197: Comeback

It's still the same old saying: when the combat power of two opponents is equal, even a slight advantage can expand into a decisive victory.

The Shadow hadn't intended to resolve Shen Xi in one go; he just needed to create a small distance, gain a slight advantage, and then he could press on, widening the gap even further.

"Poof!"

Shen Xi ultimately withstood the Shadow's sword strike.

However, the price he paid was spitting out fresh blood.

Even with all his strength, he still sustained some injuries.

Though not fatal, for the Shadow, it was already enough.

"This is the difference between you and me. Everything you know, I also know, but my vision, my scope, and my state of mind are beyond anything you can compare to!"

The Shadow revealed a brilliant smile.

A slight advantage was enough; he could seize this opportunity to ensure Shen Xi would never rise again.

"That's not necessarily true!"

Shen Xi's eyes became somewhat profound.

Even though he was at a disadvantage, he had no intention of giving up, nor did he consider withdrawing from the trial.

His Martial Heart allowed him to remain calm and persevere in the face of any difficulty.

Even if there was only a glimmer of hope, he would never give up.

"Then go to hell!"

The Shadow said cruelly.

His offensive grew fiercer; he intended to strike while Shen Xi was down, not giving him a chance to recover.

"At this point, I can only fight with all my might."

Shen Xi said, gritting his teeth.

It had been a long time since he had fought with such desperation.

All this time, due to the System, his strength had increased like a rocket, and he had unilaterally crushed any enemy he faced.

It wasn't until today, facing his own Shadow, that Shen Xi finally felt pressure and the need to fight with everything he had.

With that, Shen Xi directly abandoned his defense, allowing the Shadow's attacks to land on his body.

His only goal was that his injuries could not be in vain; at the very least, he had to inflict similar wounds on the Shadow.

The battle became incredibly bloody.

With his defense completely abandoned, even the confident Shadow felt an extreme headache.

He didn't want to fight Shen Xi to the death.

He was currently in peak condition, while Shen Xi was already heavily injured. In such a situation, fighting to the death would be a disadvantage.

He could clearly proceed cautiously, gradually eliminating Shen Xi and completely incapacitating him. Why abandon his advantage and choose to fight to the death?

One must know that in a life-or-death struggle, the outcome was uncertain. A slight misstep could give Shen Xi an opportunity to instantly defeat him.

With this thought, the Shadow defended while looking for opportunities to attack.

While this approach maximized his self-preservation, preventing Shen Xi from seizing an opportunity, it also made the Shadow feel somewhat constrained.

For a time, Shen Xi stabilized the situation.

However, the Shadow did not feel flustered.

He still held an advantage.

Even with Shen Xi fighting desperately, he could still occasionally inflict small wounds on Shen Xi, while the injuries Shen Xi caused him were mere superficial scratches, neither painful nor bothersome.

Time passed bit by bit.

The battle quickly lasted a full hour.

Shen Xi's condition had clearly deteriorated significantly. The Shadow was slightly better, but no matter how cautious he was, facing Shen Xi's fighting style, he still sustained injuries.

This somewhat annoyed the Shadow. In his opinion, this battle should have ended twenty minutes ago, yet Shen Xi had dragged it out until now.

But he still forced himself to endure, slowly snowballing his advantage. He was on the verge of completely defeating Shen Xi, and having persevered for so long, he couldn't give up at the last hurdle.

"Illusory Void Scripture!"

Just as the Shadow was planning to continue wearing down Shen Xi as before and secure victory, Shen Xi suddenly roared.

Shen Xi suddenly used an illusion.

With the cooperation of the Huan Xu Pearl, the Shadow was caught off guard and fell victim to it.

"Damn it, snap out of it!"

The Shadow sensed something was wrong and roared anxiously.

But in the next second, he fell silent.

From his perspective, he saw cars, subways, and airplanes soaring in the sky.

These things were unknown to the Shadow, things he had never seen before, things that exceeded his understanding.

This caused the Shadow to become immersed in the illusion, wanting to understand what these things truly were.

"Perish!"

Shen Xi seized an opportunity and attacked frantically.

And the Shadow, engrossed in the illusion, couldn't even react before being riddled with holes by Shen Xi's attacks... "What!"

At the top of the spire, Little Doll couldn't help but shriek in surprise.

Originally, he had high hopes for Shen Xi, looking forward to him passing the ninth layer's trial, which might lead to him passing the trial left by that individual.

But to his surprise, Shen Xi fell into an illusion and was severely injured when the Shadow seized the opportunity.

This made Little Doll lose hope for Shen Xi. In his opinion, Shen Xi's outcome would be no different from those he had encountered before, ultimately ending in failure.

Because of this, Little Doll had already stopped paying attention to Shen Xi's battle, or rather, he was merely watching with a spectator's attitude, from an outsider's perspective, observing how Shen Xi would ultimately fail.

But to his surprise, Shen Xi, relying on his reckless madness and desperate stance, managed to stubbornly maintain a situation that was on the verge of complete defeat.

And that wasn't all; Shen Xi even seized an opportunity to use an illusion, trapping the Shadow within it, and ultimately achieving a reversal.

However, there was one thing Little Doll couldn't understand.

The Shadow's situation was exactly the same as Shen Xi's, a 100% replication.

Neither his Realm nor the Martial Arts he cultivated, including his weapons, showed the slightest change.

Previously, when Shen Xi faced the Shadow's sudden attack, it took him less than three seconds to go from falling into an illusion to breaking free. Why did the Shadow remain trapped in Shen Xi's illusion until his defeat, unable to break free?

Little Doll simply couldn't figure it out.

In fact, even Shen Xi himself initially hadn't expected such an astonishing effect.

He merely wanted to take advantage of the few seconds the Shadow was lost in the illusion to similarly inflict heavy damage upon him.

But unexpectedly, the Shadow seemed to be possessed, losing himself in the illusion and giving Shen Xi ample opportunity to attack.

He had only intended to land one killing blow, but he unexpectedly defeated the Shadow directly.

"What's going on?"

Even Shen Xi was somewhat confused.

After a while, he finally realized what had happened, exclaiming with sudden understanding, "So that's what it was, truly fortunate."