Song Wanníng's eyes darkened for a moment, then she used spatial folding. Her figure snapped from the far distance straight to the front lines.
She didn't retreat, she charged straight in, her longsword slicing toward Feng San.
The energy from his staff passed through the folded space and slammed into a small hill far behind them.
A thunderous boom erupted.
The hill shattered on the spot, and the deafening blast sent the nearby birds and beasts fleeing in panic.
Facing the sudden strike from her sword, Feng San swung his staff again.
This time, the staff and the sword clashed directly.
Song Wanníng let out a muffled groan as the sheer force blasted her backward. Her feet gouged a long trail through the ground until she finally crashed against a large tree and came to a halt.
Her white robes were stained with scattered blood, her face pale, but her eyes were frighteningly calm. Her fingertips moved faster and faster. Silver spatial sigils and transparent ripples of time spilled forth like flowing water, merging into the trembling void around her.
Feng San didn't waste his breath. His staff moved again.
This time, the shadows of the staff didn't number one, they came down in the thousands. They twisted through the air like venomous dragons, biting down from every direction and sealing off every path of escape.
Even before the staff wind landed, the crushing pressure made every bone in her body ache. She bit down hard on her lower lip. The gap in their cultivation was still too big. The higher one climbed, the more deadly a small difference became, let alone an entire major realm.
Song Wanníng could only run the Hunyuan Heart Scripture as fast as she could, borrowing its circulating force to dilute the pressure crushing down on her.
She resisted with difficulty, completely unaware that Feng San was already deeply shaken.
Her strength was wrong. With his cultivation, just the suppression of his Primordial Soul alone should've frozen her on the spot. But after so many exchanges, she moved freely. She wasn't even slightly suppressed. Even now, when he used his full might, she was only slowed a little.
While he was still reeling from shock, something even more unbelievable happened.
A soft gray light suddenly flashed around Song Wanníng. It circled her once, and in the next instant, she slipped free from his suppression.
Her eyes relaxed, and she unexpectedly flashed Feng San a smile.
Something exploded in his mind. Feng San shouted in disbelief, "The Hunyuan Heart Scripture, you actually master it?! How's that possible?!"
Shock twisted his expression, but jealousy burned even hotter.
Back then, when Song Wanníng chose the Hunyuan Heart Scripture, he'd mocked her for being delusional, daring to covet a god level cultivation art like she was dreaming with her eyes open.
He'd been sure she'd fail to learn it and slink back to return the technique in shame.
Yet now he realized she'd actually entered it.
Why?
Feng San couldn't understand.
She had talent in alchemy, but why was her cultivation talent just as terrifying?
He'd worked so hard, yet next to her, he looked like a joke.
That realization made something inside him tear apart even further. His bloodshot eyes locked onto her, confirming the thought he didn't want to admit.
Song Wanníng had to die. Otherwise, the one who'd die in the future would be him.
Feng San roared and swung his staff at her again. This time, he held nothing back. Where the staff passed, the very air twisted, filled with raging spatial storms.
Yet something strange happened.
In his perception, Song Wanníng's figure suddenly blurred. She wasn't moving fast, she simply seemed to be separated from him by countless layers of warped glass. His lethal staff strikes fell, but just before hitting her clothes, the stretched space bent the blow away.
Or the flow of time shifted ever so slightly, slowing his strike by the tiniest fraction of a moment.
That single fraction was enough for her to slip right through his airtight killing net like an eel.
She refused to clash head on. Wherever her sword pointed, fierce sword energy shot out, not at Feng San, but at the battlefield itself, slicing and twisting the terrain around them. Space folded beneath her feet as she kept changing positions in front of Feng San's eyes.
Whenever he attacked, she froze time for a heartbeat, slowing everything he did.
Again and again, she used these moves to slip away from every one of his strikes.
Feng San finally snapped.
"Song Wanníng, you coward, dare you fight me head on?! You keep using the same two tricks, are you even having fun?!"
He was furious, two streams of hot white air shooting from his nostrils. He'd never faced someone so slippery, so humiliating to fight. He had the power to shatter stars, but he couldn't land a single hit on her.
Her immortal force was clearly inferior, yet she could manipulate the laws of time and space at such a high frequency.
Under normal circumstances, her immortal force should've been exhausted already, but because she cultivated the Hunyuan Heart Scripture, it was like she had a limitless source behind her. Her energy stayed on a dangerous equilibrium, never running dry.
It made him feel sick with frustration.
Song Wanníng only gave a faint smile. "Fight you head on when you're a Dixian? I'd have to be stupid."
She would drag this out until Feng San's immortal force ran dry.
Her answer made his vision black.
"Good, very good. Let's see how long you last."
He let out a hideous laugh and swallowed a Burst Pill.
A booming surge erupted from his body. His aura skyrocketed, and the shadows of the staff were now wrapped in dark red flames that sizzled and tore the space around them.
They both knew Burst Pills could temporarily boost cultivation.
Feng San understood Song Wanníng's plan, so he had no choice but to take it. He needed to end the fight fast. His immortal force was constantly draining, but Song Wanníng had a steady flow. The longer this dragged on, the worse his chances became.
Song Wanníng's pressure instantly spiked. Every time she slipped through space, she felt like she was dancing on a blade. The backlash made blood seep from her nose and mouth.
But her eyes stayed calm. Under this immense pressure, her control of time and space sigils grew sharper. She used herself as bait, weaving an invisible net through the battlefield.
Feng San's furious attacks grew faster, stronger, and more chaotic. The region around them broke apart layer by layer. Time warped in unstable currents, and any unfortunate bird or wisp of cloud that got too close either aged into dust or reversed into nothingness.
Song Wanníng quickly gained several deep wounds, bone visible beneath the torn flesh. That was only from grazing the edge of his staff wind. Without the laws of time and space absorbing ninety nine percent of the force, she would've been erased entirely.
A spray of blood drenched her white robes in crimson, but her gaze only grew wilder. The corner of her mouth curled into a cruel smile. Her provocative glance cut deep.
"You didn't eat enough breakfast?"
===
Now we've officially caught up with the latest chapter of the raw. The author usually releases two chapters a day, and for my region they normally drop in the late afternoon or early evening, around 6 PM. I usually update around 8 AM here, so it's pretty clear I probably won't be able to stick to that time anymore.
I translated this on November 17, so by the time this chapter goes live, I actually wrote this note yesterday.
From here on, I might update every few days, maybe once a week, or if the mood hits, I might even update daily if the author drops a new chapter and I'm free enough to translate it right away. It'll really depend on my mood and how busy I am that day.