The black-robed man's face darkened. Clearly, his strength far surpassed this junior, yet he had repeatedly suffered setbacks. It was as if he wasn't even being taken seriously! "No matter how mysterious your recovery methods are, you definitely won't be able to withstand the fourth, fifth, and sixth layers of the Lianlei Sword Net! I advise you to obediently accept your death, or you won't even have a complete corpse when I use my real skills!"

As the black-robed man spoke, he noticed Fang Yue staring intently at him, slowly muttering four words.

"Static World!"

Buzz!!

The black-robed man discovered with horror that after Fang Yue uttered those four words, the flow of inner force within his body suddenly seemed to freeze, the speed of circulation becoming extremely slow.

And it wasn't just him; everything around him, from sounds to movements, from the Lianlei Sword Net to the flow of air, almost everything had come to a standstill!

What kind of ghostly trick is this!?

In this almost absolute static world, the black-robed man's brain was still working clearly, thinking normally, as if only the outward manifestations were frozen, while his own thoughts and ideas continued to flow at a normal pace.

In other words, he could directly and clearly observe everything after it had been frozen!

And in this static world, he saw with his own eyes a single, large, black wing suddenly sprout from Fang Yue's back!

The single black wing's structure seemed very unstable, burning fiercely like a flame. Fang Yue himself easily bypassed the frozen fourth layer of the Lianlei Sword Net, as well as the following fifth and sixth layers, breaking through everything like a black line, heading straight for the black-robed man!

How dare he!!

Inner force surged wildly within him!

The originally slow-flowing inner force seemed to break through some kind of restriction, suddenly rushing frantically. Inner force flowed through his entire body, and he was about to regain control. A violent aura erupted from his body, soaring into the sky!

That overwhelming killing intent, seemingly condensed into substance, surged toward the approaching figure.

Crack, crack!

His sword-wielding right hand, which had been almost frozen, emitted a glimmer of light. Inner force flowed through his entire body, sword intent burst forth, and his body instantly returned to normal, shaking off the influence of the static world!

"Well done!!"

With a roar, the black-robed man raised his sword. A surging killing intent and overflowing sword energy spiraled and intertwined above him, merging into one. With the infusion of inner force, it transformed into a visible, hundred-meter-long scarlet giant sword!

His right hand swung the sword down, and the scarlet giant sword above his head followed suit at the speed of light, directly striking the black dot rushing toward him!

Clang!!!

A deafening explosion rang out, and the flow of time completely returned to normal.

Invisible ripples of energy rippled through the air.

As the layers of air waves exploded outwards, they almost flattened the surrounding area, stirring up a huge cloud of dust.

This strike was earth-shattering.

This strike was awe-inspiring.

But this strike was blocked.

The black-robed man looked at the black dot in front of him, which was holding a blade to block the blow of the scarlet giant sword. Complex emotions of amazement, admiration, shock, and deep envy flashed in his eyes.

Truly… a heaven-defying genius!!

A loss. This deal is a huge loss!

This child's potential is so great that the agreed-upon price is no longer sufficient!

If they hadn't fought to such a degree before, the black-robed man might have even wanted to apologize and make friends at this moment.

But… there's no regret medicine to take!

Since he had already offended such an unparalleled genius to this point, the only way to be completely at ease was to let the genius die young.

Looking at the almost dying, almost bloody figure in front of him, the black-robed man's face darkened, and his murderous intent surged.

That kid seemed to have no strength to even lift a hand at this moment. His clothes were tattered, with only a few strips of cloth hanging on his body. The black silk covering his body was as thin as threads, with only a few drops hanging on his right hand, as if protecting something.

Upon closer inspection, it was a handkerchief on the kid's right hand.

The black-robed man couldn't see anything special about the handkerchief, but it seemed to be something extremely precious to the kid.

Without much thought, the black-robed man raised his hand and swung his sword.

With a buzzing sound of the sword, Fang Yue, who was almost on the verge of death, didn't even have time to react before his right hand, wrapped around the handkerchief, was chopped off.

The black-robed man moved and appeared behind Fang Yue, steadily catching the falling severed hand, and looked at Fang Yue with a sneer.

"Your death is at hand. Do you have any last words?"

Fang Yue was stunned. Then, blood spurted wildly from the severed arm, and he felt dizzy and lightheaded, his consciousness blurred, almost reaching his limit.

At this moment, Fang Yue fully realized that his strength was far from sufficient when facing a true Yu-level expert!

The enhancement from the parchment was ultimately an external aid. His own strength foundation was too low, and forcibly raising it couldn't truly allow him to fight a Yu-level expert head-on!

The power of the strange value and the parchment could offset the huge gap in the power of origin to some extent, but only to a certain extent. To forge iron, one must be strong. If one's own strength doesn't improve, it will ultimately not work.

Fang Yue clearly realized that if Bai Xiaoya's state at that time could be compared to a strong person who had just entered the Yu level, then the black-robed man in front of him was a Yu-level old monster who had been fighting in the Yu-level realm for many years!

The gap in strength between the two was so great that it couldn't be simply divided by early and middle stages. It was like two different dimensions, with an insurmountable gap between them!

All his strength, spirit, inner force, strange value… almost everything was exhausted.

The black halo above his head intensified like adding insult to injury, slapping Fang Yue's body.

At this moment, Fang Yue understood that there seemed to be only one thing he could do, and that was to shout out his last four-word testament…

"Static… World!!"

[Overclock… Amplification!!]

Fang Yue and the parchment roared almost simultaneously.

Under the amplification of violent power, a visible, translucent circle seemed to pop out from Fang Yue's center, spreading rapidly outwards.

On the leveled ground, layers of frost spread frantically, freezing the earth into ice and snow, and dyeing the distant trees with silver.

The speed of the frost's spread was completely synchronized with the spread of the circle. Wherever the two spread in sync, everything froze in sync!

The black-robed man had just taken a step forward when he was enveloped by the double circles.

A momentary pause in his brain's thinking.

Time, consciousness, everything seemed to freeze at this moment.

When the black-robed man regained his senses, the surroundings were white, snowflakes were falling, and the world within a radius of ten miles had turned into a world of ice and snow!

As for Fang Yue, he was nowhere to be found, having disappeared without a trace.

"How many seconds… was my thinking restricted?"

A terrifying and even frightening thought arose in his mind, and the black-robed man felt a deep sense of dread towards Fang Yue.