Who Cut Him Down?

"Wu Xu." Qingzi's voice came in the exact tone he always used, as though he were merely saying, "Wu Xu, time to eat," or "Wu Xu, want some peanuts?" Immediately following that, a massive crash erupted beside Wu Xu. The instant he collided midair with the iron seal while holding the blue starlight column sword, Han Qingyu learned two things: first, he really was a bit weak right now; second, Qu Zongyan had started fighting for his life. Yet at that moment, Wu Xu's senses could barely make out anything anymore, so he just said, "Yeah." Just like usual. "...Yeah, my ass." Beside him, Han Qingyu was blasted backward, hurtling through the air. The instant he flew back, the iron chain in Qu Zongyan's hand whipped outward, gouging a bloody streak across Han Qingyu's face from forehead to left cheek. Had it bitten any deeper, Han Qingyu would have lost his left eye. Wu Xu's forward-driving Binggu Spear plunged straight into Qu Zongyan's shoulder. Then, having sent Han Qingyu flying, the iron seal—which had not entirely lost its forward momentum even after the initial impact was cushioned—slammed heavily into Wu Xu. As Wu Xu's body was thrown askew, the spearhead tore open a bloody trench across Qu Zongyan's torso. Wu Xu, too, was flung through the air. With that, Stream Vanguard's desperate, all-or-nothing counterattack saw its two primary combatants knocked out of the fight in the very first clash. *Bang!* A gunshot. By the time Qu Zongyan heard it, it was already too late. A bullet drilled through the skin and flesh of his back... but ultimately failed to reach his heart. Qu Zongyan turned his head in fury. Hundreds of meters away, Wen Jifei had already switched weapons, calmly meeting his gaze as he pulled the trigger once more. Qu Zongyan did not dare take this shot head-on. Subjectively, he had no desire to take it. Having forcefully ramped up his source energy surge three consecutive times, he was currently at an ebb, making it ill-advised to take head-on. In a split-second decision, he dodged toward the rear flank. *Whoosh!* The explosive sound rose just as the attack arrived. The iron armor barreled into position, its sweeping knight broadsword slashing toward Qu Zongyan's neck from his flank and rear. Forcing up the last wisp of a rising surge, Qu Zongyan turned sideways and yanked the iron chain taut to block the blade. *Clang!* Completely unconcerned that the broadsword had been parried, the iron armor slammed straight into him. She crashed in like a tank. It was as if she had come purely to ram him from the start. Caught at the transition between breaths, Qu Zongyan thought, *Not good...* but his feet were already leaving the ground. He was knocked airborne. At the same time, *bang! bang!*—two gunshots rang out. Wen Jifei fired another shot with Iris. The barrel cracked, and he immediately switched to Elegy of the Square for a third shot, the two fired so close together there was virtually no interval between them. When it ended, Wen Jifei's hands and arms were drenched in blood, though his body was mostly intact—he had just rolled aside. Qu Zongyan was flying through the air—for the very first time. Two bullets waited for him there, one on the left and one on the right. *** The battlefield shifted in the blink of an eye. By now, three waves of attacks from different angles had already played out, yet in terms of time, only about four or five seconds had elapsed from start to finish. In those four or five seconds, Han Qingyu's group of four had created a brief window of outnumbering their foe. At that same moment, He Tangtang stood back-to-back with the other four, entirely alone. Soaked in blood, he held his blade and stared at the hundreds of people surging forward from behind. The crowd was surging forward, yet no clash occurred, because they were all unconsciously waiting... Over there, what was likely the final scene before the battle reached its conclusion was playing out. His source energy failing to keep up, Qu Zongyan had been hurled skyward, ascending; along his trajectory, two bullets waited on his left and right, completely sealing off the space above; and beneath him, the iron armor hummed as it spun back for another horizontal slash. A sure-kill situation. The death of a super?! Before everyone's eyes, Qu Zongyan executed a movement in a fraction of a second—a maneuver that appeared simple, perhaps even somewhat bizarre: [Braking midair, flattening his body horizontally, and propelling himself sideways.] With this single movement, he evaded every attack. Silence fell over the field. Only those who lived in the source energy world understood just how difficult such a maneuver was. The three lines of red text on the title page of Azure's *Source Energy Maneuvering Gear Combat Manual*—"Do Not Leap into the Air"—were certainly no joke. Especially now, when Qu Zongyan's own source energy was running dry. For comparison, Han Qingyu could cut off his source energy to achieve a sudden stop and plummet midair, which was one of his most crucial combat techniques. Yet just now, Qu Zongyan had actually executed three consecutive active reversals and re-reversals of source energy. He was a super combat power. A sure-kill trap met with a super's solution. Qu Zongyan survived. And with his survival, the battle would likewise be declared over. Ended in reverse. Just as the enemy crowd surged with exhilaration, before their cheers could leave their mouths... In midair, Qu Zongyan's body, having just catapulted sideways, suddenly jerked back. Whistling as it flew back! Stuck through his lower back and abdomen was a miniature blue starlight column sword! In the scene, Han Qingyu crashed to the ground, Wu Xu crashed to the ground, and Qu Zongyan fell heavily to the earth. Han Qingyu struggled to his feet. Wu Xu, his head bowed, clutched the Binggu Spear with both hands and pushed himself up bit by bit. Qu Zongyan did not move. Like a rising flame doused by a splash of cold water, nearly the entire field froze in that instant. Almost everyone present saw it—except He Tangtang. Excessive blood loss had dulled He Tangtang's consciousness. He hadn't even noticed the change; his reaction was still frozen at the moment the enemy crowd surged forward. "Come on! If you people in the back want to get past, leave fifty dead here first... Who's coming? Come on! Who's dying here?!" Like a street thug fighting to the bitter end in an alley brawl, he was bleeding, roaring threats, weak yet brandishing his weapon wildly, pointing his blade at the crowd. "Tangtang," Wen Jifei called out, his voice a bit quiet. "It's over, Tangtang!" He tried his best to raise his voice. But it still wasn't enough. He Tangtang continued howling alone across the silent valley. Wen Jifei walked over, extended his lacerated, blood-drenched left arm, and pulled him into a firm embrace. Straining with effort, he lacked the strength to speak loudly as he said: "It's over, Tangtang. We cut him down. We hacked him to death." In truth, throughout that terrifyingly seamless coordination—whether first wave, second, or third, whether blades or bullets—there had ultimately been only one objective: To deplete Qu Zongyan to the point where his source energy surge was nearly exhausted, and to pin him precisely at that height, along that line. The exact trajectory along which the miniature blue starlight column sword struck from behind. Han Qingyu and the column sword could only move relative to each other; he had no way to alter the column sword's trajectory in midair. Thus, the moment he activated it, the path was locked in place. After Han Qingyu and Wu Xu created the opening, the ones who had truly locked Qu Zongyan into place were Wen Jifei and Rusty Sister. "Dead?" He Tangtang suddenly grew quiet. He slowly turned his head to look. "Who cut him down? Qingzi? Wu Xu...?" "We did," Wen Jifei cut in.