The man was the first to act.

  With a swift movement, he drew several vialismans and activated them in the blink of a that very moment, the trees around him trembled, as if awakening from a deep slumber. The rustling of leaves filled the air, and then they appeared—thick, living vihat writhed like famished snakes, surging toward her to ensnare her.

  Tang Xi immediately reinforced her bzing aura. As soon as the viouched her body, they were ed by the intense heat and turo ash in an instant. But that wasn't enough. The creepers kept emerging. As soon as one burned, aook its pce, advang relentlessly to restrict her movements.

  She swung the Lunar Umbrel, slig through several vines with orike, yet more took their pce. Her feet sank slightly into the ground, which was carpeted with roots and dry leaves, redug her speed by at least 30%. The two enemies did not e any closer—they knew as well as she did the danger posed by those vines and preferred to keep their distance, waiting for her own attack to wear her down.

  "They want to trap me here and slowly drain my energy," she thought coldly, her eyes gleaming with determination. If this was a battle of strategy, she wasn't going to fall behind.

  With a rapid motion, she retrieved three fire talismans from her ste and flung them around. As soon as they hit the ground, they exploded in scarlet fmes, creating a wave of intense heat. The surrounding vines burned in a curtain of fire, breaking the encirclement for a brief moment—just enough for her to move freely again.

  But her relief was short-lived.

  Taking advantage of the opening she created, the man hurled five water-jet talismans directly at her.

  Tang Xi frowned.'Is that really what you're plotting?'

  Immediately, she opehe Lunar Umbrel in front of her, coating its surface with a yer of earth aura. The water jets struck the umbrel forcefully but did not pee its defense. Small spshes flew aside, yet she remained unscathed. The attack itself wasn't lethal—she khese talismans were mainly used for everyday tasks like bathing or minor emergencies. But the i behind the attack was clear.

  —"Sly,"— she murmured. If those jets hit her directly, her bzing aura would be severely weakened, leaving her vulnerable to subsequent strikes.

  Tang Xi exhaled a cold sigh. They were trying to wear her down, step by step, blow by blow.

  Just as she began to leave the area of the vines, an overwhelming sense of daruck her. Her gaze swept the space ahead—and there she was:the reparing a treacherous strike.

  Her eyes burned with an insane fervor. The sword in her hand began to glow with untrolble iy, trembling slightly. Tang Xi had no doubt that the woman was eling all of her aura into that strike. But what really caught her attention was something else.

  As the cultivator prepared, her hands trembled ever so slightly. She had ied some dubious, likely low-quality pills that replenished her aura chaotically. Tang Xi noticed that the sword in the woman's hand seemed unsteady—and for a moment, she swore she saw cracks f along the bde.

  —"She's overexerting her own on," Tang Xi thought.But even so, she couldn't uimate her. The threat behind that strike was real.

  Tang Xi readied herself to block the attack. However——the man attacked simultaneously.

  This time, he spared nothing.

  Five metallic-cutting talismans were activated at once, and in the instant, dozens of circur bdes of golden energy materialized in the air, surging in her dire. Uhe previous ohese bdes were enveloped in a dense aura aed an intense glow—clear indicators of their superior quality.

  The man's face torted in a cruel, determined expression, and his plexion turned slightly pale—it was evident that the cost of activating so many talismans at once was high. He clearly didn't care about the cost. All he wanted now was to see her dead.

  "Damn."

  Tang Xi felt the overwhelming pressure of both attacks closing in. She couldn't dodge them both; she had to make a decision.

  "If I defend against the man's attack, I don't know how much the Lunar Umbrel take... five high-quality talismans are equivalent to the force of five strikes from a 9th-level Body Tempering cultivator. But if I ighe woman's attack…" Her instincts warned her that the woman's sword was on the verge of colpse, yet the strike was still incredibly lethal.

  Her mind processed all possible solutions in the blink of an eye."High-quality talismans—you're not the only one who has them," she thought—after all, that was what she had ied from her father.

  Then, she acted.

  Swift as lightning, she extracted several high-quality iron armor talismans from her ste and affixed them to both her body and the handle of the Lunar Umbrel. In the same instant, a metallic gray light enveloped her, creating ara yer of defense.

  Now that her resilience was reinforced, she made her choice. Tang Xi pletely disregarded the woman's strike and focused on the man's attack.

  The male cultivataze narrowed in surprise. He hadn't expected her to choose that path.

  "Why does that bastard have so many talismans?! He must have stolen them from some talisman master!"

  Tang Xi smiled coldly as she observed the fusion and frustration on his face."Let's see how long you withstand this."

  The circur bdes sliced through the air at high speed, surrounding her from every dire. But Tang Xi spun the Lunar Umbrel in front of her while unleashing her [Phoenix Wings] to their fullest. With her metal-talisman-reinforced defense, she absorbed the impact of some attacks she couldn't dodge, while deftly evading others. Some attacks iably struck her body—with most of their power diminished by the talisman defehough a portion still nded, causing injuries.

  The blows were intense, eaergy bde striking her defeh crushing force. The impacts reverberated through her arms, and with every shock her feet sank slightly into the ground, yet she remaieadfast. The earth around her was torn apart by the force of the strikes.

  When the final attack hit her defeang Xi panted slightly.But before she could catch her breath——the woman's attack finally arrived.

  Tang Xi moved at the st moment. The curved bde, enveloped in a chaotic aura, sliced through the space where she had just been. The sound that followed was a deafening crash. The woman's sword smmed into the ground with tremendous force, and at that very moment—it shattered pletely.

  The female cultivator's eyes widened.— "What?!"

  The excessive aura eled into the bde had been too much for it to bear. The sword trembled violently, then exploded into pieces. The woman's face drained of all color.

  Tang Xi wasted no time, though now she panted from the exertion of her defense. Before the woman could recover, Tang Xi charged like a bolt of lightning, her fming bde whistling through the air. The cultivator barely had time to raise her arms before an intense pain shot through her left shoulder. A sharp scream echoed through the forest.

  The man's eyes widened as he saw his partaggering back, blood streaming from her shoulder wound. Tang Xi turo him, her eyes abze with fierce determinatioe the fatigue etched on her face. A smile slowly spread across her lips.

  — "Now it's your turn."

  Aug_N7052