Chapter 189: Vest and Vest

Jian Changsheng felt a slight tremor in his heart as he sensed Chen Ling's gaze from behind the mask. The look in Chen Ling's eyes gave him an inexplicably familiar sense of pressure.

Jian Changsheng quickly suppressed the strange sensation, gripping the blood-stained short sword. With a powerful slash, dozens of blood drops once again flew overwhelmingly towards Chen Ling.

Clang—Clang—Clang!!

Blade and sword clashed repeatedly, creating a flurry of sharp sounds. Jian Changsheng, leveraging the terrifying mobility granted by the Crimson Shift, relentlessly suppressed Chen Ling. His form, like a crimson phantom, appeared and vanished unpredictably amidst the splattering blood, making it impossible to anticipate the direction of his next attack.

"So, just a Tier One," Jian Changsheng's mouth curved slightly beneath his bandages. "Without Crimson Shift, you can't win against me."

On the same cultivation path, a higher tier implies more skills. For battles below Tier Four, the sheer number of skills can often determine victory or defeat. Since the figure in the black mask had yet to employ Crimson Shift, Jian Changsheng was certain he was only a Tier One.

Chen Ling's eyes narrowed. Though he was retreating while fighting, his steps remained steady and unhurried. Soon, he reached the wilderness just outside the crematorium.

"Is that so?" Chen Ling said calmly.

His fingers swiftly scooped up a piece of a branch from the ground, snapping it in half. Simultaneously, the blood-stained short sword lunged at his chest with startling speed.

Thwap—!

Jian Changsheng's vision blurred. The short sword in his hand instantly transformed into half a branch, which jabbed at Chen Ling's sturdy chest and immediately splintered into several pieces.

At the same instant, the other half of the branch in Chen Ling's hand became the short sword, which he gripped tightly.

Jian Changsheng froze on the spot.

"Now, can you still evade?"

The next instant, a cold gleam, like a crescent moon, flashed by. The sharp blade sliced across Jian Changsheng's throat, poised to decapitate him.

Without the short sword, Jian Changsheng couldn't use the vibrating blood drops to displace himself during combat. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, leaning back just enough to avoid instant demise.

Even so, crimson blood gushed relentlessly from his severed blood vessels, quickly forming a large pool on the ground.

Chen Ling's assault did not cease. After the slash, his body instinctively coiled, drawing immense power from his numerous wounds. A whistling side kick tore through the air with a sharp crack, slamming powerfully into Jian Changsheng's chest.

Jian Changsheng's chest instantly caved in as if struck by a meteor. He was sent flying backward for over ten meters, breaking several tree trunks before finally collapsing amidst a cloud of rising dust.

Chen Ling wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, gripping the blade in one hand and the sword in the other, and slowly walked towards Jian Changsheng.

Jian Changsheng had suppressed him for a long time with his unconventional Crimson Shift. Chen Ling finally found an opening to counterattack using his Crimson Artifice. This counterattack was powerful enough to turn the tide of the battle—that decapitating strike and mighty kick would have been unbearable even for a Tier Three combatant.

However, events still unfolded somewhat beyond Chen Ling's expectations.

When he saw a blood-soaked figure struggling to rise from the pool of crimson, Chen Ling's expression beneath his mask turned grim.

Tsk... he's truly difficult to kill.

The last person Chen Ling remembered being so difficult to kill was the Jian Changsheng he encountered in the Ancient Martial Repository... and this current one seemed even tougher to eliminate than that Jian Changsheng.

Jian Changsheng, meanwhile, was utterly bewildered.

Chen Ling's Switch Trick had left him disoriented; he still hadn't fully recovered. He couldn't grasp why Chen Ling possessed such bizarre skills when both of them supposedly followed the Asura path. Was his own Asura path fake, or was his opponent's?

Come to think of it, he had previously faced an opponent with an unpredictable and uncanny set of skills... In that moment, Jian Changsheng, who considered himself a genius, was once again reminded of the terror of being dominated by Chen Ling.

Jian Changsheng shook his head, momentarily pushing these fears aside. He was currently on the brink of death, and this was the perfect moment for his Blood Robe to be pushed to its absolute limit. If he prolonged the fight, he might truly perish here.

Jian Changsheng took a deep breath, then stomped his foot forcefully in the pool of blood, sending crimson splatters flying.

In the dim, dense forest, Chen Ling suddenly felt successive gusts of punches swirling around him. This time, he chose not to meet them head-on. Instead, relying on the terrifying insight of his Mystic Eyes, he frantically evaded Jian Changsheng's attacks.

Both men possessed the Blood Robe, but Jian Changsheng was now far more severely wounded. However, this paradoxically meant his speed and strength greatly exceeded Chen Ling's. If any of those fists connected, Chen Ling would likely be plunged into a near-death state himself... but he had no intention of risking his life here.

Chen Ling's eyes narrowed. As he was about to be cornered by the incoming fist, he lightly clapped his hands in front of his chest.

As the crisp clap echoed, the image of Chen Ling in Jian Changsheng's eyes suddenly dissolved into countless fluttering crimson butterflies, scattering amidst the gusts of his swinging fists. Jian Changsheng struck only air. As he looked around in confusion, a sharp, stinging pain shot through his cheek!

Without warning, Chen Ling had ghosted to his side, his short blade slicing across Jian Changsheng's cheek and simultaneously severing the bandages wrapped around his face. Blood-stained fragments fluttered to the ground.

Jian Changsheng's heart jolted, and then fury and ruthlessness flared in his eyes. He made no move to shield his face, instead backhanding towards Chen Ling's black mask!

Crack—!

Even though Chen Ling had done his best to evade, the fierce gust of the punch shattered his mask. Both faces were simultaneously revealed under the dim moonlight, as they each reeled backward.

The moment he clearly saw Jian Changsheng's face, Chen Ling froze on the spot.

Chen Ling, of course, recognized that face. But Jian Changsheng should have died in the Ancient Martial Repository... At that time, he had directly obliterated Jian Changsheng's heart using the Tribunal, then specifically confirmed there was no life force remaining; the body had already stiffened. How could he possibly be alive and standing here now?

Chen Ling was utterly shocked, but simultaneously, a long-standing doubt in his heart was finally resolved... No wonder his identity had been exposed so quickly back then. It turned out there was an escapee who had fled back to Aurora City.

Jian Changsheng, on the other hand, saw the new face of "Lin Yan" and subtly exhaled in relief...

Thankfully, it wasn't the Red-robed Chen Ling behind the mask.

Just now, during their exchange, the pressure this mysterious opponent exerted had given him an inexplicable sense of familiarity... He had even genuinely wondered if this person before him might be Chen Ling wearing a mask, given that, in his understanding, only that uncanny individual could possess such a variety of strange skills.

But now, it seemed he had been overthinking things.

Jian Changsheng, whose own identity had just been revealed, could never have guessed that beneath his opponent's seemingly simple mask lay yet another layer of disguise.

Seeing Chen Ling prepare to continue his assault, Jian Changsheng suddenly spoke.

"Wait!"