While I was chanting a curse, the system said I was Xiao Yan?

Tianyan suddenly looked up and saw Zen-in-Shan walking towards him unhurriedly, his katana hanging at his side, the tip of the blade leaving a shallow mark on the ground.

That posture didn't look like a battle; it looked more like an execution.

"stand up."

The Zen monk stopped three steps in front of him, looking down at him condescendingly: "Weren't you supposed to protect him? Is this all you've got?"

Tianyan gritted his teeth and stood up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

His right arm was trembling, a sign of muscle overuse after continuous blocking.

Although the vortex of cursed energy within the body was still spinning, its rotation speed had begun to decrease, and the output of cursed energy was noticeably less abundant than at the beginning.

The gap is too big.

The level one Zen temple fan and Naoya, who has just reached the threshold of level one, are not even in the same league.

Naoya's strength lies in his techniques. Once the projection spell is broken, he becomes an opponent with speed and reaction far exceeding that of ordinary people, but he is not invincible.

But the Zen temple fan is different.

His strength is pure, unadorned.

Decades of honing his swordsmanship and countless practice swings have made every movement of his extremely precise.

There were no flaws, no loopholes, and not even any unnecessary movements.

Tianyan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

We can't fight head-on! A head-on fight will inevitably lead to defeat.

He needs to find an opportunity, an opportunity for him to deliver the decisive blow.

"Godfather".

Tianyan raised his head, looked at the Zen Temple Fan, and suddenly said, "You just said that the strong don't need to reason."

Zen Temple Fan frowned slightly: "So?"

"So, if I win, does that mean I'm right?"

Zen Temple Fan paused for a moment, then sneered, "You think you can win?"

How will you know if you don't try?

Tianyan stretched his neck, and his joints made a cracking sound.

He took a deep breath and mobilized all the magical power in his body, pouring it into his right arm.

The bony nails began to spread, from the fingertips to the wrists, from the wrists to the forearms, and from the forearms to the elbows.

The layer of black iron-colored scales was thicker than before, and faintly revealed a dark, metallic luster.

However, unlike in the past, the shape of the bone armor has changed this time.

It wasn't just a simple covering; it formed a sharp, spearhead-like bony protrusion at the elbow.

That was a special structure he created by highly condensing his magical power, and its hardness far exceeded that of ordinary bone armor.

Zen Temple Fan's gaze fell on that bony protrusion, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

"Are you planning one last gamble?"

"almost."

Tianyan assumed a fighting stance, lowered his center of gravity, tucked his right arm to his side, and pointed his elbow forward.

This is the power-generating posture of Baji Beng, but unlike before, he has compressed all the hidden force into this elbow strike.

In the instant he was thrown out, Tianyan suddenly realized something.

Why does the hidden force of Bajiquan only explode after it hits the target? Why can't it explode at the moment of impact?!

When the elbow makes contact with the target, the hidden force is released at the same time, and the resulting destructive power must be far greater than that of a simple strike!

Moreover, he was going to unleash a black flash in this attack.

Black Flash: The cursed power deviates within 0.000001 seconds of physical contact, producing a power 2.5 times greater than usual.

That's one of the most advanced techniques a sorcerer can master; it's something you can only come across once in a lifetime!

A sorcerer who has successfully cast Black Flash and one who hasn't are on completely different levels, which is enough to illustrate the difficulty of Black Flash!

No one can intentionally trigger Black Flash; Tianyan has never even triggered Black Flash.

But at this moment, the vortex of cursed energy within his body was spinning at an unprecedented frequency, each rotation compressing, purifying, and then compressing the cursed energy again!

"Come."

Tianyan's voice was deep and calm, and his intense concentration made his eyes shine frighteningly.

Without a word, Zen Temple Fan raised his katana, unleashed his incantation, and slashed down!

This strike was delivered without reservation; it was a full-force attack from the Zen Temple Fan.

The magical power flowing along the blade left a silvery-white afterimage in the air. Before the blade even arrived, the wind from the blade had already scattered the pebbles on the ground.

The heatwave did not subside.

He charged towards the blade.

The moment his right foot slammed into the ground, the stone slab shattered, and fragments flew everywhere. In that instant, his body exploded with a speed far exceeding his usual speed, not because he became faster, but because he concentrated all his strength into this lunge.

Not retreating is advancing.

The trajectory of the Zen Temple Fan's blade as it slashed down became incredibly clear in his eyes.

It wasn't because he saw things clearly, but because he took a gamble!

He was betting that his bone armor could withstand the blow.

Even if it's just 0.1 seconds.

The blade slashed down, striking Tianyan's left shoulder.

The sound of bone shattering was crisp and piercing; the blade cut into the bone and flesh, and blood splattered.

But the flames did not stop.

He forcefully suppressed the sharp pain in his left shoulder and continued to lunge forward, his right arm swinging out from his side, the bony protrusion at his elbow drawing a dark iron-colored arc in the air.

Zen Temple Fan's pupils suddenly contracted, and he abandoned his downward thrust to parry with his sword!

"Eight Extremes Collapse!"

His elbow slammed hard into the katana that the Zen temple fan was using to block in front of him!

"Snap!"

That wasn't the sound of bones breaking, nor the sound of swords snapping.

That was the sound of the air itself being torn apart.

A black lightning bolt exploded from Tianyan's elbow strike, drawing a twisted, ominous black arc in the morning light, turning everything around into black and white.

Black Flash!

The black lightning bolt was reflected in Zen-in-Sho's pupils, and his expression changed from cold and hard to disbelief.

"How is that possible...?"

The output of the curse power surged to its peak in that instant, and the power of 2.5 times pushed the destructive force of this attack to a terrifying level.

Zen-in-sen's body flew backward as if hit by a cannonball.

But his katana did not fly away with him.

The moment Tianyan's elbow strike touched the katana, it destroyed it!

The blade spun as it flew into the sky, reflecting a blinding arc of light in the sunlight, before falling to the ground and embedding itself in the rubble, trembling slightly.

The blade broke in two; one piece fell to the ground, while the other was thrown away and embedded in a broken stone pillar.

The hilt and guard of the sword were still held in the Zen Temple Fan's hand, but below the hilt, there was nothing!

Tianyan stood there, blood still flowing from his left shoulder, most of the bone armor on his right arm shattered, and the bony protrusion at his elbow had broken off, leaving only a jagged cross-section.

He was panting heavily, the vortex of cursed energy within his body had almost stopped spinning, and the feeling of being drained made his vision go black in waves.

But he did not fall.

He looked up at Zen-in-shu, who was propping himself up from the ground, a dozen meters away.

There was blood at the corner of Chanyuan Shan's mouth, and a hole in his clothes where Tianyan had struck him on the chest, revealing a purplish-blue bruise.

He looked down at the katana in his hand, now only the hilt and tsuba remained, then at the scattered fragments of the blade, and remained silent for a long time.

Then he raised his head and looked at Tianyan.

There was no anger, no disappointment, not even surprise in those eyes.

There was only one complex emotion that Tianyan couldn't decipher.