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The next day, Cui Ming faced off against the Spear Soldier. After each charge, the Spear Soldier would retreat to its original position, waiting for Cui Ming to prepare for another assault. At first, it was brutal; every attack hit its mark. Gradually, however, Cui Ming began to successfully dodge some of the strikes, and the success rate slowly increased. Then came two Spear Soldiers, followed by two Spear Soldiers and an archer. The arrows were difficult to evade, but drawing the bow required a specific motion that allowed Cui Ming to disrupt the opponent's aim. Even a slight deviation in the arrow's trajectory could lead to a significant miss when it got close to Cui Ming.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Three months passed with Cui Ming training daily against the Sand Soldier. Whenever the Sand Soldier crouched down, Cui Ming instinctively knew what was coming. But was this knowledge useful only against the Sand Soldier or also applicable to other practitioners? It was time for an experiment.
Feng picked up a wooden sword and began sparring with Cui Ming. Feng's slashes were wide and exaggerated, making them easy for Cui Ming to dodge. However, when Feng twisted his wrist, transforming a downward slash into a horizontal cut, Cui Ming noticed the change in Feng's wrist movement. He leaned back to avoid the strike but ended up with several cuts on his body. Although he had evaded the wooden sword, he could not escape Feng's power; even with a wooden weapon, Feng's strength was formidable enough to breach his protective force and injure him directly.
The conclusion was clear: this technique worked against some opponents but not against others. For instance, Beiyue’s ground-shaking strikes didn’t need to hit directly; even a near miss could send someone flying, making evasion less meaningful. In contrast, Mi Xiaonan’s Chidori could be dodged more easily.
The greatest gain wasn’t just acquiring an advantage over certain opponents but rather that through training, Cui Ming had become more attentive and focused. With this calmness and attention came an enhanced sensitivity and awareness of his Fate Card. After facing off against Feng, the Sand Soldier no longer appeared; it seemed Zhir felt that Cui Ming had reached an adequate level of training.
In its place was a sand wall—a barrier that merged with his force. To break through this sand wall, he needed to focus his attacks on a single point while simultaneously increasing both his attack power and frequency. Time was limited; the sand wall would move rapidly towards Cui Ming within five seconds and would knock him away if he failed to break through.
There was an ancient legend about two archers competing against each other. One archer, seemingly more confident, suffered a crushing defeat. When asked why he lost so badly, he explained that he practiced shooting in his backyard at ease while his opponent trained on the edge of a cliff. After his defeat, this archer sought out the steepest cliff he could find and stood at its edge, shooting at birds soaring above while braving fierce winds... What happened in the end? He likely fell to his death.
The moral of this story is that training under pressure is different from regular training; however, when facing an opponent, those who train under pressure tend to maintain a more stable mindset. When you know that in five seconds a wall will collide with you, that sense of urgency is hard to suppress. Pressure can sometimes be a motivator or a hindrance; it all depends on how one perceives it.
Initially, Cui Ming always hesitated at the last moment before accepting the impact of the sand wall. Faced with an opponent's fist, one should not blink—even if it strikes their eye... While he thought this way, executing it was much harder; his body instinctively tried to protect itself from incoming blows. The relentless appearance of the sand wall led to repeated collisions. Cui Ming didn’t resent the wall; instead, he loathed himself for always giving up that last precious moment.
He decided not to hold back any longer. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself and launched his cards as the wall moved forward—fly, fly, fly! He refused to dodge! The last card flew just ten centimeters from the sand wall before he was knocked away because it hadn’t struck at the same point on the wall.
Cui Ming faced off against the Sand Soldier once more as they began practicing again. The speed of card deployment perfectly simulated Cui Ming’s own pace. When the sand wall collided with the Sand Soldier in an instant, it broke through and scattered sand over the Sand Soldier without causing any harm.
One challenge after another was overcome—mentally and technically. Over these past five months, with Zhir’s assistance, Cui Ming made remarkable progress in enhancing his abilities. Zhir knew much despite saying little; yet somehow, Cui Ming’s movements were always mirrored by the Sand Soldier even better than he could perform himself—guiding him toward improvement.
The enhancement technique had transformed from being merely a supplementary skill for Cui Ming into a powerful offensive method. When Cui Ming used twelve flying cards to slice through Feng’s Wind Wall, Feng couldn’t believe it—this Wind Wall was supposed to counter all flying projectiles! Yet again it fell apart; Feng’s force couldn’t replenish the sections of Wind Wall being continuously attacked by Cui Ming’s relentless assault until finally one point broke through completely—the Wind Wall shattered entirely.
Facing the unbearable situation, Cui Ming's flying cards consistently targeted a single spot. The Yellow Card was inevitable, and a series of card attacks struck fiercely. Within the duration of the Yellow Card, it easily shattered the Wind's protective Force and went straight for the main body.
Without the Yellow Card, Cui Ming couldn't keep attacking a specific point. However, there was a new variation in Cui Ming's enhanced cards. After hitting the Force, the cards would explode into fragments. Although the power and sound were minimal, they caused the Wind's Force to tremble slightly, making its body involuntarily pause for a moment. In simple terms, Cui Ming's tactic was to mix his own Force with that of the Wind. Although Cui Ming had never learned or excelled in merging Forces to attack opponents, this move was purely meant to intimidate the Force. As the Force inhaled and exhaled, it became one with itself; when it sensed an external force intruding, it reacted like white blood cells discovering a wound, quickly gathering at the site of intrusion, leading to an uncontrollable pause in its body.
It wasn't a big deal...
At first, that’s what the Wind thought. But ten minutes later, Three Corpse God was furious. Cui Ming wasn't running any slower than him and could dodge effectively. Each flying card exploded, disrupting the Wind's fluid movements and causing moments of stasis that drove the somewhat obsessive-compulsive Wind into frustration. Enraged, he scolded his own body’s Force: "Get it together! It's fine; don’t move on your own!"
"Hehe," Cui Ming chuckled.
The Wind looked at Cui Ming with disdain: "Cui Ming, have you fallen so low that you’re even deceiving your own Force? How shameless!" It was unavoidable; just like when someone throws a punch at you, you instinctively close your eyes. Unless one undergoes rigorous training to keep their eyes open, is it really necessary to train specifically to defeat someone like Cui Ming?
Cui Ming launched another explosive card, causing the Wind to pause again in anger but unable to do anything about Cui Ming.
The two were situated five kilometers away from an oasis on a flat stretch of sand, obscured by dunes that blocked their view of the oasis. This was a secluded training spot chosen by the Wind to avoid alarming Zhir. Cui Ming was too lazy to talk with the Wind; he thought it was actually quite good this way.
After battling for a while, they took a break to drink water and discuss their gains and losses from the earlier confrontation...
Suddenly, twenty meters ahead in the sandy ground erupted as a massive Toad emerged. The Toad had a large head that matched its body size and short legs, wearing an evil grin that revealed sharp teeth. A shadow suddenly appeared; it seemed to stand upright, its entire form indistinguishable from the shadow except for a pair of flickering green eyes: "Haha, we’ve been looking for you for a year; we finally found you."
The Wind drew his sword: "Wraith, I killed one of your clones last time; this time you're bringing your main body to die."
The Toad grabbed its throat with its short hands and let out a loud croak as it expelled a person from its mouth. The figure wore a deep green robe covered in disgusting slime but seemed unconcerned. In his hand was a chain that spun lightly; one end was wrapped around his body while the other held a scythe.
"Warden," both Cui Ming and the Wind exclaimed in unison.
This is bad; I can't win. Feng chuckled and asked, "Seniors, what brings you to the desert for some fun?"
Warden's voice seemed to come from deep within his belly as he said, "Cui Ming, if you come with us, we'll spare your friend. If not, I'll kill him first."
Feng sighed, "Come on then. What are you waiting for?"
Toad stepped forward, "Let me have a go first."
With that, Toad leaped toward Feng. They were already close, and now even closer. Without hesitation, Feng swung his knife, a flash of blade slicing down toward Toad's head. There was a clang as Toad swayed slightly and smiled at Feng. Feng was astonished; although the power of this strike couldn't be called immense, any practitioner struck by it would surely have their Force shattered and be injured. Yet, while Toad's outer layer of Force was broken, he still had another shield protecting him, absorbing the blow completely without harm.
Feng quickly retreated. Just as he did, Toad flicked out his tongue, which elongated like a rope and bound both Feng and his katana together. In a panic, Feng called upon the Wind Sword Technique to sever Toad's tongue. Toad retracted his tongue and opened his mouth wide. Feng was entirely swallowed into his belly.
What the hell? Cui Ming was shocked. A Yellow Card flew toward Toad, who foolishly licked it with his tongue and was instantly immobilized. As Cui Ming prepared to play his card, Warden leisurely remarked from the side, "Your opponent is me."
With those words, a scythe flew toward Cui Ming. He dodged swiftly, his body flashing aside as both hands launched cards that struck Warden repeatedly—one hand throwing explosive cards while the other sent cutting cards flying. Warden remained still, allowing Cui Ming to unleash a flurry of attacks until he noticed his exposed ribs. "Not bad; how did the prophet say he was a newcomer?"
Wraith chimed in from the side, "He was still a newcomer a year ago; do you need help?"
"Cut?" Warden leaped into the air as his scythe plunged into the ground, creating a two-hundred-meter diameter circle in the sand surrounded by countless green fangs. Within the circle floated various green substances like fireflies. Warden landed and plucked a piece of green light from the air, looking at Cui Ming as he said, "This is soul energy—the souls of those I've tortured to death. This area is my domain."
Cui Ming felt an overwhelming force pinning him down, making it hard to move. He forced himself to utilize his Force and slowly stepped toward the edge. Warden asked, "Is this meaningful?" With that, he threw his scythe; it flew toward Cui Ming. He tried to dodge but was too slow and got caught by the scythe at his shoulder blade, piercing through his Force and into his body with excruciating pain. (To be continued.)
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