Aksai had carefully hidden his approach.

The poisonous mist concealed him. The barrier weakened Spirit Sense. Plus, the Spirit Veil Pill masked his presence even further.

He had even waited until Kalina focused entirely on breaking the formation, striking at the very last moment when she was least likely to notice his approach and react.

Yet, she still reacted.

Not because she saw him, but because she sensed him through some unknown means.

Several dozen meters away, Kalina’s pupils shrank. Cold sweat quietly formed on her back.

’How...?’

She stared at Aksai in disbelief.

He had somehow reached a distance that should have been impossible without her noticing. Even with the poison mist’s effects, her late-stage senses should have been superior to his mid-stage Lord senses.

Had her instincts been even slightly slower, that Aurous Qi-powered punch would have landed squarely on her body. Even if it wasn’t enough to seriously injure her, it would have disrupted her battle rhythm.

Aksai did not immediately continue his pursuit. Instead, his eyes narrowed. Something had caught his attention.

On Kalina’s right arm, a strange talisman slowly became visible. Earlier, it had been completely hidden. Now, after activating, it shone with a brilliant silver glow.

The light only lasted for a brief moment. Almost immediately, the talisman’s glow began fading. Its brightness rapidly disappeared. Within a single breath, it lost all its luster.

Aksai carefully observed it.

The talisman was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Its surface was covered with countless tiny Essence Equation Runes.

Each rune was incredibly complex. They were arranged in patterns completely different from the talisman techniques of the Dadangar Subcontinent.

Aksai silently asked Nuri to analyze it.

However, only a moment later, Nuri returned her answer.

No match. No comparable data. No deduction possible.

The operating principles behind those runes could not be reconstructed using her existing talisman database.

This was clearly a talisman system that belonged to another cultivation civilization.

Or rather...

A civilization that had successfully endured the test of time.

Unlike the civilization of the Dadangar Subcontinent, which had been shattered by the Mad Immortal’s actions, the Shinayin Empire had survived those turbulent times.

It had also remained connected to the Eternal Sea, allowing it to continuously develop and refine its cultivation arts.

Even if the Shinayin Empire only received the lowest-grade knowledge available from the Eternal Sea, it was still far superior to what a distant land with broken inheritances like the Dadangar Subcontinent could access.

Before Aksai could study the talisman any further, it quietly detached itself from Kalina’s arm. It floated in the air for less than a second. Then it crumbled into fine gray dust. The dust scattered into the poisonous wind before disappearing completely.

Aksai’s expression darkened.

’I see... So this was the reason.’

His carefully planned surprise attack had not failed because Kalina possessed sharper instincts alone. It was this talisman. It had amplified her senses to an unbelievable degree at the most critical moment.

The triggering of the talisman was automatic. As such, even if Kalina wasn’t aware, the talisman could still activate itself without the owner’s direct involvement.

Only then had she managed to avoid his strike. His thoughts quickly became serious.

’Damn it. And here I assumed I had taken everything.’

He had robbed Kalina before the battle had even begun. Because of that, he had naturally concluded that she no longer possessed any resources capable of affecting the battle.

But reality had proven otherwise.

She still carried invisible talismans directly on her body. Talismans so well concealed that neither his Spirit Sense nor Nuri had noticed them before activation. Only when the talisman completed its purpose did it briefly reveal itself.

That realization immediately raised Aksai’s vigilance, if she possessed one such talisman...

Could there be others?

...

Kalina’s mood was no better.

She looked at the drifting ashes with obvious frustration. That talisman was extremely precious. Even within Great Elder Runiye’s faction, obtaining one was not easy.

Its purpose was simple. When faced with fatal danger, it greatly enhanced the user’s senses. Every tiny movement. Every fluctuation. Every trace of killing intent. Everything became unbelievably clear.

At the same time, it temporarily strengthened the user’s body.

Otherwise, simply sensing danger would have been meaningless. If the body could not react, death would still arrive.

The talisman granted both perception and the speed necessary to respond.

However, this was never how it was meant to be used. The talisman only got triggered despite Aksai not having a fatal move because he got very close to her. And since the talisman’s activation was automatic, she couldn’t stop it.

Spirit cultivators rarely fought at such close range. No matter whether they came from the Dadangar Subcontinent or the Shinayin Empire, most preferred fighting from a safe distance. That distance allowed them to freely cast Spirit Spells.

Advance.

Retreat.

Control the battlefield.

Even when they moved closer, they usually stayed several dozen meters away. Close enough to strengthen mid-range spells. Far enough to avoid becoming trapped within their own attacks.

Almost no sane Spirit cultivator willingly fought within arm’s reach. Doing so exposed both sides equally. Their own spells could affect them just as easily. Plus, the opponent’s attacks became nearly impossible to avoid.

The talisman was supposed to help Kalina avoid a fatal strike from a late-stage Lord’s spell. After all, only an attack from a late-stage Lord could normally push her into a situation dangerous enough for the talisman to activate. That was its intended purpose.

However, because Aksai had closed the distance so suddenly and launched a Qi-powered attack, the talisman’s mechanism identified it as a fatal threat and activated immediately.

Even though Aksai’s attack did not carry overwhelming power, the talisman still treated it as deadly because it operated according to a fixed set of principles and possessed no intelligence of its own.

No matter how talented or powerful Kalina was, she could not change the talisman’s inherent functions or transfer her own judgment of danger into it.

The situation was akin to using an automatic rifle to kill a mosquito.

Yet that single attack made Kalina realize something she had never considered before.

Only one kind of cultivator preferred such reckless close-range combat.

Kalina slowly looked toward Aksai. The disbelief on her face grew even stronger.

Her lips unconsciously parted.

"Qi practitioner?"

She stared at him with undisguised shock.

"In this subcontinent?"

"How rare..."

Kalina looked at Aksai once again. But this time, her gaze was completely different.

She no longer focused on his cloak or the poisonous mist surrounding him.

Instead, her eyes fell upon his arms. A translucent layer of golden Qi quietly flowed around them.

The golden aura was thin. Almost invisible.

Yet it remained firmly attached to his body like a second skin.

It neither resembled Spirit Essence nor the aura of a Spirit Spell. There were no Essence Equation Runes that would suggest the usage of taliamans or other likewise items.

It was indeed a pure body-refining Qi.

Kalina’s eyes widened slightly. She had finally understood why Aksai had suddenly abandoned long-range combat. He had never intended to defeat her through Spirit Spells alone.

He wanted to drag the battle long enough for the poison effect to take effect on her. And he made use of the body cultivation path to compensate for his lack of Spirit essence reserves compared to her under such circumstances.

Kalina frowned as she carefully observed the golden layer covering his body. The Qi flowed naturally across his muscles and bones.

It strengthened every movement without producing even the slightest trace of Spirit Essence. The more she looked, the more confused she became. This type of body cultivation path seemed entirely distinct from the Spirit cultivation path that was prevalent in Dadangar World.

’What kind of Body Cultivation Art is this?’

She had seen records of Body Practitioners before. Some cultivated blazing flames. Others cultivated lightning. Some condensed metallic skin. Others transformed into giant beasts.

But Golden Qi? She had never heard of such a method.

Even the body cultivation records she had read within Great Elder Runiye’s faction did not describe anything similar.

Could it be a body cultivation method from the Eternal Sea?

The thought appeared briefly.

Then she immediately dismissed it.

Impossible.

If such a technique truly came from the Eternal Sea, someone within the Shinayin Empire would have heard of it.

Even if she herself lacked that knowledge, the elders of her faction would certainly have left behind some records.

Yet she had never come across any mention of golden Qi.

Perhaps only the distant core regions of the Eternal Sea possessed such techniques, beyond even the Shinayin Empire’s knowledge.

But if that were true... How had someone like Aksai obtained such a rare cultivation art?

After thinking for a moment, Kalina slowly shook her head. There was no point dwelling on it. She simply did not know enough about body cultivation.

Perhaps Aksai really had discovered a spatial treasure containing a precious inheritance from the Eternal Sea.

If that was the case, then there was only one thing she needed to do.

Defeat Aksai as quickly as possible...

And claim that inheritance for herself.