Aksai quietly observed Kalina’s struggles.

His eyes narrowed.

"Nuri."

Although Aksai could already tell through his Trifecta Senses that Kalina had entered a weakened state, he still asked Nuri to analyze her condition.

His Neural Link Fabric could process the collected data far more thoroughly than he could, missing almost none of the minute details.

[ Essence Blood enhancement has ended. ]

[ Target experiencing severe backlash. ]

[ Combat capability estimated to have dropped drastically. ]

After hearing Nuri’s analysis, Aksai remained silent. He did not move immediately.

Instead, he waited for one breath. Then another.

His senses never left Kalina. He did not know whether this was truly her limit. After everything she had displayed tonight, he no longer dared to underestimate her.

One secret technique usually meant another. One hidden trump card often concealed yet another beneath it.

Even if she had to sacrifice years of cultivation...

Even if she permanently damaged her foundation...

As long as she escaped tonight, everything he had accomplished would become meaningless.

The Shinayin Empire would never stop hunting him. Kalina herself would become an endless nightmare.

This battle had to end tonight. Completely. Without leaving behind even the slightest possibility.

Aksai still had his doubts about Kalina. He knew that even though Nuri had analyzed his opponent’s condition, the analysis could never be one hundred percent accurate. After all, she could only process the information gathered through Aksai’s senses.

What if Kalina managed to deceive those senses?

However, the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived. If he failed to act now, all the effort he had invested into this battle might go to waste, and Kalina could truly break through the barrier and escape.

The only reason Kalina had not focused entirely on destroying the barrier after using her Essence Blood Burning technique was because of Aksai’s constant pressure. If he remained passive now, that very strategy might come back to bite him instead.

’Let’s see who is better at setting traps.’

Aksai’s eyes turned colder.

Then—

He disappeared.

...

Kalina leaned weakly against a vine. Her breathing remained uneven. The white blade continued flickering.

Her hand trembled slightly. She looked completely exhausted. Almost defenseless.

Then, a shadow silently emerged behind her.

No footsteps.

No sound.

The poisonous mist hid everything.

Aksai appeared like a ghost.

Golden Qi quietly gathered around his right palm.

Harmony Palm.

Its power condensed silently.

One strike.

A strike aimed directly toward the area behind Kalina’s heart.

His left hand reached forward. It firmly grabbed her shoulder.

The instant his fingers touched her, Kalina moved. Her weak body suddenly twisted with astonishing speed. She spun around and their eyes met. A vicious smile spread across her face.

"Hehe. I finally caught you, you fuc*king rat."

Aksai’s pupils contracted. She wasn’t surprised. She had been waiting.

The exhaustion...

The stumbling...

The weakness...

Most of it had been real. The backlash truly existed. But she had deliberately shown every bit of it, even exaggerating it within ideal limits.

She knew Aksai would never allow her time to recover. She knew he would choose this exact moment to launch a killing blow. So she had simply waited for him.

Aksai immediately understood. She had willingly stepped into his trap, only to break it from the inside.

Aksai wanted to retreat. He channeled his Aurous Qi through his legs. But it was too late.

Kalina’s right hand shot upward. The unstable white blade flared one final time. Its light exploded with everything the talisman still possessed.

Swoosh. Zoom. Slash.

The white blade swept across Aksai’s body. His Guardian’s Qi shattered instantly. His right arm was severed cleanly near the shoulder.

Blood burst into the air.

The remaining slash continued downward, carved across his waist. The terrifying edge almost split his lower body into two. Only his desperate backward movement prevented the attack from cutting completely through him.

Blood poured from the massive wound.

Aksai staggered backward. His face instantly turned pale.

The moment the slash ended, the white blade itself reached its limit. Cracks spread across its entire length.

Then—

Swaa!

It exploded.

The ethereal sword dissolved into countless tiny white lights. The sparkling fragments drifted through the poisonous mist like scattered stars.

A second later, every single light disappeared. The Sharp Slash Talisman had finally exhausted itself.

Kalina stared at Aksai. A victorious smile slowly appeared on her pale face.

"Haah! You finally made a mistake."

Her breathing remained heavy. The backlash still ravaged her body. The poison still spread through her veins. Her condition remained miserable.

But compared to Aksai, she believed she had won.

His right arm was gone. A deep wound stretched across nearly his entire waist. Blood continued to flow without restraint.

His Spirit Essence had already been nearly exhausted before this exchange. Maintaining the barrier for so long had come at a cost. It would not have lasted this long if he had continued using Spirit Spells throughout the battle.

Then he had willingly adopted an almost suicidal fighting style. His body had accumulated injuries everywhere.

After suffering such devastating wounds, Kalina could not imagine him continuing the battle. Even if she allowed him to land a few more strikes on her, they would not be life-threatening.

"That spatial treasure is wasted on someone like you, who will never climb out of this stinking well."

She smiled through her blood-stained lips as she looked at him as though he were already dead and his belongings were hers to claim.

"Now die peacefully, knowing I will make good use of your fortune."

Kalina took a slow step forward. Her breathing remained heavy. Then she looked down at Aksai lying on the ground.

His remaining arm desperately clutched the severed shoulder where his right arm had once been. Blood continued pouring through the gaps between his fingers no matter how hard he tried to stop it.

His body looked pitiful.

Cuts covered him from head to toe. Deep slashes crossed his chest, waist, and legs. His robe had almost turned completely red.

His eyes remained tightly shut. Cold sweat rolled down his pale face as though he could no longer endure the pain.

Kalina slowly exhaled and straightened her trembling back. She didn’t waste time in mocking Aksai anymore.

Although exhausted, she still possessed enough strength for one final attack. One attack was all she needed.

She stepped closer until she stood directly above Aksai’s head. Her shadow covered his face. Without hesitation, she raised her right leg high.

One stomp.

That was all it would take to crush his skull and make his eyes pop out from the fresh flesh mess that she was about to create. Her expression carried no sympathy.

There was only confidence and relief. Only the faint greed hidden deep inside her eyes.

Acting with a bystander’s aloof demeanor, she brought her foot down.

All of a sudden...

Aksai’s eyes suddenly opened. The pain vanished. The miserable expression disappeared as though it had never existed.

His eyes became cold as hell. Kalina’s pupils shrank as she sensed something amiss.

"...!"

Before she could react, Aksai’s remaining arm shot upward. His hand tightly grabbed her descending ankle.

The sudden pull completely destroyed her balance.

Her body tilted forward. She fell directly toward him.

At almost the same moment, golden Aurous Qi erupted from Aksai’s left palm.

Harmony Palm.

White Golden Palm Art.

The two martial arts merged into a single explosive strike. Even though he only had one arm left, he could still execute both martial arts simultaneously with Nuri’s assistance. Although he had just used the same arm to grab and pull Kalina’s leg, his Aurous Body cultivation granted him explosive momentum for a brief moment.

Boom!

His palm slammed directly into the center of Kalina’s chest. He showed no hesitation about striking a sensitive part of an opponent’s body simply because she was a woman. He had no concern for decency.

At that instant—

Something tiny slipped out from beneath his sleeve.

A little snake.

Barely six inches long.

Its body was almost transparent, making it nearly impossible to notice amidst the confusion. It was Serya, Aksai’s pet beast, Seralyth’s daughter, and a late-stage Third-Order demon beast.

She had been summoned in her natural beast form.

The miniature serpent coiled around Aksai’s forearm for only a fraction of a second before using Kalina’s falling body as a bridge.

Serya climbed onto Kalina’s body and bit the exposed portion of her thigh, where her torn robes had revealed a strip of skin.

The puncture was so small that it was almost invisible. The little snake disappeared immediately afterward.

Everything happened within less than a heartbeat.

Kalina barely registered what had happened.

At the same moment Aksai’s palm delivered its true force to her chest, something even smaller rode the momentum of the strike.

Void Gu.

The strange Gu insects entered through the point of impact.

Normally, even weakened Lords possessed a natural defensive layer that rejected foreign invaders.

But Kalina’s defenses had already almost collapsed under the combined effects of poison, backlash, exhaustion, and repeated injuries. She held a natural advantage over Aksai due to her higher cultivation base but that too had its limits.

Furthermore, the Void Gu possessed a natural advantage when it came to slipping through barriers. Their true potential and limitations were determined not by themselves, but by their host’s ability to control them.

The Void Gu passed effortlessly through Kalina’s physical body. They only materialized after reaching her still-beating heart.