Chapter 217: A Clash of Titans

“Phew, thank goodness.”
Having struggled back from the brink of death, Xiao Bei looked relieved as he said to those around him, “Boss, Brother Lei, it’s good you came early. That damned effeminate guy tried to sew my mouth shut.”
“Kid, how did you end up with him?”
Lei Zhan wore an indifferent smile as he swiftly cut the threads binding Xiao Bei’s hands and feet with a single sword strike—so decisive and clean that the mysterious man across from them frowned.
“You can’t say it like that, Brother Lei! For heaven’s sake, I just came to take a look, and that effeminate guy immediately tried to kill me to silence me! He even wanted to torture me after calling me names—who does he think he is?”
Xiao Bei cried out loudly, raising his voice in protest, his face filled with innocence and grievance.
Kai Xin sheathed his sword and stood there, his gaze fixed on the mysterious man across from him, not daring to relax even for a moment. Hearing Xiao Bei’s account, he frowned slightly and glanced at the corpse of the beast lying not far away, along with another unknown player’s body. His expression turned sharper:
“Kill to silence? Hmph!”
“There are three of them now. What do you plan to do?”
“…”
From the moment those two appeared, the mysterious man had realized they were not easy opponents. The threads tied with his special internal energy made them unbreakable by ordinary weapons—unless one possessed master-level martial skills along with a top-notch weapon, and even then, precise force control was required.
In the martial world, there weren’t many who reached master-level mastery. Yet here, in this remote forest, he encountered three of them at once.
There was the reckless Xiao Bei, who seemed to have had good fortune, having obtained a highly defensive zombie puppet. As for the other two, judging by their demeanor, they seemed no weaker than Xiao Bei, remaining unfazed even in his towering stance, showing no signs of pressure.
Three experts.
But…
In the face of peerless martial arts, these were nothing!
Besides, there was also a severely injured person nearby. If they had to divert attention to take care of him, they couldn’t attack all at once.
His gaze darkened. The mysterious man said nothing but let out a soft hum. His pale, slender fingers suddenly emerged from beneath his patterned robe. With a twist of his wrist, three embroidery needles emitting a chilling glow appeared between his fingers. Pulling them from his lips, he added a touch of exotic charm before flicking his fingers, sending the needles flying in an instant.
“I’ll take care of it!”
In a flash, Lei Zhan moved like a ghost and stood in front of Kai Xin.

Thunder Battle appeared on the battlefield. Meeting such a unique opponent for the first time, he was thrilled and ready to challenge them.
With a swift swing of his sword, “Ding ding ding!” Amidst the crisp sound of metal colliding, three flying needles were simultaneously deflected…
Whoosh!
All three flying needles were sent flying and embedded in nearby peach trees, causing the shattered pink peach blossoms to fall gently.
Thunder Battle’s move deepened the mysterious man’s solemn expression. He couldn’t believe that someone could accurately predict the trajectory of the flying needles and control their attack paths!
This was equivalent to advanced hidden weapon skills. Even experts at the Mysterious Realm could detect the trajectory of flying needles, but not necessarily intercept them with such speed and skill—especially since this was the first time they were fighting each other.
Such a situation had never happened before, except with NPCs!
For a moment, the mysterious man and Thunder Battle stood in this pink world filled with peach blossoms, facing each other, steadily building up their momentum, staying alert, and refusing to yield.
Outside the combat area, Xiao Bei sat down happily and used his energy to heal himself; Happy stood there with his sword, watching Thunder Battle’s back, a hint of surprised joy on his face!
These past few days, Thunder Battle had been practicing “Fox Spirit Shadow” in the peach orchard, constantly moving swiftly through the grove inhabited by the outer disciples of the Flower Palace—those masked female thieves. Since this combat technique focused on short-range movement and evasion, Thunder Battle even combined it with his advanced protective skills, still at the seventh level, to practice together.
Every day…
A group of Mysterious Realm masked female thieves armed with various flying knives and hidden weapons followed him everywhere. The sound of them cutting through the air was constant, leaving trees broken and flowers scattered.
At one point, even Happy was startled. If it weren’t for seeing Thunder Battle striving to use various cunning tactics, leveraging the terrain and peach trees to evade these weapons, she might have joined in to ease his burden.
But after watching for a while, Happy quietly left Thunder Battle’s path and led two masked female thieves to a corner to do some insane things. (Any wild thoughts—headshot.)
Because Happy realized that Thunder Battle was using extreme methods to rapidly improve his lightness skills and protective abilities. Though it was dangerous, it had to be admitted that training under pressure would yield not only higher levels but also unexpected practical experience…

It was also due to Lei Zhan’s almost frantic training these days that his protective energy had soared to the tenth level, while his lightness skill had reached the seventh level. Although it still couldn’t compare to the all-powerful lightness skills of medicinal herbs, it was already sufficient for him to handle himself effortlessly amidst the siege by a group of experts in mysterious realm hidden weapons. In his free time, he would even draw his sword to block some of the hidden weapons.

The mysterious man’s flying needles were fast, but for Lei Zhan, who was accustomed to using his ears to sense direction, knocking them away was no problem.

The greatest advantages proved ineffective against Lei Zhan.

For the first time, the mysterious man felt a threat from a player. He stretched out his pale hands simultaneously, releasing over a dozen flying needles at once.

The “whooshing” sound grew denser in the air.

Seeing this, Lei Zhan laughed heartily. With a flash, the dozen flying needles pierced through his remaining shadow at the original location, while his true body, like a fox spirit in a fox den, moved like a ghostly fox. With several leaps, he reduced the distance of less than thirty meters between them to under ten meters.

The mysterious man’s expression changed drastically!

He promptly severed the connection with the flying needles, and as if by magic, several more appeared in his hands.

It was too late!

With another quick movement, Lei Zhan completely disappeared from the mysterious man’s sight.

But Kai Xin remained focused the whole time, using his internal energy to track Lei Zhan’s elusive and agile movements, which resembled a distorted shadow. Though fast, his movements weren’t impossible to predict. Each leap covered about ten meters, allowing for minor adjustments along the way, giving him great mobility and astonishing evasion skills—perfect for dealing with hidden weapons.

However…

It was still unrealistic to expect to subdue the heir of the “Sunflower Manual” and the successor of Dongfang Bubai’s legacy using only lightness skills.

Lei Zhan appeared behind the mysterious man and without hesitation swung his sword down!

Just as it seemed the mysterious man’s head would be severed, his body suddenly flew more than ten meters to the left in a bizarre manner, without any prior bending motion—extremely sudden and fast, like a ghost or immortal.

Lei Zhan was shocked and turned to chase after him.

But the mysterious man’s speed grew even faster!

After several back-and-forth movements, he kept Lei Zhan in a whirl, forcing him to return empty-handed time and again!

The mysterious man regained control.

Just as Lei Zhan’s breathing grew heavier, a faint, woman-like enchanting melody suddenly came from the air, and the airflow in the peach blossom forest seemed to become much heavier.

Kai Xin’s expression tightened.

“Brother Lei, go back and take care of Xiao Bei. I’ll go up and play with him.”

He stepped forward, his weapon instantly changing to the “Jade Silkworm Hand,” as he stared intently at the figure with floral patterns that kept circling in the air.
“Hmph! Still trying to run?!”
A resentful female-like snort came from the air! In the peach grove, that thread-like and sticky demonic sound grew increasingly sharp, and the air became even thicker, as if a powerful suction force was pulling at Lei Zhan’s body. Even with the Fox Spirit Shadow activated, his speed and range of movement were greatly reduced.
It seemed the mysterious man was determined to keep Lei Zhan there!