Chapter 148: My Tachi Will Not Lose!

No, that is not the divine bird named "Phoenix."

That is Shana, the "Flame-haired Burning-eyed Exterminator."

Behind her, the crimson flames of the Red World's Heavenly Punishment God coalesced into six pairs of vivid, living crimson phoenix wings; terrifying heat waves radiated outward with every wingbeat, each pair spanning an astonishing twelve meters.

"Did it work?"

"It worked," Marjorie Doll nodded, punching the Contract Demon King slung at her waist—the one chirping obnoxiously about its own greatness—with a complex look in her eyes. "Through joint development with Spiral Organ, the technique you called 'Phoenix Houdou Kaiten' has been completed."

Even she herself found it hard to believe: "I've never seen a method that boosts a person's performance to this degree, as if… as if…"

Marjorie Doll was at a loss for words; she could not describe this terrifying otherworldly jizai technique, even though it was born from her own hands.

"As if it were crafted solely to surpass the limit of 'speed,' stripping away every unnecessary detail into pure specialization…" came the voice of the short but prematurely aged Ren Nansi from behind; though exhausted, her tone was wildly excited.

Her gaze at Shana in the sky resembled that of someone observing a fragile yet breathtakingly beautiful, supreme-level work of art.

"We deepened and refined your request until it became this—add even a fraction more, and balance and control difficulty would multiply; this form has reached Shana's absolute operational limit."

"Oh my god, this is *ao*!"

Even Jia Ji had to admit: even without posing, Shana in this form was dozens of times more stylish than he was.

Cold killing intent and searing vibrations surged through the air; Jia Ji shuddered, knowing Shana was ready to reclaim her dignity, and prepared himself.

Leaving the bewildered Sakanai Yuuji to the two jizai masters who had already fled, Jia Ji grinned eagerly, flicking his exaggerated greatsword before him as if it weighed nothing, assuming the stance of "Da Zhang Daodao."

"Shriek—"

From the northwest sky, a distant, piercing cry echoed; looking up, he saw a golden-red meteor hurtling toward him.

The next blink, the hundreds of meters between them vanished in an instant—the petite girl, wreathed in crimson flames, beat her wings forward, her blazing eyes locking onto Jia Ji, who had once defeated her; her flaming hair scattered fiery dust into long, trailing tails.

Beneath that exquisite, artistic appearance lay terrifying speed and kinetic force.

Fast.

Incredibly fast.

Faster than sound, faster than his Palm Wave, faster than his Friendship Punch, faster than the speed of his Northern Dipper Luo Han Strike… three times faster!!

Dense air currents formed a transparent shield, nearly boat-nose shaped, before her body; before her true form arrived, the surging airflow had already brushed his skin, making his scalp tingle.

With his dynamic vision, he could barely catch the afterimage of that fiery figure—burning and severing all things—as it passed.

The girl gripped the hilt with her left hand and steadied the blade with her right; no technique or form was needed. The long, slender blade would unleash a stunning crimson lotus radiance the instant her hands, pressed to their limit, released.

Closer. Faster.

One wielded a greatsword; the other, a tachi.

These two could not be called swordsmen or swordmasters.

Their physiques differed greatly; their temperaments were worlds apart—one wild and unrestrained, the other radiant and commanding.

Yet their eyes met for an instant, simultaneously sensing the most precise opening, the fleeting moment.

"Crimson Great Tachi!!"

Descending from above, the dive compensated for flaws and lack of variation with unmatched speed—like Mount Tai crushing down, an unstoppable killing strike; Zaiden Shana's silver frost blade instantly extended, erupting in a red bloodlight roughly three meters long.

"Killing Blow—Dragon Ascension Sword!"

Facing this slash, Jia Ji, in the fleeting instant of a flash and a passing white horse, raised his greatsword; driven by his tyrannical battle aura, he carved a powerful, beautiful arc.

Separated by two and a half feet, they struck simultaneously!

CLANG—!

The piercing clash of metal rang out like a mournful blacksmith's hammer.

Glowing battle aura and wild fire energy intertwined; though only two warriors clashed, the scene resembled tidal ebb and flow—extreme heat and shock illuminated the midnight sealing space as bright as day.

The ground beneath them shattered; solid earth and rock exploded outward; Jia Ji's rooted feet could not halt their backward skid—hundreds of meters, carving two grotesque furrows in the earth. His arms trembled, muscles unusually limp, every bone in his body feeling cracked by the blow.

"Puff!"

Jia Ji's face paled; he couldn't help spitting blood. His gaze ahead revealed a sky turned crimson by the violent eruption of flames—an endless sea of crimson lotus fire, like a raging tornado, swirling and spilling outward.

Squinting at the tiny figure ahead, he instantly discarded his greatsword and reverted to his most skilled and familiar fist techniques.

Before the searing air currents and shockwaves reached him, his pupils sharpened; terrifying blue battle aura twisted with the crimson tornado, spiraling upward.

"Flame Reverse Fist!"

Vast flames surged upward with his thundering iron fist, reversing half the inferno back toward its source.

"What?"

No impact.

Yet this wide-area counterattack had landed on empty air.

The next second, the girl with six fluttering phoenix wings landed lightly behind him; Zaiden Shana, sharp and undamaged, rested against his neck.

"You've truly been reborn."

Jia Ji smiled bitterly and raised his hands in surrender; as he'd expected, "Phoenix Houdou Kaiten" combined with Shana herself produced an extraordinary chemical reaction.

And more than that—perhaps due to fear of the future and the shame of losing to him, the endless pressure had forged resolve, awakening, and the very thought behind them; Shana's blade now carried something more than before.

He could almost see a floating prompt above her head: "Complete Realm Upup."

…

Yet unlike others' shock, after his initial surprise, Sakanai Yuuji felt he could understand these two.

What kind of cultivation and determination could possibly grant such power?

After a moment of silence, the boy's gaze at Shana was no longer merely that of someone watching a Flame Haze Warrior fighting a Red World entity; an involuntary longing crept into his complex expression as he whispered: "I really… still want to fight beside her."

Jia Ji, unfazed by his loss, saw Yuuji's enraptured expression, sighed, then smiled helplessly, patting the boy's shoulder.

"Let the future take its course."

(End of Chapter)