Gu Yanshu stopped again.
He looked up.
It was the first blacker.
The first blacker said, "Forgot. You left me there. Now we counter this. I should get my revenge."
Gu Yanshu looked up once more and slapped himself to confirm it was real.
It was real.
He looked around.
The timeline felt like it was changing.
The first blacker laughed loudly.
Gu Yanshu started thinking.
How should he start this fight?
No.
He would not start it.
The first blacker would attack first.
That made more sense.
He wanted revenge.
That fit the pattern.
People like that usually acted on emotion.
Gu Yanshu made his hand black.
He prepared.
The other disciples were already ready too.
The dragon spoke.
"Can I help here?"
Gu Yanshu said, "Help? If you are weak, you cannot. This guy is a ruler. A big ruler. He has the power to destroy several countries."
The dragon stiffened.
"Several countries?"
He took a step back.
"I'm out of here. I don't like this. I'll watch from far away."
The first blacker attacked.
Gu Yanshu had already predicted that move.
Right before it landed, he closed his eyes.
It was bait.
He pointed his fingers at the disciples, then at the first blacker.
The disciples understood immediately.
Go behind him.
Attack at once.
Qu Yaoyang came from behind and kicked directly at the first blacker's neck.
The first blacker was sent flying into the ground.
He smiled.
Then the second blacker laughed loudly too.
He grew bigger.
Stronger.
Gu Yanshu said, "Qu Yaoyang, handle the first. Lan Wege, Qiu Weiran, He Mulin, and Yu Chang, handle the second. Attack consecutively."
The second blacker was the others' problem now.
Gu Yanshu focused on the first blacker with Qu Yaoyang.
He flew up to the dragon and said, "Bounce me."
Then he kicked.
The first blacker smiled, overconfident that the kick would miss.
It did not.
The kick landed, and Qu Yaoyang's punch hit the first blacker's face at the same time.
It was a bait game now.
The first blacker started understanding the attacks.
He tried to adapt.
Before he could, Qu Yaoyang kept bullying him with strikes.
Gu Yanshu joined in.
They punched the first blacker together.
The first blacker smiled and said, "Yup, you are a good threat."
Then he shot a beam at Qu Yaoyang.
Qu Yaoyang took the beam impact and was knocked out.
Gu Yanshu looked at the situation.
He knew he had to handle this now.
He predicted the first blacker would use a sword or beam next.
He was right.
He predicted the direction too.
He dodged the attack.
Then raised his blade and cut the first blacker's head off.
The head got cut.
The first blacker regenerated.
Gu Yanshu looked at him and nodded.
The first blacker could regenerate.
In his memories, Gu Yanshu had seen his senior brother and junior brother regenerate too.
He started thinking.
They were elemental users.
That was the pattern.
They used healing.
That was why they regenerated.
Then Gu Yanshu thought of the only clean answer.
Slice the first blacker into 365 billion pieces.
That was how he had handled his senior brother.
But the first blacker was stronger than the senior brother.
So he would need even more.
Maybe 795 billion pieces.
That was the plan.
But he also knew the truth.
He was not that fast.
If he were faster, he could destroy everything.
But he had limits.
He had energy.
He could not beat the first blacker in strength.
He could beat him in scheming.
He started thinking of a plan.
Too late.
The first blacker kicked him in the face and sent him flying far away.
Gu Yanshu crashed into a building.
Blood spread over his body.
He kept focusing.
On the fight.
On the plan.
On both.
The plan was simple.
Distract the first blacker with Qu Yaoyang.
Or distract him with the dragon.
Or use another method if that failed.
If none of that worked, then adapt every attack until the first blacker died.
That would take too long.
Gu Yanshu needed to think endlessly, but he could not do that while the first blacker was attacking at any moment.
The first blacker shot four beams at him.
Gu Yanshu barely dodged them.
He knew he could not focus on two things at once.
That was his limit.
In the battle with the second blacker, Lan Wege, Qiu Weiran, He Mulin, and Yu Chang were still fighting together.
The second blacker kept beating them again and again.
He was not stopping.
But they were still countering.
They saw that the second blacker could regenerate almost infinitely.
They could not stop him cleanly.
But they kept standing up again and again anyway.
Gu Yanshu kept slicing the first blacker's hand.
Then he moved back.
He thought of a new plan.
This could work.
He could slice him infinitely.
But energy was also his weakness.
Once again, he cut the first blacker's hand.
The regeneration was too slow.
Then both hands were cut.
Then both eyes.
Then both legs.
The first blacker fell.
Before he could regenerate, Gu Yanshu cut his head off his shoulders.
He kept fighting.
He was barely defeating him.
The first blacker could not regenerate for a while.
Gu Yanshu did not celebrate.
He stayed focused.
Then the first blacker regenerated instantly.
Legs.
Hands.
Eyes.
Head.
He was testing whether the trick would work.
Gu Yanshu stood still for a moment.
He knew this was not just a battle.
The first blacker laughed loudly.
Then his body size grew.
Twenty meters.
He laughed again.
From his shoulders, multiple swords spawned in the sky.
Then they mixed with beams.
The first blacker also had psychic powers.
He shot all the swords at Gu Yanshu.
Gu Yanshu's hand and both legs were stabbed.
He pulled them out normally.
Blood kept running from the wounds.
He looked up directly at the first blacker.
The first blacker looked down at him and smiled.
Gu Yanshu did not move right away.
He watched the height.
He watched the shoulders.
He watched the floating swords.
He watched the beam lines too.
Then he looked past him.
Qu Yaoyang was still fighting at the other side.
Lan Wege, Qiu Weiran, He Mulin, and Yu Chang were still forcing back the second blacker.
Good.
The battlefield was still divided.
That meant the first blacker was still overcommitted to direct force.
That meant there was still a gap.
Gu Yanshu's mind became quiet.
He saw the structure.
The swords came from the shoulder line.
The beams came from the chest line.
The giant body was too large.
The center was slower.
The edges were faster.
He moved.
Not forward.
Sideways.
A sword dropped.
He cut it in half.
Another sword came down.
He slipped under it.
The first blacker's smile faded a little.
Gu Yanshu saw the weak point now.
He had no need to beat the whole body at once.
He only needed to break the rhythm.
He stepped under the giant frame and cut the lower leg joint.
The first blacker roared.
Good.
That sound meant the body had felt the pressure.
Gu Yanshu kept cutting.
Again.
Again.
He was not trying to kill fast.
He was trying to make the regeneration work harder than the attack.
The first blacker swung a beam downward.
Gu Yanshu twisted away.
The beam split the ground behind him.
Dust burst up.
Gu Yanshu used the dust as cover and moved again.
The first blacker was still growing.
But the growth was not stable.
The pressure of the damage was spreading.
Gu Yanshu cut the shoulder.
Then the chest edge.
Then the side of the face.
The first blacker's smile changed.
Now it was colder.
"Good," he said.
Then he raised one hand.
More swords formed.
Gu Yanshu saw the target.
His legs.
The first blacker wanted to pin him.
Gu Yanshu shifted instantly.
The swords landed where he had been.
Stone shattered.
Dust flew.
Gu Yanshu's sword flashed once more and cut through the beam line.
The first blacker's body jerked.
Qu Yaoyang shouted from the side.
"He is losing balance!"
Lan Wege kept pushing against the second blacker.
He Mulin and Qiu Weiran pressed the other side harder too.
The first blacker's body started shrinking just slightly.
Gu Yanshu saw it.
Good.
That meant the rhythm was breaking.
He cut lower now.
The support.
The base.
The balance line.
The first blacker tried to kick him away.
Gu Yanshu ducked under it and slashed the standing leg.
The giant body trembled.
The first blacker shouted.
Anger this time.
Good.
Anger made mistakes.
Gu Yanshu used the opening and cut the lower frame again.
The first blacker stumbled.
One knee bent.
Half a second was enough.
Gu Yanshu stepped in and slashed the neck edge.
Then the shoulder.
Then the side.
The giant body lost balance again.
The first blacker's laugh returned for one short breath.
"You are learning."
Gu Yanshu answered, "Yes."
Then he cut again.
The body's left side opened.
The regeneration was still there, but it was fighting too many wounds at once.
The swords above the giant body flickered.
The first blacker looked down at his own balance and understood.
He had already lost the clean advantage.
Gu Yanshu looked once toward the others.
They were still fighting.
Still holding.
That was enough.
He moved again.
The first blacker swung more swords down.
Gu Yanshu blocked two.
The third clipped his side.
He kept moving anyway.
Then he changed his rhythm.
Short cuts.
Wide cuts.
Then short cuts again.
The first blacker started adapting.
But Gu Yanshu was watching that too.
He could see the pattern now.
The giant body was powerful.
But it was built for domination, not precision.
If the balance broke, the body would waste more force than it recovered.
Gu Yanshu stepped back once.
Then forward.
The damaged building behind the first blacker finally collapsed.
The wall fell inward.
Stone and dust came down.
The first blacker turned his head to avoid the falling mass.
That was the opening.
Gu Yanshu kicked off the broken ground and rose into the opening line.
He cut across the shoulder.
Then the neck edge.
Then the side of the face.
The first blacker lurched backward.
The swords above him flickered again.
The first blacker's smile became thin.
"You are still alive," he said.
Gu Yanshu answered, "Yes."
Then he cut again.
The giant body shook harder now.
The regeneration was still active.
But now it was working against too many wounds.
The battlefield around them stayed alive.
The second blacker was still forcing the others back.
Qu Yaoyang was still holding Qu Yaoyang's own line.
Lan Wege, Qiu Weiran, He Mulin, and Yu Chang were still fighting the bigger pressure on the other side.
The dragon stayed back and watched.
Then Gu Yanshu shifted his stance.
He looked at the giant body.
Then at the legs.
The first blacker was trying to keep his weight centered.
That meant the legs still mattered.
Gu Yanshu moved in low.
One cut to the lower frame.
Then another.
The first blacker snarled and tried to strike him with a beam.
Gu Yanshu leaned away.
The beam missed.
Then he cut the standing leg.
The giant body trembled again.
This was it.
The first blacker's whole frame shifted.
Gu Yanshu closed the distance one more time.
He cut the lower support.
Then the joint.
Then the side of the knee.
The first blacker roared and staggered.
Gu Yanshu's eyes sharpened.
Now.
He moved in and struck the support line one more time.
The first blacker's body lost balance.
One knee bent.
The giant frame dropped lower.
Qu Yaoyang shouted from the side, "Now!"
The whole battlefield shifted.Gu Yanshu stayed in the air and looked at the giant frame.
He and Qu Yaoyang had barely avoided the fall.
The giant frame had been cut apart by the first blacker's beams and sword-like slashes, and the broken stones were still dropping to the ground. The crash shook the street. Dust and fragments rose everywhere.
Then the first blacker laughed.
With one wave of psychic force, he pulled the falling stones back into the air and hurled them straight at Gu Yanshu and Qu Yaoyang.
Gu Yanshu barely dodged.
Qu Yaoyang could not.
One stone struck his leg hard, and he fell.
Gu Yanshu moved at once.
He grabbed Qu Yaoyang and threw him toward a safer place before the next strike could land.
Then Gu Yanshu grinned and jumped up into the sky.
It was another plan.
He let himself look slower than he was.
He acted like his energy was running out.
The first blacker saw it and rushed in with full confidence, sure he had the opening.
But Gu Yanshu had already measured the timing.
He knew exactly how much energy the first blacker would waste.
When the punch was about to hit his face, it landed on empty air.
Gu Yanshu was already behind him.
"Roar."
A storm of sword-like saw attacks shot out at once.
The first blacker was sliced into thirty-five thousand pieces.
Still, that was not enough.
The first blacker regenerated and smiled again.
The dragon, watching from a distance, tried to help by shooting a fire beam.
The first blacker stopped it with a breath alone.
Gu Yanshu did not stop.
He kept attacking.
Again and again, the first blacker was cut down, pushed into the ground, sliced apart, and then regenerated.
Gu Yanshu already understood.
This could repeat for a while.
He grinned and moved through the sky as if he were running on empty, baiting the first blacker to follow.
Then he noticed something deeper.
The healing force inside the first blacker was not healing at all.
It was a different element.
A black element.
When Gu Yanshu cut the head off, it returned again.
It was not the healing element at work.
It was the black element keeping the body alive.
Gu Yanshu did not celebrate.
He kept thinking.
If the first blacker was like the senior brother and junior brother from his memory, then the answer was still the same.
He had to break the regeneration completely.
Not once.
Not twice.
Enough times to overwhelm the limit.
But before he could set the next move, the first blacker kicked him in the face and sent him flying into a building.
Blood ran down his body.
Gu Yanshu kept going anyway.
He had to fight and think at the same time.
His plan was simple.
If needed, he would use the strongest disciple, or the dragon, as a distraction.
If that failed, he would keep adapting every attack until the first blacker fell.
But that would take too long.
And the first blacker could attack at any moment.
Four beams shot toward him.
Gu Yanshu barely dodged them.
He already knew his own limit.
He could not focus on two things at once for long.
On the other side, the second blacker was still fighting the others.
He kept growing bigger and stronger, then getting sliced again and again.
The disciples kept standing back up, attacking again and again, but the second blacker regenerated almost endlessly.
Gu Yanshu kept cutting the first blacker's hand repeatedly.
Then he stepped back and thought again.
This could work.
He could slice faster than the regeneration could recover.
That was the only way.
Once more, he cut the first blacker's hand.
Then both hands.
Then both eyes.
Then both legs.
The first blacker dropped.
Before he could regenerate, Gu Yanshu cut his head off the shoulders.
The first blacker could not recover for a while.
Gu Yanshu kept his face cold and stayed in the fight.
Then the first blacker regenerated instantly.
Head, eyes, arms, legs—everything returned.
He tested the move again.
Gu Yanshu did not move.
He knew this was not just a battle now.
The first blacker laughed loudly.
Then his body grew to twenty meters.
He laughed again, and swords started forming above his shoulders.
Those swords mixed with beams, and psychic force drove them all toward Gu Yanshu.
Gu Yanshu's hand and both legs were stabbed.
He pulled the weapons out normally.
Blood ran down his limbs, but he did not retreat.
He looked up directly at the first blacker.
The first blacker smiled down at him, pleased with the damage.
Gu Yanshu watched carefully.
The giant body.
The shoulder line.
The beam pattern.
The floating swords.
The weak point in the center.
The slow core inside the huge frame.
He already saw it.
The first blacker was strong, but large bodies could be forced into waste.
The bigger the body, the harder it was to keep balance under pressure.
Gu Yanshu moved sideways.
A sword dropped.
He cut it in half.
Another beam came down.
He slipped under it.
The first blacker's smile faded a little.
Good.
That meant the rhythm was breaking.
Gu Yanshu kept cutting.
Not to kill quickly.
To keep the regeneration busy.
To force the giant body to lose balance.
Then the damaged building behind the first blacker collapsed inward.
The falling stone mass shifted his balance for half a second.
That was enough.
Gu Yanshu kicked off the broken ground and rose into the opening line.
He cut the shoulder.
Then the neck edge.
Then the side of the face.
The giant frame shook.
Qu Yaoyang, now back on his feet after the earlier hit, stared up and shouted, "Now!"
Lan Wege, Qiu Weiran, He Mulin, and Yu Chang were still forcing the second blacker back on the other side.
The strongest disciple had been healed enough to move again, and the second strongest disciple was still feeding him energy to keep him alive.
A third blacker stepped in from the side.
He was not rushing.
He was watching.
He looked at Gu Yanshu and smiled.
"Could we make a trade?"
Gu Yanshu turned his eyes toward him.
The third blacker pointed at the field.
"You can attack those two over there. I do not need the blackers. I want them."
His finger stopped on Gu Yanshu.
"Not the others. You."
Gu Yanshu did not answer.
The third blacker smiled wider.
"Good. Then I will handle you."
Across the battlefield, the second blacker was still doing the same thing—growing larger, getting sliced, regenerating, and forcing the disciples back step by step.
Gu Yanshu saw the pattern immediately.
The trade was simple.
The first blacker wanted him busy.
The third blacker wanted a clear path.
The second blacker kept the others occupied.
It was a split-field trap.
Then the third blacker came forward.
He carried a bat and struck without warning.
Gu Yanshu flew backward, bleeding heavily.
He wiped the blood from his mouth, turned his hand black, and pushed his blade into his pocket for a moment.
A new plan formed in his head.
The second strongest disciple could heal Qu Yaoyang.
If Qu Yaoyang recovered, then the strongest disciple could return.
If the strongest disciple returned, then the group could regroup and form one line again.
That would be the first plan.
If that failed, then all of them together would have to fight the third blacker as one unit.
That would be the second plan.
The first plan had to happen before the second.
That was the order.
Gu Yanshu looked from the third blacker to the others.
Then he turned back to the fight.
The real battle was just beginning.The first blacker moved next to the third blacker.
They both laughed.
The first blacker lifted his glass of wine and took another sip.
Now Gu Yanshu knew the disciples could still handle it.
But the first plan had to happen first, and then the next one.
This situation was worse now.
Gu Yanshu could not just shout at the other disciples to handle the first blacker.
That would be too normal.
The first blacker would hear it.
He would not get distracted.
Even a drunk person was not that stupid.
Gu Yanshu thought of another plan.
Not simple.
Basic.
He could wave to the disciples, bring one over, and tell them to distract the first blacker.
But that would take too long.
Some of them might not even see it.
That plan would not work.
The third blacker still smiled like a beast.
His teeth showed like a tiger's.
His eyebrows looked heavy and sharp.
His back carried an aura that felt like destruction.
It could scare anyone.
But not Gu Yanshu.
Gu Yanshu still chose to fight.
But with scheming.
That was the only thing.
The third blacker swung his bat and aimed directly at Gu Yanshu.
It was too fast.
Gu Yanshu could not dodge it.
He was sent flying near Qu Yaoyang.
Qu Yaoyang's eyes were open now.
Gu Yanshu said quietly, "I need you."
Qu Yaoyang understood immediately.
He knew Gu Yanshu was having trouble in the fight.
The dragon was still watching.
Then it laughed loudly.
That drew the second blacker's attention.
Somehow, the second strongest disciple also laughed even louder than the dragon.
That pulled the second blacker away again, and the fight kept going.
Now the dragon had a new rule.
He could not laugh loudly, or it would be death.
Gu Yanshu and Qu Yaoyang rose into the sky.
Qu Yaoyang fell back to the ground.
Gu Yanshu understood he could not move freely now.
So he made another plan.
A basic one.
He already knew he could not wait.
The disciples might ignore him.
He also could not face the second strongest disciple's attraction problem.
All he needed was the second strongest disciple.
That was it.
He could not wait.
He also could not scream.
So he moved slowly and cautiously toward them.
He brought the second strongest disciple to him.
That became his first plan.
Then he moved carefully again.
When the third strongest disciple was about to look at him, Gu Yanshu punched him several times before he could open his eyes.
That pulled the second strongest disciple's attention.
The second strongest disciple asked, "What happened?"
Gu Yanshu did not explain.
"You have to heal Qu Yaoyang."
The second strongest disciple said, "Okay."
They both flew toward Qu Yaoyang.
When the third disciple chased them, Gu Yanshu took his attention again and punched him several times.
Then he sliced his hand and leg consecutively.
That drew the third blacker's attention too.
Gu Yanshu already knew that was not in the original plan.
But he did it anyway.
The plan could change.
While Qu Yaoyang was being healed, his injuries slowly began to disappear.
Gu Yanshu kept fighting the third blacker when the first blacker joined in.
Now Gu Yanshu was getting bullied from both sides.
But he still had a backup plan.
This time he needed to shout for two disciples to help him.
He did.
"Someone help me!"
This time it was not two.
It was only one.
But it was still enough.
Gu Yanshu kept holding back the third blacker while He Mulin tried to handle the first blacker.
The loop repeated for a while.
Then it happened.
Qu Yaoyang regenerated.
Gu Yanshu immediately told He Mulin to go handle the second blacker.
He Mulin understood at once.
He rushed to the second blacker and saw the other disciples being injured because two of them had already been lost from the battle.
Then he started helping them.
The second strongest disciple said that Qu Yaoyang was fully regenerated.
Gu Yanshu told the second strongest disciple to go back and fight the second blacker again.
Now there were only two plans left, and both had backup.
Qu Yaoyang's breath was steady again.
The second strongest disciple was still beside him for a moment longer, feeding the last thread of healing energy into the strongest disciple's frame before pulling back.
He Mulin had already entered the other side of the battlefield.
The second blacker was still crushing the disciples there, but the pressure had finally shifted enough that they were not collapsing at once anymore.
That was the first opening.
Gu Yanshu saw it instantly.
The first blacker was moving again.
He had come up beside the third blacker, wine glass still in hand, and the two of them were laughing like they had already turned the battle into a game.
The first blacker took another sip.
Then he looked toward Gu Yanshu.
The third blacker smiled too.
His bat rested against his shoulder.
Neither of them looked hurried.
That was the most dangerous part.
Gu Yanshu did not speak.
He watched their hands.
The first blacker's wine cup.
The third blacker's bat.
The slight shift in the first blacker's shoulder line.
The way the third blacker stood a little in front, as if he wanted the first strike.
That meant they were trying to layer the field again.
One to pressure.
One to intercept.
One to keep the disciples from regrouping.
Gu Yanshu understood it in one breath.
The next move had to be the right one.
He flicked his gaze once toward Qu Yaoyang.
Qu Yaoyang was already back on his feet, still weak but no longer broken.
Then he looked at Lan Wege and Qiu Weiran.
They were still fighting at the edge with He Mulin and Yu Chang, trying to keep the second blacker from advancing too far.
The structure was holding.
Barely.
The third blacker moved first.
He swung the bat low and hard.
Gu Yanshu turned sideways and blocked it with the blackened edge of his hand, but the force still sent a sting through his arm.
The first blacker laughed and took another sip of wine.
"Still standing?" he said.
Gu Yanshu answered, "Yes."
The first blacker smiled wider.
"Then keep standing."
The third blacker attacked again.
Gu Yanshu did not meet him head-on this time.
He stepped back half a pace, then changed direction at the last second and cut across the third blacker's wrist.
The bat moved slightly off line.
That was enough.
Gu Yanshu did not waste the opening.
He moved in and kicked the third blacker's knee.
Then he struck the rib line once with his blade.
The third blacker stepped back, annoyed now.
He was still smiling, but the expression had sharpened.
"Good," he said.
The first blacker's glass tilted in his hand.
He watched the exchange in silence for a breath.
Then he lifted his chin toward Gu Yanshu.
"You still want to break this fight?"
Gu Yanshu looked at him.
He did not answer.
Because answering would only feed the wrong move.
Instead, he turned his head slightly and looked toward the dragon.
The dragon stiffened.
It had already been told not to laugh loudly.
Now it knew why.
Gu Yanshu raised one hand and made a short motion.
The dragon understood the signal.
It inhaled once.
Then it did not laugh.
Instead, it fired a controlled fire beam low across the ground, not at the first blacker, but between the first and third blackers.
Dust rose.
The third blacker's vision shifted.
The first blacker's wine glass paused for half a second.
Gu Yanshu moved through that half second.
He slipped forward under the dust line and struck the third blacker's side with two quick cuts.
Then he stepped back before the bat could return.
The third blacker clicked his tongue and turned with him.
"Using smoke now?"
Gu Yanshu answered, "Using space."
The first blacker finished the wine in one pull and set the empty glass aside.
Then he took one step forward.
The battlefield changed instantly.
His body was still human-sized now, but the pressure around him had deepened.
That meant he was preparing to enter the center of the fight again.
Qu Yaoyang saw it too.
He moved toward He Mulin's side.
Lan Wege and Qiu Weiran were already forcing the second blacker back with the others.
The whole field was starting to align again.
Gu Yanshu felt the timing.
This was not the moment to finish.
This was the moment to force the next shift.
The first blacker laughed once, then rushed.
Gu Yanshu twisted away from the bat line, black hand raised, blade half-hidden, and stepped into the opening between the two blackers just as the dust began to settle.Gu Yanshu's target was not the first blacker, but the third blacker's back.
He moved in to cut it.
Then something strange hit his sword.
It felt like a rough noise.
The sword did not break, but the sound was there.
The first blacker rushed again without warning.
Gu Yanshu could not dodge.
The strike hit his face directly and sent him flying.
"Yes. You have to do it now."
Gu Yanshu pointed at the first blacker.
Qu Yaoyang slid in and landed several strikes on the first blacker.
Gu Yanshu joined the battle too.
Together, they started bullying the first blacker on purpose, not to finish him immediately, but to make him frustrated.
Because frustration could become weakness.
And weakness could spread.
The first blacker's face tightened.
He got angrier.
Gu Yanshu pushed that anger harder.
He called the first blacker weak.
He called him pathetic.
The first blacker's rage grew even stronger.
He attacked Gu Yanshu fast, but the attack was not clean.
It had strength.
It did not have focus.
It did not have prediction.
Gu Yanshu read that instantly.
He countered with a powerful kick straight to the first blacker's face.
The first blacker hit the ground with a huge explosion of force.
Then the third blacker saw the opening.
He swung his bat hard.
Gu Yanshu was sent flying again.
But Qu Yaoyang and the other disciples moved in at once and handled the third blacker.
Gu Yanshu kept handling the first blacker.
The other disciples kept holding the second blacker.
The battlefield split again.
The first blacker was furious now.
The third blacker was trying to force the center.
The second blacker was still keeping the disciples busy with brute pressure and regeneration.
Gu Yanshu wiped the blood from his mouth and looked across the field.
He did not chase the first blacker blindly.
He did not rush the third blacker either.
He watched the whole field again.
The strange noise on his sword mattered.
That meant the third blacker had something in his defense.
Something hard.
Something resistant.
Gu Yanshu adjusted his grip and moved back in.
The first blacker charged again.
This time Gu Yanshu did not meet him head-on.
He shifted just enough to drag the attack line past him.
Qu Yaoyang understood at once.
He stepped in from the side and hit the first blacker's ribs, forcing him to turn.
That was the opening Gu Yanshu needed.
He cut across the first blacker's shoulder and moved back before the counter came.
The first blacker snarled.
Good.
That meant the pressure was still working.
The third blacker tried to interrupt.
He swung his bat toward Gu Yanshu's side.
But two disciples moved in from the edge and pushed him back just enough to keep the line open.
The second blacker was still fighting on the other side, but the others had started adjusting too.
They were not winning cleanly.
But they were not collapsing.
That mattered.
Gu Yanshu looked over the battlefield again.
He could keep this going.
He could keep splitting the attention.
He could keep using the disciples as anchors instead of letting the blackers isolate him.
So he moved back into the center line.
The first blacker rushed.
Qu Yaoyang struck.
The third blacker tried to swing through the gap.
The disciples pushed the second blacker back.
And Gu Yanshu kept his eyes moving through all of it at once.
The fight had become a structure.
And as long as the structure held, the battle could still turn.
Gu Yanshu tightened his stance and stared at the first blacker again.
He already knew the next exchange would decide whether the pressure stayed on their side or broke apart again.