In the Alphonse family's entire plan, the final guarantee to reap the harvest of this operation was Sean's team; this team was their margin of error.
No matter how many links in the plan went wrong, and no matter how many times it was calculated, as long as an encounter occurred, they were more than enough to kill Han Qingyu.
Among them, Sean's strength was a mere hair's breadth away from super combat power, and he had essentially mastered vitalized source energy. His personality traits also dictated that he would never choose to fight Han Qingyu one-on-one. Moreover, the path to super he walked—or rather, the life source energy property he had developed—was unique and extraordinarily formidable.
A shockwave of blazing, lava-like life source energy could be conducted through the clashing of dead iron weapons, directly attacking an opponent's internal organs and causing them to wither away or burst with blood to their deaths. Even among supers, those on the weaker side could easily suffer grave injuries at his hands if careless.
And the existence of the shield thrust formation had also been prepared for Han Qingyu from the start, specifically devised to suppress the exceptional speed documented in intelligence reports that far exceeded his rank.
At the same time, this dead iron shield formation was a perfect match for Sean's life source energy property; casting a formation from molten iron was one of the prearranged finishing blows.
...A fierce, bitter struggle; all the cards on both sides had been turned up by now.
Han Qingyu was still not dead.
His stamina and endurance exceeded expectations far more than any trait listed in the intelligence dossiers—indeed, they surpassed imagination.
Starting from over half an hour ago, it looked as though he should have collapsed, but in reality, not only had he not fallen, he was still capable of striking back.
In truth, during occasional moments of clarity, Han Qingyu himself had wondered: *Just what am I, anyway?*
In the battle just now, he had not even continued to consume metal blocks. He discovered that he was devouring Sean's lethal, lava-like vitalized source energy, while his bone source steadily transformed in turn...
This process was accompanied by immense agony, his spine feeling as though it were being ripped apart again and again. And at the end of that agony came that beast-like roar that Han Qingyu himself could hardly explain.
Then, life source energy erupted.
Not the kind of overflow caused in the past by devouring an excess of metal blocks, but a true eruption.
This was the first time ever.
Of course, even so, Han Qingyu's own senses could tell that he was still a considerable distance from a substantial breakthrough, and in terms of overall strength, he was still no match for Sean.
And as for wearing Sean down, he probably could not outlast him in the end... because aside from that surge of energy, his physical condition had not been restored. An arrow at the end of its flight, tottering on the brink.
It was at this very moment...
Wen Jifei fired, sending over a piece of curtain cloth.
How massive were the windows of the All-Army Conference venue? That curtain cloth was huge.
Qingzi had said he wanted to block that bastard's line of sight, didn't he? When bullets no longer worked, Wen Jifei blocked with something big.
At this moment.
The grand curtain had already fallen on the battle of supers across the snowy, moonlit mountains of Xilang Peak. The rustless yet twenty-year dust-covered Red-Slaying Saber had struck once again, jogging this world's memory: in this mortal realm, that absolute peak still stood.
And upon the moonlit grasslands, a tattered curtain cloth had just unfurled in midair.
At this instant, moonlight washed over the grass; the stars remained impassive.
The enemies blown out when the shield formation shattered lay wailing on the ground.
The shattered dead iron chunks that had already hit the ground were swiftly shifting from red to black.
The stream hissed, its waters scalding.
In the night sky, fiery-red shards still poured and flew like a rain of swords.
A large mass of softened molten iron was surging toward Sean.
And that tattered curtain cloth, once unfurled, hung suspended between the two sides.
*Boom!* Resolute, Sean gripped his sword with both hands and slashed through that mass of molten iron.
Raising his head, the killing intent in his eyes condensed to its peak.
Facing the identical threshold of life and death, neither side's willpower could truly be said to surpass the other's. All that remained for them to contest was likely only their most fundamental strength.
Or perhaps something else... Sean had no time to ponder. In his sight, a silhouette swayed behind the curtain cloth; Han Qingyu's right arm was raised, seizing the opportunity to swing his edgeless straight blade, slashing forward.
The column sword was probably launching another sneak attack, Sean knew, but before the distance and speed between them right now, that was momentarily inconsequential...
Just cleave him down.
*Whoosh!* The instant he lunged forward, source energy erupted, flattening the grass in all directions.
With both hands on his longsword, Sean cleaved straight ahead.
The blade tore through the curtain cloth without the slightest resistance, chopping down.
*Boom!*
*Clang! Crack!*
The blade snapped, and the figure flew backward, coughing up blood midair...
The instant the strike's momentum ran out.
Sean felt a momentary flash of bewilderment.
That blade had been released at the very last second—did he flinch?!
The colliding energy was at most at the level of a Grade B with two or three years of experience. Had he collapsed already?!
He...
No!
Sean abruptly realized something.
For instance, he had heard the sound of the iron rings on the curtain shattering earlier; given the fragility of the iron rings and the distance where that Dice had been, two shots could not possibly have sent this cloth all the way here.
For instance, what possible purpose could putting up a cloth here serve? None at all, right?!
For instance... all sorts of things were wrong.
The instant's realization was chaotic and meaningless...
Because it was already too late!
The severed curtain cloth fluttered down to either side before Sean.
His line of sight reopened.
In Sean's pupils...
Wen Jifei's figure was flying backward through the air.
So that figure had been him, and he was the one who had taken that blow.
At the same time, another figure had already launched upward at an angle from the ground... Han Qingyu's entire body straightened in midair, spiraling forward like lightning right up to Sean's face.
Before him, held with both hands, the blue starlight column sword plunged toward Sean's chest.
Source energy surged and roared.
Han Qingyu's body spun midair. Tilting his head, he clamped his teeth down hard on his left sleeve, thereby keeping his already crippled left arm anchored to the column sword as well.
All to ensure every ounce of source energy was compounded and unleashed with this single strike.
Everything happened in a flash. With no time for further reaction, Sean threw all his remaining strength into retreating backward, his pupils shrinking, then dilating.
Before him, the blue column sword spun, radiating the blazing red light he knew so well into the air.
Droplets of blood were cast out.
The survivors on both flanks watched, their eyes filled with horror, their bodies stiff. None moved.
Blades of grass on the ground snapped, swept up into the air.
The air condensed, seeming to tighten and fracture for a split second. The sound was brief and subtle, like the movement of a watch running, driving the mainspring, reeds, and gear train into a sudden, unified skip.
*Zzz... click!*
And then—*Boom!*
*Thwack!*
The column sword impaled Sean's abdomen, slashing upward at an angle, tearing clean through and out.
Han Qingyu's figure flashed past his flank, landing with sword in one hand.
Supporting himself with the sword, he swayed a few times, standing there with his back turned.
...Everything quieted down at last.
Sean first raised his head, casting a bitter gaze upon the few survivors on the ground, then withdrew his eyes and looked down at the wound cutting upward across his abdomen. He seemed to want to turn his head around, but could not manage it.
Using the last of his life source energy to lock in his vitality, blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. Sean spoke: "How are you?"
"Can still go on."
"Yeah. I can't." Having spoken, Sean waved his hand with difficulty.
He took one step forward—*Thud!*
His burly frame collapsed like a crumbling building.
Sean planted one hand on the ground, dropping to one knee.
That tattered curtain cloth lay right on the grass before him.
Chapter 337