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"I also find it hard to imagine someone who has lived in Vimara Village for several years being an inside agent for the Fatui. Don't worry, I was just making a wild guess."
Though he spoke these words to reassure Iotham, Tighnari's thoughts only grew heavier.
Alphonso told Iotham not to run around outside so casually, yet in the same breath warned him that such a dangerous place had giant mushrooms—this was just too… If he truly cared about the children, shouldn't he have kept silent? What was he trying to accomplish by saying so much?
And the Fatui driving Iotham into the Withering Zones—though it wasn't clear what exactly they wanted to do, it was obvious that whatever it was required a child to perform it, right?
It was simply too coincidental.
He decided to probe for answers personally.
"Let's go, Iotham. I'll take you back to Vimara Village." Pulling Iotham forward a couple of steps, Tighnari suddenly looked back at Victor Wang and Kuiyuan with a pained expression. "And the two of you… after clearing out that many Withering Zones, at least come have a cup of tea at Vimara Village?"
"Another day."
Victor Wang still gave him a reply, while Kuiyuan only smiled without saying a word.
"…For the rainforest of Sumeru, the two of you are good people."
Leaving those words behind, Tighnari and Iotham headed back the way they came. They had not walked far when Iotham cried out, "That's… that's…!"
"Don't look." Tighnari covered Iotham's eyes, leading him away from the corpses of the Fatui. He then warned him carefully, "Things outside Vimara Village have been unsafe recently. Whatever you do, don't—don't—go running around again."
"I understand…"
Arana, who had protected Iotham earlier, stood where she was, watching him leave. Then she curiously turned her gaze toward Victor Wang and Kuiyuan, completely unaware that she had already been noticed.
Kuiyuan stretched his arms and legs, loosening his joints, and gave a chilling grin. "Little Victor, looks like it's just the two of us now."
Before the fight began, Victor Wang asked, "The boss you mentioned—he's the leader of the South Wing?"
Kuiyuan considered it, then truly answered, "That guy is only the boss on our ship. Whether he's really the South Wing's leader, I'm not sure, but I don't think so. He spends all day mumbling at a mirror. How could a lunatic like that be a leader?"
"A mirror?"
"Yeah. He has to consult it before doing anything. Even before deciding whether or not to kill you, he had to ask the mirror. But when the mirror didn't answer, he was stuck. Weird, right? Oh right, his codename is 'Mirrormaster.'"
Victor Wang recalled carefully. "He's the Cryo Vision holder on your ship?"
Kuiyuan gave an ambiguous smile. "My codename is 'Overbow'! I chose it myself. Cool, right? What's yours?"
"I'm 'Kunpeng.'"
"Kunpeng? Never heard of it."
After cracking his knuckles, Kuiyuan gripped his massive bow. "Boss told me to bring you back. I said it'd be hard to take you alive. He said a corpse was fine too. Don't disappoint me—"
With a powerful kick, his nimble body leapt backward twice, landing at the perfect distance for Kuiyuan. At the same time, his hands never rested—the bowstring trembled without a sound, and from tricky angles, several barely perceptible arcs of bow-aura shot toward Victor Wang from mid-range.
He had never fought a martial arts expert in a true life-and-death battle before. This might be a chance—a rare one Victor Wang truly wanted to seize. Focusing completely, he watched each shot and swung his sword to parry. Sword-aura and bow-aura intersected, creating small bursts around him.
This level—his sword alone could still handle it.
This level—was only the appetizer.
Kuiyuan's fingers danced rapidly across the bowstring. Before Victor Wang could even counterattack, Kuiyuan had planted his feet, gripping his bow with both hands. The hardened bone bow flexed slightly from the immense force. The empty string tightened, and upon release, there was a tearing sound—the arrow was invisible yet audible.
It came straight for him, impossible to track with the blade. Victor Wang could only place his sword horizontally, his protective intent thickening the sword-aura, broadening it as if his one-handed sword became a claymore. The sword spine clashed against the unseen arrow.
Clang—!!
He blocked it, but from the force of the collision, Victor Wang felt that if the Wentian Sword didn't have a physical form, his sword-aura would have been completely destroyed.
"Hey now, why aren't you giving it your all? Don't tell me you're looking down on me?"
"Again."
This level was perfect for training. Victor Wang charged forward, trying to close the distance and force Kuiyuan to attack.
Kuiyuan stepped back continuously, yet his arms remained steady—aim fast, shoot fast.
One arrow. One sword. One arrow. One sword.
Hearing the clang clang clang, watching Victor Wang's blocks grow more practiced, Kuiyuan grew irritated. "Use your elemental power! Fight me with your true strength! At this level, you're absolutely no match for me. You're too weak!"
Unsatisfied with Victor Wang's response, he fired a chaotic volley of bow-aura—and then finally released his first physical arrow.
Its power was incomparable to the bow-aura shots. Where the arrowhead passed, even the light seemed to distort. Just looking at it made his eyes sting.
Another clang sounded. Victor Wang, completely focused, barely managed to parry the vicious, lightning-fast shot. His hands felt like they were burning, battle intent surging.
But the Wentian Sword was not a flat slab—its spine and edge were angled. Because of this, the force wasn't distributed evenly. The huge impact kicked his blade aside, sending the arrow slightly off course. It skimmed his ear, then blasted a towering tree behind him clean in half.
Why…?
Where is my sword intent lacking…?
"Hey, hey, trying to use me to train your sword skills? I won't give you the chance to grow stronger in battle! That kind of thinking only leads to death. If you won't use your full strength, I'll kill you!"
Three physical arrows shot forward in a triangular formation. Combined, they carried the overwhelming pressure of a mountain. Yet individually, each one felt capable of splitting the world. Victor Wang managed to catch the upper arrow with his sword, but he had no strength left to block the two aimed at his waist and knees. For the sake of his clothes and cloak, he instinctively activated the Jade Shield.
The three arrows pressed against the Wentian Sword and Jade Shield. Though they failed to break through, they still shoved him backward, carving a cylindrical strip of bare soil across the grass.
"That's more like it!"
Kuiyuan's voice had barely fallen when another trio of arrows came—three shots fired at unimaginable speed, aimed at the exact same spot.
As the Jade Shield rang sharply, the impact point was punched through on the second arrow. With the gap opened, the third arrow tore straight through, shredding Victor Wang's pant leg at the knee and carving a deep gash along his skin. Even the back of his cloak was pierced.
The Jade Shield… was broken through?
Victor Wang felt as though he were back in Fontaine, when some supposedly ordinary enemy shattered a 50,000-HP Zhongli shield with five consecutive punches.
The shock was the exact same.
Taking a deep breath—for the sake of his outfit—he had no choice but to activate the Hourglass too. Though he hated to admit it, before power of this magnitude, not using elemental power truly made him no match at all…
This strength was wrong—completely unsuitable for training.
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