After facing each other down for a moment, Jun Guqiong's face contorted, and a layer of painted skin was peeled off his face, forming an avatar in the blink of an eye.
He had originally intended to wait for Yu Xian to strike first. After all, during a time stop, no matter how many fatal attacks he suffered, it would only count as one.
Thus, he would only need to expend a single layer of painted skin to withstand all of Yu Xian's attacks.
Yet things had not gone as he hoped. Yu Xian had clearly studied his class and skills as well, and would not be easily fooled into wasting his own strength for nothing.
There were pros and cons to this.
The advantage was that he had more time to prepare; the downside was that Yu Xian certainly wouldn't be fooled by his tricks.
At this moment, the two Jun Guqiongs stood side by side, the real one on the left and the fake one on the right. Watching Jun Guqiong unleash his avatar, everyone present was well aware of this fact.
The next moment, however, the two Jun Guqiongs split apart, charging toward Yu Xian from the left and right.
As they sprinted, both Jun Guqiongs cast a skill almost simultaneously, instantly turning into four. Crisscrossing as they ran, they suddenly all threw a seed toward Yu Xian.
The moment Yu Xian saw the seeds, he immediately retreated. In the next instant, the seeds emitted white light and detonated with a boom.
The blast wasn't particularly powerful, but it obstructed Yu Xian's vision.
Once the explosion subsided,
Yu Xian looked at the four Jun Guqiongs that had halted, unable to tell which was real and which was fake.
"He really does have new skills."
Yu Xian understood, then activated Time Stop.
The water droplets in his palm immediately shot toward the four Jun Guqiongs. In an instant, a hole was punched through the glabella of all four, and then time resumed its flow.
In a flash, three of the four Jun Guqiongs burst apart, leaving only one Jun Guqiong to frown and step back, the wound between his brows rapidly healing.
Time Stop was far too cheap.
Jun Guqiong quietly expended 1% of his HP to add a layer of painted skin to himself.
His luck was exceptionally good this time. Activating the skill happened to trigger Multicast, so what was originally just one additional layer of painted skin immediately became two.
Creating the avatars had cost him three layers of painted skin, and blocking Yu Xian's attack had consumed one.
The full twelve layers of painted skin he started with had been reduced to eight; now, with two layers restored, he was back to ten layers.
"You want to touch me. I know. Give it up—I won't give you any chance to touch me," Yu Xian spoke up faintly at this moment.
Whether the real Jun Guqiong touched him or an avatar did, it could directly trigger White Terror.
Jun Guqiong's strongest skill was White Terror. Once touched by him, one effectively entered a countdown to death, because no one could simultaneously withstand a pincer attack from "themself" and Jun Guqiong working together.
The problem was that Jun Guqiong was very adept at confusing his opponents. Under normal circumstances, he would split off seven avatars to assist him. This time, because his opponent was Yu Xian, he had played it conservatively and only split off three avatars for combat.
Once he touched the target, all that remained was to use Brush and Ink Shield Technique to stall for time until the uncanny painted skin emerged to secure victory in one stroke.
People had specifically analyzed that if Jun Guqiong touched someone, it took roughly three minutes for an uncanny painted skin to form, which was a player's final window of opportunity.
In practice, however, it was extremely difficult.
Unless one had Time Stop, Jun Guqiong would never just stand there waiting to die.
Unfortunately, Jun Guqiong had run into Yu Xian this time. Yu Xian counteracted him tremendously; no matter how many avatars he had, Yu Xian could simply use Time Stop and pop them with water droplets.
In the end, Jun Guqiong would still have to duel Yu Xian one-on-one.
The question was, would Yu Xian give him the chance to touch him?
No.
Yu Xian only needed to take flight, and Jun Guqiong would be completely out of options.
"Who told you I have to touch someone else?" Jun Guqiong chuckled upon hearing Yu Xian's words.
He pulled open his clothes. The human face on his chest was shockingly identical to his own! At that moment, the face opened its eyes and slowly tore itself free from Jun Guqiong's chest.
The very next instant, new layers of painted skin quickly stacked onto the newly emerged Jun Guqiong one after another.
This was the first time he had ever used the skill like this. In the past, he had always copied others, but now he was copying himself—and going forward, this uncanny painted-skin version of him would continue to repeat the process.
The longer time dragged on, the more Jun Guqiongs there would be on the arena stage, and all of them would be Jun Guqiongs that were exceedingly hard to kill.
Time Stop could at most expend one layer of his painted skin each time, and repeated attacks within a single Time Stop could still only consume one layer. So if Yu Xian wanted to kill him, he would have to activate and deactivate Time Stop at least twelve times.
The issue was that whenever Time Stop ended, he would immediately cast his skill to add another layer of painted skin.
This would turn into an endless loop, and it was genuinely uncertain who would exhaust whom first.
"Every three minutes, the number of Jun Guqiongs on the field increases by one."
"No, that's not right."
"Right now, Jun Guqiong and the uncanny avatar are very likely both using White Terror. In the next three minutes, there will be four Jun Guqiongs on the field."
Yu Xian glanced at the two Jun Guqiongs, realizing how troublesome this had become.
Without Time Stop, Jun Guqiong had Brush and Ink Shield Technique on top of the painted skins he already possessed, making him very, very difficult to kill. With Time Stop, he could only destroy one layer of Jun Guqiong's painted skin, which the man could restore in the blink of an eye.
The problem was that he couldn't afford to stall any longer. The longer time dragged on, the worse it was for him, and the more Jun Guqiongs there would be on the field.
Time Stop!
Yu Xian decisively triggered the ability, and with a stroke of good luck, formed five pieces of glass.
He immediately cast the glass into the air, then slit his finger with a small knife to set traps across the ground using his blood, and finally pulled out a bottle of water to prepare the surroundings.
After setting up the grounds, he directed two water droplets to instantly pierce through the heads of the two Jun Guqiongs.
Time resumed its flow.
Almost simultaneously, both Jun Guqiongs leaned back slightly, the wounds between their eyebrows rapidly healing, as identical smiles appeared on their faces.
Sure enough, Yu Xian had no answer for him. An attack of this caliber posed virtually no threat to him.
Yet in the next moment, five laser beams descended at once, piercing straight through his body. His expression shifted slightly, and he decisively cast the skill Brush and Ink Shield Technique.
Visibly, his long hair swiftly shifted from black to white while a faint black curtain enveloped him in total protection.
The uncanny painted skin did the exact same thing, casting the skill so that two oval black eggs appeared on the field. When the lasers struck the black eggs, they could only generate faint ripples, unable to breach the defense.
If one had to assign an element to Brush and Ink Shield Technique, it would be considered Nether-aligned.
Only attacks of utmost yang and supreme rigidity were effective against it; ordinary flames, lightning, lasers, and sunlight were of little use. It required attacks like Samadhi True Fire or Nine Heavens Divine Thunder to truly "counter" it.
Of course, being ineffective didn't mean entirely useless.
An elemental mismatch meant at most that attacks were like shaving off paper-thin layers; as long as the attack frequency was high enough and the attack power great enough, it was still possible to break Jun Guqiong's shield technique.
The problem was that Jun Guqiong wouldn't foolishly stand still and serve as a target!
Chapter 605