29: Chapter 29 Battle Against the Green-Clad (Part 1)

However—

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Facing the overwhelming Blade Light that could easily tear apart an Advanced Perfection Martial Artist, the virtual Green-Clothed Man showed no hesitation or panic.

He merely casually raised the long staff in his hand, his wrist flicking a few times at an imperceptible frequency, and the long staff transformed into an impenetrable, circular barrier of staff shadows.

“Ding ding ding ding ding ding—!!!”

A series of crisp sounds, so dense they almost overlapped, rang out like a sudden downpour on banana leaves, sparks furiously erupting where the staff shadows and Blade Light clashed.

The seemingly overwhelming Blade Light, as if striking the hardest reef, was precisely parried and deflected one by one by this steady and concise barrier of staff shadows, unable to advance an inch.

The Green-Clothed Man didn't even Move his feet a single bit.

What astonished Li Wen even more was that when the immense impact of Piercing Sun was effortlessly neutralized by the opponent, and his old strength had dissipated while new strength had yet to form, precisely during the most subtle moment of stagnation between Moves.

That ordinary long staff, like a venomous Dragon lurking for a long time, silently broke through all the remaining Blade Light.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, only a thrust so fast it was merely a faint, sharp shadow, the tip of the staff pointing directly at Li Wen's heart.

The air seemed to be effortlessly pierced by this single thrust.

“Not good!” A strong sense of crisis made Li Wen's scalp tingle; pure survival instinct drove his body to react.

“Clang—!”

A dull, explosive sound, far exceeding any before.

Just as the long staff was about to strike Li Wen's heart, in that split second of extreme proximity, Li Wen twisted his body and stepped sideways, barely managing to hold his fast blade vertically, using the thick blade surface to narrowly block the staff tip in front of his chest.

The terrifying vibrational force transmitted from the blade surface far surpassed any blow during his intense battle with the Yellow-Clad Person earlier.

This force was violent, precise, and concentrated! It transmitted through the blade to his arms, then violently impacted his entire body.

“Puff!” Li Wen felt as if his arms had been struck by a high-speed battering ram, instantly numbing and losing all sensation. His chest surged with Qi and blood, and a sweet, metallic taste rose in his throat.

He was sent flying backward, detached from the ground like a kite with a broken string, by this overwhelming and irresistible force.

“Thump thump thump thump~!” Retreating seven or eight meters clumsily across the extremely hard arena, leaving long drag marks, Li Wen finally managed to stabilize himself, barely avoiding falling directly to the ground.

But the web of skin between his thumb and forefinger on both hands, which held the blade, had already split open, seeping blood. The tearing pain and numbness in his arms made him almost unable to grip the blade hilt, and his chest felt as if it were crushed by a large stone, suffocating him almost to the point of being unable to breathe.

Just one strike! With the same virtual Physical Body Rank, the gap was like heaven and earth.

This was the undeniable, overwhelming advantage between a 'Minor Achievement' in top-tier techniques and 'Entry-Level,' a disparity not merely in the proficiency of Moves.

With each elevation in the Realm of skill, the understanding, application, and explosive efficiency of power undergo a transformative change.

The same fraction of physical strength, in the hands of a Martial Artist at the Minor Achievement Realm, unleashes power, speed, and destructiveness far beyond what the Entry-Level Realm can compare to.

It is a deeper excavation and control of the body's potential.

“Hoo… hoo…” Li Wen gasped violently, feeling a stinging pain in his chest with every inhale and exhale.

Sweat mixed with the blood seeping from the web of skin between his thumb and forefinger, staining the blade hilt red.

Just this one staff strike clearly showed him the enormous chasm.

“If I keep passively taking hits like this, it won't be long before I lose within a few Moves… I can't keep defending and dragging this out.”

Gazing at the Green-Clothed Man, who was slowly approaching with the staff in hand, exuding an overwhelming Aura, a hint of desperate madness and resolve flashed in Li Wen's eyes.

He realized that relying solely on the normal performance of the Entry-Level Rainbow Light Saber Technique, he would have no power to retaliate.

Finally, the time had come to use his trump card.

“Activate—Absolute Focus!”

This thought flashed through his mind.

In fact, as soon as he entered the virtual world, Li Wen cautiously tried to sense it immediately.

The result was that in this virtual space, which was incredibly close to reality, he could still mobilize and activate his innate skill, Absolute Focus, without any hindrance.

This was his greatest confidence in daring to confront the Green-Clothed Man.

How could he easily miss this extremely rare and perfect opportunity to fight without restraint, without worrying about damage rebound or Physical Body burden?

And how could he choose to give up this precious tempering experience simply because of the huge disparity?

Moreover, he had never truly activated Absolute Focus under the high-intensity pressure of real combat, fighting for life and death.

In his past Cultivation, he mostly utilized the 30% Comprehension Ability bonus provided by the Absolute Focus state.

Immersed in the comprehension of Blade Technique and the deep understanding of Cultivation Technique, he rarely, or rather, never had the opportunity to fully apply its ultra-precise control enhancement over his Physical Body strength.

This would be an unprecedented exploration, a true test of his ultimate combat power.

How much could Level 3 Absolute Focus, facing a top-tier Minor Achievement powerful enemy, enhance his control over this “virtual” Physical Body’s power?

How much more combat power could it allow him to unleash beyond the Entry-Level Realm? How much could it narrow this seemingly insurmountable chasm?

As for whether activating the skill would be noticed by others from the outside… Li Wen sneered inwardly, completely dismissive of the idea.

Firstly, the activation of Level 3 Absolute Focus itself was extremely covert; its external manifestation was merely a high degree of mental concentration, with his eyes instantly becoming sharper and more focused, which was a perfectly normal expression during life-and-death Martial Artist combat.

Furthermore, the teachers and students outside were only watching the 2D image projected onto the central large screen.

In this 2D image with a single perspective and long distance, who could discern the subtle, instantaneous change in a Martial Artist's eyes during high-speed movement and flickeringscreen?

That would be like a fool's dream. With the skill activated, the switch to his mental world was completely flipped open.

Boom—!

A vast, cold, clear Mental Energy, as if capable of freezing and solidifying all Impurities deep within his thoughts, instantly took over Li Wen's consciousness.

The speed of his brain's operation was instantly pushed to an unimaginable Realm.

His thoughts were like an accelerated stream of particles; processes of observation, judgment, and decision-making that used to take fractions of a second were now compressed into microseconds.

The entire world seemed to slow down in his eyes.

The Green-Clothed Man’s approaching posture, the Aura of power flowing around the staff, the subtle air currents stirred by his movements… countless streams of information instantly surged in, then were instantly deconstructed and analyzed by his rapidly operating core consciousness.

This was the qualitative change brought about by the 30% Comprehension Ability increase from Level 3 Absolute Focus.

Not just learning and comprehension, but on this brink of life-and-death combat, it transformed into the most precise battlefield situational awareness and predictive deduction ability.

But, it wasn't just that.

A deeper sense of forced “optimization” of physical control spread like an electric current through every extremity of his “virtual” body.

It was the precise mobilization of every muscle fiber, the more accurate control of every surging strand of Qi and blood.