Wu Jian did not know the names of his attackers, so he decided to call them Blonde and Black, based off their hair color. The blonde woman had an affinity for lightning and fire techniques. Black had an affinity for wind. It was actually her strong wind affinity that allowed her to move faster than normal. He’d already figured out that she was using the wind to negate air resistance so she could move faster than his eyes could track. If it wasn’t for the clear killing intent she released seconds before she attacked, he would have already been dead.

Blonde swept her arm forward and launched a crescent blade of flames so hot sweat broke on Wu Jian’s forehead. The technique was not one he was familiar with. Even so, it wasn’t so powerful that he couldn’t deal with it. He would have sliced through it with Spatial Severing, but then Black swung her sword. A blade of wind launched from it, struck the crescent wave, and created a massive inferno that burned so hot the flames turned white.

It won’t matter even if I slice that in half! I’ll still be killed!

Wu Jian had no choice but to retreat.

He leapt backward several as the fires swept over the area where he’d been standing. The grass burst, the ground turned black as it disappeared from his sight. It just kept coming.

Techniques always had a certain amount of chi put into them, so they would always dissipated after they ran out of chi. These flames were not a natural phenomena, after all. That meant they added so much chi into this technique that the attack would last long enough to overtake him.

And I don’t have enough chi to warp space around myself! I can’t cut through it either! Will a shield work? No, I’d need it to protect me from all sides… but what if I could absorb the technique?

Wu Jian had an idea, but he didn’t know if it would work, and it was reckless, though he didn’t have much choice either. He planted his feet on the ground and lifted his arms. The raging inferno was near now. It would overtake him soon, but he tried to maintain his calm even as sweat poured into his eyes and channeled chi into his hands.

[Black Hole]

Wu Jian created a black hole in front of him. It was small at first, but he fed his chi into it to expand its size. The black hole soon went from the size of a walnut to the size of his head, then the size of his body. When the flames finally reached him, they bent, swerving as they were sucked into his technique.

It looks like I can deal with their attacks like this. I should be fin--!

A burst of killing intent was the only warning he recieved. Wu Jian hurriedly canceled the technique and leapt away, but he wasn’t fast enough, and pain lanced at his side as something impaled him through the torso. Black, now behind him, retracted her sword from his side, swinging the blade only once to rid it of the crimson liquid, which splattered against the ground.

I see… the one maintaining the technique is Blonde. All Black does is enhance the technique using wind to feed the flames.

Wu Jian summoned one blood clotting pill and one healing pill and popped them into his mouth. It would take time for them to do their job, and the rigors of combat might make it hard, but there was little he could do about that.

Even before he had summoned the pills, Blonde had appeared on his left. Her hand was covered in lightning. The shrill sound like a thousand chirping birds echoed around them as the woman thrust out her hand. Wu Jian would have sliced through her, hand and all, but Black was on his other side, her sword all but ready to impale him again.

[Black Hole]

He created two black holes to intercept their attacks. That was how he had been keeping them at bay for this long. His current technique was technically a combination of Spatial Folding and Teleportation. He created two portals and connected them so anything that passed through instantly appeared on the other side. He called it Black Hole, but it wasn’t the same as the technique he’d used to absorb the fire attack.

They must have gotten used to his technique, however, for they avoided letting their attacks connected with the portal. He was sure they knew it was coming. He’d been using it this entire time, so now they had a pretty good idea of how it worked.

Blonde ducked underneath his technique and came up with a powerful uppercut. Meanwhile, Black thrust her blade forward to impale him from behind.

[Nihility]

Their attacks went straight through him. The pair’s eyes finally went wide with surprise as they passed through him and nearly hit each other with their techniques. Wu Jian wished they had. It would have made things easier.

He leapt back and deactivated his technique. Blonde tracked him with her eyes before, without warning, she slammed her hands into the ground. He wondered what she was doing at first, but then the ground underneath him erupted into flames.

[Nihility]

Wu Jian just barely escaped by phasing out of space, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid getting burned. The bottom of his boots were now melted. They stuck to his foot, the flesh of which had also melted. He bit his lip to keep from crying out as the pain and acrid scent of melting flesh filled the air.

These two are only at the peak of the Human Limit Realm, but their combined strength makes them more than a match for even a Deva Realm cultivator.

Not only were they an amazing team, but they had analyzed all of the techniques he used, come up with appropriate countermeasures for each one, and were keeping him on the defensive. He didn’t even have time to activate Byakko’s blood--not that he would have. Wu Jian had no intention of hiding this skill to use as a trump card, but if he did use it, and they came up with a counter for it, he would be screwed.

I can’t reveal all of my cards until I know for a fact they don’t have a counter for me.

This was the first time in his life that he had felt so wary of another pair of cultivators. Even when he was just a kid and couldn’t cultivate at all, he hadn’t felt this cautious when going up against people much stronger than him.

More flames exploded from the ground to attack him, the eruptions so powerful they formed pillars that rose into the sky for several dozen li before dissipating. He was only able to dodge via liberal use of Nihility. As he continued to retreat, he realized he’d lost sight of Black. That wasn’t good.

[Spatial Awareness]

Wu Jian released his chi into the air and created an invisible dome using the dao of space to increase his awareness of everything around him. He knew where everything was in relation to himself. There were thirty blades of grass underneath his left foot but only twenty-five under his right. An anthill was underneath one of the flaming pillars, though it quickly turned to dust. Three birds hovered in the sky above him, unfortunate victims caught within Blonde’s many flame pillars.

And he could tell Black was hiding beneath the ground, waiting for the moment he dropped his guard to strike.

“As if I’d give you the opportunity!! COME OUT!!”

Wu Jian finally found himself in the clear, directly above Black, which he assumed was their goal, but he wasn’t going to let things go their way. He raised Pale Moon and slammed it into the ground with all his strength. The earth split. A loud rumbling echoed around the plain as a mighty chasm formed, the crack spreading across the ground toward Blonde, who was forced to leap out of the way.

Black, her hiding spot exposed, leapt out of the ground and attacked him with her sword. He took Pale Moon in both hands and used the flat end to block her attacks. He would have attacked her, but she wasn’t giving him any time. Her attacks came in faster and faster. She must have been using the wind to increase the speed of her attacks since, rather than slowing down, the number of swings launched his way each second increased.

[Black Hole]

Wu Jian created a portal, which the woman dodged, then he created another one and threw his fist into it. A loud thudding sound rang out as he slammed his fist into the woman’s face. He had put a lot of strength into that attack. Black was launched clean into the air and slammed into the ground far enough away that she was no longer a threat.

“Cui Fen!!” shouted the blonde as she ran over to her downed companion.

Oh, so that’s her name…

Of course, she would have a name, though it didn’t matter anymore.

Wu Jian raised Pale Moon above his head once more. The veins in his arms bulged as he began channeling both the strength of his body and his chi into his next attack. Pale Moon’s edge quickly turned black as tears in space appeared all around him. The muscles in his arms swelled as he set his feet in a wide stance. He took a deep breath in, held it… then exploded into action.

[Spatial Severing]

Wu Jian swung Pale Moon down and unleashed the largest attack he ever had in his entire life. The black crescent blade tore through space to reach the pair in less time than it took to blink. There was no way they could avoid this attack.

Or so he thought.

What the…?

Wu Jian must have blinked and missed something. That was the only explanation he could think of as the two women he’d been sure were all but dead suddenly appeared several on his attack’s left. The crescent blade flew passed them. He tried to make it curve around and attack from behind, but the pair launched a flame and wind combination technique that forced him to abandon the idea.

[Black Hole]

He created a black hole to absorb the flames. He was wary of another surprise attack, but it didn’t happen. Before he could wonder about it for too long, the flames were fully absorbed, and Wu Jian finally saw the two women standing side by side, bodies pressed close together, hands connected to form a unique seal he’d never seen before.

“You’ve given us a lot of trouble,” said Black.

“We commend your strength,” added Blonde.

“But this is the end,” they said together.

Wu Jian blinked. “Did you two practice those lines?”

“…”

The pair said nothing, which Wu Jian assumed was because they were embarrassed, but he learned otherwise when a loud rumbling echoed from above. He looked up and kinda wished he hadn’t. What appeared above his head was a raging inferno of black stormclouds swirling around in a tornado-like vortex. A supercharged sensation of chi filled the air and caused his hair to stand on end. Lightning flashed as he continued to stare at the massive clouds, and then, as though a god had descended onto the earth, a gigantic figure emerged from the clouds.

It was a qilin. Like the ones Blonde had fired at him before. Only bigger.

Much bigger.

Wu Jian’s mouth went dry as he saw the creature composed entirely of lightning. It was larger than a ten-story pagoda. Glowing yellow eyes gazed down at him with a malicious gleam. He was imagining it, of course. These techniques had no will of their own, but that was what this looked like to him.

What… do I do now?

He couldn’t cut through a creature that big. He didn’t have the chi. Even if he did, the two halves would just explode and engulf him anyway. How had they even created this technique? Where did they even get the chi for this? He’d never seen them doing anything about it--

The flame pillars…? They used the heat from the flame pillars to vaporize the air and form stormclouds?! No way! Just how far in advance were these two thinking?!

Wu Jian knew there was nothing he could do against this technique. None of the techniques in his arsenal were strong enough to block him. Maybe if he used Byakko’s blood to enhance his techniques, he could, but that was a big maybe, and even if he did, the effort would leave him powerless. Those two would kill him.

I guess there’s only one option left…

Everything was still as Wu Jian gathered his chi and let it flow into his dantian, surrounding the drops of Byakko’s blood and activating them. His body grew more empowered. He felt sturdier, stronger, and faster, but instead of using his physical prowess, he used the strength to enhance his own chi.

The Qilin descended.

The world vanished in a bright flash of white light.

Wu Jian was blinded for a brief second as he gathered all of the chi in his body, enhanced by Byakko’s blood, and used a technique he still couldn’t control.

[Teleportation]