But in just those short fifteen seconds, Qin Feng and Qin Yonglin had already exchanged a thousand frantic blows!

Both men had pushed their speed and strength to the absolute limit!

Just then, in an attempt to break free from the pressure, Qin Yonglin forced Qin Feng back with a horizontal sweep. This created an incredibly small opening in the transition of his staff technique, one that lasted less than a hundredth of a second.

Qin Feng seized this opening with pinpoint accuracy!

"Flowing Light Chasing Shadow—"

In that instant, for the first time, he grafted the "Mental Power-Spiritual Energy aggregation module" from the Fourth-level Killing Technique onto this spear-based killing move he had long since mastered!

BUZZ!

Qin Feng’s figure seemed to vanish from the physical world in an instant.

In its place was a streak of incomparably brilliant, flowing light that was impossible to track with the naked eye!

This streak of light ignored the distance between them, flashing past in the blink of an eye!

"Not good!"

Alarm bells screamed in Qin Yonglin’s mind. He instinctively tried to pull back his staff to defend, but he was ultimately a moment too slow.

PFFT.

A faint sound of a sharp blade sinking into flesh was heard.

The flowing light faded, and Qin Feng’s figure reappeared to Qin Yonglin’s left.

The tip of the [Raging Tide] Long Spear in his hand had pierced through Qin Yonglin’s left shoulder blade.

Blood slowly dripped from the blue-black spearhead.

The entire arena fell deathly silent.

Qin Yonglin stared blankly at the Long Spear in his shoulder, then looked at Qin Feng’s calm expression. A moment later, he smiled in relief.

"I’ve lost."

He spoke decisively, admitting his defeat without hesitation.

Qin Feng slowly withdrew the Long Spear. Spiritual Energy surged at the wound, instantly staunching the bleeding.

He looked at Qin Yonglin with an apologetic smile. "The True Fire of battle flared up, and for a moment I couldn’t completely hold back. My apologies."

"Hahahaha, I get it! It’s a battle, of course tempers are going to flare!"

But Qin Yonglin just laughed heartily, completely unbothered, as if he weren’t the one who was injured. "That was satisfying! This fight was more satisfying than all the fights I’ve had in the past ten years combined!"

In reality, both men knew that they had held back.

This was especially true of Qin Feng’s final spear thrust. The instant it struck Qin Yonglin’s shoulder blade, he had already vented all of the spiraling, ferocious power—enough to pierce Warship Armor—into the empty air.

Otherwise, with the terrifying strength he could unleash from his 18,000-point life force index, forget just piercing a shoulder blade. The residual force alone, vented from a distance, would have been enough to blast Qin Yonglin’s entire left arm and half his body into a bloody mist.

The outcome of the battle was decided.

Atop the arena platform, Qin Yonglin slowly straightened his body.

He looked down at the wound on his left shoulder, which went straight through.

Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, the muscle tissue around the wound began to squirm, regenerate, and heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In no more than ten-odd seconds, the spear wound that had been deep enough to show bone was reduced to nothing but a faint, pink scar.

For a Sixth-level Martial Artist with a life force of 18,000, as long as it wasn’t a fatal injury infused with special energy, this kind of flesh wound was expected to heal extremely quickly.

"See that, Junior Brother Qin Feng?"

Qin Yonglin flexed his fully healed left shoulder, a relaxed smile on his face. He was also taking this opportunity to impart some higher-level Martial Dao knowledge to Qin Feng.

"In a battle at our level, as long as you aren’t hit in a vital spot, recovery is very fast. But you must be careful when you face an opponent who has cultivated a Fifth Level Killing Technique."

His expression grew more serious. "The core of a Fifth Level Killing Technique is ’One Heart, Ten Uses.’ This multi-threaded energy aggregation model not only unleashes greater destructive power, but more terrifyingly, it can leave an extremely stubborn and destructive residual power inside your wounds. This residual power will cling to you like a maggot on bone, madly suppressing your life force’s natural healing and even continuing to destroy your body’s tissues."

"As for a Level 6 Killing Technique..."

A flicker of deep fear crossed Qin Yonglin’s eyes. "That is even more terrifying. The residual power generated by its ’One Heart, One Hundred Uses’ can remain in your body for decades, even centuries, inflicting continuous torture that will make you wish for death but be unable to die. That’s why in higher-level battles, you can’t afford to lose."

His words served as both an explanation and a subtle message to Qin Feng, letting him know that he understood he’d dissipated the power from that final spear thrust.

This was just a spar, and they had stopped at the right moment.

Qin Feng nodded, committing these words to memory.

The two shared a smile, everything understood without a word, and then walked off the platform side by side.

WHOOSH—!

The moment they stepped off the platform, the cheers and applause from the crowd below—suppressed for so long—erupted like a tsunami!

"That was incredible!"

"Senior Brother Qin Feng! You’re a badass!"

"Senior Brother Qin Yonglin was glorious in defeat!"

Countless Warband members used the most direct and fervent means to pay their highest respects to the two powerhouses who had just delivered a top-tier duel.

Qin Yonglin walked over to Qin Feng and clapped him heavily on the shoulder, his eyes filled with a complex yet sincere mix of emotions. "Junior Brother Qin Feng, I really never expected your progress to be so fast."

He paused, as if making an important decision. Finally, in an extremely earnest tone, he said, "As the one who lost to you, I’ll be shameless today and offer you one more piece of advice. You must listen to it."

"What is it?"

Qin Feng was a little surprised.