June is starting, please vote for my monthly pass! Master Yan Shouyi held his light-saber in a defensive posture, asking, “Gang Di, is there only one of your kind here?”

The “one of your kind” in his words naturally referred to “one Master of your caliber.” Gang Di understood, leveling his light-staff horizontally: “Of course, there’s more than just one of my caliber—enough to deal with your entire task force!”

Master Yan Shouyi immediately countered, “You boast without restraint, you fellow who has repeatedly lost battles only to fight again, yet you still cling to verbal sparring even in this wretched state!”

Gang Di instantly roared in fury, “Enough talk, old thief Yan Shouyi, let’s settle this with our hands!”

The words had barely left his mouth when the narrow corridor exploded, firelight mixed with dust and smoke rushing towards the group, completely obscuring visibility.

This was true for ordinary people, but the vision of Nian Energy Users was extraordinary; seeing through smoke was a trivial matter. The group watched as the central section of the corridor vanished after the blast, revealing the scene outside.

Outside was a rocky slope—not a mountainside, because they were deep inside the mountain. The surroundings were entirely enclosed, resembling a molten cave system. The rock slope tilted down from left to right at an angle of about twenty degrees. About a hundred meters down and to the right, a magma river, roughly ten meters wide, flowed, its rolling magma emitting a red glow that illuminated the entire cavern as if countless 100-watt red bulbs had been strung together.

The space around them was vast enough to host a battle between a hundred Nian Energy Users and High-Grade Apes.

“You picked a fine spot, Gang Di.”

Master Yan Shouyi’s words were swallowed by the dust. A second after the explosion, he had already led his entire squad of Nian Energy Users charging forward. It was a direct clash between about thirty Nian Energy Users and fifty High-Grade Apes.

“Take this!” Gang Di moved even faster, already reaching the center. His silver blade, swift as a flowing silk, moved faster than human imagination. The very smoke was whipped into a vortex by the powerful gust generated by his charge, pressing down upon the group.

Boom!

Gang Di’s light-staff and Master Yan Shouyi’s light-saber met with a crash. The residual shockwave from the collision pressed the ground beneath them, forming four small circular indentations, like craters left by one kilogram of high explosive detonating.

Several Quasi-Master level Nian Energy Users and High-Grade Apes nearby, including Blade-Edge, were thrown back by the aftershock.

Blade-Edge flipped over in mid-air and landed steadily. He could have resisted the shockwave, but he chose not to. While turning in the air, he had already selected a High-Grade Ape Quasi-Master as his opponent. This ape landed not far from him, and it was clear the ape had the same idea.

Around them, the Nian Energy Users loyal to Master Yan Shouyi and the High-Grade Apes under Gang Di’s command, separated by the massive explosion, quickly found their respective adversaries and engaged in their personalized combat styles.

In terms of numbers, the High-Grade Apes outnumbered the First Squad by more than half. In terms of quality, they were all composed of at least Upper-Tier High-Grade Apes. As soon as the fight began, the Nian Energy Users were slightly at a disadvantage, with some forced to fight one against two, or even one against many.

Blade-Edge wielded his light-saber like the wind, thrusting at every vital point of his opponent. His adversary was also a master swordsman, wielding a purple light-saber with broad, sweeping attacks that felt as heavy as a mountain. He swept Blade-Edge’s light-saber aside with a massive arc, then stepped forward, bringing his saber down diagonally towards Blade-Edge’s right shoulder, as if intending to cleave off his right arm.

Blade-Edge raised his silver sword high to block the purple blade. Where the edges met, a heavy Zzzzt sound erupted. The immense force from the purple blade caused the rock beneath Blade-Edge’s feet to crackle and splinter.

The Ape Quasi-Master continued to exert pressure, driving Blade-Edge’s sword down! Simultaneously, he opened his free hand, and a ball of flame suddenly ignited in his palm. He brought this flame forth, aiming to strike Blade-Edge’s body.

The flame burned so hot that its core showed a dazzling white. Blade-Edge frowned, twitching his wrist to angle his silver light-saber, intending to deflect the force of the purple blade and evade, but the Ape Quasi-Master was clearly experienced. He made a subtle adjustment to his grip, causing the force exerted by the purple blade to cling to the silver one like maggots to bone, refusing to let Blade-Edge shift it.

Blade-Edge had not transformed into the Blade-Edge Emperor, and while his combat instincts were decent, they couldn't fully compensate for the decades of honed swordsmanship possessed by the Ape Quasi-Master.

The struggle between the silver and purple blades shifted rapidly—all this happening in a flash of lightning. The Ape Quasi-Master, holding the flame, used this brief window to appear directly in front of Blade-Edge’s chest.

However, the clash of light-sabers affected both parties equally. While Blade-Edge couldn’t gain an advantage in swordsmanship, he was far from helpless. He extended his free hand, fingers spread wide, and in an instant, dazzling electric light flared—it was the Lightning technique he had learned from the Protoss Luminary!

A current as thick as a baby’s arm shot from Blade-Edge’s hand, instantly striking the Ape Quasi-Master. The ape screamed as the current made every hair on its body stand straight up, and its entire head swelled noticeably.

Sparks of electricity sprayed outward, forming a large electric ball several feet high that enveloped the Ape Quasi-Master.

Blade-Edge seized the momentum, shoving the Ape Quasi-Master violently away. With another wave of his hand, he pushed the ape, using a surge of Nian energy, sending it hurtling back towards the magma river fifty meters away. The Ape Quasi-Master, completely wrapped in lightning, was paralyzed, barely able to move. Under the propulsion of Blade-Edge’s formidable Nian energy, it shot toward the magma river like a cannonball, following a perfect, straight trajectory.

A Quasi-Master’s physical body was, after all, mortal flesh. A short roll in the scorching magma would, at best, render him combat-ineffective, if not kill him outright.

Nearby, at the edge of the magma river, six Upper-Tier High-Grade Apes were currently besieging two Upper-Tier Nian Energy Users. Seeing their Quasi-Master flying toward the river like a projectile, four of them instantly abandoned their opponents, using the Shuodi technique to teleport to the river’s edge, positioning themselves directly in the ape’s flight path. In the nick of time, they jointly unleashed a wave of Nian energy to catch the Quasi-Master.

They dared not catch him with their hands; the electric ball surrounding him clearly had a splash effect, and touching it would endanger them as well.

“Nice timing,” Blade-Edge said. Seeing the four Upper-Tier High-Grade Apes standing in a dense cluster, he glared, instantly unleashing the Great Vortex technique against them. A circle of red carpet spread out, and red chains shot forth, binding them all together, including the Ape Quasi-Master.

Due to the disparity in strength, this technique could hold them for at least half a minute.

Blade-Edge stepped forward, light-saber in hand, ready to strike the apes. The two Upper-Tier High-Grade Apes who had been locked in combat with the two Upper-Tier Nian Energy Users immediately suffered injuries, abandoning their foes and using Shuodi to intercept Blade-Edge as he charged.

Several surrounding High-Grade Apes had noticed the situation. Some Ape Quasi-Masters who could disengage flashed over, rushing toward the area. If they could only hold him off for a short while, reinforcements would arrive.

But how could Blade-Edge allow them even a brief moment?

Two Upper-Tier High-Grade Apes—one holding a light-staff, the other wielding twin swords—each took responsibility for one direction, sweeping viciously toward the rapidly approaching Blade-Edge from left and right.

To their astonishment, both the light-saber and the light-staff pierced Blade-Edge’s body. In their eyes, this Quasi-Master level expert hadn't even bothered to dodge!

The next moment, Blade-Edge’s figure rippled and quietly shattered.

“Damn it, a True Phantom!” one Upper-Tier High-Grade Ape exclaimed.

As the phantom dissolved, Blade-Edge’s true body materialized from invisibility. He was now standing among the five apes frozen by the Great Vortex, and with a sharp Zzzt, he reactivated his silver light-saber, which he had deactivated for invisibility. He swept it in a circle, the blade passing across the neck of every ape.

As Blade-Edge resheathed his weapon, the five apes’ heads slowly detached, drifting down under the gentle pull of the low gravity.

“Damn humans!”

“Incredible power, we cannot let him roam freely. He must be contained to prevent further casualties!”

“All of us, attack! Kill him!”

The High-Grade Apes on the battlefield roared in fury. Twelve or thirteen of them who could break free charged forward, determined to fight Blade-Edge to the death. They covered each other, rapidly closing the distance, while simultaneously unleashing a barrage of Nian energy attacks—flames, lightning, high-speed stones—that rained down upon Blade-Edge.

Blade-Edge’s figure rapidly faded into invisibility. The apes’ ensuing Nian energy attacks instantly saturated the spot where he had stood, covering an area twenty meters in radius.

The dense barrage dug deep, shaving off an entire layer of the ground.

“Did we hit him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Stay vigilant!”

The apes formed a circle. After the previous engagement, they knew Blade-Edge possessed exquisite invisibility techniques, so their state of alert was extremely high.

“He’s here!”

Suddenly, an Upper-Tier High-Grade Ape shouted via telepathy. Then came a loud, crisp Zzzt sound: the red light-saber in that ape’s hand was suddenly knocked away by an appearing silver light-saber. The ape beside him immediately followed up, protecting the exposed one within their formation.

Blade-Edge paused, about to use the Great Vortex technique again.

But this time was different. The highly alert High-Grade Apes all felt a premonition simultaneously and reacted instantly.

“Scatter!”

Someone among the apes shouted through telepathy, and the circle they had formed immediately dispersed like an exploding firework, scattering to various locations. As the red carpet of the Great Vortex spread out, it only managed to ensnare a single, isolated Upper-Tier High-Grade Ape.

The reason the previous Great Vortex had been so devastating was that the four apes had been momentarily preoccupied with catching the Ape Quasi-Master; even though they felt a warning sign, they believed their combined strength could handle the situation, which Blade-Edge had exploited.

The Great Vortex technique was a Master-level spell, demanding immense power and causing equivalent exhaustion. Although Blade-Edge could use it freely now, he couldn’t use it repeatedly, especially since he had already used it several times on the way there, draining most of his Nian energy. Yang Ying did not want to transfer power from his other avatars in front of everyone, so he had to conserve as much as possible.

The fighting between the remaining Nian Energy Users and High-Grade Apes raged on, but because Blade-Edge alone was distracting over a dozen High-Grade Apes, the overall battle remained fiercely contested, swinging back and forth.