Chapter 518: Battle Line

Within the Silence-Illumination illusion, the sounds of roars, splashing blood, and weapons cutting through the wind overlapped, only to be torn apart by sonic booms into eerie whimpers.

In the center of the battle, a white ring of sonic booms sent a massive amount of sand into the air, and then the surrounding air rolled back toward the center of the battle, which had been squeezed into a near-vacuum, bringing the sand back up with a rustling sound.

Li Miao kept his eyes tightly closed, his fists moving so fast they were almost a blur, attacking wildly toward the front as if without any pattern.

Five Paths Unified, only one step away from the completion of the Heaven and Man realm. In this battle, Li Miao finally caught a glimpse of the characteristics of a battle between completed Heaven and Man experts.

First, there were no openings.

There was no time to catch one’s breath; the gap between breaths was enough to fill dozens of moves, which was a fatal flaw for either side. Every move was a life-or-death strike that squeezed oxygen from the bone marrow; even if one’s eyes were bloodshot and one’s brain was throbbing, there could be no pause.

Second, vision was useless.

It wasn't that one’s reactions couldn't keep up or that one couldn't see clearly; it was just that martial arts battles in the Great Ming were inherently strong in offense and weak in defense, and this point was not alleviated in the slightest in the Heaven and Man realm. The sand kicked up during the battle, the sonic booms, and the aftershocks of the techniques were all enough to obscure vision or even pierce fragile eyeballs directly.

Both sides in the battle were attacking wildly without pattern, and the root cause lay in these two points. With vision nearly ineffective, if one did not fill every gap with attacks, the opponent’s attack would drill in. What appeared to be a wild attack was, in fact, more for defense.

And besides defense, this wild attack had another use—Li Miao’s ears suddenly twitched, the corners of his mouth curled up, and his protective True Qi exploded, clearing a patch of sand to his front left.

Then, his eyes suddenly snapped open!

A flaw!

With vision obscured, the only senses one could rely on were hearing and touch. The reason for the constant wild attacks was to use the sonic booms created by one’s own side to probe the opponent’s posture, while simultaneously tearing apart the sonic booms created by the opponent’s attacks to hide one’s own flaws.

And Susanoo was, after all, muddled in his consciousness; in the exchange of over a hundred moves, he revealed a flaw!

Following the path cleared by the protective True Qi, the Kusanagi Sword held across Susanoo’s chest was revealed—he had also realized the flaw and moved to defend and compensate in the very first moment.

But in this battle, "not attacking" was itself a flaw!

Clang!

Li Miao’s fist slammed heavily onto the body of the Kusanagi Sword, the immense force knocking Susanoo back half a step, his stance slightly loosened. Before he could reorganize his stance, another fist slammed into the spine of the sword!

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Li Miao advanced and attacked wildly!

Susanoo retreated step by step!

In just a single breath, the rain of heavy punches knocked Susanoo back several zhang! The Kusanagi Sword was pressed bit by bit toward Susanoo’s chest; it looked like in three more punches, it would be pressed against his flesh!

Clang!

With the first punch, Susanoo roared, lifted his foot to strike at Li Miao’s crotch, but before it could be fully raised, Li Miao’s whip kick had already come from the side, kicking the force of that kick off-course!

"Good strength, but a bad brain!"

"A fake god cobbled together from flesh and blood, too little combat experience, and your techniques are a complete mess!"

Clang!

With the second punch, Susanoo’s eyes flashed, but he did not try to block Li Miao’s heavy punch again; instead, he actively pressed the Kusanagi Sword against his chest, while simultaneously exerting force with his feet, using the aftershock of Li Miao’s punch to accelerate his backward flight!

Li Miao’s eyes lit up, and he smiled as he advanced in pursuit.

"Finally, you’ve got a bit of a brain!"

Susanoo’s retreat was not without purpose; he had found the best way to resolve Li Miao’s moves—distance!

The body Li Miao was using to fight him now was a fake body cobbled together with the Silence-Illumination illusion and protective True Qi, which could not leave the main body by more than ten zhang. Li Miao’s previous heavy punches had already knocked him back several zhang; as long as he exited this range, Li Miao would no longer be able to pursue!

The third punch.

Li Miao slammed down a punch!

The ten-zhang limit was only one step away!

Susanoo’s eyes flashed again, and then he actually raised his hand and threw the Kusanagi Sword at Li Miao!

He directly abandoned his legendary divine artifact! And by doing so, he also directly exited the ten-zhang range!