I stood for a moment, then turned to observe Shuǐyáo and White Feather. Both looked like they had endured a hurricane of strikes and somehow were still standing.

’Hun... what’s happening here? I thought...’

By my understanding of White Feather’s skills, this should have been a breeze for her. She might be a Legend-tier, but I don’t suppose those were to be underestimated as well.

’Except...’

I shifted my gaze to the man’s dark, fearsome Kirin. Then I turned to him as he walked toward me.

His eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh, it must be you! The Black Snow Company organization that was hired."

I looked down at him from the middle of the bridge.

"With pleasure."

The difference between the two of us was stark. He had overflowing midnight-black hair, and his eyes were deep and somewhat ancient, suggesting that he held a well of terrifying strength within him, backed by ruthless experience.

And as for me, as intimidating as I might have looked, I was shorter, leaner, and half as handsome as he was. Which made him a slightly disgusting person.

’People like him should be erased from the surface of the world.’

I knew his type. The way he confidently looked at me, with a small smile playing on his lips — I could see him coming from a mile away.

"Boy..." he spoke with a cool, composed expression.

"You must have realized by now that this battle is beyond you. Why don’t you take things easy for yourself, step aside, and save your skin before I bite it off you?"

His gaze radiated a threatening pressure at the end of his words.

For a moment, I was silent, thinking about what perfect response would fit this moment. It was difficult to notice, because I was usually flawless with my words — but you see, sometimes these things don’t come easy.

I inhaled, exhaled, and then threw a hateful glare at the man.

"Go fuck yourself."

He stood there, looking at me with a stunned expression.

Then he suddenly let out a stupefied laugh, his shoulders shaking with its tonal drop.

He finally stopped and fixed a dark gaze on me. His entire demeanor was cold and deathly.

The next moment, his Kirin Beast shot toward me. But having already seen it coming, I vanished from its front with a flicker of a feather and immediately appeared beyond it — in the sky.

In the same breath, Shuǐyáo’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Of course, she must have recognized me using her Matriarch’s skill, which left her lost and puzzled.

I drew my hand backward, releasing a torrent of flames. More flames exploded from behind me like raging propellers, catapulting me downward. In the same breath, within the same second that the creature had lunged for me and I had vanished, I descended upon it with a hammering strike.

The torrent of flames unleashed their might, spreading with destructive force. They ushered the wind with ruthless intensity, causing everything around us to be blown away. The bridge cracked beneath us and shattered barely a fragment of a second later, plunging both of us into the water.

The moment we entered the water, however, something surprising happened.

My eyes widened as I stared at my hand. The intensity of the white flames flickering in my right fist was laughable. This was nothing compared to the devastating firepower just now.

I narrowed my eyes immediately.

’Need to get out.’

I leaped, attempting to explode out of the water. However, what I never expected was that the water would move against me.

The river rose like a sentient creature and slammed into me with crushing force, thrusting me deeper into the water. The Kirin Beast, funnily enough, was nowhere to be found around me. But all of a sudden, the water had gained a mind of its own.

’Ah... how bothersome...’

As much as Kassie would make things easier, as a man who wanted to have her between my legs, I had my pride. Besides, not just her...

White Feather, and even Shuǐyáo. That arrogant one—I wanted to break that arrogant beak of hers and make her beg.

’Gosh, my taste in women is questionable at this point.’

Now, before these women, my male ego was screaming: Flex! Flex! Flex! Flex! Flex!

So that was exactly what I did.

I manifested frostbite as I pushed myself up in the river, spun the sword in my hand, and plunged it down into the water, pouring a torrent of my spirit essence into it.

With rapid speed, the surface of the river began freezing. I tore my feet free and landed on it for a moment. The river did not respond. My calculating gaze scanned the frozen surface briefly, then shifted to the man standing opposite the broken bridge.

White Feather and Shuǐyáo had jumped off the other half of the shattered bridge and were both watching.

I skittered across the frozen surface, my legs turning into a blur in a swift motion. Then I leaped a great distance, rising into the air.

The water did not relent. Over a vast distance it was already cracking, and once it cracked, it erupted with violent force. That force easily reached the height I had leaped to, and the water caught me like a rope. I swung my chains against it, but the chains only passed through like they would through ordinary water.

The water simply dragged me back in and slammed me into the ground, flooding over me instantly.

A torrent of pain assaulted my head and back. But there was no time for me to even experience that pain. The crushing weight of the river pressed me to the ground, while at the same time trying to force its way into my nose and mouth.

I kept my mouth shut and refused to take a single breath.

But this was a two-edged knife. No — it wasn’t a knife at all. It was a crushing shield that was only going to kill me with its weight. I was going to die from the very thing the water was trying to achieve.

’Damn Kirin.’

[Your Attribute: Strategic Apex has leveled up]

[Your Attribute: Conqueror’s Will has leveled up]

[Your Attribute: Martyr’s Endurance has leveled up]

[Your Attribute: Strategic Apex has leveled up]

[Your Attribute: Conqueror’s Will has leveled up]

[Your Attribute: Martyr’s Endurance has leveled up]