Witch, I'm really not the Deep Sea Ancient God!

The air around buzzed with noise.

"Waku Waku! (Go master! Go master! Go!)"

Six water elves waved their cleaning cloths up and down, pretending they were an energetic cheerleading squad.

Brice crouched next to the water elves, lit a cigarette, and exhaled:

"Starting with a storm of spiritual power, oh water elves, your master might be heading to the infirmary soon."

Brice looked at the white-haired An.

This novice mentor seemed to have been the champion of the fiftieth second-tier mage competition at Bei Country Royal University.

The competition at Bei Country Royal University was one that emphasized actual combat abilities, and it had even led to a number of fatalities.

"I need to stand back a bit, wait, the cigarette is backwards..."

Brice corrected his cigarette and preemptively took out bandages and healing potions from his backpack card.

An's toes lightly tapped the ground, her blue eyes seemingly piercing through Chen Qi's every move.

A storm of spiritual power!

Starting with this move, huh... Chen Qi gripped his long sword tightly and kept adjusting his breathing.

The storm of spiritual power, upon releasing a huge amount of spiritual power, would disrupt the opponent's observation of spiritual power and interfere with their construction of it.

The only disadvantage was that this move consumed a lot of power and placed high demands on one's own spiritual power.

If one were to abide by the dueling requirements of Bei Country Royal University, indeed this would be considered one of the most basic moves.

Nevertheless, it wasn't impossible to fight against… Enshrouded around Chen Qi's sword-wielding hands and legs was a layer of faint, pitch-black Qi power.

In the storm of spiritual power, Chen Qi's pigeon sensing ability could hardly predict the opponent's techniques.

Luckily, he focused on a style that prioritized the stats panel of Qi power.

The most important characteristic of Qi power was focusing on enhancing one's own physical body. Even amidst a storm of spiritual power, his attack speed would not slow down at all.

It's all down to speed now!

Rush attack... Chen Qi summarized the method of combat.

Engaging in a war of attrition against a mage is a foolish option.

Of course, there was another point—if they trained for too long, this houseboat wouldn't be able to take it!

An remained silent, gently lifting her magic wand and forming the simplest of spiritual power orbs.

Basic Technique: Spiritual Power Orb!

Almost instantly, a spiritual power orb condensed and shot out like a cannonball.

Combined with the storm of spiritual power, it was like a gun firing bullets without the trigger being pulled!

"Casting speed surpasses the Flower Witch's, top-tier panel mages really are strong..."

Chen Qi's eyes shone briefly, his spiritual power perception and dynamic vision capturing the trajectory of the spiritual power orb.

The spiritual power is curving...

At this moment, An also revealed a slight smile. Under normal circumstances, spiritual power orbs, like bullets, would fire in a straight line.

Although it was a simple trick, it proved unexpectedly effective against Transcendents lacking in combat experience.

Treated as a newbie, huh... Chen Qi kicked off from the ground, unleashing an offensive horizontal slash.

Stepping Forward Slash!

The spiritual power orb coming in from the side was instantly split in half by the black blade.

"!"

An quickly recoiled like a feather-light dandelion, springing back.

Shadow Foot!

Chen Qi's steps left a trail of black flames; in the moment of severing the spiritual power orb, his speed tripled in an instant, surging forth like a fleeting shadow!

So fast that even before An landed at the bow, he had already closed in on her!

At this moment, the distance between them was less than a meter, and still rapidly shrinking.

Two meters!

One meter!

0.5 meter!

You're already within my attack range... Chen Qi didn't hesitate, using his forward momentum to send his blade slicing through the air like flowing water!

Upward Slash!

"Hm?"

An's pupils expanded dramatically, her heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, and she instinctively gripped her magic wand tighter.

Instinct!

Boom! A massive spiritual power field surged upwards into the sky, forming into a cloud, which then rapidly pressed down!

Spiritual Power Burst! Rain of Spiritual Power Orbs!

Slowing Fog!

Conjure Magic Shield!

In the midst of a piercing whistling sound, both of their techniques erupted simultaneously!

Phew!

The wind howled across the deck!

"Damn it!"

The cigarette that Bree had just put in his mouth was instantly twisted out of shape by the wind, and his eyes were blasted with sand and dust.

What the hell were these two doing? He straightened out his cigarette and then slowly opened his eyes to see the outcome of the match.

There stood An, holding her magic wand at the bow of the ship.

And hundreds of spiritual power orbs had already gathered in the sky, about to fall.

However, a sharp, pitch-black blade had already penetrated the magic shield and pressed against An's neck.

With a slight movement of Chen Qi's hand, he could have made the slash.

"..."

An looked down at the sharp blade against her neck and spoke:

"Qi, you are very strong, and much faster than I thought."

"..."

Chen Qi looked at the spiritual power orbs already formed in the sky.

If it were a real battle, the next outcome would probably be him executing a Horizontal Slash across An's neck at the same moment as being bombarded by the spiritual power orb rain.

Nevertheless, he managed to get close to An and had placed the blade against her neck.

To a large extent, this was because An's reaction was not timely, and in this battle, she could only use the most basic spells.

Chen Qi fell into thought.

If he were in a surprise battle, and it was in the middle of the night,

perhaps, under the status of Residual Fire Touch and Meat Cutting Bone Breaking, he really could have injured An.

But under normal circumstances, there was no chance of victory.

Currently, facing a Third-order Transcendent with the skill of release, he had no choice but to be toyed with by his opponent.

The suppressive power of a Third-order Transcendent was stronger than he had imagined.

Chen Qi committed this feeling to memory:

"Thank you, Teacher An, for the lesson."

"I have learned something as well, Qi. I just used a burst of spiritual power, which broke the rule of only using basic spells.

You, as a Second-order Transcendent, have not yet completed the enhancement of your spiritual power origin. I thought you wouldn't be able to detect the trajectory of the spiritual power orbs."

Skills of spiritual power origin...

Chen Qi exhaled deeply.

The enhancement of spiritual power origin could comprehensively improve his spiritual power skills and was the most important indicator of combat strength for a Second-order Transcendent.

However, his white dove perception and dynamic vision compensated for the current lack of this skill.

But it was just that, a compensation. If An, while using a spiritual power storm, applied any skill that obscured vision, he would become like a headless fly, a plaything in An's hands.

An, looking exhausted, simply rested her chin on the blade:

"Qi, with your current strength, you could even stand a chance against the leaders of small gangs."

Chen Qi looked at An who was resting her chin on the blade:

"Um, Teacher An..."

An didn't seem worried at all about his blade slipping.

An blinked:

"What is it?"

"My blade is poisoned."

An looked down at the blade against her neck.

"Huh?"

A wisp of sharp black Qi spread from the blade and instantaneously aimed for An's neck!

An immediately used a defensive move, but still, blood splattered onto the deck. Explore stories at empire

"Ouch ouch ouch!"

An fell to the ground in pain, holding her neck and rolling about on the deck.

The deep-sea Water Elf wiped away the blood from the ground.

"..."

Chen Qi passed bandages and a Healing Potion to An.

He hadn't expected An to lean directly on the blade.

The Black Blade was a weapon once used by the Third-tier Transcendent, Black-eyed Captain, naturally imbued with black Qi damage.

Although he now had the Meat Cutting Bone Breaking skill, without activating the Frenzied Blade, the Black Blade still had a superior edge in terms of power.

After tending to An's wounds, the three sat by the side of the ship, staring blankly at the distant sea.

Perhaps because of recent fatigue, they watched the sea in silence for a long while.

Unknowingly, the daylight slowly faded, and dusk descended.

Only when the light from the lighthouse shone did Bree light a cigarette and exhaled a ring of smoke, breaking the silence:

"Chef sir, at first I thought you'd be beaten into a pig's head beneath the rookie instructor. Didn't expect you to put up a good fight."