"You think I'll fall for your trick?" Lie Hua sneered.
Li Yun sighed. "What could I possibly trick you with, given my measly strength? Just do as I say, and you'll understand everything."
Lie Hua frowned, pondering his words. After a moment, she decided to calm herself and listen carefully.
She heard it—a rhythmic sound in tune with her heartbeat. But there was something else, something offbeat. She focused her attention on the sound.
It was then she felt it. She could hear it.
Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!
The constant pounding echoed in her ears. But as she listened more carefully, she realized it was different from the beating of her heart.
The sound grew louder as the moments passed.
'It sounds like... running.'
Lie Hua's eyes widened as the realization struck her.
'That's not just running...'
She turned around, her expression shifting to one of shock and horror. At the entrance to the forest, dust clouded the area as hundreds of beasts charged toward them.
She was astounded, horrified, and amazed all at once, seeing so many beasts stampeding their way.
It was in that instant she pieced it all together. Li Yun hadn't been wasting her time for nothing. He had been waiting for this. He had been waiting for the beast tide.
But how did he know a beast tide would come?
Lie Hua turned to Li Yun and saw his smug smile. Her suspicions were confirmed. "All that nonsense, all that time wasted—for this?" she asked.
Li Yun nodded, smiling. "Yup. Everything I did from the moment I saw you was for this one moment."
He added with a grin, "Do you like it?"
Lie Hua didn't respond. She turned back to the beasts, now only a hundred meters away. They would reach them in mere moments.
The sound of their stampede was like a deafening drum in her ears.
"I see. I understand now." Lie Hua nodded in realization. "But there's still enough time to eliminate you." Her expression grew fierce as she lunged.
"Moonlit Tides Sword – Tidal Surge Thrust."
Her sword shot forward in a swift and precise motion. She didn't have enough time to condense Qi, so she relied on pure technique.
Li Yun smiled and confidently thrust his sword forward as well, his right eye glowing purple, while his left shone with a red brilliance.
Just as their swords were about to collide, Lie Hua suddenly felt a sharp pain stab through her head. Her focus wavered as her vision was engulfed by a haunting image—a vast desert, barren and desolate, scattered with bleached bones as far as the eye could see.
The eerie sight only lasted for a brief moment, but it was enough to disrupt her concentration. Her flawless sword strike faltered, veering off course.
It was at this precise moment that Li Yun fully unleashed the power of the Purple Divine Eye. With its heightened perception, he saw through the obvious flaw that had emerged after her earlier falter. The disruption in her stance, the slight hesitation in her strike—all of it became painfully clear to him, as if time had slowed down.
"Thunderclap Dragon Sword!"
At the last possible second, Li Yun unleashed the full power of the 6th layer of his Thunderclap Dragon Sword.
Bang!
Their swords clashed with a sharp metallic ring, and once again, the sheer force of the impact sent Li Yun hurtling backward. His body hit the ground hard, and he skidded violently across the barren earth, leaving deep gouges in the earth as he was dragged along. The momentum carried him for several moments before he finally came to a halt, a cloud of dust settling around him.
"Heh."
Even though Li Yun had lost the exchange, a smile lingered on his face as he looked at her.
"As I said before, I've already won. You'll be running away on your own." He grinned, glancing at the approaching beasts, now just seconds behind her.
Lie Hua turned around, her breath hitching as she realized how close the beasts were. She knew if she didn't move soon, she'd be swept up in the tide.
Gritting her teeth, she turned back to Li Yun, seething with frustration. She had been outplayed from the start. The only option left was to run. The shame of losing to someone at the 1st level of Qi Training Realm weighed heavily on her.
"You! I'll see you at the outer sect. Hmph!" Lie Hua huffed, preparing to use her movement technique to flee, but then curiosity got the better of her.
"What about you? Can you outrun the beasts?" she asked.
"Whoa, is Fairy Lie worried about me?" Li Yun exclaimed, feigning joyful surprise.
"Aaagh!" Lie Hua snapped and bolted, running as fast as she could. It was unclear whether she fled from the beasts or from Li Yun's infuriating words.
"Hehe." Li Yun chuckled as he watched her go, then turned to the oncoming beasts.
"I love you guys, but sadly, you don't love me, so I'll have to keep my distance." He muttered to himself, looking at the stampede, and calmly walked back toward a large boulder. He stopped using Raging Heaven at this moment and drank a bottle of blood to heal the injuries he suffered from backlash.
Upon reaching the boulder, he jumped on top of it and sat cross-legged. "It's finally coming to an end. With the points from the core and the extras from reaching the 4th floor of the Combat Pagoda, I should have enough to top the combat assessment. Lie Hua shouldn't be anywhere close. That makes up for the 15-point gap before the assessment." He smiled to himself, content as he waited for it all to conclude.
By now, the sound of the beasts' rampage was deafening. Li Yun saw them arrive at the spot where he had dropped the pill, and they were tearing the area apart, searching for it. Meanwhile, several beasts ran past the boulder, continuing forward as if driven mad.
Li Yun watched, feeling a wave of drowsiness wash over him. 'I haven't had a proper sleep in hours.'
"Haaaah!"
He stretched and yawned. 'But I need to shake off my sleeping habits. Father said a martial artist might need to stay awake for days. I should sleep less and focus more on my martial path.'