Everlasting Longing, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, silently pierced into his back in the blink of an eye.
What happened next unfolded so rapidly it seemed like a flash of lightning to the Moon Envoy. The outcome, however, was entirely beyond her expectations—and utterly unacceptable.
After being struck, Zhan Ri Fei didn’t stop moving. Instead, he surged forward, his longsword slashing upward. The force of his momentum counteracted Everlasting Longing’s hold on him, freeing his body from its grasp.
Blood sprayed into the air.
When Everlasting Longing withdrew from his back, its tip was soaked in crimson.
It was his blood.
In the darkening twilight, a single red streak danced in the air like a blood-stained butterfly.
Zhan Ri Fei drew a deep breath.
At last—he—had—seen—it.
* * *
The Moon Envoy let out an involuntary gasp of shock!
She had been deceived.
Her opponent had feigned exposing a weakness, deliberately taking a strike to his back. In truth, he had used the moment when Everlasting Longing entered his body to soak the weapon in his own blood, making the otherwise invisible and intangible weapon visible.
The Moon Envoy channeled her internal energy into the whip with her left palm. Everlasting Longing suddenly arched upward, twisting in a half-circle. Under the force of Entwining Softness, which transformed from extreme softness to unyielding rigidity, the weapon let out a piercing whistle.
The blood staining Everlasting Longing scattered in all directions under the surge of her energy.
Once the blood dispersed, Everlasting Longing would once again vanish from sight.
But she was still a step too late.
Zhan Ri Fei needed only that fleeting moment when Everlasting Longing was visible during its half-arc.
Now that he could see her mysterious weapon, she could no longer seize the initiative.
–– Perhaps no one in this world could reclaim the initiative from him now.
–– From the move he had long prepared to unleash!
He leapt into the air.
With a flick of his left hand, the tip of Everlasting Longing was already in his grasp! At the same time, his sword in his right hand slashed down along the length of the whip.
The Moon Envoy responded instantly, sending out a burst of Entwining Softness with her right hand!
But only after unleashing her attack did she realize she had made a second, unforgivable mistake.
–– Her opponent’s blindingly fast sword strike was a feint!
Everything—his movements, his apparent vulnerability—was calculated to divert her attention and split her focus from controlling Everlasting Longing with her internal energy.
Everything was designed to achieve one goal:
To take Everlasting Longing from her.
–– The invisible, intangible, bone-seizing Everlasting Longing.
A chill ran down her spine in an instant.
For the first time, she felt fear.
Was it because she sensed the sharp, precise impact delivered through Zhan Ri Fei’s hand as he grasped Everlasting Longing?
Although he had borrowed the energy from the whip’s half-arc, and the force transmitted through his hand was not overwhelming, it was enough.
Enough to make the five fingers of her left hand feel as if struck by lightning, leaving them numb and devoid of sensation.
The faint shadows of her weapon wavered, scattering into the air like delicate, drifting leaves.
The Moon Envoy’s mouth gaped open, as though she had seen a ghost. Her enchanting smile was shattered, torn apart by the scene unfolding before her eyes.
Everlasting Longing—her Everlasting Longing—had slipped from her grasp!
The other end of Everlasting Longing, the bloodstained end, was now firmly held in Zhan Ri Fei’s hand.
Countless faint shadows swirled in the air.
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