Chapter 262: Unsheathed!

The blade's cry, clear as a dragon's chant, rang across the beach!

"Imperial Spirit Blade·HanYuBingTian" is drawn!

The blade edge is as thin as cicada wings, crystal clear, and what wraps around it is not wind and snow but a cold light refined to the extreme!

The blade reflects the gloomy sky‑sea, and also reflects Sakura's gray eyes, now sharp as the blade's edge.

Almost at the same moment, A Ge Lai Ya in the wheelchair seemed startled by the blade's unsheathing sound and the chilling killing intent, and the otherwise motionless silhouette shifted slightly.

She did not turn, but Sakura could feel countless invisible yet tangible gazes, like a disturbed spiderweb, instantly enveloping her from all directions!

The movement of air, the trembling of sand grains, temperature differences, even the subtle shift in killing intent, all transformed via the Golden Thread into a torrent of information, surging toward the wheelchair.

Sakura moved.

There was no raging momentum, no blazing flame.

Her figure suddenly blurred in place, and the next instant she appeared several meters behind A Ge Lai Ya, the HanYuBingTian in her hand turning into an ice‑cold arc too swift for the naked eye, slashing toward the wheelchair!

The strike was so fast it seemed to surpass time; where the blade passed, the air froze into fine icy crystal trails!

However, just a moment before the blade could make contact—

Buzz!

The wheelchair, along with its occupant's silhouette, vanished from the spot as if a pencil mark erased by an eraser!

Only a faint golden ripple remained where it stood.

Sakura's blade cut into empty air.

And at her former spot, a silver single‑handed sword bathed in golden light pierced out of the void, silently piercing the afterimage Sakura left behind!

Yi Jiang!

It had silently appeared at some point, launching a perfectly coordinated interception and counterattack!

Sakura's figure solidified again a few meters away, her gray eyes calmly scanning the wheelchair that reappeared nearby, and the headless Yi Jiang hovering beside it, sword in hand.

In the first clash, both sides displayed jaw‑dropping speed and response.

The barrage in Letu Hall instantly filled the screen:

【Pado Felice: Wow! What just happened?! Did my eyes go blurry?!】

【Ailixiya: Ah! Both are so fast! Sakura's teleport and Yi Jiang's thrust, almost simultaneous!】

【Kaiwen: Yi Jiang's speed is great, able to keep up with Sakura's 'Shana' movement.】

【Hua: Not just fast. Yi Jiang's attack timing and position are precise as if pre‑judged.】

【Su: The Golden Thread Perception Network is at work. Sakura's movement trail, no matter how fast, still disturbs air and other media, captured by the Golden Thread.】

【Wei Er Wei: Data recorded! Both sides' speed peaks have broken records! The spatial disturbance coefficient and Golden Thread Information Transmission Delay are being calculated!】

On the beach, the battle did not cease after the first probe; instead it suddenly entered a white‑hot climax!

Yi Jiang's figure turned into streams of pale golden light, launching endless thrusts at Sakura from all angles within the area covered by the Golden Thread Network.

Each sword was sharp and ruthless, striking vital points, and its speed kept increasing, as if it could anticipate Sakura's dodge direction!

Sakura's figure flickered continuously amid blade light and golden sword shadows.

The 'Shana' imprint ran at full power, allowing her to execute ultra‑short‑range, virtually cooldown‑free consecutive movements.

She did not choose a head‑on clash, but weaved through the dense attack net, the HanYuBingTian in her hand alternately blocking and delivering fierce counterattacks; blade meeting sword sparked ice crystals and golden sparks, a clanging crisp sound merging into one, fast as a sudden storm!

The naked eye could no longer discern specific motions, only a blur of Sakura‑colored light and pale golden streams colliding wildly over the beach and sea!

On the beach, slash marks and puncture holes appeared out of nowhere.

Fast! The ultimate fast!

In Letu Hall, even the Ying Jie needed to focus their minds to barely keep up with the two's movements.

Xi Lian covered her chest, too nervous to speak.

In front of Wei Er Wei, the virtual screen's data stream refreshed wildly, and she herself turned red with excitement: "Too fast! Too fast! This is the clash of ultimate speed! Golden Thread Information Transmission has a limit delay! Sakura is exploiting this!"

As Wei Er Wei said, Sakura is not dodging blindly.

With each teleport and clash, her top‑assassin's cool mind runs at high speed.

Her gray eyes not only locked onto Yi Jiang and the wheelchair, but also sensed the "vibration" of the invisible Golden Thread in the surrounding space.

(Golden Thread Perception requires transmission time… though extremely brief, there is indeed a delay.)

(Yi Jiang's attacks are entirely based on Golden Thread Feedback information… the attack trajectories follow a pattern.)

(The wheelchair's movement, though odd, causes the Golden Thread disturbance to peak at the moment of activation and direction change…)

She is waiting.

Like the most patient hunter, amidst the storm‑like onslaught, she searches for the minuscule yet real gap between Golden Thread Perception and A Ge Lai Ya's reaction.

At the same time, she is quietly altering her movement pattern.

No longer pursuing extreme straight thrusts, she now incorporates more unpredictable motions, disrupting the Golden Thread's judgment.

Yi Jiang's attacks remain fierce, but Sakura can feel the opponent's "prediction" accuracy is declining slowly.

(Now!)

After a seemingly rushed block, Sakura's figure suddenly teleported backward dozens of meters, apparently to create distance and catch her breath.

Yi Jiang's golden sword light, like a shadow, pursued tightly!

However, Sakura's retreat this time was not due to exhaustion.

The moment her figure solidified, the ice surface she had deliberately condensed beneath her exploded violently!

Using the blast's recoil and the instant burst of 'Shana', her figure did not keep retreating, but abruptly reversed on an illogical trajectory!

Speed surged to a new peak in an instant!

Target—not Yi Jiang, but for the first time since the battle began, the wheelchair‑bound A Ge Lai Ya, who was slightly farther due to Yi Jiang's pursuit!

This turn was too abrupt, too fast!

It's almost as if even the Golden Thread Network has suffered a Shana information overload!

The Sakura‑colored blade flash, this time, is no longer a probe but has gathered the Shana's utmost intent, a space‑freezing—One-shot Flash!

"—Now, Shana!"

Sakura's whisper and the blade flash seemed to arrive simultaneously.

In the Letu Hall, everyone's breath caught for a moment.

Time seemed to have been paused.

A deep‑blue icy hue enveloped a ten‑meter radius centered on Sakura and A Ge Lai Ya.

The fine droplets drifting in the air, the swirling dust, even the ubiquitous pale Golden Thread, were all frozen in that instant, forming a bizarre and perilous static tableau.

Sakura's figure, like a specter, appeared precisely less than a meter in front of the wheelchair.

Her Imperial Spirit Blade·HanYuBingTian glowed with a chilling light that froze space.