Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 544 Reaching the Pinnacle
"Pfft!"

Li Xia suddenly retreated, the long sword severing from his body with a dull thud, blood dripping down the groove of the sword.

The long sword was filled with another kind of power, which was spreading rapidly along the wound. The surrounding true qi seemed to have been provoked and gathered together without needing to be urged, and simply rushed forward.

The energy being consumed within his body caused immense pain, so much so that even Li Xia couldn't help but twitch his eyebrows.

A wisp of blue smoke drifted from the wound, and the flesh was healing rapidly, but the energy stubbornly contracted into a ball, like a maggot clinging to a bone.

True Qi can devour, but it takes time. This time is reflected on the panel as a small gray-white injury bar appearing on the health bar.

Li Xia stretched out his hand, and the spear flew back into his hand with a hum. He calmed his breathing. In fact, if he had cut vertically or horizontally directly after Kazan stabbed him, the injury would have been exponentially worse.

But Kazan did not do that, except that he reacted quickly enough to retreat instantly.

The most important factor.
Li Xia's gaze fell on the slowly fading light on Kazan's body. It must be the stiffness caused by the absolute defense.

The reason why ultimate abilities are ultimate abilities is that, unlike ordinary abilities, they are not like one's own fist bones or spear bones, which have considerable pre- and post-cast delays.

This is good news. Using the ultimate ability will cause a stun, so once the 'barrier between man and god' is broken, Kazan may be unable to dodge due to the stun.

The premise is that there is the ability to break through.
Li Xia's left hand slid gently along the shaft of the spear, lifting it up once more.

His sharp gaze was fixed on Kazan; at least there was some good news—

Once he was cornered by himself, he didn't have many good options either!

"Oh!"

The water surface exploded again, and the silence of night swirled out from the mist. The black gun barrel was as solid as iron, and the tip of the gun gleamed with a chilling light. Li Xia stepped onto the water, and as the reaction force acted on his whole body, his toes twisted forcefully on the water.

The rapid ripples instantly spread out from the toes, but the body, using the force of this twist and the previous strength, tensed up the waist and abdomen, like a large bow suddenly drawn to its full extent.

With his rear hand sinking his wrist to lock the hilt and his front hand lightly tapping the shaft, Night Silence suddenly emitted an extremely deep 'humming' sound as it thrust out diagonally, aiming straight for Kazan's wrist holding the sword. The wind from the spear swirled with mist as it grazed past the longsword. Although there was no actual contact between the two, an extremely clear and melodious ringing sound rang out the instant it brushed past the blade.

Kazan neither dodged nor evaded, but instead flicked his wrist, and his longsword slashed horizontally. The moment the blade collided with the spear shaft, another loud clang of metal clashing rang out.

"Bah!"

Li Xia felt a numbness in the tiger's mouth of his hands holding the gun, but Kazan's attack did not stop, but instead, like a tide, it kept overwhelming him.

Kazan also used the recoil from the collision to spin around, his longsword slashing down like a full moon. The blade wind cleaved through the mist raised by the spear, and slashed diagonally towards Li Xia's shoulder. Li Xia's eyes flashed, and with a quick tightening and loosening of his hands, he removed the remaining numbness.

At the same time, he lowered his waist and stepped back, the spear shaft spun half a circle around his waist, and the spear blade drew a silver arc in mid-air to meet the attack.

But the moment the two arcs intersected, Li Xia twisted his wrist, and the direction of the spear blade changed slightly. He used the skillful force of "deflecting the spear" to deflect the blade's momentum. At the same time, he stepped forward and pushed off the ground, and the spear tip, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, pierced straight into Kazan's heart.

This thrust embodies the essence of the spear technique that Li Xia has comprehended so far. The force travels from the soles of his feet through his waist and then into the shaft of the spear, like a rainbow piercing the sun. The moment the spear tip breaks through, the air is suddenly compressed, and a semi-transparent cone-shaped sonic boom cloud explodes in the fog.

"Om-"

The sonic boom followed the gunshot, causing ripples to violently spread across the surrounding water. Even the mirror-like lake seemed to jump up as if shaken by the sound waves.

Kazan's dark eyes reflected the cold glint of the gun tip, and finally, a flicker of emotion appeared on his stiff face.

The current situation is unavoidable; we can only watch helplessly as that cold light arrives in an instant.

In that split second, a tiny black vortex suddenly rose from Kazan's chest. Before the vortex could expand, the spear had already pierced his chest.

"boom!"

The violent power, carrying water vapor, burst forth with intense light, but the dark vortex on Kazan's chest was like a bottomless pit, swallowing most of the surging power.

Even so, the power that the vortex couldn't absorb in time was still spreading outwards, and thick black smoke flowed like liquid from the wound that had split open in Kazan's chest.

A cold glint flashed in Li Xia's eyes, but he took a step forward and thrust his spear forward again. At the same time, his whole body closed the distance with this step.

Having already suffered the consequences of being approached at close range before, Kazan would never allow Li Xia to get close to him again.

While maintaining the devouring vortex in his chest, desperately consuming the true qi that had invaded his body, he also reversed his wrist, making the long sword circle in his hand with extreme agility, turning it into a reverse grip, and slashing fiercely towards Li Xia's neck.

In the black and white world, the longsword is not fast, but the sharp sword intent and killing intent it contains are extremely pure.

Li Xia's heart pounded faster and faster, the rapid, drum-like heartbeats causing his skin to turn red and hot. Large amounts of water vapor rose from every corner of his body, drawn by the opportunity to condense above his head, forming white clouds of smoke that resembled flowers.

He abruptly pulled back his spear with both hands, and with a crisp "bang," the spearhead struck the hilt of the longsword that was slashing towards him like a firing pin.

Even if Kazan's power is immense, it's only sixty points. The power of his wrist slash alone cannot match the power of Li Xia's two hands holding the gun.

This impact sent Kazan's hand flying out like a pendulum!

However, Kazan also decisively released his grip on the sword. The tip of the longsword still tried to point inwards along with its previous momentum, but the hilt was subjected to a short and rapid outward force.

Under the combined force of the two forces, the longsword spun several times in mid-air, just like a spin in freestyle baseball, before being gripped by Kazan again. However, this time he did not reverse his grip. Instead, he shifted his feet and leaped backward, using the momentum of his retreat to slash diagonally.

Li Xia exhaled and suddenly kicked forward with force, his entire body being lifted into the air by the force of the kick.

Moon Kick Spin!

This spinning move is rarely seen in actual combat, but Li Xia leaped up and his spear also spun with his body, managing to deflect the longsword once again.

Two ripples spread out again, and the lake surface slowly returned to calm.

Li Xia and Kazan stood facing each other again. This battle, which could be described as the most outstanding of the third tier, was unknown to anyone. However, both sides used all their skills and delivered their best performances in the shortest time after the battle began.

His blood was boiling, his heart was pounding, and Li Xia felt that he had never fought so exhilaratingly. Among the strong opponents he encountered, many enemies were indeed strong, but most of them were stronger in terms of physique, skills, and attributes.

The only master-level nameless king he encountered was only half-defeated. Now that he was truly fighting Kazan, a swordsmanship master whose attributes were stronger than his own, he had no distractions and focused all his attention on every move.

Because of purity, one can pursue that one point and reach the pinnacle! It's a pity that Kazan was an avatar of the Old Gods after their death, leaving only his fighting instincts and residual wisdom. Therefore, while Kazan's blade is fierce, it lacks some spirituality and is more rigid.

If Li Xia felt the exhilaration of facing a powerful enemy, then Kazan's remaining fighting instincts were filled with astonishment.

In his hazy memory, he seemed to have never encountered such an enemy before, who could not only fight him to a standstill, but even subtly gain the upper hand.

"You are strong"

After fighting for so long, the two finally had their first exchange.

Li Xia remained as calm as the lake water beneath his feet; it seemed that Kazan wasn't the only one to have said that.
"I know"

"Once I kill you, you will become my new tool."

Ye Ji twirled nimbly in his hand, and Li Xia lowered his body slightly, holding the spear horizontally to his chest.

To Kazan's surprise, he didn't bother to answer anymore.

His dark pupils were fixed on Li Xia, and suddenly he roared wildly.

Suddenly, black smoke rose from his body, enveloping the long sword as it swept across the distance. Wherever the sword passed, the water surface boiled, pressing down like a raging torrent.

Instead of retreating, Li Xia advanced, circling and spinning, his spear shaft swirling around his waist, creating layers of spear flowers that stirred the water's surface, whipping up a huge waterspout before colliding with it.

"boom!!!"

The giant wave collided with the tornado, and the massive burst of water instantly filled the entire space with a thick fog, with water droplets flying everywhere, like a torrential rain.

The two rushed toward each other at the same time, creating an unusually clear passageway in the fog and torrential rain.

The cold glint of the blade and the gleam of the spear tip wove a dense net in the fog. Li Xia remained silent, only swinging his spear relentlessly. The crisp sounds of the spear shaft colliding with the blade were as dense as a sudden rainstorm, and sparks exploded and vanished in the fog.

Sometimes the spear tip dipped down, aiming at Kazan's lower body, forcing him to raise his sword to defend; other times the spear shaft swept horizontally, the spear tip grazing his neck in a cold arc, forcing him to lean back and dodge. Tiny wounds appeared on Kazan's body, and thick black smoke flowed from his body.

But Kazan's blade is equally deadly; a mere glancing blow will stain the white mist with a hint of crimson.

In the thick fog, the shadows of guns moved like dragons, and the flashes of blades were like lightning. The two figures were locked in combat on the water's surface. Every time their weapons clashed, the water surface seemed to explode, splashing water into the sky and making the space, which should have gradually become clear, hazy again.

The prolonged stalemate fueled Kazan's remaining fighting instincts, making his longsword strikes increasingly powerful, with the black smoke enveloping the blade almost solidifying.

But Li Xia's eyes suddenly lit up. In the brief moment when he dodged the vertical slash and the water was split in two by the blade, he gathered his spear and focused his energy. Pure white flames rose around him, and the white flames condensed on the tip of the spear even made the lake water hiss and boil.

"boom!"

With a heavy stomp of his left foot, the water surface first sank downwards, and then the nearby water surface, like water droplets on a drumhead, jumped up directly. The spear was filled with true qi, no longer bound by skillful force, but using hardness to break hardness—the spear tip, like thunder breaking through the fog, struck the spine of the long sword.

With a loud "clang," Kazan's upward-slashing blade, which was about to make a diagonal cut, was deflected by the impact. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Xiazhe spun around, using his waist and abdomen to generate power. Although he appeared to be facing away from Kazan, the gun flexibly followed his body's rotation and suddenly thrust out from above.

Back carbine!
This shot was extremely powerful; in the real world, many people would even drop their guns after thrusting it out. But when Li Xia used it, it seemed to explode within the dense fog, directly pushed away by the sonic boom cloud that suddenly burst out.

Kazan felt as if a dazzling white light exploded before his eyes, and instinctively wanted to use Absolute Defense, but he couldn't react in time when facing Li Xia's sonic boom gun.

The same applies to this moment!
"boom!"

Without hesitation, the spear tip pierced Kazan's skull. The violent force exploded along the blade, and thanks to its superb defensive capabilities, Kazan's skull and skin withstood the terrifying outflow of energy.

His head suddenly swelled up like a balloon, but this only made the power inside his skull even more destructive.

A fierce glint flashed in Li Xia's eyes, and his steel-like muscles tensed to their limit in an instant, unleashing unprecedented power.

The boiling energy in his chest surged up involuntarily, and as it was exhaled from his throat, it turned into a long howl. Under the vibration of the sound waves, his muscles also trembled slightly. At this moment, Li Xia's energy and spirit seemed to have reached a certain limit. He thrust the spear in his hand forward again with all his might.

"Oh!"

Kazan's head shattered like a watermelon, and the flying white bone fragments shot out like bullets, striking Li Xia's body with a metallic clang like the striking of bells.

"Huffing and puffing—"

Li Xia was breathing heavily, but instead of pursuing further, he suddenly holstered his gun and leaped out, pulling out a Perfect Vitality Potion without hesitation and gulping it down.

The rapid circulation of Qi calmed his somewhat disordered breathing, and his body rose and fell with each breath, relieving the hidden injuries and numbness caused by the collisions during the battle.

At this moment, Li Xia's face showed no joy, only solemnity.

Kazan's headless corpse remained standing in the same spot, but a deafening sound could be faintly heard from the sky, until the sound grew closer and closer.

"Kara!"

Amidst a crisp sound like shattering glass, countless spiderweb-like cracks suddenly appeared in the hazy sky.

Even the lake surface trembled violently, as did Kazan's body.

wrong!

Li Xia was startled, watching the water beneath her feet making a splashing sound, as if drawn by something, quickly surging towards Kazan's feet.

Even the fragments that had been torn apart from the sky revealed the strange interplay of starlight and darkness outside.

This space is cracking!
Li Xia took a deep breath.

Phase Two.
--------------

1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

While typing at the nurses' station, I'm grateful to the kind and beautiful nurse who gave me a place and a seat.

(End of this chapter)