Bao Renkun didn't attack right away.
That was the first mistake… or perhaps the first gesture of contempt.
The pressure of his Spiritual Dominion fell like a slow, crushing tide, designed not to kill instantly, but to test how much the target could endure before yielding. The air grew heavy, saturated with dense qi that neither cut nor burned—it simply pushed, relentless, like a gigantic hand pressing against the chest.
Lin Ye felt the newly gained margin begin to creak.
It wasn't pain yet. It was worse: the clear sensation that the world was once again deciding he didn't fit.
"Breathe," he told himself. "If you panic, you die before he even lifts his fist."
The Eye of the Threshold activated cautiously. It didn't search for long escape routes—there were none. The courtyard was small, hemmed in by archive seals and stone walls. Every viable transition had already been "marked" by Bao Renkun's pressure.
"Interesting," Bao said, tilting his head. "You haven't knelt."
"I only do that out of personal conviction," Lin Ye replied with a tight smile, "and because my knees are already pretty abused."
Bao Renkun let out a laugh and took another step.
The ground cracked.
Lin Ye felt the Gray Threshold Slip grow unstable, as if space itself hesitated to let him blur under such direct pressure. Unlike Qin Jue, Bao wasn't trying to fix states or outcomes.
He crushed.
"This guy…" Lin Ye thought. "…doesn't play with conceptual rules. He plays to see who breaks first."
Bao clenched his fist.
There was no elaborate technique. No resounding name. Just a direct punch, wrapped in condensed qi—simple and devastating.
Lin Ye reacted on reflex.
Step Between Heartbeats.
The world compressed for a single beat, and Lin Ye shifted half a step to the side—just enough for the punch not to land squarely.
The impact against the ground sent out a shockwave that flung Lin Ye through the air like a rag doll. He slammed into a wall and collapsed with a muffled groan. The margin hadn't vanished… but it had thinned dangerously.
Bao frowned.
"That wasn't luck."
Lin Ye spat blood and pushed himself to his knees, breathing hard.
"I'm flattered," he said. "Usually they call me reckless."
Bao advanced again, faster this time. Two consecutive strikes—one high, one low. Lin Ye tried to read the transitions, but the raw qi interfered, flooding the surroundings with false possibilities.
"Too fast…" he thought.
The second blow caught him squarely in the side.
The impact ripped the air from his lungs and sent him tumbling across the ground. Something crunched inside him. He didn't know if it was a rib or simply his pride.
The Fragmented Threshold Sutra vibrated with a clear warning:
"Critical margin.""Accumulated desynchronization."
"Lin Ye," He Lian called tensely. "Don't try to force another long transition. You won't withstand it."
"I know," he replied through clenched teeth. "That's why… I won't."
Bao Renkun stopped a few steps away, watching him with an almost disappointed expression.
"Is that all?" he asked. "I thought the kid everyone's talking about would last longer."
Lin Ye lifted his gaze slowly.
"Do you know what your problem is?" he said. "You're honest."
Bao blinked.
"Is that an insult?"
"No," Lin Ye replied. "It's a disadvantage."
Before Bao could answer, Lin Ye pressed his palm to the ground.
He didn't activate a movement technique.
He activated a read.
The Eye of the Threshold focused not on Bao… but on the instant just before impact, on the transition where force hadn't yet fully resolved. He couldn't nullify it. He couldn't completely evade it.
But he could… deflect it.
Half-Second Sever.
There was no visible cut. No blade, no flash. Just a minimal desynchronization at the instant where Bao's force shifted from intent to result.
Bao's next punch veered off by a few centimeters.
Enough to not be lethal.Not enough to not hurt.
Lin Ye was hurled away again, rolling until he reached the edge of the courtyard. His body no longer responded well. Every breath was a conscious effort.
Bao Renkun stood still, staring at his own fist.
"That…" he murmured. "That was strange."
He looked up and smiled slowly.
"I like it."
The qi around him surged at once. He was no longer holding back. His Spiritual Dominion began to take shape, crushing space with clear authority.
"Now then," he said. "Let's see how long your margin lasts when I don't let you think."
Lin Ye tried to stand.
He failed.
His legs wouldn't respond. The margin had reached its limit. The Eye of the Threshold burned with piercing pain, as if it were about to go dark.
"Damn it…" he thought. "Not like this."
Bao took the final step.
The blow descended, loaded with enough qi to crush a small building.
In that instant, something deep within Lin Ye reacted.
It didn't awaken.It didn't activate.
But it refused to yield.
A different pressure ran through his blood—silent, ancient. Not energy. Compatibility. As if his body remembered, for a single heartbeat, that it wasn't meant to break yet.
Bao's strike stopped a hand's breadth from Lin Ye's face.
Not because Bao willed it.
But because space hesitated.
Just an instant.Just enough.
Bao's eyes widened in surprise.
"What…?"
Lin Ye felt it too.
That suspended second.That impossible margin.
It wasn't the Eye of the Threshold.It wasn't a technique.
It was something deeper… something not yet ready to awaken, but that had already decided one thing:
Not here.Not yet.
The instant passed.
The blow completed its course.
And Lin Ye was thrown out of the courtyard, smashing through a wall and vanishing into the night, leaving behind a trail of blood… and an unsettling sensation that made Bao Renkun step back.
Silence.
Bao lowered his arm slowly, frowning.
"Interesting…" he murmured. "Very interesting."
He Lian appeared at his side, staring at the hole in the wall.
"Did you kill him?" she asked tensely.
Bao shook his head.
"No," he replied. "But something in him… stopped me from finishing it."
He turned to leave.
"Tell whoever's paying you that the problem is still alive," he added. "And that next time… I won't come alone."
Somewhere in Huo'an, Lin Ye lay unconscious among the shadows, his body shattered, his margin exhausted.
But alive.
And deep within his blood, the sleeping lineage had given its first warning.