Fly–Fly, Foolish One

Linfeng rushed straight at the Elt scion without a shred of hesitation. If not for the dire boost affecting his perception, his current speed would have been useless, as he would have been too quick to even know where he was going. 

On the contrary, it almost felt like the world was in slow motion. Nothing too extreme, but everything definitely seemed much slower to him as he sped forth. As if the burst of Primordial Yang had given him the ability to fly, he was able to swiftly get into position to deliver a kick straight to the side of Edrick’s head.

‘How the hell…’

His slower perception of time and newfound focus on even the smallest of details allowed Linfeng to very quickly realise that he wasn’t as fast as he would like to be, as he noticed that not only was the smile on the scion’s face growing, but his eyes were following him as well.

The kick crashed against a well-prepared forearm instead of a defenceless head. Linfeng pushed himself away with a burst of his inner Yang, avoiding a counterattack.

“Not bad… This could have given you a few free hits. A few months ago, that is”

Having experienced Golden Celerity with his Chen bloodline active, Linfeng’s improved movement speed wasn’t exactly that big of a deal. It was technically fast enough to outspeed Anoteros unless he was going all out, but his body had developed muscle memory to fight against Golden Celerity, and this muscle memory activated just now.

Of course, it wouldn’t work if Linfeng actually committed to a bit and attacked several times in succession, but the script holder didn’t know all of this. All he knew was that Anoteros had tracked his position and successfully defended against the attack. In his eyes, this meant that Edrick was simply quick enough to react in general.

Thankfully, Linfeng wasn’t alone…

Just go for it, Linfeng. You'll get hits in

The system didn’t elaborate, but Linfeng trusted in the judgement of his system, and so he lunged forth with confidence.

The first three blows were intercepted, but the limits of relying on pure muscle memory showed themselves, and Linfeng eventually managed to deliver a direct kick to Edrick’s side, which only made the Elt scion smile in delight, as he activated another one of Daladerium’s feral spells.

Primal Augmentation was simply a better version of the basic energy boost, and it showed. Stacking a layer of Primal Augmentation alongside his honed reflexes allowed Anoteros to keep on blocking afterwards. However, Linfeng didn’t retreat this time, even as he sensed the inner energies of his adversary on the move.

He pushed harder, managing to get several more hits in whilst narrowly avoiding several counterattacks, one of which left a cut on his cheek–Speaking to the dire force Anoteros was capable of delivering. For the grazing of his fist to deal damage one would expect from a blade, the strike had to be awfully swift and precise...

“Not bad, not bad at all… But is that all?”

What seemed to be a mere taunt ended poorly, as Linfeng was hit by a palm strike right to the underside of his jaw, sending his feet off the ground as he rolled into the grass, swiftly moving out of the way as the translucent image of a Paraceratherium Magus’s paw stomped down on the area where he initially fell.

He raised his guard immediately afterwards, as Edrick rushed forth while casting the spell, allowing him to land a powerful kick straight into the protagonist’s crossed arms, making his bones ache.

Linfeng was sent backwards, the soles of his shoes digging into the soil as he made sure to stay upright no matter what.

In the next instant, the translucent apparition of a Paraceratherium Magus’s maw appeared right above his head, biting down into the ground, taking a good chunk of dirt and grass with it–Linfeng narrowly avoided it.

For a split second, Linfeng focused the inner Yang toward his brain–A little trick the system had mentioned that would allow him to pretty much accelerate his thinking process–Allowing him to think deeply in the span of a mere instant.

He first directed his thinking toward Mala and Yen’mila. Thankfully, neither of them had intervened just as he had asked them, and they had, in fact, been backing away this entire time

‘Looks like they were able to read the room…’

‘Alright, System… Do you think I stand a chance?’

…None. He definitely has been playing with you this entire time. He could definitely cast these spells much faster, and it is pretty clear that he has been pulling his punches this entire time

‘I figured… What the hell does he want from me? Is he really just playing with his food, or does he want to see what I am really capable of by making things longer than they need to be? Regardless…’

Are you sure?

‘I’m certain… I’m not too skilled just yet, so I’ll let you handle the finer details’

I’ll definitely be on timeout after this, but you can count on me

As the system agreed, Linfeng stopped channelling Primordial Yang to enhance his thinking speed, and instead relocated most of it swiftly. Until now, the augmentation method he was using was strong, but it was also the most economical. It wasn't anything special. It is the basic method used by anyone capable of channelling energy to enhance their body, but with his inner Yang, Linfeng could actually do something more complicated quite easily. It had come bundled up together thanks to his entire self having been reforged to become entirely adapted to Primordial Yang.

Of the remaining Yang he currently had within his body, he consumed forty-six per cent directly on the spot. Half went toward making him faster, and half into the punch that he delivered straight to Edrick’s stomach.

The sudden expenditure of energy was like a flash of light in the night, and the attack landed without a hitch, sending the noble scion flying straight into one of the old pillars still standing in the field.

‘That didn’t feel nearly as effective as I would have expected…’

He had no time to waste on such thoughts, however.

He expanded thirty per cent more of his remaining inner Yang, using it to swiftly get to Fingmi and grab her.

Somehow, despite his incredible speed, he felt the sharpness of a cut appear on his back. Only a shallow cut, but it was nonetheless impressive that the maid had reacted at all to his move.

With the remaining ten per cent, he handed over control of his body to the system, who was capable of using the Yang far more efficiently, but who was only able to have control for a very limited amount of time before receiving backlash for interfering with his user in a way that he should no longer be allowed to.

He sped away at an impressive speed, whilst Mala and Yen’mila had already gotten the hint. The plant cultivator had already used the vast majority of her nature energy to take herself and Mala away from here.

The trio turned quartet ran off, just as Edrick casually rose from the debris, slightly poking at the spot Linfeng had punched him in.

“Mmh… Definitely a good punch, but he’s still too predictable with his attacks. If his moves weren’t so easy to predict, he definitely could have dealt some actual damage there… You are quite disappointing, Linfeng. Just a brute without any proper technique. I’ll have to work out all your kinks myself, it seems”

The scion dusted his shoulders as Xiaolie dropped down beside him.

“Master, I successfully slashed him with the tracking toxin”

“Oh? You actually managed to get him despite his speed? Good girl”

Anoteros patted the head of his maid, making her blush.

“Master, if I may ask–Why allow him to get away? He has disappointed you with his subpar martial arts. He might have good instincts and plenty of raw power, but he lacks the appropriate brain to put his brawn to good use”

“I merely want to make this hunt a bit more enjoyable, and I would also like him to do something before I tame him… You’ll be his senior, Xiaolie. So I hope you’ll be able to show him the ropes once all is said and done”

Anoteros smiled, but nonetheless shook his head.

“I gave him as much as was possible so that he could actually be a threat, but he simply lacks certain components to be my opponent”

As stated by Xiaolie, Linfeng absolutely had the strength to deal serious damage. He could be fast, he could be perceptive, and he had the potential for unlimited growth… Alas, it seemed like the script he was the center of wanted him to be a musclehead who relied on brute strength alone, with minimal use of deep reasoning to win fights.

As such, against a more experienced cultivator who also had immense brute strength, but far superior versatility and martial knowledge, he simply fell flat. 

‘Such a shame... Good thing I specialise in breaking scripts. I’ll remodel him into something better…’