The envoy's pupils shrank.
Leon had vanished—not through speed, but through **flow**, slipping between spiritual currents like water moving through cracks in stone. It wasn't a movement technique. It wasn't a teleportation skill. It was simply the Dao of Euphoric Yin responding to danger with perfect, instinctive adaptation.
Leon reappeared directly behind the envoy.
His palm was already raised.
"Euphoric Yin Art—
**Silken Pulse Disruption.**"
His hand landed lightly on the envoy's back.
Barely a tap.
But the envoy felt it as though his entire meridian network had been inverted for a heartbeat. Lightning that had been gathering in his palm fizzled out. His breath caught. His spiritual power shuddered violently, losing harmony for a fraction of a second.
But that fraction was enough.
Leon spun, sweeping his leg to strike the envoy's ribs.
A normal kick?
Yes.
And also no.
Because the envoy's spiritual field, usually absolute, cracked at the point of Leon's tap. The kick slipped through the opening, connecting with real force.
The envoy stumbled—
actually **stumbled**—
hurtling sideways through the air and landing on the opposite ledge.
The world seemed to freeze.
Nala and Mei-Yun both gasped.
Disciples watching secretly from afar nearly lost their minds.
Even the wind held its breath.
A Nascent Soul cultivator had just knocked a Heavenly-Realm envoy off balance.
The envoy touched his rib with two fingers, testing the pain.
Then he started laughing softly.
"Fascinating," he murmured. "Truly fascinating. Your Dao is… monstrous."
Lightning visibly surged around him once more.
"But you are still mortal."
Leon didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
His breathing was ragged, his muscles trembling, but his eyes kept burning with something the envoy recognized only from old, half-forgotten wars—
a willingness to tear heaven apart to protect what was his.
---
## **Heaven's Palm Descends**
The envoy sighed.
"Enough warm-up. You've entertained me more than I expected."
The clouds above roared.
Lightning wove itself into a massive palm—dozens of meters wide, shaped from pure heavenly authority. The sky dimmed as if the sun itself hid in fear.
Nala's expression turned pale.
Mei-Yun's blade shook.
Even the distant scouts fell to their knees from the pressure.
Leon looked up at the colossal hand of lightning descending from the heavens.
His heart pounded.
His spirit screamed.
His veins felt like they would burst.
He couldn't block this.
He couldn't dodge.
He couldn't redirect it.
So he did the only thing he could.
Leon stepped in front of Nala and Mei-Yun—shielding them with his body.
Mei-Yun grabbed his arm in panic. "Leon—no!"
Nala's eyes widened, trembling. "Don't you dare—don't you dare do something this stupid!"
Leon smiled weakly. "I don't plan to die. But if I do… I'd rather be in front of you than behind."
The giant lightning palm descended with a deafening roar.
And Leon—
**jumped.**
Straight into the attack.
---
## **A Heart That Won't Bow**
When the lightning struck him, it wasn't pain.
It was annihilation.
His skin cracked.
His spiritual veins burned.
The world became nothing but blinding white.
He felt his consciousness peeling away—
when suddenly—
His system flared.
**[Host is sustaining catastrophic damage.]**
**[Activating Euphoric Yin Overload.]**
**[Warning: This may cause permanent changes to the host's meridians.]**
Leon forced his mind to stay present.
"Do it."
The Dao of Euphoric Yin exploded outward like a dying star refusing to fade, turning the lightning melting his body into **fuel** instead of destruction.
The massive palm wavered.
Its fingers dissolved.
Its pressure cracked and splintered.
Leon tore through the technique with nothing but his will and a storm of Yin energy boiling from his core.
He emerged on the other side—
shirt burned to ashes, body cracked and bleeding, but alive.
Barely.
His feet staggered.
His vision blurred.
But he was not on the ground.
He was still standing.
The envoy's expression finally changed from amused curiosity to absolute seriousness.
"You survived that?"
Leon spat blood and smiled.
"I told you… I'm not dying today."
---
## **Forbidden Technique – Yin Reversal Burst**
Leon raised his trembling hand.
His meridians screamed.
His chest felt like it was going to collapse.
But his core shone with a radiance he had never felt before.
The envoy narrowed his eyes.
"You are burning your lifespan."
"I know."
"And you continue?"
Leon looked at Nala and Mei-Yun behind him.
Then spoke softly.
"They're worth it."
He slammed his palm forward.
**Yin Reversal Burst.**
A forbidden technique he should never have used, one that converted every drop of Yin inside him into pure, devastating force at the cost of spiritual stability.
The envoy immediately created a barrier, lightning swirling into a thick wall in front of him.
Leon's blast hit it—
and the world erupted.
The ridge split.
Mountains shook.
The clouds tore apart.
The ground below collapsed into a crater nearly a hundred meters wide.
The envoy slid backward across the air, grit his teeth, and reinforced his barrier again and again.
Leon roared, pouring everything into the attack.
The envoy roared back, resisting.
Nala and Mei-Yun could only watch helplessly as the clash lit up the sky like a second sun.
Finally—
With a thunderous crack—
The envoy's barrier shattered.
His robes ripped apart, lightning sputtering around him uncontrollably.
He was sent flying across the valley, smashing into a distant mountain.
Silence fell.
Leon fell to one knee, coughing blood.
His body wouldn't respond.
His meridians flickered like dying candles.
Darkness crowded his vision.
But he remained conscious long enough to hear a distant rumble.
The envoy stepped out of the mountain crater—
clothes torn, hair disheveled, but alive.
Barely.
He wiped blood from his lip.
"You… actually hurt me."
Leon could not move.
Not a finger.
The envoy approached slowly, step by step.
"This is the first time in fifty years anyone has injured me. And it took you burning your own life to accomplish it."
He stood over Leon.
Lightning gathered in his hand—
not casually now,
but with genuine intent to kill.
"Consider this an honor. You will die as the most troublesome genius I've met in a long—"
Something cut through the air.
A single streak of ice-blue light.
The envoy's eyes widened.
"What—?"
The ice blade slammed into his shoulder, freezing half his arm instantly.
Nala appeared beside Leon, breathing hard, aura bursting outward like a glacier cracking open.
"Touch him…"
Her voice was cold enough to freeze bone.
"and I'll cut off your head."
Mei-Yun appeared on Leon's other side, sword drawn, killing intent radiating like a blade aimed at heaven.
"You fight him again," she said quietly, "and you fight us too."
Behind them—
a wave of cultivators arrived—
Azure Blossom Sect
Misty Orchid Clan
Steel Whistle Pavilion
Crimson Lotus Clan rebels
and dozens of warriors who had followed Leon even without orders.
They lined the ridge, weapons drawn, formations ready.
The envoy looked around slowly.
The sky darkened again—
not from storm clouds—
but from the number of cultivators gathering.
Leon smirked weakly.
"Looks like… you're outnumbered."
The envoy sighed.
"Very well. I will withdraw… for now."
He pointed at Leon.
"But your life… I will take later."
Lightning exploded beneath his feet and he vanished into the distance.
---
The moment he disappeared, Leon collapsed forward.
Nala caught him instantly, cradling him against her chest, her cold façade breaking completely.
"Leon! Stay awake! Don't you dare disappear on me!"
Mei-Yun pressed healing talismans against his wounds, panic in her voice.
"Leon, look at me—look at me!"
His lips moved.
Nala leaned closer.
"...told you," Leon whispered faintly, "not dying… today…"
Then he passed out