Chapter 5195 — Trading Injury for Injury
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"It's over." Xin Yi'an shook his head, speechless. He knew perfectly well that Leng Leng had the Crushed Ice constitution; how could this fellow Lie Yingzu still let himself be touched so easily? At the critical moment, he had even cast aside his protective true qi. How could he possibly win like that?
Against an opponent like Leng Leng, whatever tactic one adopted, keeping one's protective true qi up at all times was the most basic of common sense. Only so could one avoid direct blows to the body as much as possible and reduce the restrictive effects of the Crushed Ice constitution to a minimum. Otherwise there was simply no fighting her.
Sure enough, once Leng Leng landed her blow, there followed a merciless string of attacks. Lie Yingzu's speed was crippled, and even had he wanted to flee, he could not escape. He could only grit his teeth and circle with her; but in such a state, how could he withstand a Leng Leng who grew smoother with every exchange? The tide turned in an instant.
Everyone watched with jaws agape. This duel ought to have favored Lie Yingzu; at the very least it should have been a contest of equals. Yet in the blink of an eye it had come to this, and at this rate it was only a matter of time before Leng Leng took the match.
"Heh, the Cangwu Sect of North Island truly does abound in talent. I am full of admiration." Xue Jianming mocked at the sight. He had no wish to see Leng Leng steal the spotlight, but he was equally averse to Xin Yi'an and the Cangwu Sect of North Island, so an opportunity to get in a few jibes was no bad thing.
Xin Yi'an gave a cold snort and did not take the bait. It was not that he did not wish to retort; it was that Lie Yingzu's wretched showing left him no face to do so. With mediocre disciples like these filling its ranks, the future of the Cangwu Sect of North Island was truly cause for concern.
The other disciples of the Cangwu Sect of North Island were likewise covered in shame, and as a result, Lie Yingzu's performance in the arena only grew worse.
He had been under crushing pressure to begin with, and it was the tension that had made him perform so poorly. Now, with everyone pointing and whispering, he grew ever more nervous. Someone who could normally bring out only seven parts of his true strength suddenly had not even five.
The match became utterly one-sided. Lie Yingzu had at first been able to hang on grimly for a while, but now he had no power to strike back at all, and the decisive moment was clearly at hand.
"I cannot lose! I absolutely cannot lose!" Driven to the point where retreat was no longer possible, Lie Yingzu began to turn hysterical. He abandoned all defense against Leng Leng's flurry and, in a posture of trading injury for injury, forced himself into a frenzy of counterattack.
When pressure reaches its breaking point, some people collapse entirely—turn hysterical even—while others are reborn like the phoenix from its ashes. Lie Yingzu, plainly, was not one of the latter.
Had Lie Yingzu adopted this hard-edged stance of trading injury for injury from the very start, it would have been a wise strategy. After all, he held the advantage in sheer strength; such a course would inevitably cost him greatly, and might even leave him gravely wounded, but for this match alone his odds would actually have been better than Leng Leng's. It was a pity he had never possessed such resolve.