Chapter Seventy-Eight: Another Team

“You always want to shield us from everything! I won’t allow it—this time, just like before, we live or die together.” Rare anger colored Yaoling’s pale face as she clenched her fists tightly. Cao Monk nodded in agreement, his resolve clear: he would not flee; their fate was shared.

The Jinghong Blade began to tremble violently, its keening growing louder. As the blade’s vibration intensified, the sound of its song echoed in Ye Bai’s mind, and with a thunderous shift, he suddenly saw the scene of his battle with the Pharaoh.

Inside the pyramid, the blade in his hand began to form—a blade forged of water’s power first, condensing along its length. Ye Bai closed his eyes, feeling the elemental forces within him entwine and compress, then the edge of wood’s power started to manifest.

The Jinghong Blade in Ye Bai’s grasp shuddered so fiercely it seemed to awaken, as if it now possessed a life of its own. From the moment the blade began to sing, Ye Bai could no longer hear Cao Monk or Yaoling’s voices. His mind was wholly immersed in the memory of his fight with the Pharaoh: the exhaustion and renewal of his elemental power, the forging of a twin-element long blade. Though he was not consciously aware, the Jinghong Blade had stirred those memories from his subconscious.

A humming grew ever faster, the blade’s frequency increasing until it made Ye Bai’s arm tremble. The Jinghong Blade was wrapped in a white aura, within which blue elemental energy began to swirl.

Yaoling and Cao Monk could not fathom what was happening to Ye Bai—his eyes were suddenly shut, and the Jinghong Blade in his hands grew increasingly strange.

But the abomination would not foolishly wait for him to gather strength or allow him time for enlightenment. They had clawed their way from District D into District B, their path marked by blood and slain abominations. Their evolution was clear: they knew well that a battle that could be ended in one second should never be dragged out to three. The longer the fight, the greater the risk.

The abomination stepped forward noiselessly, but both Yaoling and Cao Monk felt their hearts clench. The moment had come.

Cao Monk glanced at Yaoling and smiled, taking a deep breath as he stepped out. Yaoling’s gaze was filled with worry.

It was the first time Cao Monk took Yaoling’s hand—he gave it a gentle squeeze, his eyes reassuring, determined, and disdainful of the abomination.

Suddenly, his figure flickered like a phantom, vanishing from Yaoling’s sight.

A crackle of sparks burst from the abomination’s black claws as Cao Monk’s elemental power burned, gripping its arm—but he could not even damage its scaled armor. The gap was immense—a whole tier.

In a flash, a white gleam caught Cao Monk’s eye as the abomination slashed at him with its longsword. Cao Monk’s fingers clamped onto its scales, moving close to its body and evading the deadly blade. A piece of red cloth drifted down from the sky.

The Jinghong Blade in Ye Bai’s hand was now covered in water’s power, its keening soft yet fierce—like a dragon’s roar, or a phoenix’s song.

To Cao Monk, the abomination was a giant. Facing an opponent a tier above, the safest place was not afar, nor behind, nor hidden, but right upon its body. Though he dodged the sword itself, the wind of its swing tore open his back, blood soaking his white undershirt.

He ignored the wound, moving on the abomination like a fish in water. The abomination tried repeatedly to seize him, failing each time. Sometimes it attempted to ignore him and strike at Ye Bai, sensing the greater threat, but whenever it advanced toward Ye Bai, Cao Monk would block its path.

“The enemy advances, I harass; the enemy harasses, I retreat.” That was Cao Monk’s strategy now. If the abomination tried for Ye Bai, he would interfere; if it came for him, he would evade, never allowing it to catch him.

A sudden boom—the wood’s power began to spread along the Jinghong Blade. The air itself trembled as the wood energy extended from the hilt toward the tip, each advance accompanied by a deep, rumbling sound.

The abomination sensed the tremendous energy gathering in Ye Bai’s blade, and abandoned its focus on the “little ant” clinging to its body. Sword leveled, it charged straight at Ye Bai.

The air was filled with increasingly dense booms as the wood element surged toward the blade’s tip. At the junction where water and wood met, they locked together like jagged teeth—water within wood, wood within water. When the wood finally covered the last bit of the blade, a flash of white light erupted, the serrated junction vanished, replaced by a new color—a blend of blue and green, a vibrant teal.

At that moment, the memory of Ye Bai’s battle with the Pharaoh finished playing out in his mind. He opened his eyes, holding once more a double-element blade of water and wood: familiar yet strange, as if it were an extension of himself, yet yearning to break free.

With a cry, Ye Bai swung his blade at the abomination. The white aura wrapped around the twin elements flew from the blade, striking the abomination’s chest and shattering several of its black scales.

As Ye Bai unleashed the blade’s energy, not far away, a man in gray with a green sword at his waist watched as his blade emitted a verdant light.

“Interesting. Two people have awakened your fighting spirit in a single day. I wonder if we’ve grown too complacent, or if the new generation is advancing ever faster.” The gray-robed man smiled, sensing the youthful, spirited energy in the air, and continued forward.

“Kill!” A roar signaled Cao Monk’s attack. His hands shone gold as he thrust fiercely at the abomination’s waist.

Ye Bai gripped the blade with both hands, the Jinghong Blade shimmering with green, blue, and teal, its energy rippling through the air.

A clash rang out as the Jinghong Blade met the abomination’s sword. Ye Bai heard a sharp crack—the abomination’s sword was severed by the Jinghong Blade.

Without resistance, the blade drove through the abomination’s body.

The elemental power surged within Ye Bai, the Jinghong Blade greedily drawing all his energy.

When his wood and water energy poured into the blade, a brilliant green, blue, and teal light flashed, illuminating both Ye Bai and the abomination.

The abomination, wild and bloodthirsty, roared as black scales grew rapidly over its body. Ye Bai’s face, usually pale with a hint of yellow, now twisted with ferocity and resolve.

With a crash, the Jinghong Blade struck the abomination’s chest. The newly grown black scales shattered, then were instantly vaporized by elemental power.

Suddenly, the blade expelled all the stored energy, its glow intensifying. For a moment, a dragon’s roar seemed to echo from the Jinghong Blade.

Water energy surged, the blade revealing intricate patterns that pulsed with white light. Water energy, as if guided, flowed into the blade’s edge, while the wood energy wrapped it in green. As water passed through the teal zone, blue became teal, then green. The blade seemed to come alive as the wood-forged edge extended several meters, biting deep into the abomination’s chest.

A ring of green energy erupted between Ye Bai and the abomination, spreading outward. The abomination was thrown back, a horrific wound gaping in its chest.

At that moment, Cao Monk carved a gaping hole in the abomination’s back, his figure flashing as he joined Ye Bai.

The abomination seemed to awaken its latent power, roaring as yellow pus flowed from its wounds—those inflicted by Ye Bai and Cao Monk alike. Black tendons burst from beneath its skin, rapidly mending its injuries.

“How interesting,” the gray-clad man smiled wickedly. His neural device had detected the energy fluctuations—elemental power at the Foundation stage. Yet what he sensed did not surpass the advanced entry level, and the combination of elements was utterly chaotic. Such things were rare in District B.

“Let’s go take a look. I want to see who’s so bold as to storm District B at entry level. Is it another rising star like Zhang Jian, or some reckless fool courting death?” With that, he strode ahead.

“How can this be?”

Ye Bai and Cao Monk watched as the abomination easily repaired its grievous wounds. Despair gripped their hearts: after all their struggle, the monster had merely shrunk by fifty centimeters. Even their hard-won dual-element blade technique seemed useless against it.

Yaoling rushed over, grasping Cao Monk’s hand, infusing him with wood energy to heal his sword wound.

“Monk, take Ling and leave,” Ye Bai repeated. He did not want all three to die here; if anyone could escape, it would be worth it.

Without allowing time for Cao Monk to object, Ye Bai charged forward with the Jinghong Blade.

Again and again, his attacks were deflected by the abomination, throwing him to the ground each time—yet he rose and attacked anew.

“Ye Bai, why do you always play the hero? Is your life so worthless? I won’t leave, and neither will Ling—we’ll stay with you, together.”

Cao Monk called loudly to Ye Bai, his hands shining gold, his fighting spirit ablaze in his eyes.

“Yes, Ling will fight with you both this time,” Yaoling glanced at Cao Monk and drew her sword.

“Hahaha! Good—forsake neither life nor death, brothers once more!” Ye Bai laughed aloud, looking at the abomination before him and suddenly pitying it.

“Well now, you three freshman—there’s no need for a tragic farewell here. Live well; luck doesn’t always favor you. Remember: don’t cross the boundary. The consequences are more than you can bear. Only by surviving do you have a chance to turn the tables. Consider this a little gift from your senior.”

A flash of green sword light swept through the air. The abomination that had driven Ye Bai and his friends to despair was instantly shattered by the sword’s brilliance.