The last breath on the long exchange had just ended.
Then his mind came back in high speed.
That meant the third blacker was already boosting his own speed.
He had been smoking secretly.
That was why his feet kept getting much better.
Gu Yanshu did not know it at first.
There was no clean counter yet.
He only thought about it for one second.
Then he looked again at the battlefield.
It was unstable.
Very unstable.
Sometimes everyone was fighting normally and no one was winning.
Sometimes the blackers got aggressive and started attacking everyone.
Then they thought they had won because they were forcing the others back.
Gu Yanshu was still standing there after Qu Yaoyang and the first blacker slammed into each other again.
Then they started fighting once more.
This time the first blacker got aggressive.
He started throwing multiple sword-like attacks at Qu Yaoyang, but somehow Qu Yaoyang was managing it.
Still, the path behind him was clear.
No one would attack there.
No one would fight back there.
For a moment the whole line opened.
Qu Yaoyang looked forward with an angry expression, but he was distracted.
A powerful kick slammed into his face and made him crash into several buildings.
The explosions were so large that people could not survive near them.
Qu Yaoyang looked at himself and screamed, "Damn it! My goal was to attack the first blacker. I left my back open again. I should stop that right now. My goal was to attack the first blacker, not destroy buildings with people and kill people."
The first blacker slowly came closer and dropped several kicks directly onto Qu Yaoyang's face.
Qu Yaoyang flew through several buildings.
Crash.
Crash.
Crash.
He coughed out a huge amount of blood.
Then again.
Then again.
When he stopped for a second, he coughed even more blood.
But he stood up anyway.
He was prepared to fight the first blacker again, strike for strike.
The first blacker grinned.
Then, with high speed, he came behind Qu Yaoyang and kicked him up into the sky.
Qu Yaoyang flew upward.
But he was already too late.
His body slammed into the ground.
He coughed.
Blood spilled out.
A lot of blood.
This time it felt like the worst vomiting of blood he had ever done in his entire life.
He screamed to himself, "Damn it! I lost my back again when I told myself not to! Everyone is right, I am just pathetic! Somehow I am repeating the same habit."
The first blacker slowly came to him and said, "Well, the habit will be a habit."
Then he punched Qu Yaoyang several times.
While Gu Yanshu was handling the third blacker, the third blacker was still secretly smoking to make himself stronger.
Then he stopped smoking because if he got more energy, he would probably become fat.
Then he swung his bat aggressively with a huge amount of energy.
An explosion burst out and destroyed eighty to ninety-five meters around him.
Gu Yanshu got caught in that explosion and coughed out blood too.
Then another hit came.
He sensed another bat strike near him.
Same energy.
Same pressure.
Everything the same.
Gu Yanshu was sent flying.
Boom.
Another explosion followed.
It spread another fifteen meters and almost reached the others.
The second blacker and the other disciples were still fighting nearby.
Gu Yanshu tried to stand up, but he could not.
Still, he did not want to waste energy just to stand up.
He looked slowly at the third blacker coming toward him.
This fight had been going for two hours.
And no one had won yet.
The third blacker swung his bat.
Gu Yanshu dodged.
Then the third blacker sensed danger.
He had to think.
And what he thought was:
How is this guy dodging one of my bat attacks?
That was very fast.
That was a very good achievement.
Who the hell is this guy?
Is he powering up?
What is this?
Dammit.
What can I even do now if this guy gets stronger and stronger?
Then the third blacker swung again.
Gu Yanshu dodged again.
Then a powerful kick dropped into his face and exploded in seventeen meters around them.
That seventeen-meter explosion hit the second blacker too.
His hand instantly burned and he fell to the ground.
The third blacker tried to block attacks with his bat now, but Gu Yanshu was striking his chest instead.
The third blacker knew this guy was getting aggressive.
Soon enough, it became a battle of speed.
If someone did not dodge, they took the attack.
It repeated again and again.
Now the third blacker almost thought he was getting slower.
But in reality, he was not getting slower and not getting faster.
He was staying at the same speed.
Gu Yanshu was the one making him think he was slow, because Gu Yanshu himself was getting faster.
Gu Yanshu understood it now.
The battlefield was not just unstable because of the blackers.
It was unstable because the whole rhythm kept changing whenever someone got greedy.
Qu Yaoyang overcommitted.
Then the first blacker punished him.
The third blacker kept building force through smoke and rhythm.
The second blacker was still spreading pressure against the disciples.
That meant the battlefield had three different speeds at once.
Gu Yanshu pushed himself up from the broken ground and wiped the blood from his mouth.
He was not going to let the third blacker keep setting the pace.
The third blacker saw him rise and grinned.
"You still want more?"
Gu Yanshu did not answer.
He looked at the bat.
Then at the shoulder.
Then at the feet.
The speed came from the feet.
The balance came from the shoulder.
The smoking had helped him before, but that part had started to weaken once the lighter broke and the rhythm got interrupted.
That meant there was still a small chance.
Gu Yanshu moved forward one step.
The third blacker swung.
Gu Yanshu slipped to the side.
Another swing came immediately.
Gu Yanshu cut across the forearm and kept moving.
The third blacker frowned.
He had expected Gu Yanshu to be forced back by now.
But Gu Yanshu was not trying to win by power.
He was trying to force the same motion over and over until the bat became heavier to use.
The third blacker noticed that too late.
He swung again.
Gu Yanshu ducked low and struck the knee.
That made the third blacker shift his footing.
Good.
On the other side, Qu Yaoyang was still taking heavy damage from the first blacker, but he had stopped repeating the same mistake.
He did not rush straight in this time.
Instead, he waited for the first blacker to cross the line first.
The first blacker punched.
Qu Yaoyang turned and took it on the shoulder.
Then he used the contact to spin and hit the first blacker in the ribs.
The first blacker stepped back half a step, then smiled wider.
That was the dangerous part.
He was enjoying the fight again.
Qu Yaoyang clenched his jaw.
He did not want to keep letting the first blacker control the middle space.
He looked once toward Gu Yanshu.
Gu Yanshu was already in motion again.
The third blacker swung his bat down hard.
Gu Yanshu blocked with the blade, but the force still shook his arm.
Then Gu Yanshu stepped inside the bat line and cut upward.
The third blacker pulled back just in time.
Blood still ran from his arm.
He touched the wound and looked irritated now.
That was important too.
Irritation meant the rhythm was breaking.
Gu Yanshu noticed the change and pressed harder.
He did not go for a final kill.
Not yet.
He used short cuts.
Short kicks.
Small black-hand strikes.
Anything that kept the third blacker from settling back into his same pace.
The third blacker clicked his tongue.
"You are annoying," he said.
Gu Yanshu answered, "Then keep moving."
The third blacker laughed once.
Then he rushed in harder.
At the same time, Qu Yaoyang saw the first blacker move toward the center again and jumped in to stop him.
The first blacker struck back with a beam and a kick in the same motion.
Qu Yaoyang blocked the kick and slipped the beam by a fraction.
Still, the impact forced him back.
The first blacker was getting more serious.
That was worse.
Gu Yanshu saw the shift and immediately changed his own movement too.
If the first blacker took the center, then the third blacker would have a free angle.
If the third blacker gained momentum again, the second blacker would keep the disciples pinned.
That would split the whole field again.
So Gu Yanshu changed the plan.
He looked once toward Lan Wege.
Lan Wege had almost stabilized enough to move.
Gu Yanshu made a short motion with his hand.
Lan Wege understood at once.
He moved toward Qu Yaoyang's side, not to fully heal him yet, but to keep him standing.
That bought Qu Yaoyang a little more time.
He Mulin and the others were still holding the second blacker back.
Not winning.
Just holding.
That was enough for now.
Gu Yanshu turned back to the third blacker.
The third blacker had seen everything.
He smiled.
"So that is your structure."
Gu Yanshu said, "Yes."
The third blacker's grin widened.
"Then I will break it."
He swung again.
Gu Yanshu met the swing with the blade and the black hand together.
The force shook his whole body.
But he stayed in place.
The third blacker's feet shifted.
Gu Yanshu saw it.
The same feet.
The same balance.
The same rhythm.
He stepped forward once and struck the shoulder line.
The third blacker's body twisted.
Then Gu Yanshu hit the side of the chest.
The bat swung down again.
Gu Yanshu slipped under it and kicked the third blacker in the ribs.
The third blacker was forced back one step.
One step was enough.
Gu Yanshu looked over the field again.
Qu Yaoyang was still fighting the first blacker.
Lan Wege had reached him and was supporting him just enough to keep him from falling out.
The second blacker was still blocked by the rest.
The battlefield had not collapsed.
It was still unstable.
Still ugly.
Still full of pressure.
But it was holding.
Gu Yanshu lifted his blade again and stepped forward.
The third blacker watched him.
And the battle continued.The battle was still continuing, and no one there was able to stop it.
It would continue.
Gu Yanshu's heart wanted revenge.
But what his heart did not know was that Gu Yanshu was the one controlling it.
The third blacker smiled and retaliated against everything in front of him.
Then his expression changed.
He looked past Gu Yanshu.
Past the field.
Past the smoke and the dust.
He looked toward Kuou Shen Yin.
Kuou Shen Yin had already seen it.
He sensed danger inside the battlefield.
Danger that could damage them if it was left alone too long.
He could see the energy of all of them moving at once.
Then he spoke calmly.
"I used the first blacker, the second blacker, and the third blacker to make their backs hurt too much."
The first blacker did not hear the voice directly.
But suddenly his back started hurting.
The second blacker's back started hurting too.
And because he was weaker, it hit him even more.
Then the third blacker's back started hurting too.
At once, all three blackers screamed out loudly.
"What is this?" one of them shouted.
"We are getting hurt from inside?" another shouted.
The third blacker clenched his jaw.
Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
"Come on," one of them said. "Everyone obey your own commands and move away."
So they did.
They slowly walked away from the battlefield.
Gu Yanshu touched his chest and started walking too.
Slowly.
Carefully.
"The fight has not ended," he said.
"We can fight him later. Right now, we cannot."
And then the battle stopped.
Everyone celebrated.
But Gu Yanshu did not.
He kept walking in another direction, away from the place where the blackers were still struggling to recover.
The dragon looked around.
Then it realized it had been asleep the whole time.
It was still on Gu Yanshu's leg.
The dragon slowly slid up to Gu Yanshu's shoulder.
Then they all continued walking.
Everyone already knew the battle had ended for now.
But they also knew it had to start again.
Kuou Shen Yin called an emergency meeting.
When the blackers heard that, they slowly came.
There was no one to stop them.
The third blacker placed his head on the table first.
Then he looked around.
No one was speaking.
He slowly took a seat and placed both hands on the table.
He checked the condition of his right hand first.
A scanning light appeared over it.
Then information started showing.
The right hand was injured.
Energy: 600,000.
Capabilities: 900,000.
The third blacker stared at it for a second.
Then he pulled back his right hand and placed his left hand on the table.
The table scanned again.
The left hand was much more normal.
Not too good.
Not too bad.
Energy: 17,000.
Strength: 15,000.
Capability: 49,000.
The second blacker entered behind him.
Then the fourth blacker and the fifth blacker entered too.
Now there were three gathered.
All of them looked like they were resting there.
After a while, the door opened again.
The first blacker and the second blacker entered.
Then Kuou Shen Yin slowly came in.
The third blacker immediately shouted, "Why are you so late? I have been waiting here for three hours!"
The first blacker and the second blacker also looked at him.
"Yeah," the first blacker said. "Why did you take so long? We were already here, and you still took nineteen or fifteen minutes to come."
Kuou Shen Yin spoke slowly.
"I was late because I was not near here. I was far away."
The third blacker folded his arms.
"What is this meeting about?"
Everyone stayed quiet.
Then Kuou Shen Yin looked at all of them.
"I gathered all of you here to say this," he said.
"Do not target the deadly travelers without my permission."
The third blacker's eyes narrowed.
"Without your permission? Huh? What is wrong with you? I know you are the leader of us, but you cannot give me every rule to follow."
Kuou Shen Yin did not answer at once.
He just looked at him.
Then he looked at the others.
"The reason is simple," he said.
"When you move without permission, you create noise. Noise creates openings. Openings create damage."
The first blacker leaned back in his chair.
"So you were the one making our backs hurt."
Kuou Shen Yin nodded once.
"Yes."
The second blacker frowned.
"So you were watching the fight the whole time?"
Kuou Shen Yin said, "Of course."
The third blacker's jaw tightened.
"And you think you can control every move?"
Kuou Shen Yin's face did not change.
"I think I can control what matters."
The room went silent again.
The first blacker's fingers tapped lightly on the table.
The second blacker stayed quiet.
The third blacker stared at Kuou Shen Yin like he wanted to tear the answer apart.
Then Kuou Shen Yin continued.
"The deadly travelers are not to be touched until I say so."
"Why?" the third blacker asked.
Kuou Shen Yin's eyes shifted slightly.
"Because they are useful."
That word changed the air.
Useful.
The third blacker laughed once.
"So that is all they are to you?"
Kuou Shen Yin answered immediately.
"Yes."
No hesitation.
No emotion.
Just the answer.
The first blacker tilted his head.
"What if I want to attack them anyway?"
Kuou Shen Yin looked at him.
"Then you lose your right to act alone."
That made the room colder.
The second blacker tapped his own hand on the table once.
"So this meeting is a warning."
Kuou Shen Yin said, "It is a warning and an order."
The third blacker stood up halfway from his seat.
His chair scraped against the floor.
"And if we ignore it?"
Kuou Shen Yin looked directly at him.
"Then I will make you ignore your own body before you can ignore me."
The third blacker's eyes widened slightly.
Not from fear.
From realization.
He understood what Kuou Shen Yin meant.
The pain in the back earlier had not been random.
It had been a signal.
A limit.
The first blacker smiled slowly.
"So you can reach into us even when we are not fighting."
Kuou Shen Yin did not deny it.
"Yes."
The second blacker glanced at the others.
That made the room quieter again.
Then Kuou Shen Yin stepped closer to the table.
He put one hand down lightly.
"You all think this is only a battle of strength," he said.
"It is not."
He looked at the third blacker first.
"You are aggressive."
Then at the first blacker.
"You are impatient."
Then at the second blacker.
"You are persistent, but careless."
Then at the fourth and fifth blackers.
"You are waiting for the wrong opening."
None of them spoke.
Kuou Shen Yin continued.
"Their side survives because they adapt."
The third blacker scoffed.
"And we do not?"
Kuou Shen Yin's eyes moved to him again.
"You adapt after the damage is done."
That line landed harder than the earlier warning.
The third blacker's face tightened.
The first blacker leaned forward.
"Then what do you want?"
Kuou Shen Yin stood still for a moment.
Then he said, "I want discipline."
The room was silent again.
Not because they agreed.
Because they understood the difference between a request and a command.
The third blacker slowly sat back down.
The first blacker did not smile anymore.
The second blacker stayed still.
Then Kuou Shen Yin spoke again.
"The battle is not over. It is paused."
He looked at the third blacker.
"When I say move, you move."
Then he looked at the first blacker.
"When I say strike, you strike."
Then at the second blacker.
"When I say hold, you hold."
His voice stayed calm.
"And when I say stop, you stop."
The third blacker's jaw tightened again.
But he did not interrupt.
Kuou Shen Yin finished with one final line.
"The next time the battlefield opens, I will decide where it breaks."
And outside, far from the meeting room, Gu Yanshu kept walking with the dragon on his shoulder.
He already knew this pause would not last forever.
He could feel it in the air.
The blackers had not retreated.
They had only been told to wait.
That meant the next clash was already forming somewhere ahead.The third blacker replied, "That is it! That is it! You made us walk because we are not wearing your rules. You could just teleport us, but you made us walk. And you came so late! Did you even know how much time you took?"
Kuou Shen Yin said, "Yes. This emergency meeting is ended."
The third blacker said, "It is ended? That is not even important."
Kuou Shen Yin said again, "I will say it once again. It is ended."
The third blacker's face looked disappointed.
He opened the door and walked away.
Then everyone slowly began to leave too, going farther and farther away.
Gu Yanshu kept walking.
The dragon looked up and saw his brother again.
The brother said, "Oh, I see. These are your friends. These friends almost sacrificed you. I saw the entire battle. Your friends are strong, I admit that. But they almost sacrificed you for them."
The dragon said, "Dragon brother, it is not what you are thinking. It is the opposite. They said don't fight."
The dragon brother said, "Oh, you are right. Okay, I will go."
Then he suddenly shouted, "Absolutely not! Such a lie to avoid your brother's instinct. You call them friends when you are getting sacrificed by them. If friends take your life, they are not friends. Leave them. Come back to our house."
The dragon said, "No, I don't want to come to Dragony house. Dragon mom and dragon dad beat me a lot."
The dragon brother said, "They beat you a lot, but these friends almost sacrificed you. I will ask you once again, come back to the Dragony house."
The dragon said, "I will pass. I will decline. I want to decline."
The dragon brother said, "If that is what you want, I will keep spying you. Remember that."
Instead of the dragon remembering it, Gu Yanshu remembered that word.
Now it was completely in his memories.
The dragon stopped thinking about what to keep remembering.
That had already been erased from his memories.
But there was one who was carrying it.
It was Gu Yanshu.
The dragon brother hid in a bush and continued spying the dragon.
The dragon said, "Dragon brother always gives me instructions."
Gu Yanshu slowly whispered to him what to say after that.
He knew the dragon brother was spying on them.
So, to avoid suspicion from the dragon's friends, Gu Yanshu said, "Say, the dragon brother gives me instructions. Even if I know he is my older brother, he still gives me instructions. Only mommy dragon and daddy dragon can give me instructions. If I want to stay with you, mommy dragon and daddy dragon will make me stay with you. I still want to stay."
The dragon brother memorized the words and began to say, "Dragon brother always gives you instructions. I still know he is my older brother, but only mommy dragon and daddy dragon can give me instructions, and mommy dragon can make me stay with you. I want to stay with you. That is why—"
Then he shut his mouth.
Because Gu Yanshu had told him to stop after that.
Gu Yanshu would handle the answer.
Gu Yanshu slowly spoke.
He started thinking of what the reply should be and fully calculated it.
"I know you want to stay with me. I also want you to stay with me. I know your dragon brother is rude. Just forget everything he said. Come on, stay with me. I am offering you to stay with me."
The dragon understood that Gu Yanshu wanted to make him smile.
So he smiled.
Then they continued walking.
The dragon brother got caught in the trap and muttered, "I should probably leave them."
Then he said, "Mommy dragon and daddy dragon will give some instructions. So I will ask mommy dragon and daddy dragon to bring you back. I should not keep spying my brother. It is over, I guess. I think he does not have that in memory."
Gu Yanshu kept walking, but he did not relax.
The battlefield earlier had ended only on the surface.
He could still feel the pressure of it behind him.
The blackers had not vanished.
They had only stepped back.
The dragon stayed close.
Quiet now.
Still smiling a little from the trick.
That was good.
A small smile kept the mood from dropping too hard.
Gu Yanshu looked ahead.
He already knew Kuou Shen Yin's meeting had changed something.
The blackers had been told to wait.
That meant the next move would not be random.
It would be planned.
And that was worse.
He glanced once toward the place where the dragon brother had hidden himself.
The bush was still there.
The spy was still watching.
Gu Yanshu did not turn to expose him.
There was no reason yet.
Instead, he quietly measured the field in his mind.
The first blacker was aggressive and impatient.
The second blacker was persistent and dangerous in long pressure.
The third blacker was the most rhythmic, the most tricky, the one who could shift speed and force through smoke, bat swings, and sudden pressure.
But now they had all been ordered to pause.
That pause did not make them weak.
It made them harder to read.
Gu Yanshu understood that.
He kept walking with the dragon at his side.
The dragon brother remained hidden for a little longer, then moved away once he became convinced the conversation had ended.
But Gu Yanshu already knew what he had to remember.
The spying.
The instructions.
The family tension.
The way the dragon could be pulled in two directions at once.
That would matter later.
For now, the road was quiet.
Too quiet.
Gu Yanshu's hand rested lightly near his blade.
His body was still injured from the battle.
His breathing was still a little rough.
But his mind had already moved forward.
This was not the end of the structure.
Only the end of one movement.
And somewhere ahead, the blackers were already preparing for the next one.