"So it's him. Haven't seen him in a while, but his skills and gear have improved quite a bit. No wonder he could sneak up so close before I even noticed." Shi Feng had a very deep impression of Juetian.
Back when he was searching for the Ice Blue Demonic Flame, he'd almost been killed by Juetian. Later, while leveling with Hei Zi and Jimo Ruxue, he'd encountered Juetian's ambush again—it had been a brush with death.
In all the time Shi Feng had spent in the Divine Realm, he'd made plenty of enemies, but someone like Juetian, who had nearly taken his life, was definitely at the top of the list.
With so much time passed, Juetian's strength would certainly have increased, and he'd be much more familiar with combat in the Divine Realm. If Juetian hadn't been careless, underestimating him as the mysterious "Black Flame" and failing to conceal his killing intent, Shi Feng might have actually fallen for his trick and been successfully ambushed.
"Why show yourself now that you've been revealed, and not run away?" Shi Feng looked at the murderous Juetian and offered a faint smile.
"Run?" A hint of arrogance crossed Juetian's cold face. "I admit you're strong. As expected of the Black Flame, leader of the Shadow Guild. From my estimate, your strength is about on par with Xifeng's. Last time Xifeng killed me, it was just because I was impatient. I used all my skills to kill Xifeng and was left with nothing. Otherwise, Xifeng never could have finished me off. Now, I've only revealed my form, but all my skills are available. Do you really think you can take me out?"
"Like you said, taking out a top assassin like you isn't easy unless all your skills are on cooldown." Shi Feng acknowledged that Juetian had the strength to back up his words. But today was different from yesterday—Juetian's strength had grown, but so had his own. "Since you're so confident, how about a bet?"
"A bet? You think I'd fall for that? I came here today to kill you. To let Xifeng know that I, Juetian, have returned. Since I can't kill you, you can pass Xifeng a message for me: the person I, Juetian, want dead will definitely die!" Juetian sneered and turned to leave.
"You can have him take a message, but only if you can get away first." Shi Feng directly used his Ring of the Seven Realms to activate the Time Ring's Absolute Time skill, then lunged forward.
Absolute Time. Within a 50x50 yard area, no enemy could use skills or items.
As soon as this skill was activated, it was equivalent to having all of Juetian's skills on cooldown. An assassin without skills was a tiger without claws or teeth—he could only be at Shi Feng's mercy.
"You think I can't escape?"
Juetian smiled confidently, ready to use Blinding Light to make Shi Feng lose his sight, allowing him to escape easily.
But Juetian immediately realized he couldn't use a single skill. He was startled—no one understood better than him how vulnerable an assassin without skills was.
However, Juetian wasn't an ordinary person. He quickly calmed himself and turned to run.
Such a skill must have a time limit. It couldn't be infinite. As long as he could drag things out until it expired, the sky would be his limit.
But Shi Feng used Silent Step to appear behind Juetian, not giving him any chance to flee. A silent sword strike descended. Juetian reacted instantly, swinging his dagger to meet the blow.
The silver-gray Abyssal struck the dagger's edge. Juetian felt immense pressure travel up his arm, forcing his entire body down. He couldn't help but drop to one knee.
"What heavy force! No wonder you could kill Mingsha." Juetian clicked his tongue inwardly. If he hadn't felt it personally, he'd never have imagined Shi Feng's strength was comparable to a boss's. Now he understood why an expert like Mingsha had been pushed back relentlessly, unable to even fight back.
Shi Feng unleashed over a dozen sword strikes in rapid succession, each as swift as lightning and as heavy as Mount Tai. Juetian had nowhere to dodge and could only desperately defend. Though the dagger blocked the attacks and reduced the damage, the relentless assault kept chipping away at his health, frustrating him endlessly. Yet there was nothing he could do.
Brute force overcomes all skill. Juetian cursed Shi Feng inwardly for being so shameless as to crush him with raw power, attacking without any technique, just wild, frantic swings. Against this kind of reckless, trade-blows style, technique became useless.