Shi Mei nodded. A dust cloud blew up from where she stood as she lunged forward with her blade. With a twist of her body, her blade moved in an arc as it drew closer to Samuel’s neck.

‘How fast!’ Recovering from his shock, Samuel put his leg back before using his sword forward to block.

*Clang!*

A massive force ran through his arms, making his knees shaky. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva before jumping backwards.

However, before he could stabilize, a blade arched towards his shoulder.

Noticing the incoming blade, Samuel stabbed his sword in the ground while allowing himself to fall to evade the blow. Next, using the sword as a pivot, his feet slid across the ground before he slashed towards the girl’s waist.

Shi Mei’s wrist twisted, causing her blade to appear between her waist and the incoming sword. At the same time, the back of her foot swung towards Samuel’s chest.

Clicking his tongue, Samuel let go of his sword. With both his hands free, he grabbed the girl’s ankle.

Shi Mei’s eyes widened. She tried to pull back, all to no avail. Looking at Samuel with a devious grin on his face, her brows knitted.

Using her other foot, she lept off the ground, her foot aiming at Samuel’s head.

However, in that instant, Samuel let go of her other ankle, giving her nowhere to exert her force, causing her kick to fly by in front of his face.

But before she could land, Samuel smiled, this time grabbing her other ankle.

Shi Mei’s eyes narrowed. Grabbing her blade in a reverse grip, She thrust it towards the boy’s hands.

*Drip!* *Drip!* *Drip!*

Blood dripped down as the blade stabbed his palm, stopping only when meeting bone.

Samuel grimaced. But he didn’t let go.

Shi Mei sighed before her eyes turned colder. She slashed her blade up towards the boy’s head. At the same time, she pulled her leg back violently, causing the distance between Samuel’s neck and the edge of the blade to grow narrower.

Samuel’s eyes turned colder as he let go before twisting his head to the side.

The girl’s blade left a shallow mark on the boy’s neck, barely deep enough to count as a flesh wound. However, the boy’s expression remained stony. He reached for his sword before leaping back as he returned to his stance. Grabbing his sword with both hands, he looked ahead like a lion eying a tiger.

Regaining her balance, Shi Mei stretched her wrist back and forth a few times. Grabbing her wrist with her other hand, a ball of fire appeared atop her hand, growing larger.

On the other side, Samuel’s sword glowed with a dull gray hue as he poured his Ki through his weapon. His eyes stared straight at Shi Mei, as if the fireball in her hand didn’t exist.

As soon as the fireball reached the size as big as her head, she hurled it forward.

Samuel’s blade chopped down in response. The fireball exploded on contact, becoming a cloud of fire as it spread out heat in all directions. Pushing his foot against the ground, he lunged towards the cloud of flames.

Moments later, a sword whooshed past his head, slicing off the tips of his hair. Next, Samuel’s sword thrust backwards, aiming for Shi Mei’s shoulder.

Like a nimble cat, the girl twisted midair, evading the blow by a hair’s breadth. However, as soon as she did, her eyes widened. She saw Samuel’s right hand forming a claw, a shard of ice hovering above his hand which arched forward, hurling it towards her.

Shi Mei hastily blocked with her blade, causing a fragment of the broken shard to hit her in the forearm.

Gritting her teeth, the girl stomped her foot forwards, causing her to shoot back towards Samuel. At the same time, her blade glowed with a gray hue as she reinforced it with Ki.

Sounds of metal striking metal filled the air as a blade and a sword clashed repeatedly.

Suddenly, Shi Mei thrust forward, which Samuel blocked with his sword. In the same instant, a tiny hand chopped at his shoulder, causing it to go numb. Samuel’s grip on his blade loosened, which Shi Mei took advantage of as she used her foot to lock Samuel’s blade while thrusting her own towards his face.

Alarm bells rang off in Samuel’s head. All his hair stood on end as he inevitably let go of his blade, stepping back to evade the blow. Meanwhile, an azure hue covered his palm.

Samuel smiled. “Bet you never did ice skating. Flash frost!”

His palm rubbed against the ground as he landed, causing a layer of ice to spread out around him, covering a radius of roughly three meters around him.

Shi Mei rushed forwards, hefting her own blade in her left hand while the sword she confiscated moments ago in her right. Hurling her blade forward like a javelin, she shot it forward.

Samuel skid to the side, evading the blow. The blade pierced through the ice, stuck. However, before Samuel could retrieve it, he saw Shi Mei pouncing forward, his sword in her hand forming a large arc.

Samuel’s foot twisted to the side, evading the blow by the breadth of a hair. However, his robes weren’t as lucky, getting torn where the sword slashed.

Landing on the ground, Shi Mei’s hand reached for her blade, using it as a pivot. She extended the sword forwards, using her momentum to bolster it further as it cut an arc through the air.

Samuel’s face paled as he hastily ducked.

Pulling the sword back, Shi Mei pulled herself towards her blade, using the leftover momentum to hurl a kick at the ducking Samuel.

The ground between Samuel’s feet slid away rapidly as the force from the kick blew him backwards.

On the other hand, Shi Mei, having stopped after the kick, raised her blade as she once more gripped it in a reverse grip. Next, the blade left her hand as it pierced through the air towards where Samuel would be when it landed, leaving Shi Mei behind who charged forward, the sword in her hand ready to slash out in an arc whilst a fire attribute spell began forming in her free hand, hot enough that it melted the ice below her feet while the spell was still forming.

With the sense of crisis aiming to overwhelm Samuel, the boy’s expression turned as calm as a lake. His eyelids snapped open, revealing two piercing eyes which seemed to see through all the world had to offer, the two pupils within glowing brightly with a dim yellow light.