"What? How is this possible?"
Watching as Qing Ming calmly walked out of the ice prison, Xue Feng's face was full of disbelief.
It wasn't that he doubted Qing Ming's ability to break free from his Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique; after feeling the power of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken Qing Ming had cast, he had already guessed that his ice prison might not hold the other.
What surprised him was how effortlessly Qing Ming had escaped.
Click, click, click... Qing Ming stepped through the icy debris, leaving the prison's area, and directed his gaze at Xue Feng.
He had to admit, his opponent was indeed clever. Knowing he wouldn't stand a chance in close combat, Xue Feng had planned from the beginning to avoid close-quarters and instead rely on wide-range and long-range attacks.
Whether it was the earlier blizzard and ice dragon, the later ice spikes and ice prison, or even the intermediate distraction with Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique, all these moves reflected Xue Feng's intent to defeat him without direct confrontation.
However, while his approach was well thought out, he had underestimated Qing Ming's strength.
Even after being trapped in the Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique, Qing Ming had several ways to escape.
The Mangekyō Sharingan's Heavenly Hand Power technique alone would have easily allowed him to exit the prison of ice. Beyond that, techniques like the Rasengan, Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, and Wind Release: Blade of Wind might also have done the job.
Although his initial attempts seemed ineffective, that was only because he didn't want to spend too much time trapped.
If it came to a stalemate, Xue Feng might not outlast him.
After all, the main purpose of the Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique was to restrain, not kill. Killing relied on the steadily dropping temperature and the prison gradually filling with solid ice.
With a current constitution score of 16, Qing Ming could endure for a long time.
During that period, he could use his immense chakra reserves to repeatedly cast fire-style and other ninjutsu to attack the ice walls.
Although these walls seemed to regenerate indefinitely, they were actually sustained by chakra.
Thus, in the end, it would come down to a battle of chakra reserves.
Qing Ming was certain that Xue Feng did not have more chakra than he did and thus could not possibly outlast him.
If Xue Feng's chakra control wasn't precise, his chakra output per second might even be slower than Qing Ming's destruction rate, allowing him to escape even faster.
In short, he had many means of escape, far from being out of options as his opponent might have thought.
As for Xue Feng, after such an intense chain of attacks, he probably had no effective way left to restrict Qing Ming.
At that thought, Qing Ming's body radiated a faint green glow as wind chakra diffused around him, merging him with his long blade.
Seeing this familiar sight, Xue Feng's expression changed as he recalled the scene from earlier when Qing Ming dodged the ice dragon.
He swiftly dodged, leaving his original position.
In the next instant, Qing Ming appeared, striking the air.
But that didn't matter. Without pausing, Qing Ming reactivated his Instant Sword Technique, pursuing the fleeing Xue Feng.
After half a month of practice, his Instant Sword Technique had already advanced to level 4, making him even faster than before.
Even when Xue Feng evaded with full effort, he only managed to dodge three times. By the fourth attempt, Qing Ming found his opening.
Swish! A flash of the blade.
Xue Feng raised his kunai to block Qing Ming's slash aimed at his waist.
Clang! A crisp metallic sound rang out.
Qing Ming's blade and Xue Feng's kunai clashed and separated, the blade quickly changing angle to strike toward Xue Feng's neck. Xue Feng responded swiftly, blocking the second strike with his kunai.
Qing Ming's expression remained steady as he continued his assault, while Xue Feng focused solely on defending.
Throughout, Xue Feng didn't dare glance directly at Qing Ming's blade, relying solely on intuition and combat experience.
Clearly, information on Qing Ming's Illusion Sword Technique had leaked, or Xue Feng wouldn't be avoiding eye contact.
Qing Ming wasn't surprised.
After their last battle, which had cost the Hidden Mist Village dearly, they would certainly have investigated him.
With several Hidden Mist jonin surviving their encounters with him, they would have shared intelligence to prepare their comrades.
For example, Xue Feng was now choosing not to look at his blade.
However, this forced him to stay on the defensive.
Such a defense might work momentarily, but it couldn't withstand Qing Ming's relentless attacks.
Qing Ming knew this and maintained a seamless flurry of strikes, aiming not to kill immediately but to deny his opponent any breathing room.
Xue Feng was also aware of this, so after two to three minutes of this exchange, he broke free at the cost of a wounded arm.
As Xue Feng created some distance, Qing Ming immediately pursued with his Instant Sword Technique.
However, this time, Xue Feng didn't run. Instead, he swiftly formed hand signs, using an Ice Substitute Technique just before Qing Ming's blade made contact.
Crack! The ice replica shattered under Qing Ming's strike.
Without pausing, Qing Ming locked his gaze on Xue Feng's silhouette and closed in once more.
Sensing Qing Ming's murderous intent, Xue Feng gritted his teeth and quickly performed another set of hand signs, splitting into two bodies that ran in opposite directions.
Seeing this, Qing Ming didn't hesitate, using Shadow Clone Jutsu to create a clone to chase one of the figures on the left.
He himself chased the one on the right.
Why this split?
Simple—intuition.
Even with the Sharingan, he couldn't tell the difference between the two, so he chose based on gut feeling.
Unfortunately, his intuition wasn't entirely accurate.
A minute later.
Looking at the shattered ice fragments on the ground, Qing Ming shook his head.
When he initially caught up, he was excited, thinking he'd finally cornered Xue Feng, since his opponent withstood a few attacks without dissipating.
However, it turned out to be just another ice clone.
Then again, ice clones were indeed superior to standard shadow clones—especially in durability, significantly outperforming standard shadow clones in this regard.
"What a pity."
With a light shake of his head, Qing Ming ceased pondering. With a powerful leap off the water's surface, he surged toward the front-left.
At that moment, Xue Feng's real body was entangled with Qing Ming's shadow clone.
But as soon as he received the memory from his shattered ice clone, Xue Feng glanced over his shoulder and, without hesitation, resumed fleeing.
The shadow clone immediately gave chase, followed by Qing Ming.
In the blink of an eye, the chase resumed across the open sea.
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