… is also as fast as lightning. It's said that swords are fast, but to be this fast is quite impressive. When the strike landed on the spear shaft, he instantly leveraged on the recoil force and tapped his foot on the wall to escape."
Qin Yiwen sighed in amazement. "From the time he made a move to the time he disappeared, the entire process took 0.68 seconds—not even a second. Simply amazing! In the past World Martial Arts Tournaments, nothing was as detailed as this exchange!"
"I have to admit that Grandpa Liu Jianfeng is terrifying! Xu Jingming's spearmanship is also terrifying—as expected of Spear Demon. This old-young duo has given us a visual feast at the apex!" Huang Yong was extremely impressed. The deeper one was in the martial arts circles, the more such a clash intoxicated them. Wasn't this a thousand times more exciting than in any movie?
The audience in the livestream's stands boiled over. "Is this something that a human can do?"
"If I were Xu Jingming, I wouldn't have noticed it at all. Even if I looked up and saw him, I wouldn't have had the time to use my spear."
"It was only an instant. How did he strike so quickly?"
"Let me educate you on some general knowledge: Spear Demon Xu Jingming's world-famous ultimate move is called 'Shadowless Thrust.' He is famous for his quick draw."
"Xu Jingming strikes quickly while Grandpa Liu Jianfeng is capable of changing moves quickly. The moment Xu Jingming struck out, he changed the attack he was using with his sword."
"The clash between the two was truly impressive."
"It only took 0.68 seconds from the time Grandpa Liu Jianfeng attempted the assassination to his escape and disappearance! Is this even considered human?"
"This is a god!"
"This is what a Divine battle is?"
"Daddy, Mommy, I'm scared!"
In the comments section of the livestream, countless messages kept pouring in.
Liu Xin felt her blood pump with passion and zeal. "This is a Divine battle, and this is only the first clash in this Divine match."
The number of viewers in the livestream was also rapidly rising. It had reached 500 million—an unimaginable number of viewers.
"Beautiful."
"Beautiful spearmanship."
Grandpa Xu Guishun, Xu Hong and his wife, and Li Miaomiao had been holding their breaths nervously. They only became excited when the clash was over, and their blood boiled when they heard the two national team coaches' explanations.
"Jingming's spearmanship is really beautiful. I can see it with my eyes, but I can't master it with my body." Grandpa Xu Guishun sighed.
"One is good at assassination, and the other is good at counterattacking. I was the one who taught Jingming the One-Inch Punch, but I'm inferior to him now." Xu Hong sighed in surprise and smiled. "How many people in the world can practice the One-Inch Punch to this extent? My son—he's awesome!"
Li Miaomiao's eyes lit up as well. "How impressive."
She practiced swordsmanship and felt that Liu Jianfeng's sword techniques were even more terrifying than the national team's expert, Cong Yao. However, her beau still managed to force the senior into a retreat.
Li Chen'an and his wife also nodded in satisfaction at their prospective son-in-law's battle scene, their smiles subconsciously turning brighter.
******
In the drizzling town.
Sharpshooter Wang Yi was on the roof of a restaurant, and she was half-squatting as she carefully observed the area. This restaurant wasn't the highest building, but it gave her a good field of vision. The angled roof in front and behind the restaurant gave her the perfect cover as well.
"I'm here," said Xu Jingming via team chat when he arrived at the restaurant's backyard.
"I'll keep an eye on the street in front of the restaurant." Wu Sai hid in a house opposite the restaurant, allowing him to monitor a large area on the street in front of the restaurant.
"Jingming and Wu Sai, protect our Sharpshooter. I'll be there in a minute," Zhang Qian said through the team chat. "I'm fat, so I'm a little slow. Please forgive me."
"I'll patrol the area 200 meters from Sharpshooter." Bizarro Twin Sabers Master Dong Xu also silently patrolled the area.
At this moment, an agile figure flashed past a roof not far away. When Bizarro Twin Sabers Master Dong Xu saw the person, he immediately alerted the team. "I've discovered Miao Blade Heroine Lian Shuang!"