Chapter 5: Retreat.

The girl held her breath, every nerve taut as a bowstring.

Li Tianxing’s lips twitched almost imperceptibly, wasting no words.

The moment Jiang Ningshuang’s voice fell, the echo of her last word, “here,” still lingered in the damp, cold forest air.

Li Tianxing moved.

No earth-shaking aura, no phenomena stirring the skies.

Only speed—blinding speed, too fast for Jiang Ningshuang’s eyes to track, shattering the limits of her perception.
The short distance between them closed in an instant.

A distorted afterimage lingered where he stood, but his true form had already crossed the gap, appearing three feet from her.

The gust from his movement grazed her cheek, lifting strands of her silver hair.

A flash of light—his palm sliced toward her neck like a blade.

Jiang Ningshuang’s ice-blue eyes contracted sharply, but her reaction was swift.

“Retreat!” she commanded inwardly, her toes slamming into the slick, leaf-covered ground.
Lunar divine power surged and exploded beneath her feet, pulverizing the rotten leaves into dust, revealing dark soil.

She retreated several steps, dodging the palm strike, then channeled lunar energy into her hand, aiming to counterattack while he was off-balance.

But Li Tianxing was faster, fiercer, more precise—as if every twitch of her muscles, every flow of her spiritual energy, was within his calculations.

The moment she moved to strike, his hands, hidden beneath his dark sleeves, shot out at an unnatural speed, meeting her head-on.

Golden, razor-sharp energy, solid as steel, cloaked his hands.

Rip—!

Crack—!

Two sharp sounds erupted almost simultaneously.

The first: Li Tianxing’s claw-like fingers, wreathed in armor-piercing golden light, ignored the lunar energy in her palm, seizing her slender yet powerful wrist with deadly precision.
The protective ice barrier, shimmering with moonlight, crackled faintly and shattered instantly under the domineering golden light.

The second: the horrific sound of bones being forcibly wrenched from their sockets, clear and piercing.

Li Tianxing’s movements flowed like water—grabbing her wrist, dislocating her joints, twisting them in one seamless motion.

“Ugh—!”

The girl let out a pained cry.
A portion of the golden energy rampaged through her body, clashing against her lunar power, and a trickle of blood seeped from her lips.

Her lunar energy, capable of freezing a common cultivator’s blood and soul, was torn apart and melted like dry leaves before his overpowering golden light.

Pulled forward by his force, she stumbled and crashed heavily onto the cold, damp ground covered in thick, rotten leaves.

A dull thud echoed as muddy water splashed, staining the edges of her pristine white robe with glaring filth.

Her arms hung limply at her sides, her shoulder joints radiating not just searing pain but a deep, marrow-chilling emptiness—both arms were dislocated.

‘This guy came prepared. Even without using the treasure he wielded before, I’m no match for him.’

Li Tianxing didn’t relent.
His left hand formed a dragon’s claw, reaching straight for her neck to finish the job.

Blood sprayed from her mouth as she forcibly channeled lunar energy, propelling her body back several meters to evade his strike.

She snapped her head up, silver hair matted with cold sweat, clinging messily to her pale, pain-twisted face.

‘Looks like I have no choice but to try this.’
With a thought, a jade-green hairpin flew from behind her, bursting with blinding, dazzling light, forcing Li Tianxing to pause his next move.

The hairpin shimmered with waves of emerald light, growing from a finger’s width to exude a heavy, oppressive pressure.

Her stunning ice-blue eyes burned with deep-seated hatred.

She glared at Li Tianxing, spitting out each word:
“Who sent you? Quite the setup, but too bad—I was ready.”

In the span of her words, the hairpin stretched to over ten meters, etched with four divine runes, wreathed in swirling mist, radiating an otherworldly aura.

Immense pressure bore down on Li Tianxing, yet his face showed no panic—only calm.

Jiang Ningshuang noticed his composure, and an ominous feeling surged within her.
She didn’t dare linger.
Controlling the hairpin to stab toward Li Tianxing, she swiftly chanted a cryptic, bitter incantation.

Her bronze ring glowed, and with a series of hisses, a horse-like beast materialized, covered in black scales, its tail thick like a python’s.

The beast reared its head, roaring to the sky, its scales glinting with majestic power.

Jiang Ningshuang leaped onto its back, whistled sharply, and the beast bolted, charging into the dense forest behind her.

“I’ll take my leave. Enjoy yourself.”

The hairpin trembled, doubling in size, its emerald mist thickening as it shot toward Li Tianxing with even greater force.

Li Tianxing raised his arms as if to brace for the massive blow, but his gaze remained locked on the silver-haired girl’s fleeing figure.

The hairpin vibrated wildly, glowing brilliantly, charging with unstoppable momentum as if to crush him entirely.

The ground beneath Li Tianxing’s feet cracked instantly, his legs sinking deeper and deeper until only his upper body remained above the surface.

“Oh? This little trinket’s interesting.”

Suddenly, golden chain-like lights burst from his chest, scattering outward.
Then, dozens of tiny, bean-sized lumps flew from under his arms, merging into the golden light.

They spiraled briefly in the air before shooting into the hairpin.
Soon, the hairpin began to shrink, reverting to its original size, and fell to the ground with a crisp clink.