Chapter 1253: Not Bad
The huge storm that resulted from Zhang Lie's attack almost sent Hong Xi and Zhang Hanxiang flying.
Zhang Lie clasped both hands behind his back. "Not bad. I can see that both of you have grown."
Zhang Hanxiang sighed in frustration. "But in the end, it wasn't enough, was it?"
Hong Xi cried out, "Master, please give us another chance!"
Zhang Lie shook his head. "I've seen enough."
Zhang Hanxiang shook her head. "Brother, we haven't demonstrated our full strength!"
"I know. That's why I'm willing to permit you to challenge me individually."
Hong Xi and Zhang Hanxiang went still.
"But didn't you say that we had to force you back a step?"
"It was just a test to get a sense of your growth, and whether or not you have the qualifications to face me individually. I can't say that I'm particularly impressed with either of you, but I've seen clear and noticeable improvement."
Although they still weren't at the level of the members of Team Zenith, they weren't far off.
After obtaining Zhang Lie's approval, Hong Xi and Zhang Hanxiang glanced at each other in happiness.
Hong Xi stepped forward. "Let me go first, Captain."
Zhang Hanxiang took a step back.
"[Syzygy]!"
The pale blue moon to Hong Xi's back transformed. The wheel of flame shone with light. Energy coalesced behind Hong Xi's back and formed a crimson sun.
The moonlight that reinforced Zhang Hanxiang's strength was replaced with sunlight as red as blood. Zhang Lie felt his own strength decrease to a noticeable degree.
The decrease in his strength was greater than he would be able to achieve if he invoked [Eclipse] himself. It was evident that Hong Xi had been working hard on her understanding of [Eclipse] and [Black Sun], and her insight and knowledge had surpassed his by a wide margin. Otherwise, she would hardly have been able to combine the two techniques together.
Hong Xi herself was shocked by the increase to her own strength after seizing a fraction of Zhang Lie's. She felt stronger than she had ever been, as though her body were on fire with the energy that she now possessed.
With a moment's thought, however, Zhang Lie could trigger his own [Eclipse] and dispel Hong Xi's domain.
Despite Hong Xi's advanced understanding of [Eclipse] that went beyond his own, he did possess the same technique, and he too grasped its common principles. It would be trivial for him to dispel her domain, but Zhang Lie didn't do so. He allowed Hong Xi to absorb a fraction of his strength—if he didn't, this fight would be like bullying a kid.
The difference between Hong Xi and Zhang Lie was so immense that it would be a one-sided fight otherwise.
The blood-red domain passed through where the members of Team Zenith were standing, and she also absorbed their attributes. No one protested; Hong Xi was their junior, after all, and they were willing to help her against an opponent like Zhang Lie.
The members of Team Zenith were themselves quite interested to see just how threatening Hong Xi would be against Zhang Lie after having absorbed all their strength.
Hong Xi felt her body burning as though lava were flowing through her veins, as though power was going to erupt from her at any moment. There were no more than ten hunters present, but the strength that Hong Xi received was superior to that which she had obtained in the void battlefields of the third realm from five million disaster-grade genetic lifeforms.
If not for the fact that Hong Xi had grown stronger since then and maxed out her monarch gene fragments, she would already have exploded from overload.
Behind her, multicolored light flared. The domain of [Eclipse] spread out beneath her feet. She walked forward, moonlight radiating from her every move. A black sun appeared behind her, sparking where it touched the moonlight at her feet.
With the fan in her left hand, Hong Xi summoned a twister. The blood-red flames of a blood sun burned around her, glowing with heat and blinding light. The blistering temperature caused the ground to turn to lava, and the twister on her left hand sucked the flames up.
The long sword in her right hand gleamed with a red edge, imbued with concentrated scarlet light. Behind her, multicolored light flared. The blood flames merged with her sword energy, causing each of her strikes to leave behind a long trail of fire.
"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!"
Zhang Lie extended his pointer finger like a sword, and water-attuned genetic energy gathered around it. As he waved his finger, sword energy erupted like a wave, accompanied by a giant shark.
The sword energy tore apart the cyclone of blood flames, and his summoned shark bit apart her sword slashes.
Under the illusory moon, her movements blurred. Using her superior-grade illusion leopard soulshard, she put some distance between them. Scarlet slashes filled the arena.
"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"
A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.
Zhang Lie stood still in place, his body like a pillar that held up the sky, impossible to budge or move. The blood flames and scarlet sword slashes cleaved around him, neither able to draw near.
Pitch-black genetic energy surrounded him. As soon as the scarlet light approached, it disintegrated.
"[The Hidden Moon]!"
Her sword arced through the air in a slash of bloody light. Zhang Lie countered with a casual wave of his blade.
The blade shone with light as Hong Xi's sword slash was sliced in two.
She waved the fan in her hand, causing Zhang Lie's hair to drift in the breeze as she flew toward him. Her silver sword glowed with bloody radiance, and sunlight and moonlight gathered over it.
"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"
Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent shot forth.
The red sun behind her back glowed with light. Hong Xi's fan likewise shot out beams of light, as though she were a bloody sun about to turn into a supernova. Scarlet moonlight shone from the sword in her right hand. She flapped her feathered fan, causing scarlet flames to roar. Tremendous energy felt like it would burst right out of her body. Energy spread from her core to her arms, which began to crack.
She sent a sword slash through the flames, combining the energies of sun and moon, forming a scarlet halo of light that dispersed all around her.
The members of Team Zenith immediately activated their defenses as the barriers of the pocket dimension began to crack.
Zhang Lie's pitch-black serpent tore apart Hong Xi's red hoops of light, then made to swallow her whole.
Hong Xi waved her left and right hands in synchrony. The scarlet light mixed with the bloody storm and exploded in the serpent's mouth, causing it to disintegrate.
"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"
As Zhang Lie punched forward, a blood dragon roared in outrage and shot forward.
Hong Xi waved her feathered fan and scarlet sword once more. Sword energy and howling winds surrounded her. A blood dragon emerged, dispelling both sources of energy. Eyes wide, Hong Xi watched the gigantic dragon rush before her and open its maw wide. Just as it was about to swallow her, however, it swooped up and continued flying overhead.
Hong Xi let out a deep breath of relief, then felt a wave of shame overcome her. She had been defeated so easily!
Hong Xi was a bit afraid of Zhang Lie rebuking her for her failure. "Master, do you think that I'm useless? I'm so weak, but I still insist on challenging you one-on-one..."
"It's a good thing that you're intent on improving, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to fight an opponent far beyond your strength. As long as you're willing to challenge your limits, I consider you a good student—whereas if you had remained stagnant and refused to do anything to improve, I would have tossed you out of the dojo."
Hong Xi took a deep breath and smiled in relief. "Thank you, Master."
"Did you intuit something?"
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