From his position in the chaotic dance of stone roots and shimmering threats, Liang's mind raced. *They're going for Kaito. It makes tactical sense. In a formation fight, you remove the strongest anchor first. Kaito's Jingdao is like a fortress wall—it forces enemies to fight on his terms, in close quarters where his overwhelming, reinforced strength dominates. Without him, Yun and I become isolated targets, and Li Fen and Yuan lose their frontline shield.* They had to protect Kaito, not just as a comrade, but as their primary strategic advantage.
The fight intensified with brutal clarity. The two serpent boys, abandoned subtlety. Their **Shidow** synchronized, not for attack, but for *restraint*. They didn't summon gales; they gathered the air around Kaito's massive form, spinning it into howling, constricting chains of solidified wind. The chains screeched against his granite-like **Jingdao**, not to break it, but to lock his limbs and torso in place, turning their greatest asset into a stationary target.
And Flore, the beautiful ghost, moved. She flowed past Li Fen's jagged stone roots with unnatural grace, slipped between the combined assault of Yuan's wind-blades and Yun's precise strikes, and reached the bound Kaito. She didn't attack. She *coiled* around him from behind, her body pressing against his broad back, her arms sliding over his shoulders. A voice like poisoned honey whispered directly into his mind, a murmuring chaos that scrambled his focus.
Then she sank her lips to his neck, but not to bite to dispel the energy, where his **Jingdao** core—the Root Acupoint—burned brightest.
A visible, horrifying ripple passed through Kaito's reinforced body. The golden light of his **Jingdao** flickered, dimmed, and *streamed* toward the point of contact. A powerful, soul-deep sucking force radiated from Flore. Kaito's eyes widened in shock. His towering frame shuddered, the stone beneath his feet cracking, then his knees buckled. With a grinding impact, the unyielding pillar of the Jade Palace was brought to one knee.
The entire arena crowd fell deathly silent.
Gen, forced to watch from the sidelines, felt a jolt of pure shock. But within it, something else flickered. His **Shidow** was not yet awakened, but for the first time, he could *faintly* perceive the flow—not the energy itself, but the disturbance it caused. He saw the stable, mountain-like current of Kaito's **Jingdao** being violently disrupted, the energy breaking apart and streaming toward Flore like water being siphoned from a cracked jar. It was a brutal education in energy interaction.
Elder Mei's face hardened. She took a step forward, her gaze snapping to the serene Silver Serpent elder. "This technique…"
The Serpent elder smiled, preempting her protest. "Flore is our jewel. Her art is the **Tender Abyss**. She feeds on potent energies, finds them… intoxicating. Normally, a touch is enough to begin the drain. But for a specimen like your disciple," he gestured to the kneeling, straining Kaito, "she prefers a more… intimate connection. The neck is her favorite"
On the arena floor, Liang's voice cut through the stunned silence. "She's not breaking his Jingdao! She's disrupting the *formation cycle* of it—like dropping a stone into a potter's wheel before the clay can set! She's creating ripples in his energy flow, preventing it from solidifying into reinforcement! If she continues, she won't just drain his Qi; she'll cripple his Acupoint's ability to channel it!"
The dread on Li Fen's and Liang's faces was palpable. But Yuan, Yun, and even Kaito himself, though visibly straining, showed no panic. They were Jade Palace elite. Their will was part of their power.
Seeing their resolve falter, Silv and the other serpent boys tightened their encirclement of Kaito, binding him for Flore's feast.
Liang knew they had to break the hold. Now. His own weak **Jingdao** was useless here. He had only one tool. With a sharp, inward focus, he summoned the **Kalash of Elements**. The simple pot materialized in his hands, its surface humming with latent power. He didn't have time for a complex summon. He poured his will and his fear for his comrades into it, demanding the most direct, disruptive force.
Pure, arcing white lightning erupted from the Kalash's mouth, roaring across the arena towards the coiled Flore with a sound like tearing heavens.
The display drew a sharp, hissed breath from the Serpent elder himself, his eyes widening in recognition. "That light—"
But Silv was already moving. He didn't try to block the lightning. His **Jingdao**, pushed to its peak, didn't harden into a shield. Instead, the serpent-scale pattern on his skin glowed brilliantly, and he became a living conductor. He stepped into the lightning's path, took the searing blast on his crossed forearms, and with a tremendous, grunting effort of will, *redirected* the crackling energy down and away—straight towards the cluster of Jade Palace disciples on the sidelines.
"NO!" Elder Mei's hand shot out. A shimmering, multi-layered barrier of **Shidow**-reinforced air sprang up between the redirected lightning and the students. The lightning struck the barrier and detonated in a deafening explosion of light and concussive force that shook the entire arena, spraying stone shards.
"Liang! Control it!" Mei shouted, her voice strained from maintaining the sudden, massive defense.
Liang, trembling, nodded, pulling the residual energy back into the Kalash. The pot glowed dangerously hot. "I… I was trying to," he gasped. The power had a will of its own, responding to his panic with overwhelming force.
Seizing the moment of distraction, Yuan and Yun dashed forward. Yun's body gleamed with focused intent. He unleashed his **Jingdao** technique—the **Ruby Impact**. His fist, compressed to a single, devastating point, shot towards Silv's exposed side with terrifying speed and precision.
The stern serpent girl was there, her air-whip coiling around Yun's wrist mid-strike, yanking his aim wide. But Yun, in mid-air, used her pull as momentum. He twisted, a fluid motion of pure physical mastery, and drove his other heel down in a crushing axe-kick that forced the whip-girl to dissolve her weapon and leap back, a flicker of genuine surprise on her face.
Many in the crowd looked at Yun with new respect. *He's grown,* Gen noted, biting his lip in frustration. *His Jingdao is sharper, faster, more efficient than during our fight. He's closing the gap.*
Yuan, seeing the attention shift to Yun, flushed with competitive annoyance. "Enough playing to their tune!" he snarled. He gathered all his swirling wind energy not around his body, but into his right palm. The air darkened around his hand, compressing into a vortex of shadows. Ancient, jagged symbols of corrosive black energy etched themselves across his skin, writhing like trapped insects. The technique felt foreign, heavy, and deeply wrong. "**Marojav's Palm of Annihilation!**"
He swung his arm forward. The blow released not a wave of force, but a silent, consuming sphere of dark, devouring wind that seemed to swallow light and sound in its path. It was not a Third Wheel technique. The sheer, aberrant power of it made both Elder Mei and the Serpent elder flinch, their reactions a critical half-second too slow.
The two serpent boys,scattered instantly. Flore, still coiled on Kaito, simply used him as a shield, slipping behind his massive, bound form.
The dark sphere struck Kaito point-blank.
A sickening, wet *crunch* echoed, not of breaking bone, but of failing energy. The golden light of Kaito's **Jingdao** guttered and died completely. He was thrown backwards like a ragdoll, skidding across the stone, a trail of blood smearing from his mouth and a deep, blackened wound blossoming on his chest. The crowd was stupefied.
Elder Mei stared, aghast. "Yuan! How is your power… that wasn't your foundation! That was corruption!"
Yuan stood panting, his right hand mangled and bleeding, the black symbols fading to leave his skin cracked and oozing dark fluid. But his face was alight with fierce, proud agony. "I tested… new power," he rasped, as if that explained everything.
"Idiot! Look what you've done!" Gen shouted from the stands, his anger hot and helpless as he saw Kaito bleeding out on the stone.
Flore didn't hesitate. She pounced on the fallen Kaito, her lips finding the wound, and the sucking force resumed with renewed vigor, draining the last of his fading Qi while he was defenseless. The tide had turned decisively.
Yun's face was a storm. "You fool! You attacked our own anchor!"
Yuan shot him a glare, cradling his ruined hand. "Things happen in battle. He was the biggest target. Would you rather I let the ghost-girl finish him slowly?"
Elder Mei was furious. "You have no control! You traded our strongest fighter for a moment of… of blasphemous spectacle!"
Yuan rounded on her, his pain making him vicious. "You're old! You cling to 'foundations' and 'right ways' while the world burns with new power! You don't understand what it takes to win anymore!"
*How arrogant,* Gen thought, the sentiment a cold stone in his gut. *He's just like I was. Power at any cost. Look where it leads.*
At that moment, a dry, sharp voice cut through the turmoil. "Yun. Yuan. Stand down."
Elder Kwan descended the steps into the arena's edge, his hawk-like nose lifted, his expression one of cold command. Though reluctant, a flicker of something like fear crossed Yuan's face. Both he and Yun disengaged, stepping back from the Serpent disciples, who also paused, watching with predatory interest.
Elder Mei whirled on Kwan, her fury finding a new target. "You! You put this filth in their heads! This is your betrayal!"
Yuan, emboldened by Kwan's presence, spoke plainly. "We follow the strongest path. Not the most righteous one."
Elder Mei was disgusted. "You've duped these young souls with promises of easy power, Kwan. You are vile."
Elder Kwan didn't rise to her anger. He surveyed the ruined arena, the fallen Kaito, the triumphant Serpent disciples. "Argue right and wrong all day, Mei," he said, his voice cracking like old ice. "The only thing that matters is this: the Jade Palace is doomed. Its time is over."
As he spoke, the other Jade Palace elders—Wen, Huan, and Goran—arrived swiftly, taking positions behind Elder Mei, their faces a mixture of shock, anger, and dawning horror. The stage was no longer just for disciples. The rift within the Jade Palace itself was now open and bleeding onto the stained stones of the Mortal Arena.